The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Let Your Comfort Zone Become Your "Kill" Zone! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about life. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague Anthony O'Neill, and we are with you this hour. It is a free phone call, 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. If we're talking life, that means we're going to talk about money, and thankfully my colleague Anthony's here to answer those questions.

We'll talk about your work, because that income thing doesn't have to be so miserable. You can actually, A.O., love what you do and make the money you need. We'll talk some relationships. We'll talk whatever you need to talk about that is eating at you today. We are here. We enjoy coaching people up, and we are here for you. 888-825-5225. A.O., I'm coming off of the digital live stream event, the Get Hired event.

A lot of people out there looking to level up, to keep on moving. And a lot of people getting serious. Coming out of COVID, coming out of the pandemic, they're getting serious about taking their money game to the next level as well. And, you know, there's no separating your work and your money. I mean, they're just tied together. And you have seen in your own journey as well as in the lives of so many that you've coached, there's something to getting on purpose in your money and your work.

Yeah, absolutely. Ken, one of the things I've noticed, and I want to thank you for your digital event because I had a lot of my young people sign up. Oh, thank you for your digital event because I had a lot of my young people sign up. Oh, thank you, sir. We pushed it on my platform and I'm telling you the testimonies that are coming from this event were just phenomenal. You really helped them understand their purpose. And I feel sorry for some people in the world because some people actually lost some employees

because of your event. Uh-oh. Lost some employees. Oh, yeah. But then some gained some better qualified employees because they landed in their sweet spot. And that's my thing. When you can go to work every single day and at least be happy and passionate about what you're doing, then the next phase of your life on building wealth, getting out of debt is even easier because now you can really focus on that.

Absolutely right. I love that. We are here for you. 888-825-5225. Let's start it off, A.O., in Los Angeles, California, where Mike joins us. Mike, how can we help? Hey, guys. I have a question.

I'm 21. I live with my parents. My income varies greatly every month, but I have about $100,000 saved up. I'm wondering what the best move is, how big of a condo or house is too big, what's the size, what a down payment should be, and do I buy it and pay it off? Am I buying it and renting it out for another year? What's the smartest move? Mike, where did you get this $100,000 from? I am a freelance production assistant

and obviously I have no expenses living with my parents. So the last two and a half years I've been able to save that up. So this is not an inheritance. Your parents didn't give you this money. You've been working the last four years and just living way, way, way, way

below your means and just putting this money into the savings, correct? Correct, yeah. Cool. So on a worst case scenario, how much money do you think you can make a month? Worst case? Yes. $2,500?

$2,500 in LA, which is not a lot of money. Okay. What is your best case scenario? $13,000. $13,000, which inifornia that's good money for a 21 year old uh what are you averaging right now you four grand okay four grand cool cool beans so and let me ask you this question um no school right you're not in school currently correct no correct okay cool uh so i'm gonna let ken talk to the the career side of things on the money side of things um a hundred thousand dollars in your savings account is great okay um you don't need that

for three months i would definitely say in in cal, I'm from Oceanside, California. So I know exactly where you are in the L.A. area. You don't need it for a rough case scenario. You need about at least 20 grand in your savings account for three to six months. And so that means you have about 80 grand that you can live off of. So I'm not going to suggest that you go pay cash for a home. I'm going to say go rent something until you can get a solid, consistent income coming in of at least, at least in California, five to eight grand for your age. So that way you have a comfortable lifestyle. But I'm not going to say go buy an apartment, go buy a condo. I'm saying go rent something, get out there on your own, get that up beneath your belt for at least a year time timeframe.

And Kenny, you can walk through how to get your income to be a solid at least five to eight grand a month guaranteed every month bare minimum. Then after that, yeah, man, go purchase something and keep working and eventually pay it off early. But I do think that you should be moving out of your parents' house here relatively soon. If not this year, January of next year, you should have a game plan on how you get out on your own. Yeah. Mike, my question is, is it tough for you to get a second job due to the nature of the production schedule where you kind of have to be on call? And I may be assuming that, but I'm curious. No, that's completely correct. Yeah.

Well, listen, you've done a great job. I think Ayo's right. You know, are you feeling like you can't afford to get a roommate and at least rent for a while? Or are you just scared of it? Or you've run the numbers and you don't feel like you can do that? I'm just something I'm not really comfortable with. Why? And I feel like I'd rather, you know,

save up at no expense to send my parents than have a roommate at the moment. Good. I mean, now I got to tell you, I mean, Ayo, you and Dave tend to be more on get out of the parents' house. My position on living with the parents is if there's no boundary issues there

and there isn't something where it's kind of making you feel less than or whatever, and this is a strategic money play because it's Los Angeles, because of that, I'm actually okay with your getting with it. But I acknowledge that if Dave were here, he's going to say what you said, get out of there soon. You're 21. You've got a strategy here.

I would be trying to work as much as you could outside of the production stuff. That's the only thing I'd add. I know you've got to leave yourself open, but I would keep socking money away and I would get to a point in your head where it's not emotional, where it's, okay, this is logical. I actually can afford to rent and get an apartment and get a roommate or something. I do think you have to get there. I'm not saying it's got to be right away, but make sure this isn't an emotional thing. AO is what I'm saying. You may be uncomfortable with it, but so what?

You talk about this all the time. You tell young people, what do you tell them about being uncomfortable? Don't allow your comfort zone to become your kill zone. And so I believe that he should step outside of his comfort zone. But I also want to echo what you're saying, Ken, is if he loans, he has a strategic plan strategic plan yes and he's working that plan and we see fruit of that plan uh moving forward then absolutely stay there another year i don't have a problem with that i think dave and i have a

problem when we have a lazy man or even a lazy woman and i agree with that at home there's no plan there's no strategic there's no goals they're just comfortable and they're killing their own future and parents are killing their future because they're not aiming towards something and we're seeing fruit from their labor so i agree with you on that part bro yeah no i good advice there's a sharp young man i love that he saved up that kind of money yeah and great advice on he's got his emergency fund. Mike can keep stacking. If he's single, ladies, go get him. There you go. You knew it was coming.

A.O., he's got the full circle advice there for our man Mike in Los Angeles. All right, don't go anywhere. We've got more of your calls coming up. He's Anthony O'Neill. I'm Ken Coleman. This is the Ramsey Show. Ever wonder how to save more money or pay off debt fast? What about the right way to invest?

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You can be confident that you're doing the right thing with money, and that means no debt payments, cash in the bank for emergencies, and a plan for your future. Get started today with a free trial of Ramsey Plus at RamseySolutions.com slash Ramsey Plus. That's RamseySolutions.com slash Ramsey Plus. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Anthony O'Neill, and we're taking your questions about life.

You got your money questions? A.O.'s got you. You want to talk about your work, how you may want to get promoted, make more money. Maybe you're not happy in your work. Maybe you're trying to figure out what it is you're supposed to do. So if you want to go from paycheck to purpose, I'll talk to you about that as well. But we are here for you, whatever your question. It is a free phone call, 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. There are a ton of underrated holidays, and this is one of my favorites. May 2nd, coming up, is going to be National Life Insurance Day. It may not sound like the most fun, but it is important. Life insurance protects your family financially when you pass away. So they're not going to deal with money stress on top of losing you. Now, you need the right kind of life insurance. The only kind we recommend here at Ramsey Solutions is term life insurance.

That's worth at least 10 to 12 times your income. Our free coverage checkup tool will help you find the right term life policy, plus other types of insurance you do and don't need to protect you and your family. To get your results, text CHECKUP to 33789. That's CHEC check up to 33789 to find the best coverage for you. All right, back to the phones we go. Toledo, Ohio is where Kyle joins us. Kyle, how can we help? Hi, I'm 24 years old. I'm graduating from college in a couple weeks, and I have about $40,000 saved up,

and I have a salary job that I'm working. I make $70,000 a year. I have no student debt,000 saved up, and I have a salary job that I'm working. I make $70,000 a year. I have no student debt, and my car is paid off. So I'm just trying to figure out how I can best, like, raise my credit score. I have a 715 right now, and I'm just trying to get my credit up so I can get a loan for a house. Interesting. Wow, way to go, Kyle.

You're off and running, buddy. Yeah, man. What do you do for a living? I'm real curious. Yeah. So I do supply chain for a major corporation in the area. Wow. And Ayo's going to jump in on that financial question, but I'm just curious. Going to ask one more thing here. What do you think your upward mobility looks like? Making $70,000 a year, you're in supply chain. What do you think the next couple years looks like for you professionally, financially? Yeah. So I have a really good job right now for the next two or three years. And then after that, I'll be making about $90,000 or

$95,000. All right. That's all I wanted to know. That's pretty good, young man. I'm proud of you, man. How old are you again, bro? I missed it when you first said it. I'm 24. 24. Okay, cool. Great. Are you living at home with your parents or you out on your own um nope i have my apartment okay cool great man so let me ask you this question because you said something about you got a 715 credit score you want to raise it up a little bit more why like why why do you care about a credit score? Yeah, so I'm just worried because, I mean, I've never had to have a loan for, like, a car or steam loans or anything that I don't show, like, that I might not be, like, lendable, essentially. Like, yeah, I have $40,000 now, but, like, I don't show history of, like, hey, we've lent you money, and we can trust that you'll pay it back, essentially. So no history. I don't have a credit card. I only have a credit card.

You only have a credit card? Yes. Okay. What's on it right now? How much do you owe on a credit card? So it has a $600 max. I usually put like $200 on it a month. Okay.

And then I guess you just pay it off, right? Yeah. Okay. Cool. Great. So here's my thought process that I really want to help you walk through this. And this is what I hear from a lot of people, especially people in their 20s and in their 30s. Anthony, I'm so scared to not have a credit score because I will not be able to purchase a home.

I have no history showing if I do not have a credit score, I have no history showing that I can pay my bills on time. And that is a lie. Okay. That's a lie. You're paying your bills on time and that is a lie okay that's a lie okay uh you're paying your bills on time with your rent you're paying your bills on time with your phone bill your cell phone bill that you're calling in on right now kyle uh you're paying your bills on time uh with your electricity bill your electricity bill uh that you're paying every single month you're paying your bills on

time with your water bill there's so much history that you have that if you take that history, right, and you go to them, say, hey, can you print off a history of my rent payments, print off a history of my electricity payments, my utility payments, all this type of stuff. And you bring that to a bank that does manual underwriting. They will look at that history and grant you an approval for a home loan, not just because you have good payment history, but because you also have $40,000 sitting in the bank at 24 years old. You're also making $70,000 a year, and you're not bondage into any debt. Man, they will eat you alive. They will say, yes, son, let's go. We'll give you the house that you want

because you are the best candidate for this particular loan. So when I hear people say, oh, my gosh, I'm scared of a credit score. I'm saying shut up because the credit score doesn't mean anything. A 700 credit score just simply means you love paying your debt. So, Cal, this is what I'm going to tell you, man. This is what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to calm down because I don't want to frustrate you. I know you're hearing like, man, Anthony, I just asked a simple question.

You're going off on me. I ain't going off on you. I'm going off on America. But here's the thing. Cut up the credit card, bro. Focus on building your net worth. Focus on putting cash in the account. Focus on building your dreams.

Rock out with Ken Coleman. Let's figure out how do we get you six figures. Let's figure out how do we get six figures in your savings, six figures in your investments. Let's figure out how when you get this home, you pay it off and you own every single thing. Don't worry about a credit score. Right now, you need to worry about manual underwriting put more money into your savings account i see you're in toledo ohio so you can get you a pretty good home right around 175 to about 300 000 get 20 of that set inside a savings account cut up your

credit cards get your income up i mean you're doing great 70 000 a year I mean, you're doing great. $70,000 a year. Fantastic. Yeah. So you're a great candidate, but don't fall into the trap that America is trying to do, bro. I'm telling you right now, you're in a great place. Listen to me. Listen to Ken. Listen to Dave. And you'll be all right. Yeah, Kyle, I'm just going to add something to what Ayo said. He's absolutely right.

You need to cut the credit card up. You're such a disciplined kid. You probably think that's okay, but it's not. It's just a temptation that you don't need. Cut it up. By the way, when you pay that off, that'll actually, that'll give you a little bit of bump in your credit score probably. So there's your little thing, but that's not what we're telling you to do it. But here's the deal. Don't also fall into the trap that I'm 24, I'm gainfully employed, making good money, so I'm throwing money away every month on rent. That is a lie. That is a total myth.

I just want to walk you through something really quick so we can get you to a place where you realize, oh, I've been buying into a myth. How much of a house do you think you want to buy? I know you've already looked into it. What price range are you thinking about? I was considering a $300,000 house just because it's really hard to get a house with a yard, and I want a yard for my dog. Yeah, I get that. But again, you're 24, man.

Slow your roll. Your dog's fine. You can go out and walk the dog. That's how you meet the ladies anyway, right, Ayo? Absolutely. It's been a long time for me. I don't know how anybody meets women anymore. But the point is, you don't need a yard for your dog.

Okay, but let's just say $300,000 is a reasonable amount of house for you. All right? Okay. Then we recommend a minimum of a 20% down payment. So do the math on that. Yeah, 10 to 20. 10 to 20. Okay, we like 20.

10 will work. Yeah. Point is that you've got time to save up more money. Absolutely. And what Ayo said is absolutely right because that puts you in a position to have even a bigger down payment, which means you keep those expenses low and you're already further down the path to paying that house off because you are a financially responsible young man.

I can hear it. So don't let that money burn a hole in your pocket. You're not wasting money by renting. Do you hear what we're saying? Yeah, absolutely. All right. Because that's a myth. So just another quick question.

Real quick. So what I'm listening in, I've heard that, like Dave said, like, hey, you're a young guy. You're probably going to move soon with your jobs and such. Yeah. So you're saying I should buy a house, not rent. And what I heard previously was like. Are you going to say, are you moving? Yeah, are you moving anytime soon?

I'm not planning on moving in five years. Okay, cool. All right, then it'll be fine. So everything we just said is still the same. Still the same. But don't get in this big hurry., cool. All right, then it'll be fine. So everything we just said is still the same. Still the same. But don't get in this big hurry. Yeah. You know, and here's the other thing.

If I'm 24, I'm single, and I could buy a $200,000 house, that's more than enough space for me. I'm not going to buy a $300,000 house, Ayo, just for a yard for my dog. For him, I'm buying actually a townhouse with a good backyard. That's what I'm doing. This way I can pay it off, save up money so when I get married, I can buy a bigger house and rent that house out. That's where I'm going. Get that double income

so now you guys can be married debt free, no house payment. That's the idea. If you've got to buy something, just buy what you need that's got some nice investment opportunity attached to it. Don't get in a hurry. Your dog doesn't care how big the yard is. Trust me. Hey, don't move.

More of your calls coming up right around the corner. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Anthony O'Neill, and we're taking your questions about money, your work, and your career, how you move up. Maybe you need to move out. Maybe you need to switch. All because you've got a goal.

You've got a very clear mountain you want to climb. AO and I are here to team up to help you. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 Find out for yourself why blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos

they run every month, you'll save even more. Use promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal rules and restrictions apply well i'm sorry i was reading this question and i like the way i like this one yeah this is all this is right down your alley today's question king comes from uh jake in missouri hey anthony because i'm the only one single when you are doing your budget what category would you put dating expenses and paying for dating apps i actually want to know the answer to this james i'm really looking forward to this or would you make that his own separate category also

ao because i'm the only one single how much money would you put in it should it be a percent of your income or just an overall dollar amount now before you answer this i've never looked forward to an answer as much as i'm looking forward to this answer to the blinds.com question of the day take it away come this is the best one in the five years i've been on this team this is the best one and by the way single people all over the world, America, they're listening and they're going, talk to me. Hey, man, listen, man. But, you know, the reason why I'm laughing is because in the single world, when you mention you're on a budget, that's actually a turnoff. It is actually a turnoff to single ladies.

Like, oh, you're cheap? No, I ain't cheap. I just have a clear budget for what we're doing. So, yes. I just have a clear budget for what we're doing. So, yes. I love it. When you are dating, you should have a line item on your budget that says dating. And, you know, there's different kind of things out there. Dating can mean multiple ladies or multiple guys.

But dating is just simply, hey, for this month, I'm going to spend X amount of dollars on going out on a date. And so for me as a single person who is dating, I do have a line item. It's not really a percentage. It's not really a certain amount. Once I cover my four walls, OK, once I cover my utilities, my housing, my transportation and my food and my mandatory bills. And then if I had debt, as long as I am eliminating my debt, then I'll set aside whatever you feel comfortable setting aside. So if that's fifty dollars for the month, great. If that's one hundred and fifty dollars for the month. Great. I wouldn't definitely do a large amount and in a large percentage. I would just definitely sit back and say, you know what? Hey, you know, I'm going to go out on a couple of dates this this this month with my young lady who I am dating or my young man who I'm dating.

And we're going to go to the movies and go out to, you know, get a nice little meal. Cool. Great. Put that on a separate line item. And for me, it's up underneath my leisure category. So I just spinning stuff. Now, these dating apps, I mean, come over to my show. I'll talk to you about the dating apps.

I don't really feel comfortable talking about dating apps on The Ramsey Show. Oh, very well. Oh, look at that. That was very political. You might as well be running for Congress. Yeah, because I can go a little bit deeper on the table with Anthony O'Neal. But I mean, anything around dating, yes, you do want to have a line item. Make sure you cover your priorities and make sure that it is not a lot, but make sure it

is comfortable to where you can enjoy yourself. You know, what occurs to me is, you know, James, Kelly, we're married, right? So dates with my wife, it's a little different than when you're single. So, Ayo, I'm wondering if this, when you're single in the single game, are you spending more on those initial dates or do you spend less and eventually ratchet it up versus like date night for us, take Stacey out to dinner

and it's just nice to get away from the kids. I mean, we're at that stage where it's like just a nice dinner. Three hours of conversation with no kids is fabulous when you've been married as long as i have and have kids you know you know i was slammed last year because i did a video and i said my first date on anyone who i go out with i would not spend no more than 50 this was what i was

wondering i like this you're kind of going we're prospecting right now i'm not going to invest a lot here yeah i'm not i mean i like this i don't want to sit here and spend 100 150 on a woman that i may not even see or want to be with the next slammed oh yeah as in what you're cheap oh yeah because ladies like 50 i mean i can't even get a steak for 50 well first off you're not gonna get a steak with me on our first date you know i mean i've been able to this is fantastic my savings accounts looks looks good now because i've been a good steward of my money. What does the lady get on a first date with you? Oh, man, what she's going to get, she's going to get my heart.

She's going to get intentionality. She's going to get creativity. So we're going to go to the park. A chicken and a salad. The kid's menu. No dessert. I'm just saying, like, she's going to see, okay, he put thought behind this date. We're going to go to a museum.

We're going to go walk in the park. I'm going to, you know, maybe cook something see, okay, he put thought behind this date. We're going to go to a museum. We're going to go walk in the park. I'm going to, you know, maybe cook something from the house and bring on a little picnic. And then we sit down and, you know, we watch the stars. She's going to see creativity. And some Tupperware, apparently. Absolutely. You know, I have no shame in my game. All right.

This is good stuff here. I think this is good. You're taking a stand, young man out there. You don't have to blow the budget on the first date is the takeaway. That's my takeaway, and this is a good point here. If you want to go deeper with A.O. on stuff like this, and he does, and it's fabulously entertaining, The Table with Anthony O'Neill now is available as a podcast. It's already wildly popular on YouTube.

Yeah, yeah. Just search The Table with Anthony O'Neill, and then again, it's wherever you listen to podcasts. And, man, he's going into this and all kinds of stuff. And let me tell you about my man. He brings it. Oh, yeah. There's no filter. Oh, yeah.

So there you go. Go check that out. All right. Speaking of the single life and recently engaged, we're going to go to Loma Linda, California, where Jan joins us. Jan, how can we help? Hi, how are you doing? Hi, Ken. Hi, Anthony.

Hey, man. How are you? Good to talk with you. What's up? Yeah, good to talk with you, too. First, I just want to say thank you. You've been a big blessing in my life. I just got introduced to both of you and Dave Ramsey and the whole team

about a month ago, and I've been listening to you all on YouTube. So it's been great. Fantastic. Second, yeah, second, I graduated from Loma Linda, actually, university with $180,000 loan as a physical therapist. Immediately after that, I got a DUI, ended up not being able to practice physical therapy. And I ended up getting a job at Yosemite National Park as a ranger. And I worked there for about five years.

Ended up coming back to the profession under probation with the board in last year, May of 2020. And so since then, I've been working like a maniac and paying off my debt. With the compound interest, it came up to $247,000. And I paid down so far about $82,000, $83,000. Good for you. Working multiple jobs. Recently got engaged about two weeks ago. Oh, yeah. Congratulations.

Thank you. Yeah, I guess I'm having – I'm really good. I'm a football and I'm good at paving, but I'm not good at budgeting. I mean, I do have a budget, a mental budget, but I'm not good at writing it. And me and my fiancée now are sitting down and listening to you guys. So, you know, she's on board, but we don't have a concrete foundation, and I just wanted to get some advice. Oh, Ayo can help you there.

How does he budget better? Yeah, man. I think for you, you have a bigger question than just budgeting. I think with you and your wife just now getting married, Jan, and I want to say congrats. I think love, true love, God-centered love trumps debt. So I want to root you on in that one and get married now i think what you and your wife have to do is sit down and and really identify what's your vision where are you going in life once you can get that clear vision and that clear

why of why you all are going this route man um i'm telling you right now it's going to help then number two you got to take debt off of the table. Both of you all need to stop borrowing money. And then number three, you all need to together join our Financial Peace University via Ramsey Plus. So what I want to do, because you just got engaged a few weeks ago, I want you to stay on the line. Kelly is going to get your information. We're going to give you a free year of Ramsey Plus, Ken and I, because we want to sow a seed into your marriage. So your main responsibility right now is sit down, get the vision and get the why for you and your new wife. Number two, take debt off of the table and immediately get inside of Ramsey Plus so you can create a solid foundation and learn how to budget, learn how to pay off a debt, learn how to start building wealth. This is The Ramsey Show.

I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague Anthony O'Neill, and we're taking your questions as we do here on the Ramsey Show, to help you get where you want to go. How many of you are in a job that you just don't know if you can bear doing it much longer? It's toxic. You've got a leadership issue above you. You just feel like you're topped out. You can't go any further.

Some of you don't even know what it is you really would like to do. You want to make more money. You want to do something that you love, but you're not quite sure, I can take those questions for you. That's what we do on the Ken Coleman Show, which is a part of the Ramsey Network. You got your money questions. You got some of those relationship questions. You're single.

You're trying to figure out some stuff there. AO handles all of those questions on the table with Anthony O'Neill, a part of the Ramsey Network as well. So we're going to talk about life in the form of money, your work, career, what you're called to do, where you want to go, relationships, goals. I'm sitting next to a guy who, man, he's all about excellence and maximizing potential. He and I are both passionate about that message. So, hey, we want to help you.

Phone lines are open. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Danielle is joining us now in Louisville, Kentucky. Danielle, how can we help? Hey, how are you guys doing? We're having a blast. What's going on with you? Awesome.

Hey, I actually spoke to you guys a few months back, but me and my husband are kind of at odds. We're finishing up Baby Step 3A and getting ready to go into Baby Step 3B. However, I had a question. Right now, we owe currently $93,000 about our current house, and we're wanting to save at least 10 to 20% down for another house with a little bit bigger yard. That's a little bit nicer for our kids. The question I have is by the time in my, in my head, by the time we save up that much money, we could have already had our house paid off and we'd end up using that money to pay off our house. Would it be better to continue doing what we're doing,

like paying the mortgage and doing all that stuff and saving for a house, or would it be better to just work on paying our house off first and then saving up for another house? How much is your house worth right now if you were to put it on the market? $130,000, it said. $130,000, and you owe $93,000 on it? Yes. Okay.

And I'm guessing that he's at odds with that. That's how you started the program, excuse me, the call as you entered the program. So why is he at odds with that, the idea of, hey, we could pay it off, and then if we sold it for $130,000, we'd have all $130,000 to use versus the 20% you're going to try to put down. What's his problem with that? I think his problem is, like, he's like, if we paid off, then we're basically using our money that we were supposed to be paying for a new house and paying our house off. And then we're going to have to start from scratch and redo everything. Like it's going to take us at least five to six years to pay,

to get the $70,000 or whatever, 20% down. But by the time we do that, that's basically all the money we can do for paying the house. And we'll be in this house a lot longer. How much of a house are you trying to purchase? Four bedroom, two baths. How much is that? It's going to be about $200,000.

Okay, $200,000. To get where we want to be, like with a nicer yard. Right now we live in the middle of town and on a big street, and it's not safe for my dog, it's not safe for my kids. Yeah, yeah. Well, what's interesting is you just identified some things that you don't like, and yet you're the one kind of going, I think it was just pay off the house. Yeah, that's where we're like, I don't know what's going on i'm getting confused he's getting confused and it's like okay

what should we do yeah uh what's y'all's household income right now uh he makes about um about 70 to 80 000 okay and are you a stay-at-home mom a year i am a stay-at-home mom? For a year. I am a stay-at-home mom. I had work during the COVID era, and then I had to stop. Okay, cool. So here's the thing that I really want you to understand. One of the key things we teach is 10% to 20% down. The reason why we teach 20% is so that you can avoid PMI, okay, private mortgage insurance. But we don't have a problem with you putting 10%. So 10% of $200,000 is right at $40,000.

And with you all making $80,000 a year, if you sell your house, and I heard you say it, as in like the app or like Zill a realtor that can come out, really appraise your house in this market and let you know, okay, this is exactly what you can get for your house. If Zillow was saying $130,000, I'm going to guess you're right around $145,000 in this market. You only need $40,000 to get to 10%. Okay. So honestly, if y'all have any more money in 3B, you may be around 15%. What you all can do, two options. You can go ahead and move into the house

with 10% to 15% to put down and work towards getting that extra 5% into your X years and refi and get out of the PMI. Or you can move into an apartment for a year, stack up some more money, then put in the 20, get the 20% down.

But the bare minimum here at Ramsey solutions, we teach 10% bare minimum, 20%. Um, it's a second ideal. Then the first idea is of course is to pay cash. But the majority of us listening, including myself are not going to pay cash for the house.

So the second one is 20% bare minimum 10. So I would definitely say, number one, reach out to a realtor, go to DaveRamsey.com, look at one of our endorsed local provider realtors, ask them to come out, give you the proper appraisal of what you can do with the house. If they come back to where you can sell it for $145, $150, after fees and everything, you have at least $40,000 put into the home, then I would say, go ahead and look into it. I mean, because you guys are already debt-free, just make sure you do not touch your baby step three, which is you have three to six months of your expenses for emergencies. But if you can use the equity to get into a bigger house for you and your family, that's

okay. Yeah. And again, I think it's good for you two to sit down just emotionally and let's just talk about this. We understand the financial piece. Let's talk about the emotional piece. Yeah, yeah. Let's just look at this and go, what do we want this house for?

What are all these reasons? And you've already listed them out. Better place for the kids. Yeah. Better bedroom situation and all that. And if you look at that and you go, again, the 10%, we can get the 10% down payment a lot faster than we can pay the 93 off. Then you need to be okay with that. Yeah.

Because it's not, there's no wrong decision here because you guys are living this out. You're walking the baby steps. So this is less about right and wrong. This is about what do we want to do and get on the same page. I don't think you guys are that far apart, doesn't sound like to me. But I think I would list out those pros and cons of the emotional why we want this. And then financially, we can get there. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in.

888-825-5225. A, I want you to weigh in on a question I got on Instagram. Bethany wrote in, I want to break out on my own and do my own thing before I turn 30, but I'm not sure yet what I want to do. I'm not sure how to figure it out. Can you give me a little advice? I just don't know what, I just know that I don't want to work for someone else for the rest of my life. So I'm going to talk about that little sentence on the back end because I think that's what's driving a lot of frustration for this young lady. Okay, the first thing is she's had a bad experience working for somebody else. Yes. She also has probably always had a little

bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. All right, so then let's go back up to the first sentence. I want to break out on my own and do my own thing before I turn 30. That's speaking to this. She's got this. She's got a vision. And so, of course, I teach, look at your talent, what you do best. Those are the premium tools. You don't want to show up and do some construction work with bad tools, A.O.

Right. So we look at what you're most talented at. Then we look at the kind of work that you've always thought about, the kind of work you love to do. That's what we call passion. And then what are the results that you want to create in the world? And a young lady like this, she's already dreamed a little bit, Ayo. Yeah.

She's thought about what I want to do. Yeah. And you've seen young kids with the stars in their eyes. Yeah. And they've got to be careful not to try to do it too soon. I'm so glad you said that, Ken. You're the career expert in this space, man. And I think oftentimes, you know, you see these young kids, they're looking at the big names out there like, oh man, I need to have my own business. Oh man, I need to be out on my own. Oh man,

I need to work for myself. Well, yeah, great. I think that's a great goal. But anyone, I would never want to work for someone or work with someone who never had to work for someone. Because if you don't know how to lead, if you don't know how to be led, if you don't know how to submit someone else's vision and learn up underneath someone else, then you will not know how to lead. You will not know how to treat your people, your team members, your staff members. So for me, I say young people, get it, learn as much as you possibly can, then follow Ken's advice and go start your own business one day. Good stuff.

He is Anthony O'Neill. I'm Ken Coleman, and I want to thank our producer, James Childs, our associate producer, Kelly Daniel. But most of all, you, America, thank you for listening. This is The Ramsey Show. 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.