The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Underestimate Momentum! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions and broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out. Have a conversation about life and money. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by Anthony O'Neill, taking you through this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show.

888-825-5225. 888-825- 5225. 888-825- 5225. So excited to have you with us. If you're wondering, should I call? You know, I'm a little nervous. I don't know. Trust me. You're in good hands. Everybody else

is out there trying to get after it and get ahead as well. If a phone call is what's standing between you and Breakthrough, give us a chance. Trust us, Anthony. We're going to help you. We're going to walk you through it. There is a clear path, and we're excited to do it. You doing well? I'm doing very well, man. I'm excited about some things coming up, man. So we're doing good. All right. Well, let's talk about that. So what's the latest thing? I see the latest

couple episodes on YouTube. Five things you need to do in your 20s and 30s. I wish that you had done that episode for me. But there wasn't a thing called YouTube, unfortunately, as I show my age in my 20s and 30s. So, I mean, you've got some killer stuff that you're doing. Yeah. I mean, I'm really excited about that. If you have any millennials or if you're in your millennial age bracket of 20s, text 20 things to three, three, seven, eight, nine, 20 things to three, three, seven, eight, nine. And I just really go through 20 things that everyone in their 20s and 30s need to be doing. But I definitely tell you, man, I'm really excited about next week.

Next Wednesday, I'm going to be joining Gary Vee to teach young people, not just young people, actually all people, with this whole pandemic things, how you can make money from home and how you can be a steward of it, how you can launch a business. So we've partnered with Teachable, and they're going to bring me on and me, Gary Vee, and another person on the keynote speakers. And so I'm excited about that. You should be. I really am.

He's a blast. The energy between the two of you is going to be combustible. He's first. He's first. I'm am. He's a blast. The energy between the two of you is going to be combustible. He's first. He's first. I'm second. I'm going to try and come with better energy than Gary V. Here's the thing. He curses.

I don't. All right. All right. So I'm going to come there correct. All right. And so if they want to go and be a part of that, I would love for a Dave Ramsey tribe to come be a part of that. How can they do that?

They can go to teachable.com, then forward slash Anthony. Okay, I like that. Teachable.com forward slash Anthony, so that way they can get a discount off of the price. So much going on over at anthonyoneal.com. There's a student loan payoff calculator. This is huge. He's helping you not to live with your student loans for 20 years. Of course, his number one bestselling book, The Debt-Free Degree,

the step-by-step guide to getting your kid through college without student loans. If you have a young person in your life, grandparent, parent, uncle, aunt, make sure they're checking Anthony out on YouTube. Just search Anthony O'Neill. He's got a great tribe over there and tremendous, tremendous community and feedback there. So you want your kids hanging out in a good place online? Trust me.

As a dad, I'm telling you, anthonyoneal.com. All right, to the phones we go. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Randy joins us in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Randy, how can we help? Hi, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. Here's the thing. My wife and I are debt-free beside our house, and we're doing pretty well. But the plan was in springtime to buy a new camper, and we were looking to spend $16,000 to $20,000. And right now we have a fully, like, emergency fund. We keep around $10,000 in our savings. And I have another seven-year mark for a camper, plus I just sold my other for two. So right now I got $19,000 to my name in just our savings. And I'm looking at, I found a, what am I trying to say,

a real estate, an estate auction that's selling one, the exact one I'm looking for. And if I could bid on it and get it for anything less than $16,000, $17,000, it would be a smoking deal on it. I think it's probably worth $20 worth 20 any day of the week. But would I be wrong to dip into my savings and go stick at 16? Yes. Yes, you're going to have to finish asking the question.

Yes. You're asking me, you're asking Ken and I, is it wise to put my family at jeopardy so I can have a real nice camper that you probably will use every blue moon? And especially after the pandemic, Randy, we we we have all learned that a crisis can happen without us even seeing it coming. And so I'm not going to tell you to use some of your emergency fund, actually all of it, to go buy a camper. I'm actually going to tell you something

you're probably not going to like, Randy. I'm going to say I think you need to get your emergency fund up a little bit more because it sounds like $10,000 is right at about, how much is your mortgage payment? About $1,200. Okay, so you're looking at about $2,400, $10,000 is right at about, how much is your mortgage payment? About $1,200 a month. Okay, so you're looking at about $2,400, $3,500.

Do you have any kids? Three. You have three kids. Okay. And so I'm saying I want you to get your emergency fund up to about $20,000. And then after that, go ahead and start setting aside money to buy the camper if that's what you want to do. I know you're saying you can find a great deal, but let me tell you this much.

You can find a great deal next year as well. Yeah, this is tough. I think Anthony's absolutely spot on here. You know what this is? And I've been there before. You have too. Yeah. He's not there.

He knows he's not there. Right. He just called for confirmation on that because he saw the screaming deal. This particular auction, it's got the one that's perfect. He's going, if I don't get it now, you nailed it. I'm not going to get it later.

The answer is he can get it later and he needs to get it later. Here's the truth. He might get a better deal later. I think patience is key to building true wealth and to building true success. Oftentimes we see people rush into something because that looked like a good deal today when that dream eventually turned into a nightmare. And if you walk into it, you shouldn't have to call us and ask us if you're doing the

right thing, because if you just follow what we teach, you're already going to know this is the right thing or the wrong thing. And look, they've been disciplined. They've been disciplined to have no debt except their home. He's not delaying it that much longer, but I was wondering the same thing when he said the $10,000 emergency fund. I think that's a little low, and just given the times that we're in, why not juice that a little bit, especially with multiple kids? I got three kids three kids let me tell you something these kids are like walking emergencies okay i mean you know it's like it's like we're in that middle school high school i've got a sixth

grader a seventh grader and a ninth grader and you know what i'm talking about you deal with young people all the time i am one phone call away from an emergency every second of the day you don't know what they're gonna do so i thought that was good advice did you just call your kids walking emergencies i'm calling every kid a walking emergency i don't think if there's any parent that disagrees with that then i don't know what kind of kids you got they may be robots but i'm telling you when you have kids you are dancing with the emergency every day. Isn't that fair? I think every parent watching right now is going, well, he's right about that.

Well, people out there in the lobby are shaking that. Yeah, you're right. Parents, am I right? You got kids. It's like you're doing a tango with emergency every day. So that was really good. I think that's right. Hey, listen, here's the deal, man.

Randy, there will be other campers. There will be some great camping trips when you don't have to worry about any emergency. Really good stuff there. Thanks for the call. All right, this is the Dave Ramsey Show. Don't go anywhere. More of your calls coming up. We'll be right back. costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy.

Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback, but thanks to Christian Healthcare Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the longest-serving health cost-sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau-accredited charity. It's Christians helping other Christians, and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis.

To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org., visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by Anthony O'Neill this hour as we take you through your life questions. What do you need some advice on?

Need some money advice? Need some career advice? Need some relationship advice? Need some advice on those kiddos? Hey, we're here for you this hour, 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. We don't just want to take your calls.

We also want to get your feedback. We really, really enjoy the input from the listeners of The Dave Ramsey Show. And we have launched a brand-new show survey that we really value your feedback on. If you'd like to give us your feedback, check it out at DaveRamsey.com slash survey. That's DaveRamsey.com slash survey. It only takes a few minutes, and there's a $100 Amazon gift card up for grabs. Anthony, you and I are not qualified for it, so I know how much you love the Amazon gift card. Yeah, wait, wait, wait.

I took the survey. Oh, you already did? Yeah, I took the survey. Oh, all right. We'll see what happens. Maybe you, wait. I took the survey. Oh, you already did? Yeah, I took the survey. Oh, all right. We'll see what happens. Maybe you win it. I complain about you. That's good.

So text the word survey to 33789. Text the word survey to 33789 or visit DaveRamsey.com slash survey. That's DaveRamsey.com slash survey. That's DaveRamsey.com slash survey. Again, text survey to 33789 or visit DaveRamsey.com slash survey. 888-825-5225 is the number. Let's go to Kansas City, Missouri. Rob is there. Rob, how can we help?

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. I found Dave in January of this year, and I've been listening ever since. I really dove in last month into re-evaluating my being financially wise. I sold my beloved car, and I'm trying to crush my debt. So I'm stuck in phase two for right now, or stage two for right now, and my question is about the debt snowball. So I have two small credit accounts that have zero free interest for a certain period of time, and then I have a large credit card that, of course, does not. I'm trying to understand why I

shouldn't just calculate how much I need to pay in order to get the zero interest paid off on time and still make payments towards my larger credit card, thus reducing that balance as opposed to just paying them off right away because they're the smaller of the three debts. I mean, that's a great question. You know, how much debt are you in right now? So I almost cut my debt in half last month by selling my car. Okay. And that was a tough one, but I'm trying to follow the program as closely as I can. Right now, I have a $22,000 credit card, which is not interest-free. I have a $5,500 credit card, which is for windows that I put in my home, and an $850 credit card that is 0% interest.

It's for a refrigerator that I bought. Okay, so cool. So you're, so you got $850, $5,500, then a $22,000 balance on the credit card? Yes. Okay, cool. What's your gross income right now? So my gross income is $84,000. Okay. And what do you see monthly um you mean after i yes pay out

everything what do i have left no your net pay what's your net pay monthly so right now my my net pay is roughly uh forty two hundred dollars a month right. So listen, here's the thing. We don't have a math problem here, Rob. And I get it. You want to attack the highest interest rate. The highest interest rate from what it sounds like is on a $22,000 one, right? Yes, correct. Yeah, correct. So with your income right now, what's your rent and your mortgage right now now my mortgage is $1,200 a month okay $1,200 a month all right so bet and you don't have any car notes nothing else you just have $1,200 in mortgage your normally bills plus these three different credit cards let me tell you why you will win here because with your

income if you really get on a strict budget, the $850 should have already been paid off yesterday with your income. Then the $5,500 should be paid off within the next month, month and a half. Now you're at the highest interest rate, one of $22,000. You could put all of your resources, all of your energy onto that one thing. My thing is, why would you want to start at the very top and have these two small things lingering around it? You can go ahead and knock out now and put all of your resources onto this one $22,000 credit card. But I got to ask this

question. What did you put on here for $22,000? All kinds of things. So I used to have the mindset that as long as I had enough money to pay all my bills and have a few hundred dollars left every month, then I was financially responsible. Dave's kind of made me reevaluate that thinking. And while I haven't been affected by the pandemic, I don't want to be one of those folks that are in the future. So I'm trying to change my thinking. So were you one of the guys that are in the future. So I'm trying to change my thinking. So were you one of the guys that just say, you know, I'm going to put everything on this credit card and then just pay it off, you know, monthly or something like that? Yeah. Yeah. And as long as it's still in my budget and I still have money left over, I thought I was doing the right thing, which I obviously wasn't. Rob, what's the payment that you make on the 850?

Well, so last month it was seventeen1,700, and I paid $850,000. And that's kind of where the struggle comes in because I got paid today. I have enough to pay off the $850,000, but I'm wondering why I shouldn't just put the minimum payments down and start going after that bigger one. Well, because it's all about momentum. Yes. Because Dave's baby steps are about momentum.

The reason Dave teaches the debt snowball and Anthony teaches the debt snowball is because it's momentum. And I understand you're trying to say, well, I got this higher interest rate on this bigger thing. But guess what? You can pay off the $850 today. So whatever you were paying into that, you were really taking big chunks out of it. So you're basically paying $850. Am I correct? Yes. So hold on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no850,000. Am I correct? Yeah.

So hold on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah, right. Stop trying to argue, man. Listen, so now if you've been paying $850,000 on that smallest one, which got it to $850,000, now that $850,000 goes to the $5,500,000, and that's what Anthony's talking about. That's how you quickly blow through the $5,500,500. Then the amount of money you've been paying on the $5,500 plus the $850, it's just a snowball. And I know you're new, and I'm encouraging you. I'm not correcting you. I just want you to hear that what Anthony's telling you is about momentum.

It's going to take you so much longer to attack the $22. Go ahead and get the others out of the way. You've got some juice. You've got momentum. You've got some juice. You've got momentum. You've got compound debt payments, if you will, and that's why. So just do it the way that we teach it. There's no shortcut here. There's no.

There's zero, and it frustrates me a little bit when people try to find a shortcut because if you really step back and look at it, all right, let's say they take the next three months. So for three months, I'm going to pay this $22,000 plus these minimum payments over here, or you can flip it. All right. Next three months, I'm going to pay off the minimum on all of them. I'm going to pay off this one and this one over the next month and a half. Then next month and a half, I'm just focused on this big one. Why carry this debt out when you can knock out more now you get the momentum you see you have clear vision of where you're going and so man but ken did you hear him say it though

he said it i started off with the 22 000 on the credit card because i just thought i'd get it and pay it off every month and it ended up being 22 000 yeah just stacks up and then you know and by the way that's very interesting you bring that up because i think there's a psychological thing to that too yeah it's not just his math his math brain is going wait a second i've got a higher interest rate right on the 22 so essentially i've got this negative effect it's a greater negative effect on the higher interest rate on the larger debt. And I get the logic, right? I get the logic. However, momentum is huge to digging out of this pile.

That's what Dave figured out on his own journey, and now millions of people have as well. But you bring up a very good point that there's also a lot of guilt attached to that 22. Because he's just now caught on to Dave's message, and he's going, when you asked him, it's like a reminder. You know, well, it was a lot of stuff Anthony I did this and then I went out and did this and so part of it is just a lot of guilt we want to knock out that guilt oh it's such a big

nasty monster I want to attack it and you'll get there you will but here's the thing too Ken when we get ourselves into the mess we need to listen to someone else on how to get out of it. Because if we got into it, that means we don't have the proper mindset

to get out of it. So we got to take the wisdom, and the wisdom here is Dave's baby steps. That snowball, not the dead avalanche. And don't underestimate momentum. This journey's hard. It is. Can't account for the changes and the things coming at us,

and so that momentum is what keeps us on the debt-free journey. Hey, stay with us. Keep on with us. More Dave Ramsey Show coming right up. Hey, guys. At the Dave Ramsey Show, we really value your input. It helps us to know what's important to you so we can deliver relevant content to help you crush your money goals. We just launched a brand new survey, and we'd love your feedback. It only takes a few minutes, and you'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

No purchase necessary. Take the survey at DaveRamsey.com slash survey or text survey to 33789. It's Hope on Talk Radio. It is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, and host of the Ken Coleman Show, a part of the Ramsey Network. He is Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality, and host of the Anthony O'Neill Show. Huge hit on YouTube. This guy, what you're doing on YouTube, man, you're blowing it up over there.

I've got to get the secret. No, I'm trying to get like you, man. I'm on YouTube. You don't want on satellite radio all over the country, bro. I'm just trying to get like you, Ken. Yeah, but everybody wants to win on YouTube, so you're setting the pace. We're having fun as a part of Ramsey Solutions. We're about hope. And Anthony and I and all the Ramsey personnel, we share one common mission,

and that is to help you get where you want to be. And so that's what we're doing this hour. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. How about we go to Anna in Savannah? That is Savannah, Georgia. Anna, how can we help?

Hi, Ken and Anthony. Thank you so much for taking my call today. Sure. What's up? My husband and I are in baby step two, but my question is actually about college savings for our daughters. We set up 529s last year before we started baby steps to put money from Christmas and birthdays from family members in.

But prior to that, we had set up savings accounts for them that we have about $3,000 in one and $1,700 in the other that we had allocated for college. This is separate from our $1,000 emergency fund. Do we move this money into their 529s, or do we use it on our debt snowball? We kind of feel icky about using it on our debt snowball since the debt is our most.

How much debt are you currently in right now, Anna? We're in about $100,000 of debt. Okay. What is that? Student loans, cars? What are we looking at? We have about $80,000 in student loans and $20,000 in cars. Okay.

Student loans and $20,000 in cars. Okay. And what's your... We paid off all our credit cards actually yesterday. Oh, congratulations congratulations how'd that feel thank you oh it was a thrill uh i'm curious anthony's writing down some numbers he's about rolling through this i'm curious on the cars uh how much are those cars worth break that down for us separately um we have a truck that is um about $7,000 on. It's not worth much. It's maybe

only worth about $2,000. And then we have another vehicle that costs about $13,000 we owe on it. And we just got that like a year and a half ago. So I'm not really sure what the value of that would be right now. Gotcha. And what's your gross, what's your family income right now yearly? Well, my husband just took a new position. And so our income is just recently increased to 160. Okay. Wow. Fantastic. 160 K a year, 20 K cars, 80K in student loans. And then we have about $4,700 in savings right now. Okay. So we have an additional $1,000 for the emergency fund. Okay, cool.

Here's my philosophy when it comes to talking to parents about their kids' future. And I want to say this, Anna, before I go anything practical, I love your heart for young people. I love your heart for your kids. I can tell that you love your kids and you're thinking about their future. And so I just want to say that to you, but let me help you understand one other thing. The best way to help your kids future is to secure your present. Okay. And so when I say that, I want you to attack this debt. I want you to take this $4,700 and go ahead and start paying off your debt because we know one thing for sure that you and your husband are going to stay together forever. And you and your husband are going to live this life together. We don't know

if your kids are going to go to college. We don't know what they're going to do. They may go to college and they may say, you know what, mom and dad, I don't want to finish. And so what I want you to do is secure your foundation. And then when it comes to the point to where you and your husband have to sit down and talk to your kids about their college future, then we can have that conversation and say, okay, you know what, son, daughter, we can help you out over here, but now you have to take on some sweat equity as well for your future. And so I don't want you to feel guilty about using this money to pay off your debt because what you're doing is you're securing your foundation to really stand on something stronger

when your kids get older so you can really help them out better yeah okay thank you so much thank you and uh you guys are making great progress i want to i want to love on you let's celebrate the fact they paid some credit cards off yesterday they are that much closer so way to go and that's great stuff now let me say this too ken do not testify 29 though because that is an investment that's's correct. That's right. Yeah. So I do not want you to test the 529, the money you put inside there. Don't pull it out because you'll pay penalties and taxes. So that's too much money. But just focus on getting out of debt, babysat number two, get your fully funded emergency fund. And then with your income, y'all should be able to do that in the next two, three years.

And then you have enough time to really start setting some money aside. Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. All right, let's go now to Kristen, who joins us in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kristen, how can we help? Hi, thanks for taking my call. I have a business question. I own a business that is a place of gathering, which unfortunately is not something to be in right now. I opened at the beginning of 2019, was profitable when everything shut down. So it was going really well. Unfortunately, I'm in an area that is still very restricted on opening. And so it's looking pretty grim as far as reopening the space. Our crunch numbers feel like it's going to be about two years, even once we get open, to get back to where I was.

And, you know, floating a business for another two years, um, would be nearly impossible for me. Um, I have a loan on the business, um, which we found Dave after we opened the business. Um, and I, I just don't really know what to do. Um, how much do you know how to attack this? Yeah. Is it that I don't know how to attack this. Yeah. Is it that you don't know how to attack the loan or you don't know how to attack trying to keep it alive? What's the specific thing you're not sure about how to attack? Yeah. So I guess how to attack the loan, I'll have to figure out. I think we are going to get out of the business most likely. So that's my thing to

figure out. But, you know, if you don't include the business, my husband and I are on step five. Oh, wow. But yes. How much is the loan? How much is the loan on the business? One oh nine. Okay. So what's the plan to shut down officially close the doors? What's that look like? Do you have a timeline? There isn't. Um, I'm trying to figure out the lease right now. Um, and if, if we can get out of it, um, I have somebody looking at that, trying to figure that out right now, because that's kind of the big question mark. Because if I can't, you know, the amount of expense is just going to continue and that might have to take me down, unfortunately, a different road. Is the loan in any way tied to your personal finances, personal guarantees here on this,

or is it all set up in the company name? The loan is not under my name, no. Okay, that's good news. What's the plan? Are you going to file bankruptcy on the business? I don't want, no, no, I don't want to. Good, okay, good. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I just see that as a massive failure and I don't see that as an option. So I'm going to. are you floating it? Yeah. Are you and your husband, are you guys floating it now? The payments for the company, the lease plus the debt? Um, we actually, we pivoted, I have a business partner, um, we pivoted and we're doing another kind of call, like a spinoff of the business. But it's not covering all of the expenses.

So we're about to run out is essentially where it comes from. It is bringing in a decent income, but it's not enough, and we don't need a retail space to do it. Got it. If that makes sense. It does. All right, here's the deal. We're running into a commercial break, and this has got a lot of complexity to it. But here's i think you got to look at all options

right now i really do and i would also say this side business this extra income i'd fight i keep fighting on that just to be able to take care of this loan then you can shut it down you have to pay the loan regardless i keep fighting on that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is The Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about life, money, and career and relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague Anthony O'Neill this hour as we take you through your situation. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Let's go to Portland, Oregon, where Mackenzie joins us. Mackenzie, how can we help? Hi, Ken. Hi, Anthony. Hi. So my question today is for Ken. How do I reach out to people in the proximity of the job I'm looking for if I don't necessarily know them? Okay.

And tell me the job that you want. So I've been working in the banking industry for three years now. I'm only 21 and I want to get into the mortgage industry. So I want to become a mortgage loan officer. Okay. Great. You can't really do that until you're a mortgage loan officer assistant. So yeah, I want to reach out to like realtors and mortgage loan officers. Great. And you're in the banking industry, so you know how to find those folks, don't you? Yes. Okay. So just because you don't know those people doesn't mean that there's not a way.

And I appreciate that you called to figure it out, but let's talk about the people you do know. You just talk about the branch that you're in or the actual company. So let's think about all the different branches. Let's just start there and just let your mind run through all these different branches of the bank you work for. And how many people you actually know if you called them up and said, hey, do you know any mortgage pros? You know, real estate professionals who know mortgage, you know, assistance and things of that nature because you know the job you want. And so you're trying to get into proximity of the mortgage professionals who would essentially be hiring you in that assistant role. And so the way to get to know those folks is find out who you know that knows those folks.

And you're already in banking. And then so you know bankers know this, real estate professionals. And so who do you know that bankers know this, real estate professionals. And so who do you know that's in real estate? How many different real estate professionals do you know in your area, Mackenzie? I only know two, but I don't know them like super well. Doesn't matter. How well do you know them? If I said to them, if I ran into them today and I said, hey, tell me about Mackenzie, what would they say?

They would know who they're talking about. There we go. So if you ran into them and said, hi, would they stop and talk to you, or would they just look at you like you were an alien? No, they would talk to me. Okay, so if you reach out to them and say, hey, listen, I just need five minutes of your time. When can I hop on a quick phone call with you? Or if you emailed them and said, hey, I'm looking to transition from banking to the mortgage industry,

and I need a couple connections. Do you know any of these type of people that work in this space? If you do, would you connect me to them? How would they respond to that? I'm sure they'd be happy to do so. Okay. So that's it. That is the proximity principle. It says in order to do what McK be happy to do so. Okay. So that's it. That is the proximity principle.

It says in order to do what Mackenzie wants to do, she's got to be around people that are doing it and in places where it is happening. Anthony, I think what's going on here for Mackenzie, and Mackenzie, don't feel alone here because we all do, there's a little bit of fear of kind of getting rejected. It gets back to the, you know, when we're little kids and we go, do you like me? Check the box, yes or no. We pass the note in you know when we're little kids and we go do you like me check the box yes or no we pass the note in class and we're all nervous is is she gonna check yes or is she gonna check no there's that fear of rejection i know that you've dealt with that a lot yeah exactly exactly not just rejection but am i worthy of their time you know and so i definitely want to recommend her just to do exactly what ken coleman just taught you and honestly be bold because here's another thing that i've learned when you go up

to those people when they see that you really want this that even makes them want to help you out even the more absolutely but if you go up to him a little bit like hey do you have they're gonna be like i don't because you don't have the energy nor the time, it seems like. So go up to him. Like, hey, Ken, Mr. Ken, how are you doing? My name is such and such. And I really want to – I love what you're doing. And I really want to learn more about it because one day I want to do that. What do I need to do?

Mackenzie, what Anthony just told you is a winning recipe. It's hunger and humility coming together. And when people see somebody with a humble hunger, they go, I want to help that person because now I'm investing in them and I feel like my investment is going to come back to me. Yes. That's what you're talking about. I love that. Great advice.

888-825-5225. Let's go to Boston, Massachusetts where Alana joins us. Alana, how can we help? Ken, Anthony, I'm so honored to be talking to you. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I'm calling because I am on baby step four, five, and six. So I am contributing 15% into retirement. I don't have children yet, so I'm skipping baby step five. And I'm planning on trying to pay down my home that I have. I was just trying to get an understanding of trying to prioritize

things in this step. So, you know, things like trying to pay off the house early, but maybe also saving for a new roof, maybe some, you know, projects for the house, a deck, a pool, maybe sinking funds, saving for Christmas, saving for, you know, some other things, you know, do them all sort of at the same time. You know, would I, you know, try to save for a roof, uh, as soon as I can, and then try to pay a little bit more on the house. I'm just trying to figure that out. Yeah. So that's a great question.

And right now, baby steps four or five and six, you do this all, all at one time. So here's the thing. You're never going to stop investing 15% of your income. Okay. Now you can slow down on paying off your mortgage. Okay. But you're not going to slow down or you're not going to invest 10% compared to 15%. No, you're going to keep investing 15%. But if you're doubling up on your mortgage right now, and let's say you do need a new roof eventually. Yeah. Just make your regular mortgage payment and

start making the sinking fund to go towards your roof. So let me ask you the question. What are the top three things you need to be doing right now? Got it. Yeah, I definitely wouldn't, you know, change my contributions. So I don't totally understand that. I think the top three things are, you know, maybe adding a pool.

I'll need a roof in probably three years. And, you know, maybe just some sinking funds, a new car eventually. Again, you know, probably just some Christmas funds, things like that. Okay. So I love the Christmas funds. I love the holiday funds. You start that because, you know, Ken, a lot of people think Christmas just shows up on them and it just surprises

them. So I love the way she's thinking about saying, you know what? I know Christmas is coming and I want to buy some gifts. That's great. Now, let me also tell you this, I'm Elena. I'm going to flip pool and roof. Here's why. Because your roof is going to help the value of your house. Your pool is not. All right. So I want you to go ahead and put that roof as in number one, because not only would it help the value of the house, but it's going to help you. So if it rains, if anything happens, nothing's going to come through the roof and you won't have any issues. So I would definitely get that. And then if you need a new car, I'm going to get the car before I get the pool.

So the pool may be the last thing on my list because roof is going to cover you at value. A car is going to help you get to and from uh you know your work and your destinations and then a pool is not really a need uh ken it's just something real nice to have yeah that's the truth you know you're really preaching here because here's the deal we all kind of look at the pool and i got really need that pool i mean hey yo i need that pool you know i mean i'm working hard i need that saturday afternoon floating around with the with the lemonade and one side here and the kids are flopping and splashing around but she doesn't have any kids so she'll probably get in that pool can once a month or once every other month yeah i i mean i'm agreeing with you i'm just telling you

i'm feeling the pain that you just dropped. Okay? Because there is something about that, you know, because they've worked really hard, right? And they're working on four, five, and six. And she's got a plan, by the way. Yes. I love that you asked her to go, give me one, two, and three. And she said, pool's number one.

You know? Because if you think about it, Boston, she's in the Boston area. Yeah. You know what wintertime's like in Boston? Yes, sir. So the pool feels like a need when you live in the Northeast, you know? Because, like, summer is, I don't even know if they get a three-month summer in the Northeast. I don't know.

But I know that the winter at the Boston will make you feel like you're below. Well, the roof is the issue. Yes. She already knows that that roof is going to need some repair. And that can become a real financial problem. You want to talk about sucking up an emergency fund in one fell swoop, a roof problem will do that. knows that that roof is going to need some repair. And that can become a real financial problem. You want to talk about sucking up an emergency fund in one fell swoop, a roof problem will do that.

That'll suck up all of your emergency fund and then some. Yeah, that's true. That's what I recommend. I like it. Get the roof fixed and then enjoy the pool. Well, you told them right. Because now when they get to the pool, they're really relaxing. Yeah, and you're really going to, like you said, in that area, she's only going to enjoy the pool maybe three months max out of that season. So spending $100,000 on the pool ain't worth it.

Good stuff. All right, he is Anthony O'Neill. I'm Ken Coleman. We want to thank our producer, James Childs. We want to thank Kelly Daniel. And we want to thank you, America. You are a great audience, and you are why we do the show. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

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