Highlights from the Dave Ramsey Show

Question: Jennifer in Nashville and her husband are considering buying a third car. They have one payment, and the car they want to buy is a Lamborghini. Dave says Jennifer needs to get the car paid off first before making a purchase like this.

Dave Ramsey's advice: They're great cars. They're very cool. I don't blame you for wanting one. I've got a friend who has a couple of them. They're sweet. It's a toy—a luxury item to say the least. That should be bought, of course, with cash, and it should only be bought after you're out of debt and have your emergency fund in place. You have a car payment. People with car payments don't need a Lamborghini.

Pay off the car, and now you're debt-free. Why do you have a car payment if you have $500,000 in the bank? As soon as you hang up, pay off your car. We've settled that, and you've got $500,000 in the bank.

I can't tell you that buying a toy that goes down in value over half of your annual income is smart. If you want to be stupid, that's fine, but I'm not going to tell you to do that. This show's about winning with money and winning at your life and having some balance about things. You work hard. Obviously, you do a great job. You make a lot of money. You're otherwise smart people, but I think you've lost your noodle on this car. What I would suggest you do is you get a Lamborghini but let's move down a year or two and get down into that $75,000 range and write a check and pay cash for it. I think you've earned the right to do that. I don't think it's smart when you make $300,000 to have over half of your annual income tied up in vehicles. I own several cars, I make a lot more than you, and all of them totaled up don't equal $160,000—and I've got nice cars.

No, I don't think a $160,000 car is wise. That's my answer, but of course, you can do what you want to do. This is not a cult. You're allowed to do whatever you want to do. You're an adult. I don't think that that's mathematically or wealth-building wise, and I think in five years you'll look up and go, "That was not smart. We shouldn't have done that. That was not a wise use of money. It was out of balance."

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