The Ramsey Show - App - Do I Need a Bigger Emergency Fund at 17? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, best-selling author, and host of the extremely popular Dr. John Deloney podcast, is my guest today, my co-host today, and we're glad to have you here, have him here to answer your questions about your life, your money, your family, your money,

your boundaries and relationships, and we'll talk with you about what's going on. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Jeff is with us in Dallas to start off this hour. Hi, Jeff, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve, sir. What's up? Yeah, quick question. I'm fairly new to investing. I did work with an ELP when I started

my new job last August to select my options. And when I look at the options now, I'm just curious, like I see, like, for example, in the large cap options they have, I see other options in the one he told me to select that have a similar rate of return, but the share prices are drastically different. So should I also be considering their share prices or just focus strictly on the rate of return? Share price means nothing. Ah, okay. It's not got to do with anything. It's just the number of, you know, people that they have in the mutual fund divided into that.

I mean, and your share price times your number of units equals your total. So, I mean, you can have a $10 share price, $100 share price. It doesn't affect, you know, what you're getting and what you end up with. You're going to have the same. If both of them had an 11.6 rate of return, they're both going to have the exact same results. Got it. So, in other words, if you buy a share of stock for $100 or you buy a share of stock for $50 and you put $10,000 in either one and they both go up 11.6%, it's the $10,000 that's going up, not the share. Got it.

Okay. The total of the 10 gives you the returns. So you're putting the same amount in, you're buying less units with a higher share price, more units with a lower share price, but it's really just irrelevant. So you're fine. buying less units with a higher share price, more units with a lower share price, but it's really just irrelevant. So you're fine. I mean, as long as you're in good mutual funds that are giving you good, strong rates of return, similar to what the stock market's doing, you're going to become wealthy if you keep following the baby steps and working your way all the way out.

John, the good news is that just like when you're dealing with a mental health situation, with a money situation, with a money situation, with a marriage situation, with a career situation with Ken Coleman, these areas of life, most people don't succeed in an area of life just because they freaking don't pay attention. It's not because they do the wrong thing, as much as they just don't do anything. They do nothing, right? They just sit there.

They just go, oh, well, you know, I wonder what's on TV tonight. My marriage is in the other room burning down, you know. Or my kids are in the other room. Yeah, my kids are in the other room doing heroin, but I wonder what's on TV tonight. I've got everybody a screen. Everybody's quiet. Yeah. That means we're winning.

Right. And that's what they do with the money. It's just, you know, nothing's getting repoed, so nothing's burning down, so I'm okay. The difference is that guy is paying attention. At a granular level. At a very granular level. At a nerd level. I started to turn and ask you, hey, Dave, I know we're in front of a couple of ten million people or so, but what's he talking about?

But you explained it, so that's good. I've not even gotten that granular level yeah but i mean if you pull up your mutual fund statement it says that each share that you own is that worth x and you own y number of shares and x times y is the amount of money you have in there so if it's ten dollars and you know you own a thousand shares then you have ten thousand dollars right so um and that's all it is. But the share is your portion of this mutual fund that's been mutually funded. Right. And so, if you're in a mutual fund that's got, you know, $2 billion in it, your share is a share of that.

If it's in a mutual fund that's got, you know, $500 million in it, you it, a fourth of that, then your share is a share of that. But the rate of return is the rate of return is the rate of return. The rate of return is the rate of return. It's based on the dollars you have invested total, not the share price. But the good news about a guy asking, you know, it's easy to make fun and go, that's real nerdy. Who gives a crap? No, he's paying attention. But the good news is he's paying attention.

He's paying attention. And people who are successful at any area of their life are the people that pay attention. Okay, so I've got a theory. I always want to reward people that pay attention. I've got a theory. I want to know what you've been doing for a lot longer than I have. Why don't people pay attention?

Why do they pick a thing that they just choose to tune out on? I don't know. My theory is, and this is my personal lazy it's intellectual laziness for me it was denial it was fear okay denial or or yeah some kind of a a repressing mechanism of some kind yeah when i don't want to face it my marriage or parenting or my my physical fitness or my mental i could go in and be directly involved in, to some degree, the route that would take, right? When it comes to finance, to the stock market, it's almost like a presidential election.

I can do my right thing, and then you got to step back and let the thing go, right? And there's a fear component for it for me. Yeah, yeah. I mean, buying a house you know you can't control what house prices are going to do they are right but you can go well you know for the last 75 years you know here's what they've done and i'm pretty comfortable with that so i'm gonna buy a house and probably gonna work out for me you know you don't have to have this big you know predictive model of some kind on your house you can just say with your marriage right like

most people say if i ask this question there's gonna be the occasional person that doesn't like that question but for me it's always come down to fear but i don't know what what it is across the board yeah it can be it can be laziness yeah it can be i'm just you know why don't you want me to work out more i'm too lazy i don't i'm not going to do it once you talk to your kids and i don't want to really want us i mean why do anybody run unless somebody's chasing them you know exactly um you know that you have that kelly when we're all getting ready for the marathon i was around the half marathon a bunch of us were running a few years ago and she said it's in the bible what's that that you don't run only the wicked flee when someone with no one is chasing only the wicked flee when no one is chasing so all of you runners there, Kelly's got your back, literally. So fear, it can be fear.

I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. And so I get paralysis of the analysis during the headlights or whatever. Or paralysis of no analysis. It can be laziness. And the problem is in America that you can be half butt and have a really good life. You can just coast because everyone's taking care of everything for you. You can have a really good life in America being a half butt.

In fact, the good life is now injecting fractals, is the nerd way, is creating things that are going to be hard for you so that you can grow. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I mean, you've got to be intentional about discomfort. Muscles aren't growing unless they're sore. That's right. And lives aren't growing unless you bump your knee.

My relationships aren't growing if I'm not having hard conversations. Unless I'm going, oh, man, I don't think. Yeah. But this leaning into that, there's a success principle to that in any area of your life. And this intentionality, the power of intentionality, you become what you think about, Earl Nightingale said. Jesus said, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And when you have nothing in your brain, you're going to become nothing. And there's plenty of people who are happy to take your money and just plop things in your brain for you, right?

Well, or, yeah, or pat you on the head and tell you how good you're doing when you really suck. You know what I'm saying? And take your money doing that. Exactly. Oh You know what I'm saying? And take your money doing that. Exactly. Oh, aren't you cute? I'll take your subscription fee and...

You're not cute. That's ugly. There's nothing cute about that. Really. I'm kind of cute, dude. Yeah. Well. And humble.

My mom says I am. And humble. Well, your mom. She's obligated. This is The ramsey show as we continue to face challenging times i hear that a lot of you have been calling zander insurance to see if term life insurance plans are still available. The good news is the insurance companies are starting to loosen up the restrictions that they had put in place at the start of the pandemic,

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to give your family the peace of mind they deserve. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show, where we talk about your life, your money, and your life. Phone number 888-825-5225. Patrick is in Columbus, Ohio. Hey, Patrick, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Alrighty. So my question is, I'm 17 years old and I just finished my $1,000 emergency fund,

which technically covers way more than six months worth of expenses for me um all i pay is insurance so my question was should i keep putting in that to anticipate the future um for when i move out after high school or maybe start investing a little bit or use that to start setting up for your financial coach master training who's this guy wow all right well uh pat, we teach folks that are in high school and living with their mom and dad at home and foundations for personal finance that their fully funded emergency fund is $500. Now, then you bring up an interesting question that someday you're going to transition and move out. As that day approaches, you're going to want to have a full-on, we'll call it an adult emergency fund of three to six months of expenses of what your life would look like if

you had a job and lived in an apartment and didn't live at home. But that's a different world than you're living in today. In the interim, you could save towards that transition or you could save towards a different goal. I would not begin investing at this stage i don't think it's necessary um you got plenty of time you're doing great you're paying attention and uh no i would not suggest you do the financial coach master training uh at this stage of the game that's too expensive an item uh for you to invest in at your young age you'll have plenty of time to do that later uh when you want to move into it but i don't really want to take a 17 year old's 3 500 bucks away from him and him not be able to make some money as a result of doing that because it'd be highly unusual for someone to come to a

17 year old for financial coaching yeah that would be a i have a hard enough time coming to you man you've been doing this for a while and And I'm older. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. I love talking to 17-year-olds. But it's cool that, you know, again, back to what we were saying before the break, paying attention. Oh, man. And, you know, it's not to say you can't do any of those things. You can, but it's, you know, I got my real estate license three weeks after I turned 18.

I've told this story before. And who would buy it? You shouldn't have bought a house from me. I was wearing my Tom Selleck mustache, Magnum PI. I had the disco clothes on because I didn't have a suit. And I actually talked people into buying houses, which is not a real good reflection on them. So you should not buy your largest asset from a miniature Tom Selleck in a disco outfit. And so just saying.

Get that bobblehead made. Y'all don't remember Magnum P.I. before he was doing infomercials on, anyway, yeah. So there you go. But, all right, Sierra is with us. Get me out of this, Sierra. I was in Evansville, Indiana. What's up, Sierra? Hi, Dave. But, all right, Sierra is with us. Get me out of this, Sierra. I was in Evansville, Indiana. What's up, Sierra? Hi, Dave.

Hi, John. Thank you for taking my call. I am new to your program. A very good friend of mine gave me your book, Total Money Makeover. I've read that, and I've really tried hard to apply those principles. Long story short, I'm a single mom of an 8-year-old boy. I work two jobs, and traditionally I work six to seven days a week. But my total income projected, if things stay on track,

it should be about $27,000 to maybe $30,000, which is very low. My total debt, which is student loans, a carno, and some old debt by your standard is about $40,000. And I've already paid off $8,000 within three months. But I just kind of want to know your opinion. Do you think it's worth it to stay at these jobs? Because I am sacrificing so much time for my child. You're a warrior princess, lady.

Thank you. He is lucky to have you in his life. You're amazing. Well, I think if I'm in your shoes, I need to see more traction for the sacrifice. Right. see more traction for the sacrifice right and so i would be willing to give up some of the hours if i was being paid a lot more and so resetting your you know getting some better jobs that pay more make it more worth uh in the sense of the the advancement that you make on your on your financial goals make it more worth the time away.

Now, you don't want to – I do not want to sign you up for a thing where he's eight years old and ten years from today we're still in the same wheel running and running and running and running, and you've really made no progress, and you pretty much have been gone the entire time he was there. That means your career path didn't go well right so uh and uh i'm not concerned about the old debts i want to get some of the new ones the current ones that you're paying payments on out of your life so you got that money back each month you don't have to pay it out to somebody else you can use it for your family right so um i think what i would do is probably work on the career side of things.

But, no, I wouldn't be away from my kid for minimum wage, as an example. Okay, yeah. That doesn't prove anything except you're willing to work hard. Right. Because most of my jobs, I'll be very honest, they're very much so dead-end jobs. I'm a telemetry technician, and at a hospital I work 12 to 16 hours for three days a week, and then the rest of the time I'm waiting tables at a small restaurant. Our area doesn't really have a whole lot. It's a pretty low-income, poverty-stricken kind of area, and I didn't finish my degree.

What did you start your degree in? Nursing, but with covid um i have decided i don't want to be a nurse i've okay my job i call time of death so i deal with a lot of death and i want to get away from it but this is where my insurance is and my benefits so i'm honestly i think it's more of i'm scared to leave because i'm you're scared to leave because you don't anything better you can't just cold walk out the door right of course i would never do that so what i've got to do is if i'm in your shoes what i have to do is i have to have a new goal and say okay how old are you by the way um i'm 29 okay so when you're 39 and this kid is 18 what is sierra doing with her life that pays double or triple what you're doing now right um

well my goal i actually have two goals um which are polar opposite from each other um i love being in the business of hospitality and um you know with waiting tables it's really opened my eyes that i have such a passion for being social with people and enjoying them that I would love to open my own restaurant and do that side of things. But if we're talking about like another personal business, because I realized I would like to be my own boss so I can live the life that I want to live. I have always had a passion for like maternity, like with babies and expectant moms. So I have considered opening my own photography business and just catering to mostly maternity and birth photos and then newborn photos. Which can be, you know, fairly easy. Well, there's some interim steps in either one of those businesses that you could start immediately.

Right. If you're a good photographer, you can start putting yourself out there as being willing to take pictures of almost anything and work your way towards babies. And if you want to someday open a restaurant and be in that business, why don't you start baking something or starting a small catering business on the side and let that be the replacement for the waitressing job as soon as you can get it moving as a matter of fact you might you might approach your existing boss about letting you manage his new catering outfit okay and um then later on maybe he gives it to you

after you get it running and then later on you become his competition when you open your own restaurant or maybe not because you open a different kind of restaurant that's really not a competitor of his. But the bottom line is you could start cooking out of your kitchen and doing small catering things by yourself, paying a friend out of your back pocket to help you with the trays, and begin your career. Because you need to do something to move in the direction of your desired future. And your kid is going to watch you work and scratch and claw. He's going to participate and help you out. Our friend Christy Wright did that with her mom's baking shop, a single mom's baking shop. And you're playing a long game with him.

And, man, he's going to step back and tell the story for generations about how his single mom scratched and clawed and hung out and dragged him along. Hang on. I'm going to put you in her business boutique academy. We just closed it, but I can open it. I own it. And put her in there and give her a business boutique book, and let's get her going here. Thank you. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Annette is with us in Sacramento. Hi, Annette. How are you? I'm great. Thank you. So my question today is, I'm a teacher, and I'm due to retire in four more school years. My husband is already retired, but we've not had to touch his thrift savings plan or his social security at all. I have a required retirement that I put into through my school district.

But about seven years ago, after reading, starting to realize that, you know what, we want to have more money when we retire. Well, I didn't realize about annuity, so I invested into a teacher annuity. And then after reading your book a few years ago, realized that was a mistake. And so I've stopped putting into the teacher annuity, but there's about $125,000 into that. And we fully funded a Roth IRA for last year and for this year already. We're completely debt-free, including our rental property. Good.

And our house should be paid off. The goal is that it'll be paid off before I retire, or I'm not retiring, because I don't want to have a house payment afterwards. So I don't know what to do with that teacher annuity. I asked our financial advisor if I should try to roll that into a Roth IRA, but he said that I would be taxed on that full amount. And with what I make in my husband's retirement, we're like at $130,000, $140,000 a year. And he goes, you would be paying a lot in taxes yeah

but he didn't offer it for you he's right i agree with him but he didn't offer for you to roll it to a variable annuity with him taking care of it um no he didn't and i'm not because this was something that was optional um through my school district i had gotten a settlement, and I didn't want to get taxed on it, so I was trying to figure out where to put it. This was seven years ago. But you could roll into a traditional IRA, not a Roth IRA, and not have any taxes. And then I would be able to control the amount of interest. Yeah, control what it's invested in, yeah.

Okay, and do you know if you're able if you put into a teacher um um annuity or do you know if you're able to roll the roll that over um well if it was a pre-tax annuity if they it's up to the school board it's up to your particular employer i don't know what teacher annuity can mean's up to the school board. It's up to your particular employer. I don't know what teacher annuity can mean, a whole myriad of different things. So you'll have to find out. But it sounds like your investment advisor didn't want to fool with us. So get in touch with one of our smart investor pros and ask them to tell you in your area in the city of Sacramento, what can you do? And if you are able to roll this, just because it's in an annuity, if you roll it to a Roth, it does become taxable.

That piece of information was correct. But if you can roll it to a Roth and it becomes taxable, then I know you can roll it to a traditional and there's no taxes. And that's what I would do. I'd move it to a traditional and put it in good mutual funds and get it away from there, if you're able to. But I do not know what the guidelines and regulations are with each individual county across the nation and what their deal with their teacher annuity is. It tells me something that the financial advisor didn't immediately try to grab that into another product.

Maybe. Yeah. Okay. Should have if they're able to. But he told her not to do it because of taxes. He didn't tell her to do it and not do it because she couldn't do it. That's fair. That's what's bothering me. So I'm thinking that, yeah, click SmartVestorPro at RamseySolutions.com

and get one of our SmartVestors and ask them, and they maybe can do it for you. That's a possibility. So something to check on for sure. Thank you for calling. Kareem is with us in Toronto. Hi, Kareem. How are you? I'm good.

How are you, Mr. Ramsey? Better than I deserve, sir. How can we help? So I just wanted your opinion on something. So I'm from Toronto. I'm graduating university right now. I actually just broke my last exam a few hours ago. Congratulations. What's your degree in? Uh, business. Good for you. Did you pass this last exam?

I hope so. I just got one exam back, but I didn't do too hot on. But, uh, but, uh, yeah, so I'm, uh, yeah, I'm Toronto. I'm moving to New York in a few months for a job. And I wanted your opinion on if I should potentially buy an apartment instead of renting in New York. It would be somewhere in Midtown, around $300,000 or $400,000. And I have a fair amount saved already. And my job specifically doesn't allow me to invest in a lot of stuff that I would normally invest in, so I was thinking of that as an alternative that I could also live in. So I was hoping to get your opinion on that.

So you said a fair amount. What is a fair amount? I have like 50 or 60,000 saved. Okay. What will you be making at your new financial job? Base would be around 100, and then bonus is variable. It can be between 20

and 50 for first year. So I'm guessing you're moving into an analyst role, which is why they're not allowing you to invest in things that you might be actually analyzing. Yeah. Okay. I like, Dave, you can, of course, counter in. I like folks to work at their first job out of college for a year or two

before they just plant their roots so deep or get real close to their financial ceiling there with a $400,000 apartment. Yeah. I'm really good with you getting settled in and all the other changes in your life without also becoming a real estate owner for year one, particularly. After year one, yeah, you know, you start to talk about it. And you can use that year to pile up even more cash, by the way. And there's a possibility, by the way, that Manhattan Midtown Real Estate is going to be cheaper in a year.

Yeah, there's the possibility yeah because the freaking place is a ghost town yeah for now yeah i know i don't know i'm a little more bullish on it than than most i know but i mean people are leaving there by droves and supply demand curve is going to affect real estate prices i don't know what they're going to do but i don't think they're going to shoot straight up um i'm pretty sure of that i don't know whether they're going to do, but I don't think they're going to shoot straight up. I'm pretty sure of that. I don't know whether they're going to stay flat or turn down, but, you know, you've just got the, you know, the Midtown economy has just been damaged by the continued shutdown, the prolonged shutdown. So, anyway, no, I would not buy the first year. I agree with John and all of those other reasons.

I think you move down there, get you an apartment, pile up cash. You've obviously got a wonderful job. Congratulations. Making serious bucks straight out of school. Pretty freaking amazing. And you've done a great job saving money so far. Be debt-free, have your emergency fund in place, and save as big a down payment as you can save in the next 12 to 18 months, and then talk about buying. That's what I would do. And, Dave, I think, again, I've got my experience and just my students who graduated. But if he were moving to Kansas, making $100,000 and was going to buy a $200,000 house, I would say, hey, just sit for a second. You don't know where you're going to want to live in this new town. You think you want to do here.

You think this is going to be your forever job like every new college graduate does and it ends up shifting and changing i i just want someone to get all that stuff settled in now maybe that's not a rule of thumb but no i think it is it's uh it's a time of high transition yeah and so and and adding one more thing to the bowl of transition is is is equals stress and aptitude to make a mistake right um so yeah i don't disagree i think you know it's kind of like we talk about a young couple getting married don't buy a house first year same kind of a thing you know it takes a year of being married to know how close your mother-in-law to buy the old joke we use over and over and over and over again you know that kind of stuff so um that's um that's the thing and so uh you know and that's true you. And so, you know, and that's true.

You're in one of the more transitional phases of your entire life. Another way of saying it, the least stable. And so, and real estate is a freaking anchor. Few people think they know more about how the world works

than a new business grad. What are you saying? Maybe a new business grad. What are you saying? Maybe a new psychology grad. What are you talking about here? They're dumb, too, but I'm telling you, a 21-year-old business grad is like, I think I've got this figured out. What I need to do is this, and everyone's saying,

hey, just be wise, slow down. Ah, but I got it, right? He may have it. I'll be guilty as charged when I graduate. I definitely knew everything about the economy. Oh, that's a catch. Only to discover I know nothing about the economy. This is The Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today.

You can join him on the Dr. John Deloney Show as well as with me today. He's on YouTube, on podcasts. It's everywhere. And make sure you jump in and you can be a caller on his show. You can email to set that up, askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com or you can leave a voicemail at 844-693-3291.

When it comes to making big money or life moves, like buying a home, getting married, having a baby, it is likely the last thing on your mind to make sure that you have the right insurance coverage. I get that. That's kind of nerdy, but you know what? Big changes are overwhelming, and what would be even more overwhelming

is to find yourself in a situation where you didn't have the right coverage. Yeah, bad. If not having the time or energy is what's keeping you from getting it done, get with one of our endorsed local providers, our ELP insurance agents, to help. They're independent agents who will help you find the best coverage at the best prices, and they don't charge an extra dime. They get paid when you get the best deal and buy.

That's how it works. All you got to do is text the word insurance to 33789. I promise you're going to save money. Text insurance to 33789. Amanda is in Oklahoma City. Hi, Amanda. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi.

Hey, what's up? So I am 40, about to put a single mom about to get my last daughter out of the my last child out of the home um you did it i did it i did it i'm so happy they made it you made they all made it out alive they all made it out alive and they're happy and they're healthy and they're amazing and my last is happy and healthy and amazing, and it's a blessing in itself. Amen. Because we've had a wild ride. Amen.

So, yeah, I'm very happy. So I have my emergency fund. I am debt-free, good credit score. And it made a point where I want to buy my second home. It's been a few couple decades since I bought a home. But I would like to buy a home and do it wisely, obviously. I have enough to put my 20 down in finance or I could save for the next five years and buy cash. Okay.

What if you put your 20 down in finance and paid it off in five years? What's the same numbers? Okay. Sure. If you can save up the cash, you could pay off the debt. Yeah. Absolutely, I can. Yeah.

I don't. Yeah. You own a home now? I don't. I don't own a home now? I don't own a home now. We have had a pretty rocky road the last 10 years, scraped and scrambled just to get where we're at, and it's really a miracle that I'm where I'm at now. It's not a miracle. You're a rock star.

Yeah, there's nothing miracle about how hard you've worked, Amanda. There's nothing miracle about corn coming out of the ground when you plant corn. Exactly. Exactly. You're a hard-working warrior princess. You're a fighter. I am. I am.

Yeah. What do you do for a living? I understand that. So I just got a new job. I started on the third, and I'm attached to her. Very good. So you got a new job. The last one's moving out.

This is the year of new beginnings. It's really the year of amazing blessings. My income is only going to skyrocket from here. I am beyond blessed. I am just blessed measure upon measure. Wow. So powerful. Good for you. And how old are you?

40. I got a 5-year-old, and I'm older than you. The party's just starting now, Amanda. How many kids do you have? Three. Three, and how long have you been divorced? Oh, my gosh. I've been doing it on my own about 16 years, but I've been divorced for 12.

Okay. You're a stud. Wow. Absolutely amazing. You're fun. Hey, it's great. Yeah, just put your, you know, you're debt-free. You have your emergency fund in place.

You put down as much as you can put down. If 20 is what you got, that's awesome. Do it. And if you put it on a 15-year fixed and the payment's no more than a fourth of your take-home pay we're happy because in 15 years when you are 55 your home will be paid for but guess what you're probably going to go ahead and pay it off in five years because that was your plan anyway yeah and really not much stops you so no no nothing's going to i'm only going to get better and then if you allow your kids to come visit you which you may not want them to they can come to your paid for house

it'll be awesome that was my other question is should i i really don't want the bother of you know that a new roof and a new windows or having to buy air you know get any um guy in here trying to fix my house i was kind of concerned about whether i should well but also a house my kids could sell when i'm gone and they would have that honey you're 40 you don't need to be worried about when you're gone you just get a will and they'll deal with it you're not even halfway done yeah exactly i i mean i'm working on my will right now. Hey, Amanda. Kind of on the forefront of my mind.

Amanda, for the last 16 years, you've been doing this all by yourself, thinking about every other person in the world and what might go possibly wrong. Wow. And then when it did, you've been duct taping and wiring it and knitting it together so it didn't fall apart. And now you're finally going to do something for yourself, and you're projecting 40 years into the future to think what might be the right decision. Do something for Amanda this time.

Okay. Buy a house you're going to love for five years. Oh, okay. I'm buying my forever house. There's no such thing. Yeah. Nobody lives in a house forever. So condo would be okay.

Condo would be okay, but you don't buy it because you're worried about your kids taking care of it after you die. No, I don't have to take care of it. I don't have to take care of it in five years. What do you want? What does Amanda want? That's John's point. Yeah. You've earned that.

That's not selfish. It's good mental health. Right. This is the new phase of your life. Everything's new. It's a fresh start. Whiteboard's going. New job.

Kid's gone. Got some money. Going to buy a house. Everything's new. It's a fresh start. Whiteboard's going. New job. Kid's gone. Got some money. Going to buy a house. Life's good. 16 years of scratching and clawing and getting her done. And now you put three-fourths of that energy into Amanda, and like you say, your income's going to skyrocket. It's going to go zoom, zoom.

Joy's going to skyrocket. It's going to be incredible. So we've got 1,000 folks working, 967 this week on our team john and uh just an encouragement to you single moms single parents for that matter out there uh you know you're all worried about if you're gonna mess up your kids or something um because you're struggling and you're scratching and you're clawing and you're working three jobs and money's tight and it's hard. It's hard. I don't, I mean, I've got a bunch of the children that grew up with you that work here. And you know what they all say?

My mom's a hero. They don't go, oh, I had it so hard when i was a kid my mom was a single mom and i never saw her and i need counseling none of them say that zero they were raised by a warrior princess that's right and they all go my mom is my hero my mom took away every excuse i could even remotely conjure up to To be a victim. Yes. There's no chance I can be a victim because I was raised by her. Right. She outworked me three to one.

There's no chance I feel like I'm entitled to squat. It's like my job when I have a late night and I think, man, I'm going to sleep in for a second. And then I think, nope, because Dave was at this event with me and his butt's going to be here at 5.15 in the morning, roofing the house or whatever he's doing up here at the building, redoing the carpet himself. And so, yeah, it's like I've never – you just don't see colleagues who were raised by single moms say anything other than, no, I have a blueprint for what hard work, scratching and clawing, and love actually looks like. And they're not damaged goods. No. They're resilient, strong, and powerful. Yeah. And they're not damaged goods. No. They're resilient, strong, and powerful. Yeah.

And they're not entitled little snowflakes. They'll just outwork you three to one. Yeah. Because they just, that's... It's all they know. It's what they know. You guys that are raised by the Amandas of this world, you know what I'm talking about. And you Amandas out there, yeah, they will grow up and move on.

Praise God. We all say that, by the way. And so the trick is for them to stay gone. And when they move out, they need to stay gone. No boomerangs here. No boomerangs. So you're going to just move yourself out there, and we're going to watch you from a little short. We love you, but you're going to sit out there at a distance.

Amanda, you're a hero, man. Thank you for being who you were and who you're going to be. Amen. Very fun stuff. What a great call. Good stuff. Well, that about puts this particular hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer,

and home screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. And we'll be back before you know it. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer for The Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head to theramseyshow.com. Thanks for listening.