THE DAVE RAMSEY SHOW HIGHLIGHT

Blake's Bumps for 05.23.13

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Copeland Pin Your Wings

The Killers Smile Like You Mean It

Andrew Peterson Don't You Want To Thank Someone

Coldplay Glass of Water

Augustana Sweet & Low

Modest Mouse Float On Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.

Blake's Bumps for 05.22.13

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Andy Davis Hush Money

Augustana Shot in the Dark

Beach Boys Hang On To Your Ego

Acceptance Take Cover

Chromatics Kill For Love

Black Keys Tighten Up

Anoraak Long Distance Hearts

Bryan Adams Summer of '69

Caleb If This River Runs Dry Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.

Eric and Sarah Did It!

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:19:00-0500

Eric and Sarah in Financial Peace Plaza are debt-free! They paid off $35,000 in six months, including the house! They had a large down payment on their home, and the home is worth about $175,000. They made about $75,000 last year. The down payment came from savings and work. Hear the call!
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Put the Big Income to Work

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:05:00-0500

QUESTION: Joy in Chicago and her husband are underwater on their house. They want to refinance but can't. They make $250,000 a year and are working the Baby Steps. They only have $1,000 in their emergency fund. Their mortgage balance is $438,000 and it would take $100,000 to get out from being underwater. Dave has some ideas for Joy.

ANSWER: That means the house is worth about $338,000. You have a tremendous income, so that's a big part of the equation here. You think it will take you a year to put $100,000 down on this. That would be about $8,500 a month that you throw at this deal. What if you took a year and two months, and put $17,000 aside before you started? At least have something other than $1,000. Maybe $17,000 is not a fully funded emergency fund, but let's put a little money aside and then take off on this plan before you start retirement funding. I'm all right with that. It just sounds like a long time with your income and a mortgage this big to have an emergency fund that's at $1,000. It's not really a standard Baby Step 2 situation. You'll save $17,000 a year in interest, which is pretty substantial. You've got to get right-side up because this is a portfolio bank loan. The good news is that you can clear this up and then put the other mortgage on there and clear that up because you've got a fabulous income. Before I embark on that, I'd set $20,000 aside and then get started. Keep in mind when you do this refinance that you don't want to do a bunch of refinance costs with as fast as you're going to be paying the mortgage off. You've only got about a three-year window where you're going to pay that off. You may slow down a little bit because you're going to kick in Baby Step 4 and Baby Step 5 at that point and then tear into the house. It may be a four-year plan, but you want to be very careful and not take on a bunch of refinance costs. Hear the call!
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Scripture of the Day 05.22.13

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:00:00-0500

Proverbs 22:29 — Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.

Blake's Bumps for 05.21.13

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Fleet Foxes Winter White Hymnal

Band of Horses Laredo

Phoenix Lisztomania

Everclear I Will Buy You a New Life

M83 OK Pal

Grizzly Bear Two Weeks

Travis Sing

Don Henley Boys of Summer

Hole Malibu Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.

Scripture of the Day 05.21.13

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:00:00-0500

Galatians 6:2 — Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Blake's Bumps for 05.20.13

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Eisley Telescope Eyes

Vampire Weekend Run

M83 Reunion

Black Keys Everlasting Light

Wilco Wilco (The Song)

Red Hot Chili Peppers Scar Tissue

Band of Horses Dilly

Passion Pit Little Secrets

Alabama Shakes Hold On Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.

Scripture of the Day 05.20.13

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:00:00-0500

James 1:17 — Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

The Money Tamer

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:48:00-0500

QUESTION: Patty in Cincinnati is having issues with budgeting. Her husband is in construction, so their income is varied. She doesn't know how to plan for this variable income. Dave explains how to handle an irregular income.

ANSWER: I suggest you make a list of what you would put into a budget, which you already have—you've got that list—and it's what we need to spend on food. It's what our lights and water are going to be this month. It's what our rent or house payment is this month. Make a list of everything you need to spend money on or want to spend money on with a dollar amount beside it. Then you look at that list with your husband and you say, "If you have a horrible month and we only make enough to do one thing, what would we do?" And you put a "1" beside that. I'll help you with that. That one's food. If you only make enough to do one more thing past food—we can't do anything on this list but two things—what's the second thing we're going to do? I'll help you with that. It's utilities—lights and water. You keep asking that question, and the next time you ask it, it'll be pay your rent or your house payment. We've got food, shelter, clothing, transportation. You take care of basic necessities first at a base level—nothing fancy. Then you keep going down the list from there and say, "Well, if we make enough to do one more thing, what would we do?" You keep putting a number beside it. Then you rewrite that list in order of number one through whatever—the most important thing to the least important thing. You could do the budget every week if you wanted to, but certainly at the first of the month, what you're going to do is make that list down the page. When the money comes in, you're going to go as far down the page as you can go. If you paid the house payment, you can just mark through that one and pick up next week where the other one left off. You might have to break your food budget into four different items on there or start every week with food before you do anything else or something like that, but the idea being that you have a prioritized spending plan, and as much money as you make, you go down the page as far as the money goes until it runs out. Sharon and I lived on that plan forever—for a decade—until we got our income stabilized to where we had enough income coming in every month no matter what to pay our bills. What happens is you could go down the page and the money runs out before the list runs out. It needs to run out. The list needs to be longer than the money. No matter what you make, every dollar has a name. It's fine that you haven't saved anything the last four months because his income's struggling right now. That's what that means. If you didn't save anything because you went on a cruise, then we've got a problem. You've got your priorities wrong. But if you didn't save anything because you kept food on the table and lights and water were paid and you kept the rent paid, then you shouldn't save anything. You should take care of necessities first. Then you'll get to the other things. I think what you need to do more than anything is be more organized and prioritized like I'm talking about, and you were attempting to do that with the Gazelle Budget. Congratulations for attempting, but I'm with you. That'll drive you nuts the way you were trying to do it. I agree with you. I'm going to send you a copy of the book The Total Money Makeover. Remember, it's got the budget forms in the back of the book, and one of the forms is the irregular income planning form. It'll walk you through again what we just talked about in case you forget what we just covered. It'll get you set up and get you going. You've got to do two things for this to work. He's got to be involved and agree with you on the spending and go along with it or have a vote in it—that kind of thing. The second thing is you've got to get a little bit more organized and very purposeful. No money is spent—period—except what's on that paper. If you left something off, you've got to rewrite the paper and prioritize it again. You have to start from scratch to do that. The irregular income planning sheet in the budget forms. For those of you that have been through Financial Peace University, you've got the sheets. Those of you that have a Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace book, you've got the budgeting forms. They're always in the back of those books, and you're set up to win with that. You're set up to be able to put together a game plan. Let me just tell you money will leave and go to other people if you don't manage it. Money leaves those who do not manage it, and it goes to someone else. You do not get to keep money if you don't manage it. It leaves. It moves away from people who don't manage it and toward people who do. The budget is the way you manage it. It's the whip and the chair. It's the money tamer. You're making the money behave. Hear the call!
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Louise and Ron Did It!

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:03:00-0500

Louise and Ron in Denver are debt-free! They paid off $170,000 in six years making $80,000 a year up to $100,000 a year. That includes their house! They're only 48 and 50 years old. Hear the call!
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Blake's Bumps for 05.15.13

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Chairlift I Belong In Your Arms

Delta Spirit Empty House

Atlas Genius If So

Coldplay Hardest Part

Dave Matthews Band Funny the Way It Is

Angels & Airwaves The Adventure

The Head & The Heart Lost In My Mind

Wilco I Might

The Wallflowers One Headlight Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.

Scripture of the Day 05.15.13

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:31:00-0500

Psalm 90:14 — Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Impulsive May Mean Homeless

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:20:00-0500

QUESTION: Montgomery in New Orleans moved to New Orleans four years ago to work for a professional sports team. He was let go and got another job quickly but is now ready for a change of pace. He's thinking about moving cold turkey to another city. How much savings should he have in place for that?

ANSWER: What is wrong with taking every waking hour that you're not on the job and finding a job in the other location before you go? The good news is Austin, Texas, isn't that far from New Orleans. I would just assume before you left the dock with your feet that the boat had pulled up. I'm kind of thinking you find a job over there. Why don't you take two weeks and go to Austin and find a job before you quit? You just want me to tell you to be impulsive, and I think you're going to end up freaking homeless. I'm not going to tell you to be impulsive. You have a job. You've got money to eat with. You have a thing to do. I think you ought to leave and go to Austin, Texas. I agree with your plan. I'm just adding one step to it called wisdom, and let's have a place to freaking land when you get over there. That's all I'm doing, dude. I'm telling you exactly what I would tell my own son if he called me with this. I think you ought to go. I think you're done with New Orleans. Austin's a great city. It's booming. I was just down there the other day. They're wonderful people. I'm not against New Orleans either, by the way, but I think you're done with it and you're done with this government job. You want to get out there in the private sector and make something move around. I'm with you on all that. I want you to do all that, but just move over there and hope this works out? Add one step to it, and you don't have to have all this stress. If you want to go over there and burn through your savings, you can. I'd spend two weeks at least trying to land something to where I can feed myself when I get over there even if it's an interim-type thing. Even if you found two really good part-time jobs, at least you knew that you weren't going to burn up your cash when you made the move. That's how I would do it. When I was 20-something years old, I might not have done it that way because I didn't always do things that were wise. But that's how I would do it today, and that's how I would recommend you do it. If you want to go over there and just burn through your money while you hope you find a job, you could do that. I think that's a waste when you have this perfectly good two weeks of vacation laying here. Use it to go look for a job. You've done nothing morally wrong with your current employer. Set up some interviews before you go. Work for a few weeks to do that. Then take your two weeks and plan it in the middle of summer. Again, I think Austin's a great town. I think the economy's moving. I think you'll be able to find something. But go over there and land on something. That's how I would do it. Hear the call!
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Blake's Bumps for 05.14.13

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:00:00-0500

Artists in bold Tonic You Wanted More

Toto Africa

Death Cab for Cutie Soul Meets Body

Incubus Wish You Were Here

U2 Ultra Violet (Light My Way)

Don Henley Boys of Summer

Dawes From a Window Seat

Foster the People Houdini

Blink 182 I Miss You Follow Blake's Bumps on Twitter or Tumblr.