September 24, 2019 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says First Things First Dear Dave, My husband and I are in our thirties. We have $15,000 in debt spread across student loans, credit cards, and a car payment. We make decent money, and we’ve each got around $50,000 in our 401(k) plans. What steps can we take toward becoming good investors? Heather Dear Heather, When you’re building wealth, Dave everything will fall apart unless you have a rock-solid foundation. If someone has an eye toward investing, I always recommend they first become debt-free. Another thing I advise ahead of investing is saving up an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. This is money you never touch, except in the case of a real emergency. Once these two elements are in place, you’ve constructed that solid financial foundation from which you can begin building wealth. Most people skip these two steps, and jump right into funding things like 401(k)s, mutual funds, and Roth IRAs. These are all great investment tools, but when you do it this way it’s like building a house by starting the framing before you’ve laid the foundation. This kind of approach is likely cause setbacks and RAMSEY When Bob Garcia removed that old mossyhorn mount from its place over the fireplace, we were a bit confused. That huge buck had been his pride and joy for more than 30 years. But Bob put it back in his office, behind the kitchen. The spot of honor over the fireplace now belongs to a young forked-horn buck, the one he took last year on the other side of the hayfield. It’s the kind of buck you expect to get for your first buck, and not really the kind you honor like that after a lifetime spent hunting in the autumn woods. When he was asked, Bob just said it was a special buck, and he smiled. But you know there’s always more to a story than that. On that special day a year earlier … Bob heard the deer before he saw him, and he got ready. He looked to the sound of the deer and checked what was on the other side of the animal. A large dirt bank. Good. That’s safe enough. Can’t have that old .4570 slug sailing around the country. Bob felt the breeze coming right to his face, slightly chilling his nose, and carrying with it the promise of all kinds of other problems down the road. What I’m recommending makes up the beginning Baby Steps in my plan. The very first Baby Step is to get a starter emergency fund of $1,000 in the bank. Baby Step 2 is paying off all debt, except for your home, using the debt snowball method. And Baby Step 3 is to finish growing your emergency fund until you have three to six months of expenses saved. Investing is Baby Step 4, and that means 15 percent of your household income going toward retirement. In your situation, debt isn’t really the problem. It’s a symptom of you two buying things you couldn’t afford. Start living on a written, monthly budget. Give every dollar a name before the month begins, and break that debt cycle by developing a permanent financial game plan. Once you do that, I’ll bet both of you will end up feeling like you got a raise. Even better, you’ll have started down the path to freeing up your largest wealth-building tool—your income! —Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. a crisp fall later on. These days still held some late summer heat. The wind was right, and he wore dull clothing, he had a clear shot with a safe backdrop. There was nothing to do now but wait. Then the little forked-horn buck stepped out. It would never replace the huge buck Bob took years back, but it was a good eating deer and the situation was right, so he aimed carefully and shot. The sound of the massive cartridge going off started the snake at Bob’s feet rattling. Bob jumped back out of danger and finished the snake. Another step forward … just one more step and life would’ve changed forever. The taxidermist was surprised when Bob told him he wanted a really nice mount of what was, to all other eyes, a fairly routine meat deer. But he promised to give the mount the full treatment. It hangs over the fireplace now. When other outdoorsmen ask him about that deer, Bob just says it is a special buck, and he smiles. WE S LD S S S S LD LD S LD S LD LD S LD S LD LD S LD IT IN THE DS CLASSIFIE Bring more shoppers to your door with locally focused advertising from the experts. Your Ad Here! MV Shopper In Print and Online! Call 665-5884 MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y Save 10 Off A Gallon Of Gas When You Use Your Sinclair Card ¢ Prices Best In Town M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y Lord Calvert Canadian Whi sky 15.99 .......................................... ...................... 1.75 ML $15 .99 .......................................... ......................1.75 ML $ Windsor Canadian Whisky Black Velvet Canadian Whi skey 15.99 .......................................... ...................... 1.75 ML $ Tito’s Handmade Vodka 29.99 Bailey’s Irish Cream ........ 750 ML $ 22.99 .......................................... ...................... 1.75 ML $ Cork N Bottle 1500 Broadway, 665-3881 We’ll Match All Local Advertising Prices! Beef Up Your Pasture Grass Today. VACANT LOTS AVAILABLE NOW!! We have lots available for mobile homes ready today. Contact Krista or Serena about moving your home to Suburban MHP Vermillion, SD 605-635-4200 *restrictions apply* When Will We Ever Use This? By Daris Howard We were only in the first week of class when Evan asked something that would become the norm for him through much of the semester. We had just finished looking at some ideas on using math to make decisions in life when he asked, “When will we ever use this?” I explained that the goal of this class, Math in the Real World, was to give the students lots of tools which would help them make the best decisions possible. I told him the first lessons were just laying down the steps that would be the framework for making those decisions. From then on, there was hardly a class period when Evan didn’t ask the same question. I feel it is essential for students to understand the value of what they are learning, but with Evan, it almost seemed like he would ask without thinking for himself. It was more of a habit. He asked the question when we talked about making a budget and using it to make decisions about how to best utilize resources. He asked it when we went over Excel functions and how they could be used in different monetary issues. He even asked the question when we looked at the growth of investments in a retirement plan. One day I was sure the discussion I had prepared would finally be such that even Evan wouldn’t have to ask where he would use what he had learned. We started off the day by playing a game of The Price Is Right. The groups of students had to guess from gut feeling what they thought the total of a loan (interest plus principal) would be. The winning group got candy. The loan was for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, the interest rate was eight percent, and the length of the loan was thirty years. Most of the student groups guessed under two hundred thousand and were surprised to find out that the total would be around three hundredseventeen thousand dollars. We then discussed ways the students had heard for reducing the amount of interest paid. One student said she had heard that if a person paid extra on each loan payment it would reduce the interest. “But most people can’t pay enough to make it worth it,” a boy said. “How much would you have to pay to make it worth it?” I asked. He shrugged. “Probably about half of the normal payment,” he replied. We had found that the payment was around eight hundred and eighty dollars per month, so he suggested that to make any difference, a person would probably have to add about four hundred dollars on each payment. “How much do you think most people could afford?” I asked. The students couldn’t seem to agree on a value, so I said, “How about fifty dollars? A married couple could go out for ice-cream on their dates instead of a full dinner and save that much a month.” I joked that I wasn’t suggesting the husband not take his wife out, or the women would hate me. But I felt everyone could do fifty dollars. The students all agreed. We plugged the numbers into the computer, and the students gasped at what it showed. It would save around forty-two thousand dollars in interest and cut off five years. The students then, as groups, tried some sample ideas with student loans, house loans, and car loans. We came back together as a full class to finalize the discussion and were just ending when Evan raised his hand. When I called on him, he asked, “When will we ever use this?” I stood there so stunned I couldn’t speak. And before I could, Savannah, the girl next to him did. “Are you stupid or something?” she said to him. “The answer to your question is obvious.” She then scooted her chair away from him. “Don’t sit too close. I don’t want it to rub off on me. And don’t even consider asking me out.” I figured she answered him better than I could, so I didn’t try. And from then on, before he asked, Evan thought a little more for himself about how what he learned could be used. Tax Collections At 2019 South Dakota State Fair Exceed $217,000 PIERRE, S.D. — Tax collections at the 2019 South Dakota State Fair have Applying a residual herbicide like GrazonNext® HL in the fall will control bull, musk, plumeless and Canada thistle, knapweed and winter annuals. Get a jump start on great spring grass with a foliar application of GrazonNext HL. Call a Mettler Fertilizer location to have your pastures sprayed today. Menno 605-387-5513 Tripp 605-935-6106 Freeman 605-925-7230 Turkey Ridge 605-327-3261 Follow us on Facebook @CortevaPastures Follow us on Twitter @ CortevaPastures Visit us at rangeandpasture.com Label precautions apply to forage treated with GrazonNext HL to manure from animals that have consumed treated forage within the last three days. Consult the label for full details. ®™Trademarks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners. GrazonNext HL is not registered for sale or use in all states. 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