The Ramsey Show - App - Getting Into Budgeting (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

from Ramsey Network it's the Ramsey show I'm your host Jade Warshaw next to me is George Camel on this show we teach people to build wealth. We teach them to have awesome, amazing relationships and do work that they love. So if any of that applies to you, you can give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. And we'll chop it up with you. We'll give you our best advice. Again, this is about your life, your money. And, you know, when Ken is here, we can do that career stuff too, George.

That's true. We can try to help with that. We'll try to help. We'll do our best with that we know a little something something we have careers do we we got here somehow somehow started from the bottom now we're here all right let's go straight to the phone lines we've got aaron he's in des moines iowa what's going on aaron hey guys how's it going chilling how can we help all right so basically for the past couple years i've been selling shoes on like eBay and Go

and stuff like that. And recently I had a buyer reach out to me on eBay saying, hey, can I pay with Karna, which is, you know, buy now, pay later. And what came down to it, I made the sale. And that basically meant that I knowingly put someone into debt. And I felt weird about that. You know, buying stuff, I mean, expensive Jordans with debt. And I just felt weird about it. So I just figured I'd I'd reach out you know see what you guys think on this do I

have a moral obligation here obviously no legal obligation yeah that's pretty much it I mean let me think you didn't do anything I don't want you to take like they chose to purchase shoes on credit whether it was from you or someone else they would have done it and half the time you wouldn't have known if they had used a debit card or a credit card. Correct. Right. So there's that piece of it. It doesn't bother me.

I mean, I know here, I can say here at Ramsey Solutions, a lot of our products, like I think on every dollar. I just pulled up our policy online because we have a whole piece about that because people go, Dave accepts credit cards. I'm like, no, we don't. But sometimes we can't, the system can't tell what a debit or credit is. That's right. And so you're probably can sneakily find ways around it if you wanted to go into debt to buy something. Yeah. I don't think that's on you. I think you're trying to run your business and do your life. And if somebody says, Hey, I want to pay on Klarna.

And you're like, Hey, you really should pay cash after that. It's like dust the dirt off your shoulders and move on. If it's bothering you personally, I mean, everybody's moral compass, I should say, is a little differently. If it's really bothering you, then next time if someone tells you that or reveals that information and you don't feel like you should take the sale, then don do it that's really all there is to it but there's a lot of people in sales roles that are wonderful people with high character yeah and they can't define how someone's going to make that purchase if you're in car sales you can be a great dude who wants to help people get the right car but you may not be on the finance side where you can be like hey you really shouldn't buy this car bro you make 40,000 you're about to buy a 50,000 Yeah. We can't police people's decisions.

Unless you're in the lending business and the debt business, which you're not, I would still sleep well at night knowing that you haven't done anything wrong. Yeah. Does that help you? That makes sense.

Yep. That's perfect. Thank you. Absolutely. That was a good call. And I know you love, you're big in the shoe game. You and Sam Warshaw.

I am not big in the shoe game. My husband is big in the shoe game, but he makesarshaw i am not big in the shoe game my husband is big in the shoe game but he makes sure that the drip is dripping let me just say some of your shoes jade they it's like my they're worth my 401k that's all i'm saying like there it is they can't see it stealth wealth i would know it's not worth your 401k but everybody has their live like no one else so later you can live like no one else. And shoes happens to be mine. Let's go to Julie. She's in Dayton, Ohio. What's going on, Julie? How can we help? Really, I called in for a question about my daughter. She's one month old. But to be honest, I've got other goals as well. And I was kind of curious about accounts that I could open up for

her in the future, like the 529 College or a custodial Roth, just some investment opportunities for her in the future that I didn't have an opportunity for when I was growing up. I love that question. Go ahead, George. You're wanting to leave a legacy and there's a few options here. Number one, as you mentioned, the 529 plan, which is going to be for college expenses. And I think that's an account every parent should open when their child is born. That was one of the first things I did when my daughter was born nine months ago. So that's a great option. They're state specific, but you can choose any state, which is really cool. And so you can do some research on which one is the best for you. You can reach out to a SmartVestor Pro through our website who can help you navigate that. Outside of college,

the custodial Roth can be a great option as well, where they'd have access to it once they turn 18, that becomes their account, and you have 18 years of growth on that money. So what are your goals for her? What are you trying to do for her? Really, probably, I don't know if she'll choose college, so it would be nice to have an account that she could get into as soon as she turns 18. So maybe that custodial Roth, it sounds like. Well, the good news is with the 529 plan and the new secure 2.0 act, you can actually roll over a portion of your 529 college funds into a Roth IRA. So if she doesn't use it for college, she's still able to use that money as she pleases in that

retirement account. But remember, there's still going to be penalties if she withdraws it early before retirement. So this is really way future thinking. Yeah. And really where I'm at financially is like, I have a house. I want to pay that off. I got married last year, got pregnant right away, so we're kind of in that new form of our life. I'm 34 years old. He's 32. But it's kind of ridiculous because combined we've got quite a bit in savings. And, you know, I've got, I think, a debt on my house of $317,000.

He's got his house that he's got as a rental, and I think we owe $60,000 on it. Cool. Is that the only debt combined uh in the baby which we're maxing out our hsa this year so i think it's seven thousand dollars that would be it or total combined debt is 384 000 and then we've got 143 000 in savings which is kind of silly because yeah it's not being invested or anything like that it's really grown quickly if I were in your shoes I'd probably hold back six months of expenses and then whatever is left uh you have a couple options with that I mean you've got these two houses this rental what would be six months of expenses for you? I'm just curious.

I think we spend maybe about, we live off of maybe $3,500 a month, I think. Okay. So let's call it $4,000 a month for six months. That's $24,000. So if you rounded it up and kept $25,000 kind of as your six-month fund, and then you look at it, you've got $118,000 left, which gives you some options. I mean, you could put it towards your personal residence if you wanted to. If you guys really love this rental, you could pay it off in full and then put the rest towards your primary mortgage. You guys have some options here. Are you investing 15% of your gross incomes? Yeah, that was the next thing I was looking at. I think we're at 12% for each of us, so we could always increase that a little bit for sure. Yeah, bump it up to 15. And then here's what's really cool. You pay off that rental instantly. That still leaves you with $58,000 to play with to throw at your current primary mortgage. Now you're at $275,000 on that. And now you've freed up that rental income as well, and now we can really make some headway

on that primary mortgage. So that's what I would do if I was in your shoes, Julie. I would too. While putting some money in the 529, while investing 15%, whatever's left over that margin, plus the proceeds from your savings, let's knock out that mortgage. How's that hit you? And then my other thought is keeping the rental. We don't know if we want to keep it or not. It's in a good area. We've got a good renter right now, but he just moved out. I think it was, we started renting it in July of last year. And I think you have to be like three out of five years living there. And then you kind of have to figure out if you're keeping it or selling it.

Well, I'd pay it off. And after that, if it's still a hassle and you guys don't enjoy it anymore, just sell it. And you can invest the proceeds or use it toward a different piece of real estate. I like that plan. I like that plan too. Good problems to have. They're doing it really well. They're great problems to have. For $60,000, I'm definitely keeping that rental around, especially when they have the cash to pay it off. Because I know some people are like, shouldn't they sell the rental and use the money to go towards their primary mortgage? Not necessarily in this case. I'm telling people what I would do. This is The Ramsey Show.

You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me is bestselling author George Camel, writer of the book Breaking Free from Broke. A great one. What an honor. A banger, as they might say. All right, give us a call.

The number's 888-255-225. We'll take calls all afternoon long about your financial situation. But in the meantime, let's talk about these Ramsey Trusted Program is the only way to find an agent that you can trust to keep you on track with what we teach here at Ramsey and get the best offer on your house or find the right house for you. We send some of the top agents in your area who we trust. You review their stats, you get to interview them, and you get to ultimately decide which one that you want to work with. So this is up to you. We do the vetting on our side and then you get to ultimately decide which one that you want to work with. So this is up to you. We do the vetting on our side and then you get to choose from all the people that we've vetted, which makes it very, very convenient. Ramsey Trusted Agents have years of experience and will help you make wise decisions when it comes to pricing, marketing, and making or choosing the right offer. So find a Ramsey Trusted Real Estate Agent for free at ramseysolutions.com slash agent.

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You can find a trusted real estate agent for free at ramseysolutions.com slash agent. So get into that. All right, let's go to Zachary in Indianapolis, Indiana. What's going on, Zachary? Hi, how are you guys? Doing great. How can we help? So I am just wondering, what is the best way to get into budgeting without getting overwhelmed and giving up? Well, that's great. That's a great question. Are you saying that because

it's already happened? Yes. I've tried two times. Both times that I tried, it was a really stressful time period for me and my now wife. And so it was really hard to get both on the same page. But I think now that the waters have kind of died down, we're willing to dive into it headfirst. And I just don't want the same mistake to happen again. What do you think was causing you to give up? Was it just you were overwhelmed with other things to do and you forgot about it or? So the first time that it happened

that I wanted to get into budgeting, we just had a newborn baby that was born two months early. So he was spending a month in the NICU. Gotcha. And he, so I was really head on about it. Like I had just discovered you guys, like, a month prior, and I was on this big kick, and she was just like, yeah, yeah, whatever, you know. I'm worried about this right now.

Yeah, your mind was in crisis. Rightfully so, yeah. Not a great time to start a new financial habit when you're dealing with something scary like that. That's right. Yeah, definitely. Thankfully, he's very healthy. He's been out for a couple months now. Right. But, um, both times I've tried around like the middle of the month,

uh, it starts getting a little overwhelming and I've kind of just given up looking at it and stuff. And is it because, do you think it's getting overwhelming because you're, you're going over budget because, so the hope is that. Did reality not match your plan where you went, oh my gosh, we spent $500 on groceries. We said it was going to be $200. What is causing that? Yeah. So a lot of it is mainly like when I go to list like all of our expenses and stuff, halfway through the month, there's always stuff that keeps popping up that I didn't think about. So it's the unplanned pieces in the budget. And for that, you know, I love to have a miscellaneous line item that's sort of a little catch-all. You don't want it to be for sloppy behavior, but when there's that little thing, it doesn't throw you off the whole plan

because you had a random 10, 20, $50 thing happen. Are you using every dollar? I am. Yeah. Okay. So when it comes to every dollar, you know, George is exactly right. I always tell people with every dollar, one of the three keys to staying focused and staying on it is you want the budget to be detailed. That's number one. So that's the first issue that you're facing is when that month begins, you're really going through and thinking of every possible thing that you could possibly spend money on. I mean, that's everything from grandma's birthday to if your kids are signing up for sports and they need soccer cleats, right? Anything that you can think of that's out of the ordinary or that's going to be part of that monthly flow. And then the second thing is you got to be realistic, right? You know,

now you're a family of three, so your grocery budget might change or there's certain things in your household that might change. Those numbers might go up a little bit. So really being realistic about the state of things. Inflation, right? Inflation, not inflation. I thought you just added another syllable. Like, whoa, Jade fancy. Inflation, that's something that a lot of people are facing. And as much as we haven't wanted to, we, you know, some of us have had to up those categories.

And so detailed, realistic, and finally just accepting the flexibility of it. You know, there are every once in a while going to be things that pop up that you totally forgot about. You know, it's your turn to bring treats to kindergarten class. Right. And so you got to pop into Kroger or pop into Publix to get that. And that's totally fine. But I do think that if that's happening regularly and all the time, then you're you're missing out on number one, which is the be detailed part. So that's kind of the way it goes. And so I think, you know, once you're married,

one way to really nail that is if you're sitting down with your spouse, because I know when I sit down with Sam, there's things that he thinks about and knows about that I wouldn't, would have forgotten to put on the budget. There's plans I didn't know were happening this month. And my wife was like, oh yeah, I told you.

Right. Remember one time for three, real quick, I was in the back of the closet and I yelled. I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot. We have to bring food for that thing. That's right. So that's how it goes in a marriage. So that's why communication is key. Sitting down and doing the budget ahead of the month happening on paper, using the app and go, okay, what's everything we can think of as the month goes on, you can be flexible. You can make tweaks to the budget to account for things. And maybe we're going to, we spent less in this category, so we can add it to this category. And so it's a little game of Tetris.

But the goal is to have margin to actually hit your financial goal. So what is your next financial goal? Getting out of debt. Perfect. Love it. So the key is, hey, we said we were going to have an extra 500 bucks to throw at the debt. Is that true based on our current budget and based on how we're spending? So is that where you're getting thrown off where you're going, we don't have any money to throw at debt. It just

disappeared. Um, more like, so we, we plan to, uh, put some extra money towards some of the debt and we'll, we'll get, we'll do like a little bit, but not as much as I originally planned. And then, um, when we, when we do plan to put a lot extra, we start getting worried about what if this comes up or what if this comes up, you know? And, you know, I like overshooting. I think you guys are undercutting your numbers. I think that you need to do the opposite and kind of overshoot them a little bit. Like let's, and it can be small things like utilities. Maybe it's usually $78. Just go ahead and put it on there for 80 you know if you think that you might spend 325 on something go ahead and put it at 350 like overshoot it and i think for you guys that's

going to help you um and then there it's it's better to look at the budget and go oh my gosh i have a little bit left over than to say oh oh, man, like we went over in every category. And then does that make sense? Because it doesn't sound like you guys are. And George, help me out on this. It doesn't sound like you guys are just willy nilly spending. It almost sounds like there's an accuracy issue more than it is. You guys. I mean, am I wrong there? We do have a little bit of problems with just spending carelessly. What are the categories you would say we busted on these

categories? Is it Amazon? Is it Target? Is it groceries? It's mainly like for me, I try to stick to it as much as I can. I mean, obviously, minus my guilty pleasures food.

So is it eating out? Yeah. Yeah. Like, uh, working a long day and being like, I don't feel like cooking. Let's just grab something, you know? Um, for my wife, it is, uh, we have a three-year-old as well. And, um, she is really big about she wants her to have all the stuff that she never was able to have growing up. So, like, when she wants something, she had a hard time telling her no or maybe next check or something. It's a three-year-old. They're going to have a tantrum regardless.

That's right. And they won't remember mom saying no. But she will remember watching her parents not fight about money and having a peaceful, strong, healthy marriage. So that's what I would be aiming toward versus serving a three-year-old's tantrums. That's true. And I mean, the other piece of grace on this, which y'all know I rarely offer the grace, is you guys are in a crazy time.

Like you have a newborn, you have a three-year-old. There are more times where you don't want to cook. And let's just be honest about that. So again, being realistic on that budget, but still making headway and progress on the debt is what you're looking for. There's no perfection here, only progress. This is The Ramsey Show.

You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw. Your other host for the day is George Camel, author of Breaking Free From Broke, host of The George Camel YouTube Show, which is always popping off, George. We're having a good time over there. You are. I like when you guys invite me over. It feels like we're unchaperoned and like in the parents' basement just having a good time. It's a house party.

It really is. Like kid and play. A lot of jokes, a lot of humor, a lot of good information. Love it, love it. If you haven't checked it out, do so. It's on the YouTubes and you won't regret it. Let's go to Burlington, Vermont. We've got Allison on the line.

What's up, Allison? Hi, Jade. Hi, George. It's an honor to talk to y'all um thank you so much for taking my call how are you guys doing we're doing great how can we help awesome yeah so um i've been with my boyfriend for about four years we've lived together for three years split our finances down the middle that's worked pretty well i did the bookkeeping end of it um now we just found out we're 12 weeks pregnant um which is really exciting wow that's cool okay um it's exciting and and we are um planning to get married you know in the next couple years was the years um hold up hold up hold up yeah why why y'all waiting so long you sound like you're a great couple. Yeah,

I mean, we are. You know, he was originally going to propose, like, this summer was his idea, and now that we're pregnant, he doesn't want to propose because I'm pregnant, and I guess I get that, but, like... How do you get that? Make it make sense. It just feels like, I don't know, I mean, obviously I want to get married,

and I've been telling him it's nice to be engaged before we announce we're pregnant, but, yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how we, like, I don't know. I mean, obviously I want to get married and I've been telling him it's nice to be engaged before we announced we're pregnant, but yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how we like keep our finances separate. If we're going to have a baby and not be married, it's going to be hard, which is why George and I are, if you were watching on YouTube,

why we have these looks on our faces. I am perplexed. We're flummoxed. Befuddled. What if you just got the, okay. And I know this is not romantic, but what if you just got the okay and i know this is not romantic but what if you just got the piece of paper so the legality and those protections are there you don't tell

anybody and then when the time is right and he wants to propose and do all the romantic stuff you still get to have that fun too okay yeah i get that so like we just get married and don't tell anybody but then we have a baby and everyone thinks we're still separate yeah it's literally a piece of paper yeah what i remember when my husband and i were engaged and you know you have to go down to the courthouse and have him sign the paper once that happened i was like wait a second like this is the real this is the real deal that everything else is the party and fun and nobody knows nobody even knew when we went and did that i mean everybody knows y'all already living together they're about to know you're having a baby so i don't think this

marriage certificate is going to really be the thing that shocks them fair enough can i ask a follow-up question to all this then go for it so if we get end up getting married which i'm really hoping i can convince him or you know explain all just to him maybe play the episode for him um you know i've been living debt free i've got a good rate 401k we've got a four six month emergency fund i personally have had that saved up have an additional 24 000 set aside that i've been saving for a down payment on a home nice again debt free my boyfriend however um you know he doesn't have a lot of savings we have like a combined savings account we've both been contributing to equally.

What's in that? They just get a lease on a truck in March, which I did not love. It's a big, big amount of money. And I was worried when we, I think it was $55,000. Yikes. What does he make? He makes like $50,000. Oh my goodness.

Wow. Was this before or after you were pregnant this is before okay hey how much is in that savings that you guys said that you had together and i'm guessing that's separate than from your emergency fund correct yeah so the savings we have together is about uh 13,000 right now okay and then i have my private savings of 24,000 right now. Okay. And then I have my private savings of $24,000 and then a six-month expense on top of that. How much is the six-month expenses? $24,000 as well. Okay. So good job, A.

Have you guys had these conversations about your views on debt and managing money as a couple? We have. And when we were looking for a replacement truck for him you know i agreed he needed to get rid of the truck because it was having a lot of maintenance issues and it was time he was upside down on it a little bit but i haggled with the dealer and got got them to offer us what it was worth at least or at least what the note was so we cleared that at least

but i just i was trying to get him to like not get a full-size truck because at the end of the day, that was what was the big, the big note. But he did it anyway. And why do you think he did it anyway?

And what was his kind of attitude towards you even though you were like, no, don't do it? I think he just saw me as like trying to like take away his manhood,

which was not the goal. He is a child who's about to have a child. This is a problem. He needs to grow up. He's about to have a child. This is a problem. He needs to grow up. He's about to be a dad. He thinks it's like a great thing to have in case we need to tow something. Just in case we have to tow something.

I'm about to tow him down to the courthouse for this wedding. Oh, boy. If I get married, though, how do I get rid of this lease? There's three ways to get out of a lease. None of them are going to be fun. There's early lease termination, which comes with a lot of fees. You have lease transfer, which is like trying to get someone else to buy your timeshare or someone else takes over the lease.

The last one is probably the most probable for you guys, which is a lease buyout. You pay the difference between the lease payoff amount and the current value of the car. Gotcha. Then you would sell it. So you would do that and then sell it. Because a guy making 50 grand should not be driving a $55,000 car. Yeah. Is the math mathing for you?

It's mathing. No, absolutely. You're very financially responsible. I'm hoping that you rub off on him. Well, that's my biggest concern allison my concern is um and i'm not trying to put doubts in your mind but my concern is that based on what you said if you take george and i's advice like let's say you you get off the phone you think about what george and i said and you go yeah like i want to get out of

this lease especially if we're getting married my concern is that you'll bring that to him and it'll kind of completely get like ignored. And that for me is, I'm going to call that a red flag for me because finances is such a big part of marriage. And don't get me wrong. It's something that you work at and get better at as a couple. It's not something that just clicks on like a light switch. But I do want you guys to start having these conversations. And I want you to make it very clear to him how important this is and where you hope to be in the future and that you want to be on the same page and not you say something and he ignores it and does it anyway. Fair enough? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I felt differently about it when we did it because it was his note, but now if we're going to combine finances, now that's going to be my financial burden.

Exactly. And so here's the deal. No longer will you guys make decisions where you're both not aligned. If you're not fully in alignment, you both don't agree it's the right move, then it doesn't happen. He doesn't get to veto your vote. Okay. So that's the rule.

How old are you two? We're both 28 okay cool the good news is the good and bad news is you guys have got money laying around to get out of this lease and i hate that it's probably going to cost you and you're going to end up with you know having to pay some stupid tax here probably in more ways than one but the good news is you do have the money to do that and um I would. I would do that and sell it off once you can get out and get something much, much cheaper. The rule of thumb here when it comes to cars is you don't want it to be more than half of your combined take-home pay.

So he's at 50. What are you at? I'm at 80. Okay. So we don't want this to be, if we take 130 and think half of that, that's where you're at. Total for all vehicles. So my truck's only worth $10,000. So if we could technically keep his truck, then if we were married, our combined vehicles are only $65,000.

If you wanted to and pay it off, it's a lease though. Here's the problem. You're about to deplete your six-month emergency fund and your $24,000 for your down payment fund to reverse his stupid decision. So the question is, do you want to have an emergency fund and a home sooner, or do you want to delay your adult life while trying to take care of a baby because he wanted his twuck?

Right? That's the decision you're trying to grapple with here. Also known as a truck. A twuck. Is it a big twuck? It's your big twuck. What color is the truck? Yeah. It's gray. Big way twuck. A. A twuck. Is it a big twuck? It's your big twuck. What color is the truck? Yeah. It's gray. Big way twuck.

A big way twuck. Yeah. That can tow things. Oh, my goodness. Well, Allison, you're super fun. I want to be able to help you guys out. So we're going to give you Financial Peace University for a year, and I want you guys to watch all nine lessons together,

and I want you to have a conversation after each lesson and get aligned on what your future money goals are and get aligned that debt is not going to be in your future. Because your life is too important. This baby's life is too precious to be playing kid games. That's true. And she knows what diligence will do. I mean, she's sitting here. She's got 24K saved.

She had 24K starting her down payment. She's debt free. We know that this way works. And in some way, you're going to have to explain this to your future spouse in a way that's not condescending. That's not you looking down on him. But in some way, you're going to have to go, I've been doing this thing and it's really been working for me. So your way hasn't worked as well. So there's some conversations that need to be had and they won't necessarily be difficult, but they will be worth it.

This is The Ramsey Show. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Today I'm hosting with George Camel. George Camel, it's never been better. Some call it a blessing. Some call it, I call it a blessing. Some call it work.

It's a little bit of work. But the two of us will be taking your calls all hour long, 888-825-5225 is the number. Give us a blessing. Some call it work. It's a little bit of work, but the two of us will be taking your calls all hour long. 888-825-5225 is the number. Give us a call and we will do our best to give you the best advice on your financial situation, your money, whatever it is that you're going through, your life and money. Give us a call and we'll hook you up.

And can I just say our advice, while I feel like is the wisest for your financial future, it can sometimes come across harsh. Yeah. And just know that we want the best for you. I have no bias. I want you to live a great life. And I'm just telling you what I would do

if I was in your shoes. And a lot of times that means doing really hard things that suck, that are not fun. That's facts. And I think you and I together, because you're kind of a no-nonsense, I'm a no-nonsense, it might be, you know, you call it your own risk is all we're saying. Yeah, I mean, I am very nonsensical. Yeah. When it comes to the advice I give you, I'm going to tell you the truth as if

you were my best friend. Yeah, well, I think part of that, George, I think we're like that because we've walked through so many of the scenarios that people call in and are asking about. And so we're not just talking about it from head or book knowledge. We're talking about it from experience as well. And so there's a love there. We have done and would do what we're telling you to do. That's right. Jade has lived it. She paid off almost half a million dollars between her and her husband over seven years. A lot of sacrifices made having roommates while y'all were married. 10 out of 10 would not recommend. And there's some people who are single who are like, well, I don't want a roommate, Jade. I'm like, you're a 25-year-old dude. Get a roommate. You know what? And that's what it is, George. I

think there is a low BS-ometer. We can sniff out the BS very quickly and it's like, wait a minute. You just don't want to be uncomfortable. wait a minute you're just scared or wait a minute you're giving a lot of excuses right now i think we we can sniff it out because we've been there and we've had to work through those kind of mental hang-ups because there are i mean there is a level of discomfort that goes hand in hand with walking the baby steps but it's sacrifice now it's that temporary sacrifice so that long term term. But it's weird. Most people would rather be in a low level of pain for 25 years versus just doing something hard for a season.

I think it's just the fear. I think it's a fear of the unknown. Because think about it. If you hopefully this analogy works out, I'm going to go with it. Like if you go to the doctor's office and it turns out that you need a procedure in order to be healthy. Right. But you've never had the procedure before. The first thing you think about is what? Is it going to hurt? Yeah.

Is it going to hurt? How long can I put this off for? How long can I put it off? And in many cases, people delay the care that they need because of fears about a pain that's probably very temporary. And then after that, they can go on to live a healthy life. But they're so worried about that first initial, what's it going to be like if they put me under? What if I wake up? And it's like you're just freaking yourself out.

But it turns out that we actually are very adaptable as human beings. And we have pain tolerances. And we can do hard things. And we come out on the other side. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger what doesn't kill you makes you stronger yes on the harmony that's what i'm talking about not great i'll work on that but yeah i think comfort is the enemy of growth and michael easter wrote a great book called the comfort crisis yes

george and i think that's what america's come to you hear these calls you're like how did this person make these crazy decisions well they wanted what felt good in the now they wanted to be comfortable now they wanted the lifestyle now instead of delayed gratification, which has now become a virtue that if you can get there, you're going to have the most wonderful life of abundance and joy and peace. So just wanted to put that filter on. Don't call the show to justify your bad move. Don't try to bounce around ideas.

We are telling you this because it's in your best interest, and we have lived it, and we would do the same thing if we were you. That's right. And George just has a snarky personality. I can't help it. It's a defense mechanism. A sarcastic fellow. I'm working through it, guys.

All right, Larry. Enter at your own risk. Larry from Lubbock, Texas. What's going on, Larry? Actually, I need some honest opinion. Yes. I am struggling with the idea of staying at my current job, which would mean most likely taking over the foreman position from my current boss or going back to my old job that has better benefits, better pay,

but has proven to not respect their employees. Oh, why would you ever go back to that? No amount of money is worth that. I mean, you're right, but there's... Who cares about a 401k match if there's a sole tax to be paid? Every day you walk in there, you sit in your car going, here we go. Were you the foreman at the old job? No, I was just a heavy equipment operator. Why is it that becoming foreman at your current job is not giving you a pay increase? No, becoming foreman at my current job would probably give me a pay increase, but it would

probably only give me about as much as i would be making going back to my old job which is i work for the county i do i do road construction okay so foreman gives you the same pay as the old job so tell me now why would you not take it what's the benefit in going back to the old job is what I'm saying. Well, it would require me taking the job from a guy that, I mean, I kind of respect, but he's in way over his head. And he's causing a lot of damage to this county. And he doesn't even realize it. At the old job? No, at the new job.

At the new job. Okay. Oh, so you're not, I didn't realize that. So it's not you're being offered this. You're kind of, is this you stepping up and kind of saying, this guy doesn't know what he's doing? Is that what's happening? Yeah, this would require me stepping up and talking to basically the commissioner and saying, you know, I can improve this place, but you have to give me the help.

A revolution. Okay. Well, what's wrong with just having that conversation and seeing what happens? Nothing's necessarily wrong with it, but I don't really want to stir the pot if he's just going to kind of keep in the blind and keep with the current pace of things. You know, that would still require me morally to find somewhere else to go who's between who's okay so he's the foreman you're at your job who's between you guys that you go to nobody and since i've gotten here he's i mean it's it's been

obvious he's coming to me with every project, every road that we work on. It's very obvious that he doesn't have the knowledge, and he's relying on me. So he's out of his depth. Yeah, and I'm tired of doing his job and not getting the pay for it. So you're getting resentful. You don't like the old job. It sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place here. You don't really want to do either of these things.

I mean, no. My overall is to not do either of these things. So what is your goal? If I snap my fingers, what would be true? Would you have a totally different job? No, I'd still be doing this, but my own company. Oh. In private.

So what would that look like? Tell us realistic steps that... Can you go work for another private company and learn the ropes? I mean, yes, and that's kind of what I'm doing here, but the reason why I chose these is because it gives me the time off to be able to spend with my family. Excuse me, it's been hard for me. It gives me time to be able to spend with my family after a hard divorce and trying to just start over. I think that plays into your decision. It's a bigger decision than just pay

or a boss. You've got to think about what needs to be true five years from now to where this is a sustainable life. I enjoy what I do. My family's taken care of. Our goals are being met. And that might mean... I could do that at either of these jobs. This is more of just a, I want to move up from here. I think that you're limiting your options between this job or that job, the old job or the current job when there's a whole world you're in construction right yeah okay there's a whole world are there more than two construction companies in the area um yes but like i was about to say most of the construction or contracting crews around here and you know they require that you work seven days you know six seven days a week you know you're working 12 hours a day.

And time with my family is really important to me. So there's a sacrifice to be made there where you may not be able to do that kind of work if this is a priority for you to be working, you know, 45, 50 hours a week instead of 70. Suppose you treated that like a short-term deal and said, I'm going to go and work for one of these companies. It's short-term because ultimately you're going out on your own and then you're going to start your own client base. I think if we look at this and realize nothing here is for life and nothing is long-term, then you can choose the right setup to get you where you're wanting to go quicker.

So you can kind of pull the dock, the boat close to the dock and make that leap into kind of being your own man on this. And I think it's very possible. You're just going to have to zone into one of those options. This is the Ramsey show. I'll see you next time.