Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions Broadcasting Co. Studios. It's the Dave Ramsey Show where debt is dumb. Cash is king in the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Dr. John Maloney Ramsey personality is my co-host this hour on the show. Thank you for joining us. America Open Phones, a triple eight eight two five five two two five. That's Triple eight eight two five five two two five.

Ta'izz in Chicago starting off the hour. Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? OK, so my associate, your brother, our home was my mother's house because she was mentally ill mentally. Mentally abusive and also financially responsible. So we really love my mom's house and moved in with my friends in their basement and then really not even like three weeks after that, I lost my job and I got a new one right after I'm at that one currently.

I've been there for like like three weeks now. But I hate it here that I really can't understand it at all whatsoever. You don't like your job.

A table before you keep going. Can you tell us how you really feel about your job? What do you hate about it? I mean, you've only been there long enough to really hate it. I mean. What is what's the problem? What's the problem? Well, this is the only game with one week of training. Yeah. To learn some. But but then again, there's a new training on the actual questions that the people are going to ask us.

So they tell us to call a helpline to get help, to answer the questions. But then the helpline doesn't know the answer to the question. Mm hmm. And then there's the answer to the question is also what are you doing?

What do you do all day? Because you don't know the answer to the question. Helpline, know, not answer the question. You can't answer the question. What do you do? What do you do with best intentions?

Tell people I don't know the answer, only briefly. They say I'm going to manage it for you because this is confusing. I'm going to transfer you. That's all I do. I'm eight hours.

OK, so how much do you make this job here is 2002. That's like two thousand a month. OK, so go get another job that gets a plan. But the issue is I'm trying to get I'm trying to. I'm trying to. You're homeless. I'm trying to get out of my friend's house and also tell you to quit the job.

I said go get another job. Then quit the job. OK, yeah, you're living in your friend's basement, you don't have a lot of luxury right now, you have a lot of wiggle room, you're going to have to do some really uncomfortable things and stick it out. And if the worst part of this transition is that you're in a job that's annoying and they're not training you very much, but it's inside and there's a heater and you got to.

And they give you money. Yeah, they're paying you. I would I would ride that out and find something that's going to pay you more money that's going to be better fit for you as soon as you find a job making 3000 dollars essentially to quit the damn job. OK, but don't quit the damn job when you're living in somebody's basement, you have no money. OK, you don't have that luxury. Unless there's something you haven't told me, like you have a hundred thousand dollars in your bank account or something.

And now I've got a feeling you would have been calling me this might otherwise lead with that, right. But, yeah, feel free to go get another job, of course. But don't quit that job until you've got another. What do they say? Feel free to go get three more jobs. Right. If you're at somebody so you're never this broke again, you've got an emergency. That's right. How many hours a week are you working now?

40.

And then also I have my I do have a second job. I work for a jewelry store as well. But they followed me and they just brought me back. So I'm working 18 hours on weekends. But it's not enough. It's only 53 hours.

You need to be working 80 hours. You're broken into my basement. And work more. Go get a different job, dump the damn job and get your financial plan going. Listen, here's the deal. Pretend with me for a second. You made 5000 dollars a month. How much different would your life feel? Oh, that's what I'm prescribing for you. It's not that money is the answer to everything, but when you have no money, money is the answer to almost everything.

It's like, you know, I mean, it's not it's not a spiritual thing. It's a matter of you freaking you're right on the edge of homelessness. Right. And so you've got to pile up some cash.

And the only way money, the only place money comes from work. Right. So you need to be like you. I'm being real serious. You need to have no freaking life. You don't need to see the inside of a restaurant. Your friends are going out for drinks, toughies, unless you're serving them from behind the bar. I mean, you are not doing squat except working and making money because you have no money and you need some.

It is that primitive a formula. All right.

You got to you got to get going and you've got to look at your situation and think I'm in a basement. You know, they're not training me. That's not a thing right now. Right. You are running. It's like a gazelle running through the woods.

Right. And be like this terrain is really uncomfortable. We're going to need to go over there and run in that grass. You know what? You've got to run. You've got to run. You've got to run. You've got to run. Yeah. Because there's a cheetah on your butt.

That's right. You know, and you don't get the luxury of where you're running. That's right.

You just run, go, go, go, go. That's it. Good for you. And here's the thing.

Stick it out. That's right. Stick it out until and then tell them take this job and shove it when you get the other one.

I'm fine with that ongoing issue with you changing, I do have an issue with you quitting. There's a difference because you don't have that mathematical option, kiddo.

Christine is up next. And Christine's in St. Louis. How are you, Christine?

Hi. I'm doing well. How are you guys doing this? Better than I deserve. How can we help?

Well, I am currently babysat three, but I'm looking forward to baby step three. I have heard you guys say that it's OK to pause investing for saving up for a 20 percent down payment on a condo or home. Yes, for about three years or so. Yeah. But then I've also heard you say to people who currently have a home and then say they want to go at this mortgage quick and they want to pause testing. You guys say not to do that because they're stealing from your future.

Correct. I'm just confused as to how the of rationalization is there. And if I should be investing to get that statement down, payment down, then once I get to baby, it's a very good question.

Really good critical thinking skills. Good job. The difference is, is that almost always the second part of the equation, where you're going to stop your baby step forward in order to pay off your baby steps faster involves a lot of years.

The typical the typical person calling me there is not a three year scenario, it's a five to five to a 10 year scenario where they've abandoned their 401k.

And so one of them is a short period of time.

And the other one. In other words, the number of times someone calls up says, Dave, I want to stop my baby, step four in order to pay off my house. And I can pay off my house in three years or less is less than five percent of the time. They ask that question 95 percent of the time. That's a question. It's a long term play.

OK. And that's what changes the equation, but you're really thinking clearly, good job, you're going to be fine. You're paying attention. You're listening. You want to know why? Because I'm not doing stuff just because some goob on the radio show to do it. I want to know why I want to understand it.

That is going to cause you to be wealthy and it's going to be a long playwrite. So you got to settle in and not get really raged up. And I've got to pay this house. I've got to settle in, follow the plan.

Millions of people have done it. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Yeah, we go from I said it in another hour and I've never I don't think I've ever said it that way. Exactly. We go from Gizelle intensity in one through three to intentionality.

There you go. It's not intensity. It's intentionality. Eleven baby steps, four, five, six. And that's what we're talking about here. So you're going to do so great. Well done. This is the Dave Ramsey. Listen, there are some basic things that you should be doing to take care of your family, a roof over their head, food to eat, a car to get you from A to B and term life insurance, term life insurance is an immediate need no matter where you are in the baby steps, since your family is at no greater risk than when you're in debt.

The only place I send you for this is to Zander Insurance. They shop all the top insurance companies and they're committed to serving you. That's why I use them and have recommended them for over 20 years. Go to Zanda Dotcom are called 803, five, six, 42, 82. Dr. John Maloney Ramsey personality is my co-host and crime is our open phones, a triple eight to five five two two five. Aaron is in Nashville. Hi Aaron.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Lie down inside. It is up to you. You too. Hoping. I'm hoping you'll be able to settle a family debate my husband and I have. So just to give a little back story, you're very probably on baby step four or five and six pay off about 40 grand and three hundred eighty eight days. So we were really strict on budget, as in me, I'm super frugal. So that leads me to my question. We I've always dreamed of upgrading my wedding site and we're coming up for a ten year anniversary this May.

So the deal is that I will be able to upgrade. Well, now I'm starting my research and realizing since we got married, there's these beautiful new, more frugal options such as lab grown diamonds. So I'm sure that lab grown. Yeah.

Oh, so I'm I'm sure that that's that's kind of the debate that we're hearing.

You know, you you hear that lab grown our you know, essentially they're just as real as real diamonds, but they're the key. They're far cheaper. So my thing is to understand, you know, is it worth paying far less upfront and not having fun shouldn't be an investment. I know they are not, but they likely will never be able to be resettled much for anything, if at all, or spend the extra money upfront and have something that you know is a real it doesn't matter is that this matter.

It doesn't matter. Here's the thing, OK?

You know, Sharon got married with 38 years ago with a point two, three spek point two, three carats. You have to get a magnifying glass to find the freaking OK on her hand.

So that is that is in a safe and the woman has a freaking headlight on her hands.

So and so in between those two, I've made several upgrades and have participated in some young men marrying my daughters, meaning I didn't participate on by it. But I was involved in the diamond purchases and involved in lots of diamond purchases all over Sharon's ears and arms and everything else. And so, you know, we reached a point a few years ago that, you know, what I really started to understand is, is they do not go up in value, period, OK?

And the only person that cares, unless you get one big enough to blind people in the room, the only person that cares is you.

Six months after I buy that diamond, I have to get a file out and try to figure out what I paid for. I don't even remember.

I don't even care. The only one that cares is Sharon. It's on her hand. And so that's what I mean. The only one who cares is you you're not going to go around going. This one's fake unless you're sure weird.

You know, you're just going to be walking around with this thing. You forgot it's on your hand even. And you go, OK, I my personality is I couldn't give a rip less if it's real. I bought the, you know, the lab grade fake one. Right. Or whatever you call that or I really wanted it to be real.

It means something to me emotionally and it's a thing. And I've got the money and I just bought it. There's nothing wrong with either one. But you can't really say, oh, one's not going to be worth anything because it wasn't worth anything when you bought it. You're not going to pay much for it or it's it's going to be worth about what you paid for it. If you can find a market for it, if you got ready to sell it, Aaron, why do you want to upgrade your wedding set after a decade?

It's always been a dream. There's also a lot of baggage in that previous life when it comes to ratings. So this is kind of my the only piece of my salary that I ever care to own. And I just want something that. Yeah, that could knock somebody out. But I look at them.

So Dave's right. It's it's not going to knock people out. It's going to make you happy for a minute. And it's not going to have the desired effect on other people.

Are you talking about spending on this between. Well, love going to be about 3000 real. You've been looking about fifty five hundred dollars.

Yes.

Oh, by the real group. I thought it was like a hundred dollars versus ten thousand.

No, no. I think the debate was that I thought you would go with LaBron because far more, less expensive.

Now you got zero market for that crap. I agree. No there's no.

And so it's less expensive but it's worth zero. The other one at least probably you're going to be worth five thousand dollars ten years from now.

And that's what we're looking for. Yeah, that was kind of the debate.

It was one of those you know, I thought there was I thought it was more of a value, a more of a diverse value, bigger value separation and a separation than there is with that separation. There's no question by the fifty five hundred and it's not a lot of money.

You got the money, you're in good shape until much. Fifty five thousand. That's why I said hundred. Right. To make sure I know what. But yeah I if it was me, you know what you want. There's nothing, there's no wrong answer. I already gave you all the other stuff that you can think through.

But just from a money standpoint, I, I buy the fifty five hundred and if you've waited a decade and it's still what you want, if you've we tell people to wait 24 hours. Right. You wait ten years, get the one that you want. Yeah. Yeah. You got the money.

Good for you. Yeah. Don't be a tightwad on this one. There's so much the way you phrased your sentences.

When you start talking about the baggage in the background, in the whole thing, there's something there by the next. It told me you still wanted the fifty.

Five hundred. That's what that's what he told me. And I would do it. I wouldn't think anything about it.

This is why we do this stuff. You live like no one else. So later you can live and give like no one else and you can make a decision like this, right. Yeah, that's what I would do. But you know, I'm not going to call you stupid for doing the other. You do if you want to do the other. It's fun. It's there's nothing wrong with it. So there's like this because I'm just two guys talking about something we don't know anymore we're talking about.

But actually doing a little bit about dominance just because I'm also thinking minium.

But there's this whole thing of you get a completely fake like a hundred dollar version of an eighty thousand dollar ring that is for travel. OK, so when you're traveling, you don't take your real stuff because it gets stolen. If you got like super expensive stuff, I don't know what you call it, but apparently that's a thing to.

And that's what was in my head when you talked about those are like plastic.

So am I right? I guess I just my all my alarm bells go off if you can't go on a trip without making sure everybody knows this is the room.

I got one at home, I promise. You know, I mean, like maybe I'm missing. It's not wear anything on the trip or for the wedding band or if you're that worried about it.

Yeah, I guess I'm just thinking, like, what do you what is the.

Well, if you're going to wear headlight on your hand, you're going to wear a headlight on your hand on a trip. I mean there are so many here and but yeah.

I mean and you know, most of us that travel have lost stuff. I've had stuff stolen. Oh. You know, it's not an unusual thing. So you've got to be super careful, huh?

It's a very interesting it's a very interesting way of looking.

I've never heard of the words lab grown diamond.

I guess they're trying to grow cows and pigs and horses thinking about Dolly the sheep myself, whatever, man. Right through my head. It's a lab grown. Yeah.

That gives a rock a little bit more love than it deserves. But that's. Yeah. Becky is in Salt Lake City. Hi, Becky. How are you?

And I'm trying to get through some stuff, so I'm going through divorce right now. Yeah, OK. And definitely not something I wanted to have happened. And so my question for you is more financial based, I've done so because my therapist is out of town this week.

So I so I I'm a realtor and I've always had, like, roller income with it and really not great income with it, but I love it. And I think that part of the reason why my income wasn't so great was because I didn't have the emotional bandwidth to handle as many clients as I wanted to before because my marriage has been falling apart for two or three years and there's recently been a four year marriage, but very reasonable.

Yeah, so I have to be here, so I have a few deals that are closing this month or two that are one that's coming this month and then two that will close next month. And then I don't have anything else in my pipeline. But since I won't have my husband's income to, you know, to carry me through stuff, I am just trying to figure out what I should do. I mean, obviously, get more on my pipeline.

Yeah, I'll tell you what. Hang on. We come back from this break. We will make sure you give you a good, solid answer. You're in a real pickle right now. Make sure we're careful with this. So hang on. We'll be right back. This is the Dave Ramsey. At Takeover's, we believe a great pair of cowboy boots won't just make you look taller, they'll give you the confidence boost that'll make you feel taller to attack us.

We make traditional cowboy boots for men and women that look great and feel great so you can walk into a big meeting or out on the town with comfort and confidence. And because we sell directly to you with no middleman to mark things up, you're going to get great quality at a great value. Find your parent takeover's dotcom, slash Ramsey and walk taller.

We're talking with Becky in Salt Lake City going through a divorce. She's been a real estate agent and has had an irregular income, meaning that someone she did really well, she's got a couple of deals in the pipeline getting ready to close after that. Nothing else in the pipeline. She's worried about her income pending the divorce.

Is that a fair summary of what you told us? If I push the button, I could talk to her. Hi, Becky. Is that a fair summary of what you told us? Yes, it is cool. All right, so when is the divorce final or when was it final?

So I don't know. It'll take at least 30 days. I my husband wanted me to sign some papers last night, but I just realized I wasn't ready to sign anything last night. And so I tried to get him to come back and said what she was going to do. So so 30 days from whatever, I signed the papers.

OK, and you have children. You know, how long have you been married? Almost four years. What does he make? About thirty three thousand dollars a year. Actually, no, I'm sorry that went up against those other 36.

There's no children. He makes 33. Is there any money involved in this at all? The assets? Do you own a house? Do you have any money?

We have debt, but we're splitting. The asset we had was a car that was above water.

OK, the debt that you're splitting, whose names are on it? So he has a student loan and I have my student loan, and then we have credit cards that are pretty much all in just my name. And he was just an authorized user, Roman. And we haven't used them for over a year. That's about trying to balance on those. A total of the credit cards that second dollars, OK, if he promises to pay some of those and doesn't, you will have to anyway, regardless of the divorce.

A divorce decree does not take you off of debt. Yeah, it just makes you just hold him accountable to pay it, but if he doesn't, the bank has the right still to come after you. So keep that in mind. I think you need an attorney to do a divorce. You always need an attorney to do a divorce. Sounds like a fairly simple one, a fairly clean one when you're ready to do that.

So. Back to your original question, then, you're in the middle of heartbreak and you've been dealing with a messed up situation, so you weren't didn't have the phrase, you said you don't have the emotional bandwidth to address and to fully apply yourself to the real estate business. Right. Right. OK, so when there is some finality to this.

It should open up that bandwidth, shouldn't it? Yeah, I actually already have, because my husband was just so wishy washy about wanting to stay together for a couple of years, and so finally in August, he finally told me that he just wanted a divorce. And the deal came from he moved out.

He moved out in March. OK, all right.

I'm sorry you're going through this. I can hear that, I can hear the pain in your voice. How old are you again?

Twenty five, OK.

I think you're going to be a great real estate agent. I don't think you're going to be any trouble because you're going through two things. One, you're going have your emotional bandwidth back when when you've got finality to this. And two, is you're gonna have a level of desperation that's going to cause your little. But to go to work. And I think you're going to have a really full pipeline pretty quick once you can actually put your eye on the ball, I think you'll be able to catch the ball.

Yeah, yeah, but right now, you're looking like six directions and the ball goes right by you, right? Yeah, by your own account.

One of our mission, John. Becky, I want you to honor this as though there's a death, so it hurts right now and you are at those papers and it feels heavy when you sign them, you're going to have feelings that you've probably never felt before. And then in 30 days, when you get that final letter, it will be as though somebody told you someone you loved has passed away.

And I want you to honor it like that. We hear about divorce all the time and it just sounds like it just happens and we minimize it and people get blindsided with the dump truck of emotions and pain that it actually is on the other side of it. You're 25, and I want to promise you, there's healing and light on the back into this deal and a better man out there.

There's somebody is going to love you and honor you and be with you and not drag you through six months, seven months, eight months. And they're going to honor you for the just the wonderful woman you are.

So honor this. Get some people in your life. They're going to sit with you during this messy time. And like Dave said, you're going to have no other option but to take on a bunch of clients and to work real, real hard. But don't don't miss the point. Don't miss the time.

When you going to grieve this the right way. OK, honoris just it, and I don't think you sandpipers that you haven't had an attorney. Absolutely. Don't sign a piece of paper before attorney looks at it. That's worth the 500 bucks or the thousand bucks you're going to spend on it. Yep.

OK, we're not trying to pick a fight. We're trying to make sure he didn't sneak one in on you. Yes, I don't believe in picking a fight, I just want to make sure that you don't go, oh, well, look what he did later because you were upset and a half read something or you missed something with your emotionally clouded eyes. If I were in your situation, there's no way I would make that deal without without having somebody look at it.

Absolutely not.

I wouldn't either, because, you know, I know when I'm mad or when I'm hurting that that I my editing skills aren't real good when I'm reading a contract. I reached I read stuff that's not even there. I mean, I just make up stuff in my little head. I did the exact same thing. And so you just that's what happens to all of us when we have that. So that is what you're facing. Hey, you call us anytime you need help, OK?

I hate that for you, Becky. Just know there's light on the back end of this deal on the debt free stage. And a better story is Christine from Kansas City here in the Ramsey Solutions lobby to do debt free scream. Congratulations. Thank you. How much have you paid off? About 60 grand. Way to go. How long did that take?

So the first twenty I paid off in about three years. And the last 40, it was just two.

OK, so your journey. Yes. OK. And your income during that five year range.

Yes. So the first three years was crazy. I worked three jobs and about 20000 dollars and now I'm at 50.

Good for you. What do you do for a living right now? I'm a health educator at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Army Wellness Center. Oh, very cool. In the military. I'm not a civilian. Yes. Oh, yes. Very cool. Good for you.

What kind of debt was a 60 K student loans? All student loan debt took five years to get Sallie Mae evicted.

Yes, five years from when I graduated. So well done. Yes. So what put you on this journey?

Yeah, my dad, who's here with me today, my dad, my brother, my brother in the military. So they were big influences on me. And my dad actually took me to FPU at his church when I was about to graduate college and I had no shuttle. Yes, right. And I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. And so I was just like, yeah, sure, I'll go with you. And it really shed a light on what I was about to embark on.

And I got really nervous. But then I also just had this great accountability and my dad literally could not have done it without him. I am just so thankful that he was there for me to help me through all my things. I moved three times in those five years, so it was crazy. And then I even got my car stolen right before I was going to pay off. I got stolen actually in January. Wow. And so he he just like really helped me out financially and was my accountability partner through the entire thing.

Salvific. Very cool.

Very cool. Well that's that's what makes you the rock star that you are. Well done. You're a hero. I'm proud of you. Thank you very. I know he is. Yeah. Very, very well done.

So what was the toughest part of this toughest part was just keeping going. You know, five years. Five years is a long time, really.

And, you know, being in the health and wellness field, it is really hard to find a job and to pay enough. Right. And to be single and by yourself. And so that's why I was so thankful to have my family. But good. Yeah. Just buckling down.

More proud of you. Well done. Well done. Thanks for coming to do your debt free scream. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you every day. Millionaires', you're going to be one.

Yes. Here it comes, Mantell. And I'm going to bring my dad up and. All right. He's going to screw with me because he's also going to be a millionaire one day.

So of it. Good. All right.

Christine and her dad from Kansas City. Sixty thousand paid off in two years. Three years making twenty four fifty. Count it down.

A debt free scream, three to one.

Wow. Well done, very well done. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Our scripture that I second Corinthians one twenty four, all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our aim in to God for his glory. Eleanor Roosevelt said, never allow a person to tell, you know, who doesn't have the power to say, yes, that's an old sales thing.

I like that.

It's an old sales thing, you know, or even a negotiation thing. You're in the car lot, the classic bait and switch on the car lot. I got to talk to my manager, my manager to talk to my manager. I'll be right back. And there's no manager. And there he goes in there, has a smoke break. Right. Comes back out. And I always just go, listen, if you got to talk to your manager, you know what that means.

I got to talk to your manager because I'm through talking to you. Oh, I love it. That's done. We're not we're not playing this round thing because otherwise I got to go home, talk to my wife, and then, you know, then your manager is going to talk to my wife. And that's not gonna work either.

So, you know, just create is this Lufti little bunch of crap. You know, I want to talk to a salesman who's who's got enough clout to make a single deal by himself. So.

Yeah, yeah. I guess I just called the wrong guy. I think I stopped on the wrong lot.

Two of the biggest things that you guys are saying need help right now with his community and help with your money. Turns out we got both at Ramsey Plus and Ramsey Plus and one membership, you get Financial Peace University, the class that has taught America how to get out of debt, how to become wealthy and outrageously generous to people just like you.

You get the premium version of our budgeting app, the robust, incredible world class, every dollar budgeting app, you get our new baby steps tracking app and you get a ton of different courses and tools and access to financial coaches and you're plugged in to a positive peer community. The community there at Ramsey Plus is all about doing the same thing you're trying to do, which is get out of debt and get your get you get your crap together, man.

I mean, it's time to do it so you don't have to figure out your money problems alone will help you start your free trial at Ramsey. Plus today at Dave Ramsey Dotcom Slash FPU. That's the Dave Ramsey dotcom slash FPU.

Chris is with us in Norfolk, Virginia. Hi, Chris. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave, thanks for taking my call. I listen to you almost daily. Thank you, sir. How can John boloney in a help?

And so my question today is whether it would be a good idea to cash in my Roth IRA and pay off my mortgage. How old are you? I am 61.

How much is in the Roth? About one hundred and fifty thousand, what do you own your mortgage? One hundred and forty and what other money do you have? Well, I'm thinking about retiring in January. I have an annual retirement as the defined benefit of sixty seven thousand a year, and I also have a 457 plan with about 750 thousand on it. And I have no other debt.

OK, I would use the 457 to pay off the mortgage because the Roth is growing tax free in the 457 is just growing tax deferred. You'll have to wait till you retire to do that, though.

That's correct, yeah, and so I would rather you take that money, every dollar that it grows in that 457 is 70 cents because the government's going to take 30 of it. Every dollar that the Roth grows is a dollar.

Right. And so I want that wrath left alone and let it grow, let the continued tax free growth is what I would do so is with us in Richmond, Virginia.

Hazama, how are you?

How are you doing? Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? So my question is, I recently graduated college and I'm currently working virtually from Blacksburg, Virginia. And so my rent right now is 700 a month. And I have to move to San Diego when I have to start working, you know, in person. So I'm wondering how much rent I can afford.

So what's the new job in San Diego? I'm a software engineer. What will you be making the.

I'll be making one hundred thousand. Good for you. Mm hmm. Very cool. Very cool. So what do you think this all happen?

So we are supposed to get back to work January 4th. So I'm planning to move in the middle of December. And so you're not you're not working for them right now? No, I'm working for them right now, like they're actually from Blacksburg.

OK, so you're currently making 100. Yes, with a seven hundred dollar rent, yes. So you're piling up cash. Well, actually, baby step two, all because of my job and all of the situation, I was able to pay off like almost thirty thousand dollars in credit card debt.

Very cool. Yes. So I just started, like, following all your steps. And I just want to make sure I make the right decisions now that I'm moving. And rent in San Diego is like bubble or. Oh, yeah.

And that I'm paying right now. California real estate.

So you're doing so good. I'm proud of you. Thank you. All right. So here's the thing. Rent is what you do until you're able to save up money and buy something, right? Yes, rent is every dollar you pay in. Rent is a dollar you don't have to get out of debt with or a dollar that you don't have to.

Save money for a down payment, right? And so we want to pay the least rent possible because of that, because we're paying for patients while we're not the doctor that out and build up the savings. Yes, so the maximum you should ever take on for housing is a fourth of your take home pay. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do that test during a fourth of your take home, pay your pay after taxes, not counting other things that are held out of your check, but taxes only out of your check, she take California on federal income tax out of your check.

What do you get home with? No more than a fourth of that. But I would love for you in this situation to even be lower.

OK, because you're way less than that of 700. Yeah, yeah, and you're not going to get 700.

I got I mean, what you pay 700 for in Richmond, Virginia, is going to be fifteen hundred easy in San Diego. Probably so, but but don't get out there and get, you know, get all caught up in all.

You have to do that in California. Understand about California. Listen, there's a place to live out there, OK?

And yeah. But if I were in your shoes, I just want to keep it as low as I can keep it so I can hit these other goals. That's what. But but you know, you don't need 2000 dollars.

You know, you're probably going to be in the low thousand or 1500 range to be similar to where you are right now. That's my guess.

If everybody keeps moving out of California, she may get a pretty good deal on a place to live.

Man Three people in the lobby here today in Tennessee that said they'd left California, were coming to Tennessee.

It's getting to be I don't have a day where I don't meet somebody who comes to the studio that hasn't left California for either here or Arkansas or Texas or they're not looking around to see how they're trying to decide which state every day which state to come to is really remarkable.

Yeah, it's. And no one seems to be.

Like talking about this, though, gauging it, I mean, anecdotally, we're seeing I talked to a real estate agent the other day that told me that 25 percent of their sales here in Nashville are California only.

I just know that the people who have bought a right around me, California, California, California recently. Yeah. Buy and land buying established houses taken in.

By the way, we're not we're not trying to sell you on doing that. People we're just absurd. Oh, it's just an anecdotal data. There's no real data. I'm just every day, every day we're talking and we've got Ontari leadership right now going on here.

And I was talking to a bunch of homebuilders last night, different people in different trades, subs and general contractors, both plywood. There's a shortage. Yes, copper, there's a shortage. Copper is three times as expensive as it was a year ago.

Wow. To wire your home just just from building new homes.

But they're not making it. And so there's a supply demand. You know, it's like, you know, they're not making any boats. So you can't find any boats because boats are all sold out. You're not making any ATVs and stuff. The factories aren't operating, but the sales are through the roof. Gotcha. And so creating these shortages, which is driving prices up in these different areas, and we're going to see home prices go up because building cost is going to go up because of a shortage of materials and driving the price up on a supply demand curve.

Very interesting. It is very interesting to watch some good time to be owning real estate.

Yes, sir. Good time.

Don't be panicking and doing something stupid, but it's a good time to be owning real estate. Thanks for hanging out, John. Thank you so much. That puts us our The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial piece, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Prize.

Jesus.

Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and fund screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over. But if you heard about an event, product or service, it didn't have a chance to write it down. Don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes or head to Dave Ramsey, dot com. Thanks for listening. Hey, if you've got questions about retirement investing or becoming an everyday millionaire, go bigger and broader with my man Chris Hogan on the Chris Hogan Show.

I am excited to be able to talk to you all week in and week out. We're going to focus on your calls and it's going to focus on building wealth investing and how to become an everyday millionaire. Subscribed to the Chris Hogan Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hey, it's James, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services you've heard about during this episode. Thanks for listening.