The Ramsey Show - App - Am I Being Too Gazelle Intense? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically in your money, in your work, and in your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw, my friend and colleague, joins me this hour. We're here to answer your questions. She'll be taking your money questions. I'll Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw, my friend and colleague, joins me this hour. We're here to answer your questions. She'll be taking your money questions. I'll chime in. I'll be taking any questions about personal growth in your work and do you want to get ahead
Starting point is 00:00:54 and how to get ahead in managing this money journey alongside of that. And Jade will wade in on that as well. The phone number for you to jump in is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. I'll also say this. I'll say a little bit more as we get closer to it, but a special treat today. And the clue is the word treat. That's all I can say right now.
Starting point is 00:01:17 Well, I can say more. I just don't want to. Don't give it away, Ken. I'm not going to. Give it away. Give it away. Give it away now. I was thinking that.
Starting point is 00:01:23 Were you thinking that? I was like, Anthony Kiedis told us to give it away, but don't give it I was thinking that were you thinking that I was like Anthony Kiedis told us to give it away but don't give it away love that uh let's get to the phones Levi is up first in Tampa Florida Levi how can we help Levi okay I hit the button I promise I hit line one so we're not getting Levi this happens from time to time that's all right we can keep it rolling I think James James is gonna help us out yeah we're not getting Levi. This happens from time to time. That's all right. We can keep it rolling. I think James is going to help us out. Yeah, we hear you, Levi. Levi, what's going on?
Starting point is 00:01:50 Okay. Hi, everyone. So my name is Levi. I am in $200,000 of student loan debt. Whoa. Yikes. I am an attorney. I make $115K a year.
Starting point is 00:02:04 Take-home income is about $6,200. I also DJ and create content on the side. My overall take-home income per month is about $6,800. Here's my question. Here's my question. I want to refinance my student loans to get a lower interest payment. Right now, my interest is 9%. If I refinance right now, my interest payment or my interest rate will be in somewhere between 7 and 7.5%. That's great. Should I refinance like right now, or should I wait for interest rates to lower? How long have you been out of school? So I graduated from law school in 2020, which was during COVID.
Starting point is 00:02:56 I didn't, and my student loan, I never had to pay any student loans, and now they've just kicked back in, and I've made a couple payments. Listen, and they're all private they're all federal oh so you're consolidating them at 7.5 percent you're not necessarily refinancing them uh see answers like that is that's exactly why i called it in the ranty show i don't really know no it's okay with with with federal loans you can consolidate them down and they'll group them all together and they'll put them at one one interest rate which is not always for some people it's not
Starting point is 00:03:30 always the best move but it sounds like in your case it is the best move the thing that you need to realize with that is you get one shot to do it and so i think that's why you're kind of worried of should i do it now or should i wait that's accurate okay um with your well let me ask you a couple more questions before we get to that do you have any other debt um well i'm listening to the ramsey show for about three months and over the last three months i paid off all my credit card debt sweet awesome anything else cars um my car is 100 paid off as of about six months ago um i right now i pay and you're probably not gonna like this i pay 12 50 in rent but i'm ready for an upgrade sorry and and who are you apologizing to not me well i mean you know right now the the debt snowball is $200K. And if I raise my rent, it's going to be, you know, $2,000-ish.
Starting point is 00:04:29 But I'm sorry, I don't have an in-unit washer dryer. Like, I'm ready for an upgrade here. Okay, that's your choice if you choose to do that. I mean, if you go to $2,000, you're still not, I mean, you're going over 25% if you do that of your take-home pay. Right. Okay. Is 25% the metric that I should be aware of? When we talk about buying a house, it definitely is. And in your case with Baby Step 2, I would still consider that kind of a framework. I like where you're at now. And I want you to move up in hotel, not in hotel, my goodness. I want you to move up in apartment. Is there any, any way
Starting point is 00:05:11 that you can save it until after you pay off this debt? Because here's the thing, that extra 800 or $750, that we're talking about months of freedom there. And you've got to really weigh the opportunity cost of whether you take that extra $750 and get your end unit, because it feels like that's kind of a celebratory thing for you or kind of like a status thing. Like, listen, I deserve this. I've been working hard. I've been in law school. Give me the apartment I want. And I understand that. But man, oh man, having that extra $750 over the course of time knocking out these student loans, that is a big, big deal. And I do want you to weigh that heavily. Have you done the math out
Starting point is 00:05:51 on that? You're absolutely right. I have done the math out on that and it's not pretty. What about a roommate? Not willing. Yeah. If he's ready to do that, he doesn't want to live with anybody. You got to make a decision. and I just think this is a bad idea. I think it's a bad idea for you to increase your expenses right now when it's really not that big of a lifestyle issue. I get why you feel the way you feel, but now we're always going to give you the advice that says, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice,
Starting point is 00:06:21 because we want you to get free sooner, as Jade said. So we're not going to be in favor of that how many uh how much of the so you're bringing home 6800 how much of that is going towards your um debt at this point so right now i put about two thousand dollars per month to student loans okay so that's well above and i i picked an income-driven repayment plan. This is before I became obsessed with the Dave Ramsey show on YouTube. And now it's like, my payments are $600 something, which is laughable. So I've been overpaying my payments. What kind of law do you practice? Worker's comp. What's the ladder look like over the next one to three years, financially? When you say ladder, like how much more can I make over the next one to three years?
Starting point is 00:07:10 Yeah, with a lot of grit. I want to know how you can increase this income because that's what needs to happen. We need to be busting it. Well, staying where I currently am, which I'm planning on doing, I could probably go up to probably $130,000, $140,000 over the next three years. Okay, no freelance opportunities? Not really. The firm that I'm at, I would need to disclose and get approval for a lot. Okay, you understand why I'm asking that, right? I mean, $200,000, very doable with your ability,
Starting point is 00:07:44 but you're going to have to increase your income. This is going to be a long journey. Yes and no. Yes, you do need to increase your income, but I kind of think $2,000, are you single? Yes. I'm single. I think $2,000, if you're making $6,800 a month, you have no other payments besides this. I think $2,000 a month is a little wimpy. Okay, what would not be wimpy? I think that there's areas in your budget that you can cut more. And I sense that because I'm looking at the numbers. And I also sense that because you're creeping up
Starting point is 00:08:14 on wanting another apartment already. And so I just sense that there's things in your life that you're like, listen, I've earned this. I want to spend my money on this. And that's true. But again, you're weighing that opportunity cost. I think you can squeak another $500 or $1,000 out of this budget. I think you need to do what Ken did and you need to get your income up.
Starting point is 00:08:32 I don't want this taking you eight years to pay off. That's far too long. I want this done in four years and you can do that. Yeah, good stuff. Thanks for the call. Glad you joined our community. Stay with us. You will get through this.
Starting point is 00:08:43 All right, we're just getting started, folks. Merry Christmas to one and all. Don't move. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me, and we are here for you, America. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225. Take me to your questions about money. I'm in the chair today, so let's take any questions about personal and professional growth, decisions about maybe starting a business. When do I go from side hustle to full-time? Hey, I'm stuck. I need a promotion. I'm not getting it. Any kind of work related questions, because those are always money-related, and we'd love to take some of those as well.
Starting point is 00:09:28 So jump in, 888-825-5225. And if you want to stay with us, it's kind of like, well, we're getting – this is like, what, second to the last Friday of the year. Am I right? That feels right. And you're kind of just like, I think I'll hang out today. You don't want to miss next hour. Jade has got another special treat. I get to sample it. There's another clue. You're really hyping this up, Ken. Well, you know, I even broke out the cardigan today.
Starting point is 00:09:58 The new cardigan sweater. You look like a schtickle of bourbon. A schtickle? That feels right. I don't know what that is, but that doesn't offend me at all. It feels right. Let's get to Steven in Houston, Texas. Steven, how can we help? Oh, hi guys. Thanks for taking the call. You bet. What's going on? So I'm looking for some advice. Me and my wife just recently got on the Ramsey plan while I'm baby step two. And I'm a full-time high school teacher. And I've taken a part-time EMS job when I'm out on vacation and on the weekends and stuff. And I do some food delivery to try to just pack as much money as we can to this debt. But I'm afraid that my wife's getting overwhelmed by it.
Starting point is 00:10:50 Because you're not home. What's going on, man? You're pretty emotional right now. What are you feeling? I just, you know, it's like a baby Christian, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to be so intense that she's like oh you know you won't let us do anything and this and that what's going on how to have that what's she saying conversation well take us to what's going on with you guys relationally what what are you feeling from her what are you hearing from her that you would call us about this? Well, like, for instance, she works full-time at home. We have two kids.
Starting point is 00:11:31 And so when I'm like, all right, I'm going to go. I have a goal to make $50 a day with food delivery. Okay. Five days a week, so that's an extra $1,000 a month. And then on Saturdays, I go go work this ems job which are 24 hour shifts and that's extra 360 each day i do that and then but she's still like well you think you can stay home tonight so that uh you know we can clean the house and get ready for our christmas brunch that's coming up and and um i don't i i i i i i'm like well you think that maybe you you know
Starting point is 00:12:09 you could pick up a little bit of that so that we can continue to stay on plan okay i see what's going on here yeah and then i get kind of negative feedback well you know you will so now we just you're not here to help around in the house and stuff like that let me ask a couple clarifying questions when you said she works full time, does she work full time as a stay at home mom or does she work full time at a job that is work from home? Yeah, a job that work from home. Okay, but the kids are also there too. So that kind of falls on her as well. Right when they're not in school, like right now we're on Christmas break. I totally get that. Okay. And then can you tell me how much debt do you guys have? Because I'm trying to understand. I mean, I get the intensity, but I want to, I just want to
Starting point is 00:12:48 get a bigger picture. Okay. So, uh, we have about, uh, uh, $26,000 in, uh, cars and, uh, credit cards. Break it down. Which what's the cars and what's the credit cards? My wife's car is almost paid off. It's got $3,000 left. My truck's got $11,000 left. And then we have about $15,000 in credit cards. Okay. And then another $10,000 around that that I owe to my mother-in-law. Okay. What's the payoff date if you didn't miss any night scheduled?
Starting point is 00:13:24 You've got this thing figured out. If you stay on this pace, what do you anticipate the day would be? How far in the future before you pay off this debt? I told my wife we can do it in six months, not our house. Sure, sure, sure. So let me just tell you, hey, so Steven, so man-to-man here. I love this intensity, but this is a six-month window. It would be different if this were a six-year and you guys had to be that intense.
Starting point is 00:13:52 I love the intensity. I think you have to downshift in moments like this. When your wife is giving you the signal, you read it, man. You've been married long enough, you know, going after it. But if there's a holiday party in the situation you gave us, I think the answer, and this is not criticism, you called. So I'm going to tell you as a dude, just my take here in that situation, you take the night off from gazelle intensity and you jump in and help her out. I think if you guys were in much bigger debt and it were far more intense, I think there's a conversation to be had to say,
Starting point is 00:14:26 hey, babe, I got to do this. We got to be all in. But I think given this situation, I don't think this is three or four nights a week. I think you sit down with her and go, hey, I'm doing this to sprint. Hang in there. But if you need that kind of emergency situation, raise your hand and I'm going to be more sensitive next time and I'll jump in. That would be my take in this situation. What's your guys' combined income yearly? You mentioned all the things you're doing, but what does that amount to? So that's recent, the EMS job and stuff, but so right now we make about 110 gross together just out of regular jobs and i'm looking to bring in uh i got planning to bring in 3 000 extra a month so uh about 30 000 more so maybe about 140 000 if i stay on this track okay so you're basically saying our normal budget stays the same and i'm
Starting point is 00:15:18 side hustling to pay off i get it that caused a little trouble too because then we stripped the budget way down as well. We cut off some streaming services. Well, that's what I'm saying. It almost needs to be one or the other, because you've got $39,000 of debt and you just outlined a plan where you're side hustling to bring in an extra almost 40,000. So if the side hustling alone is paying off the debt,
Starting point is 00:15:41 then like I'm trying to find a way where you guys can balance this out a little bit a little bit more does that make sense because if you yeah I understand if you're gonna bring in forty thousand dollars a year and this is a full year play as opposed to you just trying to like to Ken's point just squeak this thing out in six months I do think that you know if you can get her on board fine but like like Kim said, if she's having these moments where she's throwing a flag on the play, like, listen, we haven't seen you. We don't even remember what you look like, dude.
Starting point is 00:16:12 You do have to cool out for a minute, right? Yeah. And I think that there's room for you to take the pedal off the metal just a little bit. Yeah. Right, great. Because I don't want to burn her out. So I guess that's what I was looking forward to say. just a little bit. Yeah. Right, great. Because I don't want to burn her out. So I guess that's what I was looking for to say. Your instincts are right.
Starting point is 00:16:29 Yeah, she's like a baby bird. Sometimes you got to get them to keep coming to you. Steven, I think your instincts are right. You called us. We're validating your instincts. Your instincts are right. You're pushing really hard and it's affecting her and you don't want to lose her and in the midst of this cause
Starting point is 00:16:46 the cause is not as important as as her and the kids right because it's not at that point what's the point especially during this season that's right but listen my man she seems to be all in we heard no signs of her not being all in it's just hey we got a holiday party and i'm swamped with the kids and I'm exhausted. You know, I also think it's important for you to show some appreciation to her for her being all in. And you know what? Maybe take a night coming up in the next couple of weeks and totally surprise her and say, hey, babe, here's a little money that I've been making on the side hustle. Go out with some of your best girlfriends. Have a nice night. I'll take care of the kids. All right, Ken Coleman. Do you know what, I mean, what do you think,
Starting point is 00:17:27 Jade? I think that's a teamwork play. That's a teamwork play. Because she's, listen, I'm just, I'm honoring all the moms out there because my wife has done both. Stacey has fluctuated between being a work out of the home and a work in the home. Notice I say work in the home because that's a lot of work. And there are times where it's really good, guys, for us to just acknowledge the partner in the situation and say, hey, you know what? I appreciate you being on board. And what it is is when you're going at that pace, you have to ahead of time say what the milestones are going to be. When we pay off this car, we get this. When we do this and it sounds like they don't have those milestones in place, and
Starting point is 00:18:05 that is so important. You need like a cheat day. You know these big time athletes? That's right. I follow the rock. No big deal. I like the rock. Listen, those cheat meals? Have you seen the man's cheat meals? Yes. It's pretty fantastic. So even one of the greatest athletes, actors, get after guys in the world, you've got
Starting point is 00:18:21 those down days. I think mama needs a little time off every once in a while and you can fund that. And then we keep going with great momentum. Steven, you're a good man and a good husband. This is The Randy Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way
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Starting point is 00:19:19 needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budgets. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me in studio. We're here for you, America. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Taking your money questions, your work questions. It's
Starting point is 00:20:00 a good time to be thinking about next year, and we are here for you. The question of the day is brought to you by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Neighborly has local service providers who can repair, maintain, and improve your home. Ladies, if you're married to a guy like me, you need Neighborly, because I can't do Jack Diddley squat around the house, and that's why Stacey is happy for Neighborly. Their network of experts offer top quality work and customer service by trained reliable service providers. Find the help you need at neighborly.com slash Ramsey today. Today's question comes from Sarah in Arizona. Can I donate money in baby step two? My husband and I disagree about this. I made my husband do FPU and agreed to the principles before I would even accept his
Starting point is 00:20:48 proposal. Wow. Dang, son. We just got married in September and we are officially on a budget with combined finances. We have a good income, around $400,000 combined, but our debt snowball is more of a debt wrecking ball right now 448 000 in total debt i have always given a hundred dollars a month to charities and i put these as line items on our combined budget my husband says giving is for baby step seven and this money should come out of my discretionary spending if i want to keep giving i say say it is not $100 a month that is going to derail us from reaching our goals. I'm still tweaking the budget,
Starting point is 00:21:29 but right now I have our individual allowance at $200 each month. Can you please be the arbitrator of this debate? Oh, I need to get you one of those black robes and you're Judge Jade right now. I need to give you a gavel too what say you judge jade i i see a lot in this so i'm just gonna pick it apart um this woman is strong okay i do not want to mess with sarah sarah is coming in hot okay um here's what i'm
Starting point is 00:21:59 gonna say about giving and then i'm gonna go back through uh this thing i do think it's important to give. I think giving is an important practice that you do all the time, all the time, even in baby step two. Now, pause for a second. I'm going to tell you my perspective and you have the ability, Sarah, to put this, make it make sense for you depending on your belief system. I'm a Christian person. The way I believe is you just give 10% off the top all the time and you give that 10% to your local church that's that's what I believe that's a spiritual practice for me but it's also a financial practice and generosity for me so even while Sam and I were in baby step two
Starting point is 00:22:36 with um almost the same amount of debt as what you have Sarah but with a smaller income we continue to give not a hundred dollars a month but ten percent of whatever we brought in and for me the reasoning behind that is not just like I said a spiritual one but it is a practice and just good financial principle because at the end of the day and this is for everybody listening when you have an open hand the money is sitting in your hand money can easily get out but it also means money can easily get back in and that's a wonderful thing to know and it's just a blessing we say all the time. Giving is the most fun you can have with money. So I agree with you in principle. Yes, you should continue to give. Matter of fact,
Starting point is 00:23:14 up it. If you're making $400,000 a year and you want to give 10%, well, there you have it. What your husband is talking about, baby step seven seven he says giving is for baby step seven that really is if you want to give above and beyond right if you're like listen we've been at this um this lower mark of giving for a while we're ready to increase there's some dreams that i have yeah baby step seven is the time to do that um i i might just and it might just be the way it's written. Maybe just ease up a little, Sarah. Just maybe pull back a little bit.
Starting point is 00:23:50 You're very strong. And all of these things kind of sound like, I told my husband we're doing this, and I told him we're doing this, and you're kind of like dragging him by the collar. She got him like the collar on the wall. You know what I'm saying? And I think that might make him feel a little he might be feeling some type of way and maybe this is a way where he feels like he can get a
Starting point is 00:24:09 little control back because you know sometimes relationships get to be a bit of a power struggle and so this feels more about a power struggle than it really does about giving I'm not gonna lie just reading it I may be wrong Ken Coleman I think you're right. I think the language implies her attitude towards him. And you don't want to take too many liberties with just a one-sided email. But yeah, it feels like this is not a partnership. This is a dictatorship is what it feels like. And so I think you're right. The budget needs to be adapted to include the giving that you're talking about based on what we teach. So I I think you're right. The budget needs to be adapted to include the giving
Starting point is 00:24:46 that you're talking about based on what we teach. So I agree with you lockstep. Man. I get it though. You know. Money creates enough tension. Us telling the spouse how things are going to be, that doesn't lend itself to long-term financial partnership. It doesn't. And I mean, Sarah, hear me loud and clear. I have a Mr. T personality as well. Okay. I pity the fool. I pity the fool. I come in hot. Sam Warshaw, he could tell you right now, I come in hot. And so when I read that, I recognized that. And so sometimes we have to pull back a little bit. We stomp in the room. You know what I'm
Starting point is 00:25:23 saying? We just chill out. And guys, even if she does stomp in the room, never say that she stomps in the room. There's a little bit of advice to all the dudes out there. We float. Man, I'm already getting nervous. I feel like I'm on eggshells already. I'm ready to move on. By the way, the illustrious, incomparable Sam Warshaw is in the lobby. So he gave me a look. He kind of leaned over and gave me a look when you said that. That's all he did. I don't know what that means. I'll find out afterwards. Oh boy, that's good stuff. All right, Brittany's up next in New Orleans, or as I like to say, Nolans. What's going on, Brittany? Hi, Tim. How are you guys?
Starting point is 00:26:00 We're having a blast. What are you up to? Working in that snowball. I have a question. Hey, before you ask the question, I got to know. When you live in the New Orleans area, is it a thing? Does everybody have beignets around Christmas? Is that a Christmas morning thing? I prefer sweet potato around this time of the year, personally. I just wanted you to know, I order every year a box of the dough from Cafe Du Monde, and we do beignets Christmas morning. Wow. Yeah, that's my treat.
Starting point is 00:26:33 Anyway, sorry, I got distracted. Brittany, what can we answer for you? No, they're good. Yeah, they are good. Okay, so I'm working on my debt snowball, and the next debt I have coming up is a personal loan for $5,000. Now, I was previously married before, and so this is a loan that I hold with my ex-husband. When we split, we did agree to split it 50-50, and we've been paying the monthly payment since we split.
Starting point is 00:27:05 Now, it's the next thing in my debt snowball. So obviously I'm trying to figure out what to do. Cause he does not have his half of the 5,000 to pay it off. Currently. Who do you owe the money to? Um, one name. Okay. So it's okay. A lending service.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Okay. It's a personal loan from a bank. Not like grandma loaned you money. Okay. Correct. Yes. has, is he good for it? Tell me what kind of guy this is.
Starting point is 00:27:30 Is this the type of guy who's going to pay it? He's been paying it monthly. He's late sometimes, but he always gives it. Is it in both of your names? For the most part, yes, it's in both of your names for the most part yes it's in both of our names i'd probably i'd probably pay my half and set it set it aside and then by the time i get done with my debt snowball if he still hasn't paid it i'm gonna pay it and move on okay that's what i was thinking should i just pay the whole thing now here's the thing if you start to see because i here's the
Starting point is 00:28:03 thing you pay half of this and there's still a monthly payment due so you need to monitor monitor this and if you see listen he's not making his payment this interest is racking up and it's going the bill is going up it's not going down you need to you need to reach over and just pay it off immediately but if you see okay he's making his payment you know this this is working because you know twenty five hundred dollars is a lot of money I might change my mind hold on a second how much more do you have in your debt snowball uh if I sell my car which I plan on doing I'll have about 40k left 40k left um and how much is the car worth? The car is like $20,000.
Starting point is 00:28:45 All right. If you don't sell that car, because I think that's a big part of this, pay your half and watch it. All right? Watch it every month because I don't want this going back. If you see even one month that he's late, reach over and pay it off. All right? Thank you for the call, Brittany. When you said reach, I thought you said reach over and cuff him right in the back of the head.
Starting point is 00:29:04 She could try that, too. She could try that, too. She could try that, too. Hey, Brittany, you're doing awesome. You're on your way, and nobody's going to stop you. Thanks for the call. Great advice, Jade. All right, don't move, folks. We've got to pay a couple bills, and we'll be right back.
Starting point is 00:29:17 This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You've joined the conversation about your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. We want you winning in all three of those areas. That's why we do this show, The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me.
Starting point is 00:29:37 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Toronto, Canada. Max joins us there. Max, how can we help? Hey, Ken. Thank you guys so much for having me on. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. What's going on? Awesome. Yeah. So I'll kind of just give you the question and then I guess we can dive into it. So I'm 23, graduated university two years ago now and thinking of moving on from my first full-time job and taking a shot as an entrepreneur doing some social media and YouTube content.
Starting point is 00:30:09 Okay. And what do you make in your full-time job? So right now I'm at 80,000. I also have a side hustle that I'm doing about 5k a month. Oh, wow. What's the side hustle that I'm doing about 5k a month. Oh, wow. What's the side hustle? Yeah. So I'm partnering with this company called Odds Jam and it's a little bit weird, but kind of with a lot of the new sports books and gambling companies coming to Canada, there's a lot of opportunities for different promotions and things like that. So using the software, I've been able to have success and average about 5k a month past year. Wow. And so where does the youtube social media venture that you mentioned does this is this uh is this related at all to the work you just
Starting point is 00:30:51 described it's the side hustle or is it completely separate no so it would be completely separate kind of my game plan would be to continue to do the side hustle and then kind of leave this full time job and then be able to fully dive into you you know, doing 60, 80 hours a week on the YouTube social. Do you have any debt right now? Nope, no debt. No debt at all. You're single? I have a girlfriend of three years.
Starting point is 00:31:15 Girlfriend of three years. What kind of content are you planning to do, social media and YouTube? Yeah, so it would be kind of in the self-improvement, self-development space, specifically geared to a target audience of young men, probably within the age of 14 to 22. A lot of it would kind of be either fitness-related, mental health, building self-discipline, confidence, some stuff with how to have success with women as well as business. Have you done any of that content before, or is this just an idea? So I haven't done any of that content before, but I am publishing
Starting point is 00:31:46 a 300 page self-improvement book in January. So that's going to be coming in the next month. And all of the things I talk about kind of in the book are going to be directly related to the content I'm doing on the channel. All right. Well then based on what you've told me, I think what I would do if I were you is I would release that book. Proud of you for that. I think that's great. I would start doing this content now. I would not go all in. To me, it just is not worth taking a $20,000 pay cut. I love that you're making 80K in a day job that is allowing you enough bandwidth mentally to be making 60. You're on pace to make $60,000 a year in a side hustle. So I wouldn't just immediately walk away from the 80K and to go all in on the social,
Starting point is 00:32:34 because I don't think that's the right strategy. I think what I would do is I would come up with a strategy to test this. What's a legitimate test? And I'm making this up. Please don't let me hang this on you. And I want Jade to weigh in here in a second on this too. But I would be thinking social and YouTube. So is it three videos a week?
Starting point is 00:32:54 Is it one? How many posts a day? Get whatever you think is a legitimate test. Not be all in all. Because remember, starting a social media side hustle should have the same mindset as starting a regular brick and mortar business, meaning I'm not going to go all in on a bunch of inventory, buy a building. I'm going to lease. I'm going to do small inventory.
Starting point is 00:33:14 I'm going to test this stuff. So to me, I would stay put doing exactly what you're doing now. And what I would do is I would commit 20 hours a week to it, 15, whatever you can do. Let's go full-blown test because you could still hustle right now, put out enough content to test it and see is there anything there. Then what I would like to see is social media, this new side hustle, the personal development stuff. I'd like to see that getting to a point where you can see it generating 20,000
Starting point is 00:33:45 so that we replace the 80K from the day job. There's just zero reason for you to risk right now. Also that book, when did you say the book comes out? So the launch is planned for the end of January of this year. Okay. Or 2024, I guess. I'm just asking, is this something you've done on your own?
Starting point is 00:34:04 Like you found a publisher and you did this, or is there some sort of deal that you got because of something you did and there's a little bit more hoopla around it? Can you tell us like the seriousness of this? Yeah. So I wrote the entire book myself, and then I worked with another publishing company in Canada, which kind of helped me with, you know, cover design,
Starting point is 00:34:24 going through the manuscript, you know, cover design, going through the manuscript, you know, going over everything with a fine tooth comb. But it's up to you to market it. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So I think to Ken's point, that book is going to be a big test for you too, because you're going to look and see, okay, like, is it selling?
Starting point is 00:34:40 Are people interested in this topic? What's the feedback? You know, on Amazon, you'll be able to read those reviews and see everything that's going on um with that book so that's one of the ways you'll test it but i you know ken and i can both tell you from social media before i came to ramsey i started a channel and it is hard work people you know people like to look at influencers and go oh you're you're an influencer. How hard could it be? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Starting point is 00:35:07 It's hard work. It's very hard to get people. I mean, it's a constant competition to make sure your content is what people want to see. So do you plan on having somebody to help you with it? Is the first step just you doing it on your own? Yeah, so kind of my my thought process with and i know that this is someone you guys got on the show alex mermosi and kind of something that he says is a lot of people that kind of one foot in the door one foot out the door and that's
Starting point is 00:35:35 kind of why i wanted to quit and go full-time in it because i feel you know something ken talks about as well as i don't necessarily have the career capital in terms of editing video skills and stuff i feel but the skill I do have is great communication. You know, I believe in myself that if I commit to this for, you know, a three-year time window, let's say, and I'm doing 68 hours a week on it, I believe I can be successful. It's more so just having that time that I don't really have, you know, working nine to five. And, you know, regarding what Ken said earlier, you know, 20 hours a week, something like that. No, I do think that I can do that. But a big part of it is also fitness, right?
Starting point is 00:36:07 So I'm in the gym probably two, three hours a day. So on top of my nine to five and the side hustle, I don't really have a lot of free time in the day per se. So that's why I'm at a bit of a crossroads, if that makes sense. Well, let me address, because I've interviewed Alex and know Alex. And so I want to address what you said. I think it's correct what he has said, but there's also scaling involved and there's a season when we're testing
Starting point is 00:36:30 and then there's a season when we scale. And what I heard you say is quit everything and go 80 hours a week to be able to do this. Did I hear that correctly? I would still do the side hustle that I'm doing, the odds game thing. So how many hours a week do you have to put into that that's making you 5k a month? Probably two hours a day, every day. Okay. Well, listen, I'm not going to tell you not to do it.
Starting point is 00:36:59 I told you what I would do and I would eventually ramp up. I'm with Alex that at some point you've got to go all in. I just don't think you're ready to go all in yet. Yeah. How quickly, okay, let's say you're replacing the 5,000 a month that you're making from your $80,000 job that you're netting. How quickly do you think by posting on social media and YouTube that you'll recoup that in your mind? How quickly do you think? Yeah, I think if I do two years, two years, that'd probably be 800 videos. I think I could have a good audience by then. It's very speculative. It's very speculative.
Starting point is 00:37:31 I'm just saying it's very speculative because again, this is from somebody who's saying, who's doing what you're saying to do. I did it for two and a half years and I had just started making money. When I say money, I mean a little bit of money, not anything close to bank. It's a little bit of money, having some opportunities to influence for people.
Starting point is 00:37:54 Max, she's really good. She's really winsome. I'm just going to be honest with you. I mean, people like looking at her and listening to what she says. She's dynamic and it took her that long. She's a and it took her that long. She's a big time performer. I would just rather you take my advice, not because I think I'm right. And you'll get there.
Starting point is 00:38:18 But because I think it's not going to hurt you. You got to try this. I know you don't have a lot of time to be able to crank out, but start working that gym time into video time. If you're in the gym for two hours, then figure out a way to film it film the whole time you got some extra money i'd hire somebody to be following you around you know that's what alex does alex has got a guy that's full-time follows around shooting stuff and editing i'd rather you keep the day job invest some of that money in somebody filming you while you're at the gym for two hours but test it and then when we know it's really working then we scale it, Jade. I just don't want you to go backwards financially, Max, but I love your heart and your desire. So thanks for the call. Jade Warshaw, good hour. Thank you, my friend.
Starting point is 00:38:55 To our fearless leader, old captain, our captain, James Childs, and the fearless crew in the booth. Thank you, guys. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time.

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