The Ramsey Show - App - Budget Is NOT a 4-Letter Word (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where dad is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show, and author of the number one best-selling book, The Proximity Principle, is my co-host today here on the air. He talks about careers on his show. He talks about finding a job on his show. He talks about making money in your passion on his show.

And so we're going to talk about careers today here on the air as well as taking your calls about your life and your money as always. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Paige is with us in Las Vegas. Hi, Paige. How are you? I'm great, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have some single stocks that just vested and I planned on taking half of them to pay off the rest of my student loan debt, my credit card, and then have 10K as my nine months in my emergency fund. And so my question really is with the other half, should I sell them or should I just leave them alone? I don't have a retirement currently and I don't own my rental. So I pay a monthly rent and I am thinking about potentially getting a home. Yeah.

And so what's the half of this or the whole, either one of all the stock worths? Yeah. So currently the whole would be $26,000. So $13,000 makes you debt-free with an emergency fund? Yes, sir. Okay. How much debt do you have? The debt is $2,500 in student loan debt and $1,900 in credit card debt. Oh, okay. All right. That does do it then. All right. And so you've got your three to six months of expenses.

You're debt-free. That's baby step three, obviously. And you make what a year? Currently, so with my stocks right now, I made $91,000 this year. Okay. And $26,000 of that was the stock option or stock vesting? Actually, my stocks were a little more than that. So my hourly would be about $41,000 a year.

So you made $50,000 on the stock? Oh, the $26,000 was half. That's what you said. I'm sorry. Yes, sir. I've slipped a gear. Okay. All right. I'm what you said. I'm sorry. Yes, sir. I've slipped a gear. Okay. All right.

I'm back with you. Wow. Yeah. So you're making more on the stock than you are at your pay. Yes, sir. Pretty incredible. Do you think that trend will continue? I'm thinking so.

So that's why I'm a little nervous to cash out all of it and that's why i kind of wanted to pay half but um i was like you know i'm gonna call dave and see because i don't really know what to do okay how old is this how old is this company um company is hold on. They started in 2003. They're a Silicon Valley company. Okay. Yeah. So single stocks in general are a fairly high risk play. Correct. So I don't buy single stocks, and I don't recommend people buy single stocks more than 10% of their net worth

because they're volatile, and in your case, potentially very volatile. This is obviously somehow you've gotten into some kind of startup thing with the amount of stock you're getting, which is pretty incredible. So what do you do? What's your actual job? My job is business admin. So I deal directly with like contracts.

Okay. Like an underwriter basically. Okay, I got you. Would be the best way to describe my job. Gotcha. Yeah. Good. Well, I'm so happy for your success. Well done. Very well done. Thank you.

So overall, you're going to get another batch of stock next year, right? Yeah, every quarter they vest. And so, yeah. So you're really probably not going to lose much ground at all cashing it all out and let's put some of it into retirement get your get your roth ira going set aside the rest of it for your down payment future down payment on the house because i'd rather you have a house in a pile of this stock see that's what i was thinking too because i was thinking the roth ira because right now they're like 5k to start i believe six six yeah six is your max yeah click on smart investor at dayramsey.com and get your roth ira going um and make sure you're putting 15 of your income away towards retirement and then

beyond that let's start piling this stock up as it comes in uh cashing it out periodically so that because i don't want it to dive and mess up your plans yeah because that's happened in the past yeah and it's a volatile stock it could go way up it could go way down and i just don't i don't that's why i don't play with it i don't like risk that much i like things that are steady and true and i'm not trying to get rich quick so you're doing so good well done that's pretty incredible nice Nice comp plan. Yes, sir. And she's just going to, I mean, I love that plan. Love that. I mean, she's going to just fast forward everything with one sale.

It's incredible. Yeah, absolutely. Morris is in Nashville. Hey, Morris, how are you? Good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can Ken and I help?

I have an idea for an invention, but I work two full-time jobs that I hate. Me and my wife, we got $6,000 in debt and $11,000 in the bank. Don't know the first steps to take to get sample products made or to bring it to market, but I think it's a good idea, and I think I definitely would need a patent for it. I don't want to look for financial backing. I want to fund this 100% debt-free myself, well, me and the wife. But I don't know where do I start. I have an idea that I think would be an excellent idea.

Well, a lot of people think the idea is an excellent idea. But I think it would be something beneficial to everybody. And I don't know where to start. Well, the first thing you need to do is we need to look at the $11,000. Is that in your savings account or are you just saying you're checking in general? $6,000 in debt, $11,000 in the bank. Be more specific of what that is. Yes, $6,000 in debt, $11,000 in savings. Okay. So the first thing you want to do is we want to clear that debt. Why are you not clearing that $6,000 today?

Well, during the COVID time, my wife, she lost her job, and her company went out of business. And she feels very comfortable having that extra cushion. We hope to have everything paid off by mid-January at the latest. So you're already planning to pay off the $6,000 in a month? Yes, by mid-? Yes. How? By mid-January. How are you doing that?

I work two full-time jobs. She works also as well. She has another job. Yeah, pay it off today and use that money to rebuild your savings. You're going to have $6,000. Pay off the $6,000 today, and then you were already planning to have $6,000 in mid-January. Then you just go and you walk Dave's baby steps right out. You need to get that at Mercy Fund. Three to six months, fully funded, keep working those two jobs. And I'd stop telling people about your invention to start with. Let's

move on to that. I'd start telling people about it. And I get this call a lot on the Ken Coleman show. And before you start thinking about patents and things of that nature, you've got to test this idea. And so we don't know what it is. We want to protect your privacy. But I'll give you a couple of steps here. It is either a product or a service, most likely a product. And let's test the product. Does it actually work?

And you only cash flow one prototype to see if it actually works. Test it. Learn more about it. Make it better. Find out what all the costs are as it relates to how many you'd have to manufacture. You've got to cut a deal to manufacture it. There's a lot of research before you ever try to make a go of this. Keep working those two jobs.

Keep working the baby steps. Get your family solid financially. And then work that invention as you have cash and as you have time. As your side hustle. Totally side hustle. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. With more frequency than you know, I get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent. You can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing. And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation

that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say, I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family. Listen, you need to check out Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. I can't say it enough. Protect your family.

It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Z selling a home on hold until spring, remember this. It's a big financial decision, and big financial decisions should happen on your timeline. You're not trying to catch something at a certain moment in time. You're saying, what is right for you? It's on sale. I don't care if it's on sale. You don't buy because it's on sale. It's not a bargain if you didn't need it.

The same thing is true when you start buying or selling something as big as a home based on what you think the market is doing. Stop waiting around for the stars to align. The truth is you can win in any market in any season when you put the right people on your team. Find the top real estate agent in your market like one of our endorsed local providers, our ELP agent. ELPs have years of experience with the changing markets. That's why they're the top agents in your market and the only agents we trust in your area. If you're ready to make a move, now's your time. Text HOUSE to 33789, and you can find a trusted agent near you to help.

That's HOUSE to 33789. Gavin is in Tampa, Florida. Hi, Gavin. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks, Dave. Happy Monday, guys. You too. What's up? Nothing much. Well, I got a pretty broad question for you. So essentially, for the first time in my life, I'm at a point in my career where I can save money and actually

invest, you know, like beyond living paycheck to paycheck. Good. So, and like I said, there's a broad question but what now where do i even start okay are you out of debt except your home um i have a car payment that's actually pretty low it's only 200 bucks a month and i have like 3 000 in credit card debt okay so i've just got a little bit of a disease. Yeah. Okay. It sounds like it's tolerable for you, but it's not tolerable.

We've got to clean that up. That's the first place you invest is you clean up your debts because the number one key to building wealth is getting control of your number one wealth building tool, which is your income. So we're going to attack with a vengeance on the two debts with any money you can squeeze out of your budget. List your debts smallest to largest. Attack the little one.

Pay minimums on the other one. And when the little one's gone, then you get the next one done. When those two are gone, now you don't have any payments anymore. Guess what? Now you've even got more money. Now we're going to take all the money we can squeeze out of the budget at that point and build a rainy day fund. Because the big bad wolf is out there huffing and puffing his name is pandemic or his name is 2008 or his name is a job loss or his name

is a car wreck i don't know what his name is but he's out there huffing and puffing and he'll blow your little house down if you don't build a brick house so we want you to have an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses now you don't have and you've got three to six months of expenses. That even feels better than where you are now, right, Gavin? Yeah, that would be about perfect. Yeah, and then we're ready to start investing. And then you would use your 401K at your office, especially if they've got a match Roth version into good mutual funds.

Or if you're ready to start investing at that point and you don't have a 401k, click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. That'll hook you up with the people we recommend. We're not in the investment business, but these are folks that do it the way we teach. You'll choose among a list of them that drops down which one you think is best, and then you'll sit down with them and you can start investing. And we recommend investing in four types of mutual funds in your retirement plans, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. All of that is outlined in what we call the Baby Steps.

And the book that we did that has the Baby Steps detailed on steroids is called The Total Money Makeover. I'm going to give you one because it sounds like you're ready for one. And Kelly will help you get one of those as my Christmas gift to you. Merry Christmas. Kevin is next. Kevin's in Sacramento. Hi, Kevin. How are you? Hey, how's it going, guys? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I've got a quick question. My wife and I are on the fence about staying in California. We're thinking about moving to Austin, Texas area. Reason is because the housing market where I'm at right now is just pretty crazy over

here. The houses over in that area would be about half of what we would buy over here. Where are you? Not unless you're in Silicon Valley. Well, I'm in Roseville, so it's a little bit away, but it's, yeah, it's not normal. It's about four or five years ago. I think you're exactly. The houses are a lot cheaper in Austin, Texas, but they're not half.

But, okay, anyway, your point is still. Well, for what I was looking for, basically. Because I'm looking at it as if it would be like more of a fresh start because we paid off all of our debt. We have three to six months saved up, and we're in the process of looking into buying a home. Okay. Why would you stay in California, and why would you move?

I'll stay in California to get the family, but wouldn't move because I feel like it'd be easier to get a head start and kind of move forward with my wife and I. Where are you moving? What are you moving forward to professionally? What's the dream? With at least my role, I feel like I'm kind of topped out with what I'm doing. I'm in IT as a network engineer, and if I was wanting to make more, then I can look into different kind of fields. But from what I can do progressing, I feel like I've kind of hit my ceiling,

at least within the field I'm in. All right, so have you done homework? You've done homework on the housing. Have you done homework on the type of companies, the type of positions, the industries that you would like to go into, and do they exist in Austin? Yeah, kind of what I'm gathering is Austin, Texas is like Silicon Valley 2.0. No, it's not. No, it's not.

You've got to do some homework. I mean, this is like you're hearing tabloid news. You need to really do some research before you make a move like this. Now, the good news is, good on you. You guys have gotten debt-free. You're into Baby Step 4. You've got the future in front of you. But don't go backwards financially because you just decide, well, this place over here seems like it's got

a lot of great opportunities. We need to have a plan. Where am I going? Why do I want to go there? How do I get there? And that's where you need to be on this. I wouldn't just move for the sake of moving. But I mean, there will be some financial benefits to moving, obviously, to Texas versus California. Austin has a tremendous tech scene. just move for the sake of moving. But I mean, there will be some financial benefits to moving, obviously, to Texas versus California. Austin has a tremendous tech scene. It's not Silicon Valley. Nashville's got a tremendous tech scene, but it's not Silicon Valley. Lots of cities have good, strong presence of people in the hardware world and people in the software world, and there's several corridors around that are stronger than others and austin nashville would be among them

seattle would be among them for sure but uh but but to call it 2.0 as if you're somehow it's nirvana or something and the houses are half priced half of what they are where you are and the streets are paved with gold too no none of that's true so uh it's just freaking austin texas so you need to go do a little more deep dive on your research like ken said you've done a really really good job with your money kevin i'm very proud of you and it sounds like you're kind of done with california and so would the last one out please turn off the lights oh my gosh is everybody leaving that state it feels unbelievable it feels like it i mean it's i'm talking to dallas realtors i'm talking to nashville realtors i'm talking to wherever it's like 30 of their sales are former californians it's crazy people are

coming to cities like nashville and austin and they're buying houses unseen they're buying them off the Internet. Like they go in. Of course, they could see what the house looks like. Boom, we're in. And here's what's happening. It's not anything to do with the house. It's got to do with they can go outside and they don't get arrested. Well, and actually perform their business.

Yeah. We're seeing small businessmen and women are suffering deeply on the West Coast because they cannot go to work. They don't have anybody to serve. This guy's willing to move from a good job and move away from his family. Yeah. That's, you know, and that's really what's going on here. So, yeah, if the last one out just turns off the lights, let us know, okay? So, yeah.

I think you need to get on a plane and go to Austin, do some interviews, and I think you need to look at some actual houses with a real estate agent. Click ELP at DaveRamsey.com. One of our endorsed local providers can start to inform you in Austin how great a city it is. It is a great city. I wasn't running it down, but it's not nirvana. And, you know, it's not heaven. And so there's a great tech scene there, obviously, but it is not the only tech corridor in America where you could possibly make a great living.

There's a lot of them. And so you need to start learning the market, learn the real estate market, learn the job market, and then based on all that knowledge, you'll make a much better decision rather than just out of your frustration with the state of California. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. ramsay show ken coleman ramsay personality is my co-host today here on the air. This is the Dave Ramsey Show, as we answer your questions about your career, about your money, and about your life. Open phones at 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Thomas and Sharon are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

Hi, we're great. Good, how are how are you? Hi, we're great. Good. How are you, Dave? Hi, Ken. Hi. Welcome. So good to have you guys. Where do you live?

We live south of Boston. Whoa. That's a bit of a trek to Nashville. It flew in, yes. Well, welcome to town. We're glad to have you. Thank you. And all the way down south here to do a debt-free screen.

We're excited to be here. And how much have you paid off? Well, we paid off in a year $24,611.62. And then we also cash flowed $17,000, a little over $17,000 into our wonderful antique home during that time. And then in the meantime, we've had a little change, a little update. So they said I could tell you that we actually sold our house and we'll and we have a for cash deal and so we're passing at the end of the month so it'll be that total would be like 468 000 at the end of this month there's a step so now that

you're homeless where are you gonna live right in the area we're going to rent. Okay. Until we decide, you know, what's our next step. Okay. Why'd you sell it? Well... It's an antique house. It's 162 years old. Ah. So...

A lot of work all the time. A lot of work all the time. Constantly. Big yard. Constantly something to work on. Yeah. Roofs, chimneys, water heaters, boilers. Yeah.

Everything. Everything was going. You're never done. Murphy's showed up at the door. Yeah. Yeah. Constantly. It's water heaters, boilers. Everything. Everything was going. You're never done. Murphy's showed up at the door. Yeah. Constantly. It's a money pit. It is.

They're beautiful. Beautiful historic properties, but they just eat money and they're a lot of work. It's crazy. You got to really love them. You got to love them. So you made some serious money. Good. Way to go.

I'm proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. So tell us what happened that put you guys on this journey. Well, I have to come clean. We lived in Charlotte, North Carolina back in 2005, and we took FPU back then. And guess

what? We flunked. Oh, you flunked the class. We don't even give a grade, and you flunked it. We did it day-ish. We cut up some cards, but we never were gazelle intense. And I think not being on the same page was huge. And then we moved back to the Boston area, and it's like you're starting over.

So we rented for several years. Ten years. We didn't have credit cards for a long time, but then you kind of lose focus. And I got one credit card, but I had good credit. And somehow I ended up with family. And I know you talk about this purchased this antique home with family and within a short period of time, unfortunately, I can't cry. It didn't work out. So we ended up with the whole payment, all the repairs. So Murphy was showing up at the door and I had a broken heart and we were broke and

we were almost walked away. And we just said, we can't do this, but I just, I took your book out. I started listening to you on the radio every single day. And I said, we are going to give this everything we've got. Cause if we don't, we'll never feel good about ourselves. So I just did exactly what you said. And you turned it around. I turned it around. Because we almost did a short sale. Yeah.

Because we couldn't sell it at the time. Let's not. Let's see what we can do. And it was that motivation. But, you know, because I've heard you talk about mixing family and money. I didn't feel so bad afterwards. It's unusual to go into that kind of deal and not have some things go wrong and you love your family too much to do that so so hopefully this chapter is going

to be closed at the end of this month and we can put that behind us cool so what's your household income we started at 90 or up to about 110 okay what. Okay. What do you all do for a living? I am a senior Charity Bond assistant underwriter. Okay. And I am a manager for your CBD store. Okay. Great. Yeah.

Great. So there's something bone-grating and deep, like fingernails down a chalkboard on your spirit about what you all went through I can see it in your face I can see you avoiding the tears and that that the broken heart of the family partner going bad the relationship being frayed and they pile a bunch of bills on you in the process um so it's like a triple storm i mean it's a perfect storm it's everything that can go wrong does and that is such a horrible thing and yet that's the thing that lets you on fire yeah exactly i just said never ever again i i just i want to put this behind me and you're thinking you have all this time in your life to get it done and you think you're doing the right things and making the right decisions,

but all of a sudden you're like, I have nothing in retirement. How am I going to retire? So you want to retire with dignity. And you say adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. And we just did what felt good, and we became adults this last year and a half. I wanted to ask you, you were talking about your first time when you said you failed FPU. You said it was because you weren't on the same page.

Now, I'm not asking this question to point anybody out, but I think this is a wonderful, wonderful example for some couples that are listening that may not be on the same page. When this happened this time around, what actually changed? How did you guys practically get on the same page? What did it look like? We hired a financial advisor. Well, he was terrific. I think the point being that we were thinking, I'm 73 years old,

and retirement is right around the corner for me. So we started looking ahead and saying, we have to do something. And Sharon grabbed a hold of it, and that's where we went. She got the financial advisor. Dan Reikiak. His picture's here somewhere. He was so, I mean, really, I went on your site and looked up financial advisors. I interviewed four different ones. He had done his debt-free screen here.

Oh, wow. And he's doing it full-time now. So we just paid that money. And every month, we met with him. And he was the one. I came to the second meeting by myself. He said, where's your husband? I'm like, oh, he's home. No, no, no. You do this together or it won't work. So for us, having that accountability person and the EveryDollar app and having him help me with the EveryDollar app, it just was crucial for us to have that accountability. And he was so instrumental because not only did he guide us financially, he helped us emotionally through this whole thing and spiritually. Wow. That's all God's.

He's three foot three. That's all God's. He's an incredible young man. Yeah. He's awesome. Yeah. That's all God. He's three foot three. He's an incredible young man. He's awesome. Yeah. Very cool. Well, I'm honored that we endorse him then. That's pretty cool stuff.

Yes, yes, yes. Very good stuff. He's doing what he's supposed to do. He is. So proud of you guys. Thank you. How do you feel? Feel free.

Yeah. At the end of the month, I'll feel even better. Yeah. House gets closed. It'll be touchdown. Super Bowl I. Super Bowl, yeah. Clock's ticking down. Yeah. House gets closed. It'll be touchdown. Super Bowl I. Super Bowl, yeah. Clock's ticking down.

It's ticking down, yeah. I'm so proud of y'all. Thank you. Well done. Well done. Really, I just want to say thank you so much. I can't even tell you how many days I would be so down, and you would come on and talk about family issues,

or you'd quote scripture about no discipline is pleasant at the time but it produces so much on the other side if you just stick with it first time in our lives that we just did it together and and plowed through and never you just never you know that time when you say you'll never go back yeah to death and i just wanted to say like like I told you, we started this when I was almost 72, and we finished just before I turned 73. We did it in about 12 months. And so if people are out there listening, it is never too late. Amen.

It really is. Yeah, and we're teaching the class, too. Oh, thank you, Financial Peace Coordinator. You'll be great ones. You're not going to put up with anybody doing ish. You'll get the whip out. And I also learned budget is not a four-letter word. It's not.

You're right. It's not. It's so great. Well, I'm so proud of you guys. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is your next chapter for sure. I can see it in your future. I'm so proud of you guys. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That is your next chapter for sure. I can see it in your future. I'm so proud of you.

Thank you. All right, Thomas and Sharon from Boston, Mass. $25,000 paid off in 12 months, but that's just a piece of the story. $17,000 cash flowed, and now they've got the house sold. They're going to be 100% debt-free at the end of the month, making $90,000 to $110,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Oh, man. That's inspiring. It's always fun to watch the lightness. Yeah. They're so light.

You can feel it. Yeah. They're free. That's so cool. So good. This is the lightness. Yeah. They're so light. You can feel it. Yeah. They're free. That's so cool. So good. This is the Dave of god to conceal things but the glory of kings is to search things out marcel proust said the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Mandy is in Savannah, Georgia. Hi, Mandy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my husband and I are on Baby Step 2, and he has had the opportunity to come up to join the Army National Guard. They are telling him that he will have a $20,000 enlistment bonus.

And it's a six-year commitment, and they will also do over a three-year period, they'll pay off his student loan debt in thirds. So we were just kind of weighing our options of, is this a good choice for us? We have about $58,000 left in our debt snowball. And we didn't want to make a rash decision and sign him up for something for six years. But it also seems like it could be God opening a door for us to really, you know, make a step forward in our finances. And so we just wanted to get some feedback. Okay. The benefits package with the National Guard is excellent. We endorse them. We tell people to do the National Guard.

The $20,000 sign-up and the thirds forgiven over three years is pretty amazing. All of that is wonderful uh but just like anything else if it's not something he's called to he's going to be miserable and so you never want to you never want to do something just for money and truthfully the better people around the national guard will tell you not to do this unless you feel called to do it don Don't do it just for the money. Do it because it's what you're called to. And, oh, there's some great money. Yes. He's currently a firefighter and has always said that his big regret is not joining the military

when he had the opportunity when he was younger. Okay. So I think it would lend that. I think the other part of our problem is that he would be gone for six months-ish for training, and we have a blended family with five kids. So we're thinking a short-term sacrifice of six months for this long-term gain and something that he's wanted to do might be a good idea, but, again, we didn't want to make a wrong decision.

Well, I think the only way you would sign up for the adventure that's going to be yours, Mandy, because, I mean, he's got training. You've got boot camp. Right. Right. Holy crap. And so, I mean, everybody in this story has got to be signed up. How are the kids?

Goodness. So he has a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old. I have a 7-year-old, 8-year-old and a six-year-old i have a seven year old eight year old and 13 year old and you got custody of all of them um no i have 50 50 custody um a great relationship with my ex-husband so they go back and forth um and then we have his about seven or 25 percent of the time okay Would you have them during the six months, would you take them some of the time? We're hoping so if his ex-wife will agree to that. But that's our big concern, too, is that they don't see him very often. So by taking another six months away, again, with a short-term pain on their end

while they're really young in order for us to give them a better life in the future. right? Well, and yeah, and for their dad to live out his calling. So I don't know, Ken? Yeah, I think that the five and six-year-old, six months time for them, it's like a time warp. They don't know. And I think they're young enough. It's the right age to do this. They really, they don't have a clue whether it's six months or six minutes. So I think you do it. And it's going to be hard on his heart. It's going to be hard on his heart. It's going to be hard on your heart. Obviously, you all being separated. But Dave's absolutely right. If both of you are in agreement that this is the right move for the big picture, purpose and money, I like it. I think it's a good move. I'd do it.

Yeah. Lots of families commit to something like this. But the thing is this, if you hate the idea of managing these kids for six months and you're less than enthused about it, then it's going to make the whole process miserable. If he's not called to the military, it's going to make the whole process miserable. And, you know, I assume the fire department that he's with will allow him to have the six months to do his training and so forth.

So, you know, but it sounds like everyone has signed up here. And when I asked about the kids' ages, are they signed up? Ken's right. They're more resilient and they're less sensitive than we think they are. They survive a lot of stuff. They're pretty malleable. But, you know, like when our kids were that age i'm trying to think let's see yeah i mean were you traveling a lot when daniel was just thinking like the first

book tour i was gone six weeks yeah and um you know daniel would have been in that age group yeah and so uh they would have been pretty young and so sharon had to be signed up to saddle a bunch of young kids in order for us to hit the goal of getting the first book out there and you know it's on the book on the new york times the first time i go out on book tour but i was out six weeks and i did have a a break in the middle of it but uh but i mean and i did that three times and one time i was gone 40 days but um with total money makeover it was the most intense one uh but in each case, what we did was we signed everybody up for the trip. It's like, okay, here's what we're doing. We're going to pay a price here.

And the blessings that are going to come financially, you know, when I get home, we're going to Disney World. You know, and, you know, there's a carrot at the end of the stick kind of a thing. But if everyone involved has decided they're all going to be miserable while you're doing this, then everybody's going to be miserable. Yeah. You know, so that's the trick. And I think it sounds like they're all on board there. Yeah.

And I don't see. And you get $20,000, and you get a third of your student loans forgiven for three years. So, boom, that's going to help them. They're going to be debt-free. Yeah. The kids are going to be fine. This comes down to you. It comes down to you, Mama, and it comes down to him. And he's wanted to serve. He's going to help them. They're going to be debt-free. The kids are going to be fine. This comes down to you. It comes down to you, Mama, and it comes down to him.

And he's wanted to serve. He's always wanted to serve. He wants to do it. It's a no-brainer. The kids, the 5- and 6-year-old, they just want goldfish, and they watch their favorite program. They're going to be fine. They don't even know. Do not sweat the 5- and 6-year-old.

You and I are not like nurturing dads, are we? We're not soft nurturing dads. I just have been through it. And here's the other thing. Now I'm on the other side where the 15-year-old doesn't even want to be in the same room with me. I mean, we think our kids need us so much. No, they really don't. They don't want to be around us, and that's part of it.

I'm learning to grasp that. But it's okay. It's going to be all right. It's all right. It's all right. Ashton is with us in Jacksonvilleville florida hey ashton what's up hey guys thanks for taking my call so um we are a single income family my wife stays at home with the kid and i have a full-time job and but i also have a side company that i started um so basically

my question is uh customers ask me all the time, should they make out the payment to me or my company? So I usually say my name, you know, so it's cash and I can put it in my savings account and it'd be tax-free, whatever. Should I be putting anything into my company? Because I kind of want to build that too. So it's ready to take on bigger jobs and you know I can that will be my full-time job one day I'm just not sure what to do at the moment yeah we have a federal law in the United States of America that you pay taxes on your income yes okay so it's not tax-free income well it doesn't matter whose name it is. If you want to lie and cheat on your taxes, I can't really help you. But if you want to pay your bills, you would pay taxes on it regardless of whose name the check was written to. Right. I got you.

So I have a business account, and that's why I asked. So I have, you know, obviously a personal account and then also a business account. Should I be putting any money into my business account and let that grow? I would put it all into your business account. I would pay the business expenses out of the business account. If you need to leave some there to pay your taxes or leave some there to pay for future growth, that's fine, and let the rest of it flow through to help you with the household.

The whole reason of having the business is to prosper the household. Absolutely, yeah, because I'm in construction, so it's relatively spotty, you know, depending on weather. So the side hustle is nice. It's usually at least three jobs a month. That's great. And I can kind of depend on my, yeah, it's working out. I can depend on my regular job for the bills and stuff,

and then this is just to help keep saving, but I want to be able to take the next step and take on bigger jobs. And when companies come and do their deal with us. Make sure all of your materials and all of your tools are purchased out of the business account so that they can be expensed because that's where you are. I love the hustle, Matt, but we don't want to save all this money and then not be able to use it because we're in jail. Pay your taxes.

The IRS frowns on that. Well, there's that. James Childs, good job today. Kelly Daniel, I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast.

It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.