This is the #1 Financial Mistake People Make

If your private student loans are in default, you're not out of options. Go to whyrefi.com slash Ramsey. I'm 23 years old and I've just graduated from college. I have $25,000 in stocks and $3,000 in cash. I have no debt and will start a job this fall where I'm going to make $130,000 a year with the potential of $30,000 in bonuses. I would like to finance a new Tesla Model Y, Dave's favorite car. Side note, just kidding. Out the door, the car is going to be $53,000. I was giving a rate of 2% APR if I put down $23,000 and the monthly payment would be $442 for 72 months. Obviously, the smart decision is to buy a used Tesla with cash than to buy the Model Y in a few years. But I've been obsessing about this for several months now and I want to get in if I can. How stupid is this decision? Really, extremely. Is it because it's a Tesla, Dave, or the way she's going about it? No, just the whole idea is stupid. I'm kidding, I know. Number one mistake people make when they graduate from college, buy a new car. I've been driving my high school college car and it's a hooptie and now I make big money and so I'm going to prove I'm a graduated adult and you go buy a stupid brand new car. A new car loses 75% of its value in the first four years. Teslas are worse. Go look at a four or five-year-old Tesla and look at how much they've gone, go down in value. Yeah, buy that. Buy the four and five-year-old. No, don't. What? The technology is a disaster. No, it's not. Yes, it is. I have a five-year-old Tesla. You can't even reboot them. No. What are you talking about? No. Anyway, don't buy a Tesla. I'm a Tesla owner. I know. George just gave that car away to get rid of it. He did not. What are you talking about? That is not true. Dave just hates electric cars. No, I hate the value. He hates electric cars. Yeah, the value. I do hate electric cars, but I hate the value drop. So if you're going to go buy one, go buy a used one so you don't take the hit. On any car. On any car. And don't finance it. If you have to finance it, you can't buy it, and it shouldn't be more than half your annual income. And if you can't pay cash, don't buy it. And buy a used car unless you have at least a million dollar net worth. Yeah. And quit obsessing over new cars. That's going to make you broke the rest of your life. Yes. You say the phrase all the time, car payments is what keeps you- Middle class. Middle class. 100%. The car payment really is. It's the borrowing, paying interest on something that's going down in value, all really for a status type of life, is really what you're trying to buy. You want the comfort and the look of it and how it makes you feel. And if you invested that car payment over the course of your life, it means millions of dollars that you're giving to the bank or the car dealer versus you. And so the financing of the top five brands of cars that the average millionaire drives, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Chevy, and Lexus. That's it. I miss Tesla. Well, I miss a Raptor, so I'm sorry. That's a Ford. Or a whatever you drive. Whatever you drive. I got two Fords. I paid cash. I paid cash. And a Chevy. I paid cash. No, but for real though, the car, it is. That's where people get in the most trouble from a financial perspective. So yeah, I would, Ava, I'm sorry, girl. You can get it eventually, but save up and pay cash. Buy used until you have a million dollar net worth. Then you financially can take the hit of a new car if that's what you choose to do. So we're not against new and nice cars. We're not against those, but you have to be smart about it and you can't- You need to have a million dollar net worth. You have to be able to afford it. Yeah. So they go down in value too fast. $442 from age 23 to age 65 in a decent gross stock mutual fund is $4.7 million. That's not Dave Matthews. It really is. You just pulled that up. No, I just used the calculator. I know. I know. Just clarifying. The financial calculator on Ramsey.com. Okay? RamseySolutions.com. So yeah. So $5 million. That's what that Tesla decision is going to cost you. That's what I meant by earlier when I said extremely stupid. Yeah. Don't do it. Don't do it. Pay cash for whatever you buy and don't buy a new car unless you have a million dollar net worth and all the things you own with wheels and or motors and or batteries added up in value together should not equal more than half your annual income. And please go look at the five-year-old version of whatever it is you're thinking about and watch how much they went down in value. Yes. Particularly items that are a new model of any kind, including Tesla. So if Ford comes out with a new body style. Well, Wagoneers with Jeep did the same thing. Yeah, exactly. That whole thing. I mean, those went down real bad in value. Wagoneer is one of the worst on depreciation. It even beat Tesla. And so it's horrible. And so just go look at how much they go down. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And the reason is that an eight-year-old Tesla, people are worried about whether they have to buy a $10,000 battery and the car is not worth $10,000. And that's the truth. That's why George had trouble moving that car. He almost got stuck with it. Yeah, but you just said he gave it away for free. Well, he didn't give it away for free, but he had trouble getting rid of an ancient Tesla. Antique Teslas are not going to be running around. I have an antique Corvette, but there won't be any antique Teslas. Okay. They won't survive that long. So it won't make it. So the battery won't last that long. It's going to be sitting over there in a flower, being a flower. I'm telling you 15 years, you never know what's going to happen. We'll see. We'll see. Maybe they'll invent a technology to revive them and reboot them, but that would be great. But in the meantime, old ones aren't doing well on the market, regardless of whether we, whether we have a, whether we have a discussion about whether I like them or not, it doesn't matter, but they're not doing well in the market. So no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Number one mistake people make when they come out of college. Okay. I'll see you at the brand new car on payments. Don't do it. I'll see you at the gas station, Dave. Oh wait, I don't have to. Oh wait, that's because you're plugging in on my building and getting free fuel. I am. I'm still trying to understand that. I don't have any gas tanks here at Ramsey solutions that all of us that drive gas cars don't get free gas, but all you people that get electric cars get to plug into my building for free. And we thank you for that. And that way you get to go home later. And I paid for that fuel, but I didn't pay for all the other team members fuel. You own the building. That's, um, yeah, I think, um, do they make little, uh, little, uh, things where you have to charge, you have to pay. Yeah, I bet they do. I need to put paid out, let people pay for their own. Stop that. Well, I mean, I have to pay for my own gas. Kelly's got to pay for her own gas. Joe pays for his own gas. Oh, come on. No, this is 2026, 2026. That's what it is. No, I missed the equity in this. I'm just too funny. Y'all too fun. So we, we, we have me driving a truck and Deloney driving a truck and Rachel and George driving Tesla. And Jay just got a new, really nice car. I won't, I won't disclose it because it's not, it's not my story to tell. I wouldn't be unfair, but she just did really well, but it's not electric. So us gas burners got, got you three to two, right? Me and George Kendrick spirit. That's why we do smart money, happy hour together. We get each other. That's it. That's it. Hey, I don't care. I actually, the truth is we joke about this so much that I've gotten so much hate mail on. It's hilarious, but, um, I actually do think, I think the Tesla is a phenomenal piece of a technology. I really, it's a lot of fun. Uh, I'm just not an early adopter on cars and I'm still waiting on them to come out with the app, with the loud muffler, because I need a loud muffler. I'm a redneck redneck needs a loud muffler. I need a loud Southern out of them. I need to, I need a cam that goes in a big truck to feel, feel good. That's it. That's it. Whatever compensating, whatever it is. I don't know whatever it is. I'm still doing it all. I still love the still the best. Why refi refinances defaulted private student loans for struggling borrowers. Learn more at Y R E F Y.com slash Ramsey.