Make as Much Money as Possible - Stop Coveting Dave Ramsey's Stuff

All right, let's talk about Dave Ramsey and the controversy with Dave Ramsey. Now, I highly doubt that you're going to be surprised about my opinion on this issue, but I think

I have a way to explain it that'll help you in conversations you might have with some of the more squishy people amongst us.

Now, if you don't know, I'm not the biggest fan of Dave Ramsey. I like his get out of debt stuff, you know, don't have credit card debt, don't have cars you can't afford, stuff like that.

All that's pretty good. I don't like his investment advice. In fact, I think his investment advice is pretty dangerous.

But in any case, I wanted to address this. Somebody called him to his show, because that's his big thing.

He has this radio show, and people call him for help with their situation. This guy is a landlord, and he feels guilty about raising rents on his properties because maybe the families can't afford them and stuff like that.

But he wants to raise the rents because his costs are going up, inflation, all that kind of stuff.

But he feels guilty. And so he asks Dave about this, and Dave Ramsey says, you shouldn't feel guilty about raising your rents.

And he sits there, kind of in his very crotchety, he's got his arms like this, he's very crotchety looking.

I think that's the real problem that a lot of people have with Dave Ramsey, he appears very crotchety.

I don't know. But anyway, and he says that he shouldn't feel guilty about that. And so people started freaking out about this, mostly the socialist kinds.

They started saying, well, that's not Christian. You should have more compassion, you should have more sympathy, and things like that.

And I did not watch the Ruslan video here, but it certainly seems based on the comments that Ruslan agrees with Dave Ramsey that you shouldn't feel guilty about raising your rents.

Now, a lot of people mentioned in the comments that the caller was like, well, the costs are going up, and I want to make sure

I can still make a profit. So the cost of maintaining the property, the cost of electricity, whatever the costs are, they're going up because of inflation, because of all these reasons, and I want to make sure

I still have that margin, because that's why I got into this business. And people are saying, well, obviously to cover the costs, it's okay to raise the rent.

But one thing I kept noticing here is that a lot of people were saying, but if you're just raising the rent to make more money, to meet market, everyone else is raising rents, the market is going up, and so you want to raise rents too.

A lot of people are saying that that's unbiblical, that's greedy, and that's ridiculous.

That's absolutely ridiculous. You can raise the rent on your property for whatever reason you want to, because it's your property.

You know what I mean? It's your property. And I think people would see how insane this is if you just take it out of the landlord and the renter situation.

So let's just pretend like I'm working right now,

I have an employer, and I feel like I can make more money at another company, right? So I'm being paid, let's just say 70K to do this job, and the market starts changing, right?

And all of a sudden, market rate for my skill set is 100K. And so I go to my boss and I say, hey boss, the market's changing, and I really feel like the value

I bring to the table is worth 100K. Would anybody say to you that you're being greedy?

That's inappropriate for a Christian to do, to go to their boss and to negotiate a higher payment for their services, right?

I don't think anyone would say that that's unchristian. And then let's just say my boss said, no, you're not going to get a raise, and then

I decided to go look elsewhere, and I got a new job and they paid me 100K. So I was right, the market had moved to 100K.

Would anyone call me greedy? Would anyone say that I'm sinning or that that's unchristian, that's unbiblical?

I don't think anyone in that context would say that I'm being unbiblical. But why is it that when a landlord does it, the landlord wants to be compensated more for his services, what he provides to the renter, all of a sudden, that's greedy, that's unbiblical, that's...

There's no difference here, guys. There's no difference. We have many parables in the scripture that talk about how your property is your property and you should get a return on that property.

You should make a profit off your property. You should... It's yours to do with what you please. And it's like...

So whether that property is a house or a piece of actual real estate, or it's your labor, you can charge whatever you want to, whatever you can get for it.

And nobody would cause you any grief if you wanted to get the most possible you could for your labor.

Well, the house is a representation of Dave Ramsey's labor.

Now you might not like Dave Ramsey, you might think he's a boomer, you might think he didn't deserve to get what he got, but he worked for it.

And he's decided to store some of that work, some of that wealth, into housing and get a return on that.

And when you add to your skill set, when you go to college or whatever it is to add to your skill set, it's not unreasonable, it's not unbiblical, it's not immoral to expect a return on that.

So if you get your master's degree, a lot of people say, well, I should make more money. Well, I don't think that's necessarily true.

It depends on if your skill set has grown, but whatever. So the point is, if you want a return on the effort that you've put in, whether it's your labor or your house, that's okay.

And if it's just because you want more money, and it's just because the market has changed, and for no other reason, and it's just that, there's nothing wrong with that.

So let's not apologize for getting a return on your investments. In fact, as a

Christian, we ought to be seeking the best return for our investment that we possibly... It's good stewardship to seek that.

So make as much money as you possibly can without worshiping money, and without robbing from people, without doing immoral things, and I believe that that is what

God wants you to do. So go ahead and do it. There's nothing wrong with it. Don't apologize for it. In fact, in this clip,

Dave Ramsey tries to dissociate himself a little bit from the situation. He says, well, I didn't displace you from the home, the market did.

And it's like, I see what he's saying, but don't dissociate from it. You're part of the market. You're participating in the market, so you're doing it too.

So when you raise the rent to meet market rates, to protect your investment, and to make sure that you're getting a return on that investment...

And by the way, there's so many reasons to do this that makes perfect sense, unless you're running a charity. There's so many reasons to raise your rents to market rate that protect the investment.

You're going to have to make capital expenditures in the future, you're going to have to replace the boiler and stuff like that, things like that in the future, so you've got to protect that.

You've got to be forward looking. When you're a landlord, you've got to look to the future. You can't just look to right now, because that would be foolish.

You have to look to what I'm going to have to spend in the future to maintain this property. You have to be forward looking.

A lot of people don't understand that, but that's fine. The point is, though, that don't dissociate, that there's nothing wrong with you displacing someone from a house that they can no longer afford if it's yours.

Now, does that mean you have to be heartless? No, it doesn't mean you have to be heartless, but being heartless is not the same thing as being charitable with your property if you don't want to be, or if you can't be.

That's the thing. People are like, well, don't be heartless about it. Okay, what do you mean by that? What do you mean heartless? It certainly sounds like what you're trying to say is, it's not a rule that you give this house away for less than it's worth, but it kind of is a rule.

That's not how it goes. Again, take it back to the example of the salary. Are you being heartless if your skill set is worth 100K and your boss is only willing to pay you 70K?

Are you being heartless by going to another company? No, you're not. It's the same exact situation with the landlord -renter situation.

It's your property. Get the profit you need to get from it, and that's all there is to it. Don't rob from people, obviously.

If you tell someone, hey, I'll rent you this house for $100 ,000 a month, and then when the time comes around to collect, you're like, actually, no, $2 ,000.

That's robbery. You agree to something, now you're changing the terms of the arrangement. That would be different. That's not what we're talking about here.

In any case, I hope you found this video helpful. Go out there and make some money this week.

God bless. Peace.