The Ramsey Show - App - How To Combat Inflation at the Grocery Store

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

Ken Coleman & George Kamel discuss: How to save on food during inflation, Financial infidelity and buyer's remorse, Does it make sense to pay off the house? The best way to save for college, Dealing with burnout in your career. 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

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you live your best life by being healthy relationally, successful professionally, and peaceful financially. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. It is your show, America. It's all about you. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel, and we are here for you this hour. It is a free call, 888-825-5225.

We want to help you win. We'll talk about your money, obviously. George is here, ready to go. Coming up, how to combat inflation and protect your four walls. We'll get into that. That's going to be in this hour. Of course, I'm here today to help you with your work questions, because the best way to grow your wealth is your income.

And so if you want to get a bigger shovel, get out of debt faster, I'm here to help. If you want to get out of a toxic work environment, dealing with a tough leader, we'll change your name, location, because we know those calls are sensitive. So we are here. You ready to go, George? I'm ready. Let's do this. All right. Rodney's up first in San Diego, California. Rodney, how can we help? Yes. Thank you for taking my call. So I am considering paying off my house in the next year or so, maybe tomorrow, who knows. But my wife and I have saved up a pretty good nest egg. I am retired now, pretty at a young age, and my only debt is my house.

So I've heard lots of things about, okay, keeping money on hand. So we have enough money on hand to pay for our house and have money left over. So what is your take of paying a house free and clear at such a young age? How old are you? I'm 47. Oh, and retired. By the way, I would like to point out. I am retired. That Rodney is in fact young because I'm 47. And I would like to clear that up. Kelly would like as well with Kelly and I are both from the same year. So Kelly, it's nice to hear somebody call themselves young at our age. All right. Very nice.

Thank you. So, Rodney, how much money are we talking here? What's left on the mortgage, and how much do you have total in cash? What's left on my mortgage is $271K. My wife and I have $370K in liquid savings and checking, and then we also have $341,000 in retirement accounts. Wow. Hold on. Can I slow clap for Rod? Yeah, I'll fast clap. That's amazing.

Fantastic. So, George, what is he waiting on? Why isn't he paying it off? So, why were you socking away all this money? I mean, it's an impressive amount to just be hanging on to in cash. So, I was socking on to it for a while, just in case we had an emergency. We have zero debt. My wife and I have a $370,000 emergency. I had a significant emotional event in 2010. And then, you know, came back from that. And then now you socked it away. It was very difficult. So now I'm retired from the military. So people say, hey, keep six months of expenses in your bank account just in case you get fired. But, you know, there's no way I can get fired from being retired.

Well, but hold on a second. What's six months? Six months of your expenses is what? What's that number? My six months of expenses is six times four, 24, 24 grand. And that would go down once you pay off the mortgage, right? Yeah, so our 370 would be minus 270 if I paid off my mortgage. I'm paying it off today, man.

Completely debt-free, and what's your mortgage payment? My mortgage payment is 1801. 1801 times 12. You just gave yourself a raise. Yeah, I know. After property taxes and insurance, I am adding $1,500 to my spending cash every month because right now I have a military pension and my disability coming in. Oh, by the way, Rodney, you still have six months and more expenses. Six months and more, yeah, exactly. So you can invest that. You can start to get into real estate and purchase real estate with cash.

I mean, the world is your oyster at Baby Step 7, where you can live and give like no one else, and that's what I want for you. Yeah, right now we're investing, and we've been investing since 2004, up and down, and it's not doing so well right now. So I was just thinking, okay, well, I might as well just have liquid cash coming in every month. Essentially, I would be – I save about $2,000 a month, and if I paid off my house, now I add $1,500 on top of that per month. Have we asked what the house is worth yet? What is the house worth, Rodney?

Oh, good question. My house is worth right now, around the corner, someone bought the same model house for $815,000. Let's go. Rodney. So, Rodney, I mean, dude, this is an easy answer. Good for you. House is worth $8,000 plus, George.

I'm doing it. And, Rodney, can I just say thank you so much for your service and your sacrifice. I appreciate it. You're incredible. It took a long say thank you so much for your service and your sacrifice. I appreciate it. You're incredible. It took a long time to get here. That's incredible. Really incredible. Yeah, and right now my only bane of my existence is fighting with the other drivers, dropping off my kid at school and picking him up.

And, oh, not to mention my son's college is already paid for because I passed on benefits to him. Oh, my goodness. Rodney, you do need to do something. What are you doing? I do need to do something. Yes, I know. What are you going to do for the next 40, 50 years? Right now, I volunteer once a month and then I take out friends for coffee once a week to try to encourage them to do better in life. That's what I try to do. That's what I do in my retirement age when I'm not working out or cleaning my house. This is the final step of Ken's clear path is to give

yourself away. Yeah. Actually, you know what, Rodney, I'm going to give you a copy of my latest book. It's a bestseller called From Paycheck to Purpose. And I think it's going to help you find work, whether you do it volunteer or whether you do it part-time or you have a second career, I think it's going to help you with this next stage because you're a young man and you can truly give yourself away through work, which is the seventh stage of the seven stages that I write about in the book. It's give yourself away. You're working for a legacy. I'm glad you guys mentioned that because my wife right now works and she enjoys her job.

For me, going to work right now is not for a monetary compensation. It's more purposely for fulfillment and trying to give back to the people I feel who can give back to the community. So that's what I'm trying to find. I've been retired for about 17 months right now, and I'm saying, okay, well, maybe I'll find something. You will. So hang on the line. I'm going to give you a copy of the book, From Paycheck to Purpose. And what's great about this, George, in Rodney's case, is that he can take all the time he wants to figure out what that next chapter looks like because of financial peace. He's got options now.

And one thing I want you to do, Rodney, go to RamseySolutions.com slash checkup. I want you to take our coverage checkup because you've worked so hard offensively to get to where you are. Now I want you to focus on defense and make sure you have enough insurance in place that all of the areas are covered so that nothing can take away from what you have built up so, so diligently. Yeah, just an unbelievable story. And, George, this is a great way to start the show. Here we have a military family who they're every day, you know, millionaires, baby steps millionaires, the whole nine yards.

They're doing it the right way. They did it. You could hear in his voice, it's been a long journey. Yeah. But they did it, George. It's doable. Most people want the shortcuts. And Rodney, even retiring at 47, he put in a lot of work, a lot of years, a lot of blood, sweat, tears to get to where he is today. And it started a long time ago. And so I want to encourage you, you can make that decision today to start. And it may look different for you. You so I want to encourage you, you can make that decision today to start. And it may look different for you. You may not be a millionaire tomorrow.

But, man, 20 years from now, you're going to be thanking your 20-year-old self when you're 40 going, man, I'm glad I did the hard work. I'm glad I was diligent. I'm glad I was patient. I'm glad I was consistent. That's what this plan is all about. Yeah, just unbelievable story. And, boy, you've got to love it when somebody calls up and goes, should I pay the house off? And you get to say, yes, today.

No more mortgage. Yeah, unbelievable. Great, great, great. There needs to be a party, Rodney. Paying off the house party tonight somewhere in San Diego, California. And as George said, thank you for your service to our country. You are a great American. All right, don't move. Coming up next, more of your calls.

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I've been recommending Zander Insurance for over 20 years and they understand and live this strategy and will take the time to help you find the most affordable term life rates. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's not that expensive, it's not complicated, and back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Kimmel, and we are here for you this hour as we talk about your life. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Marissa joins us now in Bend, Oregon. Marissa, how can we help? Hi there. My question is,

what type of 529 plan is best? The state-sponsored one or one through like an Edward Jones or somewhere like that? That's a great question. So how old are the kids? Nine and 12, so starting a little late. Okay. Hey, that's all right. The fact that you're even having this conversation is amazing. Most parents don't, and then they just hope and wish, and then the kid ends up with $100,000 in student loans. So I applaud you for even looking into this kind of thing. So when it

comes to 529s, there are a lot of options out there. Each state has their own. And what's really cool is that you can be a part of Utah's 529 plan, no matter where you live. And so what I would be doing is reaching out to a SmartVestor Pro in your area. You can jump on ramsaysolutions.com and they can actually walk you through all of the options out there across the country and help you choose the right state for you. I would go that route before jumping into one with an Edward Jones. Nothing wrong with those kinds of companies, but I want to make sure that you're kind of looking without going with a captive company to start. And so our SmartVestor pros, they can actually point out the best state-sponsored plan that's right for you. Have you looked into an ESA as well?

No, I haven't. Okay. That one does have an income limit, and there are contribution limits. So depending on your financial situation on that end, that could be an option for you. Okay. And the kids are doing 4-H animals, so they're going to have money to contribute as well. So we want them to start investing that as quickly as possible too. Yeah, that's great. And you guys are in Bendorian there. So are they planning on going to an in-state school? They're kind of unsure. Actually, Their dad went to school in Texas,

so that's, of course, where they're leaning to. Isn't that funny how that works? You know, it's funny. It's true. Is this sports-related as well? Like, is it a big Texas sports house or not at all? Not necessarily. My husband's an ag, and that's what they're into.

I went to an Oregon school, but it's not as cool as the Texas schools. Oh, I see. That's great. Well, I just don't want you making a decision based on where dad went, and then the kid ends up paying twice as much to go to school to make dad happy. Yeah, unfortunately, Oregon schools are expensive regardless of in-state or out-of-state. Everything's expensive in Oregon, I'm told.

Yes, yes. Everything's expensive in Oregon, I'm told. Yes. Yes. Oregon is expensive. So, no, definitely going to take advantage of community college and, you know, that kind of stuff as well. Good. While they're young. You know, a 9-year-old doesn't have to have their life figured out yet, so that's the good news.

Very early. Just a caution to parents, you know, let's let kids discover more. You suggest less. Ooh, discover more, suggest less. Pay attention. Parents observe more. But if parents shut up a little bit and stop suggesting everything based on what makes you feel good or what you did and you actually observe your kids, and I'm not saying marissa is doing this i'm saying i'm kind of challenging parents just real quick throw a little nugget out there start observing your kids a lot more and pay attention to clues even at 9

10 and 11 and that's going to inform a lot of things when they're 16 17 and 18 as well all right the phone number is 888-825-5225. Vandana joins us in Washington, D.C. Vandana, how can we help? Hi, yes, on Friday we closed on a house. And because of this market, we were very fast to just buy it because we had to. And I just regret it. Even when we had, like, the three-day HOA clause, I wanted out, but my husband really wanted to just go ahead and get it. So I just kind of did it so we wouldn't fight.

And ever since then, I've regretted it. And we closed on Friday and have cried every single day since then. I feel like we made a mistake. I'm so sorry. Tell George and I the specific things you're regretting right now. Well, I mean, we had to move so my

daughter could go to school because we live across the street. It's like the stupidest district. And we wanted to do it so she could be in a better school. She could be with her friends and everything. And she has some special needs in this school.

For the school for her to be able to go to for middle school has more of the programming that she needs. So we did it for that. Oh, I understand. But listen, that's a good thing. What are you specifically regretting? I just feel like it's a little bit, I don't know. I just feel like we made a big mistake.

We're going to have to spend so much money fixing this house. It's going to be more of a mortgage. And, you know, I found out my husband took out a HELOC to pay for it. And I found out all these things financially as we were doing it i wonder if i just did it so we could i found out my husband owned i had a fifty thousand dollar personal loan that i didn't know that i thought we had paid off all our debt besides their student loan i'm so sorry then dana it sounds like there's there's some financial infidelity on top of the weight of an impulsive home purchase here. And so then he did the HELOC, which I learned about as he was doing it.

And now that I've learned more about HELOCs and listening to you, I'm a little bit scared because that's what we used to pay for this house. And, you know, we paid off the personal loan from the HELOC, too, so we could close on this house. And, yeah, now we can definitely – it's not that we can't afford this house now because all the debt is gone. But I just – I don't know. It just feels like we can't afford the house. Sounds like we robbed Peter to pay Paul here. We just kind of moved the debt around. Vandana, George is going to walk you through through this but here's what i want okay you need to just focus right now on less emotion and start plugging in some numbers for george

all right so i'm going to get us started okay what's your household income and then what is the mortgage costing you give us those two numbers so our household income is $250,000 before taxes. Fantastic. What's the mortgage? We bring home like $12,700 to $900 a month. What's the mortgage, including the HELOC? So all that together, what is that? I don't know, including the HELOC.

How about just the mortgage? Okay, just the HELOC. How about just the mortgage? Okay, just the mortgage. Just the mortgage is about, including HOA and taxes, is about $4,500. Okay. So if I'm doing the math here, you're looking at 34% of your take-home pay. Yes. Is going into. So now that's higher than what I'd like it to be, but it's not killing you. Like you said, you guys can afford it.

Yeah. I think a lot of the emotion is coming from the fact that you're learning a lot of things you didn't know because your husband lied to you. Yeah, I think so. And yes, you did impulsively get into this house, but that's not the bigger issue here. The bigger issue is that you and your spouse need to get on the same page and go, we're married. There are no lies in this relationship. And so I think that's going to be your A1 is not fixing the house problem. It's fixing the relationship problem. And that might look like counseling. That might look like going through Financial Peace University together on top of that. But we got to get to the root of why he hid these things from you? I think it was just the same because before he

had credit card debt and I sold my condo and literally I gave him every single dollar out of my condo. I was a teacher. I quit working after during the pandemic so I could homeschool my child and I haven't wanted to go back because for the few months I did teach, I was so stressed out. And I went back for a little bit this year, and my anxiety went up. I wasn't sleeping, nothing. And I just had to put on anxiety medicine. Just teaching these days is just so difficult. And I just couldn't deal with everything.

And then, you know, I thought we were out of debt. I thought we were completely out of debt because when I found out about the credit cards, I had a condo that I had. Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry, Vandana. We are so, so very sorry. But as George said, I want you to walk away from this to say, hey, you and your hubs to see you on the same page. If you had some shame, take the shame away and just say, hey, can we get on the same page? I'm feeling a tremendous amount of anxiety and fear over this. You guys know how to pay debt off. Start attacking it just like you were starting all over again.

You guys can get there. House isn't going to fall in on itself. It's going to be okay, but you guys have got to get on the same page relationally so that you can get on the same page financially. Coming up, George is going to take on inflation in your four walls. This is The Ramsey Show continues from our Nashville-based World HQ. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman. And George Kimmel, my colleague,

is with me today. And George, every day in the news, inflation, inflation, inflation. It's like you know those old car commercials? Price down! You know what I mean? I feel like that's what we... Invitation there. Yeah, it's like inflation is everywhere, and it is at all-time highs. And yet, George, what's interesting about this is that we're also in a season of life in America where incomes are up. But because inflation is so high, in some cases it's a net-net, meaning you're not getting ahead. You've got some current news and data on this. Yes.

What's going on? We're going to do a series helping you guys out with what we call your four walls. So this is food, utilities, housing, and transportation. Those are the big ones that people are worried about right now. So we're going to start with food today. Give you guys some quick tips. Now, these aren't life-changing hacks that are going to save you hundreds of dollars, but it can help to avoid you feeling that pinch every time you go to the grocery store. All right. So let's jump in here. We did a state of personal finance study, and we found that groceries have jumped about 8%, which tracks with inflation here.

And the average cost of monthly groceries for one person went from $223 to $410. And for a family of four, it shoots up to $863. Now, a lot of you are going, oh, my gosh, that's it? Or, oh, my gosh, that much? You know what that data doesn't cover? The Coleman household, we have two teenage boys. That's like three extra people. That's true. The amount of groceries I got to spend. Those boys can eat. I've seen them. One pack of

bacon. Gone. Gone in one morning. Well, that brings me to my first tip here, Ken. We got to shop at the cheapest grocery stores. There it is. A lot of people, they have their grocery store and you can't get Ken Coleman away from Publix. Everyone's got their grocery store. I'm a Kroger guy. Wow. Wouldn't take you for a Kroger guy. Really? Shopping's a pleasure at Publix. You know, everyone's got their grocery store. I'm a Kroger guy. Wow.

Wouldn't take you for a Kroger guy. Really? Shopping's a pleasure at Publix. I know you're a man of leisure and pleasure. That's a tagline. I'm all about convenience, and there's one in the neighborhood. Oh, that makes sense. There it is.

That makes sense. Well, Aldi is one of the best grocery stores. This is not sponsored, but they just happen to have great prices. My parents shop exclusively at Aldi. They carry on about how they save money. They're retired. They get it. It's simple.

It's no frills. You've got to pay for a bag. You've got to put a quarter in the cart. I mean, they're making sure that they're able to give you those low prices in different ways. So Aldi, I love Trader Joe's for their prices. Walmart can be great. Costco can be great if you do it right. Now, Costco can be a danger zone when you get four things and it costs you $9,000 because you tried the rice pilaf sample and just had to have a four-pound bag.

Well, who doesn't need a six-pack of Polish kielbasa? Oh, that's true. You know what I mean? You can't just buy one pack. I'm here for that. Yeah. So choosing a cheaper grocery store for right now. You don't have to go to Whole Foods.

We can go to Aldi and get the same thing. It just might not be the name brand. You know, go generic. Go with the store brand. You'll be okay. I'm a big generic brand guy. Number two, I want you to look for foods that give you more bang for your buck. We talk a lot about beans and rice here.

Never has it been more true. Beans and rice, rice and beans. It's one of the cheapest staple foods, and it's filling. Yeah. Let me tell you something. Bow tie pasta. I'm giving real life Coleman house hacks as you go along. Bow tie pasta, you can buy six boxes for $ house hacks as you go along. Bowtie pasta.

You can buy six boxes for $1.46. It's unbelievable. Get those carbs. Rice, pastas, those are cheap. Get some sauce. Yeah, pasta's cheap. And buying your meat in bulk as meat is getting expensive here. So there's one right there.

Number two, number three, actually. Cut out the wants and only buy the items you need. This means no frivolous chocolate chip cookies are getting thrown in the cart, Ken. Oh, it's tough. What is the actual food that is going to sustain our family? I really like ice cream, and I can make a case that it sustains my mental health. Well, we're going store brand, and we're going to get the full gallon to save on Cocker House. Well, I'm all about the gallon of ice cream.

There you go. There's your hack, Ken. So make sure that you're talking with your spouse if you've got one about the grocery budget and looking for ways that we can cut things out and making sure nothing frivolous gets added to that list. Now, lastly, Ken, this is one that you probably don't do, but cashback apps. Yeah, I don't even know what that means. I'm a fan. So there's apps like they're called Ibotta, Fetch Rewards. There's one called Checkout 51, Receipt Hog. And what you do-

Receipt Hog. Yes. If I was going to be into one, that would be the one that I would be into. Just based on the name. Just like I tell my friends on the phone, I got this new app, Receipt Hog. That's fun to say. I don't know who your friends are, but I hope they enjoy that. Oh, you actually do.

So, they're simple. You upload your receipt, and you'll get cash back for certain items you buy. Really? They tell you, hey. What about my ice cream? I get cash back on my ice cream? On certain brands. Now, here's the catch.

I don't want you to buy the name brand ice cream that's $2 more to save $1 when you could have got the generic brand. So still shop wisely. You're stepping on my toes. Only shop what's in your budget. But it could help you get some money back. If you spend $80, you might get $5, $10 back.

That helps. Every little bit goes a long way. So remember actual paper coupons. Remember these, Ken? Oh, yeah. I used these on Sundays with way. So remember actual paper coupons. Remember these, Ken? I flipped these on Sundays with my dad growing up. Oh, yeah. Big fan of the paper coupon. A lot of them have gone digital now. Yeah. But all of these take an extra step. It takes a little bit more research. It takes a little bit more patience and diligence to make sure that before you impulsively walk through the grocery store and then get mad that prices are

high, you go in with a list, you go in with a budget, you go in with a plan, and you go in willing to make some sacrifices in order to save some money. Is there a rule of thumb, George, on how much a person could save? Let's say you're going to go spend $200 as your budget or $300 at the grocery store. How much of that could you save? Ooh. I'm going to go, if you can shave off- With paper or digital coupons.

I think if you can shave off 5 or 10% of each purchase, I'm calling that a win. So I've seen these stories where people get their entire thing for free. That's not real. Well, you can do that, but you're not going to be able to survive off of that because you can't drink Tide detergent. Well, you can, it's just not good for you.

The kids are doing it these days, apparently. The kids are doing all kinds of stupid stuff. You know what I mean, though? You're not going to – you can't do that with – So 10%, 5% to 10% is a realistic – and so all of a sudden, I mean – Which is the amount of inflation we're seeing. Yeah. So it combats that. If you can save 8% and inflation's 8%, it's net zero.

Yeah. So there's some quick tips for you all. I know there's no easy hack. I wish I could give you some amazing news, but it really just takes some diligence, some sacrifice, and some research in order to get through these strange times when we're seeing groceries up 8%. But also, let's not get crazy. It's 8%. So if it was a dollar, now it's $1.08. We're not talking $3, $4, $5 more for that same thing. And this goes with eating out too. See now, okay. Now, George, this is why you are a Ramsey personality, a thought leader, and you're winning this space.

Because you just said- Basic math? Well, because here's the deal. You make a very good point on the 8%, and you put it in real dollars and cents. All right? People freak out because that's all we get fed are negative headlines. Right? The sky is not falling.

No. You know, because I hear the stories, falling. No. You know, like, because I hear the stories too. And I'm like, well, I mean, and again, I really, I'm not making a joke. I have two athlete boys in my house that are 16 and 13.

My 16-year-old's a man-child. I mean, I eat a side of beef in two days. He's twice my size and I'm a grown man. Yeah, I need to get longhorns in the backyard. That's the kind of rate of which we are going through protein.

I'm serious. So we've seen our bill jump. But at the same time, it's not like the end of the world, a little bit of discipline, a little bit of budgeting, and you can make your way through this. Yeah, well, our plan works in good times and bad. And so times of inflation, you go, all right, we have margin on our budget because that's how we live our lives. We live on less than we make. We have an emergency fund. We don't have debt. And therefore, all of that money can go towards helping us survive inflation. And so that's what I want to remind people is follow these steps, do this plan because it works. And I was just

talking to my neighbor yesterday, and we're complaining about gas prices. Oh, of course. I just got an electric car. And so therefore therefore I don't need to worry about that. Oh, boy. Here we go. Here's what she said, Ken. She said, you know what? At the end of the day, I'm grateful because I can actually afford it. It's not fun, but I can afford it.

And that level of contentment, that's something that we need to have as a society and go, hey, listen, I'm not going to be bankrupted by grocery prices. Yeah. And so there's a lot of people out there who are really, really hurting, and I have a lot of empathy for those people. But for most Americans, this is just a, man, that stinks.

Gas is $100 to fill up instead of $50. Yeah. Same deal. We get back to the budgeting that we talk about. When you know where your money's going, a budget is a plan that tells your money where to go,

then you can weather this stuff. Coming up the rest of this week, we're going to take on the rest of the four walls. This kind of great content. George, you'll take on utilities, then housing, then transportation with food. Make up the four walls. That's what we call it at Ramsey Solutions.

Those basic fundamental needs. And we're going to help you fight the inflation. So that's coming up. George, before we get moving on here in the program, I need to know, people want to know, is it coupon or coupon? I'm a big fan of coupon. You're coupon? I'm not a coupon guy. Okay.

I'm a coupon. Oh, no. I'm Q. He's Q. All right, discuss it amongst yourselves. However, you are watching or listening to the show. I think it's coupon. I might send you hate mail just for that. What say you?

All right. Maybe we'll reveal. Coming up next, we'll take a poll inside the control room and we'll see what the Ramsey Solutions, Ramsey Show team has decided. Is it coupon or is it coupon? I think I'm on the right side of history here. We'll see. Coming up next, more of your calls.

Don't move. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Campbell. And I told you folks, if you were with us last segment, we were talking about the value of coupons. And I asked George, I said, is it Q or Coup? He said it's Coup, as in coupon versus coupon. I said we would reveal the results, so we polled the control room.

And George, you said you felt that you were on the right side of history. I shall give you the results. Are you prepared to handle it? I hope so. Okay, according to the control room okay uh that includes us so they put us into the tally it was 5q to coup who was coup james me and james james and bobby okay so it was okay and so then we went out to the lobby where we have a fantastic audience by the way uh watching live in the lobby of ramsey solutions and we went out to take pictures and i

just took a quick informal poll. I said, is it Q or Q? And the lobby was resounding that it was Q. So, George, you are on the wrong side of history. They're all from the Midwest, Ken. It's not fair. Oh, George. It's a different breed there.

Careful. See, I got some head nods out there. Right? I got my coupon. Ah, George, there you go, hacking off the audience. Sorry, guys. All right, so there it is, folks. This is the kind of stuff you come here for.

Hey, we've got an exciting announcement, George. Hit me. We've been talking about on the show about the Building Wealth live event making a stop in Orlando on May 19th. You and I will both be there. Can't wait. It's going to be fun with Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, John Deloney. But before we get there, we're making another stop. Drum roll, please, George.

Thank you. That's very good. Very good. We're going to Vegas, we're making another stop. Drum roll, please, George. Thank you. That's very good. Very good. We're going to Vegas, baby. Yeah. Hey. Viva. Too much?

No. We're off the air now. Okay. Viva Las Vegas. We're coming to you Thursday, May 5th. Thursday, May 5th. Building wealth is a hot topic right now. Everybody's got an opinion on how to do it, whether it's crypto, single stocks, or zero

down real estate. And then you've got inflation. So we're going to walk you through what's going on today, teach you how to build real wealth. The financial principles that we teach are the only principles that work in prosperous times and in hard times. So we want you to become Baby Steps millionaires. We want you to join us at this event. Oh, it's going to be good. Building Wealth Live. Join Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, George Campbell, Dr. John Deloney, and myself. Vegas is where we're going to be May the 5th, and Orlando on May the 19th. Tickets start at just $25, or you can get a four-pack for only $60. This is a great deal, so don't wait.

Tickets are selling fast. Go right now, RamseySolutions.com slash events. That's RamseySolutions.com slash events. Ken, can I just say, the irony of us going to Las Vegas to teach you how to get rich slow. Yeah, I know. It's rich. I know, and I might break out the polyester leisure suit

for that event. I'm not sure. You hung on to it for a time such as this. Yeah, you never know when you're going to need that. So I might break that out. All right, let's get to the phones. 888-825-5225. Salt Lake City, Utah is where we join Jay.

Jay, how can we help? Hey, good afternoon, Ken George. Thanks for taking the call. I have a question. I'm kind of curious how to navigate holding a full-time job but starting something on the side that you would eventually want to take full-time, basically work for yourself. I'm kind of in a position now where I trust the possibility of working for myself, even though there are obviously negatives and positives,

but just kind of making that transition while working full-time. even though there are obviously negatives and positives. But just kind of making that transition while working full-time, it's something that I think of these different scenarios, you know, every day and they could change from one day to the next. Okay, so. I have a real estate license, insurance licenses, and I want to take that full time eventually and work for myself. Which one? Are you trying to decide which is the best path?

Right, yes. Real estate, obviously, I think is kind of a, you know, one transaction to do a lot better on, but insurance seems to be more stable. I'm just trying to figure out how I can navigate that and see what's going to work. All right. I don't know who else to go to. Sure. Okay. So I'm glad you called.

Is your heart leaning towards one of those two a little bit more? In other words, do you get a little bit more excited? And I don't mean of the possibilities because you were leaning. Right. The way you described real estate versus insurance was possibility based. And I appreciate that. That's your head. I want to take your head out of this question for a moment.

And I want to hear what your heart says. Is there one insurance or real estate that you get more excited about emotionally as it relates to the work itself? I would say, without a doubt, real estate. Okay, so great. All right, so that would be the one that I would choose as the leader. Here's what I want you to do. If you haven't already done it, I want you to use the proximity principle. I'm going to give you a copy of that number one bestselling book when we hang up with you so that you can really dive deep on this. But the proximity principle is

a very simple thought that says this, in order to do what I want to do, in this case, it's real estate sales. I got to get around people that are doing that and in places where it is happening. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to hang out with a couple of successful real estate professionals in your area. Whether you know one, maybe it's one you've used to buy a house or sell a house, or a friend of a friend or a friend of a family member, and I just want you to pick their brain. Take them to coffee and go, hey, what do you love most about what you do? What do you like the least?

What's a great day look like? How did you get successful? What would you say to somebody who wants to be as successful as you? It's basically like doing a college term paper with them. Here's what you're doing there. I want you to do that two or three times. And in doing so, we want to give now some great logic. We're going to engage the brain again to match up with the heart.

And you go, okay, I absolutely know that I know that I know that I would not only enjoy this, but that I would be good at it. That's what I would call clarify and verify. That's the first part of your question. The second part of your question is, how do I go about moving from day job to dream job? You said side hustle. How do we work in a full-time job and then grow something on the side? Now with real estate, I got to tell you, it's a little bit different. My normal answer, Jay and George, normally my answer is this. All right, look. It's very simple.

We do the side hustle. We grow it to the point where we're actually making money. So that's first stage, right? We start small. We grow slow. And we take every nickel we make from the side hustle, Jay, and we put it in the bank. We don't spend it. We just put it out there.

And we want to get to a point. This is my rule of thumb. Six to 12 months of your current salary. This is not your emergency fund, folks. If you're Ramsey, folks, this is in addition to. So you may have to walk the baby steps out before you do this. But the idea here is, George, is that we've got a side hustle that can become a full-time job when it pays me what I make now or close to it with a great upside. That makes sense. Now, Jake, here's the reality. I've talked to a lot of big-time real estate pros about this particular issue because I

wanted to know, can you win big as a part-time real estate agent? And their answer was no. At some point, you're going to have to go all in. So what that's going to look like for you is you're going to have to make sure your financial house is in order, no debt. Do you have any debt at all? I have no debt.

I have my mortgage, and I have about three months in my emergency fund. Fantastic. So you keep walking the baby steps out. And I have about three months in my emergency fund. Fantastic. So you keep walking the baby steps out. So for you, we're going to get licensed, and we're going to try to list, try to sell. We're going to try to get about six months, three to six months of your income in the bank, and then I'd say go all in because you're in a financial place to be able to do it. You've got an emergency fund.

Build your pipeline. But I think part-time real estate, that's showing houses on nights and weekends, really growing your personal relationship to a real network of, hey, people are recommending me for listing or for buying. And once you get about six months of your current salary in the bank, Jay, I'd say go all in. George, any financial tips? I love it. I'll tell you, my dad got into real estate later in life for fun as a hobby, not trying to take it full time. And he enjoys it. But I'll tell you, you really can't win without doing it full time. He does it because he wants to help local folks

at his church who are moving here, help them find a place. But I think Jay can do this. It's just going to be a lot harder than you think because there's so many real estate agents out there, and there's not a lot of inventory right now. That's right. So it may be best to wait another six months to a year and get this thing off the ground before we move in that direction. So the key is you can get started in real estate part-time. You really can. And you can stack up enough money to where you can make the change. Notice I didn't say make the jump, make the leap. We're going to step off of the boat.

I like a step over a leap. Yeah. I'm not that athletic, so I like that move. George, it's a good move for you. It's a good move for you personally and professionally, George, to maintain that personal brand. Hey, I want to thank our team in the control room. I want to thank my colleague, George Campbell.

Fun hour. Thank you, sir. And also we want to thank you, America. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks. Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world?

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