The Ramsey Show - App - Do I Pay Off My Credit Card or My Car First? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your work, your relationships, your purpose, and your money. I am John Deloney, joined here by best-selling author and good man Ken Coleman, and we are taking your calls on just about everything.

Yeah. 888-825-5225. It's 888-825-5225. We have a packed lobby out there. So exciting to see everybody. It's good to see everybody. Smiling faces. Beautiful folks out there.

Spring breakers. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think, I don't know. I just made that up. I got to tell you, those don't there. Spring breakers. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think. I don't know. I just picked that up. I got to tell you, those don't look like spring breakers to me. They all look really young and youthful to me.

These people look very wealthy because they have financial peace. These people look determined because they're on their baby steps. These people look happy because they're indoors. I think that's ageist of you. Drinking good coffee, having great baked goods as you get here at Ramsey Sleuths. I don't think we mentioned that enough, James. That even though we're in our new building, you get the same

incredible delectables. Your cold beverages, your hot beverage, I should point out, non-alcoholic. You would. Fun ruiner. I don't want people coming for a kegger and understanding it's a coffee shop. But we've got... We have a line of high school kids out there.

Has everybody had some baked goods today? They're mostly shaking their head? That's fantastic. A couple of ladies are like, no, no, I'm watching my figure. Nope, that guy right there is. But hey, we support you, ma'am. All right, 888-825-5225.

Let's go to Josh in Johnson City. Josh, what's going on, man? Hey, how you doing, John? How you doing, Ken? We're living the dream. What's up? All right. So my question for you guys is I'm working on starting up my own personal business,

and I've been doing a ton of research lately. I'm trying to figure out what the best things that I've got to do are, and one of them is business entities. I'm looking into sole proprietor and LLC, more specifically those two. And I'm just trying to figure out if you guys could answer or even like point me in the right direction, what I need to be looking forward to specifically because I don't really want to lose my assets because somebody decides to sue me for a random reason. Right. What's the business?

Funny enough, because of Ramsey Solution, thanks guys, I'm looking to be a financial coach. Yeah, you don't need to have an LLC for protection on that. Again, it's not going to hurt you if you wanted to choose an LLC. It's not like it's going to have this huge differentiation for you from a tax standpoint and being a sole proprietor. So if it were me personally, having owned my own company before I came to Ramsey, we were sole proprietors because of the nature of the business we were in. It wasn't this litigious type business. And as a financial coach, I think you're okay, but if you want to do the LLC to make you sleep better at night, that's fine too. And that's a pretty low lift. Very low lift.

There's not like this major choice you have to understand what I'm saying. It's not like you may have a little bit more paperwork to fill out from the LLC. So as far as doing the research there, you know, you do your research on what you're setting up and the filing and all that kind of stuff. But it's really not that huge of a difference. I don't think you have to do an LLC here. But if you would like to, fine. You know. It's as simple as calling a local attorney and getting it set up.

Yeah. Yeah. Not a major decision is my point. Do the homework. Talk to an attorney on this. Make sure you have all the nuances and getting it set up. Yeah. Yeah. Not a major decision is my point. Do the homework. Talk to an attorney on this. Make sure you have all the nuances and understand it all. But this is not a bad decision one way or the other. All right.

Let's go to Eric in Jackson, Mississippi. Eric, what's going on? How you doing, Ken? Man, I am living the dream. How are you, sir? I'm doing good. How are you guys doing today? We are doing outstanding. What's up, sir? I'm doing good. How are you guys doing today? We are doing outstanding.

What's up, man? How can we help? Okay, look. The question I have, I have a dilemma. I have about $6,000 that I have saved up and I need to pay it towards my debt. I only have two debts, which are about $5,000 in credit cards, and I have an auto loan, which I owe about $3,900 on.

I was wanting to know which way do you think I should go with the $6,000 as far as going to pay these debts off? Man, that's a great question, dude. Congratulations. You're almost there, brother. That's awesome. So you got $6,000. It's been a long time coming.

Hey, man. Hey, and you know what? You get to the finish line, and you turn that corner of that marathon, and you just see that finish line. It says one mile, right? And you start stumbling and smiling and drooling. You're almost there, man. All right, so just keep following the baby steps.

So you said you've got a $5,000 credit card and a $3,900 auto loan? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right, so before today is over, I want you to take $3,000 credit card and a $3,900 auto loan? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. So before today is over, I want you to take $3,900 of that $6,000, and that car is going to be yours and nobody else's today. Okay? Yes, sir.

And then you're going to take the rest of that, dump that over to the credit card, make sure you got that $1,000 in your emergency fund, and then you are going to just scratch and claw and get the rest of that credit card done. And then you're going to call this show back. Or you're going to come down here and visit us. And we're going to do your debt-free scream right here in the lobby. Is that cool? Yes, sir.

You got that, Eric? So here's the deal. You got $6,000 in savings. You're going to keep $1,000 in the savings, all right? And then $5,000 goes to the $3,900, right? You're going to wipe that out. That leaves $1,100, all right? I got? And then five goes to the $3,900, right? You're going to wipe that out. That leaves $1,100, all right? I got my shoes off so I can count that high, okay?

And so we take the $1,100, and you put it into the $5,000 on the credit card, and now we are starting to cook. Now you've got $3,900 left, and you're attacking this thing, man. How long have you been on this journey, Eric? To be honest, man, about a year and a half now. You're so close. How much you paid off? I thought I was watching you guys.

Man, I had about $33,000 all together. Woo, Eric. Now, this might be worth a trip to Nashville to stand on that debt-free stage over there, and we won't know who's hosting that day, but you need to do that. You need to consider that. Man, look, that's really a part of the journey, man. Come on. A big piece that I think I'll be missing, man.

I think so. Jackson, Mississippi's not that far away. Yeah, you can drive here. We can't wait. Not at all, not at all. All right, so by the end of today, you own that car outright, and then you are just throwing everything you've got left

at that credit card. Not even into today. I mean, let's put him on hold and start writing checks. own that car outright and then you are just throwing everything you've got left not even today i mean let's put him on hold and start start writing checks exactly don't even hang up what are we waiting on there's there's 47 minutes in this hour it needs to be before the hour is out i love it pay this stuff off that's exciting he's gonna have 3 900 he's going to knock that out fast. That's huge. I remember that last little construction paper chain we had left. This is how romantic I am, Ken. When my wife and I were going through this, we had six figures in our debt, and we created one of those construction paper chains, and I'm so romantic, I hung it in my bedroom. I never wanted to,

to not see it. And man did not make for great bedroom decor, but it made for every morning you wake up and you see it. And every night you go to sleep and you see it. It made me a little bit nuts, but I remember that last chain and just sat there and stared at us. Cause it was a big one. Right.

But then finally getting that thing done. Oh man. Did you, did you rip it off the wall? I mean, was there, it was, what was the, it was a little bit dramatic.

This is going to shock the listeners. I can be a little bit melodramatic. That's why I set you up on this one. No, it was a slow, pulled the tack out gently. My heart beat. It felt a little Hallmark-y. My wife rolled her eyes and just walked out of the next room. Nothing about that was romantic or Hallmark-y.

You kept saying romantic or romantic, and it just felt like crafts. Hearts and crafts. It's arts and crafts. It's like elementary school. They have those chains on the wall. But the music swelled. No music actually did swell, but in my heart it did. And it just came louder and there was no confetti or nothing. My wife's like, cool, hey, make sure when you go to the store, get some veggies. It was kind of low key.

I was excited. That's the kind of free advice you get on this show, baby. This is The Ramsey Show. In an uncertain world, being a good steward of your money is more important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. 888-825-5225.

It's 888-825-5225. I'm John Deloney. This is Ken Coleman on The Ramsey Show, taking your calls about work and life and money. Let's go to Regina in Nashville, right down the street. What's up, Regina? Hi, Ken. Hi, John. Thanks for taking my call.

I'm doing good today, just trying to get my act together and find some work. Regina, we're all trying to get our act together. Thanks for calling. What's up? Well, we moved to the area back in October, and I've been trying to find some work. Office work is what I've, you know, done, like, for the last 20-some years. I've got my eyes set on becoming a loan signing agent in the future and, you know, have to do some training and take the exams and stuff for that. But I really would like to get some type of an office job soon, sooner than later,

because, you know, the money is running out. And I don't really want to go do retail or any place like that where I have to work on weekends because, you know, I want some time to spend with my husband on the weekends. But I haven't really been having a whole lot of luck as far as, you know, office work that's available. I want to stay out of the health field just because of, you know, the corona situation that's going on. So just wondering what's a way to boost, you know, the progress that I'm not making sure i just i don't feel like i'm making a headway okay so let me ask you what you've done so far let's look at

your process for getting hired so have you just been submitting resumes um just kind of cold without any kind of contacts at companies just submitting those online or however that works. Answer that for me as well as have you gotten any interviews and what's that process been like? Okay, so I have been doing some, you know, cold sending resumes out to companies. I've worked with a couple of temp agencies to see if they could get me some work. But, you know, with the holidays and whatnot, it was kind of slow and things are just starting to pick up. So I have had a few nibbles. Last week, I went out on two interviews and I had a phone interview. And the one interview may look prosperous. They did offer to bring me on board for a day to take a look at what the process is in the office as far as...

And what did you say? Did you say, yes, I'll be there? Oh, you betcha. Okay, when is that? That's going to be this week. Okay, great. Okay, so here's the thing. You just when is that? That's going to be this week. Okay, great. Okay, so here's the thing. You just need encouragement, and I'm going to give you that, but you also need some better tactics, okay? Now, the reality is that you're new to Nashville.

You moved here in October, so you don't have a ton of friends, and I understand we've been in a COVID kind of a situation where socializing is a little bit different. But the reality is that you need to be a little bit more open to, when you say office work, I think you need to expand the search. You're looking for any type of administrative type work that you can do, where you can just be in there and you're helping out. And the good news is you've got a couple of interviews. You're starting to see some traction. I would continue with the temp agency as well,

because many times temp agencies are the key to getting in a place and getting that full-time employment. So here's my point. I want lots of buckets out in front of you, okay? And I'm in this bucket. I'm going to the temp agency. In this bucket over here, I've got a couple of companies that I've heard good things about, and I want to find a way to make some connections over there even though I've not been in Nashville very long and that's the idea of thinking about your connections now here's what we know John from sociology research and that is that most people get their jobs through acquaintances not through close friends and family so I get this call a lot on the Ken Coleman Show. People say, Ken, here's the problem.

I don't know anybody. And that's never true. Let me just shock everybody listening and watching today. Even if you think you don't know a whole lot of people, you know everybody you need to know to get where you want to go. So what has to happen here is there's an old game. I don't know if many young people have heard of the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon that people would play. And they basically

throw out Kevin Bacon and let's say Denzel Washington. And you basically had to connect the two, you know, through seven connections or less, right? From movies that they both started. And sometimes they may start in the same movie, but the idea is, is like, you just play this connection game. And that's what has to happen here because acquaintances, John, not lifelong friends, people I've known forever. And so if we need more acquaintances, then guess what we need to do? I'm going to let this sit, John, because I'm about ready to drop some depth. If we need more acquaintances, they keep moving the camera light on me downstairs. I'm like trying to find the camera light.

If we need more acquaintances, guess what we need to do? Get acquainted. Stop it, Ken. I'm like trying to find the camera like here if we need more acquaintances guess what we need to do get acquainted stop it Ken I think I don't take over from there because cars are screeching across America I just blew my own mind I need to sit back and take a sip of water so what you're telling me again the presses have all stopped that I need to get out and communicate with other people yeah start getting acquainted and hey I'm looking for, hey, I'm looking for an administrative type job. I'm looking for a job in an office over here. But I thought I could just get online and just cold submit my resume to a million people. Sure, you can, but guess what?

It's like playing the job lottery. Go look up the odds for winning the lottery. It's not great. People are getting more and more inundated. And I shared this article on the Ken Coleman Show last week. More and more, John, people are being interviewed in the first initial two or three interviews by artificial intelligence. Whoa. Yeah, because HR can't keep up with all the demands.

So they've got these keywords they're looking for, and they're asking you questions, and you're looking into a screen, and they're analyzing your answers, your facial recognition. True story. It's happening all over the place. Wow. Yeah. So the human connection is really, really important. And again, you can't say, well, I don't know anybody, Regina, because you do. And you need to know more people.

So that's the first thing. Second thing is go to my website, KenColeman.com. We've got three free, they're all free, get hire guides. And you need to redo your resume. We've got a wonderful template to tell you how to do it. Hundreds of thousands of people have done it. It makes you stand out because I flip it upside down. And you can go check that out. Then you got the how to win the interview. And then third, how to follow up. Those three guides, if you do it the way I tell you to do it, and you make some more acquaintances and tell more people what kind of work you to do it, and you make some more acquaintances

and tell more people what kind of work you're looking for, this is a very hot job market in Nashville. You can get hired right now. So what do you tell somebody, and I've had this conversation, I can't even tell you how many times I've had this conversation, particularly with graduating students, whose acquaintance network doesn't quote unquote know of anything right now. Right. whose acquaintance network doesn't quote-unquote know of anything right now. At some point, they begin getting the message, hey, we wouldn't hire you.

What do you tell somebody who's getting that negative feedback, either explicitly or not explicitly? Well, more and more in our world, we don't get much feedback. So I want to correct your analogy or your metaphor so that people understand you don't get a lot of feedback these days. Even if you get to the interview level, they'll say, you know what, we chose another candidate. Now, there's a couple reasons why. It's so litigious, man. Very litigious. The second reason is we as humans don't like to be confrontational, and that feels like a confrontation just telling somebody we chose somebody else and and then the third reason is is that they've got so many candidates that they can't really give you a detailed description in their mind they can't i feel like we should feel we owe it to

people but the reality is we run on an efficiency table in this world so because of that um i if you have real feedback well then we want to look at it. Am I? It gets back to what I teach. Let's get clear. Stage one of my seven stages to meaningful work is get clear on what you do best, talent, hard skills and soft skills. Get clear on the work you love to do, passion. I get excited when I think about this work. I get excited when I'm in the middle of this work.

And then finally, get clear about what results that you want to put into this world, results you want to accomplish through your work. That's meaningful work because it's on purpose. I use what I do best, John, to do work I love, to accomplish results that matter to me. So we've got to take that negative feedback and go, oh, where am I off? So that's what I'm getting at. If you find yourself in a loop, ask somebody.

Yeah. Get real feet. Hey, do I have the talent to pull this off? Do I have the chops? Is this on me? Yes. And if somebody has the courage and the vulnerability and they are brave and says, hey, can we just talk? Is this on me?

Tell them the truth. Yeah. Tell them the truth. That's right. It's so hard to ask for real feedback, right? It's hard. And that, sometimes somebody can't get clear on their own and they need other people to help them, right?

Need a mirror. Do we see ourselves the way the world sees us? Many don't. That's a gift to be asking. To be asked. Be honest and gentle. John, look what I see over there. Coming up next, a debt-free scream! Live from the Ramsey Solutions Lobby, look what I see over there. Coming up next, a debt-free scream. Live from the Ramsey Solutions Lobby, this is The Ramsey Show.

On the debt-free stage, Sutton and Madison. Usually, when a couple is standing on the debt-free stage, that means they've got remarkable news to share with us. So, what's the story? I think we do. What's the story? We paid off $44,200. $44,200? $44,200.

How long did it take you? Nine months and five days. Whoa. Nine months and five days. Not that we're counting. What was your range of income during this time? Started around $43,000. Ended up around $54,000.

Ooh. I'm always curious with this one. What did you do to raise the income? Lots of side jobs. Madison got a job working at her college's bookstore part-time. I got a job at a production company doing a 24-7 sports talk show. So I had to get up at like 4 a.m. and go do that before work. My man. Now, are you in broadcasting or is this just something you've always kind of wanted to do and you just jumped into it to make

some extra dough? I've always loved broadcast. I'm actually a worship pastor at a church. Are you really? So I had a few of the skills, and obviously with COVID, had to learn how to do broadcast with pretty much everything. Yeah. Hey, I started out doing sports radio. Oh, really? That's awesome. So I've got a little special place in my heart for that. And look at this shining example right here, right? Hey, it's perfect. Okay, so

43 to 54, you said? Yeah. So that's a lot of money to pay off in nine months. Did you sell something or someone? How did you do this? We both had a little bit of savings when we got married, and we had a wedding in there too. So any monetary gift that we received for the wedding, we threw right at the deck.

So thank you, everyone. So you didn't get the Super Juicer $1,400. Yeah. We got a few of those, but not a lot of them. Okay, good. So you sold them. Sounds like you sold them. No, we didn't sell any of our wedding gifts.

No. We had them all. By the way, it's just a joke, but thank you for clarifying. We don't want to upset anybody in their registry. No, not a good idea. So what was the moment when you said, okay, we're going to do this as a young couple? Well, when I was a kid, my Nana Sue gave me the Dave Ramsey kids. Nana Sue.

Nana Sue, coming through in the clutch. And I actually, I had all the envelopes, the giving, saving, and spending, even when we got married. So, but I remember after we got engaged, we started doing some counseling and I kind of told Sutton, he had some student loans and I said, those really scare me. You know, they're saying it's going to take 15 years to pay them back. And that's a really big commitment. And so he said, okay, you know, I'll do some research.

He found some Dave Ramsey videos. We're like, OK, we might be able to do that, you know, sooner than 15 years. And then over quarantine, when there was a sale on Financial Peace University, we did that. And I just remember we got to that last lesson talking about how, you know, you do all this so you can be radically generous and just do what, you know, the Bible calls us to do. And we kind of sat there and thought, well, we want to be those people, you know, who can just give someone a car or just say, oh yeah, we're going to pay off your college tuition. And so just having that in mind, we decided this isn't going to be, you know, 10 or five years, but we want to just get this done this year.

Let's knock it out. Yeah. So that was our motivation. Yes. That's awesome. Yeah. So how, walk somebody through, you get married, people hand you cash. Yeah. Yes.

And they smile and twinkle and they say, you will never be able to just throw money away. This is what this money's for. Mm-hmm. And you two folks decide to pay off debt. Yes. Walk us through how that felt. It is painful at first because there are those shiny new golf clubs, shiny new guitars, all And you two folks decide to pay off debt. Yes. Walk us through how that felt. It is painful at first because there are those shiny new golf clubs,

shiny new guitars, all these things that I would love to own. Yes. Yes. But I can one day as long as we are super intentional right now. For those of you listening and not watching, I just saw pain shoot through him as he paused. Yes. Right? But I'm the opposite.

So even he's a spender, I'm a saver. So on the flip side, I wouldn't even want to use the money with the debt for the first baby step. I mean, I like draining the savings down to a thousand.

Yeah. Freaked you out. That's my worst nightmare. Yeah. So on the flip, even if you're not a spender, I mean, I still was like,

we can't just spend our savings on, you know, loans. So even that was. And that's where people thought we were crazy too, going down to that thousand dollars. But if we hadn't done that, we'd still be in debt right now. So, so was... And that's where people thought we were crazy, too, going down to that $1,000. But if we hadn't done that, we'd still be in debt right now.

So what was the debt? Student loans? What else? It was pretty much all student loans, but that shiny thing on her finger. Which I'm glad we did it. She's definitely worth it. But hey, to all the guys out there, isn't it romantic buying a nice ring that your then new wife has to help pay off right that just feels gross right i had it paid out before we got married sure that was okay all right yeah so um walk us through this moment you came to him he came to you you both said we're in

yes yeah walk us through that like who started that conversation and i want to paint i'm painting a picture here for couples who are like i don't want to i don't know how to it's kind of when was the moment you said this is it we're doing this yeah madison as she said she was concerned about the debt i was okay to spending 150 bucks a month for 10 years doing it because it wouldn't i didn't feel like it would have inconvenienced us that much but when she kind of laid out the plan the goals for us that we wanted to be radically generous we got to do it differently to get there. So we just decided, hey, let's get this all done. Yeah. And I'd say, yeah, on a similar note, it can seem sometimes logical, for instance, I mean, we're thinking, oh, we'll just keep paying, you know, those minimum payments,

we can do that. And how we'll still be able, you know, to be generous. We can still give, but just through paying it off so fast, I mean, now we don't even, we're just able to do so much more with our finances and just knowing that we'll never be back in that place, it just gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. Yeah, we're down with that forever. Well, I got to ask, John, really quick. I got to ask, what are you dreaming about?

Is there a specific radical generosity, even if it's somewhat small in this frame of life right now? Because when you talk about that as your motivation, that gives me goosebumps all over. How do you want to be radically generous? I mean, I've obviously mentioned those two examples. Those are in the videos if you don't do Dave Ramsey. So obviously that would be the end goal. But I mean, even now, I know one thing is we've talked about just when you're at coffee or dinner with a friend just saying oh I can grab

that yeah which is something I mean again we both said before this we thought oh we're really generous but that's something neither of us would probably ever do like oh I'll just grab your $10 dinner so and that's also just such a great way to be a blessing to someone because when you start doing that it's just crazy how you think it's so small but someone's reaction is like oh you're gonna pay for my dinner and yeah yeah so let me tell you what's gonna happen and this is really to our entire audience when you have a mind for that and then you have the freedom to do it and again you know radical will change in numbers as you keep saving money and you guys keep living this way but what you're gonna find is is people are gonna present themselves to you people you didn't see before are going to pop right in front of you and you're going to know

right there, I got to do that. I'm supposed to help them. You watch, you watch that. And you do it with a smile. So who are your biggest cheerleaders? Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously both of our parents, his parents are here today and my parents and they in our extended family have just been such a great example to us of what it means to be generous and also being really disciplined with your finances. And also, in a weird way, a lot of them knew we were doing the Ramsey plan, but we didn't really tell them or they didn't know how intense. So I think they were all kind of a little shocked when we just came one day. We're like, oh, yeah, we paid that all off.

Yeah, we're done. So what would you tell people the number one key to getting that debt is? So if you're married, you and your spouse have to be on the same page. You have your big goal that you're trying to achieve. And after we did that, the other things in our marriage that could have caused conflicts, it kind of all worked itself out because we are working on the same team. We're aligned in our goals and we're just trying to accomplish the same stuff. Yeah.

And I'd say that, I mean, it is a sacrifice and it is painful. And depending on your circumstances, it could be so painful. But in the grand scheme of your life, that's just so short. For the rest of your life, you're going to be free and you're going to be blessed. And I know that. I mean, the Lord has blessed us in this journey. And in turn, you can be a blessing to other people. And when you have that in the end goal in mind, I you can do anything and you're gonna get there sutton and madison paid off 44

thousand two hundred dollars in nine months in five days making 43 000 to 54 000 count them down three two one we're debt free oh that's so cool look at that they got the champion pose the interlocked hands hands above the shoulders we did it and they did it

so good and to think I just I can't imagine being newlywed and thinking let's get out of debt not so we can add

seven more bedrooms and four bathrooms let's get out of debt so not so we can add seven more bedrooms and four bathrooms. Let's get out of debt so we can just give like crazy. Yeah, yeah. Let's go through a journey together so that we can learn how to talk to one another and communicate to one another and hold each other accountable

and have hard conversations so that when hard conversation after hard conversation comes up over the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, we're ready for it. What a great couple. That's incredible. What a great future. And you watch. You watch.

God will bring so much increase to them because He knows they're going to give it away. You watch. Sutton and Madison, Kansas City, Missouri. We're proud of you. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. This is The Ramsey Show. show. 888-825-5225. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by Ken Coleman.

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that lead to big results and lifelong habits. Get started today with a free trial at DaveRamsey.com. That's DaveRamsey.com. Let's go to Dan in Boise, Idaho. Dan, what's going on? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I just got a quick question for you about a job change my wife had.

Fantastic. What's up? Well, she got pushed out of her longtime stable job under the guise of reorganization. And luckily, we've done well enough where financially it's not going to hit us real hard. And she right away started looking for new work and got offered a job. And then she accepted that job. And then a week later she got offered a different job that pays more than she was making at her old job.

And we're just, I'm not sure. I don't want to push her in any direction whatsoever, but I just, you know, I'm not sure how to handle like, which one should she take, you know? Well, let's start with what she wants. What does she want to do right now?

Well, and I am totally cool with whatever she wants to do. Don't get me wrong. And she wants to take a step back. You know, she had a very time-intensive job where she worked 60 hours a week in certain months of the year. And she wants to take a step back, work part-time, which I'm fine with, and, you know, get our benefits that way. And I just look into the future, you know, I don't want to work forever.

Okay, but hold on, hold on. I understand what you're telling me, but I'm just simply trying to understand. She just took one job. She's in that job right now she got offered another job and you're trying to say which what which one should she take and i've got an opinion but it's based on what you tell me and so i want to know does she want is she herself right now leaning towards this new opportunity that just came along or Or are you seeing dollar signs as her husband? And you're trying to go, hey, let's do this for a while. Check out this shiny toy. Yeah.

So where is she? She wants to follow through with a part-time job, which is totally fine. Is that the one she's in right now? That's the one she's in. She just did the orientation for today. Got it. So if she were to take the one that just got offered, that's back into the full-time deal, and she doesn't want to do that? Correct.

Not right now. So I think it's pretty straightforward. If my wife is in this situation, I know that I probably want the more money myself. But if I'm talking to Stacey and I'm going, Stace, what do you want to do, babe? She's going, man, you know what? I've been doing this 60 hours every seasonal for a long time and I'd like to just start to step back.

I got a good part-time job right now. This is what I want and I've got it. I want to stay put. Sounds like that's the right decision. Yeah, and that's what I thought too. It's just you've got that shining number out there that I'm just like, well, we could really get ahead or, you know, but I got that shining number out there that I'm just like, well, we could really get ahead.

But I understand she wants to take a step back. That's fine. Then that's what I go with. That's what I would go with. Man, and I would – how long have you been married? 13 years. 13 years. Let me ask something, John.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but I want to make, but I didn't ask you this, Dan. Yeah. What does get ahead mean? Does that pay off debt, or is that just savings and retirement? What does that mean, get ahead? It's a little bit of both. I've been listening to the program for a while, and I really want to get debt-free. And we have been working towards that goal, but she has her idea of

the way she wants to do it, and I have your guy's idea or Dave's idea of how we want to do it. See, that's what I was getting at. You guys have, there's something else going on here, man. The question you asked is not the question you should have asked. Yeah, tell us what's going on in your marriage, man. It sounds like there's a fracture there. Well, I wouldn't say it's a fracture. It's hard for me to, I don't know if it's, you know, just explain how this would all work out if we just went this direction

versus what she wants to. She's a saver, and we have quite a bit in savings. We probably have enough in savings to pay off the debt that I want to pay off. Right. But she doesn't want to go down. You know, she doesn't want to get rid of that safety net, which I get. How much debt do you have? Total, we have about, I'd say, 45.

How much do you have in savings? Well, okay, the debt that I wanted to pay off. So we have about 25 in savings. What do you mean the debt you want to pay off? There's some debt you just like to hold on to for a long time because you've got a great relationship with it? No, no, no. You realize what show you're calling? Let me clarify here.

Yeah, please do. I know, I know. I know. I know. Stupid question. So I have a student loan that I refinanced, and I want to get rid of that. And we have a HELOC that we're done with that I want to pay off because that has a chance for the rate to change. Okay. What's your total debt?

Stop giving me all the conditions. What's your total debt? Debt you want and debt you don't want. Yeah, 45. Okay, so you did give me the whole number. Okay, what's your total debt? Stop giving me all the conditions. What's your total debt? Debt you want and debt you don't want? Yeah, 45. Okay, so you did give me the whole number. And then you have 25 in savings. Okay. How big of a hit did she take? Just give me a ballpark idea how much of a hit

she took financially by going from full-time to part-time. Oh, she probably she's probably going to make a third of what she would. Okay. Why is she fried, man? Part of it was the atmosphere that she was in, very male-dominated, kind of toxic, that kind of deal.

And the place where she was working for 23 years it started out as a family situation and now it's just gone straight corporate you know very different atmosphere and she's just kind of done with that whole you know that whole organization so when you when you say dan when you sit down and talk to her and say, hey, we've got this $45,000. There's a proven plan, 6 million people. What is her response? What is it about the way you present this that makes her think I'm out? She just wants to have the money and savings in case something happens.

And I've framed it like, well, something can happen all the time. That doesn't really matter. So here's what I'm going to tell you. When you called the show, you talked about you don't want to have to work forever. You talked about you don't want her to turn this money down. You want two guys on the radio to tell your wife what she should be doing. You want to pay off your student loan. And so here's what I want to challenge you with. You gave me a lot of what you want to do.

And within three or four minutes, it sounds like your wife has come from a very toxic, to use your words, male-dominated world that listened to her, that was telling her what to do. And I'm wondering if she's getting that from you too. And I'd love to see you sit down and say not,

hey, you know what we could be doing? Because what you're doing there is giving information. You're giving an answer to a question she really hasn't even asked yet. And right now she's defaulting to safety. I want you to sit down and say, not that kind of that conversation, but what do we want to do? Two years, three years, five years.

You're fried. I love the fact that you found this cool opportunity. It's going to cost us a lot of money. To us, not you, not me, but us. What do we want to do and where do we want to move towards? What do we want to move forward towards and i want you to give her an environment where she can dream openly because my guess is you love

her so much that you want to give her the right information and a lot of times we can drown our the people that we love with the right answers and more information and really they just want to be heard they just want to know that things are safe. And so they default to savings accounts or jobs or other things to try to grab safety. I want you to reach out and connect with her. Man, thank you so much for that call, Dan. Ken, another hour in the books. James, Zach, you guys are both handsome and professionals doing a great job. This is The Ramsey Show.

This is James Childs, producer of The Ramsey Show. You can listen to all our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Browse by topic or even send clips to your friends. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.