The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Know if I’m in the Right Career? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 23, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: Trying to find the right career, When to take a promotion, What to do when you feel like you're not making progress, Should you sell a house and move in with a parent?   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

🎵 From Ramsey Network, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help you get control of your money, get ahead in your career, and get on the path to living well. I'm George Campbell, your host, joined today by Ken Coleman, and we are taking your calls. The number is 888-825-5225. Let's talk about your work, your life, your money. Many of you at a crossroads when it comes to your career right now,

figuring out where to go. I think we want to move. We're remote. We just got laid off. There's a hot job market. What do we do? I'm not doing the things that I want to be doing. And, Ken, you're taking so many calls on your show of people switching,

and you're helping them navigate it. Yeah, it's happening. People saying, hey, I certainly want to jump in on this roller coaster ride where people are leveling up big time. We're seeing right now an average of a 14% increase in salary when people change jobs. And let's point this out. You want to know what a major driver of the inflation is? It's increase in wages. So certainly moving to another company can give you a big boost in income. But we want to make sure that we're moving not just for the paycheck, but we're going, okay, I'm moving to get on the right seat on the right bus. Because if we can do that, and of course the income is there,

the increase is there rather, now we're setting ourselves up for just continual growth. And so that's what we focus on the Ken Coleman Show. What were you created to do? All of us have a unique combination of talent, what we do best, passion, work we love, and a sense of mission, results that motivate us. And so when we can get all three of those unique elements in alignment, good things happen. So that's what we do. We'd love to help some people out today. Yeah, you can use that income to do the baby steps,

which is what we preach here on the show. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. Rob joins us first in Chattanooga. Rob, welcome to the show. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? So this question is mainly for Ken, but George, I love your input. Love my company that I work for. I love my bosses. I've got three bosses up the line that are, you know, amazing. But as I've gone further in my career, I've noticed that more of what I'm doing,

I'm, you know, the bad guy to our clients. When things are good, I don't have to say much, but it's when things are bad that I have to speak up. I'm starting to wonder if that's for me because I'm a pretty happy, go-lucky, upbeat guy. I don't like being the bearer of bad news. Tell me a little bit more about the role. What do you mean by when things go wrong i have to be the bad guy to our clients so we're the consultant for we're a consultant engineer and we work for clients that hire contractors to do work and so when the contractors aren't doing it correctly

we turn around and tell the clients that hey this is what's going wrong here and the contractor typically has pushback or looks at us or argues with us like we don't know what we're talking about. And it's typically frustrating. And it sounds like it's draining to you. Yeah, yeah, it definitely is. Yeah. And have you been in that role the entire time you've been with this company, or is this something that you kind of evolved into? Well, I've evolved into it.

I've had the same role, but I've been given a lot more responsibility in the last year. And I really noticed this over the last three months on two of the jobs where things are, you know, not going according to plan and we have to bring it up. Yeah, and it's to the point where you go i i don't i don't think i can keep doing this is that is that fair i can do it i don't have a problem doing it it's just no that's not true i'm not a you do you do have a problem doing it and that's not bad i'm trying to free you here it drains you so much that you sit there and you wonder how much longer or I know you can do it, but that is not a function of technically doing it.

It's just how much longer emotionally can you keep doing that type of thing. There's a sense of dread every time you have to go and deal with one of these. Am I right? Oh, yeah. You're right. Okay, then. So that's eventually going to turn into resentment. I don't know how long because you're a good guy with a lot of character.

But I'm telling you, if you don't resolve this, and what I mean by resolve is you've got to talk to your leaders, you've got a great relationship, you said you love your three bosses, you love the company, you've got to go, you know what, this is dragging me down, and here's how it's affecting me, And, and, and if I, if we don't resolve it, it's going to turn into something negative. None of us want that. And I think I can add greater value somewhere else. And, and I think the conversation has to be one that is, you know what? I realized this about myself when I have to deliver bad news, it drains me. It is not who I am. And so I'm not at my best when I'm doing this type of work for the company. Do you understand what I'm saying so far? Absolutely. Now let me flip

this. There are some people, I'll raise my hand just for example purposes, that I have no problem with confrontation. And this is a form of confrontation. And it drains you and it energizes other people. Would you agree with that, Rob? You think of people in your life, you know, that doing what you have to do that drains you, they could do it and it doesn't even make them blink. Oh, yeah, absolutely. All right, that's the guy.

So as a leader, they need to know that they're going to be better at it. It's going to actually go smoother. It's going to be more effective when this work has to be done. If we put somebody in that seat who eats it for breakfast. Make sense? Yes, it does. Do you know of somebody in the company? Because I want you to come to this conversation with solutions. Do you know somebody that you think would probably enjoy doing it

and probably has the know-how and whatever the other elements are to be able to do it effectively? Well, I mean, I can do it effectively, but the problem is our office is smaller, so there's not a whole lot of people here. I'm doing kind of mini tasks. So they might have to backfill for that position if you moved. Correct.

Okay. But my point is, how much of a percentage is this type of draining work of your overall work? How much? 30%, 40%. It's pretty high, man. Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to help you get to the point. I'm trying to help you with a solution right now, but let me back up because I think you can figure out the solution.

You will resent this job and resent the company and resent everybody else if you don't solve this. 40% of your work doing something that drains you is a recipe for discouragement, despondency, depression. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just going, it's the way we're wired, bro. We're not wired to do something that drains us. We not wired to do something that drains us we're wired to do something that uh fuels us so you gotta come to your leadership with a solution okay so i'd be looking around the company going hey i really love what that guy does if i could do that every day

man that would fire me up or or rob it's hey, hey, I'm going to keep doing the 60% that I already do, but I'm going to carve off this 30% to somebody else who's better at it, it doesn't drain them, and I'll pick up another 30, 40% that adds value to the company and something that I enjoy. That's the solution formula. And then they see you winning, doing the other part, and they go, man, he should be doing that full time. He's so good at that, it lights him up. So I like that plan, Rob He's so good at that. It lights him up. So I like that plan, Rob. And it'll get there.

It'll take some conversations with your leaders. It may not happen tomorrow, but you've got to take steps. Let's do this. Hey, Rob, hang on the line. We're going to give you a get clear assessment that's going to help you further clarify and communicate how you need to get in your sweet spot with this company. This will be a great tool as you go through this. Thanks for the call. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance?

My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance, since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive and your family

needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. so many of our calls on the show lately have been about fallout from the pandemic rising inflation questions about a recession more More than ever, people need hope with their finances, and maybe you're feeling that way too. And that's why you need to check out Financial Peace University. This is not your dad's version of FPU. We just did a massive update to our biggest money course, and it's still our proven money principles, but refreshed for what you're facing today. You're going to hear from Dave and Rachel Cruz, of course, but we've just added Dr. John Deloney and myself, and we are bringing some fresh insights to show you new

ways to look at money. So if you're feeling scared or overwhelmed, know that you're not alone. There's a lot going on these days you just can't control, but you can take control of your money and ease your money stress with Financial Peace University, and we're going to show you how. You can start FPU for free and check out all of this new content by going to ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. That's ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. I'm George Campbell, joined by Ken Coleman today. This is The Ramsey Show. The number to call is 888-825-5225.

Dylan joins us up next in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dylan, welcome to the show. How are you guys? Great. How can we help? You broke up on us, Dylan. Can you get your phone to a good place? Yeah, can you hear me?

That's better. Let's try that. Okay. Hey, Dylan, you might need to turn the microwave off. Something's interfering there. Please tell me he's near a microwave. That would make sense. Well, hey, we'll put you on the line.

We'll see if Austin gets you some good quality. He enjoyed it. He got the idea. Well, we'll try you in just a moment. We're going to go to Brandon in Phoenix instead. Brandon, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you guys? Great.

What's going on? So I got asked if I wanted to apply for a position with my company as operations manager up in a new facility in Marysville, Washington. It's about an hour north of Seattle. I currently make $80,000 here. I'm going to be asking for $130,000 and would take nothing less than $120,000 up there. As far as career-wise, it would be a huge move. The facility I'm in now is probably the second-smallest facility in the company. That one is the third-largest.

They make twice as much sales-wise as we do here. So it would be a huge turbocharge to my career as far as that goes. As far as my family goes, everybody that my wife and I know are here. So we'd be going up there alone. I have a house that I'm building here, about $560,000, and a house that I have right now that I would be selling to put money down on that house. Housing up there for something along the same lines is about $200,000 more. So does that make sense to go out there financially?

Well, you've got two issues here. You've got the relational, and then you've got the financial. Because I think the professional side, if it was just that, I think you'd probably be jumping at this. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, how open is your wife? How open are you to leaving?

Before we get to the financial piece, how open are you to leaving everybody in Phoenix and heading to this opportunity? They actually paid to fly us out there to take a look around and some communities and some houses. So we were there this last weekend and my wife loved it. I mean, obviously the temperature outside is a whole lot better right now. It's probably 100 and something in Phoenix and it's 60 degrees there. So that was nice. So your wife is not really tied to Phoenix to the point where she's pushing back against this, going, I don't know, Brandon, I don't know.

That's what I'm trying to determine. Seems like she's open. Yeah, she's probably more open than I am. Oh, okay. And how big of a deal is it to you? I mean, seriously, how big of a deal is it? Are you worried about some guilt? Are you worried about some pressure from family if you were to leave?

No, it's more just I guess I don't see them all that much anyway. We're kind of introverted, stay home and do our own thing. He'll keep up on Instagram, right? It'll be fine. Well, you just answered that question. Yeah, but it's, I guess, the fact that on my way home, I could do like I did yesterday, stop by and talk to my brother about this situation or something else. I wouldn't be able to just do that. You'd have to FaceTime him. You'd have to FaceTime him. Yeah.

Yeah, you're introverts anyway. Okay, you know what? I'm going to pass the baton to George because I think this is a financial play right here. I mean, I think the professional side, it's a no-brainer, and it feels like on the relational side it's a no-brainer. So, George like on the relational side, it's a no-brainer. So, George, we have one more box to walk through. The timing is wonky because you said you're building a house? Yeah, so I put six grand earnest cash down. I could try to get that back. I doubt I would, but that would be something that I asked for the company to pay me back for to move up

there. Oh, as part of tenure moving costs. Either way, yeah. I'd like some sort of moving bonus, relocation bonus. They've not offered you the job yet, correct? My boss said it's about a 99% chance. We have support from the current people at the facility that would be moving up to the new area and the the president is all for it um and the other one of the other vps um so i got a lot of support and it's the 130 a shot in the dark i mean is that a wet finger in the air or is that reasonable what's that the 130 that you'd be you'd be asking uh he he originally told

me somewhere between 120 and 130000 and $130,000. Okay. I think it's reasonable. Okay. Just want to make sure you weren't just hoping. That's a number that they threw out there. Okay. Cool.

Well, if you can get out of this house, what would your house sell for that you're in? About $436,000, $450,000. And what's your equity? We owe about $195,000. Okay. $195,000, something like that. So you could net over $200,000 to put down on a house there, maybe even rent for a year when you get to the new area

to figure out where you want to live? Right. Is that a possibility? Yeah. Okay. So I'm good with that. If you guys take your time with the move, I'm finding somewhere. Okay. So I'm good with that. If you guys take your time with the move, I'm finding somewhere. Okay.

Can you get a house, though? Because you said the cost of the housing there is about $200,000 more. I think you could beat that. What would a reasonable house cost for you guys in that area? $600,000, $500,000? Up there? Yeah. $700,000?

$750,000. $750,000. Well, I just look at facts and math and go all right go to the mortgage calculator at ramsay solutions.com and start playing around with the numbers 15 year fixed where the payment's no more than a quarter of our take-home pay how much down payment do we need to put down in order to make that happen and if it's not going to be within the parameters right now then just go rent for a year and figure out what area you want to live and start to feel out in the market. Let it continue to cool off and buy when you're ready. Let me say this. You could rent two years. So when Stacey and I, when we relocated from Atlanta to come join Ramsey Solutions, we rented for two years because we had three kids and we wanted to be absolutely certain what the best

place was for us. It's a large area. I'm sure it's a large area there. And so we had a lot of different ways we could go. And we rented for two years. It was one of the best place was for us is a large area. I'm sure it's a large area there. And so we had a lot of different ways we could go. And we rented for two years. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. No need to rush. Brandon, does your wife work outside the home? Yeah, she just graduated dental school. She's an assistant.

So she makes 18 an hour a year, about 38 grand. I think up there might be a few more bucks an hour, maybe somewhere around $25 an hour. So there's that as well. Great. I think that would help. So what's your gut telling you? We've already walked through all this. I feel real good about this.

Yeah. What are you feeling, Brandon? How do you feel? I mean, I think it's a huge opportunity. I don't think it would be a bad decision. There's a lot more stuff outdoors you could do with the kids. We've got two girls, 9 and 11. Someone is going into sixth grade, so I don't think she really has, like,

lifetime best friends. But here coming up pretty quick, she will. So if we were to make a move somewhere, this would be the time. I say trust your gut. We've walked through all the different things to think through. I think George is right. Do some more mortgage calculation stuff with that great resource. A couple more visits up there, and then go, hey, you know what?

We're just going to make this move because it's an absolute win for us professionally. It's a win for us relationally. The wife is on board. Girls will be fine. You said you're an introvert. Don't see your family much anyway. Now, financially, we're going to ease into this by renting for a while. I found that you'll find whatever you're looking for when it comes to life change.

If you look for fear and all the reasons you're going to miss all, then that's what your life is going to be. But if you look at the upside, man, I'm so excited about this new neighborhood and where we're going to live and all the friends we're going to make. Man, I've moved across country multiple times, and I love my family. We talk, we FaceTime, but I'm real happy with my decisions. But that initial fear is real. So you've got to overcome that with some facts, some logic, and reality.

But I'm pumped for you, man. It's a big opportunity. I'm taking it. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. so ken we've been talking about insurance a lot lately and i'm sure everyone knows about auto insurance life insurance hopefully term life have been hanging around the show for a little while. But there are some crazy types of insurance out there. I did a little Instagram reel and TikTok video about this. Oh, did you? I haven't seen that yet.

I'll head over there after the show. You've got to get on social media. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's hard to believe that these types of insurance are real. People actually buy them. So I want to get your take on these crazy types of insurance. You're hitting me with some crazy. Oh, this is very exciting.

Let's start with this one. You'll enjoy this. Okay. Death by laughter insurance. Come on. This is for comedians who are so funny, they're afraid someone will croak laughing themselves to death. You've got to be kidding me.

So this is a protectionary insurance. This is a real fear for people like you, Ken. For funny guys. I'm a funny guy. But I don't walk around worrying about killing somebody with my comedy. So this is a result of our litigious society. Oh. Our justice system has run amok.

You wanted commentary, I'm bringing it. If I lose my breath because I'm laughing so hard, and I go to the hospital. I can now sue somebody. I die because I'm not in good health or it's just some freak of nature situation, and the family's going to sue the comedian. It's ridiculous. The good news is you and I don't have to worry about that, Ken. Yeah.

We're not that funny. The people in the lobby, they're telling us, the audience out there. There we go. All right. Oh, this lady just passed. Oh, no, she's okay. She was kidding. Stay alive.

So, Ken, you love your sports. I do love sports. You also love fantasy football. Here's the crazy part. I love fantasy football. You can insure your fantasy football team. You can cut your losses if a player gets injured. Now, see, I see no problem part. I love fantasy football. You can insure your fantasy football team. You can cut your losses if a player gets injured. Now see, I

see no problem with that. That's solid. That's solid insurance. I'm kidding. Relax everybody. See, this is ridiculous. How much money are you putting in your fantasy football that you feel you need to insure your team? If you're getting insurance for something that has the word fantasy in it, well, that's a whole other issue. You need to take a good

hard look in the mirror about your life choices. You need to go to church. Well, that's for another day. All right. Here's a personal favorite of mine. Okay. Death by falling coconut insurance. Oh, come on.

We've all been there, Ken. Are you messing up? That's a real one. Death by falling coconut? And here's the thing. I found out by Google, 150 people die a year from falling coconuts. What are they doing?

That's like a person every two days. They stand there under the tree, shaking the tree, looking for this problem? If you're a coconut farmer and you're not wearing a helmet, you know, it could be an issue. But this is a rider on some life insurance policies. I guess if you're around coconut trees a lot. I got to tell you something. I was in the Caribbean, I forget where it was now, maybe it was St. Thomas. Or where, I don't know, maybe it was Haiti. I can't remember. Got a coconut right out of the Caribbean. I forget where it was now. Maybe it was St. Thomas. Or where?

I don't know. Maybe it was Haiti. I can't remember. Got a coconut right out of the tree. Guy I'm with's got a machete. Because you know I don't have a machete. You don't carry one around? You're not MacGyver?

I don't carry one around. All right. And the guy just chops the top of the coconut off, drank right out of it. Unbelievable. Delicious. Organic coconut water. Now, I could see myself choking on that and dying, but not the coconut falling on my head.

Yeah. Yeah, this is ridiculous. All right, avoid that one. This is one for Rachel Cruz, but she's not here, for all the conspiracy theorists out there. Oh, Lord help us. Alien abduction insurance. Now, this is a tricky one, Ken,

because you have to have a confirmed sighting of an alien to file a claim. Right. Good luck. The very absurdity of that language. I want to see the insurance processor who goes along with that conversation. Who gets to watch the videos. Let me tell you what this is. This is absolute, pure theft.

That insurance companies would steal people's money over something this stupid. They ought to go, you know what? Here's some Prozac. Go see a professional. Well, for the conspiracy theorists out there, I mean, you can make a killing from just price gouging them for all kinds of crazy types of insurance. Who knows? This is the nuttiest thing I've heard in a while.

Well, here's one that's even nuttier, and this is the last one that I'm going to hit you with, Ken. Then the coconut? Death by coconut? It's even crazier. I can't believe it. After the rapture, pet care. Oh, my gosh.

So here's the deal. These are crazy Christians. So this is now preying on crazy Christians. So the atheists out there are going, hey, let's take advantage of these people. If the rapture happens. And Fido's still here. The left behind atheists will take care of Fido. What do you think about that?

This is mental illness. Now, I've got two French bulldogs. It's truly mental illness. I'm not doing after the rapture pet care. I'm not doing before the rapture pet care.'m not doing before the rapture pet care apparently i don't know if this is true 10 bucks for three pets quite the bargain 10 bucks a month for three i don't know that's a good question i got to look into this i mean i want to know it might be a good deal might be a good deal who knows just do it in case you know yeah i want to know how that gets paid out and the care for that one i have questions

because there's there are some people that are going to be left behind. Fabulous book series for those of you who haven't read that. I'm more of a movie guy, Kirk Cameron. I still can. I promise you if I see a pair of folded pants on a bed, I get nervous. I go, oh my gosh, it's happening. Oh, please get back to the phones. I can't handle it right now.

I do have questions, though. I have a fear of folded clothes, Ken, because of back to the phones. I can't handle it right now. I do have questions, though. I have a fear of phones that close, Ken, because of that movie. This is trauma. I'm trying to get back to the pet. Like, who pays that out? Who's taking care of them? Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to. All the people going to hell.

Anyways. I don't know. Is this real, James? These are real insurances? Look them up. All right. All joking aside, there's a lot of insurance options out there, some crazier than others. And it should be obvious that you don't need abduction insurance, but it can be tough to figure out which ones you do need

to protect your finances as you do the baby steps and you build wealth. So if you want to know the right kinds of insurance to get, it's a very short list. And I'm going to walk you through that in a free five-day video series called Confidence in Your Coverage. In less than three minutes a day, I'm going to walk you through the types of coverage you need and why, and I promise you, after the rapture, pet care is not on the list. So go to ramsaysolutions.com slash confidence and sign up for that free guide today.

You'll have a good time. There you go, Ken. All right. Wow. Back to the phones. I didn't even know. That was fantastic. Back where Ken belongs, on the phones.

Elizabeth joins us in Denver. Elizabeth, welcome to the show. Hi there. Wow. Back to the phones. I didn't even know. That was fantastic. Back where Ken belongs, on the phones. Elizabeth joins us in Denver. Elizabeth, welcome to the show. Hi there. Hey. How can we help? Well, so a little brief background of what's going on is I have managed to accrue almost $50,000 in credit card debt. No loans, no car, no house, none of that.

Just credit card debt is the only kind. Just credit card, is the only kind. Just credit card, because I've just not been able to work enough in the world climate that started two years ago. I had to have some serious dental work. I had to have a grad-level program that wasn't a graduate school and therefore not financial aid-oriented that I paid for out of pocket via credit card. And so this is all just accrued from normal living stuff with those other exceptions. And I'm wondering if you have, of course you'll have questions, but like, what is the best direction at tackling this debt when I'm not yet making enough money to really start paying it off quickly? And the interest fee each month combined with the payments I'm

making on the minimum, it's like no progress. What's the interest? It's getting really unnecessary. The interest rates are different on each card. It's 17% on one, 16% and 15% on another. Oh, my goodness. What was the grad level program for? Are you working in that field? I'm working in that field now. I've just finished that program.

It was a coaching program. What kind of coaching? Just starting off health coaching. And so how much are you making right now in that field? Well, that's the thing is just starting out in that field. I'm now working on the whole entrepreneurial aspect of garnering the clients I need to make a full-time income and I'm not any workhorse. Can you work for someone else? I could. I'm looking into different jobs to go work for different companies

as a health coach, yes. Okay, I'm going to have George walk you through our debt snowball and getting out of debt, but I'm going to coach you up here on kind of my area of focus, and that is income-related. This is one of the hottest job economies we've ever seen and it still is it still is no matter what you're seeing in the news now is one of the best times for you to go get a what i'm going to call a day job meaning it does not have to be health coach related because you've got to get rid of this debt you've got the

qualification and training to be a health coach. It is an entrepreneurial venture anyway, which means it's one customer at a time, unless you do what George says, where you go work maybe for an established company that has a stable of health coaches. But I don't think that's what you want to do, and that's fine. But right now... Actually, I do want to do some stuff. I would rather do that than work any other ordinary day job. I would love working with a company where I could

coach people for the company. Well, I appreciate that. Does that exist close by you in Denver? It does exist somewhere, and I've been looking... Well, you better go get it. But until then, you better go make some income. George? Yeah, Elizabeth, so we don't have time. We're up against a break. But what I'm going to do is gift you Financial Peace University. It's nine lessons. But I want you to do is just watch the first two for now. It's on budgeting. It's on baby step one and two. And we're going to also with that give you every dollar premium so that you can lay out all of your income, all of your expenses and figure out where the leaks are and start to make some progress. That might mean getting some extra jobs, some side jobs. It might mean cutting some things, but this is a fire. You're paying 17%

interest on 50K worth of debt. We've got to attack this. So hang on the line. Austin's going to pick up. We're going to give you FPU as well as every dollar. It's all part of Ramsey Plus for one year. Call us back if you need NEO. Thank you. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 15, 16. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Stephen Covey said, I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. That'll preach. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

Their 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color, they will remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Just use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Jeremy in North Carolina. I'm 26, and I've made some bad financial decisions. I'm in baby step two, and I'm trying to find higher-paying jobs in my degree field.

I have a bachelor's degree in business management, as well as an associate degree in business administration. I'm working 45 plus hours a week, but I only earn $25,000 to $30,000 a year. I don't have any housing expenses, only utilities. My only debts are $4,000 in credit cards and $15,000 in student loans. How can I increase my income and how do I budget on a weekly paycheck in the meantime? I'll take the first half of that question, increase the income. Listen, when someone who has a business management degree, they go, hey, how can I, you know, get promoted or make more money in my field?

Look, this is leadership. You're technically saying I have a degree in business leadership. But the problem is, and I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, I'm just going to keep it real, a business management degree is not worth a whole lot. It just isn't. Because the way to learn how to manage and the way to learn how to lead is to follow. And so what I would do is you're only making $25,000 to $30,000 a year with a degree, you got to set your sights higher. This is a wonderful, wonderful job economy, as I've been saying, and I talk about it every day on the Ken Coleman Show. Look, you can make way more money than this.

So you've got to go get yourself a role in a business, because that is your background and you have some experience in it. And don't worry about, am I in leadership right now? I just need to make more money. Now, that's one thing. That's leveling up and getting a better job, maybe in a larger company or a healthier small business. The second thing is you are in a situation where you can knock this debt out pretty quickly, so maybe it's a second job. Again, part-time jobs, whether it be bartending, waiting tables, delivering stuff, that industry is begging for people. You can go make more money if it's two or three part-time jobs

until you find that better business job. So that would be my focus right now so that he can get out of debt because he has no housing. Yeah, which is great because that should free up some margin if we're doing a budget. And he asked, how do I do a budget on a weekly paycheck in the meantime? Well, just like you would if you got paid every two weeks. So use every dollar. You're going to list every single paycheck in the income section. In the expenses section, we've got to give every

single dollar a name and actually pay attention to where your money's going and go, you know what, I could cut that. And I think I can get a better deal on the insurance. And I'm getting a tax refund. I need to change my withholding. And all of a sudden, you get creative and you find room in your budget. So I just did some quick napkin math here, Ken. If he found a job, 15 hours a week, that puts him at 60 hours. That 15 hours a week at $20 an hour, which is reasonable right now. Very reasonable. That'll give him an extra 300 bucks a week. That's $1,200 a month. Yeah. And so now you go, we got $1,200 a month to throw at the $19,000 in debt. That's right. We're going to be debt-free in a year. This is very, very doable,, we've got $1,200 a month to throw at the $19,000 in debt. We're going to be debt-free in a year.

This is very, very doable, but we've got to really ratchet down our spending and increase our income. That's how you create margin. We've got to spend less and make more. That's it. So you can do this, man. All right, let's go to the phones. Melissa joins us up next in San Diego. Melissa, welcome to the show.

Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. So my question is, so my dad has a paid off house that's worth approximately $1.4 million. He's thinking that he's going to have a forced retirement possibly in the next coming weeks to months. In his retirement, my dad would not be able to afford the property taxes and the upkeep to remain in this property. And my dad has done a lot with the property taxes and the upkeep to remain in this property. And my dad has done a lot with the property, and he doesn't want to lose it outside of the family. And my husband and I just had twin boys, which are now 10 months old. And my dad has recently proposed the idea of allowing us to take over the house and building a granny flat on the property that he would live in. My husband and I own a house, and we owe approximately $199,000 on our house.

In the current market, we're estimating to get approximately $525,000 for our house, which would net us approximately $300,000, which we would use to fund the build for the granny flat on his property that he would live in. And my dad recently got an estimate for the new build that would be approximately $340,000. So since the numbers are so close, we were wondering if it would be a smart idea to get a construction loan to fund the rest of the project. Our expenses at my dad's house that we'd be moving into are approximately $400 more per month than the house we're currently living in, and that's just with extras such as like pool maintenance, landscaper, that kind of thing. And this is a way for our family to move into a bigger residence without having much of an increase in our budget.

This feels real messy, Melissa. It feels like this is a recipe for disaster and resentment because you don't own the house, and you're going to put $300,000 in for him to live in it while you pay all these extra maintenance fees. What's the plan for ownership? We'd have to sit down and discuss all the legalities, but basically, I mean, he owns the house outright.

I think he needs to sell this house, downsize, and you guys live your life and move on. That just feels like the best plan relationally and financially. And I've got to tell you, a big question mark for me, Melissa, was $340,000 for a place for him to live on the property. He didn't need that much space. I understand the cost. I mean, I understand it's expensive to build anything, but he don't need that big of a place. So that was a big red flag on top of everything else. Okay.

And you're saying he's going to be retiring. Does he have money out? Because that doesn't free up any cash flow for him, really, other than what you're adding to it. Yeah, no, he would just be living off of the retirement of what he has. But like I said, just with the way that the market is here, the price to move anywhere else would be almost as expensive. Because he owns the house outright. He has the solar panel, so he doesn't really pay much of an electric bill. I'm not staying in the house because of solar panels, though.

I just want him to make... Could he get a place for $800,000, $900,000? Is he on his own? solar panel so he doesn't really pay much of an electric bill. I'm not staying in the house because of solar panels, though. I mean, I just want him to make, could he get a place for $800,000, $900,000? Is he on his own? No, it's him and my stepmom and then my sister as well. She's just finishing up the last couple years of high school. Yeah, but they don't need all the space is what you're saying. It's a giant house, it sounds like. Correct, yeah.

And then we're eventually going to be having to move up in-house in a couple of years. So my husband and I were thinking we would move up in-house in a couple of years. The problem is you're at the whim of his decisions with his property after you've put in $340,000. So that just feels like it's going to get messy. Okay. Even if we sat down and got, like, if we were to end up selling the house, we would always leave with the amount that we put in.

Potentially, but even then, that's not an appreciating asset. I'd rather you get in a house where the house is increasing in value instead of you just getting your piece back. What happens to the estate when he passes? I'm assuming he's thought through this and has got this in writing, yes? Yeah, yes, correct. Who gets the house? It's my sister and I that we would be splitting basically his assets.

Which, to split it, you guys would need to sell it to get money, correct? Yeah, or he has other investments outside of the home. He has his retirement and some other stocks and stuff like that that he has. It's just really messy, Melissa. Do you feel it? I mean, I think that it's hard to let go because, I mean, like I said, we're thinking of moving into a bigger house, and we can have a five-block because the house that we live in now

is only 1,200 square feet. And that's me and our two boys who would eventually move into something bigger. And if we can move into a bigger house. Yeah, but you're moving into a place with family members. Now we're all one big happy family. Woo-hoo! Are you guys debt-free? No, we have, well, obviously we have the house,

and then we have $60,000 on the student loan. Okay. Here's my plan for, do you have an emergency fund or savings? Yeah. Okay. Well, the baby steps would tell you, let's throw all the money at the debt except $4,000. Let's clean up this student loan. Let's get the fully funded emergency fund. Then let's start saving up for our next house. So that's what I would be doing. And maybe you could put $400 down once you sell this house and get a $700,000 house that would be more suitable for your family. So I'm going to run my own path. I'm not going to mess with the whole family estate piece. It just feels too messy. That's just my take. Appreciate the

call. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Thank you to my co-host, Ken Coleman, to Austin and Will and James and Zach and Andrew in the booth and you, America. Appreciate you guys listening in. Until the next time, spend wisely, save intentionally and give outrageously. Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral?

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