Selling a Vehicle to Clear Debt

to you by the Every dollar app. Start budgeting for free today Normal is broken, common sense is weird. so we're here to help you transform your life. From Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramssey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey. George Campll, Ramsey personality, number one best selling author and co host of Smart Money Happy Hour, is my co host today. The phone number is eight, eight, two five Five, two, two, five, the call is free and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. Brenna is with us in Las Vegas. Hi, Brerenna, how are you? Hi, I'm good. than Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I have a question for you. If's in regards to whether My husband and I should be working harder, looking at debt and how to deal with contentment and mom guilt at not being able to give my kids everything that I think they deserve. To give some back story, we're on baby Step four hundred and fifty six. We have two emergency funds. We have no debt My husband and I both work part time. so we get to spend lots of time with our kids. we easily pay all of our bills We feel like our budget is comfortable. We don't pinch pennies, but we're careful with our money My son is becoming school aged. In Las Vegas, we have like the worst schools in the nation. So public schools is not a good option private school that all of our friends're sending their kids to that are associated with our church is like thirteen thousand dollars a year for like kindergarten. And that just seems like an outrageous amount of money to spend on early education. So we're looking at homeschooling, but I'm just worried that I'm not working hard enough or looking at other options in order to give my kids what they need. But at the same time, I feel like I'd work harder just to send my kids to somebody else to take care of. W You have a lot of guilt going on A lot of different labels of guilt. I mean, it's all over the place. I don't know if I can get tall of themem Um Well, I mean, it's just choices is what it comes down to If you want to do the private school, you're going to work more Yeah. that's your trade off And if not, you're going to the homchool and, you know, and there's a trade off there too, by the way U Right People who homeschool will tell you they there are two camps. the ones that love it and the ones that viciously hateated it and put their children in another school as fast as they possibly can. So all homes homeschooling is not for everyone. I think our children would probably be dead if they were homesooled. I probably would have killed U And Brea if I told you your kids would end up just fine if they were homeschooled if they went to private school Would you feel better about the choice? If you just if you looked into the future, there were great kids regardless. Which one would you choose I mean, personally, I had my kids for a reason. I love hanging out with them. I think I want to homchool. that's because my heart is leaning towards. What's wrong with that? My husband and I are leaning towards. So what must be true for you to homeschool financially I mean, we could do it right now. Fancially, we're good right now. So what's the question? Why would you not do that just I guess I just watch all of our friends and like my son's friends and like they're going to go to this like expensive private school and like I guess that's an example of just like, I can't give my kids everything in the world that they want, right? Like I know that's not feasible and that wouldn't even make good kids because you got to tell kids no in order to be good people. And But at the same time, like I just worry like The answer though is this is we're trying we're not trying to raise great kids, We're trying to raise kids that become great adults And so what methodology does that? Is the secret sauce for them to be successful adults someday that particular shiny private school? Answer no is the secret sauce for them to be wonderful successful adults someday homeschool. hundred percent. No The secret sauce is you and your husband being good parents and guiding them through whatever educational process you use, where they don't lose their dad gum minds in the process of getting an education But where we get where we get dislodged is where we think that if they don't have this car, they're not going to be successful. If they don't wear these clothes, they're not going to be successful. If they don't go to this school, they're not going to be successful. when those are not the pre these are not the pre indicators of success pre indndicators of success or what you said earlier, they learned the word no. They're grateful. They're not entitled. They're kind and compassionate They're people of strong integrity and strong work ethic. They know how to do hard things because mom and dad taught them how to do hard things Because there's a whole bunch of people in America don't know how to do hard things anymore. And if you can do hard things, you immediately stand out from the crowd. And so these are the indicators of future success with your children. It's not what school they went to. And then you w to fast forward that all the way out to what college they went to, which is the biggest joke on the planet college you go to has zero correlation with success. There's no piece of research that's ever shown that. And yet people still pay You know, twenty five X to go to a certain college because I went to that college and as if that is the secret sauce. It's really a trophy for the parent to say, look at my parent trophies my kit. For some of your friends They're parading these private schools in front of you. Um As a trophy for the parents not they're doing it for themselves, not for their kids Right. It's like some kids in travel sports. The reason they're in travel sports is because dad has an issue Dad never made it ro So his kid has to So if don't if you don't think he has an issue, just watch how he tach the emmpire You know, I mean this is all there, right? It's all the same thing. So yeah, that that's where it comes down to is just my my my overall rant or whatever there is it's a really cool question. I love your question, by the way. is my reaction to it though is to major in the things that actually do cause success disiscard the things that don't that other people count on Okay And then that helps me with my contentment So that's awesome. You know take it over into another bucket and say, okay. Do buying a really nice car cause success Absolutely not. But a whole a whole bunch of people buy the car to appear successful to appear that there's something they're not, to impress someone at a stoplight they'll never meet and they have a twelve hundred dollars car payment Right? And I've done that. I did that when I was twenty three I bought a jaguar for other people to look at, Not because I wanted a jaguar, because I was a shallow little turd. And that's you know, and that's you know, you see what I'm saying? And that's the wrong measure of success. It'll lead you down the wrong path. Giving a sixteen year old a range Rover doesn't mean you gave them everything. You just created a real expensive disaster that's waiting to happen And it happens. people I see people That's a good point. Tenagers driving brand new SVUVs because the parents said, I want to give them everything. They deserve it. They've worked so hard. Well and the one I remember when Rachel saaved up she saved up like eight thousand dollars and we matched We had four one day for your first car And she got a sixteen thousand dollars. ually you know, back then was a really nice car. Yeah. now it's not a bad car. and Uh, but, you know, and You know. around the corner Buys the same BMW, brand new. O Flex sixteen year old, I guess, I don't know if Flex or not five hundred and twenty three dollars car payment back then. Oh man, that that was like to be like having a fifteen hundred dollars car payment now, right? I might still be paying it off But it's total flex and I'm like And now where is that kid today Lost as a ball in tall wees, you know, just can't. She just lost. the kid they hadn't got a chance Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz When it comes to life insurance, most people fall into one of two camps, the ones who make a plan to protect their family and the ones who hope everything will just work out. But hope isn't a financial plan. When you get married or have kids, your money decisions aren't just about you anymore Income helps keep the lights on, pay the mortgage, and put food on the table And if something happens to you, will your family have protection or uncertainty Well at Ramseay, we recommend term life insurance at ten to twelve times your income with a fifteen to twenty year term for the years that your kids are at home and your mortgage is still being paid off. That's why Winston and I have our term life coverage through Xander Insurance. They're an independent broker who works for you shopping all the top companies to find the most competitive prices on coverage you need. get instant quotes online in just minutes at Zander dot com or call eight hundred three five six four two eight two to get your family protected with term life insurance. That's Zander dot com or eight hundred three five six four two eight two It's such a good subject contontentment D contontentment for children and adults and mom guilt and dealing with all that So you don't have mom guilt or dad guilt. if you understand are to the extent, you understand, I guess, none of us do this perfectly, but too the extent you understand what causes children to be to develop into successful adults And it turns out it is not anything to do with the school they go to Very little it's u Not anything to do with the possessions that they have. It's not even the number of hours Daddy is home as if they're going to lose their ability to be nurtured because daddy works a job You know, we've got this nurturing movement going on now. And so Um Yes, we do want children to be safe. We want them to be protected But um You know, some of the best generations of adults come from children who endured hardship N not horrible things. They were not hungry, hopefully. they were not, whatever, but they, you know, you think about your grandparents or for some of you, your great grandparents or great grandparents that were children in the Great Depression And how did they turn out? Well, that was my grandpa And he turned into a Well, he was actually a young adult in the Great Depression Um, but, um You know, so You know, some people were devastated during that time, obviously, but the hard times did not keep the person from turning out. it turned out they learned how to do hard things. And that's resilience. That's some grit create resilience and grit. And then you could because you're going, no matter what car you give them and private school you put them in And no matter how how much of a bubble, you put them into to where they're not You know, they're not hungry and they're not in a crime situation where they're being a victim of crime or those kind of things. If you put them in a perfect bubble and they don't learn how to deal with tough things when they come. then they're going to have really, really hard time They're going to be an anxiety filled adult because they don't know how to deal with crap. You didn't give them the tools. You didn't give them a shovel when the manure comes. you know, And so You know, but that that's an interesting discussion. Rachel and I wrote a lot about that in the book that we did together smmart money Smart Kids One of the things that we've answered for parents a whole lot over the years is how do you raise children in this world that are not entitled And um, It starts with there's a three step process. It starts with gratitude And so you become great, teach your child gratitude, Teach them grateful. And with a little kid, it sounds like manners Thank you Mom dinner That's gratitude, but it sounds like manners goodood manners Thank you mom for dinner Thank you, Dad. to help with my homework grratitude, right And gratitude then shows you humility Because in order to have gratitude, there has to be some humility. It has to be it's not all about you Because if I'm entitled to dinner then I can just be mad at mom and have a fit if I don't like the broccoli. I don't like whatever, right? But see, we were not allowed to do that at our house and our children were not allowed to do that. You might not like the broccoli, but you don't get to disrespect the mother that created it becausecause I'll take you out and create another one looks just like you. It toish you at some play with' not gonna to disrespect the mom. That's not That's not an option, right That's old school parenting, but that's that's how it work. And so you get to understand the world doesn't revolve around your little butt Your little butt is just one more little butt, you know And so it doesn't revolve around you And so if it doesn't reolve around you, then you would be grateful And then when you're grateful, that sets you up for the ability to be content contentment does not exist in a bubble all by itself over here and just land on someone like a butterfly on your shoulder. Oh, now I'm peaceful and content. You become content because you realize it's not all about you and I say thank you, Lord for the blessings in my life, Father. Thankk you. You blessed me. This is a prayer we say around Ramses all the time. You blessed us beyond our wildest imaginations Our mind is blown by you, Father. Thank you for what you poured ono us. That's gratitude. But it comes from I didn't do this by myself. Obviously, I know my heavenly Father has poured out upon me something that I couldn't have done by myself And yes, I worked hard, but I couldn't have done it by myself And so then outut of that, you set yourself in a spiritual position to be content. And when you can teach children that in this culture, they have a superpower Then they're totally good to not upgrade that car with a payment. They go, I'm good. my car works That's fine. Yeah And they don't say stupid stuff like I work so hard. I deserve. You don't deserve anything. shut up When you have the money to pay for it, that's when you deserve it. Until then, you're a whiner callall the ambulance, right I mean, way. I work so hard. Oh, shut up. We all work hard. W I don't meet anybody says, you know, I don't work very hard and I deserve it. Nobody says that Of course you work hard. Sut up. Now go make some dad gum money, live on less than you make, get yourself out of debt and save up and pay for something and then you can say I deserve it But until then it's just a dangerous to sererve tw thousand twove hundred dollars car payments. That's just dumbt You Those are kids who grew up into adults but never actually became adults. Yeah, it's kind of the reverse. They're children that becameive growth. They They become grown children That's frightening, which is kind of an oxymoron if you think about it. And you don't want your kid to marry that person. Well let alone be them L Yeah, yeah Teach your children to identify those people and stay away from them Otherwise they will make your grandchildren and now you've got a real mess That's you got Grandchildren. Yeah, canan you imagine entitled grandchildren Not in the Ramsy house, Well, I mean Dave's not putting up with that. Well, I love my grandbabies. I mean, grandbabies are awesome. You can own how great grandbabies are gonna to be. I've been nicer to their parents. You know, but there're but, you know, Papa Dave, we don't, we don't do that at Papa Dave's house. Papa's house is how we do things There's rules. like there's like, you know, this We say thank you, Jesus and thank you, Mimi We were grateful at Papa Dave's house, because we know where all good things come from. Jesus and me me. That's right Dad just lucky to be in the room. I'm just lucky to be around and get to observe this thing happen. They're a turtle on the fence fost. But isn't that fun? I mean, it's the I loved her question. That's why I wanted to spend a minute. The intentions were great. The motives was great. was it was not an insincere question But and it took me to a place I didn't think I would go to this quickly in today's show, but You know, so many of the things that we chase, that we call happiness or we call entitled. or we call deserve are the wrong things to get us to the destination we were trying to get there. It turns out the Range Rover won't take you there. Well, it's hard because the character stuff, that's invisible And as a parent And kid, you just want to see the visible thing The nice car, the private school, look at what they have. She said it. Well, I look around at all my friends. Well, there's the problem Stop looking around Beuse you're going it'll lead you to that discontentment. Yeah getet off of Facebook and Instagram. Yeah Get out of the car. No one puts the crap in their life on Facebook or Instagram. They only put the highlight reel It's like, o Rachel used to do that thing. It's like no one puts on there the You know, the nineteen ninety three Honda hashtag bless You know, nobody does that. They always put right the new thing on there. this car, you know, the the thing I can't shiny new car with a bow on. Look at my husband got me, Alexis with a red bow You know, whatever. doesnn't get as many likes on Instagram. Yeah and that's That's what you're chasing. No one put good luck. they don't put, you know, your child having a meltdown three years old on the cereal aisle and everyone who's ever had a kid had one that just lost their mind in the grocery store at least once It's like, they don't, you know, we ought to post that stuff. I'm willing to. I've got a three year old and a one year old. That's a Tuesday in my house Well, you shouldn't do that because then they'll have a digital tattoo the rest of their life. W. Somebody will pull that up when they're running for Congress. If you run a business, you already know this. 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What's up Well, so we agree that debt is probably not a good thing Um What is your thoughts on programs that have interest free U U like for tractors, cars, something like that. the manufacturer will have an interest free program and you you can make like in my case, it would be on a tractor and they have all sorts of different programs that kind of fit what would work for you. But I like the thought of using other people's money for free Well, I don't know I know the car manufacturing. side of it. I don't know the tractor side of it, but I suspect it's similar Okay In the car world, the only way you get an interest free loan on a brand new car, zero interest is you pay sticker price which I don't know why anyone would pay sticker price because I'm going to buy a new car, I'm going to buy it for a lot less than a sticker like a lot or less than sticker. And so the difference in what I would pay for it and what you would pay for it if you took the interest free sticker price loan is called interest Yeah You know, they got they got their money. They just didn't call it that, you know. And now and I suspect John Deere or Caterpillar or whoever is probably doing the same thing on the tractor side with conbines or whatever else with they, you know, the those are huge ticket items. And I suspect they're there. Let me just tell you There's no instance that you can looan someone money free Unless you're making up what would have been the interest somewhere else. Someone's paying interest on the borrowed money somewhere And so it's built into something somewhere Um you know, in other words, or they're just taking a little less profit and calling it an interest free loan, right Because banks don't loan money interestnterest free And so orrganizations don't lend money interest free and if they do, it means they're making the equivalent of interest somewhere else. Or they're going to go out of business, agreed Yes. Now there's no free lunch. Normally Not normally. so I was going to pay cash for this machine and the guy gave me the price. It was eighty nine thousand dollars. And then and then I was reading something and I saw that Kabota had an interest free program. So I called the dealer and the guy, the salesman and asked him, and he said, yes So And the price was still eighty nine thousand. And then he said there's all sorts of programs if you'd like to put down what you'd like to put down, whether it be a monthly yearly payment, what have you. So that made me think. Well what I want then is a discount for cash don now I don't like my eighty nine thousand dollar price Yeah. If I'm in your shoes. That's that's the way I would go at this. I'm not going to borrow the money and the reason is is they're going to make the money somewhere And then number one, number two As I've studied wealthy people, I've never met a single millionaire that said, you know, the way I became a millionaire was I parlayed all these nothing down zero percent interest things on my kabota. and that's how I became a millionaire. Never have ever met a millionaire that said they did that Millionaires just don't play with this stuff., but it's kind of a mind game that it's, you know, if you like math like you do and I do to get into it. But George, have you run into this with the tractor world at all Not in the tractor world specifically, but the zero percent game is everywhere now. And number one, you're right. The sticker price is going to be higher and there's no negotiating So you're not going to get any cash discount. That's where you're trading off here. And number two, they're hoping and knowing most people won't pay it off in that zero percent promotional period, which then triggers all the interest So he might be the exception to the rule because he has the cash. But it's still adding risk and he's still getting a worse deal by going for this And they get kickbacks. anytime they work with a lender, they're getting a kickback You know, it doesn't occur to me to borrow money under any circumstances. So because I've not found that to be how people become successful financially. Yeahah. And so You know, I've got a Kabota skid steer at my farm. It's one of my favorite toys. We put a bushog on the front of it and I go over there and bushog and talk about therapy. That's a great It's kind of like pressure washing therapy. It's the same thing. it's better than's really good. I'm down and cut up and chew up some stuff with that thing. And I never thought a thing about doing anything exscept paying cash for that one I bought it Yeah, just a toy. Well that's the other part of this we're not talking about is this sort of slippery slope mentality of, well, I did the zero percent over here. Why not do it on the furniture and on the appliance and on my personal car because I know I'm smart enough to pay it off. I have the cash. It's a lot of calories to burn keep up with all of it and u But no I You you know I want him to test it. callall us back ith It won't cause you to be wealthy The interest on eighty nine thousand dollars or whatever that's where the price was as well. Yeah Yeah. My next question is, what are they costs used? Could you buy one slightly used at seventy? I think Todd can probably afford this. He's just doing in mental gymnastics I think he can buy He doesn't want to part with his cash No he was okay with it until the dealer said You can get zero percent. and then he can start doing mental Well I hang on to it at that point. I kind I kind of understand how you can get there, But no, I would not do it. I'm not going into debt. I don't do it. I would not tell you to do it. I've not met wealthy people that use this as a method of building wealth. And so while it sounds like I'm using other people's money for free someomewhere in there, somebody's not. It doesn't work if you do Hi, Susan's with us in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Susan, How are you Hi, Dave, thanks for le in my car. Sure. What's? I amm a sixty two year old divorce. I have zero debt. I don't own a home. but my car is paid for And I'm living with my partner who does not charge me rent I have approximately one point five million in retirement funds And my question is what is a good amount that I could take out monthly still have enough to live on because my biggest fear is running out of money And I live very fugly now. I live on two thousand dollars a month And I just I think I need just guidance and Let's just do some basic math, okay What are what's your one point five million invested in? b Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs. I mean, what's the investment of goodood mutual funds? growth stock mutual funds? Yes. Okay, so think you think the portfolio is averaging what the market is averaged around eleven percent, twelve percent Yes Okay And so if your one point five is going up by Let's just use some let's pretend. if it's going up by twelve percent a year And you pulled off eight percent, that means it would still go up by four percent a year. Does that make sense And so eight percent of a million and a half is one hundred twenty thousand dollars a year Whoa ten thousand dollars a month Yeah I could do that. I think you're okay. You said you spend two grand a month. Yeah Yeah, we're a ways away You could upgrade your life. So and here's the idea. hereere's the thing. if we if we make twelve and we pull off eight We never touched the one point five and it grows by four a year You never even touch the principple, much less run out of money. Yeah, That's where I get hung up on because I see it as a finite amount and I it's not it's not finite if you never touch it. it's perpetual. If you cash it out and put it in a checking its infinite to become finite. It's mathematically infinite if you don't touch it Okay. And what about the common four percent rule? It comes out that it would be about sixty thousand gth. So what about that? common? what the hell, what common, common? what kind of common I mean, why do we want to be common? I don't want to be common anything. What's funny. We're reading the internet. The guy who came up on that came out and said that was way too conservative. It's probably more like five and a half for me now. Who knows what it is? If the inflation rates four And you pull off eight and you leave four in there, there's a common rule. Let's go with that common rule I just made up a new common rule G If you're waiting for the perfect interest rate before you buy a home or refinance, that moment may never come That's why people should talk to Churchill mortgage, because rates move every day. and when rates drop, buyers flood the market, which means more competition and higher home prices. Smart buyers know they can't time the market. They move with a strategy. 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Rrent wenten toZ three, seven, two, two seven Quick circle back Um, The financial You're laid The world of CFPs, certified financial planners, financial advisors, financial goobers who get degrees in finance like I did, a bunch of nerds in a pile often become Pharisees. and they get caught up in the world of hypotheticals. to where they can't even use any common sense anymore, because we get paralysis of the analysis because we're so good at math, those of us that do that world Georgia studying CFP right now and you've observed this. I call them certified financial phharises And so instead of certified financial planners, but CFPs, But not all of them are, but some can get caught up in that. If you had to generalize that and then they they then the dumbts write articles on the internet And they write stuff like the common rule. or the common rule of four percent withdrawal rate So if but here's the trick, folks, you need to learn to do your own math becausecause these people spend so much time over analyzing this stuff they they really there's nothing left when they finish And their set of assumptions most of the time is so asinine that it doesn't apply to the real world. So just learn to do your own math. So here's the rule.s here's some basic things you can do math with, all right? The inflation rate has averaged for the last eighty four years The consumer price index, the CPI,'s what we measure inflation with four point two percent That means on average, your money has lost its purchasing power four percent a year Biden and COVID, we had some nine and ten percent. Carter, we had some ten and twelve and fourteen percent and gas lines in the seventies if you're old Okay Um, Those but still the average Over eighty plus years is about four percent And so if you're going to project out from age sixty to age one hundred, your retirement years then four percent probably pretty good There might be some years it's higher. There might be some years it's lower. The average which is the middle Hello, It's not the median, but it's the average is still four percent. So if you do that, if you're making twelve on your money, And you leave for in there, your money grows by as much as it lost in purchasing power, you broke even That's pretty simple, right So if you leave let your money grow by four percent, you're not only not deteriorating your nest egg The goose is just fine And he's still laying some small golden eggs But we're taking eight of the twelfve You're more that'll run in perpetuation forever Do your own math. But some gooers say, well, we need to inflation adjust. I just did. Well we need to do we need to adjust for this and that and we need to have a conservative number and we need to use real dollars and we need to use CGR and we need and would you shut up Join us over here in the real world Because if you draw four percent and you leave eight percent in there This money iss going to double in about seven years And this poor woman has worked her whole life to have a million and a half dollars. She's a freaking millionaire. She's scared And she's scared to live because she read your stupid butt common law goal, whatever the garbage the line was for four percent withdrawal rates. And I've seen four percent withraw rates forty years that I've been on the doing that. That study was done in nineteen ninety four. That's the crazy part. and here's what's wild. When you actually look into they It has a lot of assumptions. It was a low market returns, high inflation, assuming your portfolio had a whole lot of bonds in it. Is some in your portfolio sucked Exactly. And to your point, Dave, I've read an article from a highly respected CFP that everyone in the community would say, this guy knows what he's talking about. Here's what he found. Over two thirds of the time the four percent rule leaves retirees finishing their thirty year horizon with more than double their starting principle And that's if they suck at investing P pretty wild to think. put it in a decent mutual fund instead of a bunch of stupid bonds like some of you CFPs tell them to do You know I'm sixty five. You know me Bon I am, precisely zero which upsets the CFP community to no end because don't you understand asset allocation? Yeah, I understand how dumb the theory is and I'm not going to follow it Because if there's anything I am, it's defiant I'm a one hundred percent defiant of stupidity So You know, and I'm not wearing a mask either. So shut up. I mean, I'm just defiant, right? He likes to go against the grain. Yeah said guess what? It worked out really good for me. So here's the thing If If you if you if you make twelve because you've got good gross stock mutual funds and you get average market returns, the S and P The stand hundred po five hundred is averaged eleven point eight So if you make twelve on your money and you don't and you pull off only four That leaves eight. That means your money' still going to double every ten years Not thirty years whoever did the study? The second study, you referenced, okay? So that means her million and a half, she's sixty years old, sixty two years old and at seventy two, she's going to have three million dollars and have lived on four percent because she was scared by your stupid butt analysis on the internet. This makes me liivid When you put bad information worked their whole lives and now you've still got them on beans and rice because you over analyze everything in your pharaceutical mindset. You're killing me out there And then Dave Ramsey makes people poor. No, Dave Ramsey made made them rich So they don't have to worry about people like you. That's what oh God, the four percent rule had I h up on that. but anyway, is blood pressure. If you had one of these watches on, it'd be like, hey, you need to take a watch. Well, it because People have worked so hard. It's hope stealing. And theyre going h stealer. Nope, you need more. you need at least seven million and a half dollars and they's stillal not en mough It's still It's like Zill Zillow came out in an article last week. you know two hundred and forty three cities. It takes a million dollars to buy a starter home and they put out that as the click bait headline When Zillow's own data says that the typical starter home is one hundred ninety nine thousand. But they managed to find two hundred and forty two cities in California. They cherry picked the highest cost of living that have a million dollar starter home. Well guess what? You don't need to be live in those in those stupid cities if you're buying your first house and you're a broke newlywed So you can't live in Manhattan It's too expensive Millo puts out there as if The first time home stealing everybody's hope, firstirst time home buyers are all out of the market because two hundred and forty two cities have a million dollars starting. See, that's just a freaking lie is what that is for Cick bait And gets people fired up when the average starter home right now in America, this moment, according to Freonzillow is one hundred ninety nine thousand This is how dum these people. Well they cherry picked it and they're going, Hey, check out our site for affordable hom. Exactly And so this is why you can't trust people like Zello because they're going to click bait you into believing something that's not accccording to their own data And the four percent withdrawal rate is not true according to marketplace data that has been around if you can do basic sixth grade math. If you're invested in good mutual funds, you can withdraw six to eight percent and never touch Your principal They leave one hundred percent of your nest egg ne your kids And so if you got a million dollars That's sixty to eighty thousand dollars a year and never ou the principle it will grow. It's crazy thiss a four It's one of the CFPs. He even said at the end of this using linear return projections, he found a retireree could safely withdraw roughly six point six percent. That's coming from a respected CFP So to say that you can't do six percent, you're going to run out of money is hogwash eightight percent for that matter, you're only to run out of money. So four percent is way too conservative. You'll end up Hey, you'll have a good problem. You'll leave a whole lot of money, but in the meantime, you didn't live your life. Yeah So I've got a buddy that's he's my age he's sixty five. He's got three thousand bottles of wine in his cellar That's a no p boy. he's going to drink it all It's just the same thing. He's never gonna get through that wine. He's not gonna make it We're not gonna to make it. He's going have to sell off some of it or leave it to his kids. His kids are like, well, whatibleoy. Same thing. You can't use it's impossible to destroy a collection of that size in your lifetime ' the same exact scenario. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Summer is here and whoa, everything changes this time of year. The kids are out of school, routines are out the window, you're traveling more, probably sleeping less. And if you're not careful, you and your family can end up running on fumes. I know I'm running on fumes right now. If you don't take time to slow down and take care of yourself, all that stress is not just going to disappear It will show up in your body, it will show up in your relationships, it will show up in your work and your patience everywhere This is why I'm a big fan of Better Help. Better Help is an online therapy platform that matches you with a licensed therapist based on your goals and preferences All of their therapists follow a strict code of conduct and you can message yours or schedule sessions right in the app And if it's not the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. Listen Don't have to carry everything all by yourself this summer betterethelp. com slash Ramsay to get ten percent off Better Help HELP dot com slash Ramsey Welcome back to the Ramsay Show in the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. Philip is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Philip, what's up Hine, thank you for taking my call, Dave. I appreciate y' all. sure taking the time to put me on there U so I have found myself at a crossroads in the last week or so and has started down the path of trying to find debt consolidation, stuff like that And within the last four or five days, I've actually run a and stuff and really I'm sorry. for the last four or five days, what? you broke up and have on y'alls YouTube and stuff and really been paying attention to that. Okay Listen to what you had to say about the debt and everything. So just kind of wanted to put myself out there and get your opinion on where I need to go. I did start the baby step that you're talking about, I've got the thousand dollars cut back away now? Good. But with the debt consolidation, I really realized how out of control my unconsolidated debt has been. I've got sixteen credit card accounts Um Pretty much all of them are maxed out more or less or are on the close side of things. A few of them in collections and I actually got a lawsuit not too long ago They did not go through. The court did not find them that company's favor, but the attorney has been reaching out wanting to settle So we're trying to tackle this a debt and get back on track entirely I see the lawsuit was on a credit card that was unpaid Okay Okay, good And how much total credit card debt on the sixteen credit cards eighty three thousand one hundred and seventy two. Okay We have a sponsor that I want you to talk to called Guardian Litigation And what they do is they they are not debt consolidators But what they do, their attorneys And they go and set up plan with each of them. so it works a lot like debt consolidation, but it's not debt consolidation and it's a law firm So you've got representation built in and they do a really good job on situations like yours. Now, If you got eight thousand dollars, not it's not worth messing with. You just'll figure it out. But you got eighty thousand dollars on sixteen accounts and this is really what they specialize in. Yeah. And their website for you is guardianlit dot com slash Ramsay Phillips. So at the end of this call, jump on there and they can at least help with that side of it. What's your household income? So me and my wife together, we have about So me myself yearly is about fifty eight thousand. She's about forty one thousand after taxes We have not had our bank accounts together. We've had family account and separate accounts So that we're actually in the process of merching everything together. Wow. And good for you that way Well, you're starting to you're trying to do some stuff. I'm proud of you. good. Okay. now how much other debt do you have other than the eighty three thousand on the credit cards So we have her car payment, which is she's takaking care of that, no issues. We have a boat. No, no, no, no, no. no, How much do you owe on her car think she has about fourteen thousand. Okay. we, you're married to her. We have fourteen thousand on her car. Okay. and your boat I nineteen thousand. It is up for sale. cururrently got leads on it looking at it this week. Good. What kind of boat Um the Carolina skiff Okay, good, good. That boat will sail. Okay Good. Al got equipment, truck. My truck is paid for Ls your truck work pop put it up That I'm afraid of. I actually put as a package hoping to sell everything and the equipment in one deal. and kind of close out a lot of this debt. U But I'm afraid that the truck is probably going to be in the six to seven thousand dollars range And I've got twenty thousand credit card debt in the truck with for payers over the last year and a half. Yeah, but you don't have anything you don't have a lien against it right now of any kind. Not that I'm aware of. Okay. And the equipment is what Skid steer trailer attachments, I've listed everything in the fifty thousand dollars range and definitely will' be taking a lot less than that. Is that is that all used for work or just for your Harby Stuff. I'm So I used to own a company, sold it a few years back, done really well, all property, which is another thing I have that's an asset that I've got up been talking to people about selling it to clear it U What do you other on the product last week Nothing is paid for. Oh, I laed outright about six years ago. What's it worth? I had an offer come through the mail the other day at sixty thousand I feel like the properties worked more than that. What do you think it's worpect to? I feel like it's worth at least eighty the cabin and stuff It family property. What is mentally messing with me right now is This is I had it secured for my children, my sons My father, family's a recreational property and It's really kind of messed with never the last few days of realizing I've got to liquidate That's why the the equipment the boat Other assets that I've just frivolously bought over the last couple of years are up for sale, trying to bring the cash flow in to clear it to keep the land The guy I talked to said he made a mistake on the offer. And then once we talked more, he's like, Ohh, it's more than what I realized it was. We have a cabin, you have a pond and and all that stuff. and he hasn't got back with me, that's kind of a last resort. but that would clear out one hundred percent of everything The equipment will clear out ninety percent. How much acreage one the large state fifteen and a half. ere you you hunting on it or what We do. It's a hunting property We don't get to go to it as much. pretty much yearly, we get there one week and then a couple of weekends with fuel and stuff. C afford pr myobils, can afford to really go up there and m timeine that. That's what the equipment was for I was maintaining that property, do a little side job here and there, something like that They really Yeah you you got out over your skes before what happened. Yeah Absolutely. All right Well, here's the thing, you're not defined on lots of people. hunt deer with permission on other people's property. Most people hunt deer on other people's property with permission, not their own hunting property. So I'm with you that we try to dump everything else and keep this and keep it clear. That's fine your family heritage and legacy is not going to be ruined by not owning that fifteen acres. Um, for Der hnt. It's just not. You've got other things you can do, other ways you can do that, and you'll have a lot more money and a lot more freedom But yeah, you just stacked up a bunch of stuff is what you did. G got yourself in a pinch the best legacy to leave is you becoming debt free, you building wealth for your own family. And I mean, you still got a lot of time to do that. And so I like keeping this as a last resort. He's got kind of a get out of jail free card by selling this land if he has to. But it sounds like he's doing the work to sell as much as he can and then use his future income to cash flow the remainder. and he could be out of this thing much sooner than a normal caller. Yeah Yeah I'm looking at least one hundred twenty eighty three thousand dollars in credit card debt and say That's the equivalent of the land How long have I got to stay in that in order to keep the land 'cause in a very real sense, you're just paying that off to keep the land. Yeah, it's kind of like a really expensive Mortgage. Yeah. it's, um Really expensive. twenty five percent ABR I'm with you though. I agree and Philip, what I love most about your stance on everything was that you've already started taking action. The boat's up for sale, the skid steerers up for sale. I have se much truck too with it They u you know We're looking at the offer on the land. We're combining our accounts. We've already got the thousand dollars set aside. So you're already making moves. You're going to be okay. You're going to work your way through this. You're not going to lose it Because you're a man of action. Yeah, the willingness to sacrifice is the key determining factor for him. Yep, exactly. And then if you get down to it and the smoke clears, you still need to sell the land, sell it. You can dare hunt somewhere else As a dad of young kids, I'm starting to think a lot more about the world they're growing up in and how I'll help them make sense of it as they get older. And that's why I like World Watch, a video new service for pre teens and teens. Because one thing I know for sure, if you don't teach your kids how to understand the world, somebody else will. And these days, that could be TikTok, YouTube, Instagram influencers or whoever happens to show up in their social media feed WorldWatch's ten minute videos help young people understand what's happening in the world through a Christian worldview without all the outrage, negativity, and noise that is everywhere these days. The reporting is factual, engaging, and designed specifically for pre teens and teens. And WorldWatch creates opportunities for something every family needs more of Meaningful Conversations. Instead of just reacting to headlines, kids learn how to think about what's happening in the world and parents get a chance to keep those conversations going at home Because when my kids are old enough, I want them informed, not overwhelmed. And right now, you can get a thirty day free trial. Just go to worldwatch. news slash Ramsey or use promo code Ramsey to get started. That's worldwatch d. news slash Ramsey very dollar app has its own fan base now. This app allows me to keep my budget and goals organized. I love the projection on when we'll be debt free and my estimated net worth gives you something to work towards and gives you a light at the end of the tunnel. Hey, that's awesome Hey, if you start every dollar for free, not only will you have the world's best budgeting app on your side, but you're going to have Ramsay in your ear We're going to be teaching you The same stuff George and I would teach you as you go through the app. It's a personalized plan. We're going to walk you through the baby steps, the fastest way out of debt, the fastest way into wealth and it's free. G to every dollar in the apppp store or Google Play. Isaac is in Salt Lake City. Hi, Isaac. How are you I'm doing well. Thank you for taking my call and forgive my nervousness O, how can we help I am recently divorced and while I know what I need to pay legally according to the decree for Alimony and child support I don't know if it feels right morally, especially at its end in twenty twenty nine Okay Um You feel like you should pay more Yes. Oh, okay. The recent The reason I say this right now, alimony and child support together is two thousand nine hundred dollars a month. I am fearful that when it ends in October of twenty twenty nine then in this economy, she'll be left destitute or high and dry in that I wouldn't be Like, that make sense? I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. that's um unusually compassionate toward the ex Um the what do you make one hundred six thousand dollars a year, but just yesterday I accepted an offer for one hundred and twenty, which I'm excited about. Very nice. good for you. Good new chapter, clean chapter in your life and twenty nine hundred dollars a month to Three years, right Yes, it started part way through last year, but it's going to go until october twenty twenty nine Okay And how old is she and what is her career I I know that she was a manager for a mold company a while back, but I don't know she's working at all right now. She's just focused on Raising the kids and homeschooling them and things like that. She is thirty seven, I'm thirty six. How old are the kids The youngest is two years old and the oldest is six years old Okay, so the two nine hundred is going to Be largely child support, isn't it? U Not in Utah. I was told that the alimony portion is only two thousand fifty nine dollars of it. and then that the remainder is child support. Okay. I donon't know what I'm talking about except from years of experience dealing with this And it and because I don't know anything about Utah law and I'm not a divorce specialist, but typically Th children when you make one hundred thousand dollars a year It's not going to be nine hundred bucks a month I you might have those two numbers flipped. M I might be wrong, but I'm guessing But in most and I willll say in most states, You would at least have those two numbers flipped Did you say you have two kids I three children. Three. twowo, six and what was the other age I ran in the middle three years old. Okay So three years from now You've got to F five, six and nine year old and they'll be in school and she'll go back to work full time. Is that the plan I think that she would want and I wouldn't hate for them to continue to be homeschooled, but my goal is if I can be debt free by twenty twenty nine when all of this you ends takes place then they will stay with me half of the time and I'm just trying to get to a point that I can eventually move into a place that they have room to live in as well. So that's my motivation to become debt free. I'm curious what happened to your marriage P We were married for six years, the best way I can describe it without going into a lot of detail is I didn't feel need or needed or wanted. She bought a house in twenty twenty and I didn't know it until. She told me afterwards I didn't feel like we made decisions together and I couldn't gave the b very best I could, but I just couldn't keep going And yet you're talking to me about Keeping going I guess so. I think bit So you know So here's an opinion of a guy, not an attorney. I don't know what I'm talking about as an attorney and not even a financial opinion. I think this lady's going to have to have a career She's now a single mom with three kids and she gets child support And she's probably not going to be at home on your doll You're not going to want to take care of her for the next twenty years. So she considered home in heschool That's not a realistic scenario If you want to do that It would be highly unusual too the point I would call it weird And I'm not sure it's good And I'm not sure it's good. The very reason you left there, you need to leave there And then she needs to go on and make her she likes making decisions by herself. so now she gets to And so You know, I would not pay somebody three thousand dollars a month so they could sit at home and homeschool For twenty years you know, or whatever it is, eighteen years for a two year old. I mean, I'm not no, I would not I don't think that's That would be unusual I would make other arrangements for the children. Id do other stuff, but I'm not going to just support her and her have no it's not good for her to have no life Um, And that' assuming she doesn person, a divorced woman to have zero career and be homeschooling the kids and living off of the ex That is that's not dignity It's not good for her. She needs to become a person. of a standalone entity and have some indendence. at that point, she's codependent on an ex. Exactly. I don't want my ex husband M, would you want your little sister's ex husband supporting her? pull the rug any time. Yeah. No don't want that. I don't want that for do. I don't want that for the ex. I don't want it for the kids. I don't want to model that for the children as some kind of a You know, well, the marriage didn't work out, but we went ahead and paid you No uh no, I don't Um, you can do it if you want. It's your money. But that's my opinion. and you'll always get that when you call here because I'm an expert on my opinion And I also would check your numbers because I think your numbers are inverted I think it's two thousand dollars a month in child support and nine hundred dollars a month in alimony. don't think you gota away. Maybe, maybe there's something different in your talk. I don't know All right, that brings us to Lucy in Chicago. Hey, Lucy, what's up Hi Fave. How are you? G, How you doing? Good better than I deserve. Ghe. I'm currently in baby stub two kind of playoff like that But my question is more regarding term life insurance. During COVID, I added my aunt as an authorized signer on my credit card She's going through a hard time, and I also co signed for her apartment, which she still has. She wacked up about eighteen thousand dollars in credit card debt on my card And I wanted to know if getting life term life insurance in case she may pass before she can pay off the debt for sure she's going to pass before she pays off the debt 'cause she's never going to pay off the debt. Yeah Shen't pa it off yet. I mean, COVID six years ago Yeah So I mean, we're not going to sit around wait on herur. What's your income Well, I make about eighty five thousand do. How much debt do you have not counting this eighteen thousand dollars in debt that' yours Um so I've I had About fifty three thousand. Recently I've been listening to you. so I've sold some stocks that I had in an ESP plan, and I brought my debt down to Ab twenty about twenty thousand. Good. Okay, well you got eighteen thousand more in credit card debt I would add to that list and take that credit card immediately and cut the credit card off Turn it off immediately. cancel the card. No more charges aren't allowed by anybody, you or her And then when the lease comes up for renewal, I'm not going I'm not going to stay on it as coast hunter. Time for her to get it on her own. It's been six freaking years Okay guys, let me ask you something. What would it take for you to switch your bank? Because if you're still earning next to nothing on your savings, you need to check out Fairwin's credit union. And I know what you're thinking, it might sound like a hassle. Moving your direct deposit, updating bills, getting a new debit card feels like a lot. But here's what most people don't realize, staying where you are could be costing you hundreds of dollars every year Y'all, the average savings account pays less than half a percent. So let's say, for example, you got twenty thousand dollars saved. You might earn around seventy dollars a year, but with a fair wind high yield savings account earning three percent APY or more, that same money could earn you over six hundred dollars. And that's real money that you can use towards the baby steps Don't let temporary comfort keep you stuck Check out the smart bundle from Fairwinds Credit Union. You get a high yield savings accounts, a no fee checking account, and the Ramseay B weird debit card. Go to fairwinds. org slash Ramsey to learn more and make the switch today. That's fairwinds. org slash Ramsey, inssured by the NCUA Well, we wish we could get to every call and every question here on the show. If you got a money question and can't get through, head over to our website at Ramsaysollutions d. com and use the Ask Ramsy AI tool. It's built and trained on only Ramsy data three four years of this show answering questions fed into it. All the books George and I and all the others have written fed into it. All the articles on Ramsy fed into it. And so you will get and we're constantly putting more Ramssey data up. And guess what There's no other trash from the internet fed into it So it's impossible for it to answer poorly as Reddit would which is what AI is actually pulling from shockingly. Yeah. orr TikTok or whatever So if you want a Ramsy answer that has only RamMsy data in the AI tool It's going to give you it's going it's going to be almost as smart Iic as I am It's that good. Check it out. As Ramsy, it gets completely free. And so if you're sitting having a conversation over the fourth of July with your relatives or something and you have an argument, let's go ask Ramsy 'll settle your ammo right there. We'll settle. We'll settle argument right here Well know what Ramsay would say And you'll get the same answer George would have given or I would have given or whatever. So ask Ramseay at Ramseay Solutions . com if you're On podcast or YouTube, you can click the link in the description. Sarah iss in Charleston, South Carolina. Hi, Sarah. What's up Hey, Hy, how are you And No Can we help? You' really married I'm married in here and I just learned about my husband's gambling problem. And as far as I know Everything in the bank account is gonent the red. U see in the debt on the credit cards I want to say it's close to. thirty thousand Oh. So I don't know if filing for bankruptcy, trying to do the debt snowball or getting with a debt management program is the best solution How old are you guys forty four What's she gambling on I think it's the in flat about machine apps and for March Did you say forty four And what does he make? someomewhere around seventy thousand. What do you make? I'm a stay at home mom We don't share finances, so I'm completely dependent on whatever he giv think And you've been married two years, so you have a two year old . just over a year Oh actually and we have other children not together Okay So you have kids, how many of the kids do you have other than this child I have a nineteen year old And what were you doing for a living before you got married a year ago and became a stay at home mom with no access to money I was in manufacturing Oh, Sirah, I'm so sorry Um, Nowhere in this story so far have you said how repentant he is and that he's going to counseling and he's joined gamblers anonymous and he's turning over all the spending to you and he's giving up all rights to all money, which is what an addict has to do if they want to stay married So far, I've not heard any of that We have discussed putting making his direct deposit go into an account with just my name He has been in contact with somebody from our church to run some men's meeting that is prediction based they haven't got together yet, but they have been in conversation Okay. There's talk. I don't know Yeah, there's talk. So let me give you some harsh realities that you guys have to work through. and I hope you can work through them. All right But I'm not an expert on addictions, but I have with addicts for thirty five years because one hundred percent of addicts have financial trouble onene hundred percent of addicts also lie and manipulate. It is the nature of the beast. And so you cannot trust a thing that's being said. The only thing you can trust are the actual actions And so He's got two and a half minutes. plugged into the next gambler's anonyous meeting and two and a half minutes to have the pastor at your doorstep sitting in your living room coaching the two of you on whether or not this marriage is going to survive twowo and a half weeks. Two and a half minutes And he needs to turn over one hundred percent Of all Dad. all finances over to you. He has zero control of anything as a starting point. Otherwise, he's a lying manipulative addict and you're an enabler and your life is going to go down the toilet There's no middle ground with this folks the fastest growing addiction Right now in America is online porn. The second fastest growing addiction that's tearing families apart is online gambling spports betting has gone from five billion to one hundred fifty billion and it's men twenty five to forty five years old It's completely gutted the male portion of our population And we think it's cute with some guy holding a balloon at Draft Kings or MGM It's not cute It's screwing America over and you're sitting in the middle of it with a baby So Darlin, I want you to get really angrier than you are right now and tougher than you are right now for the survival of yourself and your children. And this guy has got to regain trust over the next many years. that he stays completely sober from gambling sites of any kind and any other addictive behaviors because he's plugged into a good therapist into a good church and into gamblers Anonymous. All three and he has no control over anything except to work all the time and bring you the checks. And then I think you can walk out of this with the baby steps But if you don't do all of that exactly that way, if he hedges on anything He's electing to exit the marriage because that's what's going to happen eventually. Eventually, you're going to get tired of this the third time you pay off all the debts because he lies If I had him on the phone, I would call him a liar. because one hundred percent of addicts lie Following me here I'm worried about you, honey bab. Access to his smartphone because you need to get rid of that thing today and get him a dumb phone that has no apps on. All he can do is make phone calls. Phone calls and texts to you saying how much I'm working And pulling mess I made. You need to pull both of your credit reports tonight. Go to annualcredit report dot comot pull them for both of you from all three bureaus to get a full picture of what this mess is before we can begin cleaning it up. becausecause if you treat this like it's a sweet little boy that made a thirteen year old mistake. And he's just really sorry You're going to be broke the rest of your life becausecause this is nothing sweet about this. This is evil to its core And you're going have to you're going have you guys are going to have he's going to have to treat it He just had an affair And he never sees the old girlfriend again or we're done because I don't need another girlfriend in here And that's what this gambling is.s it's his mistrouress You got to treat it that way, okay? Are you hearing me? And I Do I sound like I'm over the top to you? I hope I do Yeah. I understandable. Yeah. because I really want you to hear this becausecause I've worked with these folks for years and these guys that sort of kind of, Oh, I'm just gonna to quit. I I don't need anybody's help. I'm just going to quit. I can quit anytime I want, says every addict Everybody hass ever done cocaine. I can quit whenever I want Right? Not a chance Unbelievable If you've had your phone two or three years, there's a chance it's unlocked. So bringing your own phone is a great way to unlock savings on your wireless bill. You can switch to Boost mobile to get unlocked. Bring your own device and save big. See, the big wireless companies count on you staying right where you are, paying more than you should every single month. They make it sound complicated to switch. It's not, by the way And meanwhile, your bill keeps going up. That's not inflation. That's them taking advantage of you But Boost moobile is different. They make it simple You bring your phone. Keep your number and get unlimited wireless for just twenty five dollars a month. And that price is locked in forever. No contracts, no hidden fees No surprises. So if you're tired of wasting money on your phone bill, this is your chance to do something about it. Go to boostmobile dot com slash Ramsey, get unlocked and keep more of your hard earned money. That's boostmobile dot com slash Ramsey. twenty five dollars forever requires customers to remain active on BoostMobile and limited P plan Joel is with us in Albuquerque. Hey, Joel, what's up Hello Jave, how are you today? Better than I deserve. How can I help Okay, we recently bought a house to Tix up and Flip in which we did, And we we did do a real estate contractor owner finance My question to you is this contract should is set to go off in five years with a balloon payment But we also have an option to actually keep that real estate contract going for the next thirty years am better off getting the five year and putting in a mutual fund A I better off leving that that as is? Well, you're probably not getting twelve percent on it, are you No, sixix and a half Well then you'd be better off putting it in a mutual fund if it got twelve percent, right? Yeah, just I see that payment coming in that that I mean, if you put it in a twelve percent, they send you a payment, dude Mutual fund to set up a mutual fund to pay you six percent, making twelve Okay. I was just always trying to do that little bucket system of I have this buck and I have this buck and I have this bucket. That's what My thought was, I'm sorry. I don't know what bucket system we're talking about So like I have my so if I have a downturn in the market, I always have this. It's a constant for my retirement. Oh, I see So you want to be diversified. That's what you're saying. You want to not have all your money in one place Right, just in case we have a downturn in the market or something like that Okay. But if you're making six percent on your money I mean, you could put that in I yield savings account can almost make that and be fully liquid But on this contract, you're stuck You have no access to the money whatsoever. So the five years is better and then get it in the brokerage account. Yeah, I never carry back paper when to sell real estate for that reason. I don't want the money trapped at a low interest rate Okay, okay All right Easy enough. Thankk you, sir. Areciates an interesting discussion And what are your thoughts on owner financing as a general strategy I wouldn't do it And seller financing, would that be a difference seller financing is owner financing. Okay. If seller seller carries back the paper, that's owner financing. It's the same thing. The owner carries back the paper and meaning that you pay them a payment instead of giving them money So instead of going to the bank, I go to Dave, and Dave says, I'llwe you the money at six and a half percent. Yeah And you're making six and a half percent of your money and you should be making a lot more than that Now you take the risks that the bank would take because you're the lender. Yeah, Well, I mean you have to foreclose if they don't pay If if you're going to do that you might as well just have a reinner A least you can get them out. You don't have to go through a foreclure Um I mean, you make more than six and a half percent renting it Cash on cash, right So I could take this exact same house, put a reinter in it, make more money and have, you know, and a not have to do a foreclosure, I can just do an eviction and the money's not locked up. Exactly, exactly. So now I can't think of in this interest rate environment where you know, where your S and P five hundred is averaging upward of twelve percent then I don't are ten percent plus to twelve, whatever in there. I'm not thinking why I would carry back paper at six Does't make any sense to me at all. No, I would not do that And, um And here's the thing You have all of your money invested in a single individual consumer notot a company That's even riskier. Meaning that little Joe and Szie over here We bet the whole deal on their ability to keep a job Y. And I'm only making six percent on that That's a lot of risk for six percent So no, I'll pass on that one. Thomas is in Canada. Hi, Thomas. How are you? Hi I'm well, sir. how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up So I recently just got a brand new job and went up in income. And my girlfriend has just recently gotten a job close to where we live as well. I really I really love this woman quite Qite a lot. S sorry, I'm a little nervous. That's okay. And I' good for you. And we're we're looking to I'm looking to propose to work byy next year U And'm I currently have two hundred seven thousand dollars left on my mortgage soon to be our mortgage. And then I also have two thousand dollars in consumer credit card debt. and I'm wanting to pay that off Long story short, my question is how much money should I be saving when paying off a pretty minimal amount of credit card debt Just want your opinion on that What do you make now it's your new job? I make so I've just this is my I think my second month in with with my new role. I currently make, I would say I' on track about eighty two thousand dollars. Good for you again. Good for you You'll pay this credit card debt off with the next paycheck. Yeah, yes, I'm trying to. then there would be no need to worry about saving money. Just pay the credit card off. Phil then talk about saving money. for talk about saving for a ring Yeah,'m say yes, sir. I'm saying. Yeah. I'd like to get I know I know you folks at Ramseay have sort of preached I think, I think a month's worth of salary. Is that what you're going to do like that R I mean, this girl rocks my world, Dave, so I'm trying to do more, but you know, she means a lot to me and she makes me feel really special and you know, 've been through a lot of junk in my life and she's that's sweet. The ring has nothing to do with that air enough she's going, Hey, is this two or three months of salary? I'd like to know. Then you married the wrong woman. Yeah,. There's no correlation between the size of the diamond and the probability of the marriage lasting Bough zero All the other stuff, there's correlation between all the times you told me how great this girl is in the last five minutes There's a correlation between that and your marriage lasting If you keep doing that over and over for forty four years, you'll be sitting where I am So u Yeah. and by by the way, during that time, you can replace and upgrade these diamonds. I mean Sharon's got one the size of a headlight now But it started out with a little chip A little tiny little sparkle chip, not even Point two, three carrots This is not even a you can't even see the orange on the carrot. It's so small I mean, this is a tiny it's in the safe because we don't want it to be lost because it's so small And so that's that was the engagement runaw away four years ago So, you know, I think one month is going to be awesomeness h And I want you to I want you to study diamonds a little bit Because they're absolutely useless as an investment U But they're they're a great thing to give as a gift to your wife But don't but don't believe all this crap that they go up in value. I've been buying them forty years. None of them have ever gone up in value We got a bunch of. We got a bunch of them, but none of went up in value. They're just all SWI. Sharon wants it That was that simple. And so that's what you're going to do. But yeah, start out with a one month and you can upgrade later And then you guys start stacking cash and don't wait until next year to propose, honey. It's freakaking June Tiner get off the ladder And it won't take long if you can pay off two grands. H you' been dating We've been dating for approximately year and a half. Oh, yeah, you're perfect. Have had it, brothers. Let's get engaged. Let's get this done. sure. I got one more question. So we want to we're fully aligned financially or about ninety percent, I would say. We're looking to put finances together. What's sort of the best avenue to go about that? I want to have like one checking account. Not until you're married U until're married. No, no we haven't done that yet. Okay when this is after. Okay after not. It's pretty simple. You get one checking account What I did was just I she closed hers down and then I added her to mine and made it a joint It was that simple. just went down to the bank and did that So one joint checking, you can have a high yield savings account for your emergency fund and other savings goals. You can check out fairwinds dot org slash Ramsay to get their smart bundle, which has all of that. And from this point From that point the point that there's a ring on the finger and we're married forward, everybody's name is on everything. Paychecks all flow into that one checking account until you reach the point that I did a couple of years ago where my name is now on nothing D owns nothing. Well, apparently some people's hobby is to sue Dave Ramseay. So Dave Dave's a paper. He doesn't own anything. Sharon owns at all. It's awesome. and good luck with suing Hers. What an M night shamalon twist for that poor person who goes, I'm going after Dave penniless Broke. You'll be okay, Dave I'm here for you. George, George, you'll sign me a check, aren't you? I'll spare you five bucks if you need to. You just go down to the store. You spot me a ride in a Tesla. You wouldn't dare I give you a ride down to the market days. That's a liability so you can catch on fire Welcome back to the Ramsay S showow in the Fair Winds Credit Union stududio. Ariana is with us in Salt Lake City. Hi, Ariana. How are you Hi, I good, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So me and my husband have been working on like the baby steps. we've been budgeting pretty much our whole marriage. And we're finally at the point where we're like trying to build up our emergency fund, We're debt free And I am just looking at our budget and looking for like anything we can do to be saving more and to build up our emergency fund as like fast as possible And if'm looking at it, I only thing that I can see like we can move around is our our rent. and just how much it is. So We bring in probably about three thousand five hundred to four thousand a month, and our rent is nineteen fifty right now Wow And you've been able to pull off all this while paying fifty percent of your income and rent Yes. And I mean, we are we still have a margin of about three hundred that we're paying towards our emergency fund every month, but obviously We're wanting to have a few like more than a few thousand in our emergency fund And hopefully the next three years And so three hundred is just not going to cut it. And so We're in a community right now. I'm a stay at home mom. And we also only have one car That's probably another reason why we've been able to pull it off. but Because we only have one car, obviously, my husband takes that to work and I can sometimes use it, but I have a really good community of other moms here in our neighborhood that are all within like walking distance. And so I guess I'm just trying to decide we're trying to decide if giving up that like because obviously my husband will be fine if we move But giving up that, like for me and for my sanity and even for my daughter, like leaving her friends and thingsings like that if that is worth it to be able to build our emergency savings faster Well, here's the problem. you do not have any U Disposable income, it's what economists call it. You don't have any margin much to be able to build your life, to be able to build a life Yeah. And because you're paying and the worst part is it's not even a house payment. you're giving away in rent That's true. That's a great point. think about saving a down payment. It would take you guys decades at this point with just a couple hundred bucks to spare For sure. and to like give some contpects in the next. So my husband's also in school right now And so once he's done with school, we'll be making a little bit more. And then we also plan to get into we want to own a Chick filt. That's what my husband does. He manages a Chick filt right now and we want to franchise and own one And so our goal would be to get in a program where we would be making about ten thousand more than we're making now, but we wouldn't be. charged any like travel fees or rent because they would be just basically sending us all over the country. And so Obviously, we know that this isn't sustainable for the rest of our life, but for the next three years, it's like, okay, We're going to be able to save a lot. Let's see in screll business He doesn't have to have a business degree to do a chick fileet deal. You don't have to have a business degree. You do. It just gets you ahead to a bachelor's degree and we just have decided that a business degree is going to be Not necessarily helpful in getting one, but being helpful in like running a good end. Not going along with that going along with that Yeah U The question you ask yourself is is renting here Now with this amount of money in this situation going to take me where I want to be ten years from now And all the things that you described for me were out there in the future. and none of them had to do with you being in that house Yeah, for sure So I want you to go have that future that you clearly outline, the goals you set, the vision that you two have Um that includes owning a home And um And if you need to purchase a two thousand dollars car and come back and visit the old neighborhood for a while I would do that before I would stay there paying two thousand dollars a month Really? okay and you know, for your to visit your children and your children's friends and your friends that you've made in the neighborhood, that would be fine U, But you've been able to build community there. you will be able to build community wherever you go because that's who you are It's not the it's not a function of the location. It doesn't sound like his income is gonna double in the next year or two. No, it's not. Which is the only way to make this rent sustainable. It's just not ' not it's not sustainable. It's not going to take you where you want to go Instead, it's holding you back from where you want to go, which is why you called and why you wanted us to say what you were thinking out loud. need the confirmation. Sometimes that's what we do. Sometimes that's what we do. Anthony's in Orange County Hey, Anthony, what's up How doing day, Radlease, thank you for taking the call. Sure. How can we help I just have a quick question. So my wife, unfortunately was diagnosed with a brain tumor in twenty twenty three Lucky enough shes a surgy, everythingthing was successful, but she is considered as a disability now and seem not be able to work Last year, I didn't know that she had a four hundred one K. It's kind of like a four hundred one K, but I forgot the name of it But we found out that she has one hundred thousand dollars in that for one two So we have no debt now, thanks to you. I followed your steps. I was able to clear up all my debt. I just recently paid off fifteen thousand dollars debt. clear And I have about ten thousand dollars save in my in my savings account. Good for you. Well done We were thin we were thinking of taking that money out And we' able to take it out penalty free the company told us due to her disability But not tax free.oney , not tax rate, correct. But but the fee for taking it out early, it will be waighed what more do you make? That money I make about one hundred forty to one hundred fifty thousand a year.. So you're going to pull you're going to lose thirty thousand dollars of this one hundred thousand in taxes, then Correct. Yes, that is correct And we were thinking of putting some of that money. I was thinking about taking it out in a year because I still have a one year lease in my apartment And we were thinking about putting a down payment for a home since we're debt free. And Dave, I want to borrow Dave, I w want to borrow money at thirty percent interest to for a down payment on my new house I see what you're say So Probably not So what can I do with that money then if I saved money for a few more years put I would roll it to a Roth IRA or it to roow it to a traditional IRA and later to a Roth IRA in some good gross stock mutual funds and let it grow. Is she permanently disabled She was considered perly permanently disabled. I mean, that's the question I'm asking, I'm sorry. Do you believe that she is going to be disabled for the rest of her life I'm hoping no. by what I'm looking at as she's progressing and doing a lot better. So I'm hoping I'm hoping no. Okay, that's what I was hoping too. Okay. And so what what I want is I don't want to destroy the retirement nest egg that she's built. That'll double every seven years if you just leave it alone. Yeah And and especially with the struggles medically that she's had, I want to be sure that money is there And so now I'm going to you guys have done a really good job, Anthony, and I want you to keep doing it. Leave this money alone, finish your emergency fund and now start saving for your down payment. You make good money, You're making better and better money as you go along. She's healing and going to head towards making better money, we hope. And so you know, you got a real good five year Vision right here But don don't borrow money at thirty percent interest to do this Dave Ramsey here for more than thirty years, I've been talking to folks on the air and I can tell you that most people are broke, N because they don't make enough money, but because they don't have a plan. You need to give every dollar you earn a job because when you do that, something changes. You stop guessing, you stop worrying, you stop stressing. Our every dollar budgeting app will show you How to find extra cash, pay off debt, and finally start winning with money. But most people won't do it living paycheck to paycheck. Keep hoping things will change without making a change. It's time to say enough is enough. It's time to take control of your money. It's time to start your every dollar budget for free today. Go download it in the App store or Google playlay If your're private student loans are in default, well, when you've fallen behind so far that the loanans considered unpaid? Well why refi might be able to help. Why refFi helps borrowers in tough situations explore low? fixed rate refinancing options that fit their budget. Go to Yrefi d. com slash Ramseay. That's the letter Y R fY dot com like Ramsey might not be in all states. Today's question comes from Spencer in Arizona I moved in with my fiancee over two years ago I paid for all of our groceries, gym memberships and household items in addition to all my personal expenses. Also, I added him to my medical benefits for a year and a half and never asked him to reimburse me for that. He covers our rent and utilities. We are now discussing marriage, but he never clearly communicated his financial expectations before I moved in and his expectations keep changing. How do I objectively determine whether this is a healthy financial partnership before getting married Easy. it's not It is not a healthy financial partnership I saw called a moving target. This has just been This is so disjointed from the start moving in with someone you're not married to. I'm going to pay over here, but then I'm going to just cover this. I added him to my benefits over here. neverever asked him for reimbursement. It sounds like I'm like I'm going to HR here. This is this does not sound like love to me. Nothing says love. like I need a reimbursement for my purchases. Oh gosh. Yeah. I mean our Stance is pretty simple Combine your whole life. Well, that's only when you're married. Once you're married. Not when you're shacking up The problem is you're trying to act like you're married and you're not And that's what you get yourself into. It's It's almost impossible mathematically and relationally to pull off what you're trying to pull off And so resentment will build on one side long term. If you keep in mind, just because you sleep with them, there're still a roomm mate. Okay, justust treat it, you know, you just have to it's a roommate. So you have to decide who's buying the mustard When you have a roommate in college, you know, with whose mustard is that They' af you reach by your own and l. Did you drink my beer You know, that that's what youre do in roomommate college, right When you're in college, you're like, where did my stuff go? Oh, you ate my stuff 'causeuse it's my stuff because you're my roommate. It's not your stuff. It's not our st And that's not our stuff. And so that's what you're doing and people want to play married but not be married and it doesn't work And the data is now in Ten years later You're in really bad financial shape when you do this So the numbers are horrendous on what happens to people that are not married and play marriage fifteen years later financially. they don't build wealth becausecause they're fighting over who bought the mustard. Yeah. And do I to reimbrse? Well this thing reembarrse. Codependenceabling just bothered Resentment. notothing about this is sounds fun. So I would do a reset of this entire relationship if it's even gonna to work out long term Yeah, I think we need to start fresh and sit down and see a marriage counselor and say, all right, if we were married, we would be combining one hundred percent of everything And there wouldn't be a mine any of yours and an hours. there would only just be hours Much simpler And then how is that going to feel? and how's that gonna to sound? and do you want to sign up for that? And by the way, when it's ours Here's what we are going to do. We are going to be on a budget every month that we both have a vote on and we're both going to agree to, and we are both going to stick to it. Oh, and we are going to live on less than we make and we are not going into debt and we are going to have an emergency fund savings and we are going to be saving towards the house and we are going to be investing in retirement. And if we aren't doing that, there isn't going to be a wee That's That's a healthy financial partnership right there. Get aligned. Get aligned on this stuff. The number one cause of divorce and money fights in North America is money problems and not being aligned. And so if listen, if you're sixteen or you got a sixteen year old or eighteen year old, Have them to start studying marriage statistics a little bit You know, what statistically what makes a wonderful spouse Well if the number one thing that causes marriages to end is money problems, Then we should solve for that. on the second date urine and you're going to spend money like you're in Congress. Okaykay, you're out, you know Now you should solve for that You know? And if you think your mother's going to live with us, we should solve for that And if we're going to raise children and the children are going to be in charge of the house and the adults are not going to be the inmates are going to run the asylum thenen we should solve for that. in the interim period prior to marriage because these are the, you know, and you know I worship trees and you worship Jesus. We should solve for that What are the four things you mentioned that causees religion, in laws, kids and money That' And all the data says if you're aligned on those four things prior to marriage, you have a very high probability of your marriage being successful But very few people that have different religions and they both Deply believe in them. make it and young people who. You know, I don't believe that our children ought to have anything. They should be able to tell us what to do And u, well, then you're not going that you didn't No, we're wrong, wrong person. Got the wrong one here. It's be a wrong, longong life Smart ellic kids. Yeah. You mentioned that if they graduate high school and get married before they move in together, there's also data on that as well. Well this a studies laying right here. So this has been studied by like six different pieces of research. It's called the success seequence. If you do this in this order, the numbers are amazing First Before you do anything else, you graduate from high school Then you get a full time job And only then do you get married And only then do you have kids And only then do you move in together If you do it in that order, ninety seven percent of millennials who completed those three steps in order, the success sequence achieve middle income or higher by their mid thirties and only three percent are in poverty. Wow So ninety seven percent of millennials that are in poverty didnid't do the success sequence in order And it was a pretty simple, it was a pretty low bar Don't have babies before you get married. Don't get married before you graduate from high school and have a full time job. ninety seven percentcess. We're not asking to get a graduate degree. school before you make babies. And you got a ninety seven percent probability And stack that with your four pieces over here with the religion and the kids moneyace. Yeah. Now you've got marital success and financial success. And eighty percent of the millionaires that we interviewed are married Interesting It's going to be and better to build wealth together. Only sixty two percent of the public is married. Interesting So marriage increases your chances of becoming wealthy cor correlation, causation. we can argue the point in the research, but the research is there. We know the data The data is actually there. And of those eighty percent that are married eighty four percent say a quality alignment with their spouse is why we were able to become millionaires Not we didn't argue. But we had alignment on the big stuff Not we didn't disagree about whether to buy that car. That's not what we're talking about We are talking about we're not borrowing money. We did we are talking about, we're going to be generous. We're going to give to our church We are talking about we are going to do these things and we both believe that and we both are putting that in the budget and we both agree to that. And when you line all that up folks, In America today, you can become wealthy. I mean, it really it's The biggest thing that holds people back is they just do stupid stuff. Do it on the wrong. order the wrong time and it's like and then go I don know I can' do I won't be reimbursed for my medical benefits because you got it out of order. You know, the old marriage vows used to say, in sickness and in health for richer for poor. and unto thee All my worldly goods I pledge All in, baby. I'm all in. You're all in We're all in, as Daloneoney says, Ride or die. Here we go. All in, not like, I think we had to play house and see who buys the mustard You should not feel uncertain about investing And you don't have to. That's why we created invvesting Essentials, a two night virtual event where George Camo and I walk you through my playbook for investing and wealth planning. We'll simplify everything from four hundred one Ks and mutual funds to passing on wealth So you can invest with confidence. Tickets start at one hundred and ninety nine dollars. Get yours today at ramseaysolutions dot com slash events or click the link in the show notes The Ride insurance acts as a shield as a defense while your offense is you' investing If if disaster strikes your wall it needs protection, our free Inurance coverage checkup helps you figure out if you have the right coverage if you're getting ripped off and gives you a personalized action plan with clear next steps to get the right coverage in place and the wrong coverage gone. Go to ramsysutions d. com slash check upp and take the free coverage checkup Seaan's in Tallahassee. Hi, Seaan. How are you Good, How are you all doing today? Better than we deserve, what's up I need some help about how to talk to my dad about not taking out a helop on our family property Pose our family property his house. It would be me No, it's my wife and I live in a house on a pine tree farm outside Tallahassee, and my brother and his wife actually live at the backke And my dad, he lives in Atlanta, But he's having, I guess, some cash flow problems with his construction company And he called me the other day asking if I would sign a document so he could take out a He locked against the property. And I've listened to the show long enough. I know that's a bad idea. Okay, I'm sorry. Who owns the property U Well, it's actually all of us. It's a trust So we're all on the deed. My brother, my dad, myself and my mom I see. Okay, and who put it into the trust my dad, he he bought the property outright six years ago kind of as a engagement. present for my wife and I. And then my brother and his wife moved out aboutout two years ago I'm sorry, how does that figure into your engagement gift He just they just wanted to help us get a head start not have a payment or anything? No, no, no, no, no, no. How does your brother coming into your engagement gift work Oh, no, I was just Filling, you know, filling in why he's out here That doesn't really matter. No, it doesn't matter. I'm trying to figure out what your brother is this it was the intent to give you this piece of property? then how did your brother get into it the intent was to Yes, I guess, give us the property and then there it's a twenty acre pine farm. so He's just building a house at the other end instead of buying a new house or something, you know moving in somewhere else Y'all have really blurred lines about who owns what and why in your family Mh So your dad gave you an engagement gift of a twenty acre pine farm But he put it in your brother's name along with his own name So I didn't really give it to you And then your brother moves ono the property that you were given as an engagement gift. Am I understanding this right You now he wants to take out a Helock on it because now he's got trouble financially So what is the land worth Last I looked about two hundred thirty thousand And are you farming the tree farm on it U Yeahah, we're taking care of the pines. It's just a pine tree farm. just What do you do for a living I'm a general contractor down here in Florida like he is back in Atlanta. So you make a living apart from this piece of property Yes, sir All right, Um Well the The thing that I'm struggling with and giving you a straight answer on your and the reason I keep asking all these questions to get clarity is I'm trying to figure out what to tell you to do U becausecause obviously no, I'm going to tell you to not sign the HLC. Okaykay? And if you don't sign it, there is no HLOC Yes, sir. But your dad is confused. about who owns the property or you are. Because actually the three of you own it together, but it was given to you as a gift, but not really It's so confusing You follow me Yes, sir. ye. So my point is is that this is this is what what's going to happen twenty years from now when y'all sell it Ten years from now or ten days from now when you sell it Is it going to be three ways Y property you were given as an engagement, but three ways We did discuss that briefly a while back and Esentiuallyally he would just get back his initial investment and then my wife and I would get any And crossit. And what about your brother Well, he would just get the acreage that his house is on in the back Oh so you plantted that off. It's no longer part of the deal Yes. ye It's actually been platted off and dated to your brother. No. There's your brother still on the taken trust. There's a lot of hesitation here Yeah, you're making this up as you're telling me just like your dad does. So no, this is this is not working, dude. This is going to end poorly is where I'm going It was conceived poorly and it's going to end poorly And this simple question of whether to take out of HLC on this is exposing how badly This deal was done Because none of you know what's happening here Well, my brother, well, my dad, my it's all over the place And so what I would say if I'm you, I want clarity out of all of this And clarity is going to involve written details as to what happens. to this land and who has power over it and so forth So I have given my children gifts My name is no longer on them when I give them a gift. Thus it is called a gift Your dad is confused about that. And Dave that he loock to help the struggling business feels like a slippery slope of. Oh, it's going to go down and then the business then they're going to lose both things. Be it's not really solving a problem. In the contracting business. weelcome to a welcome to a business that goes broke fairly often while putting his family at risk. Exactly. because that he lock because I mean, if but his dad But his dad put up all the money for the tree farm to start with So and he kept his name on it. So Like T feels like he still owns it becausecause he kind of still does kind of didn't really give it as a gift when he was engaged. He kind of kept his name on it. Not kinda he did. And then he put his brother's name on it. so he could have the back forty Dollars B forty feet or whatever' in the back. What be astute to go Hey if he had the money to pay his dad for his portion to just buy him out of his quote unquote investment aortion make this cleaner, give him the money to be done with this Okay Seaan has his own career as a contractor and his brother has this This is going to end poorly So what would I do in this situation now that I put all my sarcasm into this pot and stirred it here. I would suggest to dad and brother that we sell this property And we divvy it up now and Dad can use that for his cash flow problems and I'll take my portion of it as my engagement and brother can have his portion as the back corner or we'll actually go do the plat now and give the brother the back corner. and dad and I'll split the difference. whver after Dad gets his money back or whatever the deal is. But dad needs his money And this is a messed up deal that's going to go sideways. It's sol going problems's going to end up in relationship problems because it was never done properly from day one. And so If I were in your shoes, I would suggest that instead of stewing it He like, why don't we just sell it? and you get your money out, I'll get my money out. and You know, we'll be clean then because this is not going to go well. and Sean, you may go you may be used to this because you grew up with it, but your wife is going to end up so pissed at her father in law before this is over And it's not going to be good for your family So yeah, I think I would just sell it and get my money out Everybody gets their money out and everybody be happy and separate ways. Yeah. because untangle this When we are when we are tangled we are tangled. And I don't think I I'm just I'm hundred percent sure Dad's not going be okay. When Sean bows up and says no He loock, we're gonna have he's gonna have feel we're gonna to hear Dads voice on the phone It'll be using my dad voice, not my partner in a trust voice. Hey, George Campmll here. We often talk about how being normal sucks when it comes to your money. But guess what? Normal isn't so great when it comes to your job either Normal is staying in a job you hate, dreading Mondays and working for people you don't even like. Sounds familiar Well, the good news is you can break free from normal because Ramsay Solutions is hiring, and we refuse to settle for the ordinary. In fact, we are anything but normal and we are proud of it. And right now we're hiring for technology, sales, marketing, writing, copy editing, and creative roles. So head over to Ramsys solutions dot com slash careers and apply today Our scripture of the today Psalm eight thousand four eleven, for the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless Jordan Peterson said, the more you open yourself up to the possibility that good things will happen, the higher probability is that good things will in fact happen Taylor's with us in Dallas. Hi, Taylor. How are you Good, George, Good Dave. How are you guys doing? Better than we deserve. What's up So I'm recently engaged, and before getting married, I feel like it's important to rig myself of about thirty six thousand dollars three hundred and seventy two dollars in debt U The biggest chunk of that is going to be my truck, which I've decided to sell. U I owe thirty thousand one hundred and sixty dollars and So in trying to sell, I'm trying to sell privately. I have about fifteen thousand dollars worth of equity in it. and just not getting any traction or interest in private sale most of what I'm getting is scammers or what I've learned to be scammers for Mask Ramsy. so I appreciate that tool But dealerships as well, and they're only opering about eighty percent to eighty five percent of the private value of the vehicle. So the private value, you think is forty five Uh yes, based on what? Yes, sir. Kelly Blueberook Okay, so that's private sale with your attributes of your truck In Kelly Blue Book is a forty five thousand dollars number Yes, sir. And how old are you? Diesel trucks thirty five. And it's what kind of truck again The twenty nineteen RAan twenty five hundred Diesel Yes, sir in Texas. Is it Dooy No Okay And it's what your model again nineteen Do you just have it listed on Facebook or is it other places as well U auto trader, cards d. com, Facebook Marketplace and U to O private one, I'm sorry Well, there's a whole bunch Tue car, a car guru. Cigous. Okaykay Are you getting any views on it? Are you getting views but no messages? Are you getting messages but they're scams? What's the situation there? a lot of A lot of views that turn into messages Um who are their deffinitely scammers offering more for the vehicles than I'm asking for it and then saying that they'll they need to shift, they'll give me a check And that's where it get sketchy Yes, sir. And then dealerships I guess dealerships not even think of this, but they scouour the private sale market looking forward vehicles in good shape with low mileage. Exactly So what the dealers are offering you, what? About thirty seven. Yeah. Okay. is the best offer I've gotten. Have you tried like a Carmax or Carvana to see what they would give you? Sometimes there'll be h on dealerships Yeah, Carmax is about the same. I have not tried Carbona Okay Yeahah, that makes sense Have you looked at on all of these sites what your competition is Like who else has got a twenty nineteen Dodge diesel up for sale? What are they asking? Yes Most of them are lower than me, but they have higher mileage and different trim levels. If I'm going apples to apples, I'm right in that range. and dealerships are if I'm not looking at private sale, dealerships are selling for forty six to forty eight for the same vehicle. So I think how long have you head it on the market pricing it lower U, about three weeks Okay. All right. probablybably just going to take some time. to locate the buyer. Okay. Everything you're saying sounds right. You've done a very, very good job of analyzing the situation, congratulations. I mean, you've looked at the competition, you've looked at wholesale offers, you've weeded out the scammers, you've got it listed on multiple platforms If you could find any other platforms to put it on, it wouldn't hurt U But if you got if you got a serious buyer that would call up and say, you know, I'll give you forty two, then you're probably going to take that But absolutely But' at this point, you're not after three weeks ready to sell the thing for wholesale at thirty seven hundred and thirty eight. I wouldn't do that. I don't disagree with you. There's no desperation in this. We're not trying to avoid a repo. We're simply trying to get rid of the thirty thousand dollars worth of debt, but we're not going to give up an extra eight grand to do that So I'm with you. I think you've got this dialed in. I don't think it's I don't think the reason I'm asking all the question is trying to see if you're overpriced But it does not appear you are Based on what you told me. Now the thing we have to all admit is a forty five thousand dollars car is still a very expensive car. So there's not a lot of P peopleople walking around just looking for that today Exactly. So It's not a, you know, if it was a fifteen thousand dollars car, there'd be a lot more market for it, right? U That point you're competing with people who would just buy new Yeah, for sure So are you in Dallas proper or are you out further? No, I'm out further. I'm in Whitesboro. I'm wonder if you call dealers that are closer to the city who may move more of those if you might have better luck with an offer I mean, you could keep poking around. I't think you're going I don't think you're gonnabody to give you much over wholesale but but Georgia is it won't hurt to do what George is saying At least you'll find real getting offered has been in the DFW area. Yeah. ye. That's good. Okay So that's already. Yeah, Everything you're saying is right. It may just be a matter of patience. and if you run out of patience, you're just going to cut your price down approaching wholesale to get the deal to work, right? too get somebody to move on it. And I just played that game selling my car and we listed it higher and then we kind of incrementally brought it down every couple weeks until it's sold. So that's that's kind of the game in the private party used car market. But that car was A lot less expensive. Oh yeah. It was like a, you know eight or ten thousand dollars car, which there's more people in the market for that than the forty five thousand dollars diesel truck. Yeah. Okay Taylor, I didn't hear anything that you told me that was like way out there. All of it sounded accurate And so the only thing I've got to say is it may take a little while because it's an expensive car It's a forty five thousand dollars car And u The good news is you're not trying to sell a diesel truck Manhattan, you're trying sell it in Dallas Fort Wth which would be a much better marketplace for it. So and or LA. you're you're in the sweet spot for selling a truck So I think that's good. and I think it's going to take a little time. And then you just decide how motivated you are going to become Or am I going to just reach over and pay the stupid thing off and keep it? You know, at some point, we didn't ever ask how much you made. We didn't get into all of that. Um, but that's that's the whole process George, It's pretty cool. that guy had a wake up call. He said, I got engaged. I'm going to clean up everything. I'm going to get my debts cleaned up. He had an I've had it moment. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and it was around his car You know, we've been doing this for almost forty years now on the radio here, Answer and on podcasts and YouTube onnce they came along, not for forty years, but once they came along Um and Its persists that The number one thing that we all buy that goes down in value is a car And the number one largest item that messes up people's finances is a car And so This is a guy, young guy. He's engaged. He's excited about getting married. and he oes thirty thousand dollars. Pickup truck. I mean, just let that set in for a second America. And so these are the decisions that people are making all across America. And so let this call be a warning to you that if you're twenty four, you're twenty three, twenty two, and you're thinking, oh, I might meet someone in the next few years or months and oh, there might be a truck standing between me and her thenen don't buy the truck, honey Y priorities will be revealed pretty quickly. If you're not willing to give up that truck for a better life with that girl. Well just never buy in the first place. Yeah. I mean, average new cars now fifty grand, average payments seven hundred sixty eight. It's gotten to be insane. So just avoid those That puts the sour of the Ramsay 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 Pace Christ Jesus Your package says deelliver but delivered where exactly