The Ramsey Show - App - How Much Should We Be Saving for a Baby? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

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5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. It's a free call at 888-825-5225.

My co-host today, Ken Coleman of The Ken Coleman Show, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author as he talks about careers, finding your passion, getting the right kind of job, and even getting the promotion over at the place you love. And, you know, Ken, it's been a natural thing for The Ken Coleman Show to become wildly popular in a very short period of time because it's a subject at Ramsey we've been talking about for a long time, this whole idea that, you know, there's the income side of the equation, the outgo side of the equation, and sometimes the problem is the outgo side, but sometimes the problem is the income side.

Absolutely. And when you think about people who say, all right, I want to increase my income, they automatically have this default idea, and it's really a myth. Well, I'm going to have to go to school. And so I'm trying to get out of debt. I certainly can't take on tuition. I don't have the time on top of that. And that's a myth because we now know that there are more and more ways than ever, Dave, to get qualified, to actually now begin to be able to move up the ladder to make that income that you want and the impact that you want.

You know, this idea of just working to pay the bills, that's not what anybody wants. Inherently, everybody knows that there's more to life and we want to contribute. And so the idea of increasing our shovel, the big shovel that you've been talking about for a long time, to get out of debt faster is one part of the equation. The other part is to do work that matters. As we look out the glass of our studio here on the giant screen where our staff meets every Monday morning, it says, do work that matters. And that is something that's a part of the fabric here at Ramsey Solutions. And we want to help everyone else that's listening do work that matters to them. But a job change doesn't, you know, you're right.

Sometimes people think, well, that has to come after I get out of debt so that I've got the money to go to school. That's right. Or so I've got the money. But it doesn't have to cost money. It does not have to. Because a lot of times it's just good old-fashioned put yourself out there, raise your hand and say, hey, how can I add these skills that would allow me to step into this position? And you'd be surprised sometimes that it doesn't require a degree.

Or if it does, you'd be surprised how many times companies who realize good people and they'll say you know what we'll pay for that so don't assume that i've got to go to college and spend money i don't have in the time that i don't have while i'm in baby step two you can do this while you're getting out of debt and i think that's what we're excited about showing people that more and more people are just looking for quality companies are looking for quality people and they'll train them on the job i will tell you this i have not tracked it to the dime but anecdotally and i'm very very close somewhere around 90 percent of the people that come on the air here in person or on the phone

to do their debt-free scream have during during the get-out-of-debt journey, increased their income, and many times substantially. Yeah, every time I've heard a scream or seen a scream. Sometimes they increase it by extra jobs. Oh, yeah. Sometimes they increase it by, I just started paying attention, so I asked my boss for a raise. Sometimes they increase it by, I really wasn't shopping, but I realized doing what I do, I can make twice as much if I move over there and doing the same thing. And so they go do that.

And there's just like this, kind of like the veil was lifted, the fog on the career thing was lifted. And, you know, sometimes they say, oh, I went and finished up a certificate or I was this close to finishing my degree, so I did that, and then that launched me forward. Sometimes they budget and pay cash for the change because it's going to launch them forward. That happens sometimes, but most of the time that's not the case. No, and folks, getting qualified is stage two of our seven stages here,

and getting promoted is stage five. In between there is get qualified. I'm getting connected. I'm getting started. That's a switch, if you will, or moving into something new. But getting promoted is many times one of the fastest, most effective ways to get through the debt snowball and then get into the baby step three and pile up that emergency fund. And now all of a sudden, everything has changed. So we're really trying to help people see the connection between, wait a second,

I've got talent. And if I'm not doing something that I really enjoy, there might be a deep connection between advancing professionally and advancing financially. I mean, we've got to see that. It's not just getting promoted for the sake of getting promoted. It's, hey, I can make the income I need and the impact I want. And that's what we're doing on the Ken Coleman Show. So it absolutely is a wonderful tie-in. But I want to drive this point back home. Don't assume that you have to go to school and spend a lot of money to get qualified. That is a careless assumption.

It might be true in some cases. Let's be very clear. I mean, there are still professions that require a four-year degree and sometimes a graduate degree and if you're going to move over to that and you don't know you've never taken an accounting class and you want to be a cpa you're going to go get your master's in accounting yeah that's really not an option if you're going to go be a licensed uh therapist yep you're going to go get a master's degree in psychology at a minimum in every state right in order to get licensed to do that and so and if

you've had no classes then you know you got a four maybe a five-year ride there that's right there's graduate level work involved in those two things that i just mentioned but this idea that um you know i have to get i have to get my mba to uh to move up no you don't no yeah i don't we get this call a lot of the ken colman hey ken, Ken, I want to move into leadership. Should I pursue an MBA? Now, an MBA on its own is a wonderful achievement. A lot of wonderful things you're going to get. It's good information. It's knowledge

that's valuable. Knowledge, experience, it certainly is impressive. But it is not table stakes. Well, it doesn't guarantee your leadership spot. If you want to become a leader, well, I would tell you to start by listening to the Entree Leadership Podcast. I'd start by telling you, go to some of those events, go to other leadership events, read leadership books. And here's an idea. How about engaging

with a leader at work and say, hey, I think I might want to lead one day. How can I get better as a follower? And these are all tactics that tactics that again don't cost a lot of money but qualify you more for leadership than an mba does and by far by far and and and so don't make the assumption that i've got to go to school which is going to cost me money i don't have right now and time i don't have don't assume that dig into it and the worst one is i have to quit my job i have no income coming in so i can go to school and spend the money to do that. Yeah, don't do that. That's the worst one.

Well, certainly in 2021 where now you can go to school online in so many different ways. Give an example. You know, we've got a partner of the Ken Coleman Show, Bethel Tech. They're training people that have no experience. You can go from no technology experience at all, Dave, to starting out making $75,000 a year and then have the opportunity two years later to go into a six-figure income. The kind of people you were talking about earlier today that we hire all the time, developers. I mean, technology, Dave, is now in every industry in the world. Healthcare, nonprofit, religious organizations, everybody's got technology jobs.

And that's not going to change. And you don't need a four-year degree to win in technology. No. No. That's just one example. No. No. Absolutely.

Interesting stuff. Ken Coleman, The Ken Coleman Show. Be sure and check him out at KenColeman.com. Tons of information there about opening up this whole idea of a bigger shovel. What do you do to get your income up and do it in such a way that your life is better because when you go to work, you're smiling. You're doing work you love. This is the Ramsey Show. Your number one wealth building tool is your income. For business owners, this comes as no surprise, as you're used to putting in extra hours and watching your bottom line. That's why Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, is a great option for those who are faith-focused and budget-conscious.

CHM is not health insurance. Rather, it's a health cost-sharing program. It's not harder, but it is different. To learn if CHM is a fit for you or your business, visit chministries.org slash budget. Ramsey Personality, Ken Coleman is my co-host today. Xavier is with us in Orlando, Florida. Hi, Xavier. How are you? How are you doing, sir? Good, man. What's up? Yeah, I have a question.

So my wife and I, you know, we just started the baby step uh one monday um i was reading the book when i get to to the part where it says that i have to have all my bills current so my question is before before we do the thousand dollars we have to have all the bills current right my question is when you're so far behind sir how you, how you get to be current? Okay. That's a really good question. Thank you for calling. It's not to say you're punished, but the baby steps don't work while you've got these hornet's nest of bills chasing you, right? So we've got to get the things calmed down to be able to work the baby steps. So I appreciate you a lot calling in because that's where Sharon and I found ourselves a few years back is in that same situation okay what are you behind on um

uh one car payment is a month two months behind you know my life bills a little bit behind the insurance a little bit behind what else um that's about it to be honest with you okay how much is your car payment um i have one is three 350 and the other one is five hundred dollars what are you behind on the 500 actually no the the 350 yeah yeah the five hundred dollars yes okay yes all right and how about how far behind are you on the electric? What's it take to get current? About a month, maybe, one month behind. How much is that? About $200.

Okay. And what about the insurance? Is this car insurance you're behind on? Yes, sir. All right. How far behind are you on that, and what's it take to get it current money-wise? It's going to take maybe $357. Okay, cool. All right, so I got $500, $200, and $350. I got a thousand bucks changes your life. Okay. You see I did that? Yes, sir. What do you guys make? What's your household income? Between my wife and I, make uh 89 000 a year okay great news right okay so

here's what we're going to do you're going to get on the online i'm going to give you ramsey plus which will get you hooked up to the full the full thing man you put you in a financial peace university the class that almost 10 million people have been through but most importantly for this discussion it's going to put you into into every dollar with a premium version where it hooks to your bank account to do your budget. And you and your wife are going to sit down tonight and you're going to work on that budget using that EveryDollar app, okay? Oh, yeah. I'm going to give you the whole thing free. Oh, my.

Because I really appreciate that, sir. I've been where you are i've been scared i remember how it feels how old are you sir i'm not scared i am freaking out to be honest with you that's okay how old are you i'm 42 years old okay cool so here's what we're going to do the uh what you're going to do is you're going to each month you need to take the money that you have coming in and give it an assignment before the month begins. Okay? So you've got pretty substantial money coming in in July

and maybe another check in June, correct? Yes, sir. Okay. So what does your take-home pay look like a month? My take-home pay is $ a month i get uh my take-home pay is 1600 a month oh no a month uh no 1600 every every two weeks okay so 3200 for you that means your wife's probably doing uh two to three thousand as well right yes sir okay so i'm just going to say six thousand dollars just for an example. All right?

Okay. Now, what I want you to do, here's how you get current to answer your original question. You're going to use this budget app tonight to first thing you buy before you buy anything with your $6,000 for this coming month is food. Before your family does anything, they to eat agreed yes sir and so we're going to put down a budget for food how many kids you got uh we don't have no kids in the house our kids are gone and married okay so no eating out you're broke and a thousand dollars. You don't need to go to a freaking restaurant. Agreed? Yes, sir.

So you're going to go to the freaking grocery store and buy food and cook food at home. Much, much, much cheaper. Okay? And so given that for two people, let's just say I'm going to be a little bit up. Let's say you said $800 a a month for food that's high you can make it on less but i'm giving you a little pad four hundred dollars every two weeks okay yes sir you'll put that in every dollar now i had six thousand dollars coming in and so now i have five thousand two hundred dollars left you've with me so far yes sir the second thing you pay is all your utilities, including let's get this electric bill current.

Okay? So it's going to take $400 because it's $200 behind and $200 for this month to get the electric current. Then you've got to pay the water. If you've got gas, you've got to pay that. Whatever your utilities are, your cable bill, if you've got a big buck cable bill, you need to cut it back and get almost nothing just enough to have internet or something you're broke we're trying to get out of being broke you're in survival mode for a short time and you're going to live like no one else you're going to live on nothing beans and rice rice and beans so that later you never have this stress again does that sound like a good idea?

Yes, sir. You can do this, man. I can tell. I've talked to people for 30 years, and I can tell when somebody's ready, and this guy's ready, Ken. He's ready. Dave, can we talk about the car? I'm curious to know how much the car is worth that has the $500 payment

attached to it. Getting there fast. Yeah. Yeah, so my wife's car owes – actually, I have it written down right here. Give me one minute. I'm sorry. It's okay. No worries.

My wife's car owes $19,370, and my car owes $13,265. What's your car actually worth, your car? To be honest with you, I have no idea. What about hers? I haven't even checked how much my car is worth your car to be honest with you i have no idea what about hers um i haven't even checked how much my car is worth a five hundred dollar car payment on 19 000 tells me you got screwed on the interest rate because you got bad credit yeah we have bad credit and then we got the car when i um right after we did a a bankruptcy like like like almost 10 years ago. What kind of car? They jacked you. You're paying 15%, 16% interest, aren't you?

Yeah, so I did numbers on Monday because when I read your book, I was like, oh, my God. So we owe $84,321, and $40,000 of that is owed to the IRS. Okay. Is that on a payment plan? So I called the IRS last week and submitted my paperwork like two months ago and they still have not received it.

So I don't even know. When you get off, get online at RamseySolutions.com and click on Tax ELP and find one of our tax providers to help you get an arrangement made for a payment plan with the IRS until you can get them paid off. But you need to get them on a payment plan because they're going to surprise you and come take stuff like your check. They're going to come like a thief in the night.

You don't want them doing that. See, what we're doing is we're getting all of these monsters out from under the bed and we're putting leashes on all of them. So I think your wife's car is probably going to be sold mainly because the interest rate is just absolutely asinine. They're just killing you. They're killing you and get you a cheap car. Because listen, here's the thing. You make $80,000 a year, you could be 100% debt-free, IRS and everything, in two years. I'm not talking about being current.

I'm talking about debt-free in two years. But you're going to have no freaking life during that two years, and you're going to be driving a beater, and your wife's going to be driving your old car because it's the nicest car, and the wife gets the good car. My wife and I, we want to do whatever it takes, sir. We just tired. We just tired. We're tired.

You're ready, man. You're going to do it. I'm going to show you exactly what to do. Madison's going to pick up. We're going to get you signed up for Financial Peace University and all the goodies in every dollar, all the goodies in Ramsey Plus. And we are here, Xavier. I want to hear back from you while you're fighting on this. You've got to have more questions.

You call and talk to Ken and me anytime, and we will help you with this process. I'm so proud of you. You're why we're here. logan is with us in louisville kentucky hey logan how can ken and i help hey how you doing dave? Great, man. What's up? Sure. So my dad passed away recently, and I was fortunate enough to receive a pretty large inheritance. Inside the inheritance was two IRA accounts valued last week at around $430,000. And then there were two properties, one of them being, um, a house with a mortgage on it that my grandparents are living in his parents and, uh, they're paying the mortgage

on that. So it's kind of out of the equation. The other property is the house my dad was living in and it's, uh, it's, it's completely paid off. And, uh, so I guess my question for you, Dave is, um, you know, I know the market's really hot right now as far as real estate goes. So would it be smart to sell that property or, you know, should I start to learn how to be a landlord and maybe rent that out? Um, and I'm working, I'm 24 right now. Say again, you're how old?

24, sorry. 24. Oh, my gosh. How old was your dad? 56. What happened? Liver disease. I'm so sorry.

How long ago did he pass? It's been about three or four weeks now. I'm so sorry. How long ago did he pass? It's been about three or four weeks now. I'm so sorry. Were you all close? Very. So this is a debilitating process, not a sudden thing. And so you guys had time to talk and you knew this was coming. Yeah.

Yeah. What's the house worth that your grandparents live in? That I don't know for sure, Dave. Roughly. I want to say around $200,000. It's in a very nice neighborhood, but it's only a one-story house. What do you think the mortgage is on it? Do you remember?

A little over $1,000, I believe. $100,000? Yeah, yeah. It's owed on the house, and they pay around $1,000 a month or something like that. Right. I got you. Okay. And roughly the value of the home he was living in?

$250,000, roughly. Okay. All right. living in? $250,000, roughly. Okay. Alright. Do you own a home? I'm currently living with my girlfriend. She owns a little $80,000 house

and I pay half the mortgage. Do you have plans to get married? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. When? Neither of us are really too concerned about it, to be honest with you, Dave. So, you know, it would be down the road. It helps me with the timing of these answers.

That's why I'm asking, okay? I got you. Because it changes what we do here. So, all right. Okay, let me give you a couple of principles that I use in situations like this. And these are running through my mind while I'm trying to formulate my answer. Okay? Principle number one is when you are grieving and the waves of grief are coming over you,

none of us, including me, think clearly as we do when we're not grieving. That's logical, right? So I try in these situations two, three weeks into the process, I try to not make major financial decisions in the middle of my brain being in a bit of a fog. Okay? Right. That's principle number one that's running through my mind.

The other piece of information I know is that an inherited IRA is going to require that you drain it over a 10-year period of time under current law. So you're going to be pulling forty three thousand dollars a year out of this and paying taxes on it at a minimum the law is going to require that okay the other thing that's running through my mind is uh if ma if grandpa and granny are going to stay in that house that you now own i assume there was a will yeah okay that you now own or you will own when probate is done because you're going to have to run this through probate and you're going to have to have an attorney to do the estate help you with that stuff there's a process here on these properties to get them moved into your name

uh but uh when you get the other side of that then then I'm going to want Grandpa and Granny's house to be paid off from something. Okay? The third thing that's running through my mind is, if you've never really had big aspirations of being a landlord, this is not the time. Don't become a landlord by default, by catapult. Okay? So there's no huge rush, but by this time next year,

I'm probably selling the house that he was in, and I'm going to use that money to pay off Grandpa's mortgage, and Grandpa can pay you back, or Grandpa can live there free your choice i don't care but i don't want that mortgage on there because guess what that mortgage is your problem it's not their problem it's on your house so i want you to be debt free and somewhere in this soup that we're stirring up this gumbo that we're adding ingredients to as i keep stirring here is possibly you getting married and buying a home with some of this money with your new wife but we're certainly not going to pay off someone else's mortgage that you're

not married to so you do not pay her bills under any circumstances okay just uh some some background on that dave so i don't intend to live in this uh house not not the grandparents house but my dad's house um my grandma actually died last year on my mom's side and she left a property to my mom and it's out in the country and has an acre and and i think me and my girlfriend we're probably going to move there within the year. So as far as the property goes. But I'm just saying, I've got this pile of cash, and I can buy a house with it if I need to when I'm married, is what's floating around. That's like step two, you know, 2.0 version or 3.0 version of this strategy that we don't have

to make all these decisions today while you're still crying okay yeah it's okay to take your time you don't there's no rush if you don't put the house on the market till the fall because you go through and clean it you have somebody clean it uh you give yourself some time to breathe and grieve and and that's just normal human stuff, man. You don't need to be like a robot, Robocop or something here with no feelings. Yes. Okay? So, I mean, obviously your mom and dad are separated.

Liver indicates possible other things. And so, you know, there's all kinds of stuff in this relationship, but it still hurts. Yes. Yeah. So take your time. What I would do is have a plan with this money to be clearing off that mortgage and getting your dad's house sold within one year, but towards the back of the year, meaning a year from now. Okay? In other words, after the first of the year, meaning a year from now. Okay?

In other words, after the first of the year, put the house on the market. After the first of the year, get the mortgage paid off or something along those lines. You do need, with the inherited IRA, to sit down in the next three or four weeks with a SmartVestor Pro. Click SmartVestor Pro at Ramsey Solutions. That's someone we recommend. We're not in the investment business, but they can help you roll that into some good mutual funds, and they can set up the mandatory drain, the 10-year drain that is now required by law, and set that up coming to you. And you can simply use two years of that withdrawal to pay off Granny's house over there if you want to because

that's going to be very close to that amount and if you'll not touch any of this money and live off of your income which you were doing prior to his passing then this is going to end up being a huge financial windfall for you long term but give give yourself some room to cry, brother. Be normal, okay? It's people, they feel like somehow they need to be Superman when it comes to money, and that's not right. Yep. Great advice to just heal, and then come out of the storm, and then follow the plan. He's in great shape.

He makes good decisions. Yep. This is the Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 17, 17. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Mother Teresa said, some people come into your life as blessings. Other people come into your life as lessons. Isn't that the truth?

I have never heard that one. That is fabulous. I'm thinking about my kids right now. She is so sweet. I'm thinking about people that are not as nice as your kids. That's true, too. Peak real estate season is just around the corner this year. Things are different.

Home prices are higher. Competition between buyers is intense. Man, you could make a six-figure mistake screwing around out there in real estate right now. Don't jump headfirst into something you don't understand. If you don't know where to start, you're not financially ready for a mortgage. If you don't have questions, if you have questions about how to buy or sell, get with a pro. Start by connecting with one of our endorsed local providers. These are high-octane, high-protein agents that actually know what the flip they're doing.

They sell a lot of houses. It's not amateur hour out there right now, boys and girls. If you're selling a house when everybody's giving you multiple bids above asking price, 50% of the homes in America sold above asking price in May. First time in history. You don't want a rookie agent managing multiple offers above this. This is someone who knows how to juggle the flaming swords. You need to have somebody who knows how to do it.

Go to RamseySolutions.com slash agent. If you're going to list a house right now, this is a great time to sell a house. Horrible time to do it with a rookie. Horrible time. I know that your Aunt Sally just got her license. I don't give a crap. Your Aunt Sally doesn't know what she's doing. She's sweet.

You can have her bake cookies, but don't ever sell your house. That's ridiculous. If she didn't sell 300 houses last year, 50 houses last year, let's not talk about it. Never sold a house in her life. She's going to list your dumb idea. RamseySolutions.com slash agent. Get with one of our endorsed local providers they'll help you do it right victoria is with us in boston hi victoria how are you hi dave i'm doing great i'm so excited

to talk to you you too what's up in your world um well i got married seven months ago and me and my husband are wondering if there is a rule of thumb or a percentage of our take home or gross income that we should be saving towards a baby fund. What's a baby fund? Like, um, I know that you tell people when they, I learned that they're expecting to store away,

you know, as much money as they can. We have a plan where we don't want to get pregnant for seven years, which is a whole story. But in those seven years, we're going to pay off our house so I can stay home with the kids. Wow. Okay, you do not need a baby fund.

You need an emergency. When I tell people to stop doing their baby steps, it's because they don't have any money saved, and I don't want them working paying off debt and have no money while they're pregnant that's what it is gosh well we already have our emergency fund yeah i bet i can tell you guys are you guys are a wee bit into planning but yeah yeah my husband turned me on to you long ago before we got married and was a requirement that i took financial peace before we got married wow hardcore okay yeah well i'm honored i appreciate that so yeah i i think if you have your emergency fund and you're doing your investing and you're

building up wealth to pay pay off the house or pay cash for a house or whatever your plan is there um i think you're gonna have plenty of money to buy some diapers if you need to. I thought so. I just didn't know if there was a rule with them. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate the call. Very cool. Eric is in Cincinnati.

Hi, Eric. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you for taking my call, sir. How are you? Sure. Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so just a quick question for you.

I'm 26. I just finished Baby Step 3 you. I'm 26. I just finished Baby Step 3. I have no debt. I make $20,000 a year, not very much. I have two years in college and I rent. Next Baby Step is doing retirement, 15% for retirement. Is that something I should be doing right now or should I be focusing on other things?

You said you have two years of college yeah um i dropped out after two years my parents were fortunate enough giving me some money uh student loans cover the rest and okay so you're you're 20 right you make you make twenty thousand dollars a year i'm 26 correct 26 and you make $20,000 a year. Okay, so what are your career plans? I'm a golf professional right now. That was when I was majoring in college, so that's why I stopped going to college. But yeah, I'm a teaching professional. I've grown up playing golf all my life.

That's what I love doing, but right at some point, I've got to make those life decisions. Are you a teaching pro? Is that what you mean when you're a professional correct okay why are you only making twenty thousand dollars uh i it's i'm on salary for two thousand a month um you know after taxes about 1750 and you know just what it is you kind of have to get your way through and that you don't get paid per lesson or anything? That's like, they call that tips, you know, more or less. But, yeah, I get probably about, what, $60 a lesson.

So, yeah, it's nice. It's a little something, but, you know, to say that. But you're not doing many lessons. No, I probably do about five a week, five or six. You probably about once a day, maybe twice. I don't understand how you're only making $20,000. I've got friends that are teaching pros that are making really good money teaching with lessons. Yeah, right.

Most of my hours are in the shop. I'd say I'm doing it being a teaching professional. It's not my primary job there. But, yeah, I do about 8 to 10 hours in the shop and then times in the mornings all right what's the next rung on the ladder because it's been a while since i've talked to somebody who's doing this you're in the shop basically minding the pro shop and then you're doing a little bit of extra teaching for not much 60 bucks a lesson so what's the next step up what's that look like financially it'd be a head pro or you know you're doing teaching all the time and what you're thinking but you know right i'm i'm more calling to ask pro or, you know, you're doing teaching all the time and what you're thinking.

But, you know, Brett, I'm more calling to ask as I say, you know, hey, should we be doing a new career path? Should we go back to school? You know, that kind of thing. No, no, no. If you want to be a golf pro, no, you don't need to go back to school. I mean, you're already in. It's a pay-your-dues business, much more so than a lot of industries.

You've got to kind of slog. And you know how political it is, too. You've kind of got to look for an opening somewhere else, because it's probably a long shot that the guy who's the head pro now is going to just up and leave. So you're going to have to be head on a swivel, very aggressive, networking, connecting like crazy, because it is very hard to get a head pro job. Right. Yeah. crazy because it is very hard to get a head pro job right yeah you're starving to death and unless

you put in place a plan to move up this ladder yes you do need to do something different yeah and you don't sound very intense about it you sound kind of flippant about it when you're talking about it i'm i'm i'm pretty happy with how my life is going um you know i'm always seeking new opportunities uh but you know i'm not working right now but building a resume in a sense i mean if you want to say no then fine but you know okay yeah you need to start saving 15 of your income but you need to work on your income yeah that's what it comes down to you're not making much money and you need to gain you need to have some kind of a goal for your life that when you're 36 you're not making the same that you're making when you're 26.

Yeah, you know what? Dave normally calls me nice guy. I'm not going to be so nice here. I know this industry. My brother started in it now as a Division III head golf coach. You are nothing more than an assistant manager of a pro shop, and you've got a little bit of teaching. If you call yourself a teaching pro, then you need to get really jacked up about teaching lessons, because if you teach lessons in a nice community like Cincinnati, Ohio, a lot of golf there.

Ohio's a big golf craze state. If you really, really wanted to make more money, this is about you getting serious about lessons where you can get really good pay. But I'm with Dave. I don't think you're fired up. I think you're enjoying your life and you're comfortable. But here's the reality. Don't say you're a teaching pro when you're not.

You're minding the golf store and checking people in for their tee times. So you've got to decide. What is it that you really want to do? But this idea of I'm going to go back to school for a better career, well, you don't even know what you want to do yet. And so there's some decision-making for you right now. And this is a pretty pivotal point in your life at 26. It's time to grow up. Even if you go back to school after you get the degree, you still have to get up, leave the cave, and kill something and drag it home.

That's right. And that's what's struggling in this conversation. So you like your life the way it is? You know, save 15% of your income. But, dude, if you make $20,000 the rest of your life, you know, you're going to struggle. Period. I mean, you're going to be at the poverty level. That's what it amounts to.

That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Thanks to Ken Coleman, my co-host today. James Childs, my producer, and Madison, our associate producer and phone screener. I am Dave Ramsey. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. 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 check out the ramsey call of the day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts