His Dad Took Out $70K in Parent PLUS Loans and Didn’t Tell Him

26:39You know, I get to help the public. It feels like I'm truly a public servant. Great. Good answers. All right. So you mentioned that you believe, which leads me to believe you've done some research, that if you were to go do something else in the private sector, you could make a good bit more money. How much more money, and would you be in the same land surveying, in the same industry, if we use that word? Yes. How much more money, then? I've done a lot of research, and I've done research, and I have job offers to prove that I could probably make$30 ,000 to$40 ,000 more a year. And yes, the job would be comparable, but there's a lot more stress involved, a lot more hours, and all the typical private sector stuff.

27:23Well, see, I'm a guy who's worked in both. So full disclosure, when I was a young guy in my early 20s, I worked for the governor of Virginia. So I lasted 12 months, Jade. I could not handle the pace of government work. Too slow? Yeah, absolutely. The way the decisions are made, it is a lot more low key is what I'm hearing from you, John. But the tradeoff is you're not getting paid what you should be and could be making. So the next question is, when you come to us and you say, should I change my job for more money? The question is, what would we do with more money? So let's say you make$150 ,000.

28:05What would you do with that additional money? Where would that go in your life? Is that paying off debt? Is that investing more? Is that enjoying life more? What's the rest of the story? It'd be investing more and enjoying life. I'm completely debt-free. I own my own home. I have no debt. Save like 25 % of my check as it is. But I do have dreams of building a home in the mountains, and I'm trying to cash flow that. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, ding, ding, ding, there's the answer. I would absolutely go private sector and deal with maybe a little bit more stress. I'm not sure that we can guarantee that.

28:44and deal with a little bit more hours in order to fast forward or guarantee, based on the narrative you've given me, the private sector allows you to do that faster and with more certainty, true or false? It does. It does. Done deal. Jade, we always answer, what would we do? We've heard my answer. I would absolutely go private sector and I would invest more and I would see if I could climb the ladder even higher than what you've researched. What would you do in his situation? I mean, I'm going to go part emotional, part tactical. For me, after knowing what the answer is, which is, yeah, we're going private sector, I would then run out the numbers so that I can get emotionally attached to it, so that I can see, hey, if I'm earning$40 ,000 a year, that means I'm going to get to my dream of my cabin or house in the mountains five years faster, right?

29:38$40 ,000 more. Right. Yeah, 40 ,000 more. I want to see that math. I want to know those numbers. I want to know that timeline so I can create a tie with that. If I don't do this, I'm not going to have the house until 2040. If I do have the house, I'm going to have it in 2035, right? Like knowing that allows you to get excited about it, allows you to create milestones, allows you to do all the things that are going to keep your excitement when the hours feel long, when you're wondering if you never should have made this decision, right? so that's right that's what i would do i would really make this so crystal clear understanding what i'm trading and what i'm getting in return for my trade yeah i think that's so beautiful john i think that's homework yeah yeah i think that's a great exercise here i'll give you the last piece on this there's been several books uh lots of research done on uh patients who are in hospice care and how they share their regrets with their loved ones, with their caretakers.

30:41There's multiple pieces of work on this that you all can go kick the tires on. But one of the constants, one of the consistent regrets that we hear from those that know that their time is nigh and they're going to die soon is, I regret that I didn't live the life that I truly wanted to live. And John, you gave us a pretty clear vision for how you'd like things to go in the future. and I think that beyond Jade's exercise I think I love her I love that uh that prompt she gave you but I would add to that if I don't do this will I be on my deathbed regretting that I never went for it because the safe government job is always going to be there but I kept hearing safety safety safety and I would challenge that to say the way we teach you to manage your money which is we save up for it.

31:31We make solid, strong investments that are diversified that have a track record. We don't buy something we don't have money for. All of those things are safe but they ultimately lead to a life of adventure and I think that's what you're craving. So my friend we have spoken on the matter what will you do John? I know what he's doing.

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33:34All right, let's go to Richmond, Virginia. Sydney joins us there. Sydney, how can we help? Hi, how are y 'all doing? Great. How are you? I'm doing good. Thank you. So my husband and I are trying to figure out how to best handle our debt. So we own my car outright, but he still has an auto loan, and he also has some student loans, but we also have a seven-month-old. And so we are trying to be cautious about how aggressively we tackle our debt. We do have a mortgage, of course, and we have$30 ,000 in savings, and we're just trying to figure out how best to tackle our debt and efficiently tackle it as well.

34:19So tell me what the car loan is. So we have$18 ,955.81 remaining on that. All right. And what is that car worth? Do you know if you sold it private sale?

34:33I would maybe say around$30 ,000 maybe. Okay. All right. Just wanting to know. And then student loan debt, what is the total? The remaining on that is$8 ,952.85. Look at you. I love that you're giving us to the cent, by the way. You are on this, Sydney. So that's the totality of debt. We're not counting the house. So that's it. Yes, that's it. And you got 30 grand in the bank. Yes. Savings. And how long have you been listening to the Ramsey show or paying attention to what we teach here at Ramsey Solutions? Not as long as my husband. My husband is a big fan of y 'all's. He has been listening for a lot longer than me.

35:15Is he there with you now? He is not. He is at work. He's a sheriff's deputy, and so he's tied up at work right now, so I told him I would call. Okay, so he put you up to calling us. He said it would be cool if I did. Okay, here's what's funny about this. Because if he's been following us and he's big fans, he knows what we're going to say about that$30 ,000 in savings, doesn't he? I think he does, but I told him that I am a little bit scared. Yeah, you opened with that. You said you were feeling cautious and I was interested in knowing what that meant. And then as the information unraveled, now I know exactly what it means.

35:55She's freaking out over us telling her to take$29 ,000. Yeah. Or actually, no, we leave a little. Actually, we get to leave some in there. Yeah. Okay. So let me paint you a picture. Let me just paint you a picture. You're completely debt free. You have not one debt in the world. No one can come after you. No one can take anything from you. You got$3 ,000 sitting in the bank. All of your income when you get paid in November will go to you. No more payments to a car. No more payments to a student loan. Then you can take all that money that you were paying for a car payment, all that money that you were paying for student loans, and you could just drop it over in savings.

36:37Before you know it, you'll have$5 ,000. Before you know it, you'll have$10 ,000. And you don't owe anybody anything. And you've got a one-year-old at home and you've got four months of savings and you've got no debt. How awesome does that feel? It sounds amazing. And because, I mean, it is so true. We are a slave to our debt. And I just, my only concern and fear is, you know, heaven forbid something happened to one of our vehicles. Something happened to, you know, the HVAC or whatever. That was a big ticket item. You want to know what I love that you're doing? Here's what I love about what you're doing.

37:17You are putting detail to your fears, okay? Because you said you were cautious, which really was amounting to a fear that you were facing about this. And there's really two ways to have fear about this. One is an irrational fear and the other is rational. Usually the irrational ones are very vague. It's like, oh, if we do this, it's going to ruin everything. Well, what do you mean by that? But you got detailed and you said, well, here's the thing. Jade, what if our car goes out? Okay, that is totally rational. So let's fix it. Now we can look at it and go, okay, well, let's put some truth to this.

37:50The truth is you make a monthly income, don't you? Yes. How much do you guys make every month? Combined, it's about$6 ,400 a month. Okay, and how much of that are you putting towards your debt payments every single month? Plus extra because you're trying to pay more. Plus the savings account you guys are in building. Well, I'm getting to that. How much are you putting aside? So his income pays for all of the bills. All of my income just goes into savings. So I make about$1 ,400 a month because I went part-time since we had our son. So you've got the$1 ,400 and then you've got the$3 ,000. You've got the$3 ,000 that's already there.

38:28So have you ever had a car, something happen with your car that costs more than$4 ,400 to fix? Not yet. I hope I don't. will you go and google something that you think will cost four thousand four hundred dollars to fix because i don't think it's there yeah i don't think so either so do you see what i did there all i did was i took a fear that's okay for you to have totally normal and i just ran it through a process of saying first off is it true is it rational we decided it is that's fine and then we said is there something that's more true that we can replace it with so that we can actually go ahead and do the thing that's going to set us free.

39:08Do you see what I did there? Yes. There is not something that you cannot cash flow in the next month. Do you see what I'm saying? And then as you go, you're going to keep saving like Ken said. What's the car payment? It's$497 a month. Okay, let's round that up to 500 bucks. What's the student loan payment? Like 180. Okay, let's round that up. I'm going to round that up to 700 bucks on top of your 1400 Now all of a sudden we've got$2 ,100 a month we're putting straight to savings to rebuild the emergency fund that you did out of order. Plus the$3 ,000 that's there. Plus the$3 ,000. So we're at$5 ,100 within 30 days of being debt free.

39:51$5 ,100 in savings. So what else could happen in 30 days that the sky would fall? I can't think of anything that insurance wouldn't pay for. Do you see what I'm saying? So now we see it was okay. It was okay for you to feel scared. It was okay. But now we go, hey, now that we add it to the truth of what's really going, now it becomes irrational, right? It would be silly for you not to pay off this debt. And I think you guys have more margin than you're even reporting to us because we're not digging. And so how quickly could you guys get to$10 ,000 in savings after paying all of this off in one fell swoop?

40:28That's another fun exercise. How quickly can I get to 10 ,000 so that your fear gland stops being so, you know, we're just like, oh, it relaxes. So, you know, that's what we're going to tell you to do. It's what we tell everybody to do. Pay it off. Pay it off. And you want to know what I'm giving you permission to do? Pay it off. And in two months, if it was the worst thing you ever did, call me back and tell me about myself. call me back and say hey jade said i could come on the radio and cuss her out for the terrible advice she gave me you won't do it because you're going to be like this is the best thing ever i'm debt free and i've got three to six months of expenses and i'm so glad that jaden kin talked me into doing the next best step with my money instead of me letting fear hold me back that's what's going to happen.

41:20It sounds good. Yeah. Sounds good, but it doesn't feel good. And that's your challenge. And I'm going to tell you right now, I think you're on the fence. I think you're on the fence as to whether or not you're going to do this. She's going to go home and she's going to mull it over. And I expect you to. All right. I think you'd be kind of crazy to just two people on the radio told me to do something. I'm doing it. No, go, go be. I want you to be very thoughtful about what we told you. I want you to think about it. And if you give it fair thought, I promise you, you will see that we're right. You'll see that we're right.

41:52My husband uses the app, the EveryDollar app, and he has showed me numerous times what our leftover money would be if we didn't have these debts. And the fears are louder than the positives of it, but at the same time, Um, like you said, I need to be realistic about if something did happen. Fear and caution are two different things. Fear and caution are two different things. Fear is what's going to stop you. It's a, it's, I don't know what's, it's a, it's a perception of the future that's negative. That's what fear is. It's not based on today. It's based on what you think is going to happen in the future.

42:34Right? Right. Quick question. What's the amount that you would let go of today to really, to, to get rid of debt? of the$30 ,000, how much would you go, oh, I'll let go of this and I'll feel fine. I'm just curious. I would pay off the auto loan. Let's do that today and then sleep on the rest of the idea. How about that? I like that. How about that? I like that. That's fair. Yeah. Do$18. Do$18 and then take Jade up on her offer. Okay. You didn't know I was going to do that today. I like that, Ken. I'm with it. I like it. Let's try it. Baby steps.

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44:55Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. Alongside Jade Warshaw and Ken Coleman. So excited that you're with us today. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. New Jersey is where we're going to go, and James is hanging out there. James, how can we help? Hey, Ken and Jade, good to hear from you both. Sure. Thanks for taking my call. So I was just laid off from my corporate job about three weeks ago, and the good news is I have a decent severance package where I'll be okay for at least the next six months, give or take, not too much. And I have a fully funded emergency fund.

45:29And after hearing about that, my pastor actually asked me to help him with a new startup, basically, that he's launching. It's a for-profit business. But the streaming service, it's a streaming service. It's all pre-revenue, still waiting to finalize details on investors. So right now, they have no money to pay employees, basically. And it has a pretty promising future that I can't really talk too much more about. But the team that is currently, quote-unquote, employed with the service all have other jobs and other forms of income. I would basically be the only one that would be working full time without any alternative income other than the severance package.

46:04So I guess my question is, if I were to pursue this, I'm not as concerned about my finances because it seems to be OK, at least for the next six months. But if I'm devoting 40 hours a week to the startup with literally no contract, no employment agreement, no guarantee about eventually being compensated, it's all based on like a very loose verbal agreement. And even that was kind of unclear. No, I'm not going to listen any further because it's like food's threatening to come up. I hear this and I'm getting more and more sick to my stomach hearing this idea. There is nothing good about this. No, you're a volunteer, which by the way, you can volunteer five hours a week, whatever extra time you have to say, hey, in good faith, I'll do what I can when I can.

46:52and let's hope this thing gets funded and it turns into something. But you're protecting yourself. The other thing is, and again, we always answer questions, what would we do if we were in your shoes? Jade will weigh in here on her take. But if I'm you, I'm thrilled I have a six-month severance, but I don't want to touch that. Right. I don't want to live off that. Now, that's just me. So I'm going, all right, I was laid off from a corporation, so I've got a lot of skill and a lot of experience. True or false? yeah okay and nothing to be ashamed of this is not a stain on you the economy is really weird right now is the best way i can describe it it's not hot it's not awful uh but jobs and corporations i mean we're seeing a lot of layoffs we're seeing a very slow hiring market so i'm not looking at today's wins and going man i feel great about six months i'm going i want to treat my plight as though I don't have any severance at all and I got just enough money in the bank to make it a month jade so maybe I'm mindset is I got 30 days so that I'm not I don't want to be running around like chicken little the sky is falling the sky is falling but I would be very urgent and I would not give these people any time um that would take away from your ability everybody else has got a 40 hour week job ding ding ding so do you need one and I would be my number one focus is getting back into the job market and getting employed.

48:22And we'll see how this thing with my good pastor. And I'm going to say something else just because, and I'm going to give it a disclaimer and I want Jade to come in and give her take. My disclaimer is I don't know anything about your pastor and I don't know anything about this business, but there was enough in that to make me go, Hey, nothing about what you told me that makes me think this is anywhere remotely close to a sure thing. And so for that reason, I'm definitely out and I would just help out and see if it turns into something. Sorry for being a little cynical, Jade, but that's where I sit.

48:59I mean, you turned this into Shark Tank when you said, for that reason, I'm out. And I'm going to take a page from that notebook and Mr. Wonderful would say, there's some ideas, you just need to take them out back and shoot them. Yep. This is one of them. And for that reason, I'm out. And what are your thoughts on his urgency? I feel like he's a little too relaxed. You're a little relaxed, but I think that I'm sensing that you're relaxed because you know, you can go out and get another job today or tomorrow. Like you're a smart guy. You were good at what you did. I don't think you're concerned with that.

49:36My bigger question is, is that the type of work you want to do anymore? And is that why you were looking towards something like this as kind of a lifeline of, you know, I don't know if I want to do the same kind of work anymore. This kind of seems cool. My question is, is it time for a career shift? Is that what this is really about? That would be my question on a deeper level. Ken? Yeah. James, I mean, it sounds to me like you got, I don't know, you've gotten swayed by your pastor who you look up to, and he's pretty excited about this. That's what I think has happened. And it's kind of a shiny object that's distracted you, correct?

50:14yeah i mean to be fair like he didn't say we're never going to pay you he just literally has been juggling this whole project yeah but there's no business plan there's no timeline there's no yeah there's nothing you don't have to defend him we're not attacking him we're just saying for you right now this is a shiny object that could distract you to your credit you call us to ask us what we think and we're saying don't pay attention to the shiny object keep walking Let's walk forward. Let's see if this thing materializes. Yeah. Got it? I mean, sure. Go ahead. The one last thing was just like, I was even considering like going to Bible college.

50:50I'm a single guy, no kids, no mortgage, nothing like that. I've considered doing a lot more mission focused, like Christian focused type stuff. And this was kind of what I thought could be like an intersection of both of those. And I was also just wondering more broadly what like Dave and your take would be on pursuing something that doesn't have as much of a guarantee. need paycheck. You can do ministry and still have an income. Yes. And you could also decide to go be a full-time missionary and make a lot less money. I don't have a problem with that. That's not what you gave us. You gave us this, well, there's this opportunity and now you're saying it's a cross-section.

51:26And I'm saying it might very well be. It is not now. So if you as a single guy, you want to kick the tires and consider mission work or ministry work great go for it but that's a full-time job that um if you have to change your lifestyle to meet that new salary i'm fine with that but this this other deal is not any of those things i agree yeah fair enough it's a super exciting volunteer job so treat it that way how much time can you give it uh in in line with everything else that you need to do and what you need to do is figure out what god has for you next Here's what I am going to do for you.

52:04I would love to gift you my book, and it comes with the assessment, the Get Clear Career Assessment. The book's called Find the Work You're Wired to Do. I recommend you take the assessment and read this book. Take about a 45-minute reading. It'll really help you make some good decisions about how you're wired and what the next steps are for you. So hang on the line, and we'll get you that book and the assessment. So this wasn't about a good business idea. this was about shifting a career shift into a different field. That's really what the question was. I think you nailed it. I think he's been kicked out of the nest and he's like, okay, he's clearly not on fire financially.

52:40He's got six months where he can breathe. And here comes this thing that is a shiny object. It's attached to ministry, his church, his pastor. It's all aligning with his heart. And I love that, but we need to use our head too. That's right. And I'm a fan of getting the heart and the head aligned. So important. Then your hands do what they need to be doing. That's right. So, you know, again, you're in great shape here, but make wise decisions. A lot of prayer, a lot of feedback from other people in your life, not just two people on the air that have taken just a smidge of all of this involved and tried to give you good advice.

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55:08Angela joins us next in Mississippi. Angela, how can we help? Hey, Ken and Jade. Thanks for speaking with me today. I was calling specifically about some advice on instilling contentment at a young age. a little context. We have a six-and-a-half-year-old daughter in first grade, and my husband and I, we have financially decided to invest in her future and send her to a private Christian education, and so that's where a large part of our income goes every month. And we are already seeing a keeping up with the Joneses issue arising. So she's in first grade, she's coming back, and she wants what her friends have.

56:02I can name a few examples, but they're really creepy, little fuzzy keychain critters. And it's little things like that where, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, I do. Um, it's little things like that where we had no intention of getting her one or anything like that. But, and quite honestly, she didn't even know what it was until she went to school and everybody else had them. So we see this problem arising of even as she gets older of going to school and, you know, wanting what all the quote unquote cool kids have or, you know, that's going to happen. that's going to happen no matter what regardless of what school they go to yeah um and so we were my husband and I were just wondering how do we start teaching her contentment now before it gets bigger um we we've done FPU for kids with her and so she's super excited about her envelopes and has like the biggest heart, loves to save, loves to give, also really loves to spend.

57:13And so how do we transition this into just being content with you, with what you already have? Because saying, oh, well, just be grateful for what you already have. You know, not all kids have excellence. That only goes so far with a six-year-old. Yeah, listen, I am, Angela, I am in that boat with you right now. I have a kid in second grade. I have a kindergartner and I am having those same conversations all the time. And you want to know what I think part of it is, is when you're a kid, I mean, you're born selfish, right? It's give me my food when I'm ready. You know, everybody does everything for me.

57:52The world kind of revolves around them and they, when they see something they want, they want it. And especially if their friends have it, they want it too. So part of that's just the nature of being a kid. And I, I'll tell you where I'm at now. I don't know that I'm right because I'm not ahead of you. Ken can probably give us some better judgment here. But what I'm at right now is I feel like I'm planting seeds. So if I'm planting the seeds, I usually don't see the crop for quite a while. And it can be tempting to think that if I plant the seed, then tomorrow I'll see the fruit. And it's just not like that.

58:25So I've kind of told myself, I'm telling them, hey, the things aren't what make you happy. You've got to learn to be happy with what you have. You don't have to look at other people, right? I can plant all of those seeds. And then I've got to just wait for them to grow. And then the other part for me is, what am I, how, what am I like? Am I a person that every time I go to the store, I have to buy something? Am I a person that every time I see something, I'm commenting on it and saying, oh, I wonder, let's see, I wonder if I can get that, right? I also have to check myself and make sure, what am I putting into the house?

58:58Because if I'm a person who seems like every time I walk in the house I have shopping bags, well, then I'm not really helping my case here. So that's where I'm at. Ken, you're the wise old owl here. Well, you got part of it right. I'm the old owl. I don't know how wise I am, but our kids are 20, 17, and 16. And my wife, Stacey, did a phenomenal job on this. And I can tell you some of the things that we did. And I would tell you at this age, six years of age, you're going to have to show more than tell. I like what Jade said. I do think you have the object lesson and I think you share a soundbite because that's all a six-year-old's going to pay attention to.

59:40But I will tell you that as consistently as you can, a short little bumper sticker response when she says that, just go, you know what? You're going to learn one day we can't have everything we want. Some little, whatever you want to say, trust your instinct and say it, but it's not in a sit down lecture because the six year old just can't process it. What I mean by show, not tell is some, some of the things that Stacy did, we did this early on when the kids were about that age, six or seven, we started dialing back on Christmas. We got some great advice from an older couple and we started giving the kids just three gifts for Christmas as an example.

1:00:17And we would do three equally great gifts. In other words, we got their list and instead of 10 things we gave them three so it was less than they wanted and that was an object lesson they they were like oh but all three gifts were awesome yeah and then we told them that they had to take one of their three gifts and they had to choose a child at the children's hospital to give it to and we took them to children's hospital in atlanta and they had picked out one of their three amazing gifts and they gave it to a kid who was very, very sick. And that was, that was, uh, that was something that, uh, again, no credit there.

1:00:56That was an older couple told us that. And we did that for about three or four years. And I will tell you that that taught our kids as much as anything that we ever told them. Tell us the first, be 100 % real. The first year you did that, how did they take it? What did they do? Well, they're young enough to where it's not a complete attitude thing. Like I wouldn't recommend you throw this on 11 and 12 year olds. Sure, sure, For sure. Because at that point, it's like, I'm not saying the horse is out of the barn, but it's a lot of attitude you got to deal with. But with, you know, a kindergartner and a second grader.

1:01:25What are we doing? Like they needed some clarification. You're telling me that I got to pick one of these three and we're going to give it. And we was like, yeah. Did they think they were getting in trouble? Did they read it as a consequence? No. I think they got it conceptually until they went down to Children's Hospital and they walked the gift in and they personally hand it to a different kid. And I think they got it. And I think we could have done that in a lower income area. It doesn't have to be a children's hospital. But the idea is show, not tell. And you're trying, because your question, Angela, was how do we teach contentment?

1:02:00And the way I think you teach contentment is you show them how good they have it, not tell them how good they have it, show them. And so that's what, you can take that and ideate and do your own version of that. I'm going to do exactly that. But here's what it did. When they weren't thrilled. I'm sure they weren't. I'm thinking about what my kids would do. I know Angela is thinking about what her daughter is going to do. But they weren't thrilled. But here's the thing. They understood it. It made it not just about them. Yeah, it wasn't mom and dad are trying to ruin Christmas. It was mom and dad are trying to show us that there are people in this world that are my age that look a lot like me.

1:02:44and they are in a worse situation than me, and I'm giving them, out of my goodness, I'm giving them some of the goodness in my life. I do think that plants a very important seed. Wow. Yes, I agree. That's so good. I'm thinking about it. It's tough, by the way, as a parent. Let me also say, it's not easy to say that. Oh, my God. Well, I'm putting myself in you guys' shoes right now. It's tough. Because you want to know, I'll tell you, Angela, what I was thinking, as Ken was saying that, next thing I'm thinking is, well, when you got back home, I'd want to have another gift sitting there waiting for them.

1:03:20No, but that's not. Then it takes away from it, I know. And keep in mind. Well, my question about it was, at our church, my daughter's really excited about the angel tree or the giving tree of adopting a family and buying things for them. And we've explained, like, these are families that, you know, if it weren't for us, they wouldn't have anything for Christmas. And maybe they just need some clothes. And she gets stupid. Like she wants to go buy the whole store for them and give them the world. And so that that desire is there. But I'm wondering if that's just a little less effective than what you just brought up.

1:03:59It's not something that was hers that she's giving. Well, here's what I would tell you. Does she get an allowance of any type? No, we don't do allowances. We do commissions for her. Okay. Great. Sorry. Yeah. I used Dave. Yeah. Dave hates allowance. Okay. Here's my point. You're fine. I would take her commissions and say, you're going to, to adopt a family out of your money. Like get her money in the game. I think it's just as powerful as a lesson as what I shared. That was just one idea. I like the part of seeing it though, Ken. Well, that's my point. If she takes her commission and she goes and buys the gifts and then hands it to the little girl and their family, the point is they need to see others that are not, listen, kids can pick up on, ooh, they don't have it as good as us.

1:04:42Yeah, they can. They need to see it and feel it.

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1:06:27Hey, if you all are getting something out of the show, it's helping you. We would love for you to help us. The best way to grow our show is for you to share because you have so much credibility. So like, share, subscribe, however you're listening, wherever you're listening. And give us all the ratings, the follows, all the things. I can't keep up with it anymore, but you know what they are. We would appreciate that so much. Chloe is joining us now in Houston, Texas. Chloe, how can we help? hi thank you for taking my call sure what's going on today um my mom recently passed and thank you um i was kind of tell us what happened on the journey of um i was on the journey of just working on my baby steps before this law um so now i'm just trying to navigate um i have six younger siblings they're they're minors and um you know i'll be taking them on uh full time so So I'm just trying to figure out as far as like her home goes.

1:07:28We, you know, we did have some conversations before she passed and she was wanting to get a bigger house to fit the kids. And she does still have a mortgage. So I don't know if it would be smarter for me to keep the home and just keep paying on it or, you know, sell it. And, you know, of course, pay the mortgage company off. What is your living situation? Do you own a home or are you renting? No, I'm renting, but I mean, my lease is up next month. Okay. Can you even put all of the siblings in there with you? Is there enough room? No, not in my apartment, no. I will be letting this apartment go and trying to figure out, you know, this was my mom's house.

1:08:14What's the mortgage on your mom's house? She owes$65. Okay. And it's like$1 ,200 a month. Did you get the house? Or is that still up in the air as to who gets the house now that she's no longer with us? No, I would be getting a home. Okay. What's your current rent? My current rent, I don't really have rent. My partner, he works for a company. Okay, so would... Oh, so it's a company apartment that he's getting? Right, right. Okay, so tell me about your income, just you. Just me. I'm making$58K in salary, but I'm also working two part-time jobs, which I probably won't be doing them for long now that this just happened.

1:09:14Okay. They only make like$500 every week. Now, let me make sure I understand. you're working two part-time jobs in addition to the$58 ,000 job? Yes. Look at you. What are you doing that for? What's all that hustle for? She had been sick for a while, and I was kind of just helping with deals, but I also wanted to pay some of my debt off. So I started this about two months ago. Good for you. I'm so impressed with your hustle. What kind of debt do you have? Honestly, I don't have a lot of debt. My car is like$21 ,000. And then I do have a student loan for$10 ,000. And then collections, it's like$4 ,000, multiple things in that amount.

1:10:00Okay. Like$4 ,000. So the good news is, let's say, okay, just at your base job, you're bringing home$4 ,000 a month, yes? Yeah, just about, yeah. Okay. And if you did pick up a smaller, maybe you let two of the three side hustles go, right? The good news is the mortgage is right at 25%, right where you want it to be. So that's not a terrible thing. It's just getting accustomed to a life where you're paying rent or paying a mortgage, right? Right. Then from there, there should still be a little bit, you're going to have to adjust to what it's going to be like to support six siblings. Can you tell us the ages of the siblings?

1:10:44Five, seven, 13, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old. Okay. And is the five-year-old in kindergarten yet? Yes. Okay. So everybody's in school eight hours a day. Do you have aftercare? I mean, how will this affect your ability to do your job for the youngsters? So I would probably have to let the, like, my part-time jobs are usually like evening times through the night. So I would have to let those go because they get out of school around like 4.30, you know. So the point is, taking care of the little ones that obviously need supervision, you can keep your$58 ,000. That's not going to affect that job at all, just the two part-time.

1:11:31Oh, no. Great. Okay, good. So I love you getting rid of the two part-time jobs, at least in the short term, just to see what this new rhythm is going to be like. Bless your heart. Chloe, you're amazing. You really are. You're amazing. Wow. I mean, I got to believe that. I mean, I got to believe you knew this was coming, right? You said she was sick for a while. Had you thought about this day and kind of started thinking about what that would mean for you? Or is this all hitting you suddenly? we definitely weren't expecting her to to pass like anytime soon we were hoping for her to recover um but i did think about if this did happen what that would look like so okay yeah how long ago did she pass um on the first so it's it's very recent oh chloe bless your heart.

1:12:26You are just going through it right now. We're so, so sorry. Yeah. That's so, so tough, but you're, you are rising to the occasion in some very amazing ways right now. Um, thank you. I mean, on behalf of all the siblings, I'm just saying thank you because somebody needed to step in and the fact that you are is so incredible. Um, let's talk about this house though. That's the big question she called in with. She can afford it. She can. Where's the, Where's your partner come in on this?

1:12:59He's fully on board. He's been in the family, and we went to high school together. So he knows my family really well, and they love him. How old are you? I am 30. Okay. Okay. Just double checking. All right. Which way were you leaning before you called us as it relates to this house? What were you leaning towards doing? I know this is all super fresh. I honestly wanted to get a bigger house due to the fact that a lot of work needs to be put into the house. And I've thought about that every which way. You know, AC needs to be replaced. Foundation is messed up. There's a lot of different things that need to be done in the home.

1:13:44And I just, rather than putting that money into it, I'd rather just sell it as is and just move forward. You don't need a project in your life right now. knowing that what are you thinking well now my question goes to to money do you have any money saved unfortunately no not anymore i mean i have like the thousand dollars saved yeah all the rest of that what i what i did have saved i had to spend it on her funeral arrangement yeah that has changed my savings here's i'm gonna tell you just some mathematics this is not emotional at all I look at a$65 ,000 mortgage that likely has a really great interest rate on it.

1:14:28And I think to myself, I'd rather be on the hook for$65 ,000 and have to replace a roof and maybe do$10 ,000 of work on a foundation or even$20 ,000 of work on a foundation than getting into today's housing market where you're at now with the median home price being$424 ,000 where you're going to have to put 60 % down, right? Is it livable? Yeah, I agree with you. Is it livable, though, Chloe? I mean, in other words, all those things are true, but could you live in it for a season until you guys got out of this, learned what this new rhythm of life looks like, figure out what we can do to fix it?

1:15:04Is it livable?

1:15:11It's livable, but I would have to, like, for sure, like the plumbing part of it and some other minor things. Well, I'll tell you what. My point is you can't get into another house today. That's my point. No, but I wonder if she just rents. And we tell a lot of people renting is a good move in certain situations. That's true. And I wonder if she gets this headache out of her life and doesn't have to worry about it on top of everything else. Having to come in and mother these siblings. She's in grief. If you can rent something that's no more than 25 to 30 percent of what you're taking home, I'm okay with that.

1:15:46and selling this and taking the money if there is and holding that over for a later time. That's yeah. Yeah. I just think this is a tough reset, a whole new life for her. And I don't think having a money pit of a house is a good play. That's true. I'd rent for right now on you and your partner and come up with a good plan going forward.

1:16:33all right let's go to sadie in colorado sadie how can we help you today hi ken and jade thank you so much for taking my call i'm i must admit i'm a little bit starstruck I enjoy listening to the Dave Ramsey show. Well, we are appreciative of you listening. And I know that you're starstruck because Jade is here. And trust me, she's very down to earth. She's going to treat you very well. Thank you. Yeah, you bet. What's going on? Well, I so I'm in the in the midst of trying to, I guess, move to a transition to employment that I really feel is a good connection for me with my abilities and gifts and everything.

1:17:12I did read, I did take your assessment, Ken. I'm still working on reading your book, but I did take your assessment. So I do have a better idea of my giftings and everything. Do you have your results close by in case I want to ask about it? I do. Okay, we'll just hold. I don't know that we need to get to it yet, but we might. Okay. All right. So with that in mind, I am subbing right now. I'm a day-to-day sub. Sometimes I get long-term sub assignments. I make about, we'll say$40 ,000 a year. an average of 3 ,300 a month. I enjoy subbing, but I really love creating, and I love writing poems, songs.

1:17:59I'm right now maybe partnering with a publishing company to take one of my poems and make it a story, and it's about a national park that I visited. And so, but the cost of that is 8 ,500. And so, and I have had a couple of songs produced, which, you know, like it costs money for that too. But this one is kind of a big chunk of money to get this, my poems made into a book. So I'm a little hesitant because I have 12 ,000 in savings. It's 8 ,500 to work with this publishing company. And I make about, right now, without a long-term sub-assignment, just day-to-day setting, I make, we'll say about$2 ,000 a month,$2 ,500 a month.

1:18:46Are you single income? I am single income, yeah. I am single income. I do live with my mom. I lived on my own for about seven years when my dad passed away. Shortly after I ended up moving, you know, I moved in with my mom. She can use the support and the help. How old are you? I'm 44. Okay. Do you have any debt? I don't. Thanks to Dave Ramsey and me working with Dave Ramsey. And the 12K in savings, does that represent your emergency fund? That is accessible, so it's kind of whatever I need it for, I can grab it. But I also have about – oh, go ahead. I just want to make sure. Do you have an emergency fund?

1:19:26Is the emergency fund the$1 ,000? So baby step one is the$1 ,000 before you pay the debt off. You said you don't have any debt, which means baby step three, you have three to six months saved. So does this represent three months of expenses? Six months? Yeah. Okay. Well, we wouldn't have that in there because you're$2 ,000 a month is what you're making? Yeah, exactly. And what I can live off of. Okay. All right. I have enough information. Okay. I don't think you should spend$8 ,500 on anything at this stage. Okay. Given your income, I'd like to see you have way more in savings because you have such a small income.

1:20:08uh in in other words i would want you saving for other things right like sinking funds um and i won't get too far into that i'll let jade and maybe she doesn't think it's too much let me tell you why i think it's too much okay eighty five hundred dollars is such a huge chunk of your savings you just don't have it so that's my number one so we we don't want to ever put um the emergency fund into any kind of trouble and we should never pull from the emergency fund unless it is in fact an emergency. And you've got at least six grand in there. We're saying it's three months. So the other thing is, is both of us are published authors, okay?

1:20:48And I know a lot of people in the publishing game. I know the independent publishing game. I know just enough to get me in trouble, which means just enough to give you good advice on this. Okay, good. I don't think you're in a stage of life where you need to be spending$8 ,500 to publish a book of your poems when you can go do it on Amazon for pennies on the dollar. And let's show our work. There's a great book that I'm going to recommend you buy. And it's by a guy by the name of Austin Kleon. K-L-E-O-N. And it's called Show Your Work. And it's about half an inch thick. You can read it in 30 minutes.

1:21:23It's very illustrative. As a creative, you will love it. But it is my homework assignment for you as to what you need to do before you ever think of spending this kind of money with a pseudo or hybrid publishing model. Let's get your work out through self-publishing means that are max hundreds of dollars at max. And let's put our work out and see how they do. And let's show our work and see where we stand. Instead of spending at this stage of your burgeoning writing career and where you are financially, I don't like this move because I think here's what's going to happen. I think you're going to spend$8 ,500 and you're going to sell just as many copies as you would if you spent$85.

1:22:12Okay. Now that sounds like I'm stepping on the dream. No, it doesn't. Oh, okay. Thank you. Cause I feel that way, but I'm actually, I'm telling you from experience, you would be better off doing research and going, all right. Um, what is the process for creating an ebook of my poems on Amazon and selling on Amazon. You got a link. Yeah, please do it that way. You sell it through social media. And then you don't have to sell a zillion copies before you break even on the 8 ,500 you spent. That's right. Right. So I agree with Ken. You have 12 ,000 saved. Do you have any other money in retirement?

1:22:49Anything? I do have about 20 ,000 in retirement. Okay. I want to take a stronger approach? Do I have permission? Sure. I think that you need to take a long look in the mirror because when you started telling us, you were kind of making it seem like, hey, I'm living with my mom. She needed my help. She went through this thing. And that may be true, but without her, you couldn't be living right now. If you weren't living there, no, no, no, no, no, no. $2 ,000 a month, ma 'am, you can't live on that. And you can't do that subbing here and there. So you got to make this a full-time deal. Now I'm all about chasing dreams.

1:23:29You're talking to the creative herself. Like I love what you said about the poems and I love that for you. I would never try to take that from you. But in the meantime, you must work. You must because you're 44. And you will look up and the time will come when you can no longer do the work you want to do because your body won't let you do it. And you've got to have something there. And you've got to create that foundation now. You've got time. I'm not saying you don't have time, but if you don't start moving, that window to make this right gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And I don't want you to miss that window.

1:24:06Okay, well, I didn't think I was going to be crying. I'm sorry. I love you. I love you. That's why I'm telling you. Listen, we're not trying to discourage you. We're trying to encourage you. Yes. Don't let the creative stuff die. Yeah. But you got to test it. If you had called me and said, I want to spend$8 ,500 to open up a food truck where I'm going to sell some type of food, I would have said the exact same thing. That's right. I'd have been like, let's see if we can sell it in our neighborhood first. You know, we got to test, test, test. What most people don't think about in this wonderful country called America where we can start anything at any time, we don't think about the testing part.

1:24:43We just think about the launching part. That's right, Kim. And we've got to test. We've got to test. So please be encouraged. But listen, Jade's right. And I think she was the one person that could say it. You know, what are your relationship dreams? You don't have to answer these questions. But what are your relationship dreams? And what are you doing to live your life the way that you want to live? And you don't have to necessarily do this on your own. And there is a time and a place to fully launch into something like poems or whatever. Keep writing. Keep writing about what moves you. And then show your work.

1:25:20And I promise you, please get that book and do exactly what Austin tells you. Super easy, functional way for you to test your stuff and see what other people say. And see if the stuff that moves my heart, oh, some of the stuff that moves my heart moves other people's hearts. Ding, ding, ding. Now we've got something. And in the meantime. Let's go get a really good job. Yes. And let's stay with mom just long enough to really get on our feet. And let's get out in the real world. You know? Yeah. My mom has a condition where I probably, it'll be indefinite. That's okay. That's, you can stay and take care of her, but don't let that stop you from launching into making a full salary.

1:25:59You are smart and capable and have so much to offer.

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1:27:18Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio alongside Jade Warshaw and Ken Coleman. Dustin is going to start us off here in New York. Dustin, how can we help today? Hi there. Thanks so much for taking my call. You bet. What's going on? Well, I have a question about housing and budgeting. So let me give you a little bit of context. My wife and I are in our early 30s. We've been working baby steps. We've been married about two years. And at about the year and a half mark, we paid off. We finished paying off around$70 ,000 worth of debt. Way to go. Oh, thank you. And so we currently live in a one-bedroom co-op in the Hudson Valley, which costs us around$1 ,600 a month.

1:28:01So with that in our budget, we're able to save between$3 ,000 and$4 ,000 a month. We've been doing that since we got married. And so we're about to have, we have a seven-month-old now, and in the coming May, we're going to have our second child. And so that's a lot of people to put in a one-bedroom apartment. So to get to a bigger place, it would be about$2 ,400 a month at least in this area, just because it's the Hudson Valley. and so our child care costs are likely to go up in the coming August once paternity and maternity leave is done and so my question is like do we do we stick it out here because our long-term plan is to move out of state in about two years once my mother-in-law retires and so we're saving up for a down payment but in the meantime that's my question Indiana we want to go to Indianapolis In about two years?

1:29:00In about two years. How much money have you got saved up? So we currently have around$17 ,000 saved up. We just finished paying off all of our debt, so we're like we're just getting started on that saving process. But you're saving a lot per month, which is great. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And our living situation really helps with that. And, you know, we've got family nearby and all that. So the location is good. It's just the square footage is not great. And so, you know, do I do I sell our co-op in the meantime so that during that two year waiting period we can have a more expensive, a larger place?

1:29:41Or do we just kind of stick it out in the one bedroom with four people? I mean, if I would, what I would do is I'd stick it out for as long as I possibly can, because the more that you can save on your living is the more money that you can save for a potential down payment. And I don't have to tell you, you need a lot of money saved for a down payment these days, right? So the more that you can get saved in the next two to two and a half years, that would be my number one goal. Matter of fact, I'd run it back and say, okay, based on Indianapolis home prices and based on what we want. Which I got you over here.

1:30:18Thank you. Whenever you're ready. Whenever you're ready. Yeah. We're going to plug that in and then we're going to run it back and say, okay, what must be true for us to move in? And then that is the silver bullet of what we're saving for in the next two, two and a half years. So, Kim, hit me. I'm your assistant. I'm giving you some numbers. Well, my computer died, so I don't have it. It's okay. I got you. All right. You got it? It's what I'm here for. All right. So an average price for a three-bedroom home. I did three-bedroom because it's going to feel like a castle to him. Love it. Oh, I love hearing the little one in the background.

1:30:47That's real. We like that, folks. $230 ,000 to$299 ,000. $230 ,000 to$299 ,000. Some specifics, if you look at Marion County, because I typed in greater Indianapolis area. Okay. So this is the homework you need to do, my friend. But you got Marion County, median price is$229 ,000. Hendricks County, median price is$303 ,000. Johnson County, median price is$298 ,000. So let's add some. Other surrounding. So you're in that$230 ,000 to$300 ,000. And then let's add a little inflation to that. Let's say$240 ,000, right? That's what I would say, because this is two and a half years from now. So you say$240 ,000, and then knowing that what you're attempting to do is put 25 % down, then you can go in and plug in estimated taxes and insurance and all of that and that number is what you need to be well i got him i got him at if you guys continue to save if i was listening correctly you were saving three to four thousand a month uh you guys can have a shot at getting close to a hundred thousand just your savings not including any equity in the co-op right Correct.

1:32:00Yeah. What's your equity in the co-op? We think based upon comps that I've run in the area that I can get around 50 after the sale. And so that brings us pretty close to that 20 % down payment with what we have saved. Great. And we're targeting a house in Indianapolis around the$300 ,000 mark. Love that. Love it. That's very doable. And I'm with Jade then. Listen, the babies don't know. This is going to be tough on you and mom. But you know what? Two little babies. These are going to be memories that you two talk about when the kids are long gone. For sure. And you're going to be like, we did it.

1:32:41And I think since we're not asking the kids to suffer, you guys aren't really suffering. But it is a form of suffering. And I'm with my partner on this one. Listen, she and Sam, I brag about this. She and Sam had one car for how long? 10 years. And how many years after you actually had the money to buy a car? Long. Let's see. So we were done in 2018. I didn't buy a second car till we got here, which was 2022. Which I don't recommend. I think she's bananas, but she's the real deal. So I'm with Jade. I 100 % would suck it up. They're little ones. It's going to be crazy anyway. Two years is going to fly when you get two babies.

1:33:22I know that's right. The days are long, but the years are short. That's right. And I'm with Jade 100%. I'd tough it out and then make the triumphant entry into Indianapolis with a really, really nice down payment. And by the way, cost of living there, fantastic. So man, you're going to feel like from Hudson Valley to the greater Indianapolis area. Oh man, what a change. Unless, okay. Uh-oh, wait a second. Hold on, Dustin. She's got an idea. No, it's not an idea. I was just about to throw some bait into the water. Go for it. I was going to throw it. Go for it. You said it's a really great cost of living there, and I was going to say unless everybody in New York gets spooked and starts going to places like Indiana and Florida and Tennessee.

1:34:11Oh, we have some people raising their hands out there in the lobby. You know what I'm saying? Indiana is the new Tennessee for New Yorkers. Are you all leaving upstate New York? I met you all earlier. Is that what you did? Yeah. See, that's what I'm saying. Now, I'm not trying to spook you, but I'm just saying the migration is real. They're more mature. Can we say that? They're a little bit more mature in age. I'm just saying that there are predictions being made, I'm just saying, about another great migration. Oh, well, we'll see. We'll see. The times will tell. Now's the time, folks. I thought I was setting you.

1:34:39That's why I said I was putting a line in the water. No, I'm not going to take it. Well, I'll say this. I'll say this. When people say they're going to leave this country based on some political change, number one it's their right to say it we saw a lot of celebs say it a few actually did it instead they just went to indiana they went to england oh i'm just kidding the celebrities i'm thinking of yeah but uh you know listen are people gonna leave over stuff like that you better believe it we saw massive migration from california we saw it here in middle tennessee uh certainly a lot of people moving to florida it's certainly going to happen but i i don't think and i'm and my my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live in Indianapolis, so I apologize ahead of time.

1:35:19Of all the places people are going to flee from New York, I don't think it's Indianapolis. And I'm not throwing shade at any of my friends. It's a nice area, sir. It's a lovely area. But it's not on the top of anybody's list. Is that fair? Even he's acknowledging me. He's like, well, you make a good point. Lovely place to live. Is it a top destination? I don't think so.

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1:36:53All right, the Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by Y-Refi. When your private student loans are in default, it's easy to feel ashamed or stuck. Y-Refi will not judge you. In fact, they'll help you rebuild, refinance, and regain control. Visit Y-Refi.com slash Ramsey. That's Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. Not available in all states. Okay, today's question comes from Bailey in Maryland. They say, we currently have$7 ,500 in credit card debt and an$800 ,000 home loan. Now the home is worth$1 million. We have around$50 ,000 invested in single stocks to give to our kids when they are adults and out on their own.

1:37:32The kids are now 10 years old, and we are investing regularly for them. On one hand, I feel like we should cash in these to put towards our debt. However, I also know that time is such a huge factor in long-term investing, and I won't make that much of an impact on such a large debt. We currently make$175 ,000 per year combined. What should be our priority? Okay, so the$7 ,500 in credit card debt, and it sounds like that's the only consumer debt that you have. Okay. The rest of it, 800 ,000 on the home loan. That is not part of baby step two. Baby step two is we pay off everything except the house.

1:38:15So on your salary of 175 ,000 per year, unless there's a typo on this, why don't you reach over yesterday and pay off the 7 ,500 in credit card debt? Unless that's a typo, I don't understand where the problem is. Now we can talk about how I think your money is best invested. That's kind of beside the point right now. But no, you don't need to liquidate that stock to pay off this debt. You can cash flow that in two seconds is my point. Now, if we keep going and we're talking about on down through the baby steps, do you need three to six months of expenses saved? Yes, you do. Now we can talk about is there any money at our disposal that we can start to do this.

1:38:57If I were you, I would still take my salary and I would cash flow three to six months. Now, this money that you invested for your kids, if it were me, I would pull it out of single stocks and I would drop it in a 529 plan. That's what I would do because single stocks is not the best way to invest money anyway. Now, if you said, well, Jade, if I just invested in the market, I have more investments open that I can use, blah, blah, blah. If you wanted to park it in some sort of a brokerage, I suppose you could do that, but it's not the best tax advantage for you. That's why I would do a 529. That's what I would do with this 50 ,000 invested.

1:39:33I would then turn around, cashflow three to six months, and then you're off to the races. And then baby step seven, baby step six is when you're going to pay off this home. Okay. So that's kind of how this works with the money that you have. You're going to be putting extra payments toward this mortgage for a long time until it's done, or, you know, paying a little here and a little there until it's done. But it's not something that you have to do in Baby Step 2. I just want to be clear about that. Yeah, good advice. I can't add anything to that. Also, I want to mention our new EveryDollar is here.

1:40:06It's way more than the world-class budgeting app that we've been talking about. I was meeting with the team the other day. I was like, hey, I want to get in on the inside of this thing. I'm looking at it, playing around with all the new features. And the best I could come away with, I said, guys, this is literally like someone could get on the app and with all the questions they're going to answer in the first 10 minutes, it's like talking to us on the air, but way more detailed. And you get all kinds of content. They're like, that's exactly what it is. Plus you can get access to a real live person who is a coach, one of our financial coaches right here.

1:40:38So fantastic stuff. And the average person finds thousands of dollars of margin in just the first 15 minutes. So start every dollar today for free by getting it in the App Store or Google Play. You know what? Let me run back what I said to Bailey in Maryland. You know what? I'm thinking about it. I would, you know, the$50 ,000, you have an$800 ,000 home. You need a three to six month emergency fund today. I probably would liquidate it and use that as my emergency fund and then restart with the 529s. All right. Final answer. Final answer, folks. She has spoken. Kevin is up in California. Kevin, how can we help today?

1:41:14Hi. Thank you for taking my call. My question is, I'm 21 in my final year of college with$50 ,000 and no debt, and I'm not really sure what to do, but I have a few options with my main one being real estate. As my family has said, they'll go 50-50 in investment property if I figure out the whole process in purchasing and going about the investment property. Did you say 50 or 60 ,000? 50. 50, okay. And when do you finish school? I finish in May. Okay. And your degree is in? Business. And what do we want to do? What are we looking for? What's that job we're looking for? I'm going to be starting full-time in the fall as a business analyst.

1:41:58Congrats. How much will we be making? I want to say I'm very privileged and I'm very thankful, but around$120 ,000 to$130 ,000. Okay, great. And you have zero debt? Zero debt. But my family made a deal where if I go to community college for two years and then transfer to a four-year, they'll pay for my two years. Wow. Okay. I just wanted to get a quick snapshot for Jade and I on your total financial picture so that we can now address the question. And if we can go back into the question, you've got the$50 ,000 in savings, and you're going, what should I do with that? Is that what I'm understanding?

1:42:36Yeah. Right now, the$50 ,000 is invested in the market, but I don't really trust myself in the market because I just don't really like the market. How is it invested in the market? Be specific. Is this in a mutual fund or is this in single stocks? Sadly, I know it's terrible, but single stocks. Wow. Okay. All right. It's not the end of the world here. It's just not the strategy. All right. Jade, jump in here. So what do you want to do? Is this a home for yourself or is this some kind of rental? What are you thinking? I want to be a rental. Yeah, I want to be a rental. Can I ask why a rental and why not a place where you're just living?

1:43:15Learning about what it means to own a home? Yeah, so because I'm going to be graduating, after I graduate, I'm planning on, and again, like I'm very thankful for this, but living with my family, with my parents, because my job, I'm traveling like half a year, and then the other half a year, my parents are traveling themselves. And so I didn't see the point of having my own home, even though all my friends are going to be living and moving out. So let me tell you what I would do. Knowing what you've said, I would combine the best of both worlds. I, this is, and I'm going to ask more questions to make sure that you're in this position, but if you're in the position to buy, I would buy a home and I would make the home for me, but I would also have roommates and I would have roommates that live there so that while I'm traveling, I'm still bringing in income, but I also have this place that's my own that I'm building.

1:44:07I'm learning what it is to live in a home. I've launched out of my parents' house. Do you see what I'm saying? So you're getting the best of both worlds where you're feeling independent, but you're also still feeling like you're bringing in rental income. Does that make sense? The only caveats to that are number one, you would need to be able to pay the rent on your own or pay the mortgage on your own, no problem, even if you didn't have roommates. That'd be number one. And then number two, you'd have to meet the normal criteria for what we would say is a proper home buying experience, which is the payments no more than 25 % of your take-home pay.

1:44:46You're out of debt, which you said you are, and you've got three to six months of expenses sitting aside. Now, my screen says that you don't think you need an emergency fund. Tell me more about that. Yeah. My parents are pretty involved in my life. And if something were to take a turn for the worse, I think they'd be there for me. Why can't you be there for you, though? Why wouldn't we set ourself up for you to be there for you? Since you're, I mean, you're 21. Very true. Honestly, I just, yeah, you got a great point. Can I ask a question? Because you've been very humble. You are. And I think you're being very, very delicate here in how you choose your words.

1:45:30So I'll ask, are your parents very wealthy? I would say they're comfortable to offense. Okay, but it's not a trap question. Because I wonder, if your parents are very, very wealthy, and they're saying to you pretty actively, hey, listen, do this, do this, we got you here, then it makes sense to all of your responses. And I love that Jade's going, that is a blessing. And you've called it that, by the way. But regardless of that blessing, you still need to establish your own life, knowing that mom and dad are very generous and can be. So don't want to put you on the spot with that. But that's what I'm sensing.

1:46:08And I think Jade's advice is actually really, really great. Thanks, mom and dad. You're amazing. But I want to find my own way, build my own way. and I want to do it in a way that's very responsible. And if they're going to match your 50 % on the down payment, I think that's wonderful for them to do that. Yes.

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1:47:31All right. Question for the audience here. Do you ever feel like you're doing everything right with your money, but you don't feel like you're getting anywhere? Well, you're not alone. Maybe, just maybe, you've made changes and had a few wins, but something feels off. But it's not because you've messed up. It's because money isn't just math. There's so much emotion tied to the money winning game. And if you're not emotionally where you need to be, it can sabotage all the progress. And that's what Jade Warshaw is taking on in her brand new book, What No One Tells You About Money. And it's the first Ramsey book, by the way, that takes an honest, in-depth look at the emotional side of money.

1:48:12So this is a book that's not been written and it needs to be written. And it's going to help so many of you who are in the thick and thin. Now, you know the baby steps, but do you know how your emotions are playing out? And you can pre-order this now for$24.99 and get over$100 in free bonus items, including the enhanced audio book, early access to the ebook, instant access to an exclusive video from Jade, your financial checkup, and then an exclusive three-week online book club where you get live Q &A with Jade. You can pre-order now to get the best price and all the goodies at RamseySolutions.com slash store.

1:48:50That's RamseySolutions.com slash store. Jade, I've been able to interview a lot of big-time authors, and I always love to ask them, if there's only one thing that readers can take away from this book? What no one tells you about money. What is it that you want them to take away? Oh, one thing. I know. It's like asking you to choose between your kids. But what's that if you go, okay, they read this book and Ken, here's what I want them to be able to take away, to be able to do. I want them to be able to identify what it is that they're feeling at the core of things, because a lot of times it's just running in the background and it's influencing us and we don't know.

1:49:31Behavior, I explain it like this. Behavior is the car, right? We want to get out of debt. That's the behavior. Okay, I'm in the car. Our beliefs are in the driver's seat. I believe I can do it. So I'm ready to operate the vehicle, but our emotions can steer us off track. Emotions steer the wheel. They can make us hit a tree. They make us go on a ditch. They can make us turn around and go the opposite direction. And if you don't feel that, If you don't know it's happening and you don't even realize it, right, Ken? It's showing itself with you having arguments with your spouse just because they stopped off at the gas station to get a Mountain Dew on the way home.

1:50:06Why? Why are you getting so mad about that? Why is it every time you go to the grocery store, you're worried that it's going to overdraw the account? So all of these things are operating in the back. It's operating when somebody brings up student loans and you just get mad as a snake, right? It's all back there. and you need to be able to see what is it that causes me to be so passive aggressive whenever somebody tells me something that they're winning at with money, right? It's back there and you need to see what it is. I help you identify it and then I help you fix it so you can actually get on track.

1:50:36So I hope that you know that it comes from a very, very real place, that it's not just another expert telling you something to do. It's someone who has stood in the mirror and cried and wondered what was wrong with their life and if they've ruined everything. I love that. I've done that. And so I want you to know it's coming from a person who's been exactly where you are, and that's why I can write about it and explain how to get out. So again, RamseySolutions.com slash store, pre-order it now. It comes out in the first week of January. This is a fabulous gift, by the way, for that person who hasn't maybe decided to go all in on this process.

1:51:13But boy, if you can speak to their heart and get where they feel, ultimately you get an opportunity to help them change the way they act. So this would be a great gift, by the way, for that person in your life that struggling with money and can't figure out what they need to do next. Tyler is up in Oklahoma. Tyler, how can we help today? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Yes. What is going on? Sorry, this is kind of surreal being on here. I've listened to you guys so much. It's crazy. So this is kind of a lot. I'll try to keep it brief. um so i am in a a tough situation right now i was working away from home um i was doing a truck driver job and um i was making pretty good money i was trying to pay off some debt because i do have debt racked up and um i'd been gone for a while and my wife was kind of like you know you got to get home and i wanted to be home and so i found something back home that wasn't as good pay but I took it and then it kind of fell through.

1:52:12So long story short, I'm, I'm back home now with no job. I was making pretty good money. Now I have no income. My wife doesn't work. And so we're in a really tough spot there. And so that's the first part. And then the second part is kind of like, I hated the truck driving job anyway. And I don't really know where to go from here. I've been struggling for a while. I'm like kind of finding my path. I've listened to you a lot. I actually took your assessment. But I still can't quite figure out where I want to go. Do you have your assessment results near you? I actually do. Yeah. I have them pulled up here.

1:52:45I can read them to you. We're going to get to that, but I'm going to go ahead and write it down. Okay. Top three talents, what you do best. So I have logic, organization, and justice. Okay, hold on. Logic, organization, and justice. Okay, all right. Top three passions. Making, finishing, and analyzing. Making, finishing, and analyzing. All right. And what's your missional result? Creation. Oh, so you like to create things. Okay, we're going to get back to that. Okay. Yeah, it's a lot. Like I said, there's a lot. No, no, I know. Well, we got to deal with the urgent, right? And then we got to win the now and then we worry about the next.

1:53:31Yeah. You got to go to work? I've been applying for jobs and things like that. I know I've got to find something right now. How long have you been out of work? Just a week and a half. Okay, great. I would go back to the truck because there's a huge need in that area. And I know your wife doesn't like it, but we got bigger problems than how much time you're at home right now. It's just bread and butter. And we just got to go where we know there's a need. And I appreciate that you're applying for jobs. This becomes your full-time job. But while you're applying, you're driving around construction sites.

1:54:06You're driving around anywhere where you've got a skill. If you've got a trade skill, in other words, if you're good with a hammer or you're good with a shovel, you have got to start working. And I mean today. and if not today, tomorrow. If I was in your shoes, I'd be going where I could get a check. We need to get checks coming in. And when we get checks coming in, we take care of all of the basics and we can breathe, which means we're allowed to think a little bit. And when thinking, we actually can think clearly with a thing like the assessment. So I just want to cover that. I don't care what it is.

1:54:42What were you making driving the truck, by the way? I didn't ask that. I was making a little over$3 ,000 a week after taxes. My man. That's a good chunk of change. It sure is. It was good money. It was good money, but I've got three kids here at home, and I was gone for five months. Okay, but you can't sit at home and not work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Are they better off with you on the road making$12 ,000 a month, or are they better off you at home with no money coming in? No, I totally understand. And I just, it was really hard being away from home. And things were kind of starting.

1:55:17My wife was struggling here. Okay. I get that. Let me meet you there. Let me meet you there. But if you drove a, did you drive an AT Wheeler? Yeah. Okay. You're qualified to drive a lot of large equipment beyond just a truck is my guess. True or false? Yes. Yeah. Dude, where's the need in your area? This is not resumes. This is you driving up on sites. I know for a fact Because I pay attention to this stuff every day That the trucking industry And I understand there's the long haul But there's also regional And then there's local stuff And they need somebody they can depend on And buddy you got a great resume And you got a good story by the way You could say hey I was driving 18 wheelers over the long road But I left because I got three little ones at home And now I need to drive something big And that puts out diesel fuel instincts Because I'm good at it And I can get paid for it and I'm going to take care of my family.

1:56:12You're not applying for jobs just. You are showing up on sites and a guy hops out of the truck. If you've got to go to a dadgum truck stop and go, hey, I notice you're driving a Coca-Cola truck or a Pepsi truck or a beer truck. Are they hiring right now? That's how we apply. And you go get behind the wheel of something that gets you home every night. But I think that's your best bet. Now, on the assessment, here are the three questions you've got to answer. Who are the people I want to help? What problem or desire do they have? What solution to that problem or desire fires me up? Now answer those three questions while looking at those assessment results and watch the ideas flow.

1:56:53And then please read the book. Hang on the line. We're going to get you to find the work you're wired to do. I'll coach you all the way.

1:57:37All right, welcome back. I may have my sheet, James I don't have my I think I have it, Ken Do you have it? The scripture and quote of the day I got you right here, comrade Oh, James I was so nervous, man I was looking in my stash here, folks I was trying to make you sweat Hey, it worked I was like, James I'm going to need you to read the scripture of the day for us But hey, fear not, folks Proverbs 12, 15 is our scripture of the day The way of a fool is right in his own eyes but a wise man listens to advice And our quote of the day from Milton Friedman One of the great economists of all time. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.

1:58:18What a word. I'm just going to read that again because Milton Friedman, a lot of people don't know who he is. You need to look him up. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Chew on that for several hours, folks, and it will eventually hit you. I get it immediately. and I think that's brilliant. It is brilliant. Jason is up in Pennsylvania. Jason, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. You bet. So my question is revolving around 529 plans. So when I had kids, I wanted to make sure they didn't start their adult life off with debt like I did, and like so many other people do.

1:58:57So I opened 529 plans for each of the kids the year they were born. Fast forward 18 years, and I was very proud to invest enough money in the 529 plans to fully fund, both of my kids' college educations. As luck would have it, my eldest child, my son, then earned a college scholarship covering his full tuition. He's going to graduate in a couple years with no debt and somewhere north of$150 ,000 in an account for him. So that is kind of where my issue comes in. I got to thinking and my wife and I got to talking about how do we hand this money off to him and when. Those first handful of years out of college for me were a struggle, But I think that really taught me a lot of good lessons with debt and with money and being financially responsible.

1:59:40So I don't want to rob him of that. So just looking for a little bit of advice on, you know, how and when and to pass this money to him. Are you thinking in terms of how you pass the money? Are you thinking of liquidating it and giving him the cash? Are you thinking of just giving it to him as a 529 and suggesting that he changed the beneficiary to his future kid? Like, what are your thoughts on that part of it? Yeah, what I've started in Pennsylvania, if you get a college scholarship, you're able to take that amount out per year, which I've started to do. And I'm moving that into a brokerage account, investing in index funds.

2:00:18So I'm going to give him the brokerage account at some point. We just don't know when. So that will be just a brokerage account open in his name that he will take over. I love that you made that transition. Um, Ken, I want you to add to this because your kids are older than mine. Um, I think so much of this depends on what type of kid this is. It depends on how they manage their money. It depends on what their track record has been. Because I'll tell you straight up, you know, in my mind, if I have a son who has been so responsible and so smart and done so well with his time and his money and all these things and responsible.

2:01:02Yeah. When the time comes for him to buy a house, I'd love to help with that process, whether it's help 50-50 on the down payment, and this is the money that's going to do that. I don't have any problem with that sort of thing, as long as it's not enabling in any way. Does that make sense? Yeah. I love your advice. I think, listen, all of us who have multiple kids, you know they're all they're all different and and they tend to handle money uh very different i'm thinking of my three kids as you were talking and i'm i'm laughing you know just the differences between my three yeah you know them i do and and they're all yeah i have one like i you know they don't listen to the show so i could say yeah my boy chase let me tell you something don't say the name well i don't mind they will never see this or listen to this in a million years.

2:01:50You give it to him at 21 and it ain't going anywhere. He's going to keep it. He's going to invest in it. It's going to turn a lot of money. Yeah. You know, I'm not going to disparage the other day because I'm not, but I'm just saying he's the one where I go automatically. It's a younger age for him. The other two, I want to see some things I want to, and I, you know, they're all great. I love that advice. I thought you, I thought it was good. I was, I was stepping into your advice in my situation. But I have a little bit of a curveball that goes outside of the three and their personalities. Because I've toyed with this.

2:02:26So I haven't done this. So don't come at me. I'm not. I'm listening. I wonder if, and I love what Jason said. And Jason, I agree with you. I remember coming out of college having nothing. I mean, nothing. Paid my student loans off. That's all I had. I didn't have a car payment and I just drove a piece of crap forever. I mean, the car I picked Stacey up on in our first date, it's embarrassing. Yeah. So I do like that they need to figure it out. I love that part. And there's part of me that goes, I wouldn't mind just putting it away in a true retirement account. And it's for their retirement and just let it sit there.

2:03:08And then over time go, hey, by the way, this is something mom and I wanted to bless you with. Because I don't want them to have the brokerage. I'd want them to have the retirement account is where I would go. I see where you're going with that. Here's my only... I should say it's where I'm leaning on this one. I'm not saying I'm solid on that. Here's why I like the real estate thing. And I'm not saying right away. Like I'm not saying when they're, you know, at 23 when they come out. What I like about the real estate is they're giving a leg up of building wealth earlier, but it's not so, it's not, I can just access this money and spend it and, you know, it fall away.

2:03:48It's going into a home for savings account. It's building equity, something that's taking people now decades to save for, to be able to have that help is such a big deal. I almost think it could make a bigger impact than having the retirement later because it's going to influence their day-to-day life and what they're able to do. That's my own. I get it. Either one is good. Either one is good. The only reason I thought the real long term is it's like I want them to make their own decisions on that. Yeah. And I don't know what they're going to do from a home standpoint. But then at 50 to be like, hey, this is here.

2:04:19It's like, oh. You're like, hey, guys. That's different. I've told you and I've been telling you to do your own thing, but we went ahead and so you've got a nice... Because I think I could, I mean, I want to buy them all a house. All right. I do. These are things I want to do. But I think, man, if I could put that money and let it sit and grow, and it's something that goes, hey, you're going to be okay. Yeah. Everybody would love to get that gift. They can't touch it. What would be the age? Not when you die. No, no, no. For them, would it have to be 60, 59 and a half for them? I'm setting it up as a retirement account.

2:04:54Oh, that's long term. I get it. I'm not saying, by the way, that that's what I'm going to do. You're just thinking about it. I went into Jason's call and I went with him and I went, what would I do? What could I do? What's the longest term thing that it's a blessing, but there's no temptation? I think I'd say whichever happens first, you're either 25 and you're ready to buy your first house or you're 27 or upon marriage, like when you get married. Okay. I think I would do that. And I love those too. I like that. And I would. I'm not sure. and it wouldn't be cash it would be right down down payment on a home i just think so few people think long term and yeah and i like the long-term gift um you're i mean there is a nice growth on that that's different i'm just kicking it around i don't like i said that is not a in stone statement for me yeah i get it me neither there you go jason i and here's the deal you're such a good dad can we just come back to you and go we gave you some ideas and thoughts but man how awesome does it feel for you to be in that position.

2:05:56I'd like to kick that out to the comments, see what they would say. There you go. Oh, they'll comment. Jason, what do you think? We'll give you the last word. Yeah. You know, I thought about some of that too, as far as, you know, with that 529 plan in Pennsylvania, we can roll, I think it's up to 35 ,000 into a Roth. So I may, I may do that and then put some of it in a Roth and then put the rest in the brokerage. That's what I'm thinking. I love the mix. That's very good too. You know, so I don't know. I don't know. I just look at all these young people. They're not thinking long-term. Jason, you're a good man.

2:06:28Thanks for the call. Best of both worlds. It really is. Again, love that where people can see why that 529 is such a good play because look at that. He's able to do something with that. You're not stuck. People are like, oh, what if they don't? No, you're not stuck. You're not stuck. It's such a good, good investment. I absolutely love that. All right. Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace and ask to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.