The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Manage Difficult Work Hours as a Tennis Instructor? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

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Thank you very much. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money, your career, your relationships, you name it. I'm George Campbell, and I'm joined today by my colleague, good friend, fellow Ramsey personality, and best-selling author, Ken Coleman. Ken, it's good to have you. Good to be with you, George. I love when you introduce me. It feels good.

I should record that and play that when I walk in the house. It's inspirational. The kids will look at me differently. If nothing else, it's inspirational. It's a free call, folks. Give us a call with your questions. 888-825-5225. It is toll-free as of today, and I think it will stay that way.

Oh, is it right? Is it you just made it toll-free? I just made it toll-free. This one's on the house. By the way, you know what's funny? Nobody says toll-free anymore. I think we should bring it back. I think so, too.

Out of tradition's sake. Yeah, yeah. That's what I grew up with, toll-free. Well, it's going to be a fun Friday with me and Ken at the helm, and we're taking your call. So give us a call, and don't be scared. A lot of people listening right now are going, yeah, I've never called. I've always wanted to, but I just don't want to get on the line, especially if you're a millennial. Millennials are scared of phone calls, Ken. Did you know that? Is that right? Yeah. Well, it's because they've never talked to anybody. We don't like, we just write a text. Everything's a text or an email.

But that doesn't make for great radio, does it? No, but I'll tell you this. John Deloney and I said this yesterday. I say this every day on the Ken Coleman Show, and John says it on the Dr. John Deloney Show because of the sensitivity of the calls we take. I've got people calling every day going, I'm having a real problem at work. My boss is a pill, a jerk, or just, hey, I'm burned out. I want to go over here.

And they don't want somebody that they work with to overhear it because it's a national show. And so I wanted to point out today, as we did yesterday, and as I do every day on the Ken Coleman Show, we'll change your name. We'll change your location. Jenna's on the phones over there. She's been trained by the best in the business, Kelly Daniel. And we take care of you.

We understand the sensitivity to some of these calls, and so we want you to feel that extra blanket of safety to know that George and I will never know if that's your real name or where you're from. And quite frankly, we don't care. We just want to help. We care about you. So I think there are some people today that have been listening for a while, and they're going, okay, these guys don't look terribly intimidating. And honestly, look at us. If you're watching on YouTube right now, how could you possibly be intimidated by these two guys? Yeah, I don't win many fights, Ken. Let's put that out there. I don't even fight. We are here. 888-825-5225. We're kicking it off with Rodolfo in Salem, Oregon. Rodolfo, welcome to the Ramsey Show. How are you?

Pretty good. and yourself? Doing great. How can we help today? So yeah, my question is about six grand in credit card loan debt. I was just trying to see where should I start off of? Should I pay it off at once, little by little? I just want to see where do I start, basically? So let me recap. You've got $6,000 in credit card debt. Is this across multiple cards?

Two cards. Two cards. Okay. Are you familiar with our baby steps that we teach? A little. I mean, I know it's the $1,000 emergency, you know, just in case something happens. Yeah, do you have that so far? Do you have $1,000?

Yeah, I do, yeah. I have more than that. You have more than that? How much more are we talking? I have about $8,000. Hold up. You have $8,000 in cash, and you have $6,000 in credit card debt. Yeah.

This is an easy math equation for me. What's been holding you back from just going ahead and paying that whole thing off in one lump sum? Well, basically, you know, I bought this travel trailer as well. I'm remodeling it, so basically it's going to cost me about $4,000 to buy something, and I'm going to be left at zero after that. So you've been hanging on to it for the remodel? Yeah, I'm just basically, yeah, that's what's been holding me up, basically. Okay, and this is your only debt, this credit card debt? I have a car as well.

I bought a truck. Okay, what's the loan on that truck? Right now it is $26,000. I owe $26,000. Okay. Well, you've got Baby Step 1 down, which is that $1,000 starter emergency fund. And now you're in Baby Step 2, where you're paying off all of your consumer debt except the house. And this includes the truck too. So what I would start with is your smallest debt first. That's what we teach, the debt snowball. So you're going to list all of your debts from smallest to largest.

We're ignoring the interest rate. We're not concerned with that. We are concerned with progress, and we are concerned with actually seeing this debt gone. So as of today, you could have no credit card debt with the cash you have on hand, correct? Yeah, correct. That will leave you with $2,000. You can take $1,000 of that and start attacking that truck loan. And I want that thing gone before you start doing all these renovations on the trailer.

I mean, is there any urgency around the trailer renovations? Not too much. I just wanted to flip it. So, yeah, basically. Okay, so this was a quick money-making scheme for you. Just trying to flip the truck, make some money. Yeah. Before we do that, we've got to clean this up.

So, Rodolfo, let's put a new timeline together. George told you exactly what to do. Are you tracking as to why you need to do it that way and that it is something you're going to do? Is that a yes? Are you going to do this? Do what? The debt snowball. The debt snowball. What George just told you to do.

You've got to pay that debt off today. Yeah, well, that's the thing. So I should pay it off then. That's what you recommend? Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. How much is this truck worth?

I'm curious. Right now it's worth about $42,000. It's worth $42,000 and you have a $26,000 loan? Yeah. What do you think about selling that truck since you're not underwater on it and using that cash to really get your life started? Well, I've thought about that. I do.

You do what now? Sorry, speak clearly into the phone. We missed you. Landscaping. So you need it for your business? Yeah. No, you don't. You don't need a $42,000 truck. That's a nice truck for a landscaping business.

I know that, but... No, no, no. Hold on a second. I'm not in a butt mood today. I'm just going to jump in here, George. Listen to me, dude. Let's just run the math. You owe $26,000 on the truck. It's the truck it's worth 42 if i heard that correctly i'd flip that by the weekend that's 16 grand in your hand now you got 16 grand you can go buy something a decent older truck or whatever that you need

for the 16 and you can flip the trail and everything else and now you're rocking and rolling man we're talking about fast-forwarding your dreams. You got a point there. You got a point there. What I'm hearing is you could be debt-free this week if you wanted to, and then you can be cash-flowing these renovations, get a cheaper truck for the landscaping gig, and upgrade as you get more cash flow in. And let me remind you, once you get rid of that car loan and these credit cards, you're going to have more income. You're going to get a raise because you're not making payments anymore.

That's true. So I want that to fuel you, get you excited about the future, because I can tell you're a sharp dude, entrepreneurial type, and you're going to set yourself up way better for the future if you can clean this mess up this week and start to have that cash flow back in your life. Okay. Yeah, I think I'm going to do that for sure. Probably try taking my church with CarMax or something to see what they do. Yeah, dude, absolutely. There's so many options right now. CarMax, dealerships, Vroom, Carvana, you name it. But get the best bang for your buck there, and we believe in you, man. You got this.

You can get rid of this debt. Get this income back into your life. That is the key. This is The Ramsey Show. I saw some recent financial statistics, and there was some pretty troubling news. When families were asked how long it would be before they faced financial hardship if a spouse died, nearly one-third said they'd be in trouble immediately. Another 44% said they'd be financially drained within six months. People, it does not have to be this way. Term life insurance plans are just plain cheap, and companies have made it even easier by not requiring exams in many cases. There really is no excuse to leave your family in this situation by not having life insurance. This is why I talk about Zander Insurance every day.

They're committed to protecting families with the only products that I recommend, and their team keeps the entire process simple and affordable. Go to Zander.com for quick online pricing or call 800-356-4282. This has to be a priority. If your family is in this situation if you want to give us a call i'm george camel joined by my friend ken coleman here hey if you're like most people you've got more than enough on your mind right now you're getting the kids where they need to be you're keeping up with the bills you're staying on top of work and family it's exhausting and it can be stressful but money doesn't have to be. You're keeping up with the bills. You're staying on top of work and family. It's exhausting and it can be stressful. But money doesn't have to be one more thing you worry about.

When you have the right plan, you can be in control of your money and your life. And that plan is Financial Peace University. This class will show you step by step how to pay off debt, save money, and build wealth for the future. You can stream all nine lessons on your own, or you can join a class with other people so you're not figuring it out alone. And now the only way to experience FPU is with a Ramsey Plus membership. This plan works every time. Just ask the 6 million people who've done it and never worry about money anymore. I'm one of them, and you guys can do it too. To start your free trial of Ramsey Plus and check out FPU,

just text the word TRIAL to 33789. one of them, and you guys can do it too. To start your free trial of Ramsey Plus and check out FPU, just text the word trial to 33789. That's trial to 33789. Hersey is in Ottawa, Canada. Hersey, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you very much for having me. Glad to have you. How can we help today? So I had a quick question. So I graduated college about like a year ago. I have no debt. I have. Yes, I've been living at home. I make great income. I work with the federal government and I've just looking like future career-wise. I'm in a great place right now, but just looking more towards the future, what should I do now? Kind of what I'm confused about. You said you have a great job already? Yes. What is that job? A computer system. So I work with the federal government, so fixed computers, network issues, troubleshooting, so a bunch of different things related to computers.

Yeah, so what do you wonder about? You went to college. You clearly have got some type of technical training, and you've got a good job. You don't despise it, but you're a young man, and you're calling going, what are my next steps? And I throw to you, I go, well, we'll determine the steps once we know what mountain we want to climb. So you've got this thing all backwards. So we figure out, okay, what is it that I want to do with my professional life?

Is there purpose in work? And their answer is yes. So I want to know what you're wondering about, because I know you're wondering about something. So what are you wondering about? I'm wondering more towards, like, there's always this big step we're following, graduate school, get a good job, keep working. And then now that I've accomplished all of that, I'm in a place where I'm like, okay, what should I accomplish now?

What should my next goal be? What should I be focusing towards now? Should I start a business on the side? So it's not, like, I am happy where I am, but I feel like I'm just a little ambitious and I'm just, I just want to. Yeah, so I totally get it. Hersey, I totally get everything you said,

but you didn't answer my question. So let me give you a little bit of context and then I'm going to hit you again. All right? Okay. Because I think you've got an answer. Okay. So the goals and the steps are, again, are determined by our direction.

It's not, okay, I went and got a degree. I've got a good job, so do I get a master's degree next? What's the next task I've got to do? That's going to lead you to a life of wandering. Wandering is, what was I put on this planet to do? So on the Ken Coleman Show, and I'm a part of Ramsey Solutions, and so my entire methodology is this. You use what you do best, talent, to do work you love, passion,

to produce results that matter to you, mission. Do you get that statement? Yes. Sounds pretty darn good, doesn't it? It does. So what we've got to do is we've got to fill in the blanks. What are your top talents? What's the kind of work that you love to do? High emotion, high devotion. You think about it, you get excited. When you're in the middle of it, time seems to stand still. And then the

ultimate piece is, what results do I want my work to produce? What is my contribution to the world? You've got to start to wrestle with that. And again, you're sharp enough of a young man. You've accomplished some things. You're living at home. You've wondered about something. So let's just put you to the test. Hersey, what would you try to morrow if you knew you couldn't fail? Guaranteed, couldn't fail, but you didn't have to commit the rest of your working life to it.

So it's a big, fun, professional. Whee! What would you do? Probably start an online business of some sort. Great! I love making websites. I love playing with applications. I've always wanted to give that a try, see where it goes.

I don't have a background in business. I have some ideas of it. Supply and demand, of course. I love investing. I invest a lot. Okay. So here's the deal. Hersey, you've already started allowing doubt to creep in. You gave me a little bit of a fun answer, then you immediately came up with all the reasons why it might not be possible. I don't want any more disclaimers, Hersey. You said that you love the idea and you shared the idea, and so you need to start tinkering around with that, right? Start doing it. Start doing it on the side for yourself or get a part-time job doing it for somebody else at nights or weekends. You're working in a government job.

The federal government in Canada has got to be as slow and as boring as the federal government jobs in the United States. You've got time to do this. Here's what I want you to do. Two things. I want you to literally start to tinker, to try some things, get some projects, either do it for yourself or do it for somebody else. Then I want you to actually get on the phone and I want you to talk to people via Zoom, coffee, lunch, whatever, who do this kind of work. And in doing so, Hersey, you're going to learn the ins, the outs, the good, the bad, and the ugly around that type of work. Plus, you're going to get a lot of ideas. You're going to get suggestions. You're going to get connections to have more of those conversations.

And before you know it, Hersey, here's what happens. In the process of clarifying what all is involved in that work that you've always kind of been interested in and wondering about, your heart will verify if, in fact, you do want to do that. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes total sense. So stop thinking and start getting busy. Start connecting. Start trying. Start doing.

And watch what happens. I love this. Hersey, what's your degree in? I'm curious. Computer systems. Okay, so you love computers, and you love building websites, and you don't have to have business experience to start an online business. You've got this, and because you're excited about it,

you're going to learn along the way, and it's going to be fun, and you can do this on the side while you still have this government job, and you start to get legs under this business and you get more clients or whatever that thing is you want to do and all of a sudden you're going to go wow i've got 10 clients i can take this thing full time 100 and to george's advice here he's right hersey why don't you go find somebody a small non-profit uh or a family that's got a child that's overcome some physical challenge, and they're trying to raise money for themselves or maybe for other kids, something small, something local, and they've got a really crappy website.

And why don't you go, hey, I'm going to design a site for you for free. That's my donation. And do that. And then get better at it. Do it again and do it again and do it again. And then just start to charge for it. You don't have to have a business degree to do this. No, that's true.

That's completely true. I guess I had a little bit of doubt on how to take that big step because eventually I do want to be my own boss. I do want to have my own business and not commit to a 9-to-5. So that's beautiful. Hersey, you don't have to take a big step. The advice I just gave you, those are little teeny tiny shuffles. And that's the beauty of this.

We don't want you to take a big step either. You've got a very stable job. You don't need to leap. You need to step and step and step and step. And by the way, that's how we climb ladders. I've never seen somebody successfully climb ladders by jumping two rungs at a time. It feels dangerous, Ken. It's how you blow your knee out or break a leg or even worse.

So keep on stepping, young man. This does not have to be that scary. And by the way, welcome to being a human because doubt comes at us all. And I will give you this last piece of advice, Hersey. We just walked through a little shortened version of getting clear. And when doubt starts to creep up on your shoulder and say, you don't have what it takes, or no one's going to pay you to do a website or whatever doubt says, I want you to retreat to clarity. And I want you to retreat to clarity by saying,

why do I love designing websites? Why do I love tinkering with apps? And why do I love to do that? And then your heart will remind you why, and that'll keep you going. Yeah. That's the education system, Ken. Get the degree, get the job, and I still don't have the purpose. Yeah, I think you've got to start with that. You've got to get out of your skull because you have no idea what your soul is telling you to do. You got this, Hersey, man. We're rooting for you.

This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Hey, y'all. I'm Chrissy Wright. When the busyness of life has you feeling overwhelmed, you need to renew your mind and remind yourself of who God created you to be. That's why I'm a huge fan of Glorify, the number one daily worship and well-being app for Christians. With calming meditations, guided prayers, sleep aids, and worship music, fan of glorify the number one daily worship and well-being app for christians with calming meditations guided prayers sleep aids and worship music glorify helps you grow closer to god download glorify for free today in your app store and if you like it you can unlock all of the features at half price by using the promo code ramsey Ramsey. I'm George Campbell, joined by Ken Coleman.

This is The Ramsey Show. It's a free call, 888-825-5225. John joins us in Akron, Ohio. John, welcome to The Ramsey Show. How can we help? Hey, how's it going, guys? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. So I'm calling today.

Just got married a couple weeks ago, and my new wife and I were very happy to be together. And thank goodness we've been very fortunate. We don't have any debts or loans or anything like that. We both just graduated college in May. I'm currently in the, the reason I'm calling today is because I'm currently working as a tennis instructor and making about 60K a year. And as passionate as I am about tennis, um, we're struggling to, uh, we're struggling with the lifestyle of that job because, you know, you have to be available when the eight to five people are getting off work or when kids are getting off school.

So most of my hours at work are weekday evenings and weekend mornings. And we're just really struggling with it, and we're coming to the realization that I don't think this is – I just don't know if this is what I want to do for the next 40 years. So I was excited to hear when Ken was on the show today, just to bring this career question to him and just kind of wanted to get you guys' advice. I've been doing a lot of listening to Mike Rowe

about, you know, opportunities and the skills gap that we have in this country, particularly as it pertains to trades, plumbers, electricians, and so forth. So I just kind of wanted to, like, ask for some general guidance because I guess I'm at the point where it's like I'm happy doing what I'm doing now, but at some point I want to go to work when the rest of the world goes to work. You know, when my family wants to have dinner on a Tuesday night, you know, I want to be available. You know, that's kind of what we're up against right now.

Yeah, I totally get it. But the reality is that's not where you are right now. You're a newlywed. And so while you're doing tennis lessons on weeknights and early Saturday mornings, you've got all day long to be doing something with yourself and making some progress here. So I think that there's a whole lot of hope there. I don't want you to feel like, you know,

well, I've got to make this decision right now, because I feel like you're calling about a situation where if you've got young kids and everything else, I think it makes sense. But right now, you said you're passionate about tennis instructing. So I've got a question. If you were working 9 to 5, would you be calling me right now? If you were a tennis instructor from 9 to 5 right now, would you be calling us with this question? I don't think so.

No, I would probably say no. Okay, so what does that tell you? It's not that you don't want to be a tennis instructor. It's that you're going way ahead to where you've got little kids, and you're not there. You've been married, what, two weeks? Well, a couple months. I'm sorry, a couple months.

But yeah, not far off. My point holds. You wouldn't be calling me to talk about this if you were doing tennis instructing from 8 to 5. So now that begs the question, where can you do tennis instruction during the hours of 8 to 5? Right. No, no, that's not the answer.

There's an answer. Where can you do tennis instructing during the day tell me oh man um florida or you know um a world world class you know tennis academy where the kids go there to live eat and breathe tennis or or maybe uh you're a tennis coach um you know at a uh at a uh you know a racket you know one of those like it's all racket communities and maybe or maybe you're a tennis teacher at a school and you're doing several things i mean you've just basically came you've just come to this conclusion that oh man the only way I could do this work that I really love is weeknights and weekends and I'm never going to see my family, so my life is going to suck, so I'm going

to start watching Mike Rowe to figure out a trade? Really? Yeah. You hear how that sounds? So let me encourage you. That's why I asked you the question. You love tennis you love teaching tennis you've got to ask yourself where can i do that and then what's the ladder look like

so let's have another little fun experiment take me you know the tennis world way better than i do okay tennis instructor you know that world better than i do take me up the ladder like what what would be a potential like amazing job like 10, 15, 20 years from now? Right now you're a tennis instructor, but what's way up above you in the tennis world? Give me a couple of options. Well, let's see. Being the director at a private club is a couple steps above becoming the head pro. So head pro is like a step below tennis director.

And then above that would just be like part ownership of a facility. Okay, great. So I guess that's kind of, yeah. Now, when you start walking your mind through those, how desirable do those become to you? Just in the moment. At the moment, well, I know that they, you know, you definitely, when you get to that point,

you have more say over your schedule, and a much greater deal of autonomy. So, I mean, they sound pretty good. Okay, so here's my point. I'm not going to take you a different direction today because I haven't heard at any point in this phone call that you don't love instructing tennis, that you aren't passionate about tennis.

You are. You've just gotten way ahead of your life schedule right now, and you've created a problem that doesn't exist. And you know what? If it's moving from Akron, Ohio, you and your new wife need to discuss it. Hey, where is tennis really big? Where is a great future in tennis? Are we willing to go there?

I think that's a conversation over steak and a glass of wine. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. I hear you. So here's the deal, brother. I'm happy to help steer you another direction but i don't hear another direction because i'm going to tell you what i tell everybody if it's not using your talent to do work you love to produce a result that matters to you

you shouldn't do it whether micro tells you it's a good opportunity or not because you're going to be miserable yeah you with me yeah no i'm hearing you. I'm hearing you. So I think your next steps are to really dive into what a great-looking future could look like in tennis and then let that be the conversation that you have with yourself and your wife. But don't get out of it right now. I think it's a terrible move. Oh, by the way, you've got all this time between 8 to 5 for doing research and making connections and looking for other gigs in the local area. So get busy, young man. Get busy. Don't make the change yet.

This is a great problem to have, Ken. He's making $60,000 as a tennis instructor basically after hours. He's got his days wide open. This is an interesting predicament. I don't know how often you run into it, but someone who's doing something they love, but it's not at the right place or the right times. Yeah. So what we don't do is throw out the thing we love. Well, find a new career. Down the road, this is going to be really rough on family life, so I'm going to find a trade right now.

What? No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't throw out passion and mission. That's what you love to do and results you love to create. Don't throw that out. Just don't. Let's at least do some research and go, wait a second, where could I go over here? Now, I'm going to tell you something right now.

If I put this young man in a, you know, if he moves to Florida, it's his idea, and he gets a great job, probably making the same amount of money he's making now, but he pays his dues, and he goes, well, I can make $120,000 being the tennis director at the Boca del Bista, you know, resort for seniors. That sounds real. He'd be out of his mind happy. Yeah. Based on what he said. Yeah.

John, call us back when you are the director of an athletic club. Call Ken Coleman's show and say, hey, Ken, you were right. I'm glad I didn't decide to be an electrician. Ken, I'm sitting with Marty and Margaret, and I'm teaching them how to play tennis they're fabulous this is good times ken i love what you do on the ken coleman show and i love when you get to bring a little bit of that a little taste of that to the ramsey show so i'm grateful to have you on we've got more of this where that came from more of the ramsey Show coming up. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by my friend Ken Coleman.

We are taking your calls on money, life, relationships, whatever's going on in your life. Let's talk about it. It's a free call, 888-825-5225. Serena joins us in Paducah, Kentucky. Serena, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you. What's going on? I was curious to know, how can you get creditors of, like, credit card companies to work with you more?

Say, like, if I was to call them and try to pay an actual small credit card debt off, how to pay the least amount as possible. Because I'm hitting a brick wall with a few of them of not wanting to budge at all. What have the conversations been like so far? Like, you call and you say what? Well, I just tell them that I'm wanting to pay off the credit card in full. And they basically, like I've received a letter that tells me an amount that they'll accept for a benefit paid in full. And I'm just trying to figure out, is that the actual amount that I need to go by,

or is there ways around it to maybe even get around it to pay less? Well, the short answer is, if I go $2,000 in debt, I owe $2,000 in debt. Now, there are some clarifications. If this is an older debt, how old is this debt that you're paying off? They're just a little few odds and end credit cards. Is this like a year old? Is it five years old? Probably. They just started going delinquent probably three to four months ago. So this is pretty recent.

They were active until then. Okay. So when more time has gone by, you have a better chance because at this point, there's little hope as time goes on that they're going to get their money back, and so they're willing to take less. But with a fresh debt, you may not be able to negotiate it down as much as you'd like. Now, you can always make an offer. Have you tried that where you just call them and say, hey, I've got to cover my light bills. I've got to keep food on the table. I have $50 left over.

Will that suffice? Or if I paid you $1,000 in full for the $2,000 of debt, would you clear it? Have you tried something like that? No, I have not. Because you've been asking them, hey, what does it take to pay off the000 in full for the $2,000 of debt, would you clear it? Have you tried something like that? No, I have not. Because you've been asking them, hey, what does it take to pay off the debt in full? And they say, it's $2,000. And you say, okay, that's been the conversation so far. Correct. What are the numbers? How many small cards and what are the numbers on each?

There's probably six total, probably a combined of 2,500. My debt and all, I mean, like with a furniture loan, a pool loan, and then just all the little credit cards, like some of them are like just some little home, like little malls, mall stores, and then some of them are like Citibank. So you're saying you have six credit cards, and it's about $2,500 combined of all six? Yes. Okay. I mean, honestly, this is just not that much money.

We're not negotiating $200,000 down to $50,000. Yeah. Right, and that's my situation. I hear all these amazing, inspiring stories with these astronomical numbers, and I'm just like, why can I not do this small, little bitty amount? But to give you a little bit of background, I just recently got married in June. A month after being married, my husband got let go from his job, and we went from having, you like a steady income knowing what was going to come in every single week that he was paid to him going to be a car salesman and working 100%

commission pay however that was very traumatizing and worrisome for me just because I did not know what to expect on how to figure out, like, how much money is going to come in because I just never know. But I will say he is killing it. He is making triple the amount that he was making at the other job. Awesome. But I know there's going to be a down period, and I want to be able to have the emergency funds, the three months' worth of expenses. I want all that in line as well, so I don't know how much current money to let go of to be safe. How much money do you have right now in cash in the bank?

Cash in the bank, probably $7,000. Okay, I want this debt out of your life today. I don't think it's worth it. I mean, you can try to negotiate, but I would just pay this $2,500 off and move on with your life and continue in the debt snowball because you have the cash. And that means you're going to go back to $1,000 with this starter emergency fund as you attack these debts. I want you to have this financial stability, but right now you're trying to do 48 things at once. And we've got to clean up a mess of spending spree that, you know, it sounded like it was a fun joyride while it lasted,

but now you're kind of faced with the reality of looking in the mirror saying, we don't want to live like this. Is that right? Serena, how much was your husband making before the car job? Before the car job, probably between $33,000 and $35,000 a year. You told me then, and George, that he's on pace to make $90,000 this year. You said three times. Were you just exaggerating or were you being literal? I'm being literal. Okay, well, where's that money at?

Let me analyze that a little bit. His first paycheck was three times the amount it would have been had he worked at his current job a month. But you don't ever know how the car sells. Sure, but where did that money go? We understand that. Where is all that money? You said he's killing it. And then you told George we got seven grand. Well, if he's killing it, then somebody stole it or you gave it away or yeah what's happening what's extra money well i mean we have already

paid off some debt with that money okay and then you know i mean there's just everyday bills that we have you know the main four ones okay so here's the You called about, should I negotiate a settlement on these credit cards? And George is absolutely right. They're not that delinquent enough. You don't have enough leverage. And quite frankly, you don't need to. I appreciate that you want to save some money. Everybody likes saving money. George is like the guru on how to save money. But here's the deal. The baby steps are the baby steps. Okay? That's what they are. And so you get $1,000 in your emergency fund. That's it. You're trying to do baby step three before finishing baby step two.

George is right. Do what he said. Knock out the $2,500 as quick as possible. Then those things are gone from your life. Cut them up. Don't ever go back to them again. And then you guys should be super tight until your husband starts getting in a rhythm

and then we have those bigger checks. We build the emergency fund. But you're worried about something that, quite frankly, you shouldn't be worried about. Serena, are you guys on a written budget right now? Tentatively, yes. That didn't instill a lot of confidence in me.

Tentatively, yes, we are on a written plan. That means definitively no, actually. He's on board, but not on board. He's one foot in the boat and one foot in the water. So I kind of feel like I'm doing it alone. Okay, well, here's what I want to do for you guys. I'm going to have Kelly and Jenna pick up, and they're going to gift you guys a year of Ramsey

Plus. And inside of Ramsey Plus, I want you two to go through Financial Peace University. There's nine lessons. You can binge them if you want. Do it on your own time. But I need you guys to get on the same page. Otherwise, you're going to be calling me back in six months with more debt and more frustration and more stress. And I want you to follow the baby steps that are outlined in Financial Peace University. And with Ramsey Plus, you're also going to get access to EveryDollarPlus. That's our premium budgeting tool. It'll connect to your bank account so you can track your spending even easier. You guys need to get on rice and beans and start tracking every dollar coming in, including all of the extra money that he's got coming in. And you need to clean up this mess

so that you can have that financial stability that you told me you wanted, right? That's your why is you want financial stability, right? Right. And to get there, we have to follow these baby steps because right now you're biting off a lot more than you can chew. You're trying to clean up this debt that's in collections. I want you to clean up this debt today. Call them, pay them, be done with it. Now, I want you to do it on your terms. Don't give them access to your checking account. You can do a cashier's check, a money order, and make sure that it's on your terms. Be proactive with them. Let them know where you're at with this.

But I don't think this is a long-term thing that you're negotiating for six months. You're calling them today and saying, hey, what's the total? Great. Here's the cashier's check. I'm done with this. And move on to your next debts and your next debt until they're all cleaned up. And then guess what's going to happen? All of this extra income coming in stays with you. It's not going back out to lenders. And then you can build up

that three to six months emergency fund, start investing, and hopefully you guys are on the same page once you have this financial stability and you've gone through Financial Peace University. How's that sound? Sounds great. Let's go, Serena. All right. Well, that puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. I want to thank Jenna, our phone screener, Ben Hill, our producer, and you, America, for tuning in. Ken and I will be back before you know it. Until then, spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes.

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