The Ramsey Show - App - Dave Reacts: Millennials Get Their Avocado Toast Back (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 22, 2022

Dave Ramsey & George Kamel discuss: When to move from a temp job to full-time work, What to do with your pension payouts, Millennials and avocado toast, When it's time to quit being passive & clean up your mess. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, host of the Fine Print podcast on Ramsey Networks, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your relationships, mental health, family, money, jobs, career. It's all right here on the Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Starting this hour off is Lauren in Cleveland cleveland ohio hi lauren how are you hi i'm great how are you all doing better than we deserve what's up um i have a question about um i've been working um recently for a temp agency um And around that same time, I got an offer for a permanent position. So I accepted the permanent position. I've been doing that kind of part-time in the evenings after working the temp job. But at the temp job, and I'm trying to keep this really clear, but I've been making $23 an hour at the temp agency and $22 an hour at the permanent position. Today was supposed to be the last day with the temp agency, but it turns out that the person that I was covering for is no longer able to come back. So they offered me $26 per hour to try to keep me there.

That being said, I don't think that it would be wise to do that because I know that with the permanent position, I'll have PPO, I'll have benefits. It's also closer to home for me. But I'm also just kind of curious if there might be a tactful way to go back to my manager or whoever at permanent jobs, to ask if I could get more money. So you want to negotiate for the full-time job and say, hey, they're offering me $26,000, you guys are offering me $22,000. Is there a way that we could get this income up before I accept? Now, you've already accepted the permanent, right? Yes. Oh, that's a different situation. What are the hours on the permanent?

It's Monday through Thursday, 7 to 4.30 and 8 to noon on Friday. Okay. And so the temp position is at night? It kind of flips-flops right now i've been doing the temp job from 7 to 3 30 and then when were you going to convert uh tomorrow oh okay and so now you've now you're gonna first thing is you're gonna walk in um if you keep the temp job you're gonna have to walk in and tell your permanent employer you can't do the hours you told them you were going to do? Well, I wasn't really even contemplating accepting the temp job.

Oh, I see. You just now know that the marketplace is allowing this. Okay. Yes, exactly. No, I think you made your deal. Okay. I think you're just going to work tomorrow at the new place and um uh then then but i would begin a conversation with your supervisor and just say hey i'm really motivated right now buy money because i'm trying to get out of debt and i'm

trying to hit some goals so would you please coach me and tell me what i can do here to make myself more valuable because i really want to earn i want to earn the right for you guys to walk in and say hey you're worth more money yeah okay instead of going hey i'm gonna blackmail you because these people over here are gonna pay me 26 oh man okay you know what i'm saying if you go how can i think about it if the if the roles were reversed and you had someone that was working for you if they come in and say hey tell me how i can be worth more so you're willing to pay me more yeah that's good instead of um i think i can get 26 over at the temp. Could you give me a raise? Neither one are immoral statements.

Just one is way more persuasive than the other and is more of a long-term play because it indicates I want to add value to this organization. I don't want to just be a taker. I want to be a giver. Very different spirits there. One feels like you're negotiating a Craigslist deal on a couch. The other one feels like, oh, this is a real person, an employer, and this is a long-term relationship that I value. Yeah, that's a good point because the Craigslist on the couch is a good metaphor for transactional.

Yeah, well, the other guy is giving me 26, so how do we meet? It has a different spirit. Listen, I do my best over the years, and I've made the mistake a few times, but not many times, to not hire someone who's looking for an extra nickel they're looking for an opportunity they want to plug into this crusade they want to plug into the wonderful missional things that we're doing here helping people and uh the money's just a byproduct and uh you know many many many many times uh you've had what five or six different positions here yeah maybe more than that and what you've done in each case is you've earned the right to move into another role to earn more money you never came and said oh look at hey i'm really talented look at talented george you didn't do

that although you're very talented i appreciate that well i was once a temp just like her so i i feel what she's feeling going well at this point in this stage of the game you know the more money that really means a lot to me but your attempt here how long ago yeah that was uh 2013 i was an intern in attempt okay nine years ago so there's your path that's the kind of thing we're talking about here and um yeah and believe me he ain't making 26 an hour i can just tell you that back in the day i mean i was back in at least 24 50 no i'm kidding but for my first job this was i was like oh my gosh someone is willing to pay me full time to work somewhere.

And so I was just so excited. You know, your first big boy job and salary and benefits like she's talking about. And over time, you know, if you've got the right work ethic, the skill set, the talent, you're great to work with growing. You grow and mature. And so I think I think that's going to happen for our friend Lauren over here over time. How can I add value? Not what can I extract?

And it's a whole different spirit. Dean is in Yakima, Washington. Hi, Dean. How are you? I'm sure I said that. Good afternoon. Good. I'm good.

What's up? Hey, Dave. Recently found out that I have a small pension from the teensters that I, for a union job, I worked back in the late 80s. They're offering several different ways to pay this out. I don't think I can take a lump sum on it. So my thought process was take the larger money now, and then at 65 it drops quite a bit. Take as fast as you can get it.

The faster you can get it, the better. Lump sum is the fastest, but they're not offering that. No, no. And then what's the next fastest? Nine different options. Oh, good Lord. Okay. So, yeah, just whichever way you get the most money,

the fastest is the one you want. Yeah, I'm thinking it's like like 360 a month until i turn 65 and then after that it drops to 67 and that would you know that's that gives me five years of of uh 367 a month i can invest that in like a roth exactly you drop that into a roth ira roll it's not a rollover but you just use that money act like you never it, and effectively what you're doing is moving it systematically over a five-year period of time, right? Yes. Is that the biggest offer they're giving you? That's the big boy of the nine?

Well, yeah, that's life-only pension. It takes the wife out of the death benefit, but I've got $500,000 life insurance on me and $1,000 on her. I want to get it as fast as I can get it, regardless of the death benefit, but I've got $500,000 life insurance on me. I want to get it as fast as I can get it, regardless of the death benefit. Fastest I can get it. As much as I can get, as fast as I can get. This is The Ramsey Show. Today we have the most tech-advanced society in history, but people have never been more stressed, medicated, or lonely.

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and get you on the plan to healing. So pre-order your copy today for only $20 and get free bonus items, including a month of one-on-one therapy with better help at Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we talk about your life, your money, your relationships, and your work right here on The Ramsey Show. We're glad you're here. Emmy is with us. Emmy is in Birmingham.

Hi, Emmy. How are you? I'm fine. How are you? I'm fine. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm calling because I have a question for you. We have just started your baby steps.

We just got married two years ago, and we both have started your course at some point and kind of got a little bit off track, and we want to clean things up and get back on track. And I also, in that time time started a grad school program. I'm changing careers to be a teacher, and I'm in the classroom at the same private school where I started out, but instead of an office job, I'm teaching. So I am going to have a summer job and use that money to help with my grad school tuition for the next year so I don't take out another student loan but my question is would it be better to put that money toward our debt right now and cash flow the rest or should I continue to set that money aside like

I'd planned and hit our debt with everything else coming in I'm confused you're going to pay for grad school in cash with either of these two options yeah okay then what is the difference you've got you got you got debt and you're trying to pay off grad school and you got you're going to have cash to pay off grad or to pay for grad school so no more debt and the two options to do well are what then? Either to cash flow throughout this next year and just use the money that comes in for my summer job to go ahead and pay off our debt right now, or do I hold on to my summer money and use that instead of cash flowing through this next year? Then where does the cash flow money go? Just into a savings account just to pay off my semester each semester through the rest of the program. Okay.

But you're sure you're going to cash flow the grad school no matter what? Yes, either way. We are not doing any more debt. Okay. Well, job one is no more debt. So job one is grad school with no debt. After that, job two is get out of debt fast as you can okay so that would sound like that's put the summer job on the debt doesn't it

yes that's what i was kind of leaning towards but i wanted to get your blessing no i you don't you don't need my you don't need my blessing but i'm just trying to help you think through it um you know the yeah so the the point is you can you can out of your household income pay grad school out of your pocket in the winter if you use the summer money on your current debt yes that's the fastest way yeah 60 percent yeah that moves you out of debt the fastest possible way yes that was what i was kind of thinking might be the smarter option to get us out quicker. Yeah, the only thing is you just risk if there's a bump in one of your, a problem with one of your income, it could put you in a pinch on grad school. Right, that was what I was concerned about and was thinking about was setting it aside, but I also want to get that thing done.

You think, it kind of sounds like from our conversation, conversation though you feel like your jobs are very stable yes my husband's it's the school that we went to and we've both been there for years um and so we feel we feel good about it okay yeah i think we got a plan then yeah that's simple good stuff hey that's very smart that's a very smart way of looking at it and thinking about it and you know the the trick trick is they've made the shift. They flipped the switch. No more debt. It's not an option. Once you do that, then you start to come up with other ways of living and doing things.

You get creative. That's good. And we usually say investing in yourself is the best possible thing to do right now, and you can pay off the debt once you're graduating. But in this case, she knows she's going to have the money to cash flow it. So we're okay using the other money to pay it out in debt. How do you pronounce this? D-E-D? Oh my gosh. Okay. Deed? Dead?

Deb. Oh, it's a B. Okay, that makes a whole lot more sense. I was going to say, I've never seen that name. I was really struggling here. I'm so thankful you're Deb. Hi, Deb. How are you? Deb, not Deb. Fantastic.

Huge fan. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Looking for some advice. My husband and I are in Baby Step 5, and we have a 12-year-old, and my 12-year-old and I just finished reading debt-free degree. He's on board. He kind of understands what we've all been going through with the baby steps and we have shared custody. So my son's father also lives in the same town, not too far away. We all get along. And we had all

talked about starting his 529. And lo and behold, my uncle called me over Christmas and gifted us $60,000 towards my son's 529. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. So I don't know if I have a dilemma or not. His father is not on the same financial program we are. He's more of the type of, he went to an Ivy League school. He came out of school with $90,000 debt.

So I don't know. I'm hesitating to break the news to him. I would like for him to also save money for our son's future, but I don't want to micromanage this. I don't know if I'm thinking about it too hard, but what's my best way to break the news to his dad about this huge gift? Well, you mentioned you guys have a good relationship. We do. Okay. How long have you been divorced? Seven years. Okay. uncle gave our kid $60,000, but that doesn't relieve you or I from the obligation to cover the rest and continue to save,

what would he say? He would probably agree with that. Okay. Then game over, right? I would say so. Okay. You can't determine whether he actually goes and saves or not. If this takes away his motivation to save, you can't control that.

But you have an integrity issue to tell him, number one. But number two, you're asking, and you admitted that, and so you're asking then how to couch that in a way. But that does sound like you all have a very healthy relationship. Congratulations. Because if a lot of exes said that to their other ex they'd get the finger right yeah you know so and i'm not talking about the pinky but i mean you know the the the idea of you you're not gonna tell me anything what my obligation is you can just talk to the judge about that but that's not how it sounds like you can say and go, listen, we've both agreed that we're going to add to our son's name, you know, to Johnny's college fund.

And the great news is, is that a lot of the pressure is off of both of us. But we need to continue to save because 60 is not enough. Right. It's not enough, by the way. So you're not done. But but you a lot of the pressure is off yeah and i think having this hard conversation and it may go the total other way and he's excited about it and goes wow the pressure is off and he doesn't relieve us of our obligation but man does that help to have that money growing for the next six years until he's off to college yeah right and just go you know it makes

me nervous that i might let you could do this you could be you know turn it back on yourself it makes me nervous that i might let my foot off the gas and not safe because this came in and i know you won't it's less accusatory yeah it's quite the it's quite the encouragement rather than the other and so so you know i just want to let you know this and both of us are going to stay on track we're both going to keep saving and because that's the kind of people we are but man what a wonderful gift we got and little johnny is just in a lot better shape now and yeah i think if you couch it that way unless this guy is unreasonable or your your connection has so many wounds that he can't hear clear, encouraging statements.

But it sounds like you guys could probably have that conversation. And I definitely know you've got to tell him. So the question is just how to build the sentence or the narrative around it to where you're still both of you keep saving. But remember, this is good news in my book. Oh, way good news. This is amazing. This is amazing. What a great uncle.

That's cool. The proverbial rich uncle. I want to be that uncle. That's really cool. Oh, it's amazing. It's amazing. What a great uncle. That's cool. The proverbial rich uncle. I want to be that uncle. It's really cool. Proverbial rich uncle. Thank you. This is a new segment on The Ramsey Show. It's bad news, good news. And it leads to another new segment, or another segment, old segment we're going to bring back called Dave Reads Mean Tweets. Only this time I'm going to read mean tweets about George. Whoa, whoa, I did not agree to that.

There's not a lot of mean stuff. If you haven't heard, there is a problem for the millennials george dave i've lost the millennial weight loss program the there's an avocado ban on avocados coming in from mexico so it's a healthy fat day um i know but the i'm just saying millennial avocado toast is um toast uh until we get our avocados back. And so, oh, wait, it's been reversed. That was Friday. On Friday, they lifted the ban.

You're going to make it, George. You're going to make it. This is the best news I've read in a long time. Because, I mean, you had lost like a half a pound. It was getting dangerous. And you didn't have a half a pound to lose. No. This is wild.

So Mexico supplies about 80% of the avocados eaten in the United States. There was a ban, and it's been lifted. And it's stemming from purported threats to a U.S. inspector in the Latin American country. Shook a bill. So the cartel got after a U.s inspector hanging out down there gave him a little one up and he um he shuts down a billion dollars worth of avocado toast buddy i'm just saying this is this guy's this guy's got power i'm in the wrong industry what's your son do he's an avocado inspector but he actually runs the entire economy of mexico a billion dollars worth

of avocados. So, yeah, of course, during the ban. You thought getting out of debt was a lucrative business. The mean tweets thing is coming back. During the ban, Kimberly, and I won't read your last name because I don't want people to come after you. That's not the spirit here. She might be 12. You never know. She might be 82.

And in neither case would we want people to, you know, like, bother Kimberly. That's right. She says, i bet you dave ramsey is super stoked about the avocado import band he's like these millennials can't waste their millions on avocado toast anymore there you go see i knew it was coming i don't know how i got hooked up with that because i don't remember me saying that one i don't think you there was another financial guy out there in the space, and I think it might have been David Bach. I don't remember.

But we've all always used examples that say, okay, if you cut your spending by just a little bit and invest that, you will end up with money. We've said that long before millennials were born, we said that. And one example was always, you know, if you cut out a cup of coffee, if you quit buying coffee, and then it became Starbucks, five bucks, right? Now with inflation, it's eight bucks. And then with a latte, it's 26 bucks. It's insane. And with universal life wage of $42 an hour, it's now $42. And if you Uber it and have it brought in by Uber Eats with the upcharges, it's $62.

This is getting out of hand. Yeah, I'm just saying but anyway that a cup of coffee you know if you just said i'm not going to spend that instead i'm going to let that money accumulate into an investment turns into money it's a math example it's not an actual suggestion that says you become wealthy by not drinking coffee or not eating that's how millennials took it but somebody said the millennials were you know back when we first started, everybody started griping about millennials. The millennial hate thing started, right?

Like, they're useless. They get participation trophies. They live in their mother's basement. You know, all that stuff that was said about millennials, which is not true, by the way. No. And somebody in the financial world, it really wasn't me, I don't think. If you can find the tweet out there, send it to me. If I did it, I'll own it because I've said some stupid butt stuff but you think i said it james no i think it just was a meme going

around that no somebody picked it up off a meme it was actually a guy said it i'm positive and then it turned into a meme and then it turned into i said it got conflated with you yeah i said that's how i tell people to live on less than they make i tell them not to do foolish spending and this guy's point was the millennials would be okay if they quit spend their money on avocado toast and put their money in a roth ira and that's you know absolutely not true that doesn't work mathematically but it's an example it's a metaphor for control your spending but uh but then the millennials get all jacked up and entitled and they're like well now they buy it to spite you that's what they do well i I actually like it. People hate buying avocado toast.

I never had avocado toast until this whole thing got pinned on me. It's delicious. And I actually order it now. But I can afford it. New headline. Dave Ramsey orders avocado toast. That's shocking. That's it.

Can you cover it with gravy? That's what I want to know. But yeah, okay. Red-eye gravy, baby. All right. So I bet you Dave Ramsey's super stoked about the avocado import ban he's like ha ha these millennials can't waste their millions on avocado toast anymore wow so that's again that's the whole story me getting pinned with this thing um i love the

assumption that these millennials have millions that they're just i guess collectively on collectively they're spending millions maybe. Yeah. But we do love our avocados. Don't take those away from us. Well, so here's the thing. The mean tweets, we used to have to kind of, when Twitter was young, it was actually a conversation. Now it's just a bunch of trolls. It's just bots and trolls. It's just deteriorated.

It's just a, you know, it's a pile of trolls. It's a troll pile. And so, but the, so finding mean tweets in the old days it was one out of 500 tweets or something but you could do a search majority do a search on dave rams and you could find mean tweets all you got to do is open up now it's not hard at all boomer you know you get anything in every possible name that you can call people uh yeah so james if we're going to do mean tweets they cannot we can't violate the fcc rules on words said on the air so we can't use a lot of them we'll just have to bleep them we can bleep them and they have to be creative and funny and fun not just like oh man not just hateful not just

angry basically he wants you to be creatively mean if you're going to be mean do it if you want to make the show with your mean tweet you need to be mean without unbelievable cuss words because we can't use them yeah that's true we're actually on public radio we'll get fined the funniest ones were from the kids in class that were taking they were they were forced to go through the curriculum yeah they're in you know because 48 of the classes are teaching our curriculum in high schools now 48 of the high schools are teaching it so you know they're making fun of Dave Reynolds. I've got to watch these videos. The coach. I wish the coach would actually do his job and teach. He's a coach. He's not a teacher.

And now you've passed it on to me. I hosted our latest curriculum, so now I get the hate mail. You get hate mail from the rules? I have kids saying this guy's a tool. Really? Yeah. You're a tool? I guess. I don't know. I don't even know what a tool is. It's an avocado tool. Avocado tool. I'll'll take that but the kids these

days they caught a toast eating they think they're just posting into the abyss they don't know that we can see it especially when they direct message you right that's a whole different ball game well here's the thing the problem yeah it's just the problem with this i think i think we're going to see a change in this um i think it's in the air because it's gotten so far out of control um and the problem with this is that and we kept trying to tell people this in the early days with social media when it first started especially twitter and it's going to come back to bite you because this stuff is forever even if you delete the tweet somebody could have screenshotted it oh yeah even if you delete the instagram comment somebody could have screenshotted it and so um i'm up to like i think i've blocked 10 000 people that's impressive it was a hobby for a while yeah you gotta i would kind of drink my morning coffee i blocked 10 a morning you know

that's good and it's like pace yourself well if you're gonna cuss me and you know all those you know but i well now it's a it's a medal of honor i don't know if you know that but people are excited to get blocked by you and they hold it up as a badge really it's a medal of honor. I don't know if you know that, but people are excited to get blocked by you, and they hold it up as a badge. Really? It's a thing. They brag about it to their friends. Oh, man. It's a real thing.

Who knew I could create a different kind of... It's the only competition they can win, so they like to hold that up. Sorry. Was that too... I'm sorry. I take it back. That was good. I take it back.

Zing! It's a sport. This is a trophy you actually earned. Yep. A Blocked by Dave trophy. good take it back zing it's a sport this is a trophy you actually earned a block by dave trophy it's you can't mount it on the wall but it's great dinner time conversation wow well i mean moms and dads um that raise kids that say things on the internet that they would never have the backbone to say in person um because you get your face punched in if you said this to someone's face yeah you know and so you know it's and i watch them you know they're talking about some quarterback or some vaccinated thing on some quarterback or whatever they're wearing out aaron rogers

they're wearing out whoever and you know as if you stood in that guy's presence, he's the size of a—not Aaron Rodgers, but I mean, you know. Sure. He'd have one of his linemen pound you into the ground like avocado toast. I mean— There it is. We got a full circle. We came all the way around. All right.

Mean tweets coming up. Not this segment, but soon. James is going to try to collect ones that are actually funny. James might write some. Be careful. James? Be careful. He could get the booth people.

Don't get on his bad side. The booth folk could write me tweets to get back at me for calling them booth folk. The comeuppance is coming. You have no idea what's coming on the internet now. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. our scripture of the day romans 16 19 everyone has heard about your obedience so i rejoice because of you but i want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil margaret thatcher said don't follow the crowd. Let the crowd follow you.

That's a little bit of what we were just talking about. Don't let the mob run things. And I'm not talking about organized crime here. All right. So have you ever made a dumb decision with zeros on the end because you didn't do your research? Yeah, me too. Most people make choices based on feelings or opinions, especially when buying a house. In this market, that's crazy. Check your facts. Find out what you can actually afford. Research

what is trending in home prices. Get an agent that's a pro in your corner. It's crazy out there. This is not the time. This is not the time for amateur hour. If you're a buyer among a bazillion buyers, you need help. If you're a seller trying to get the best possible price through a bazillion buyers, you need some help. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent. You can find an endorsed local provider, an ELP, that is Ramsey trusted to help you with all of your real estate needs. Sid's in Memphis. Hi, Sid. How are you?

Hey, Dave. Huge fan. How are you doing? Great, man. How can we help? Yeah, so me and my fiance are in a little rut. She got in an accident back right before Christmas of last year, and it was during the time where I was also out of work with COVID. I was out of work for about six weeks and she ended up getting in an accident. They determined her 50-50 at fault. Then car was totaled out. She still had a lien on the car for $16,000. She didn't have insurance?

She was currently in between insurances. She was switching over from, I think she was with Progressive, and she got a better rate with another insurance. Why did she cancel one before she got the other in place? Well, she didn't cancel. She was switching them over, But before they switched her over, they said that she had some $200 fee before she could switch over. But it made no sense to us because she went ahead and paid six months in advance. And I don't understand where the $200 came from. Every time I tried to contact them before the accident, I had asked, I said, where is

this $200 coming from? They said, well, we'll transfer you over to someone that may be able to help you, and it just disconnected the line. Why didn't you just cancel the insurance and go buy some? I mean, you don't need to be running around without car insurance. So how much does she owe on this direct wreck? The wreck, she was, like I said, was 50 50 at fault she still had 16 000 left to pay on her car um and they towed it to a wrecker and they were holding on to it in the meantime

from what the report said it seemed like the other person was at fault because they turned on a green with no protected turn and she was going straight she turned down in front of my fiance and they said no she's 50 50 at fault we're not going to cover anything on her car uh so that that entire ordeal took about another month and a half and you know just going back and forth with them. And in that month and a half, storage fees accrued. The payments still due on the car. The storage fees went up to around $2,500 on top of what was owed on the car. I was out for, like I said, six weeks with COVID, so I had to start dipping into savings just to make ends meet.

And she's in the process of filing for bankruptcy. Oh, crap, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You don't file bankruptcy on $16,000. Uh-huh. No. No. Has she signed the papers?

No. Don't sign them. That's absurd. Absolutely not. Is she working? She only brings in about $950 to $1,000 a month. Why? That's just what they pay her right now.

Why? Why does she stay there that sucks yeah uh i i have no idea i i guess she's just gotten so used to being there i don't know i told her she's need to she needs to leave and how old are you guys uh I'm 25. She is 24. When are you getting married? We've pushed it back. We had it set for next year, winter of next year, but we're pushing it back because of this whole situation. Yeah. What do you make? I make about $3,000 a month.

I work in construction. Okay. All right. And we also have two kids together. We have a six-year-old and a three-year-old. Okay. All right. And we also have two kids together. We have a six-year-old and a three-year-old. I'm sorry, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. You need to call the pastor and go get married this weekend. You're completely married. You have kids. You're living together. You're doing everything else. And the fact that you're not married is just silly. You need to

get, you need to, you know, that you're pushing this back, saving up for a wedding. It's just dumber than a rock. I mean, you need to get, you're to, you know, you're pushing this back, saving up for a wedding. It's just dumber than a rock. I mean, you need to get, go ahead and get this done, all right? This is killing y'all. And so you got a big daycare bill. Yes, yes. Okay. All right.

So she's going to, she needs to change careers and you need to pick up an extra job. And then you need to start negotiating a settlement with the storage guy and with the car and get rid of the car get the car gone get start working with the bank and settle with them you can probably settle this for you know probably sell a storage bill for a quarter of what he's asking and probably sell the car deal for a quarter what they're asking because you know you don't have any money and they're about to repo the car tell him to get the car repoed and get it sold and get off his lot or tell him to get rid of it i don't care somebody needs to get rid of it here's the thing everything you described in this whole story everything happened to you all because you were passive and stood around and watched it all happen

all right you stood back and expected this to like the calvary was going to come and fix this for you you got to get game on here man game on like get this mess cleaned up yesterday get some new jobs get some new income coming in get this car done get on get on the phone with the storage guy and go look what do we do to get rid of this car? I don't know how to do it, but I'm done, and I'm not paying you $2,000. I'll work with you, but I don't have any money. I'm a poor construction worker with a couple of kids, and I ain't got any money. So good luck collecting that. No, we're not filing bankruptcy on $16,000.

You guys are in this mess because you've been passive and watched all this stuff happen to you, and you need to get, like, in engagement mode on every one of these issues. First, you were passive and stood around and watched the insurance run out, which caused the whole mess, and waiting on somebody over $200, and then you got hung up on, and instead of just firing their butt and going and getting a new insurance guy, you're going, well, I got hung up on, so now she doesn't have insurance. You've got to go get insurance right now.

Every minute that you go without car insurance, you're asking to get in this kind of a mess but now you're there so every minute you don't deal with a storage guy every minute you don't deal with this car company and every minute you don't go see the pastor and get married and every minute she stays in this stupid but horrible job that she's got is ridiculous she's making nothing in a culture where freaking targets paying twenty dollars an hour twenty dollars an hour go work at target go work at walmart they're paying fifteen dollars an hour a whole lot more than she's making yeah there's a lot going on here said but what i'm hearing overall we need to be proactive instead of reactive you guys are letting life happen to you letting murphy just take over. You've got to own your life,

get a fire under your butts, get those jobs, get this debt cleaned up, and realize bankruptcy is not the answer. This is not the fix that you think it's going to be. Please don't file bankruptcy for $16,000. And if she needs some encouragement, have her listen to the fine print,

Episode 8, Is Bankruptcy a Quick Fix for Struggling Americans? I think that will get her to step away from this ledge. Yeah, and, well, you know, you're not bankrupt. You're broke. There's a difference. a quick fix for struggling Americans. I think that will get her to step away from this ledge. Yeah, and well, you know, you're not bankrupt. You're broke. There's a difference. And you're not making any money, and you're not aggressively handling it. Stephen Covey, in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says the number

one habit of people who are highly effective, number one of the seven, is they're proactive. They happen to things. Things don't happen to them. And so everybody gets victimized by something at different times in our lives. Everyone has stuff happen to them. That happens all the time. But living that way as a pattern is going to cause you nothing but stress and pain. And so you're going to have to switch the script on this,

write a new story, as John Deloney says. Hang on, we're going to send you a copy of Ken Coleman's book From Paycheck to Purpose for her to read because she needs a new job and you need an extra job, some more overtime so you're making more money. Construction's booming right now. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. 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. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz, co-host on The Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramsaysolutions.com slash debtfreescream. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash debtfreescream.