The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Let Your Debt Make Your Decisions for You

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony discuss: How to handle a devastating house fire, Their favorite cheap fast food meals, best concerts, and worst bosses, How to talk to your parents about getting long-term care insurance, How to use profit from selling your home. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

5 from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show. Where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, number one best-selling author and Ramsey personality, Dr. John Deloney is my co-host today. As we answer your question about your life and your money, open phones at 888-825-5225. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create real relationships. Jacob is with us. Jacob is in Flint, Michigan. Hi, Jacob. How are you? Hello. I'm doing well. Good. How are you guys? Great, man. How can we help? Well, my wife and I are followers of your plan. We've paid off all our debt for our mortgage,

but our house burned down this last Saturday. Oh, no. Oh, man. What happened? I'm not sure yet. The fire department thinks it started in the garage. I was the only one home at the time. My wife and kids were out of town with grandparents, so I'm uninjured. You know, we're okay. We'll be doing all right.

It's just... Total loss? I think so. You know, I'm no expert, but I think it's a total replacement. I mean, we got a few things out after the fire was out, but they're all smoke-damaged, heat-damaged. Man, I've sat in people's front yard with my arm over their shoulder while we watched their house burn and the firefighters are there,

and that's a traumatic moment, man. I'm sorry that happened. I'm real sorry that happened, dude. I'm glad you're safe. Thank you, man. I'm sorry that happened. I'm real sorry that happened, dude. I'm glad you're safe. Thank you, man. I'm glad you're safe. Yeah. Whew.

Yeah, the cliché thing to say is, well, everybody's okay. Yeah, I know. Not really. You lost your home, man. All your stuff's gone, man. That's just your memories, your pictures, your things, keepsakes and valuables. I'm so sorry. Thank you.

How can we help you walk through this? Well, I guess my question is a little broad. I just, I never expected this. I hadn't really thought about it, and I want to move through this with wisdom. So, is there a Ramsey way of moving through a

house fire? Who is your homeowner's insurance with? State Auto. Okay. I don't have experience with that particular brand one way or the other. You don't have to be unkind, but you're going to have to be very, very tough. Okay.

Because the adjuster's job is to minimize the size of the claim, and he or she works for the insurance company, not for you. Okay. You may have to involve a lawyer to get proper payout. You could also involve what's called a public adjuster, meaning you hire an adjuster on your side of the negotiation that walks you through every one of the details and they'll, they'll cost a lot, but they usually make you more than they cost you if they're good at

what they do. Um, if you smell trouble immediately run to one of those two. Okay. But don't start with the naive thing that the insurance company loves you and they want to take care of you. None of that is true. Right. And do you have, um, most homeowners policies have, you know, if it's a total loss, then it's going to be X number of dollars to replace the home. And then there's going to be some money to give you a place to live while you're waiting. Right. Do you have, have you gone through your policy to find out where you stand yes yeah i saw our limit for uh structure and then our limit for contents and then we've got some covering housing okay okay well immediately get your housing done get the family you know uh emotionally solid in a place to live where we're not living in a hotel room as quick

as you can because you're going to be here a while um then the second thing i would tell you to do just from this is just from experience it's not necessarily a ramsey thing it's just having again like john having walked through this with other people um start making everybody in the family start making lots and lots and lots of lists of everything you can think of that was in that house. Lots of lists. And you're never done making this list. You just keep making it. And you don't let them rush you to settlement unless it's at the max that you're going to get anyway.

If they want to write you checks for the max on the house and on the contents, well, you don't have to do a lot of lists. They're just going to get anyway if they want to write you checks for the max on the house and on the contents well you don't have to do a lot of lists they're just going to write they're good they just said okay we're going to cover it but usually you've got to create some kind of proof and then they want to argue about every freaking little item on that list as to how much it's depreciated and all of this and so i wish i could give you good news and say this was going to be an easy thing. No, there's two different sets of trauma that's happened here. One is the fire and all the emotions that go with that and the loss. And then there's another set of trauma, and that's going to be dealing with the insurance company.

I wish I could tell you it wasn't going to be that. If it's not, then you've found the best insurance company on the planet. But I can tell you the vast majority of them are an absolute pain in the butt to go through this process with. And so you've got to take control of the narrative, take control of the discussion by constantly pushing constantly raising constantly moving the timeline along uh and and you know well we're going to use our uh you know contractor well maybe we're not that's right there's nothing in the policy that says we're going to use your contractor uh so maybe we're going to use my contractor and so i'm going to control the narrative i'm going to control the discussion and the decisions i'm not going to assume

um i mean i don't want you to be mean to them again but but you need to be tough you have to be tough you have to be really really strong um if you need to be mean you can but uh but at first you just need to be really really strong and don't make the assumption that just because they're nice or just because they're kind or they speak slow or low, which they're trained to do, that that's going to immediately mean you don't come up $100,000 short when this is all over of what you should have gotten because you didn't lean into the details in the process. This is going to sound like I'm being cliche here, and so I would tell you this if you and I were just hanging out and I didn't work here. I've heard of one time that somebody had a disaster. It was during the tornadoes in Nashville a couple years ago,

and my buddy had just switched his homeowner's insurance to Zander, and he lost everything, and he said it was an extraordinary experience. It was from start to finish. They took care of him, and we had dinner in his brand new. They rebuilt the house from the floor up, dug the whole thing out. And he said it was a start to finish. It was a great experience. But Zander wasn't the insurance company.

Zander was the broker. They were the broker. And they stepped in and also fought on his behalf. You got somebody in your corner when you got a broker like that they and they you know again they do that because of our relationship yeah and so that's really incredible that makes a lot of difference but in most cases you know you're on your own kitchen table yeah yeah you're just trying to make lists and you're trying to figure this out and you're trying to consider the legalities and everything else. And so don't, you know, and I would just readily, you know, keep bringing up to the adjuster. Look, if we can't come to a

reasonable process on this, then we're going to have to involve an attorney or we're going to have to involve a public adjuster. If I, if you and I can't manage this project to get to a reasonable result, then I'm going to have to bring in outside people to push you around if you and I can't work this. And so you just very calmly just stay in their grill the whole time. It's going to be two years. It's going to be a two-year process. Sorry about that. Sorry about that.

If we can help any way, you holler at us. This is The Ramsey Show. never been a better time to find a job doing work you love that matters to you. That's why I can't wait to tell you about the exciting roles open here at Ramsey Solutions. And these aren't your average jobs. These are life-changing jobs that matter. You might think we're just a radio show out in the middle of sticks in nowhere Tennessee, but we're so much more. Our creative team is over 120 people. Our marketing team has over 100 team members. And our product engineering team is over 250 strong. With over 1,000 people on the entire Ramsey team, we are breaking into new products and ways of delivering hope to the masses.

Digital products are the future. So, in order to help more people with these digital tools, we need more talented team members to join us, especially developers, UX designers, and writers. You could be a great fit. So come do work that matters with us. Find all of the open roles at ramsaysolutions.com slash careers. That's personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225 appreciate you being here well john last time we played your uh questions for humans conversation cards uh you found out uh my favorite tv show is downton abbey not true and uh that there was a murder in my family

and uh so these cards are selling i'm proud of them yeah they're selling like crazy man it's a lot of fun people are uh having the it gives them an opportunity an entrance into a conversation which they may have not had in a couple years so it's good so um we pulled some other cards out of here out of the friends deck here okay all right so um let's see here what's the what's your favorite cheat meal that you'll always love no matter how much money you make hmm cheat meal that'd probably be chocolate donuts i guess but oh that's not a meat. That's not a meal. That's not a meal.

Only Dave Ramsey would say that's not a meal. No. Pizza, I guess. Pizza? Yeah, we still pizza. From a certain place? Nah, just pizza. Mine is, I kept hearing about it over and over, day after day. And finally, one night, Sheila was out of town.

I got up in the car. I drove by myself. This was years ago. To a local Taco Bell. And I said, one Dorito taco, please. up in the car, I drove by myself, this was years ago, to a local Taco Bell, and I said, one Dorito taco, please. Taco Bell? Listen, man, I took one bite of the Dorito taco, and I thought, America's

going to be okay. That's just gross. If we came up with this, we're going to make it. Your belly is glowing. Oh, yeah, oh, dude. It's radioactive crap. It's not good for you, but I'm telling you. No, it's not only not good for you, it's bad for you. All right, what's the best concert you've ever been to and why?

Well, I mean, I've been to like five Eagles concerts, including Hotel California just the other day. How was that? It's good. I mean, the boys are getting older. I mean, Vince can still sing, and they don't miss a lick on a guitar. I mean, Joe Walsh may be one of the best guitarers in the world. He can jam.

So can Vince, man. And Vince right there with him. But their vocals are aging out a little. They were really, really good, though. They're 90% there still. And Vince is 100% there. He's better Glenn Fry than than glenn fry was probably all right and uh who's the worst boss you ever had and why

i guess the guy that came in and told me to effing get my effing desk cleaned out and get the effing out of there and i still don't know why i got fired it still haunts you yeah you just driving along he died so i don't even i'll never know why i got fired i don't i probably deserve to get fired i just don't know what i did i still to this day don't um but that would drive me crazy yeah i would need that closure i'm not insecure that that well i mean it i would want to know like what i do a long time ago it's 40 years ago but you know but uh so consequently people that work at ramsey always know why they got fired very clear there's never any doubt as to what happened you know we're

you may not like it you may not agree with it but you will know and you're also not going to be surprised yeah i was surprised i didn't see it coming uh you know and so there's that that goes with it too so yeah that that has to be the worst boss, right? Yeah. What about you? What about your worst boss? That's tough to answer in front of all these people. I'm just kidding.

They might be listening. Mine has the benefit of being dead. Yeah, yours is dead. You can say whatever you want. Gosh, I'll tell you this. This sounds so cheesy. I have been so fortunate to have some of the greatest supervisors ever. There's one that...

Get him a Dorito taco. No, we don't need that kind of digestive issues on the radio. No, we don't need those digestive issues. There was one supervisor I had that had some significant integrity issues that ultimately that person left. And so I ended up staying, but that person left. and so i ended up staying but that person left and that was that was tough for me as a young professional it it uh was a baptism by fire like you know i i've had that happen when i've worked at places but even more so even while i've owned

the place that um that someone leaves and uh as a leader i've told leaders this i've taught this in entree leadership that someone leaves and you go okay leader i've told leaders this i've taught this in entree leadership that someone leaves and you go okay this person enough already yeah this is we've tried everything we've negotiated about this we've tried to correct the behavior and but you're worried because they're real popular with the gang and the gang doesn't know the whole story yeah and so when you eject them you think you're going to get a rebellion, right? And when you hit eject. But what I've discovered happens is that the gang does know. Yeah. And you have what I call the Wizard of Oz syndrome, where that scene in the Wizard of

Oz where Dorothy throws the water on the Wicked Witch towards the end. Oh, yeah. In the old original Wizard of Oz, right? And it's like, what a world, what a world. And she melts and goes through a trap door on the floor, and there's her thing. And then the Oompa Loompa guys are standing around, the little poodle-looking guys, right, with their curvy knives. And they're like the, oh, oh, oh, guys, right?

And you think they're going to turn these knives on Dorothy because she just killed their boss. And there's this pregnant pause in the movie, like a three-beat. And it's like, oh, no, they're going to turn. This is Dorothy's toast right here. And then they all drop to one knee and go all hail dorothy that's right and that's what they do to the leader who removes toxic stuff from the organization they say thank you so much the team goes all hail the leader it's actually a leader he actually she actually knew what the flip was going on so yeah that's a it's a very valuable leadership lesson to remember that you might have a wizard of oz moment when you remove the uh toxic tina from the organization toxic tina so uh or whoever it is or toxic tony

it could be i don't know either way it has to be somebody with a t because we have to alliterate so questions for human cards are on sale they're part of the $10 sale at Ramsey right now. Go to RamseySolutions.com. There's a lot of stuff, a lot of our best-selling books, et cetera, on sale for the unbelievable price of $10. Lots of number one best-selling books. The questions for human cards there. Check it all out.

It's absolutely the best time to get a deal. And if you haven't heard, you can enter the ramsey cash giveaway for a chance to win up to three thousand dollars no purchase necessary must be 18 or older to win to enter the giveaway go to ramsey solutions.com slash giveaway anna is in pittsburgh hi anna welcome to the ramsey show hi dave hi don Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Okay. So I am currently teaching FPU at my church and this week's lesson was on insurance. So it really got me thinking about my parents and they do not have long-term care insurance. And I've talked to them about it a couple of times before. They just don't really seem to be interested so i just want some advice on

what to do i just want to make sure they're protected and that i'm protected as well well you're not in jeopardy unless she's the one that's going to have to take care of well if she chooses not to write the check she's not in jeopardy yeah so you know you're there's no law that says that you have to write the check for the nursing home if they don't do what they're supposed to do so they'll just have to work it out but uh uh so you're you're you're technically not in jeopardy now uh and and if someone refuses your advice on getting the proper coverage and then later on wants your money instead um i think they're disqualified at that point so um but uh you know

so how do you convince mom and dad to do anything it's almost impossible you really can't and because you've heard me say it before and i it's the powdered butt syndrome once someone has powdered your butt they don't want your advice on money or sex and so your parents just aren't going to listen to you about these things it's weird i i had this conversation with my parents here's how i approached it i said i want to know what y'all's plan is and what is the plan for if something was to happen to one of you and this was a broader like hey let's talk about the will let's talk about what is the plan if something happens and that um i've got great parents and wise parents and

they that sparked a conversation of uh we need to come up with a x y and z plan which they got us long-term care insurance i think for christmas they they got it and then told all of us as their kids like hey this is really expensive so merry christmas y'all aren't gonna have to have they got it for themselves for themselves as a christmas present to you yeah to us so you don't have to deal with it They got it for themselves. For themselves. As a Christmas present to you. To us. So you don't have to deal with it. Hey, Mom and Dad, you want to give me a Christmas present? That'd be one way to approach it.

There you go. Have some... And I had the exact same experience. I had a relative that actually came and asked my advice, and I told them all the reasons that they needed to get long-term care insurance. They didn't do it. 18 months later the wife was diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's and they didn't have the coverage

and you can't get the coverage then it's like getting you can't get you know car insurance after car wreck it's not possible so uh i would just begin to talk to them about just say i'm concerned i love you but you can't make them it, and you're going to be really disappointed in your life if you keep trying to get people to do stuff they don't want to do. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Elizabeth is with us. She is in Sacramento. Hi, Elizabeth. I see on my screen you're completely debt-free.

Way to go. Yes, I am, and it is so incredible, exciting. I love knowing when I go to the store and I spend money, it is mine. Love it, love it. No repayments. Yep, me too. How much do you pay off? $65,000. Cool. How long did this take you five years good for you and your range of income during that time

well when i finally got serious about getting out of debt it started 11.86 then and i finished it that just got a promotion last month and not $50,000 a year. Good for you. Wow, good for you. That's amazing. So what do you do? I work at a hotel. Now I'm a supervisor. Cool, good for you. Supervising what?

Supervising the front staff, assisting guests with any opportunities they may have at the hotel. Great, very cool. And what kind of debt was the $65,000? It was a combination of $25,500 in student loans, $10,000 to the federal government, and $29,500 between two credit cards. Wow. Way to go. How old are you?

I am 44. So what happened when you were 39 that was your wake-up call? Ugly divorce and custody issues and not being able to provide for myself and my son and just getting myself more and more debt with credit cards to make ends meet. I was sick and tired of myself more and more debt with credit cards to make ends meet. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I ended up having to let go of my fully furnished two-bedroom apartment because I just couldn't afford the rent increases. What was originally $1,100 went to $1,800, you know, within a year. And that's just ridiculous. So, you know, it's hard to tell my

son, I'm sorry. I can't do that for you, baby. I can't afford that. I'm sorry. And I just didn't want my debt to make choices for me anymore. So I let go of my two-bedroom apartment, moved in with a Christian family and friends as a sublet, put everything I had in a 10 by 10 storage unit and started selling it all. I'm glad my son didn't think he was next. My jewelry, all my furniture, everything, it's now down to like a five by 10 storage unit and I'm still selling stuff. I took jobs over time. In fact, I volunteered to work the graveyard shift because it initially paid more an hour. Been with the same company six years, and I took advantage of every free thing that they offered as their team members and employees, and I love my company because

they have been a huge part of that journey. That's cool. As well as my accountability partners and making a budget. That is just too crucial, the accountability and the budget. How'd you run into the Ramsey stuff? I had first heard about it actually from my ex-husband. Let's see, about 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And our portion of the medical cost ended up being like $40,000. And that was a huge amount of money for us. And we were already in debt. And we're like, well, we need to do something different because what we're doing is just not working we're just getting into more holes so we bought the dvds and did the classes at home and just as we were digging

ourselves out of the out of the credit cards then we got a divorce And so I dug myself back into more credit cards and more debt with the divorce costs and everything. And, you know, I ended up taking FPU twice through my church. And with this third time of being sick and tired of being sick and tired, I was like, I'm going to stop being Dave-ish and be gazelle intense. I want to slay the dragon of my debt. And it sounds like in the process, you just hit control alt delete on your whole life. Everything was turned around, but they've been some of the best worst experiences of my life. And I will never go back to credit cards, lending, borrowing money, nothing. What was it like? I can't think of an industry. I mean, there's so many that were hit hard in the last couple of years, but one of the hardest hit was the hotel industry. What was the stress like trying to keep this thing going? So while our industry, we did put pause for six weeks during the pandemic,

that had already started my $1,000 step one emergency fund. And knowing that I had that in my back pocket, and I was already halfway through my debt journey, that was just, I was sailing through it. I was like, I'm going to take the time and just relax and enjoy and not work for six weeks. And get back after that yeah we reopened and i mean we're still having issues as a hotel with staffing and you know we try and keep everything super clean the guests may not always understand that pre pre and post pandemic

expectations can't you know they're different right but uh well good for you i'm so i'm so there's a few fewer harder things than a single mom who says all right i gotta i just gotta do this all over and i gotta start with myself and i gotta make this thing happen and you did and it's it's just it's inspiring it's incredible very well done we're proud of you good job elizabeth me, too. Thank you. Thank you. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Make a plan.

I recommend the Ramsey step, but if they want to follow something else, just find something that works for you. Make a plan. Get an accountability partner and budget. And then if you can, cut that budget. And then if you can cut that budget, I, I had, you know, my bare minimum budget. And then I was like, because I don't drive for medical reasons, I was like, I can't afford to lift an Uber. So I cut my lift an Uber out of my life. I started walking more, taking public transit. And I, with my County partner figured out that i can pay my friends hey how'd you like to make some extra money driving me around town and so thankfully when the bus is not available and i can't walk home with two bricks with the groceries they uh they graciously pick me up

and lyft and uber is now a distant third option convenient option but you know it's not my first choice yeah that's powerful yeah dude you get creative when you want out and you got to work it and you worked it oh yeah very very well done hey we got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you that's the next chapter in your story you are on your way you have uh turned the corner for sure you've climbed your way up out of the valley and uh you are heading across the top of the mountain. Well done. Also a copy of Total Money Makeover. You can give it away to somebody there in the hotel

or some friend that's been helping you with driving around. Maybe you can start a holy ruckus in their life. That would be good stuff. Oh, I've already done that. I've had, like, several copies with your $10 sales, and I hand them out like candy. First taste is free. Well, thank you.

Thank you very, very much. Very well done. All right, it's Elizabeth in Sacramento. $65,000 paid off in five years, making $11.86 all the way to $50,000 a year. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free scream three two one i'm dead free yeah just in case you're sitting there making eighty two thousand dollars a year with two car

payments whining that you can't figure out a way to do this along comes elizabeth and mike drops on your head right or you're living in some giant metropolitan city and you think that the world should bring the rent down for you because you deserve to live in this town along comes elizabeth and says i'll take the night shift and i can't live in the 1800s so i'm moving down to the i'm moving moving out i'll live in this other place i'll put all my stuff in a box and sell it good for her just because i'm in sacramento i don't get a pass on math i'm gonna do what it takes it's it's a it's a different there's something about people when they get up above a problem and stand on it rather than laying under it yes and it's victor versus victim and we all

can do both yeah we all have a tendency to both. Yeah. But it is a conscious decision to get above it and go, no, not today problem. Today I own you. Big brain tumor, ugly divorce, single mom, making 11 bucks to I'm turning this whole thing around. It's never too late to start over. And I got friends and I got a great place to work, taking care of me. Game on.

And family helping me. That's right. And a Christian family in my church taking me in. Let's go. Letting me sublet. Oh, my gosh. Let's do it. People all around are helping her.

That's right. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Caitlin is with us on the line. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Caitlin's in Washington, 5. Dr. John Deloney Ramsey personality is my cohost today. Caitlin's in Washington, DC. Hi, Caitlin.

How are you? Hey, good. Thank you for helping me out with my question. Sure. How can we help? Okay. So,

my husband and I just recently relocated from his job. Um, we moved from our, my dream house in our dream location to, um, this area to um this area to this area so why why did you leave why did you all destroy your dream it it's um just for his first job it's better it's better it's a better job so okay anyway so how can we help it was good that was good and it's not that bad it really isn't um

it's growing on me but so my question is um we're going to close on our home we're selling um at the end of this month we um are selling it for 925 and we bought it for 569 um We owed around $228,000 on it. So when all is said and done, we should make about $680,000. Here, we have purchased a townhome, which is much smaller. It's really nice, but it's not, you know, our forever home. So my question is, when we do get that money, should we pay off the townhome? We would then become totally debt-free. We owe about, okay. Okay. We owe about $311,000 on this now to pay that off.

And then our hope is to build. We're not sure where. We kind of want to see where we're going to be at. So we just want to make the right decision and then possibly keep this um and then maybe rent it out in the future only if you can build with cash and keep that with cash okay if you have to sell that to keep from taking out a mortgage then you will sell it then you will sell it okay okay but um but i'm going to go ahead and pay it off now you've got the peace and the stability of no debt you've got this

tremendous cash flow with this wonderful new job and you're going to use all of it to pile up cash in addition to what you've got left over from the sale of the dream home back at the other location and all of that is moving towards building another dream home another home that you guys adore and love and hopefully between the sale of the townhouse and the cash that you save and have saved from the other house you can pay cash for the new house if you can do that and keep the paid for townhouse as a rental fine but again we're not going to keep the townhouse and then go borrow money on your new place because that's in effect borrowing money to buy rental property and we're not doing that right so that's your plan congratulations what a big windfall it's

that's great man one the bad news is you sold your dream house. The good news is you made bank on it. We're rich. That's awesome. That's awesome. Serious. Well done. Zach is in Minnesota. Hi, Zach. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Thanks. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? So I am about to start a new career in real estate, and my wife and I are following your baby steps. Finally, after knowing them for so long and we're finally getting the valentine's on them. My question is, because real estate is commission only, should we build up our three to six months of emergency fund before we really delve into the debt snowball no but what you

should do is you should build an account not that you don't call an emergency fund but that you use to supplement your lack of income that's different than an emergency that's planning a career transition and when i was in the real estate business sometimes i had a month where i made zero and i might make 20 000 bucks the next month and so we always kept a separate fund from our emergency fund that we had a horrible name for it it was called the hill and valley fund when we were on the hill we set some money back so when there was a valley in other words if you were charting your income and you saw hills and valleys the hill and valley funds smoothed them out does that make

sense yeah absolutely now here's the trick six months in you should not need this at all you should be making more than you used to make total and you should never look back but but in your first six months your income is going to be at best volatile at worst non-existent now is your wife work outside the home she does she uh is working at a large department store while she is finishing her master's degree. What is it you all are going to live on? We are, well, that's why I'm asking if we should have kind of some money stockpiled up, because she's making about $2,800 a month before taxes.

Can you live on that? And so, yeah, we can live on that. Okay. If you can live on her income, then you don't have to have a lot stockpiled. And here's the – maybe I'm reading into this, man, but if you can't afford six months of making zero salary, it might be that you need to pause on taking a 100% commission job if y'all can't afford six months of making zero salary it might be the need to pause on taking a hundred percent commission job if y'all can't eat or you're gonna have to work on this job and get

after it all day and then go find something and at night and drive so that y'all have some food yeah you know what i mean 2800 if you guys can break even on that then you don't need a fund okay if she can make enough you can live on your wife's income till you get your real estate business going there's no i mean it's just you just have to do that you can't go up and go well we ran up thirty thousand dollars in credit card debt while i started my real estate no no that would be stupid we're not using the credit cards anymore yeah but i mean you that's what people do and that's why i'm saying it out loud so So, yeah, we don't want to go that route. So you only need as big a fund as her income won't cover for six months, and that's as big a fund as you need.

But it's not really an emergency fund. It's a plan to transition. And so an emergency is an unexpected event. This is expected. We're expecting this. We can predict it. And then get out there and kick butt and take names, and let's go make a bunch of money in the real estate business.

So being straight commission in and of itself does not require you have an extra fund. It might lean you towards the six-month side in that three to six months spectrum. But, you know, if you're straight commission and you make three hundred thousand dollars a year and you used to make forty thousand dollars a year you don't have a problem yeah you know and so the the fact that something is commissioned isn't the issue sometimes if something's commissioned and it means you don't make any money it's not making money that's the issue not the commissions so um being self-employed is not the issue the issue is being self-employed not making any money so that that's that's what comes up in people in these situations

open phones at 888-825-5225 dr john deloney's new book own your past change your future last week was number one in the nation in um on all the bestseller lists that matter. And pretty cool. So thank you, guys. We appreciate you in America. The book is a not-so-complicated approach to relationships, mental health, and wellness. It has done very, very well. It's continuing to sell very fast in a world where we need to have some framework for coping with the things we have gone

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belt for your career, tools in your belt for your money, tools in your belt for your relationships and your mental wellness. And that's what we do here at Ramsey. And we do it here on The Ramsey Show. Phone number is 888-825-5225 if you want to participate. I am Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back. Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.