The Ramsey Show - App - Help! I Keep Going Back Into Debt… (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Ken Coleman & Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: Investing vs. saving for a down payment, "Help me get out of the cycle of debt" from the blog: Do This First If You Want to Get Out of Debt, Paying the bills after a layoff, "Sell our property on a payment plan?" Should I use savings to pay off my house? Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving and storage studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. All three of those are absolutely connected, and we want to help you win with some common sense and hope. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague, Rachel Cruz, and we're here together for you this hour. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. She took a swig fromachel cruz mug that tells me she is ready to go let's go we're gonna just have lunch just had lunch yes that must be nice i just came straight from the ken coleman show i won't eat till later today oh so it's okay what a hard life you live i look at me i'm a real worker here folks all right let's get to Jose, who joins us in Houston, Texas. Jose, how can we help? Hey, y'all. How's it going? We're having a blast. What's going on? So I recently graduated college. I have a full-time job. I'm 22 years old. I'm debt-free. I'm staying with my parents. And my question was, should I be aggressive towards saving 50% of my income towards retirement right now, or should I be more aggressive towards saving

for a down payment for a house? Or can I do both? Should I focus in one? And also, my job, we have the opportunity to contribute to a Roth 401k. So I'm still confused whether if I am going towards the retirement of 15% of my income route, should I go towards my Roth 401k first or my Roth IRA account? And yeah. Yeah, it's a great question. Great questions. And so I'm assuming you have no debt. Yes, no debt. No debt and a fully funded emergency fund. Yes. Yes. I forgot to mention six months. Six months. Okay. So you have it all. That's great,

Jose. Okay. So the next step I would do, do yes is to save up for your down payment which is baby step 3b and my question for you is to are you going to be in the Houston area do you see yourself there long term or just because you're so young and I know you're just maybe a year or two into the workforce or you see yourself maybe moving because where you are location wise the length of time you're there probably will determine for me uh when you're going to really aggressively save up for that down payment yes i do plan on staying in the houston area okay for a long time yeah that's great yeah so if i were you i would look around and you know whether it's a townhome condos or even you know a single family home uh and look at some prices

and in the areas you want and then I would start saving for a down payment because if you're going to be planted there for a while, having a house, I mean, it's a great investment. And so I would work towards that first. And that's maybe step 3B is what we call it. And then moving on to maybe step 4, which is 15% of your income into retirement. So since both of those, the retirement question,

the Roth IRA versus the Roth 401k, since they're both Roth, those are both excellent because they're going to grow tax-free, which is great. So I would go up to the match in the 401k, then go and fund your Roth IRA as much as possible. And for some reason, if you max it out and you still don't hit that 15% of your income, you can go back to your 401k and put some more money in. Yeah. Jose, I got to ask you as we look forward here, what's your relationship status?

Do we have something going on there? Or are we single and ready to mingle? Yeah, you can say I'm single and ready to mingle. All right. Now, the reason I asked that first question is not to be nosy. So you are single, and so we don't know what's going to happen in that stage of your life. And so as you begin to look, I love Rachel's advice. I just want to be maybe the older brother. Well, let's be honest. I'm old enough to be your dad. This is embarrassing.

So I'm going to be radio dad for a second. I just want you to be really careful because you get out there. You've done a great job. You're financially in a wonderful place. Don't try to bite off too much, you know? I mean, you could buy a smaller house. It'd be great for you. Maybe get some roommates if the relationship thing doesn't pan out right away and we don't know what life is going to throw at us. And then maybe pay that off and then sell it and move that into the next house. You know, I just think, Rachel, there's a temptation out there and I'm not saying that Jose has it. I'm just warning against it that you get out there. Oh, yeah. You don't have to impress a bunch of people at that first house. I love that you

mentioned a townhouse. I like a conservative move as he gets out of the home. That's the only thing I want to say. It's going to be the radio dad there. Don't try to do too much. You're so young. You're in such financial stability right now at this young of an age. And so just be careful, Jose. That's the idea. Got it? Got it. Yeah. Thank you very much. All right, man. Thanks for the call. I love that. All right, let's go to Lily, who joins us in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. Lily, how can we help? Hi. So my problem is that I get out of debt. I don't have

a problem. I have a plan and I can get out of debt. I just tend to be going back into debt. And I've done that like 10 times and I am just sick and tired of always going back into debt. I'll bet. Is there a pattern, Lily, of things that are happening circumstantially or maybe proactively where you just find yourself going right back into it? What's causing it? Is there a theme? Is there a pattern?

It's just comfortable to have that money sitting there. You know, the credit cards. And then I use them and then I pay them off and then back at it again. So it's just credit card, nothing else? Yeah, just credit cards. Okay. Interesting. A very simple solution, Lily, would be to cut them up

so they're not a temptation anymore. And again, that's kind of the black and white answer. But for you... There's a fear there, Rachel. It says there's a scarcity mentality there, Lily. Do you have any other debt besides the credit cards? I have a car note. I've been having car notes for like the past four years,

but I paid my last car off, so I'm good. Oh, good. Okay. Do you have any money saved? No, I do not. Okay. So that's going to be part of your problem is that there is a realistic fear.

Oh, quick question. I wonder, Lily, do you have any margin? If you look at your budget every month, when you get to the end, do you have some margin, no margin? What is it? I'm pretty much broke. That's what it is. Rachel, here's what I think. I think that the budget is one part of it maybe.

I also want to know if income may need to go up. And I'm always the bigger shovel guy here on the Ramsey Show. I want people to make more money. $25,000 a year. Okay. All right. There's our problem. How are you doing on your budget? Are you disciplined? Not really, but it's really awkward because I'm a homemaker, but I also work as a caregiver for my mother. But my husband pays for everything. So my mom and my husband, they're like, why do you keep going into debt? And I really don't understand.

I'm like, I don't know. Okay, it sounds like we've got a lot going on here. Yeah, okay. So Lily, how much does your husband make? He makes about $75,000 a year. Okay. You guys have separate incomes? I mean, accounts, excuse me? Yes, we do. Okay. Let's do this. Lily, we're getting more information, which is good news because we're going to help you. So here's the deal. I want you to hold on. We're going to do a quick break. When we come back, folks, we're going to walk

Lily through what she needs to do. We got some pieces we got to tie together. But Lily, please hang on because it's going to be okay. We're going to get you out of this mess. All right. For the rest of you, thank you so much for tuning in. We're going to help Lily. Don't go anywhere. She's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Rachel Cruz. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. We're here to talk about your money. And as it relates to your money, work, whether it be income issues

or you're just feeling stuck, you don't feel like you can leave because of your debt and getting out of the debt process. Well, we're here to talk about all of that. The relationship component to that as well. And it feels like, Rachel, we've got all three of those things involved in Lily. Lily joined us in our last segment from Los Angeles. We have her with us because as we went to break, we were finding out that Lily has gotten in and out of debt, Rachel, about 10 times, and she keeps going back to it. We found out it was just to credit cards.

We asked why. She said, well, I'm basically broke. I don't have much left at the end of the month, and I like having the security of if I need something on their credit cards. We then found out that her husband makes $75,000. She makes $25,000. Feels like they don't have joint bank accounts. And I think she said, Lily, you can correct me,

that my mom and husband pay for everything. That's right. So mom is involved too. Mom's involved. So we've got a lot going on. Talk through it. So, Lily, I want to turn you over to Rachel here, and let's figure out what is happening financially.

Okay, so, Lily, for you, you guys obviously are not, you and your husband specifically are not working together when it comes to money. What is your mom's role in your life? Is she living with you guys? How involved is she? Well, she actually like helped me out. Like she's like, oh, like, do you need a little bit of money? And then she'll like send me $100. And I'm like, oh, thank you. So yeah, she helps me here and there when I need money. And also I'm her caregiver.

So I work for her. I clean her house, but I'm paid through the DPSS. Okay. Okay. So you and your husband together, is money a conversation you guys have ever is it that he just finds out you have credit card debt and he gets frustrated how do conversations with money go um so yeah so usually like because he pays everything um i don't really well we don't really share bank accounts um i don't really see a need to because when i was growing up my mom always told me that's not a good

idea um to keep my money apart. So I usually tell him, hey, I'm back in debt and he helps me pay it off. But he's getting kind of tired and I'm getting kind of tired as well. And I'm taking money from the house. So I don't want to be in debt anymore. Yeah, for sure. Well, I hear that. So I think one step, this is not going to solve all the problems, but a really big step that I want you to take, Lily, is for you and your husband to sit down, and I want you guys to

start framing up this new way of looking at money in your marriage, because I want you guys to start working together as a team and seeing yourselves as one. Right now, it is very separate, and you're doing it out of this fear mentality because your mom always told you all of this, all of this, all this. Listen, when you are married, you are one in every aspect of your life, including your money. And it's going to be really hard, Lily, to win long-term financially when you're in a marriage with someone and you guys are not talking about money, you're not working on money together, and you don't see yourselves as one. And so I know there can be a lot of fear there. But with your husband, you guys need to sit down and say, hey, we have to start working

to be on the same page. Because if you guys start working together, you combine your income, Lily, you guys will have $100,000 to work with throughout the year you guys can sit down do a budget together and say hey here is where here's where we're agreeing on where our money's going but here's what i'm gonna say lily if i'm your husband it's gonna be really hard to trust you if you're in a habit of going and racking up credit card debt so you need to get to the bottom and the root cause of of what is causing it and i think part of think part of it might be mathematics because you're just working off this $25,000. And if it's running out, you're scared and you go to your mom and you have all these safety nets. So what you want to be able to do is to say, okay, when that fear rises

up, I know that we're working a plan to get us an emergency fund. I know that we're working a plan to be in control of our money. We, me and my husband, because you guys working together. But Lily, I really would. One of the best things I've heard Dr. John Deloney say this, that if there's a temptation in your life, yes, you want to get to the root cause of it, but you also want to make it not easy to continue to repeat the mistake, right? So if you're an alcoholic going and sitting in a bar all the time, that's not a great plan and so for you those credit cards just hanging around it's an easier temptation because they're accessible they're right there so i want to make it hard for you i want to make it hard

for you lily to go and swipe cards because when they're not there it's going to be tough let's do it lily are you at home right now yes i. Can you go get your scissors and pull your credit cards out? Let's cut them up right now. Do it. Do it. I'm serious. Are you willing to do it? If not, I'll let you go.

We're not going to pressure you. You ready to cut them up right now? Well, there's a lot of noise in my house, so I'm actually in my garage because I have a lot of kids. She's like, I'm hiding in the garage. Oh, that's a really good excuse. I see that too as a mom. I know an excuse when I hear one

because we're all good at giving them. So I tell you what, Lily, we're not going to shame you into this, but I tell you what we will do. We want to give you a good push forward. We're going to give you Financial Peace University. So hang on the line and we're going to give you Financial Peace University.

I want you to commit to going through this with your husband. I think Rachel's advice is great. I think your husband deserves you going, hey, I want to do whatever it takes so that you're not tired of bailing me out and that we're on the same page. And so let's see if he'll commit to doing Financial Peace University with you. And if you follow these steps, which you've bought into the concept of paying off debt before, Lily. I mean, you've done it several times, and we've got to get to what's really going on here. And I think Rachel's advice is going to take away this fear,

this mindset that I don't have enough. You feel like you don't have enough because you don't know what enough is. You've got to get on the same page. So hang on the line. We'll give you Financial Peace University, and I really believe it will help. Let's go to the Big Apple next. New York City, New York, and James is joining us. James, how can we help? Hi, how are you guys doing today? We're having a blast, James. What's up? Awesome. So unfortunately, I just got laid off from my job selling technology about a month ago.

Yeah, the whole business unit was let go. Yeah, we're seeing that a lot with big tech. What are you doing now for money? So I'm looking very actively for a job. However, I'm finding that while I've received even one offer and I've gotten through some application processes, and I'm glad you're on, Ken, because I know you provide great insight here, I haven't found anything that pays close to what I was making in my last role. Okay.

So in my last role- How much were you making? So the on-park earnings, what they expect you to make your average with your commission, was about $150K a year. But I was making it to $250K, $275K the last three years. Good for you. Do you have any savings?

Yeah, so I have an emergency fund fully funded for six months, about $45K, and then I got about $20K in severance. Okay. Well, I don't want you touching the emergency fund. You don't have debt? I don't have any debt, except for my mortgage, which is a significant amount of debt. All right.

So we need some income fast. Yeah. Well, so let me just tell you, I understand you're looking for a role that pays you $250. I get it because you set a watermark. So it's just the natural human thing. I want to get back to that mark. But right now you need money. So while you're looking, you need to be working. And if you can get something that pays $125, I mean, my point is, we can't just go, well, I'm looking for $250,000 and haven't found it yet. It's like we keep looking for the $250,000.

You've got the experience. You've got some skill set. But right now, we've got to bring in some income, and we're going to drastically change our lifestyle. Do you understand what I'm saying? That makes a lot of sense. My concern, though, is just, you know, if I take a job at $125,000, I can pay the mortgage and I can hit my essentials, but putting like 15% towards retirement and making the aggressive- But brother, I'm not saying take a job for 125 for the next part of your career. I'm saying, we've got financial issues given your mortgage and your reality if we don't get urgent and get some income.

So I'm saying let's go get income to scrape by, to stay stable, nose above water, so we don't go into the emergency fund. That emergency fund is not for floating me while I find another job. And James, make sure that your mortgage is not 50% of your take-home pay because that also could be a problem. So we got to look at that. You may need to sell that property right now for a reboot, for a restart. So hang on the line. Can we set James up to call into my show next week and let's talk about his future and some opportunities there? Appreciate the call. Don't move.

More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Rachel Cruz. The phone number is 888-825-5225. If you're new to the program, first, we want to say welcome. And second, we are having a conversation about money.

And in the context of talking about your money, we talk about work and relationships, and I'm the work guy. Think about making more money, getting in a better situation to where you can pay off debt faster, save money faster. I'll take those calls today. And of course, Rachel Cruz, one of our money experts here at Ramsey Solutions here to answer your money questions. So let's get to it. Omaha, Nebraska, Beth is on the line. Beth, how can we help? I have a question about some land. We have inherited some land. It's 19 acres, has a small home on it. Part of it is farmable, and there's a guy that does some farming on it. None of that is very lucrative. Maybe $700 a month is what we're taking in off of that property.

So we had, it's kind of a hot property in Constable, Iowa. Things are kind of moving there. There's a lot of businesses. So we've been approached by somebody that said they would give us $800,000 for it. It's probably market value is probably between $250,000 and $300,000 if we were going to sell it. What they want to do, though, is pay us $10,000 the first year, $10,000 the second year, and then $800,000 if it sells in year three

or if they're ready in year three, four, and five. They're planning to be done and have all their permits and ready to do what they want to do within the five years. They're hoping to be done in three. Beth, I got to tell you, Beth, that sounds like pure prospecting. This is a company that sees the value. That offer is crazy to offer that much over market value and then give you this little payment plan. What they're trying to do is they're trying to put a hold on this thing. And it sounds sketchy to me, extremely prospective, meaning I hope everything works. I hope everything works. And the fact is, it sounds to me like you could get 300 for it in this market right now and I

would take the sure thing I'd say no that's me Rachel do you see any problems with yeah I totally agree yeah Beth if this was a nine month thing hey can we hold it for nine months and then this business but you're talking a year two years three years five years and the problem is the company right now can't do what they want to do so could they in three years yeah maybe but also could they not yeah maybe and you just held on to a piece of property that now are you guys forced to sell is there a reason you absolutely have to sell right now no not at all okay um do you own it uh free and clear any debt on the property no we have no debt i mean even personal debt we have nothing i mean we wouldn't sell it to pay anything we don't need we don't need it right so that's the question yeah so i would almost tell

them like yep i would just tell them hey i don't want this property we tie i don't want my word to be tied down to this property for years and years and years so we're not going to sell we're not planning unless you are planning but we're not planning on doing anything. So come back to us in three, four years when you actually have the money to this business and we can evaluate it and look and then make the decision then. But you don't get your name on this property for $10,000 per year because you don't need to, Beth. You're fine. And if you guys want to sell it um down the line then you can and you're gonna make great money do you do you guys need any of this cash at all in your situation how old are you guys 63 and 57 no we don't um yeah you wouldn't the other thing is even if you get it in this market what do you do with it because you don't

really want to invest i don't run to right yeah and you can hold on to it and and it can continue to grow in value and maybe 20 years if you want to sell you can beth i i think this is a really simple response no thanks okay the other thing we thought of was going back to him and saying you can pay us this one year 10 grand and then this time next year we either settle on the $800,000 or we're out. No, it's too complicated, Beth. You just got done telling us that you guys wouldn't even – here's the deal. You wouldn't have called us today had they not made this offer.

You guys weren't even thinking about selling it. True or false? True. Okay, then. This is sketchy and weird. And they're not even going to be doing anything for two years, so just tell them, keep growing your business. And in two years, come back. And if you want the same offer, maybe we'll talk about it and we can sell it to you then. But yeah, I wouldn't attach myself to them for two years. And here's the deal, Beth. It is possible. I don't think it's going to happen.

I think it's a small chance. But one of my favorite games to play with my buddies in the old neighborhood, Rachel, we're talking small dollars here, but I enjoy poker. And if you want to in this situation, you just say, no, you call their bluff and you say, no, thanks. And then we'll find out if they're the real deal. And if they are the real deal, I don't think they'd be offering 800,000. That's what I think is just, this is all very manipulative feeling to me. It's just weird. No good business person goes, well, the market says it's worth three. I'm going to come in and offer a half million more. Like Rachel's husband, Winston's a friend of mine and a real estate expert. He'd hit me over the head with a bat if I proposed some idea

like that. So, so Hey, no, thanks Beth. And let's just see if they're for real. And if they come to you with real money, uh, that makes real sense, then you and the hubs and the family can talk about it. It's great. No, thanks, man. and the hubs and the family can talk about it. It's great. No thanks. Man, and here's what happens, and I get it, Beth. I get even the curiosity has peaked because you're thinking, this could be a really good deal. Oh, yeah.

This could be a good deal. But then here's the thing. Even if she went through with it, let's just pretend she thinks that we're crazy, and she says no, and then this company gives them $10,000 this year, next year, and then they have the gives them ten thousand dollars to this year next year and then they have the 800 you know yeah then you know it can right like people can keep their word there are times that it happens but here's the thing is like you're putting yourself in risk

with a company yeah and there's no need for you to be tied down something because also beth i would say you never know what's going to happen in your life and you may look up and be like man we just want to we're going to move out of Omaha. We want to out of here. And it frees you up. There's no one owning any part of your life or this property. I think my response is I want to edit my response. I'll tell you what, fellas.

It's the best on the fly. All right, fellas. Here's my, I can give you my banker's information and you guys can wire $800,000 to our account today and we'll show up and we'll have a marching band and we'll walk you onto the property. That's right. Outside of that, we're okay. We're fine. We're good.

It just sounds a little crazy. All right, let's go to Andy now in Reno. Do you say Nevada or Nevada, Rachel? I say Nevada. I think the people that live out there they say nevada nevada what is it i've been saying nevada let's go to andy andy is it nevada or nevada i say nevada everybody out there does so that's what i'm sticking with andy how can we help you know i was wanting somebody to help push me over the edge to pay my mortgage off. Well, you have found the right two people to push you over the edge today.

I will tell you right now. Give me one good reason that keeps popping up in your head as to why you wouldn't pay it off. You know, I'm not sure. Maybe just the complications of having to pay my own insurance and taxes from now on. You got the money to pay your mortgage off today? I do. Wow. Rachel?

I mean, Andy, it's not that much more complicated. I mean, yes, you will have to pay for, yeah, your insurance is not all wrapped up together. And your property tax, you know, our house is paid off. You pay it once a year and it sucker punches you in the gut. You're like, dad, come it. But that's all you got but that's it i mean yeah so you just i mean there there's really besides the emotional like oh man even

though you were paying the same amount of property tax over 12 months obviously uh but yeah there's just like there there it's not even it's not even um debatable for me of the complications of insurance and paying your taxes on your own versus keeping your mortgage there. Yeah. Is that all wrapped into your current mortgage payment now? It is. You do realize that they can also wrap those two together or automate them for you. I mean, you're acting like this is going to be a real pain in the neck. And I'm not sure that I understand how painful it's going to be if you don't have a mortgage payment. Well, I don't think it's too much of a pain in the neck, but that would be the only reason that I would have. So that's why I used it. Well, I'm here to push you, my friend. My goodness.

So if you pay all this off, Andy, how much do you have in retirement? How much do you have liquid? So liquid cash right now, I have just under $140,000. Wow. My retirement, I have $630,000 in a 401k and about $125,000 in a Roth IRA. And what's the house worth? Well, these days, probably around $530,000. Dude. Andy, how much is left on it? What do you have to write the check for? About $73,000. $73,000. Oh, Andy? What do you have to write the check for? We've got 15 seconds.

73K. 73K! Oh, Andy! What are you waiting on? Do it! Do it! Just do it today. I should have paid it while we were on the phone with him. In the week.

In the week with a paid-off house. Pay it off, Andy, now! We've got to pay some bills. We'll be right back. This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show America. Thrilled that you are with us. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by Rachel Cruz, my co-host this hour. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. That's 888-825-5225. Well, debt is at an all-time high as it relates to credit cards. So those debt payments and now inflation, which is just

stubbornly staying around, it's stealing more and more of your paycheck. And we know that a lot of you feel like you're just trying to keep your nose above water and you're scared to death, but you shouldn't have to live that way. But if you want things to change, you have to say, I've had it no more. And you need to try something new. And we have something new to you maybe, but it is proven for decades. Financial Peace University is our nine lesson course that will teach you how to beat debt and build wealth. Nearly 10 million people have taken Financial Peace University, and they'll tell you they don't worry about money like they used to. I've said this before. When we talk to debt-free screamers on this show during this time of inflation,

I've never heard one of them gripe about inflation. Now, nobody likes it, but it's not squeezing them too hard, and you can get there as well. If you're done stressing about money, take control by starting Financial Peace University at RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. That's RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. That's ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. And also to new listeners and viewers, welcome. People are finding us through all of the different platforms today

and you hear jargon, you hear language, you may be not sure what's going on. Don't worry, we've created a simple solution for you to get caught up on the language and the philosophy and the methodology of the show. It's ramsaysolutions.com and you'll see a get started button. Click on that and we're going to walk you through our plan, help you figure out where you are in this journey, this clear path that we've created, it'll help you out. So again, ramsaysolutions.com and click on get started. All right, let's go to Cincinnati, Ohio. Tony is there. Tony, how can we help? Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Can you hear me? Very well. What's up? Hi. So long story short, I lost my job today.

I'm so sorry. Yeah. What happened? Well, thank you. Basically, I was having sort of mental health issues, and my employer let me know that it wasn't going to work for me to leave today. So I chose to leave, and it just didn't work out. Okay. How comfortable are you sharing your mental health situation or challenges?

Well, so mainly anxiety, but a little bit of some psychotic symptoms thrown in there. And that's something I'm working on. Are you seeing a professional right now? Yes, I am. Okay, good. Yes. And so I'm assuming that you've had some of these struggles for a while and have had to leave work.

And at this point, the manager was like, you can't go. You needed to go today. You felt like you needed to walk away. And they said no. And you had to choose. Is that what I'm understanding? That is correct. But basically, I didn't communicate this well with my manager. so I'm taking responsibility for that part of it as well. Okay. And listen, I applaud that, Tony. I mean, you know, moving forward, because that's where you're at. I mean, today you've decided to move on. And in moving forward, I want to applaud you and encourage you. Number one, your bravery and transparency to share this kind of stuff on a live show. And number two, to say, you know what, I didn't do a good job communicating this and I've got to learn from that. So I want to applaud you.

So how can we help you today specifically? Basically, my financial peace university class starts in about two weeks and I don't have any money and I don't know what the next right thing to do is. Okay, so let's just walk through your money situation really quick. What were you making? Were you salary or hourly, and what were you making? Hourly. Okay, so what were you making per hour?

$15.50. $15.50, and what kind of work were you doing? It was food service. Food service, okay. So here's the good news. America's restaurants and food service, certainly anything related to the service industry, whether that be touristic heavy or just in a community,

they are absolutely bleeding looking for people. And you've got experience, and I don't think they're going to be too concerned about your backstory as long as you own it and you just kind of go, hey, here's my situation. I need a job. I was over here. I was let go and I need to work. And I think if you are a decent human being and you sound that way, you've shown some real maturity and some real fortitude through this process and you just, you got to start working. I mean, like that's our first step. We have got to get a new opportunity. And this time around, when you have some episodes or some things you're struggling with, you need your professional

counselor to help you with some tools to manage that in that environment. And if they're saying the best thing for you to do is to step away for a moment, you're going to have to ask that professional, help me do that in a professional context. Because I'm here and I'm working. Is it something that I can do in a matter of minutes? Or is this way heavier than this? And so if that's the case, if it's way heavier, and I'm way above my skis here when somebody starts talking about psychotic stuff, you're going to have to go, what work can I do to

where essentially I am working for myself or I'm in a contract situation to where I'm bringing in money, but I've got a lot more freedom to step away when I need to. Do you understand what I'm saying? We're going to have to maybe get a little bit more intentional to find a work environment that is best for you in this season. Does that make sense? That does make sense, yes. Does anything come to mind, Tony, besides just being in a restaurant

and whether you're cook or waiting tables, is there another type of job that might be less stressful or on demand, having to be so on demand? Is there another thing that you're thinking of that you could do and could be qualified for? Well, I do have a big dream that I'm working towards, but it doesn't pay the bills right now. Yeah, no, this is not a big dream question. So, for instance, is it? Let me throw us off some potential scenarios. Were you in waiting tables? Is that what you were doing in food service? No, it was more on the prep side, cooking. cooking and okay great so you're in the kitchen all right so i'm wondering um is there a difference in the stress level or the environment if maybe you were stocking shelves on an evening shift in a in a grocery store versus being in a kitchen that's maybe high paced how does that feel is

there a difference in those two as far as maybe the environment that could be more helpful? That's a, I haven't thought of that before, but yes. That's why I'm saying I'd love for you to sit with your counselor. If you've got an emergency line or whatever and how you talk to your counselor. I'm wanting to ask my professional, what are the things that maybe trigger certain things? What's the best environment from a mental health professional here? And then that's where we start to go, okay, maybe this environment's not the best for me. This is better while I am, I have to stay in it while I'm getting healthy. And I want to acknowledge you're in a very complex situation, but I think you can do this. And I think if,

if, as you went like that, I think those are the questions you've got to be able to ask. Where can I make $15.50 an hour that is a better environment for me? That's where we've got to start. But I really want you to run that by your mental health counselor as well. Because they know things that, A, we don't know. B, they're professionally trained to be able to give you good insight on that. Yeah, and start thinking outside the box, Tony. But if you find yourself paralyzed by the decision and freaking out, there is a reality to life.

You've got to have money coming in. You've got to do it. So maybe you find another restaurant for 60, 90 days. Or you're doing Uber Eats, delivering pizza, like get in your car and deliver some food. That's right. Yeah, doing something different, but you need to find something that has a really easy entry point.

Because here in the next couple of days, I mean, if you really have no money, you got to eat. So you have to go and decide, okay, I have to bring in some level of income. And then from there, Tony, I'm so glad that you're doing Financial Peace University because that's going to help you so much understand how to budget your money.

That's going to give you a level of control. It's going to feel really great. If you have debt, it's going to give you a plan to help pay that off and then get some savings and an emergency fund. And all of this is a marathon. It just, it's going to take a year or two, three, four years, but continue to be consistent, Tony. And yeah, we're, we're cheering you on. We really are. Thanks for calling. Hang on the line, Tony. We're going to give you John Delaney's book, Redefining Anxiety. Hopefully that helps you on your journey as well. Great hour, Rachel Cruz. Thank you to James Childs and the entire team keeping us on the air. Thank you,

America. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Ken. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Go to ramsaysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsaysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.