The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Give In to House Fever! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 1, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and a paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Tina starts off this hour in Houston, Texas.

Hi, Tina. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Mr. Ramsey. How are you doing this afternoon? Better than I deserve. How can I help? All right. Thank you so much for taking my call. It is certainly an honor. Well, currently I'm working at a media company, and I hold two positions there. I've resigned from one to stay at home. I possibly have another offer from another company in the same industry. But the dilemma is that I have a non-compete.

Ethically, what would be the best thing to do? And if I pursue a job with this other company, it would be breaching the non-compete agreement. Well, you agreed not to compete. So the only way, I mean, assuming the document is written properly, they could sue your butt, right? Yes, sir. Okay. And on top of that, you agreed.

From a legal standpoint, you got a problem. In a moral standpoint, you've got a problem. From a moral standpoint, you've got a problem. So are you a direct competitor? I mean, are you going to cause your former group problems by being there? Yes, it is a direct competitor. Yes, there it is. Okay, what function do you do? What do you do?

I work at a media company, so I have a, well, technically it's a radio station, so I have an on-air and an office position there. Okay. Would you be on-air at the other place? I'm not sure at the moment. That could be a possibility. What are they offering you? They're offering me, of course, higher pay,

and they're offering me just a growth of the opportunity. To do what? To do what? To do some, like, production work and things like that. Your voice would be on the air? Yes. Okay. Or I would be doing, like, production work, like creating it and traffic and things like that.

Okay. doing like production work like creating it and traffic and things like that okay if i if i own the other radio station i'd have more of a problem with you being on air in any way than i would you working in production what you can do for production for the new station versus the old station is probably not something a whole bunch of different people couldn't do productions production obviously it's both art and science but uh the art part, maybe you're better at. But, you know, obviously, there are better people producing than others. But my point is that that doesn't bring as much threat to them. But if they've invested heavily in building your brand and people know your voice and you move your voice over to the other place, that I probably would enforce the non-compete if I was the other guy.

Okay. I'm trying to put my moccasins on, you know, put both sets of moccasins on my feet and think through this with you from an ethics standpoint. Because the way to solve everything ethics-wise in business is just ask yourself, how would you want someone to treat you? What if you owned the radio station and you had talent there that was on air and behind-the-scenes production? Under what circumstances would you let them go would you give them a release i would give you a release if i were running it

as long as i didn't hear your voice on the air until the non-compete ran out so would that mean that i would have to go to my current employer and ask to get out of my non-compete contract it's the only option you have okay and what if i don't feel comfortable doing that then you're not going to compete. Because if you go and just walk over there and take the other job, you're going to get sued. And you're going to lose if the contract's any good. How long does the non-compete for? For 12 months.

Yeah, that's going to stand. In most states, I'm not an expert on the law, but I don't know Texas law for sure. Texas has got a little bit more free-wheeling things than other states, but in most states, a one-year non-compete in a business like what you and I are in will stand if it's properly written. It is, and I had an attorney review it, and he said it isn't. So what do you think your options are? What do I think my options are? I mean, I'd like to pursue this other avenue just because.

I'm saying in order to pursue it, you have one option. You have two options. Don't pursue it. Don't take the job. Well, you could, three options. You could take the job and get sued and violate your integrity because you gave your word um that's not recommended either one of those um or you can uh talk to your employer and talk them into some kind of a release um which sometimes radio people are jerks i understand that they may

not want to do it that's maybe why you don't want to talk to them yeah and so the another option i guess is quit and ride out the non-compete before you take the new job but if you go and if you if they find out you're working over there you're gonna get hammered girl you know that yeah i don't want to do that i i i don't yeah and there's not there's not a legal i'm not an attorney but you've already talked to one i i think the you know going over there and saying you know i'm leaving and i'm gonna go do something somewhere i have this other opportunity i would consider it a real honor an act of mercy if you would allow me to if you would give me a written release for a portion of the non-compete i promise not to speak on the air because i know

you'd be concerned about that but allow me to do production at the other place until the non-compete runs out. Okay. That's what I would do. I would ask for permission because I don't know how else you're going to get to do this. I mean, you either don't do it, you quit and sit unemployed for 12 months, or, I mean, you stay in the bad job, you quit and sit unemployed for 12 months, you get sued, or you ask their permission. I think to ask their permission is the least painful of these three.

Okay, and then what if they say no? Does that mean that I still resign? Because that just puts me in a very awkward position. Yeah, I mean, do you have a job? Do you have something you can do other than in that business quote-unquote? Yeah, I also am probably getting another part-time job here in the next couple weeks. So if you sat on the sidelines for 12 months, is it going to kill you? No, but I just don't want to be inactive in this business

because I know how much it hurts when you're not active. You know what I mean? I don't want you to either, but you signed a contract that says you're going to be. That's correct. Unless they give you permission. That's correct. Unless they give you permission. That's true. So, you know, what I'm going to do is quit if they won't give me the permission and I'm going to sit on the sidelines.

Okay. Sounds good. Yeah. But I think if you go in there with your best sales voice on, I think you might talk them into it. If you just, you know, you're humble and you're not accusing and you're not, you know, they don't owe you. You're not entitled. It's not't owe you. You're not entitled.

It's not anything like that. You're not threatening to sue them. It's like I gave my word and I'm asking for some mercy to be released for a portion of the non-compete, the production only portion for 12 months. And you will not hear my voice on the air in another station until the non-compete is run because I am leaving. And while i'm leaving i'm asking you for some mercy on this and then i guess you'll watch what you sign from now on yeah non-competes are um they're handcuffs that's what they're for so it's a little bit of an overkill for a position like you're in anyway like a lot of an overkill because there's voice talent

all over the place. And, um, you know, so there you go. Anyway, that's how I would do it. If I were in your shoes, thanks for the call. Open phones this hour. This is your show. America. It's all about you.

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Hi, Josh. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? So my wife and I are newlyweds. We recently married about six months ago, and we're currently in baby step two,

and I've worked through about a third of our debt snowball so far. But we live in a triplex that I bought before we were married. We're trying to decide whether to sell that now to speed up baby step two. We're currently trying to live relatively cheaply with the rent it's bringing in to finish baby step two. Okay. And what is your household income? We make about $240,000 right now, but my wife's about to get a raise. It'll make it about $300,000.

Dadgum. How much debt have you got? Well, it started at a little over $200,000, and we're around $150,000 right now. Okay. So some guy's a doc or a gal's a doc, right? Or a lawyer or what? I'm a lawyer, but my wife is the one who actually makes more money and she works in government affairs. Okay. Wow. You're killing it. Okay. How old are you two? I'm 34 and she is 30. Okay. And you have a $250,000 income and you have $150,000 remaining on your debt.

Yes, that's not including the triplex. Right. How much does the triplex net cost you after you collect the other rents? It's about with the additional like regular, I guess, expensive sewer and things like that on the house i think we're paying about four hundred dollars to live there after the rent is accounted for and how much equity is in the triplex uh we actually talked to um a real estate agent last week and we're thinking we could sell it between 200 and 220 $220, and we owe about, well, I guess I owe about $127 on it right now. Okay, so you could get like $100 of your $150 out, give or take. $150 in debt, you could get $100 of it.

I think we'd be closer to $200 than $220, but there were a couple that were in that range. Okay, all right. Well, the good news is you have a ridiculously large shovel with a good-sized hole, $150,000 hole with a $250,000 income. You should clear that very, very quickly either way. It sounds like you're done in a year to me. Yeah, our expectation is 13 months, roughly. Okay.

I'm probably just going to sit there for 13 months, and then you can decide what you want to do with the triplex. I'm probably going to sell it at that time when I make my next purchase into the home you want to live in. And I'll use that equity towards the home you want to live in. Okay. Yeah, we weren't sure. The reason we were even contemplating was trying to offset the amount of interest

on the student loan and things like that. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's 13 months. The interest rate's student loan and things like that. It doesn't matter. It's 13 months. The interest rate's not going to matter on this because it's not long enough that it adds up to much. The big thing is that you've got to double move if you sell it now because if you sell it now, you're going to go rent, and then you're going to buy a house in probably 18 months.

Right? And then you're going to buy a house in probably 18 months, right? Yeah. Yeah, well, and we're not positive where we're going to wind up living yet. So that's another reason. It's not there, though. It's not there. You're not going to live in that triplex making $250,000 for very long. That is the hope, yeah. Yeah, so 18 months or so, you're going to be in the market,

whether you sell it or whether you don't, which means it's a double move to sell it, and it doesn't get you out of debt that much faster, a few months faster is all. So I'm staying. Okay. That make sense? All right, then. That does.

Thanks, Josh. Appreciate the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Morgan is with us in Canada. Hi, Morgan. How are you?

Hi, Dave. I'm great. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, my wife and I are in Baby Step 2. However, we put our debt snowball on hold to cash flow her nursing degree. She's about to graduate in about three months, so we'll be starting up our debt snowball again.

Great. Really digging into it. So right now, we're currently renting a house, and we've been thinking a lot about the baby steps and how they eventually include setting up for down payment. But we've also been thinking a lot about more of a minimalist lifestyle, where we kind of own less stuff and we're less controlled, less tied down by our possessions. And we know there's a lot of pressure on young couples and families to save up and buy a house. So we wanted to hear from you what your perspective is on why homeownership is so important and on owning a home versus just renting.

Well, I'm not in the camp that says you ought to rush into this and that you need to do it in a way that, you know, allows you a bunch of stress and you're just trying to be a homeowner at all costs and, you you know you get house fever and you need to take a cold shower and all that kind of stuff i'm not one of those guys um and the middle minimalist guys are friends of ours they've been on the show they're great guys if you've been following their stuff um and so um and so if if i remember correctly they both own, by the way. But here's the thing, long term, no rush. If it takes you a little while and you want to go hardcore minimalist for a little while in the process, that enables you to save even more. That's fine.

Long term, though, houses in Canada go up in value, correct? Yeah, of course. Yeah, and so does rent. And your most expensive line item in your personal budget is housing. And it's unstable and increasing every year when you don't own. And so the most expensive part of your budget is out of your control and is going up every year when you don't own so that's not a good plan long term it is a fine plan for if you want to take a decade and do this i don't care but i don't want you 40

years out of the housing market i don't want you heading into retirement not have a house it's paid for because then you are controlling your retirement environment it's the biggest variable the biggest controllable controllable you control the controllables is what you're trying to do the biggest variable you can control to stabilize your life and to build wealth and so it's it's great to do all of that the pressure for young couples to go buy a house is ridiculous and i fight back against that like you are so take your time get out of debt build your emergency fund if you want to go minimalist for a long time even by most people's standards and just pile up a bunch of cash that's fine let's say you're 30 now you don't buy a house till you're 40 i'm fine with that it's okay it's no big deal that's not going to ruin your life but financially you're going to struggle

if you never own your home it's going to be a very difficult thing it's very hard to earn enough money to offset the increase in housing prices and the resulting increase in rental prices because the the rent goes up based on the value going up and you know we have got a hundred plus years of in Canada and the U.S. of house prices going up not every single year and not as much every year and not a perfectly predictable but over a 40 or 50 year period of time this is a major asset in your balance sheet. It's a major part of your expense ratios because your housing is your largest expense ratio and so on. So that's why it's a great plan to own as a long-term plan when you do it wisely. But rushing out there and just buying anything when you're broke just because you buy a house, buy a house, buy a house,

and people are like they're in heat or something here. It's crazy. You can't do that. You're going to get, you'll go broke. When broke people buy houses, it makes them broker. That's why they call them mortgage brokers. So don't do that. But if it takes you a little while to get there, that's fine. But eventually, you need to get there.

And that's my pitch on that. I don't care what you do, Morgan. Tech personally, but that's the answer to your question. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Well, guys, it's officially summer. Hotter than hot. And the A.C AC is running overtime. The last thing on your mind right now is Christmas. But as crazy as it sounds, the best way to have a stress-free, debt-free Christmas is start putting some money away now.

And that's why EveryDollar, our world's best budgeting app, is celebrating Christmas in July. We're giving away a free plan to help you pay all cash for Christmas. To get your free all-cash Christmas download to help you plan a debt-free Christmas, text CASHCHRISTMAS to 33789. It's completely free. It's a plan that will show you how to have a debt-free, stress-free Christmas. Text CASHCHRISTMAS to 33789. Phillip is in San Antonio.

Hi, Phillip. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. It's an honor to talk to you. You too. what's up oh well i got a couple of questions i'm probably very fortunate that i don't have any debt but unfortunately i recently got divorced i'm 67 years old and out of the divorce i've got money that just uh only been in an apartment now for about four months, but I've got money in my savings and it's sitting there.

I'm not making any money. And like the gentleman from Canada, y'all were talking about winning for long-term versus buying a home. I've been pondering, well, maybe I need to buy something, but people go, hey, you're 67 years old. Why do you want to get into buying a house? How long do you think you're going to live? Wouldn't it be smarter to take that money that's sitting in there, inflation deepened up, and invest it somehow?

What would you advise? How much money is in the savings account? About $85,000. Okay. What do you make? A month without my 401k payment, about $4,000 a month. And then right now I'm just getting a $3,000 payment that I'm going to reduce that, of course. But that was a long story.

But, yeah, that money I'm just dumping into savings until I figure out what to do with it. Right. And the home you moved out of was valued at what before the divorce? About $250, something like that. But she got the house, and I got some cash. Did it sell? You said she got the house? Yeah, she still lived in it.

How long did you live in that home? Since 2004 to 2018. What's that? 15 years. 15 years. 14 years. Okay. Yeah. All right. But I got my. 14 years. Okay. Yeah.

All right. But I got my pension, Social Security, 401K. I think I've got 300K in there. Mm-hmm. Okay. From my pension. Well, what I would love to hear you do, if you can pull it off, in San Antonio you probably can, is try to find about a $100,000 condo and just pay cash for it.

Uh-huh. Oh, okay. And just get you something where you don't have to worry about the upkeep of a house or you don't have to mess with that, but at least you're stabilized in your costs. The same thing I was talking about with the guy from Canada is that, you know, you think about when you were 47 what housing cost just 20 years ago. Oh, yeah. Okay. And if you're healthy, I'm going to be talking to an 87-year-old you in just 20 years.

Right. And that housing will have gone up that much again during that 20 years. But if you own it, it won't have gone up that much. Right. So go ahead and save enough money and probably buy the damn condo cash, right? That's exactly what I'd do. You got the $80,000 to do it. You know, you could use a little bit of your retirement nest egg. I wouldn't if I could help it.

But pay cash for $100,000, $150,000, something like that, and then just be comfortable with that. You know, I'm thinking if you watch what you're doing and you buy a nice condo and a nice project, that could suffice for the rest of your life, or at least to the next stage of your life, whatever that is, whatever the next thing is, whatever your encore is after this. Sounds like you've been through a really painful thing. I'm sorry. Thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Gregory is in Philadelphia. Hi, Gregory. How are you? Good. How are you doing, Mr. Ramsey? Pleasure to meet you over the phone. You too. How can I help?

I'm calling because I'm going to be an uncle later this month, and I just wanted to know what's the best financial investment or gift I can give to my future niece or nephew. Hmm. Okay. Okay. How much money are you talking about giving them? Not a lot.

Probably less than $1,000. Okay. All right. I might just give that in cash and ask the parents to do their own investing. Okay. At that level. Because if you do a bunch of gyrations and you put it into your name for and you want to put 500 bucks or something or

750 in there or something it's it's a it's a really that's a lot of money it's a nice nice thing to do but that's going to create a lot of hassle for you and them for the next 18 years dealing with this and so it'd be easier to just give them the cash and let them do the investing on behalf of the child okay great if they're trustworthy are they trustworthy yeah they're trustworthy i just um hope that they invest it now i would just say you know i'm giving this to you and hope that you'll put it in a good mutual fund for his college okay cool mutual fund yeah that's what i would tell them to do but i wouldn't go buy the mutual fund for them for 500 bucks i

mean if you're going to give if you were an unusually wealthy or something and you know you were going to give 25 000 now we'll get a little bit more controlling right but you don't want to mess with it for 18 years for 500 bucks it's's not, you know, it's a really nice gift. And I appreciate the sentiment, what you're doing. I'm not depleting. I'm not demeaning that at all. But I would, you know, I just let them control it and give them, you know, your suggestion. My hope is, is that you'll take this money, invest it in a good mutual fund for his college.

And that's how I see this working, that kind of thing. And then whatever they do with it, then is up to them.ady is with us in tulsa oklahoma hi brady welcome to the dave ramsey show thanks for having me sure how can i help so my wife and i i've been running a tree removal business for about six years and typically i just run with part-time people each day. I'll use a temp agency and just have them bring me as many people as I need for the day. And so we've decided that I need to hire a full-time person and I'm just curious your advice of how to go about getting the best person. Okay. Well, I will tell you from having run businesses my whole life, the most difficult hire you will ever make in your life is your first one.

The most difficult firing you'll ever have in your life is your first one. And so, you know, it just takes a lot of, you know, it's kind of gut-wrenching. You're kind of putting yourself out there, and you're saying, this guy's counting on me to pay him every Friday. I mean, it's like having a kid or something. You know, it's a lot of responsibility. You know what I'm saying? Right, yeah.

So it's a little bit terrifying for most people. It was for me, anyway. I remember that. And so what I did in those old days was I said, hey, you know, I'm not going to hide anything from you, dude. I'm a small operation. We have to cut down in trees and remove trees or neither one of us are going to eat, right? I mean, if there's no trees and stumps to be removed, then we got a problem, you and me.

So we're going to both work on the marketing aspect of this, meaning that the better job we do and the happier our current customers are, the more customers we'll get. And so, you know, when we're cutting up a tree, that's marketing. When we're talking to the homeowner and not tearing up their other stuff and tearing up their yard or something further than it's already torn up, that's marketing. Because they're going to refer us to their friends. And so you and me are running this business together, even though you technically work for me. I mean, we're going to be in there together every day. It's just you and me in the truck, right?

So you got to – Right. That's the way I talk to folk when I hired them, the first 10 especially I hired, because I didn't know if I was going to be open. I thought I was, but I couldn't guarantee anybody anything. You know, if you don't get a bunch of business, you don't stay open. You've been doing it six years. That's good news, right?

Yeah. I'm not worried about being able to afford them. I just – Yeah, but I think I talked not worried about being able to afford him. I think I talked to him about this is a small operation. We're going to spend a lot of time together. That's thing one. Thing two is hire somebody you really like that has good character and good morals. You're going to

be spending a lot of time with them. You don't want to work with a jerk every day. And even if they're talented at cutting up trees, so what? I don't give a crap about your talent. We'll teach you to cut up a tree. But the question is, do I like you? Do you have good character? Do I want your family around my family?

Are we going to hang together? We have to be best friends, but we have to be very similar because we're going to spend a lot of time together. And that's the way I did the first few, and it worked really good for me. Hey, thanks for calling. if you didn't know there's a couple hundred thousand people in the largest facebook group dealing with ramsey baby steps it's the official Facebook group of ours. The Ramsey Baby Steps Community. You have to ask to join, but obviously we let folks

in since there's 200,000 plus in there. Lots of great threads and great conversations and great accountability and great encouragement, great information. The way you guys in there support each other is really encouraging. Thank you. Heather is in the Ramsey Baby Steps Community. community she says my electric

company keeps advertising average billing is it a good deal or not worth it doesn't cost a thing and it makes your budgeting easier when you're first starting because it averages out your billing is what it amounts to it's not going to cost you a dime more or a dime less they're going to get all their money for their electricity but they're not going to cost you a dime more or a dime less they're going to get all their money for their electricity but they're not going to charge you extra for the average billing process and all they do is they just go back 24 months and they average it out and they put it down they jack it up a little bit so that you don't get to the end and you're short but if you're a little bit short because your electric bill went way up then you're going to pay that difference

at the end anyway so it's not a problem. I actually like it. I've never personally used it because I've always had a volatile income, and so volatile bills didn't scare me because they just are what they are. And our electricity was fairly predictable. I mean, I'm in Tennessee. I had gas, natural gas heat, and so my electricity bill in the winter was low. In the summer, we had electricity running the air conditioner, and it was very high because we can carve our humidity and serve it in slices here in Tennessee in the summer. So that's just where you can predict this, and I didn't choose to do it. But in coaching folks over the years, you know, the one-on-one coaching I did when I first started and our coaches today,

the average billing process smooths it out, makes it a very predictable bill. It becomes one of those more, it's a fixed bill. And that helps people, especially when you first start budgeting and so when you're doing your every dollar app and so forth. So, yeah, that's fine. It's fine to do it adrian is with us in louisville kentucky hi adrian how are you good day thanks for taking my call sure what's up um so uh the company i work for was reached recently purchased last year and because of that uh they're going to basically, we had employee stock and they're accelerating that benefit. So they're looking at everything that we made last year

and they're going to match it in the unallocated shares. So the short part is I'll be essentially given $60,000 next year in employee stock that I can either roll over into a 401k or that I could take a cash distribution on. And originally I was thinking to roll it, you know, just roll it over into my 401k, but we're on baby step two and my wife and I have quite a bit of debt and we're wondering, should we, you know, use this cash distribution to try to pay off some of that debt and help our debt snowball.

I'm a little bit confused, or you've gotten some bad information, one of the two, I'm not sure which. If the stock plan is inside your 401k, that's fine, but you can't take an outside program and just stick it in your 401k? Basically, what they're doing is because of the purchase of the company, the employee stock they'll purchase as well. And so it's going to either be rolled over into an eligible retirement account, which would make it so we're not taxed. No, it can't be rolled over into an eligible retirement account if it wasn't already in

an eligible retirement account. Is it't already in an eligible retirement account. Is it inside of a retirement account that's penalized if you take it out now? Or will it be at that time? It's just, yes, it will be at that time. Okay, so it's not just going to get taxed. It's going to get taxed and penalized. Yes. Okay.

And if your company's been purchased, your 0401k can be rolled over to an individual IRA, right? Yes. Okay. So can you put it into the new one and roll it into your – can you put it into the old 401k and roll your old 401k out to an IRA? Yes. That's what I would do. That's what I would do. Okay. Because if you take it out, you're not only going to get hit with ordinary income tax rate, so 25%, 30%, but you're also going to get hit with a 10% penalty. It's like saying, Dave, do I cash out my 401k to pay off my debt?

No, you never do that except to avoid bankruptcy or foreclosure. So since it's inside of a 401k and it's your old 401k, the new company coming in allows you to roll your old 401k and it's your old 401k the new company coming in allows you to roll your old 401k then the law allows you to roll your old 401k to a new ira in a direct transfer rollover with zero taxes with a smart vestor pro that's what i would do and keep the government's hands off of all this money all right i appreciate it and the stock gets cashed out inside of there and it's moved into mutual funds. You understand that part, right?

Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, you don't keep it in the company stock. So, well, I don't guess you have a chance. They're accelerating. They're making you cash it out as a part of the purchase, it sounds like. Okay, cool. Hey, thanks for calling.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Quinn is in Wichita. Hi, Quinn. How are you? Better than I deserve, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve, Dave. How are you? Just the same. Oh, it's Gwen.

I'm so sorry. Is it Quinn or Gwen? You got it right. Okay, Quinn. Okay, Quinn, how can I help? My husband and I are back in Step 1. We're here for our emergency fund. Okay, I'm going to put you on hold until we figure out what's wrong with your phone,

and then we'll come back to you, kiddo. Daniel is in Dallas. Hi, Daniel. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up?

I have an interesting question for you, a bit of a two-part question. I started a handyman business, and it is absolutely exploding. And I'm looking to hire somebody on here pretty quickly. And so first question, in a shrinking labor pool of people that do what I do, I'm just looking for some advice to find the best qualified person that I possibly can. And then also, what would you recommend on paying somebody? I really like what all you say about paying people on commission.

I really want to stay away from hourly, from people milking the clock. I just want to get your thoughts on it. Okay. Well, I think I'd be willing to pay a little bit more, and if I were you, to get the higher quality character person, because as you know, the handyman business, as you know, if I were you, to get the higher quality character person because, as you know, the handyman business, as you said, is exploding. You've got the ability to really make some serious money there because people who do repairs, who actually price reasonably,

show up on time, complete the repair as agreed on time, are so rare that you're a freaking unicorn. And so people will just spread the word. They'll spread the word, man. I mean, your customers will all give you more business than you can handle, and that's what you're already discovering. What you don't want is a guy working for you that messes that up. Yeah.

And so you're willing to pay him a little bit more because he's part of your marketing plan. His great job, the great job he does and the way he dresses and the way he smiles at the customer and is nice and you know doesn't use foul language and so on and doesn't walk in there half drunk or something or whatever the problem is it that's part of your advertising budget he's your advertising budget and so i'm going to pay him a little bit more and um you know i don't know how you bid your jobs out or how big these jobs are on average, but if you can figure out a way to pay him per job a percentage on the jobs that he does with a guarantee, you're going to make at least this, at least X.

But I think you can make Y on this percentage. But worst case, I'm going to pay you X. But I think you can make what i was thinking was uh paying a salary plus commissions yeah well i wouldn't call it commission i would just say a percentage of the of the job because he's not selling the jobs you're selling the jobs that's correct yeah and he's just going to execute the repair correct yes yeah so he's just going to get paid for doing the repair but you know you want to talk to this guy he needs to have two brain cells rubbed together in terms of his people skills

sure because your people skills inside that home are what's causing your business to explode more so than your ability to fix a freaking dishwasher true and so that's what you're looking for there's a great book out that'll help you with this that we use in our hiring. A good friend of mine wrote called, named Patrick Lencioni. The book is called The Ideal Team Player. Okay. And The Ideal Team Player has three attributes if they come to work here. They're hungry, meaning that they're aggressive.

They're humble, meaning it's not all about them. And they're smart, and that isn't that they have six PhDs. It means they're good with people. They're people smart. Hungry, humble, and smart. That's what you're looking for. Pay them well. You'll be glad you did.

You get better people when you do that. And that's how you can pull them out of it. Then you become a destination employer. In a tight market, you become a destination employer. I am. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, guys, it's Blake Thompson, senior executive producer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's over, but you can find more great content on our YouTube channel.

Catch the most watched Dave Ramsey, death-free screams, and the very popular everyday millionaire segment. Go to the Dave Ramsey Show YouTube channel and click subscribe.