The Ramsey Show - App - Getting Out of Debt Just Might Save Your Marriage (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 21, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony discuss: the Borrowed Future documentary with guest A’Mari Simmons, What to do when you buy too much house, Dealing with credit checks and potential identify theft, How getting out of debt can save your marriage, When to make the jump to a new career. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

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, Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, best-selling author, is my co-host today as we talk about your life and your money. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Your mental health, your relationships, your job, your career, your money, it's all a possible subject. So back in the fall, we aired for the first time the premiere airing of the first full-length major documentary that Ramsey Networks has done. It's called Borrowed Future. And Borrowed Future is all about the incredible ripoff, how student loans are killing the American dream.

The incredible ripoff, the epic failure of the student loan program. In that documentary, we interviewed all kinds of experts, from Seth Godin to Seth Frotman. Dr. John Deloney was interviewed before he was a Ramsey personality. Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs interviewed. Of course, I'm interviewed. And we had several different people who were saddled with different levels of student loan debt that were featured. Then we showed their personal stories as a part of the program. Amari Simmons was one of the ladies,

one of the people that was featured on the documentary, and she at that time was still a student at the University of Tennessee and had piled up some student loan debt. And she came by to visit today to tour the studios and to tour the building and see everything. She had never been here. We had gone down to Knoxville. Our crew had to film with her and to meet her down there. and so we all felt like we all knew her because we watched her on the big screen so many times in the edit room and then later in the finally in the premiere and everything else so it's uh it's good to get to hang out with her today she came by and i said well if you're coming by we're going to sit and talk for a minute

and talk about borrowed future with dr john deloney welcome amari hi thank you it is so good to have you thanks for visiting us of course so tell us uh tell the folks out there that maybe have not seen borrowed future yet about the the student loan debt that you got into and how that occurred uh so you want me to give like number amount i don't care whatever you. Whatever you want to do. So I had about $13,000 in student loan debt. And that was including scholarships for my four years. So that just happened because my family, I'm from a single parent home. So simply, she just couldn't afford to put me through college on her own salary. So push for scholarships and i did

get a full ride scholarship to the university of tennessee but about after like a year into my sophomore year i had lost the scholarship um because of grades um i didn't really know how to study so i wasn't really prepared for the rigor of college and University of Tennessee is pretty rigorous even though it's a public university it's not the easiest but I just wasn't set up in a way where I knew how to balance life as an adult

and then now college and grades and my major at the time I was a biology major switched it so at the time, I was a biology major, switched it. So at the time, it just it was difficult for me. It was adjusting while also trying to live up to the expectation that I have to get through school, have to get a degree, have to make money. You know, I have to live this life that adults tell you you should be living. You know, where did you hear this idea that you had to go to college?

If you want to be successful college? In school, honestly. If you want to be successful, you've just been told that all your life. Yeah, in school. It's kind of like that's what the focus was. You know, you're getting good grades so you can go to college, so you can get into college. You know, the focus was ACT. You're always having to do ACT prep.

Take the ACT. Take the ACT. Take the ACT. What does the ACT use for? To get into college. You know, so that was the focus. And you're spending your whole life as a kid in school. You brought up something so important.

You said, I got there and I had this big fancy scholarship. I didn't understand, as an 18-year-old, the weight of that scholarship and what that all meant. And suddenly I'm thrown into class with some classes, a couple hundred people are in these classes and i didn't have the study skills i did when i back up and i think we're just writing blank checks to 18 year olds and say make good choices right millions and millions and millions of us didn't get great coaching without a do that right what do you walk us through i'm 18 i'm kind of having unlimited everything and i i'm not prepared for unlimited everything uh i mean it just feels like well in high school

grades getting good grades it was easy for me right but also the the challenge of my high school coursework was not challenging. So it was easy for me to get A's. You know, I consider myself smart. But we didn't really have to dig deeper into understanding what it is that you're actually learning. And then applying it to other things, which is the bulk of college. It's college, right? Yeah. You're not just memorizing something and now you're having to write down on a test you're having to apply what you what you learn and so it's a whole

different skill set yeah and so in high school i personally just don't feel like i was prepared for that and then going to a university like tennessee is huge yeah you know it's huge you get lost you have a lot of distractions if you don't know how to label distraction from something that's a resource you know so you get involved because that's the next thing you want to get involved you want to you want to form a community you want to be a part of something you want to have belonging so you join all these different things now realizing oh I still have to study for class I have a test on Friday but now I have all these other responsibilities that come along with being in organizations. Now, you've graduated now, and the debt has paid off.

Yes. Way to go. Thank you. Congratulations. So proud for you. Proud of you. Well done. And you've got the degree in what?

Child and Family Studies. Child and Family Studies. Bachelor's of Science. Good. Good. And so you've been out of school now how long? For like two years. Yeah.

Yeah. Sneaks up on us. It was like three years ago we were shooting some of that footage. Yeah. I think you were a senior when we were down there shooting that if I remember. No, not yet. I was like a junior. Okay.

All right. Way back there then. Okay. Cool. Very cool. Very cool. So now that you're out and a student loan is behind you, one of the things you said real quickly was in the documentary,

you said it's not fair or it's not right that it's so normalized. It's like everybody has one. And I think the phrase was something like, you know, if you meet a perfect stranger, we can talk about student loans. Something's wrong if we all have that in common. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, the normalization

of that i mean so you didn't think anything about taking out the loan at the time just because everybody did it no not really i mean i did but it was one of those things where it's like okay you kind of don't have a choice so it doesn't really matter that intuitively you're against it you know it's like this is what you need to do if you want to meet the goal that you set for yourself which is to break chains and set a different path for not only you but your future family and your present family you know very cool marie simmons we're honored to have you with us proud of you incredible permanent member of the ramsey family you come by anytime and hang out the documentary is borrowed future it's available to watch right now on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, or you can go to BorrowedFuture.com and watch it. Hundreds of thousands already have. No teenager should be walking around

without having seen this. It is the antidote for anyone wanting a student loan. You'll never want one if you see this documentary. Thanks for dropping by, Amari. You're welcome. This is The Ramsey Show. Imagine a world where people never have to worry about money ever again. At Ramsey Solutions, our mission is to teach people how to get out of debt and build lasting wealth. And if that means we have to take on the toxic money culture that says you need debt to get ahead, then we're okay with that. We've seen millions of lives changed, and SEO and content marketing specialists.

To find out about these positions and more here at Ramsey Solutions, visit RamseySolutions.com slash careers. That's RamseySolutions.com slash careers. Together, we will disrupt the toxic money culture in America and change lives. Visit RamseySolutions.-selling author, is my co-host today. As we answer your questions about your life and your money, his new book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, is on presale at RamseySolutions.com. You really ought to get it for $20 because you get a couple hundred dollars worth of items thrown in when you do that. You really don't want to miss out on this. Mike is with us in St. Louis. Hey, Mike, how are you?

I'm good, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm just going to give you a rundown of my situation. My wife and I are both 35 years old. We make about $125 125 000 a year combined um we both have great jobs a very stable income um we no other debt thanks to you uh

debt free we have about 80 000 in cash right now in liquid cash and bank um two kids one on the way coming in july yay uh yeah so uh but we since the start of the pandemic um actually right before everything shut down we bought and sold and then we bought and sold two more times since then How come? Why'd you do that? Well, we didn't plan on doing it. We just, the house that we first went to after we sold, it was one of those cookie cutter neighborhoods, next door neighbor ended up having a pit bull in the backyard, and we didn't want our kids around that. And we just kind of saw what the prices were doing so we sold it uh bought another one through a friend or an acquaintance so the buy owner home

but that one was also in another neighborhood we just weren't real satisfied with we bought it just because it was kind of it was cheap so then we sold and then bought one more time now we're where we're at but we each time obviously we've gone up in home and uh so the homework now costs uh 400 000 uh we put 10 000 down how much is your house house payment is around it2,100. Okay. And what's your question? Well, I guess my question is, like, do we have too much house? I feel comfortable with it.

I know it's not within your guidelines right now with where we're at, but I feel like we can grow. Actually, it should be. I mean mean we tell people not to have a house payment more than a fourth of their take-home pay and your take-home pay not i mean not counting retirement coming out or health insurance coming out but take-home pay after taxes and your take-home pay ought to be nine grand anyway it's about seven seventy five hundred because i'm a teacher so i get i get a lot taken out for my pension. Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about your take-home pay after taxes, not after take-home pay with your pension or take-home pay for your 401K or take-home pay for your health insurance. We don't count that. I'm talking about your gross minus your taxes. It shouldn't be more than a fourth of that now did you put this on a 15 year fixed we did not it's on a 30 which i know it's not the best but no it's on 30 on on three percent yeah and you need to get so you need to work to get it paid off as soon as you can but no you're not you're not in over your head on house i'll tell you what you are doing impulsing houses is straight up stupid these three moves very expensive very expensive i mean and so

if you're gonna buy a house we find out what's in the yard of the next door neighbor before we buy the house if you're going to buy a house you you there's a permanence to that that you have to consider all the possible variables you can't just go out for the weekend and come home with a new house yeah i'd be willing to bet there's some anxiety issues there's some marriage there's something going on there's some running happening just ping-ponging back and forth and being in house number three and already thinking well maybe i should uh let's somebody house is not gonna make you happy no it will not in fact the matter of fact it'll make you sad and so what you need to do is you need to sit your butt in that house and not move again for a long time and then when you feel uncomfortable you feel that itch you feel the

thing starting to rattle deal with that don't figure out what's causing the rattle not the thing yes so yeah you're you're you're jumping around man i mean you impulsing houses that'll get you and here especially in this kind of market dave i've had this in the new book i i've been there like you've impulsed houses i've impulsed yeah man and it was covering up an internal thing that i was just the machine was saying run run run run run oh and you were sure you're running i'm running from this rental house to that rental house to this bought this house sold this house moved me and my wife to a residence hall on a college campus, trying to just frantic to do a thing without getting to the court issues. So I've been down that road before.

Yeah, somebody there's running. Megan's in Topeka, Kansas. Hey, Megan, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Hey, John. How are you guys doing? Good. What's up?

I need to talk to you guys about a stress that has been bothering me for about five years. I adopted my daughter back in 2017, my oldest daughter. And her biological mom kept her first Social Security card. And we got her Social Security number changed. And we got her last name changed but when we went to the social security office they told us that there was no guarantees that her biological mother couldn't take out the credit card or open up a loan on that social security number and um the lawyer that we had he did everything he could to try and get it from

her she just wouldn't surrender well i mean you can't guarantee the bank isn't gonna get robbed by crook and the mother the mother the birth mother's obviously you know got major issues going on she's crook potentially that's what's scaring you how old's the kid right now she's um gonna be eight next month good well awesome that's great have youaring you how old's the kid right now she's um gonna be eight next month good well awesome that's great have you read a credit report on her i don't well that was one of my questions is i didn't know if i was legally allowed to sure you're her parent yeah you're a guardian absolutely okay the other thing you can do that you need to do is you need to freeze her credit yeah freeze the other credit yeah yeah i just need to know all the ways

i can protect her well number one you can't yeah completely because there's skunks in the world and it's the potential that her birth mother's a skunk we don't know for sure but there's a potential that's why you're calling but the things you can do is you can check check it make sure there's nothing on it uh the second thing you can do is freeze it. Okay? Now, if you freeze it, what happens is if someone checks her credit in order to issue a debt, like a credit card, for instance, in her name, if they check her credit and it's frozen, they will not issue the debt.

So birth mother uses old Social social security number new social security number new name old name whatever and they check her credit and it's frozen then the credit card will be denied here's the problem only three in ten credit cards do they actually run a credit check on they just automatically issue seven of them that's how dead people and dogs get cards you can get a dog issued in your poodle's name and i mean a card they'll issue because these credit card companies are stupid they're just there because in mass it works out for them and they're just running scale they're running large numbers and so they might still issue a card to the kid so what i would do is i would go to zander insurance and i would buy identity theft on the family plan

and that includes coverage for your kids it's not that expensive identity theft insurance protection and what it'll do it then is if if someone birth mother included, stole her identity and illegally opened a card in her name, then they would assign a counselor to that case and get it all removed and cleaned up for you. And that's why I carry it on me and my family. Can I buy that even if she has coverage through my husband's work? Because I've been wanting to.

She has coverage for what? Through Zander Insurance? Well, through LifeLock. Well, LifeLock does not assign a counselor. They do not assign someone to take care of it for you. Yes, I'd pay the money. Yes, I would pay the money and go buy it from Zander because LifeLock is just a monitoring service.

And take a breath. You did something noble and good. And it sounds like you're pre-worrying about things that might happen down the road. Yeah. Be present here. Be with your kid here. Things are good. Things are good.

Enjoy the ride. Yeah. Man, parenting's hard enough as it is without imagining things that could happen. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America, as we talk about your relationships, your careers, and your money every day here on The Ramsey Show. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Dean and Beth are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi.

Wonderful, Dave. Good to have you guys. Where do you live? Simi Valley, California. That's a bit of a haul to Nashville. Just a bit. Well, welcome. We're all the way over here on the other side of the world to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? We paid off just over $408,000, which includes the house.

Whoa! Yeah! Look at it, weird people! And while we did that, we cash flowed both of our sons through college. That was just about $83,000. Wow. That's impressive. Pretty cool. And how long did this take you?

Almost 12 years. All right. Very good. And your range of income over that decade plus? Started about 100, 105. But I didn't work for a whole lot of that time. And now I am working. So right now we're, I don't know what we're at right now.

Just under 200,000. Okay. All right. Good. What do you all do for a living? I'm a program manager for the Department of Navy. And I'm a staff accountant at Johnny and Friends. Oh, wow. Johnny's a friend.

Yeah. Johnny and Friends are friends. Yeah, and Ken, too. How are they doing? They're doing very well. I actually just saw them last Friday. Oh, cool. Well, give her a hug for us. We love her and him as well. So, hey, good to have you guys. So what started you on this journey 12 years ago i'm gonna try not to cry um so christmas 2008 uh i had bought him a computer part that he wanted that i didn't understand at all and it apparently ended up being the wrong part so when he went to

call to get a exchange the credit card got denied and so went, it's like I knew he had a lot of credit card debt, but I never totaled it up. But he got into the filing cabinet, pulled out all the bills, totaled it up, and went, we have to figure out what we're doing. And so I thought we were getting a divorce. And then our church offered FPU. And about, what, week seven, he looked at me and he said, so when we retire, and it was the first time I went, okay, this is an us thing. But, I mean, we'd done all of the budgeting and everything like that and had the conversations, but it was when he said that when we retire, I was like, okay, we're good.

We're going to make it. We're going to make it. So you were handling the whole thing by yourself. Yes, she was, Dave. Yeah. Yep. And carrying all of that. And it wasn't working.

And you knew it wasn't working, but you never said anything. I didn't know how to. Yeah. I don't blame you. I understand. That was $110,000 of unsecured debt. Woo-hoo-hoo. Yeah.

Mostly credit cards. Credit cards and two car loans. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. We Credit cards and two car loans. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah, we dug ourselves a really deep hole. Okay.

And you're just going off making money, coming home, making money, coming home, and never even thought about it. Yeah. Yeah, I thought with an engineering degree and she had a finance degree, we got to be doing all right. And it turns out we were far from it. So when you get that filing cabinet out, were you afraid or angry or both uh i really didn't know what to expect that's how unplugged i was with i mean when you got it all out and figured out what was going on i was terrified i had no idea what to do yep and so uh as as best said our

church was offering fpu i wasn't i kept hearing the commercials every sunday and and uh just thought well that's not for us that's not for us and so when i saw this i said well i think it was about a hundred dollars at the time yep what's another hundred dollars when you're 110 000 in debt so we figured we'd give it a shot it's still by the way is a hundred dollars inflation you know hasn't affected fpu right everything else is doubled and i think about how much your house went up and gas went up fpu still the same price sir 12 years ago yes i love uh also most would call those church announcements but i love how you said i was listening to the commercials yes yes what church stonebridge community church yeah okay cool wow you guys Yes. Yes. What church? Stonebridge Community Church.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Wow, you guys. So you went week one. We went week one. How did that feel? Awkward, right? We didn't know what to expect.

It never heard anything about you or Financial Peace University. It was hillbilly running up and down the stage screaming at you. Yes, sir. And I've been doing budgets for years, just never a zero-balance working for a church we never did a zero balance right right and so it was like well it can't hurt well until we had our first budget meeting yeah so how'd that go it hurt a little yeah that was a long that was a long afternoon that was a very long afternoon yeah that's the most military statement i've ever shared and i mean we had a knockdown drag out that day that was a long day our first one it was not pretty neither one of us were nice

but hillbilly says it was a knockdown drag out and a military man says it was a long afternoon yep and so i did what i usually do and started making a spreadsheet, and it's ridiculously sophisticated today. But it's got retirement tabs, and it's got the boys' college tab when they were in school, and it's got annual tab and a monthly tab and, yeah, macros and buttons. And then when it doesn't work, she just calls me and I walk her through some fix. So we live in a culture that most people quit their New Year's resolutions within 45 days of the new year.

Yes, sir. You guys have been doing this over a decade. Yeah. What kept y'all going? Well, it was difficult. Facilitating classes, actually. Yes. Every year we would teach,

we would help facilitate a class and it was like taking it again and we'd we'd always hear something new so it was like i think we were talking about it and it wasn't until like the third one where we really listened to the insurance one lesson and finally called the insurance company and said hey let's have a discussion awesome yeah we we struggled with uh so much debt we knew that that wasn't going to be measured in months and so um i need to have little victories just so i can stay motivated and so by facilitating classes that was a big help uh and then just we would set up little mini milestones i mean the the uh the baby steps helped but when you got $110,000, you're on that baby step for a very long time.

And so we would just set little milestones of, you know, we'd get the debt down to $50,000, and we would go do a humble dinner but just go out to celebrate. So we had all these little milestones that were just barely out of reach but enough that kept us motivated and kept us challenged. The breadcrumbs. Yes, sir. All the way through. Yes, sir. All the way through. Yes, sir.

Sounds like it impacted your marriage, too. Hugely. So we were married for, what, we got married in 90. We did this in 2009, so it's that 19 years. And we would have the financial arguments with money until February 2009. And, Dave, I can tell you that we have never argued once about money since then. Once you got past that first budget committee meeting. We would be frustrated with the numbers, but our frustration was focused on that spreadsheet,

was focused on the zero-balance budget, never with each other. So it was figuring out how to do what we wanted to do with the money we had, knowing that it has to sum to zero at the bottom of the page. So Beth, I'm looking at you. Okay. You're still carrying this as though this happened yesterday, right? Some parts of it, yes. So here's the thing.

Your story, nothing is wasted. The journey you and your husband have been on will inspire millions who are in your exact same situation listening to this, driving down the road. And your bravery over the last decade will heal marriages. You're not only going to change your family tree, you're going to change other family trees. And so when we leave Nashville today, this story, this pain that you're carrying with you, you set that down here and it stays here. Fair? Fair. All right. I'm proud of you. You're such a gift. So cool. Nashville today, this story, this pain that you're carrying with you, you set that down here and it stays here. Fair? Fair.

All right. I'm proud of you. You're such a gift. So cool. It's already changed the next generation. Our sons, we taught one of the years we taught foundations also at the church. And both of them are debt free and out of college. During the pandemic, finished school and ended up getting to get full time jobs and moved out.

My older son actually came to me as he was looking at apartments with his laptop and said, Okay, here's my budget. What do you think? And I was like, Oh, I'm going to cry. This is how you make some moms cry. That's right. He's responsible. He's not going to live in the basement.

Yeah, this is great. Well done, y'all. You guys are amazing. I'm so proud of you. Well done. We've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter in your story. You're on your way if you're not already there.

How ordinary people build extraordinary wealth how you can, too. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. $408,000 paid off in 12 years. Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah!

Woo-hoo-hoo! Yeah, baby! Boom! Just like that. Love it. So cool. This is the Ramsey Shack. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us.

As we're talking with the last couple on the Debt-Free Scream during the commercial break, they shared with us, which I should have asked them when they were on the air, I goofed, but with their retirement plans and with the paid-for house, their net worth is $1.67. with us um which i should have asked them when they were on the air i goofed um but they're with their retirement plans and with the paid for house their net worth is 1.67 so they go from 12 years ago opening the filing cabinet she's afraid he's going to divorce her when she discussed when he discovers how bad a mess they've made um he takes ownership of the fact he had not helped she takes ownership of the fact she shame-based and didn't bring all the mess forward and together they go into the financial peace university class they keep facilitating the

class throughout the years they get everything paid off 110 000 worth of consumer debt plus a paid plus a house in simi valley california and a couple of kids through college and a couple kids through college who are all responsible and doing their own budget with their computer and showing it to mom and all that. $408,000 paid off in 12 years. But in the midst of that, they followed the baby steps exactly, so they are truly baby steps millionaires. That's quite a turnaround. I mean, this goes from a negative net worth to $1.67 in 12 years. And I've never heard of all the debt-free screams I've been a part of.

I've never heard somebody – because $100 thousand dollars in unsecured debt staggering that's a huge credit card bill right let's credit card cars right yeah but the psychology is right you got to have little wins to make progress in anything right that's depression 101 that's anxiety you can have little wins that snowball right But you know what they did? They served. So they led classes for the little wins. And so that meant that other people were getting their little credit card here paid off, and they were registering that as we're contributing. And we often get stuck staring in our own mirrors, at our own belly buttons,

wondering about me, poor me, poor me. Service is one of the great things you can do to get out of yourself and get those little wins with being around other people that are winning keeps you moving forward well get out of yourself is the trick yeah uh because what a great idea we are we're taught by so many things in this toxic culture to gaze inward just think about it over and over just gaze inward yeah navel gazingazing, to the point that you can think your way through something. And sometimes you just need to get up off your butt and go help somebody. Go do, yes.

Go mow somebody's grass. I mean, go clean out their gutters. I mean, go teach a financial peace university class while you're broke. Yes. And while you're working it. And so you're relatable to the people that are in there when you're the coordinator. That's right. You know, you're not above them somehow.

So many things are taught by people who are above it. Right. And that's really one of the big things about the whole Ramsey brand is we're not above anything. We're right there with you. That's exactly right. Maybe we're mathematically above where you are, but we have been right where you are, and you get there. So that's a big deal. But those quick wins or small wins, that loop is a big deal.

That service, yeah. Good for you guys. Yeah, I'm taking those who are first will be last. Those who are last will be first. Cody's with us in Charlotte. Hey, Cody, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, can you hear me, Dave? Absolutely. What's up? Hey, man. Thanks for taking my call. So I have a bit of a situation I was wanting your opinion on.

I'm a real estate agent. I have been for about a year now. And I wasn't now. I made okay money last year, but we just found out we have a baby coming in September. I was wanting to try to save up a little bit of money for the baby. I took a part-time job at Lowe's. I just got accepted for that. I was wanting your opinion about if I should continue doing real estate part-time and try to stack some cash doing that, even though it's really commission-based, there's a chance I might not make a lot of money, or if I should go full-time with a 9-to-5 and try to stack money that way.

You do not have a full-time job now? No, sir. I just started part-time because when did you when did you start the real estate business one year ago yes sir how much have you made last year i made 33 000 yes sir okay um how many houses do you have listed right now? Well, I have three houses and one lot, one vacant lot. Okay. What did you make the second six months, not the first six months? Well, my first six months was better than my second because my mom is a broker in charge, so I kind of tagged along on some of her transactions,

which I realized I made $16 off of her alone from helping her out, so that's what kind of got me nervous about this coming up year. How old are you? Six months. I'm 30. Okay. Well, it's a hot time to sell real estate. Why are you not selling real estate?

I don't know. it's a hot time to sell real estate. Why are you not selling real estate? Um, I don't know. I've been doing cold calls. I've been trying to do a lot of prospecting. Um, so I'm not exactly sure if it's, you know, what's going on as far as why it's not doing better.

But I mean, it is my, my first year. So I was, didn't know if it was just that or, or what well there are people that flame out in the first year and there are people that succeed amazingly in the first year and those are lots of people in the middle in the first year that's not

unusual um but basically you made fourteen thousand dollars in the real estate business in one year you haven't made any money And my realtor that walked us through our situation, which was just a regular old house purchase and with a pain in the butt client who was me, I tell everybody about her. I want everyone to know about Amanda because she was incredible with my family, with my kids. There's a gap between,

I'm concerned that you don't know, that you can't put your finger on it. If you ask me how I can get better at my job that I'm in right now, that I'm still learning, I'm still a baby at this, I know because the guys tell me and we keep track of that stuff. I'm concerned that you're just like, well, I don't know, I'm just making some call. You've got to have a couple of concrete things. Have you sat down with your mom and asked her, what am I not doing?

Yeah, and I think the biggest um issue i was having i was having was prospecting and that's how i got the leads that i have now i started my prospecting up a lot stronger in january or actually in december of last year so throughout the past two months i got all the listings i have now through prospecting oh that's good i kind of buckled down on that. Okay, so we at least have a good trend line now. Okay, so you got the – because listings are money in the bank in your world. If you've listed the property properly at a proper price in this market,

it's getting ready to turn into money. It's going to sell. Yes, sir. It's going to sell. So all the listings you can get are just, that's money in the bank. That's just making a deposit. You just can't make the withdrawal quite yet. But if you're prospecting, if you've gotten more business on the books in the last 60 days

than you did the entire year before that, then we're on to something, aren't we? Yes, sir. Okay. So it sounds like you need to double your prospecting one more time. Okay. I want you to double your prospecting one more time. Okay. I want you to become a prospecting machine. And you can make a lot more doing this than you can working part-time at Lowe's. Dave, let me ask you this.

How many people get into the real estate business and look at, they flip over a napkin and they do the math, if I sell this many houses, I'll make this much money and underestimate the work it takes to sell a house. All of them. Okay. Okay. Everybody. It's like any business you go into. You think it's going to take twice as long as you think it's going to.

It's going to cost twice as much as you think it's going to. And you're not the exception. These are the three rules of business. And it goes over and over and over again. I've never heard those. But the, you know, and the rule in the real estate business, the the problem the real estate business is you're self-employed right and there's nobody leaning over you going you hadn't made your 300 calls this week um i was with one of our marketing teams this morning looking at some stuff and they said these guys are doing 300 calls

well that's how you do it yeah it's there's there's no exception for activity when listen man so what you've got to remember uh cody and your situation is if you're not kneecap to kneecap eyeball to eyeball or digitally through email or telephone talking to someone about buying or selling a piece of real estate if you're not doing that any moment you're not doing that you are unemployed i like that you're not in the real estate business you're not doing that, you are unemployed. I like that. You're not in the real estate business. You're just unemployed. You're just an unemployed guy.

And in the real estate business, I call them donut eaters because they would sit around the office, eat donuts, and whine about the economy and the president instead of getting up off their butt, leaving the cave, killing something, and dragging it home. But it's all about activity. It's all about prospecting in your case, Cody. So yeah, turn that up. And if that doesn't work in 90 days, you may need to go do something else. But I think it's going to. I think you figured out what was going on. I think you haven't been

disciplined about your marketing. And if you turn that up to a high octane level, you should be fine. Get it, Cody. Get it. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.