The Ramsey Show - App - Financial Peace Is an Attitude, Not an Amount (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

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Live 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. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. He is the author of the best-selling book, Redefining Anxiety, and the host of the Dr. John Deloney Show. Both are must-reads and must-listens for you.

You need to be sure you check them out. We're here to talk about your relationships, your work, and your money, your life, right in front of you. Taylor is with us in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hey, Taylor, what's up? Oh, how's it going, guys? Thanks so much for taking my call. Sure. How can we help?

Well, I've been following your baby steps for a few years now. I'm hook, line, and sinker on it. Follow all y'all's content. I'm on step four, five, and six. So during this time, it allowed me to create enough margin that I could make a career change. I took Ken's advice and read the book and made the change, and I'm one year into a three-year plan. So basically, previously I was an hourly employee, and now I'm basically building up a book of business. So during that time, I have a three-year time period where I have a salary.

I'm curious if you would recommend I continue the baby steps, saving into retirement during this time, or if I should kind of hoard up a little extra cash preparing for that transition from a salary, you know, form a payment to where I'm basically self-employed. When are you going to be making this jump? So basically I'm one year into a three-year plan. I'm actually an investment advisor now, so I don't know how many financial advisors have called your show that may be a good thing or a bad thing. That's okay.

So I've got 24 months to go with this base salary. I'm on track. Oh, you did make the career change, but you're changing from salary. They give you a starter salary until you get your book of business built enough to live on or hopefully get your book. Okay. So you're one year in, and you have two years left on the starter salary. So how's the book building?

Is it coming together? It's on track. Yes, it's on track. Everything, of course, you know this business. Everything I hear is how hard it is and how, you know, I listen to what you guys say. It takes twice as long as you think it's going to.'s you know you're not the exception i mean where are you today do you have do you actually have people in that are where you're making an ongoing income

that's equal to your salary yet uh i'm not equaling my salary yet no no when i met with my supervisors they tend to say yes i'm i'm i'm growing at the rate they would expect me to so that at the end of this three years i'm not asking about meeting their expectations i'm asking you about a dollar amount if you went off the salary today what would your income be oh i i haven't i'm not anywhere near that salary i don't even have any idea yet so basically basically, I'm compensating. No, I would be earning an income, but it's basically probably less than 20% of what I expect to be able to make.

That's what I'm asking. No, not expect to be able to make. I ask you're on a $24,000 salary, and you're making it on that right now, okay? I guess I explained my situation wrong. I'm on a $50,000 salary right now. Okay, you're on a $50,000 salary, and you're making it okay on that. So if your book of business generates $50,000, you wouldn't skip a beat when you lose the salary, right?

That's right. So are you at now what is the book of business creating today ten thousand dollars of the fifty two thousand dollars of the fifty or forty thousand dollars of the fifty roughly ten thousand okay okay that's what i'm asking so gauge that and the uh the the more as i would go another year and not worry about it after another year okay if you're not looking like you're gonna make it to 50 then maybe you do need to stop your baby steps but right now you're worrying about something hasn't happened yet right that's true yeah i just i didn't want to reach the end of this three-year track and no i don't want you to either but

you're only one year in true so run it another year and you'll be able to tell you know if you're at 12.5 after another year well yeah we got a problem yeah exactly okay but if you're at 42.5 after another year i think you're probably going to make it you don't have to even ask this question then right yeah and let those guys let those guys who are giving you pats on the back or saying yeah you're on track. You have no idea what their motives are. You have a dollar amount right in front of you that will tell you, here's how I'm doing. Pats on the back aren't your scorecard.

Your scorecard is the money. That's right. And it's not because we're all about money, but this discussion is about your income. That's right. Can you make it or not make it? That's it. It is an objective, not a subjective situation. So you can actually measure it and go, I'm either there or I'm not or I'm close enough that I can make it. That kind of thing.

Thelma's with us in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hi, Thelma. Welcome to the. That's not it. And I can't get there. We go. My bad. I push the wrong button.

Thelma's in Green Bay. How are you, Thelma? I'm doing good and I'm very nervous. Good to talk to you, Dave and John. And I want to say, what would Dave do? But I know Dave wouldn't be in my position. Well, he might have been one time. You never know.

What you got, kiddo? Lots of dumb. Okay. I just started with you like six months ago, just listening and stuff because I got like two years before I'm eligible to retire. Um, but I may have to go longer. Okay. So my husband and I started, uh, with timeshares back in 2000. And we kept buying more and kept buying more and kept buying more. Okay. You have more than one?

How many do you have? Well, we have like a million points with Wyndham. Okay. And so that's what we kept buying, more Wyndham. Playing the dumb game. We love to travel. Don't have the money to travel. And we thought this would be great for our kids.

Thoughts. Okay. So anyway, I had a conversation with them today and they have a program where they would actually just, of course, take your property back. You owe them nothing because in their eyes, I have the contracts paid off, but I only have it paid off because we got personal loans and equity loans to actually pay them off. So we still owe, I couldn't tell you with that, when we combine everything we had, credit cards and everything, we have like 60,000 in loans.

Okay. They would give us this. They would take the property back in two different sections. Either we just give it all back and walk away and see nothing. Or we give it back and we get three years of our million points to use amongst my husband and our four children because we have our children on the contract with their names. So what's your question? What?

What's your question? The question is, with a $643 maintenance fee on these points for the rest of our lives, would you give it back and just say, I'm stupid yes i don't want nothing to do yeah yes i know when my husband and i because we're new at this and we're doing the budget yeah he's you're tired of the fees and the fees aren't going anywhere but up with windham timeshare is legalized fraud it is an absolute completely screw job and yeah I'd get out of it. I'll go in if I do. In an uncertain world, being a good steward of your money is more important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take

charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Christian Health Care Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. Well, it's time to put 2021 behind us. Last year, we left a lot of people feeling burned out and sluggish, beat up, beat down, despair. But 2022 is a fresh start, and it's your wake-up call. Are you ready to own this year? Grab it by the ears and make it behave.

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even more always use the magic word the promo code ramsey all right today's question comes from brendan in rhode island brendan, I've worked hard for eight years after completing graduate school at age 23. I paid off 14 grand in student loans and a $13,000 car note. I'm 31 now and I make 100 grand a year as a CPA. I have 80 grand in cash, 140 in retirement savings. I bought a condo on which I owe 122 at 3.15%. I'm doing well, but I could be doing better. I have money hoarding issues which are debilitating even on smaller purchases.

I worry about money more than I should for my level of success. My investments are 15% in bonds because I'm afraid of a dip and cannot bring myself to invest in excess cash. A six-month emergency fund for me would be 15 to 17 grand. How do I get myself out of this hoarding and fear in order to boost my financial success? Right off the top here, man, this question, I'm doing well,

but I could be doing better. Often folks get tied up in this elusive place where they're going to quote unquote, feel a certain way whenever they get to some sort of finish line. And most of us don't take the time to articulate to ourselves what that feeling is going to feel like. And so we make our first million. I haven't made one, but then you just, you're so obsessed with the next one because you never stopped to think you think this is going to heal you, right? And you don't ever get there. And so I'd love to sit back and say, what are you chasing?

What are you running from? What do you think you're going to be? What's it going to feel like when you get to wherever you think you're going? Because this person is just on a treadmill hitting up and up and up and up and up. And yet very intellectually self-aware. Self-aware. Yes. Because the language you're using says you know that you're not in a good place.

It has nothing to do with the math. It has nothing to do with the money. It's a spiritual issue. That's right. Godliness with contentment is great gain. I want you to kind of, what I would tell you to do is to step back and say, let's start viewing money through a spiritual lens, through a behavior lens that says, all right, I've got to put it over there.

It's a tool. I'm not freaked out about my car. My car is a tool that gets me to my job and gets me to the store and i don't sit and worry about and obsess about my car money's a tool it's taking me somewhere it's a vehicle it's taking me somewhere and it's sitting over there instead of it's in my heart hoarding is a word you use if it's in your heart. It's compulsive. I can't stop. It's like it's got its claws in you. And so the peace that passes understanding is what we're looking for. I want you to reach

a place where the money is sitting over here and you're looking at it in a pile smiling at it and breathing in cool mountain air and that sense of exhale and just kind of okay we're all right and that's contentment for me as a spender brendan what i i experienced that a couple different ways one way i laugh about when i experience it is i used to think when you went into costco or sam's that it was federal law you had to spend two hundred dollars that's why they checked you going out with the thing they want to make sure you spent your two hundred dollars right i i just i it was

a frenetic need to buy something thing and it wasn't a sickness i wasn't obsessive compulsive but it was just a it was a spiritual maturity thing and it, well, if I get that, I'll be better. If I get that, I'll be better. If I get that, I'll be better. And what you were talking about a minute ago, John. And so something happened, and when I walk in there now, I can buy anything in there or everything in there, and I don't buy any of it and leave quite often.

And so it's just that I's a i put it over there your safety your safety target is moved yeah it's what i'm trying to you're asking money to do something it can't do right it can't give you peace right it can't give you wholeness it can't give you uh no risk there's no such thing and And so when you do that, that helps. And then, you know, John always says when you're dealing with trauma that facts are your friends. And so let's look at what's real here. Okay. And you say, okay, what's real is bonds are going to underperform in your portfolio, and you're actually going to make a mess instead of actually make good money on something that has a very long, stable track record.

I mean, there are mutual funds that are 80 years old that have had eight down years in 80 years and 72 up years. So to fret over that kind of track record is to fret over real estate going up. Or let's call that what it is. If mutual funds go away, you'll be dealing with much bigger issues in your life. Yeah. Right? You'll be borrowing water from your neighbor.

So there'll be a bigger thing going on. You'll need bullets and coffee. That's right. You'll be trading blue jeans. So, yes, you need to loosen up. I think you're trying to make the money to do something spiritually for you that it doesn't have the capability to do. And you mentioned the word trauma often. It's been a while since I've been in the hoarding literature.

But if I remember correctly, a lot of hoarding stems from loss or from trauma that hasn't been dealt with. And it's just your body's way of trying to grab control of something until suddenly that control takes a hold of you well and the truth is one thing money can do is it can give you a pad yeah between life and you know problems i mean you know if the car blows up and you've got some money it's a different than if the car blows up you don't have money so the truth is it does control the can helps you control the controllables but what it cannot do is it cannot make you breathe that cool mountain air into your soul and so this sentence i'm doing well but i could do better i want you to spend some time where are you trying to go like where is this this imaginary finish line and what do you think it's going to feel like when you get there but just spend some time with

that breathe that air and i love that dave larry burkett used to say that the only difference between saving and hoarding is attitude huh the same amount of money yeah yeah and it's the same action yeah it's how it's how tight you're holding you're not it's attitude it's how you feel about the money and what you're asking the money to do for you is it going to save me protect me keep me warm and fuzzy at night hoarder that's a hoarder that's exactly right yeah and that's i need you know so i can't get rid of this stack of magazines that i've had for 73 years yeah you know i'm a hoarder and you know your house looks like a a dump because you can't you can't get rid of this stuff because it's supposed to do something for you that it doesn't have the ability to do so this weekend i had i had a suit

that my granddad gave me before he passed away and it it fits me, but it's an older cut, so it's not something you could wear. I say it fits me. It doesn't fit me great, but it did. And I've kept it. I've never put it on in a decade other than just to try it on once or twice. And this weekend, I was cleaning out an old closet, and I started to get rid of it, and I was like, no, this is my granddad's suit. He passed away. And I finally said, my granddad is not in this ill-fitted old suit. He's here.

Yeah. Right? And it's time for this to go, because I was trying to get this suit to be a memory. It's not its job. It can't do stuff. It's to get me out of a banquet. If you give it that job, it's going to fail at it. Every time it will fail. And the money's going to fail at making you feel that cool mountain air into your soul.

Financial peace is an attitude. It is not an amount. It's spirit. Yeah. I love it. That's the thing. That's a good question. Great question, man.

Very good question. This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. Javon is with us in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Javon, what's up? Hey, Dave. So we have a lot of medical expenses

coming up this year. And so I switched from an FSA to an HSA because I wanted the higher limits to cover those things and not have to come out of pocket. However, I did not realize, and it was explained to me that the HSA is not front-loaded like the FSA. So we are on Baby Step 2, and I would like to double our contributions so that we have money to roll over to next year, and then we can reduce them. But because we're on Baby Step 2, I don't want to do that. So I'm just trying to figure out how would you navigate that with, because I wasn't

really planning on paying for things like out of a monthly budget because we have major pay but there's no money in it because it's january okay so when are the bills coming um i got a tooth field yesterday and that was like a hundred dollars and um i went to swipe my card and there wasn't any money in it because my husband's first paycheck was the Friday before and the contributions hadn't actually hit yet. Okay. But what are the medical bills that are ongoing that are so large? They're not like ongoing.

My husband needs some implants. My daughter is supposed to need implants, but she's missing some permanent teeth. They're talking about doing braces this year. And just looking at our portion for the implants, that was going to be over the limit of the FSA by itself. And I didn't want all of that. And the HSA is covering all this. Dental? Yeah, it's good for dental, yeah.

The FSA is like $2,700. And, like, if we got all four implants this year, it would be for dental, yeah. The FSA is like $2,700, and if we got all four implants this year, it would be... No, the HSA is a health plan. Yeah, we switch to a dental plan. You can pay dental out of your health savings account, but your health plan likely doesn't cover dental. Yes, but the HSA, I can use those funds for dental or i know i know that yeah okay but your your flexible savings account is just a that's just a cafeteria plan where they take your money out pre-tax and you can label what you want to use it for and you

can use it for anything for your out-of-pocket costs on anything right I don't know why you couldn't do both. Well, I guess his company won't allow us to do both. We have to do either or. We've already made our elections because open enrollment was last year, but after switching, I called our administrator for the HSA, and they told me that the HSA is not going to be front-loaded with the funds. Okay, the money going into the HSA out of your husband's check is making it a pre-tax contribution into the HSA. And then when you spend the money out of the HSA for medical, there's no taxes on it. So all you're saving by all of this is the taxes on the amount that's all

you're saving yes other than what insurance is covering and are not covering in the two competing plans but the idea of your hsa the actual health savings account not being funded the only thing that costs you is taxes oh i should be your you're saying you just write a hundred dollar check and you didn't get the tax benefit is all but on the cafeteria plan should be you're you're saying you just write a hundred dollar check and you didn't get the tax benefit is all but on the cafeteria plan if if you're gonna have five thousand bucks that five grand is available to you january 2nd and you're saying that five grand in the hsa won't be available to you till the end of the year when you've basically until you have funded it until you've funded it gradually okay but no it'll be funded not the end of the year it's incrementally you're funding it out of your husband's check right correct yeah okay so it's

just incrementally going to grow through the time so the only time you've got a problem is if you have a bill bigger than you've been month than the amount you've been monthly putting in totaled yes that's the only time you're gonna have a problem which is today because it's january and you ain't even got any money in there, and you have a $100 bill. So you just pay that $100 bill, just write them a check, or you wait and pay it next month out of the HSA, one of the two. Just don't pay them until next month. Oh, yeah, they weren't accepting that.

They were like, what's your debit card right now? So, yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was thinking either to just pay it out of our budget, which means that's less money going towards it, and then at the end of the year, send in all the receipts. Yeah, but it sounds like you're doing a whole lot of business with this dentist, and it sounds like that they can wait a month for their money. What you described to me was thousands and thousands of dollars of dental work through your whole family. Yeah, like I i said my husband needs two implants and my

daughter so i think your dentist is going to change his attitude or i'm going to change my dentist especially with hsa which is essentially you're paying with cash yeah you can wait a month because i got to get this thing funded yeah and they can wait ain't gonna kill them on a hundred dollar bill when they're getting when you're doing thousands of dollars of business with them yeah they can wait or i'll get a new dentist that's right you treat me like i'm somebody off the street and i got to pay cash on the barrel head because you think i'm gonna stiff you and yet you've got me lined up for implants here and implants there and everything oh my god no don't have an attitude with me just because you got a medical coat just because you got a white

coat on it's not a good idea so um we'll get you paid these little white coats are a problem we'll get you paid. These little white coats are a problem. We'll get you paid. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us. Dave is in Salt Lake City. Hey, Dave, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you so much. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Well, before I knew about you and your program, I took some loans off my 401k. And after reading your book, I really need to make a plan. I'm a complete mess. But I'm paying like $1,100 a month to pay these loans back in my 401k. And obviously, I took some advice from people that didn't really know. And those same people have no idea how to help me get out of this mess i'm just curious if there's any any way to that i can um use the 401k to like pay these loans off or something to get out from them like how much do you owe on your 401k uh 40 thousand dollars Jeez, what'd you do with it?

Home improvement stuff, paid off some other debt just to get myself in debt again. Okay, so how much debt have you got not counting your house today? Let's see, actually that would be $40,000 as well. Okay, so $80,000 makes you debt- free not counting your house correct and what do you what do you make what's your household income uh about 111 okay so how fast you're gonna pay off 80 making 111 uh my goal was for two years there you go um but i like i said i don't know so what is the other 40 is it The other 40 is on what? There was a home equity loan, and then there was some credit cards.

No car? No, cars are paid for. Good. Ironically. What are they worth? Total, probably only about 15 grand. What's the boat worth? It was an SUV. What's that?

What's the boat worth? I don't have a boat. Okay, just checking. It was a good test. You passed the test, Steve. My only, my guilty pleasure is my riding mower and it's paid for too. Okay, alright, so what we're going to do is we're going to get on a detailed written plan.

Beans and rice. Rice and beans. You're not going on vacation until you get this mess cleaned up, and you're not going out to eat until you get this mess cleaned up. You're going to get out the scissors and have a plastic surgery party tonight and chop up all your credit cards. You got to fix this, and it's going to require you get radical for the first time in your life. You've been slopping around on this subject for a decade, and you're sick of looking at yourself in the mirror on how it's turned out.

Am I right? How do you know that? Because I'm you. I did it too. I know exactly how it feels. A lot of what you were saying to other people with the spiritual issue, I've never really addressed it in that angle. Yeah, yeah.

And this is time. In your case, it's time to get mad. Sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm disgusted, and I'm not living like this anymore. And that's when people lose weight, and that's when they fix their marriage, and that's when they fix their money. And I'm going to put you into Financial Peace University and hook you up with every dollar with a ramsey plus subscription and get you set up

man and show you exactly how to do this stuff the only thing i ask is by god you go do it if i give you all this stuff for free and then you go help somebody else when you're rich someday and you will be if you follow it this is the ramsey show Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thanks for joining us. Lucas is with us in croatia okay hey lucas how are you hey i'm doing well how are you better than i deserve croatia as in the country yes sir wow okay cool how can we help um so i'm getting ready to move out of my parents' house and, um, long story short, I just want to know your best, um, uh, advice for me as, um, you know, getting ready to move out and move back to the States, buy myself a car, stuff like that. What is your, um, best advice

for someone like me, um, getting ready to get into a lot of financial, you know, responsibilities, and basically what can I do now and, you know, whenever I do move out to set myself up for a better future and, you know, a financially free future. Okay, so you're an American in Croatia, and you're coming back to America, leaving your parents' house, and your parents are living in Croatia. Yes, sir. We're missionaries. Okay. And how old are you? I'm 16.

And you're coming back to the States when? So either this summer or about this time next year. Okay. As a minor. Where are you going to live yeah yes sir i'll be living in oklahoma city with um some buddies of mine and if that doesn't work out then i'll move down to texas with my brother okay because you're got your the problem you're going to run into it and if you're not 18 is you're not going to be able to transact business. You can't sign a lease. Yes, sir.

You sign a lease, but it's not valid. I'm sorry? That's where my buddies that are older than me are going to come in and sign a lease, and then there's going to be basically a mutual agreement among us. Yeah, and what are you going to be doing for a living? Well, in the beginning, I'm going to be going to a Bible college in Oklahoma city and then, um, probably working at Chick-fil-A honestly, because it's got the highest pay for someone that doesn't have a degree yet.

And then after that, I'm honestly not too sure. Um, I believe that maybe after that, I'll probably move to Alaska cause I love up there. So it's, um, yeah.

But then maybe go to another college, possibly. It just depends on, you know, what the Lord wants me to do, honestly. You're an adventurous dude. Okay. Thank you. So you're going to make enough money at Chick-fil-A to go to Bible College, pay rent, and eat? Yes, sir. After taxes, it'll be about $14 an hour.

It'll be about $6 hour it'll be about 640 a week okay and you've already laid your budget out yes sir i have wow okay um wow impressive all right so uh you know advice would be that to do exactly what you're doing, which is lay a budget out. And at this stage of your life and as young as you are going on this great adventure of yours, there's no way that you could possibly pile up too much cash. I want you to see how big a pile of cash, extra money in a savings account you can create. A huge emergency fund. I mean, you would never get there, but if you had $50,000 sitting in a savings account with all the things you have going on in your life and all the different moving parts and transitional stages of your life that you are in,

and the things you're talking about doing and the expense of those fifty thousand dollars wouldn't be too much so and you're not gonna get and you're probably not gonna get there and that's okay i'm not saying that's that has to be the goal but my point is simply pile up cash and live on a written plan that it that has margin in it that allows you to pile up cash the bigger pile of cash you have the more options you're going to have and uh you're coming out of the missionary family so the bible says in the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil in proverbs okay so wise people save money and uh you are wise beyond your years and you are adventurous and you're taking on

quite a deal here for a 16 year old guy why are you leaving home yes um so i'm finished almost finished with school and honestly there's there's a there's not much other reason for me to stay here and um of course as you already stated i'm a very adventurous and i don't like being held down one place for too long and um i'm just you know i'm ready to uh kind of experience life on my own and outside of my parents um household are they in support of their 16 year old going across the halfway across the globe to just go figure out life yes sure they are they've uh taught me a lot so and i'll be 17 by the time i move so i know a lot of 37 year olds that probably shouldn't be living on their own so good for you good for you hey let me let

me also suggest this i want you to write down some core values that you have like about how you're going to treat people how you're never have, like about how you're going to treat people, how you're never going to borrow money, how you're going to never be dishonest. And I want you to hold that thing close to you. When you're heading on a great big adventure, it's easy to take one step off of a path because it just is a quick corner cut and you find yourself way off the mark and um get a

set of core values about who you are who you're going to be make sure you got some people in your life as you take on this adventure you can't do life alone man it's cool in the movies it just doesn't work that way in real life yeah and it sounds like you've got some guys that are trustworthy that you're teaming up with on the first leg of this and then a brother is a backup and so um it's an interesting thing you're doing dude and um uh so yeah again a written game plan writing down the core values writing down your budget which you've already started working out and uh the more you can work the better uh And pile up some cash, too, because that will give you some options on your adventures. And Alaska is not cheap.

A lot of things. It is cold, and it's not cheap. And bears. Yeah, and there are bears, yeah. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Chase is with us in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Chase. How are you?

Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. I have got a good problem, but a problem. My grandmother just turned 97. She passed down $10,000 basically down the chain of family to each of us relatives. So what do I do with it is the question. Right now, I'm in flight school, cash-flowing flight school. So what do I do with it? This is the question. Right now I'm in flight school, cash flowing flight school.

I'm expected to spend about $75,000 between now and the end of August. Where's that money coming from? So that I have saved up over years and years and years. So how much do you have in savings today? So the savings I'm drawing for this has about $85,000 in it. It's kind of got like a $5,000 cushion between the expenses I'm expecting to incur and do a little wiggle room there. So do I put that?

So flight school, you're just all in, and you're going to be done in August. And you're planning when you're going to be done in august and and you're planning your plan when you're in august when you plan when you finish is to do what uh so after i finish that uh i'll be a flight instructor to get up hours until i can work with the regional airline okay all right and you can live off a flight instructor salary uh yeah so i've got a nice split rent, uh, three great roommates and a very nice lease. Okay. I would just put the $10,000 into your fund because you have one major goal right now, graduate from flight school. And this, you know, and after you have done that, if there's money left over because of X or Y and, or because you put the ten thousand dollars in there there might be

fifteen thousand left over uh there might be twenty thousand left over because you told me at 85 and you need 75 so you know then you can decide what you're going to do with that and where you're going to how you're going to apply it to baby steps but right now that fund is your lifeline to your goal it's going to make your goal happen and i'm just going to pad that lifeline to your goal. It's going to make your goal happen. And I'm just going to pad that lifeline, strengthen that lifeline, because it's just from now until August. And after that, we'll look and see how much is left over. Okay, then I'm going to be living on the flight instructor. Then I can take that $20,000 and say, all right, I'm debt-free. Now I'm going to label some of this my emergency fund. Or I'm going to buy a house with it, whatever the thing is.

Maybe it's time to upgrade a car or whatever. But you know label 10 000 of the emergency fund they give me 10 000 do something else in the baby steps but you start working the baby steps in august with what's left over but first let's make sure you get through and that there's something left over follow and handle good question man this is the Ramsey show this is James Childs producer of the Ramsey show did you know the Ramsey show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts.