The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Get Traction With My Money? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically by talking with you, coaching you, in your money, in your work, and in your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, and I'm with the lovely, the talented, the enthusiastic, the unstoppable, the incomparable.

She's still waving me on here. Jade Warshaw, and we are here for you. Jade, you ready to go? Let's go. I must tell you, for the YouTube audience, you're going to have to make sure you really check out the fit today. Look at that. She's going to stand up. She's rocking the Air Jordan.

Is that actually suede? Is it suede? The suede sweatsuit? That's what I like to see. Call it suede, yeah. Suede sweatsuit. I am just rocking the Bronnie shirt because I couldn't find anything else in the closet. But we are here for you.

That's your choice, Ken. That's your personal choice. No matter in the closet. But we are here for you. That's your choice, Ken. That's your personal choice. No matter what we're wearing, we are here for you. David is up in Springfield, Massachusetts. David, how can we help? Hi, thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's up? All righty. So I am a mattress salesman. I'm currently driving an hour to work every day and back. I have zero debt. My total cost of living is $700 a month. That includes $520 for gas. Now I was wondering if I should move out towards there because I currently am not paying rent. So that could jack up my cost of living, but it could take a lot of stress off of

myself. Or I can move within the company to a location closer to where I live, like within five to 10 minutes. There's no guarantee I'd stay at one store though, and it could possibly lower my income. So I was just wondering what I should do. Okay. So no to lowering the income. So that's not an option because you have too many other options in this economy right now to where there's just no viable reason for you to lower your income. Right. So making the move closer to the current role to me is the best option you've given me. I'll give you another option in a minute.

I'm going to tell you why. Yes, you're going to have to pay rent, but you know what? That's called adulting. It's time to do that anyway. Number two, you're going to save money on the gas, but you're also going to take less wear and tear or put less wear and tear on the car too. So I think if I look at less wear and tear, Jade, and I look at less gas money and I look at less stress, those are three viable reasons to move closer to the current job. Now, the third option is, all right, let me look at

a better job. If you want to be a mattress sales and that's setting you up for a better position within that company, then I think you go option two, which is moving closer. But I look at a third option, which is, can I make more money? Can I get on a better ladder and remove the drive as well? That would be my favorite option. But I'm curious, what is that professional future? What are you thinking about? I mean, I didn't really have a direction until I got into sales, so I do personally love sales, working with people and everything.

So I definitely would like to keep it in there. Going to school and becoming an electrician was also an option, just being in the trades. Love that. I just don't know if I want to take out student loans or just save up for that. How old are you? 18. 18. Yeah.

All right. So because you don't know, by the way, it's very normal to be 18 and not know what you want to do with your life. Okay. By the way, it's very normal to be 18 and not know what you want to do with your life. So I say we go to moving closer to the current sales job. That's going to change your life. We laid out all the positives to that. Now you begin to think, do I really want to make the move and go to trade school and be an electrician?

Do I want to go into plumbing? Do I want to do something else? And I'm going to give you my Get Clear Career Assessment as my gift, an early Christmas gift for you, and the book From Paycheck to Purpose. Think of the assessment as a compass and the book as the guide to climb the mountain that you choose. Because at 18, you have plenty of time to experiment and check this out and get some awareness of who you are and what you want to do, why you want to do it, and where you can do it. That's the next step. So stability is key. Jade, you cannot make big life decisions when you're

stressed out. Facts. And you're driving two hours in the car and you're frustrated. Yeah. You need some life stability that will lead to life clarity. I'm going to play against you on one of these though. Of course you are. Here it comes. So here's the one thing that I would also think through. I think what Ken said was great and really, really good advice. But there was one thought of it that I thought, okay, well, if you do Ken's assessment and you start getting clarity around something that you would like to do that requires some form of investment on some form of education i'm not saying it's college but maybe it's you know something that's going to cost you to get the training that you need there could be a piece

of this where it's good for you to stay where you're at temporarily um in order to save money because your cost of living is so very low that might be the margin that you need to save up. I don't disagree. So I, my point here is I don't want him to go backwards financially. So at least he gets a better paying job locally. That's right. That's right. The point is, uh, it's not urgent for you to be like, I've got to make this choice instantly. I want you to do Ken's thing first. And then that's going to inform what your, what your choice is next. That's right. Makes sense, David? Yeah, absolutely.

And one last thing. I think I was a little unclear on the income. So it is a flat rate or commission, so it's a possibility of lowering my income. However, that's not a definite. So I could be making even more money by moving closer. I didn't know that was an option. That's my favorite option. Yeah, so I wasn't clear about more money by moving closer. I didn't know that was an option. That's my favorite option. Yeah, so I wasn't clear about that.

I'm sorry. Yeah, so here's what Jay and I are saying. We're in a complete agreement. I just want you to be stable. I want you to make that work rhythm. Here's what I know. I'm getting ready to post right now on the commercial break. I'm going to Instagram.

I was working on this. And I'm reading all this well-being at work stuff. Let me tell you something. If you're sick of your job, I can promise you you're sick because of your job. I'm getting ready to post that. And so when a young man like this is, and anybody, is driving all that hours and yourself, you get sick, literally. You know what I'm saying? Mentally, emotionally, and then that leads to the physical lack of wellness so uh my advice david was i want you to be well so that we can make the right choice but if you can stay local meaning we switch jobs and we don't go backwards financially i agree with jade that is the best choice for all

of the reasons the car wear and tear, the gas money, the rent. Hey, you're saving money on rent right now. I love that move. And, oh, by the way, I get to stabilize my life. That's right. And then I decide, is it welding, is it electrician, or whatever use. And I know you mentioned electrician work, but can I give you a quick piece of advice on the electrician piece?

I want to challenge you in the next two weeks to go to coffee or lunch or a cocktail with an electrician or two. And I want you to just go, hey, I'm thinking about kicking the tires on this deal and going into this. Before I do, tell me what you love, what you hate, the good, the bad. How did you start? When did you launch your own business? I would love for you to get that advice from an electrician. Jade, I can't say that enough for young people.

Don't you have to be 21 to have a cocktail, Kim? Oh, I forgot. Look at you catching me on all the particulars. I'm just playing. You got me on that one. I'm not promoting underage drinking at all. I forgot that he was 18. No cocktails, David. All right? Get yourself an O'Doul's. Do they still sell that trash?

Azima. That's cocktail, I think. Is it? It's got alcohol. Near beer. Yeah, just because you put the Jolly Rancher in it doesn't take the alcohol away. We have lost.

We have lost the train. Let's get it back on the tracks. Hang on the line, David. We've got the Get Clear assessment and from Paycheck to Purpose, but you've got some great options, my friend. Thanks for the call. Don't move. More Ramsey Show coming up. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your money life, your work life, and your relationship life. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me.

The phone number is 888-825-5225. Jade is one of our money experts here on the Ramsey Show. And I am the work, I don't even like ever using the word expert, but I help people win at work. How about that? If you're winning at your work life, here's what I know. You have a better chance of winning in the rest of your life. So wherever you're at on the journey, maybe you're not happy at work. You want to make some more money. You want to launch the side hustle, get out of debt, I want to help you make more money while we're in the baby steps. How about that?

And so to the extent that we can take any of those calls, I'm here for that. Jade is ready to go for you as well. We continue with Preston in Columbus, Ohio. Preston, how can we help? Hey, how's it going? Good. I work a job where I have to move every three-ish years, and I rent currently, and I didn't know if I should continue renting or when I move next,

I should look to buy a home, because I've heard that you shouldn't buy a home unless you plan on living on it for at least like five years. And so I didn't know if I should just continue renting for the rest of my career, or should I try to buy a home? So how much longer do you plan to be on in the military? I'm doing all 20. So I've still got 18 more years. Okay. Is it just you or are you married? Do you have kids? I'm married with one kid and one kid on the way. Okay, cool. You know, I think you need to take it on a case by case basis. So far, you've made it this long without buying, correct? You're currently renting? Yeah. Okay. I'm currently renting. I

think there's something important about, you know, not stacking up a bunch of real estate in different states and cities. Two years is kind of where you want to be as far as like not having to take on capital gains and things like that. So I think if you can take it on a case-by-case basis, because at some point, purchasing real estate is going to be a big part of your wealth building, but I don't think that you're there yet. I think right now that you can continue to rent. And as you've been in the military longer, if you end up being stationed somewhere longer, and it seems like this is going to be at least four or five years, it could be worth it to get into real estate, buy a home. And then if you know you're moving somewhere and it's

going to be a short-term thing, whatever that profit you have, just pocket it, put it in high yield and let it grow, whatever baby step you're on, that sort of thing, until you can buy again long-term. Does that make sense? Yeah. Currently we save save. So we have our rent, obviously. But then we also save. We have a brokerage that we call our house fund that we put money into. I'm fine with that. We kind of figured we wouldn't be buying a home for what we assumed was a very long time. We figured we'd just invest it into a brokerage.

And then whenever we can buy a home, we have this nice pot of money to pull from. What's that very long time? What's that number in your head? Well, we'd like to build a home eventually, and that's probably when I retire. So like 18 years from now. Okay. I love Jade's advice. And we get a lot of these calls from folks in the military. And a lot of the advice you get is, you know what?

You guys can, everywhere you go, buy a house. And now you're building a real estate portfolio. Yeah, I've heard, yeah, yeah. I've heard it. Terrible. We really want you to avoid that temptation. And Jake can explain why, but I would just say this. You think about 18 years from now, you think about that home fund that they're investing in, that is going to be a sweet down payment on the house you want to build. Maybe even pay cash. Maybe cash. And so I love the idea of you guys renting or taking advantage of military housing and just stack cash to build the home of your dreams. I think that'll keep you going. If you keep your mind on, I'm just playing

a little mindset thing here and I'll get back to Jay, but my mindset would be how sweet of a home could we build or how could we pay off, you know, I mean, pay cash for this house we want to build, and it's just 18 years. Let me tell you something, my friend. I'm old enough to remember going, 18 years is a long time. And I could sit here today and tell you 18 years goes by fast. Man, what baby step are you on? Currently, we have no debt except for student loans. Okay. So as much as I love the picture that you're painting, and I love the idea that you're thinking ahead and putting money away in a brokerage,

I'd like to get you a little bit more focused so that we can get to this beautiful reality that Ken has painted and even the reality that you're saying of, hey, in 18 years, this is when we're going to do our dream home home so let's pedal back just for a second and make sure that we're going about all of this in the most efficient way possible is that fair yeah okay so how familiar with you are how familiar are you with our baby steps i Yeah. I've listened to Dave for a while. Okay. So then you're well aware that first we want to get a thousand dollars saved. Do you have that? Yeah. Yep. Okay. So we've got emergency fund that's a little over 20,000 sitting in a savings account. Great. And how much student loans? And I have about five left and then my wife has about 10. Okay.

So if you're following the plan, then you know that the first things first is we keep a thousand dollars and we take any extra money and we throw it at our debt, right? Yeah. I think the only reason we didn't do that is we both have the military paying our student loans, so we get payments alongside our payments. What does that look like long-term? They'll pay it off completely? Yeah, completely. Like my loan, so I just got out of school here recently.

My loan was originally $10,000. The Army's already paid five of it off in the last three years while I was in school. They were paying off. If you pay them off early, will they reimburse you? No. They don't pay me. They pay the loan provider directly.

Okay. If there's no need for them to pay the loan provider, they won't pay them. Interesting. Interesting. All right. I'm going to let that slide because I know that that's going to go. Which is why we didn't tackle them aggressively as we did when we got out of consumer debt. So you're not on the hook for any of this whatsoever?

I mean, we make payments alongside them, so we're making payments, but I've done the math. What I'm trying to understand here is, is it worth it for you to, because if you're paying payments now, if their promise to you is, hey, we're going to repay all of this, I'm not really sure why you're making payments now. So part of you, go ahead. They don't, so they pay alongside us. So we pay, they pay,

but we have to be in good standing. So the loan provider says, hey, this is your monthly you know due and you pay that and what's your monthly due um i think my wife's owes like two like 10 a month and then i pay like 70 online okay so she pays 210 and you pay 70 and then they match your payment um they match yeah they match your payment based off match. Yeah, they match your payment based off. It's weird. They pay about $1,500 a year. Okay. So I would just love for you to get clarity on that because I would hate for you to kick this around for five and six years a piece. I would love to

find out and get clarity and be like, hey, I want my cut of this, but I also don't want to be paying payments for the next 10 years. Is there any way that I can pay up and get my and be like hey I want my cut of this but I also don't want to be paying payments for the next 10 years is there any way that I can pay up and get my part of this done and then you guys pay your portion of it so do a little research on that for me because I want you to get the money that they're happy to pay but I also don't want you doing this for like years and years and years to come is that fair enough yes we we're pretty sure. They'll be paid off within the next like three years. And it's like another month, but with me in my life. And that's with you just keeping this payment as it is. You don't have to do anything else. And they pay based off of the initial principal. So like my loan was a $10,000 loan. So they paid a certain percentage of that initial

principal and they keep paying based off the principal whether the principal because now it's at like five thousand but they still pay that i mean it's like like last payment was like 16 i still okay i still stand by what i said and i'd still look and see is there any way i can make this thing go faster because i don't want to pay payments for three three more years so just check into it. It'll make me sleep better at night. And then are you, so that would put you to baby step three. Are you currently investing 15%? I just want to make sure you're doing these baby steps. And then the next thing is putting aside for that house. So go through, check and make sure those things are clicking for you. If they are, you're doing

excellent. I'm just poking holes in this because you're already doing so well. I want to make sure that you're just like, you're already running fast. I just want to make sure that you're win the race is basically what it boils down to. I like it. Good job, Coach J. Thank you for the call, Preston. Hey, don't move. We're going to take a quick break. Coming back with more of your calls, this is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is my partner in crime today. 888-825-5225.

888-825-5225. Talking to you about your money. Jade's here, our resident money guru. And I'm going to talk with you about your work as it relates to your income. Maybe you're not so happy where you are and you're going, can I make a transition while I'm in the baby steps? The answer is yes. We can walk you through how to do that. Remember, Dave has said for decades,

your income is your greatest wealth building tool, and I want to help you with your income. I think you can make more money and experience more meaning, and so that's very relevant. I'm here to help out on those work questions. So let's get right back to the phones. Going back to my old stomping grounds here in the hot Atlanta area. Ricky is on the line. Ricky, how can we help? Hey, how's it going,

guys? I am in baby step two. And my question is, how should I best set myself up for filling my boss's old position? Oh, I love this question. Kim, that's right up your alleyway. I love this. We're talking promotion here. We're talking more pay, right, Ricky? Correct. All right.

Tell me what we know right now. Where do we stand? Is the position officially open? Is the boss saying, okay, tell me what more? Yeah, so it's officially open. His last day is tomorrow. Um, I've already talked with my boss's boss and told him, you know, I want to apply and he welcomed that. Um, but kind of let me know that he's looking for someone who has a lot of leadership capacity or experience in

managing a team or on the other end, the job is facilities management. So just experience and knowledge in that field, you know, managing a budget, those kind of things. So those are the kind of two things that I think is going to play against me because I don't necessarily have that experience. And it sounds to me like the boss sets you up. The boss's boss sets you up. And I'm going to give the real, real always up. The boss's boss set you up.

And I'm going to give the real, real always. That was a bit of a stiff arm. Well, sure, I welcome that, but I'm looking for, and so it's kind of a way of going, I don't see you as maybe the top candidate, but I love your question anyway, Ricky. I love your spunk because you felt the stiff arm and you still called me and said, how do I change that perception?

So this is what I'm going to lean into. Okay. All right. What experience do you have? In those two areas where you don't have a lot, do you have some? Yeah. Okay. Talk to me.

I think I have more leadership experience than he realizes. Like I've had two direct reports for about a year and a half um as far as like leading a team but um as far as like my college basketball experience and you play college basketball uh yeah small small it don't matter yeah it don't matter you're talking to a guy who would have probably chewed my right leg off to play D3 or NAIA. Of course, that would have been problematic once I made the team. I've only had one leg. But you get my point. I really, really, really think that that is a huge, huge thing for you

to talk about leadership in the college basketball setting. I would talk about what you love most about leading those two direct reports. See, here's what I don't want you to do. I don't want you to go in and go, look, I've done this and I've done that. That's great. I want him to see you light up when you talked about being a captain or a leader in the program. I would tell

a story. What was the leadership role? How would you describe your leadership role on the basketball team? Yeah, I mean, being a point guard, floor general, leading the team in um you know multiple love it different ways here's what I want you to do instead of talking about what you did I want you to talk about how you led which is I was a point guard and then I want you to talk about

what you loved most about the pressure of leading yeah that's a narrative now same thing with the two direct reports i've had these two people report to me uh for the last year or whatever it is and i really really enjoy this i'm really challenged by this do you see how we're gonna create because it's one thing to go i've led and i think you can do a good job. And it's another thing for him to see your heart and to see your face light up when you talk about leading as a servant or however you want to describe your leadership style. That would be the only advice I'm going to give you because I think you're quite capable as a guy who is a point card. You know how to distribute the rock, baby. That's what a good point card does. We get into the set. We're looking at the play.

When I got to ad lib, I'm going to ad lib. But I am the captain on the floor. I would grab that narrative and just say, listen, what's his name, by the way? Who, my boss? The boss's boss. Make up a name. Make up a name, Bob. Okay, Bob.

Bob, listen to me. Thank you for even encouraging me. I know you're probably looking for somebody with this experience and this and this experience here, and I get that. But listen, because you give me the opportunity, I want you to hear my heart. Here's why I want this gig and why I believe with your leadership I can fill the gap. That's the narrative. And if I'm Bob. And in the logistics, I would just

say the same deal. Tell them what experience you have on the logistics side, but really it's about the people on the team. They know what they're supposed to do. Your job is to help them do their job. And if I'm Bob, I want to, I'm happy to hear you talk about all that stuff. I also want to know how it transfers. I want to, if I'm Bob, I want to hear you say I understand certain things about this job. And here's how that skill transfers into that. Here's how I see it helping. That's part of what I want to see. And at the very least, coming out of this, Ken, and you can tell me if I'm off track. This is this is your field. I'd also be asking questions about kind of knowing going in that he was given the stiff arm. I'd also want to know what the track is. And some of my questions would be like, how do I attain it?

Like, how do I get there? What do you have in mind for me reaching this next level? That's right. That kind of thing. Yeah. Either way. I love that advice. You know what?

That's at the end, though. That's at the end. That's at the end. And then you go, listen, thank you for the opportunity to share my heart. Now, if this doesn't work out, here's what I'd love. What can I do? How can I do it to get an opportunity next time? I love that advice from Jade.

I think that's great. I think that's great. For sure, that's good. And I've even thought about or had some mentors suggest looking into some commercial HVAC education, certification courses, things like that. But, no, that's really good. Hey, listen, Ricky, last piece. Yeah, last piece on this.

This is all mindset stuff. This is my favorite. I love to coach. My favorite thing is on the mindset here is you have nothing to lose. If I was talking to my teenagers right now, I'd say, look, there is zero risk. I feel like I've given you a nice little framework. You choose to use what you want, but you go in with confidence. Take your shot. You're a point guard, baby. Five, four, three, two, take the shot and get yourself in

the best position for the shot and then be okay if you miss the shot michael jordan famously uh i got jordan's on today me too you and i both what you got i just got the old school there we go old school sneaks there here's the deal jordan said once and i'm paraphrasing i'm known for making the last second shots those clutch shots but the fact is i've missed thousands more i'm paraphrasing than i've ever made in that clutch moment that's right and the thing is michael jordan for all of his greatness and by the way for all the people out there yes he's the greatest it's not lebron it ain't lebron take your lebron stuff and just i'll i'll raise you a Michael Air Jordan, okay? Nothing against LeBron. No, I got it against LeBron.

Well, see, I don't. People think because I say Air Jordan that I'm against LeBron. It's not true. He's just not the greatest. The GOAT is Michael. Anyway, the point is, Michael. We're on the same team is all I'm saying. I know.

Michael was the GOAT because he was willing to keep taking the shot. And also because he won the most. But, fact, more rings. Yes, that's right. because he was willing to keep taking the shot and also because he won the most but fact more rings yes that's right um it makes me can i just go into something that i'm already seeing you go there and i'm out of the way look there's an episode of family matters where harriet goes to apply for the job that she knows she's not qualified for i love it and they're like trying to give her the stiff arm and she's like they're like you're not qualified for. I love it. And they're like trying to give her the stiff arm. And she's like, you're not qualified. And she goes into this

whole rant about how raising a family gives her the transferable skills to actually do the job. I agree with that. I manage the budget. I'm the draft. She goes into this whole thing and at the end of the day, she gets the job, Ken. Because she's the CEO of the house. That's right.

He better shoot his shot. I like that. You never know when it might be the winning shot. This is where you come to get incredible life advice and a strong opinion on the greatest basketball player to ever live. Michael Jordan. This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman.

Jade Warshaw is my co-host, cohort, and we are here for you. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. Of course, Jade's going to take care of those money questions, but hey, I'm in the seat today, which means we can talk about your work. And your work is tied to your money. You want to make more money? You want to launch a side hustle? Maybe 2024 is where we increase the income with the side gig or we get the raise because we finally say it's time to move. So we're going to talk about any of that.

It's the year for all of that. It is. It's all of it and above. So here we go. So Sacramento, California is where we go next. And Daniel joins us there. Daniel, how can we help? Hi, it and above. So here we go. Sacramento, California is where we go next. And Daniel joins us there. Daniel, how can we help? Hi, Ken and Jade.

I'm glad to be here. Well, we're glad you're here. What is happening? Well, my parents are in their late 70s, early 80s. And they're thinking that they want to put my sister and I on their bank account. And in case something happens that we can access funds. And just in general, my dad has a debilitating disease. And so my mom feels like she's kind of the only one. And if something happens to her, she wants, you know, gives her a sense of security, I think. And so I just want to think

if you think that's a bad idea for us to be on my parents' accounts, bank accounts. I don't think it's a bad idea. You're probably, are you the power of attorney for your dad? No power of attorney. My mom makes all the decisions. You he's still you know in good shape and and motoring along but it's a it's a degenerative disease it won't get better it'll only get worse and so but there's no power of attorney right now or anything they just like for the first time we did it last week we just were you know brought our ids to the bank they added us on the account and that was it so um i don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. The only question mark I have is she's worried that something would happen and you guys would need access to the money, but not her?

Like, I guess I'm trying to figure out what's the scenario that she's concerned about. Yeah, the scenario that she's concerned about is that if something happens to her, my dad can't really make good decisions. So that's, I think, her primary concern. That makes sense. That does make sense. What would happen. And so, yeah.

Yeah, you know, I'm not mad about that. Yeah, I'd say go for it. I don't have any red flags on it. As long as it's just the bank account. I mean, it's not like you're being added to debt accounts and things like that. I'd absolutely do it. I was wondering if you had any red flags on it, as long as it's just the bank account. I mean, it's not like you're being added to debt accounts and things like that. I'd absolutely do it, unless you – I was wondering if you had any red flags. I mean, this makes a lot of sense. I think there's a lot of wisdom here, given their health and their age.

Yeah. Do they both have wills? Yeah. Okay, great. I know they have a trust. Okay, great. Great. And the thing I like about this, too, Daniel, they came to you on this.

You're not nosing into this. There's no tension here. It just feels right. Am I correct? Do you have any misgivings about it? Is that why? In other words, why did you call with that question? Which way were you leaning?

Well, when I asked her why we were doing it, she said, well, all my friends have done it. And so it seems to be like the thing to do. And I, you know, I want to support them 100 percent. It's just that that didn't seem like a great reason to me. I wanted it to more to just kind of think through if it makes sense or not. And, you know, yeah, that was basically it. Well, there's not really unless unless you're not trustworthy, there's not too much of there's no downside that I can find. And if I really put myself in your shoes, if my parents were getting up in age, I especially if there was any, you know, degenerative disease at play, I certainly would want access to that stuff sooner than later. So, you know, just in case. So really putting myself in your shoes, I would do the exact same thing. I don't know that my parents, there's four of us kids,

I don't know that they would give all four of us access to their account. Not that we're not all trustworthy, but it's just not necessary. One person kind of heading up the thing makes sense. And in your mom's case, I could totally understand that being something that she's concerned about. I don't know about the thing of, you know, oh, all my friends are doing it. That might be her reason, but my reason would just be, hey, it is important that someone who can really think through things cognitively has access to this money in case something were to happen to her and money was needed. That just makes sense to me, so I'm good with it.

Yeah, thanks for the call, Daniel. Let's go now to Knoxville, Tennessee. Christian is there. Christian, how can we help? Hey, how y'all doing? Good. How are you, sir? Yeah, good. So to make this short and brief, I'm 25.

I got probably about $30,000, $30,000-plus in debt. I'm a tower hand. I make roughly on an eight-hour day $200 a day, but I got a car loan that I haven't, you know, that I got to pay for. I got medical debt that's in collection. Here recently, I just had the state of Mississippi come after me for child support, so they're going to be coming after me pretty quick for that um i'm gone i work monday through friday i'm home on the weekends uh i'm just trying to figure out some way to basically get more financial freedom and get out of debt and have a have a better lifestyle i reckon okay um so let's start first things first uh so you're making what about five thousand bucks a month uh four five hundred four thousand i'd say i'd say more closer to like 36 on a good month okay is that after taxes yeah okay um and you said you've got around 30 000 of debt do you

know the exact number um no ma'amam. Okay, that's thing one. The first thing here is to, in order to get organized to understand what the problem is, we've got to see it for what it is. So when you get off the phone today, I want you to go check all the, you know, log into all those accounts and see exactly what the debt is. If you could sparse it out, what type of debt is it you may not know the exact amounts but can you tell me what type of debt it is uh more like personal loans and stuff like that for the vehicle auto loan you know and and i just know when i look at it on my uh like some of my credit apps and stuff like that they just say they're in collections and stuff you know so is everything

in collections i I believe so. Okay. So right now, it's just kind of, it's like you've been going along, all this stuff is happening, and you're just kind of like letting it take place. The fact that we're not really sure what the debt is, we're not really sure how much the amount is. Do you kind of see this theme playing out here? Well, I got some of my debt, mainly the auto loan and a couple of the health hospital loans or hospital collections. I got them in a debt relief program.

I pay like $380 a month for them to basically keep it in a savings account, and they negotiate prices with them. Hey, Christian, listen, I'm going to shoot you straight. We're going to get you some help. He needs one of our coaches, but let me tell you what I think you need to hear. Your hands have not been on the wheel. You are just, I don't even know, I don't think it's Jesus take the wheel, but somebody has taken the wheel, and it ain't you. Listen, nothing against you at all.

I'm trying to be a wake-up call to you. You've got children you're supposed to be supporting, and you're not. And the state's coming after you, and everything's just been kind of like, I'm letting life happen to me, and I think you need to start happening to life. So one of the things that you need to start to do, as Jade said, is get aware of what's going on. And I want to give you a free session with one of our financial coaches, but you have got to do what they tell you to do. The second thing is you better start making some more money. You need to be working crazy hours with the skill set you have because that will help you do what Jade's coaching you. You've got to get some more income and start putting it to work.

Well, see, also, the question is I pay a lot in rent. I live by myself. I have a service dog. But I live by myself, and I live in a three-bedroom, single-wide trailer, and I pay $1,200 to live by myself. Change that. Go live with somebody else. Well, see, with the state of Mississippi wanting child support, and I figured later on there might come a child custody case,

I'd also need somewhere to call my own with that room for my child. Well, we cross that bridge when we get there or go get your two bedroom you getting all this you getting this mess cleaned up it's what's gonna ultimately even give you a dog in that hunt but right now you don't have a dog in the hunt you got to get your mess cleaned up and you've really got to show that this matters to you because right now i hear a guy that's kind of like if it happens cool if it doesn't happen, no big deal. Like there's, you got to go somewhere and find that enthusiasm to really make this happen for yourself. Get out of that debt consolidation thing.

That ain't working for you. Hang on the line. We're going to get you a session on us with one of our financial coaches. Great hour, Jade Warshaw. Thanks to James Childs and the crew. This is the Ramsey Show.