The Ramsey Show - App - How To Get the Next Generation To Care About Personal Finance (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

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Thank you very much. live from the headquarters of ramsey solutions broadcasting from the dollar car rental studio this is the ramsey show where america hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money i'm christy wr, author of the book Business Boutique and the new book, Take Back Your Time, which just released yesterday. So this is a super exciting week. A lot of commotion around the office, a lot of media hits. We've got an event tomorrow night.

There's a lot of fun stuff going on, celebrating the launch of this new book, helping you with a pain point we almost all of us struggle with. How do you have enough time? How do you do it all? That's what we talk about in this new book. And joining me today is my good friend, George Camel. He is the host of the Fine Print Podcast.

We were just talking in the last hour about this week's episode where he talks about the housing market. Some of you guys are thinking about buying, wondering if it's the right time to buy. He's going to dive into that in this week's episode. You guys should check that out and subscribe and review the Fine Print Podcast, which is awesome. He's just shining a light on the fine print, literally, that many of you don't know and don't even know the right questions to ask. So I'm so grateful for that. We are here today for you. We are answering your calls. 888-825-5225. If you've got a question about money or the housing market or managing your time or changing careers, starting a business, any of the above, George and I are here for you. We want to talk to you. We want to talk about what you want to talk about.

We're going to go to New Orleans with with tina hey tina how are you i'm fine thank you how are you today great what's going on i am 55 and i'm disabled so i can't use this money that i came into for investments and things because then it takes away my disability so i I'm wondering, I have an older car, it has over 100,000 miles, if I should take this money and pay cash for, I'm thinking like a Kia or something that will last me a good 15 or 20 years. What kind of car do you have now?

Right now, I have a 2010 Dodge Caliber, but it's a salvaged vehicle and it has over 102,000 miles on it. Okay. So what's wrong with this car now? There's not a lot wrong with it, but like I said, because I'm on disability, I can't just hold on to this cash. I mean, I guess I could hide it under my mattress and nobody would know, but I'm thinking maybe a new car, and I'm thinking brand new with no miles on it, that would last me until hopefully I almost die or can't drive anymore. I just, I don't know the details of the limitations on disability income. So you may have to help me.

And, George, you jump in here. You're the finance expert in this scenario. But I do feel like you've got to have more options than just putting all this money into a brand new car or under your mattress. I feel like I must be missing something here. There must be another option I'm not considering. No, I'm only allowed to have $2,000 in my bank account. What money are we referring to? What money did you get and where did it come from? I had a small piece of property in Mexico and I sold it. Oh, okay. Can you reinvest that money into real estate or into anything else

that does not go down in value like a car? I live with my mom, so I don't need to invest in real estate or a house because I'll be getting her house when she passes away. And if I don't have a house that I'm personally living in, then according to their rules, I can't do that. Interesting. Can't invest it. Social security disability. And you're saying you can't invest it.

Okay. No, they say I can't invest it because then it's considered income, and then they'll take away from the little bit I get every month. I get like $720 a month. Well, this is so stupid. I mean, this is the stupidest thing. Are we trying to not take care of people that are struggling with disability? I mean, this is so dumb.

I've never heard the finer details of this. I feel like this is a future fine print podcast. Yeah, this might be a future episode, Tina. You got us on this one. So let's talk about this car. It is. Do you have any debt? No, I have no debt.

My only bills that I have right now is my $25 a month gym membership and my insurance on this car. Okay, well, that's good news. Let's talk about this car now. You said, I need a new car. I want to, that's good news. Let's talk about this car now. You said, I need a new car. I want to drive this thing for 15 to 20 years. And we don't recommend that people buy new cars unless they are millionaires, because it goes down like a rock in value. And let me tell you, the mileage part, I drive an 09 Honda Civic that has 160,000 miles on it. I'm

probably the seventh own. I have no idea how many owners came before me. And she purrs, Christy. She drives great. And so the idea that you need to get a new car because of reliability or the mileage, I think you can get a great used car, maybe a four... How much cash do you have to spend on this car if you didn't take out any debt? If I don't take out any debt, I have about $26,000. Oh, my goodness. Okay. You're going to be living large in this car.

This is fantastic news. So I personally, in your position, probably wouldn't spend $26,000 on a used car. But you can get a great, reliable car. Obviously, Toyota and Honda are known for, if you're looking for longevity, they're going out there. They're 300-plus thousand miles on Toyotas and Hondas out there with very little maintenance. And I don't know about you. I'm not a fixer-upper.

I'm no Chip Gaines. I'm no Bear Grylls. I'm not a DIY guy, Tina. So if I'm you— This shocks me, George. I know. This shocks me. Shocker to many of Americans listening today. So if I'm you, I'm going to get a used Toyota or a used Honda if

you're looking for longevity and mileage, and you can do that for well under $20,000. All right. Go ahead. No, go ahead, Tina. What do you think about a Kia? I hear good things about that. Okay, here's my personal take, and Kia's come a long way i will say that but as a person who has researched a lot of cars i have found that kias are not going to be uh in the top you know the top five uh when it comes to longevity maintenance cost all those types of things so i would look into a toyota or honda a cord or civic on the honda side uh camry or avalon on the toyota side if you're if you like a sedan.

And that's going to get you very far for a long, long period of time with very little time in the shop. I don't know about you, but bringing my car to the shop is a nightmare. So that's my personal take. I'm sure there's review sites out there that'll put Kia in the top. And some of their vehicles may be better. But if I just want to not worry about it, I'm probably going Toyota or Honda from in your shoes. Yeah, just for the reliability.

And this is multiple different objective sites that rate these cards. This is not just George and I's opinion, even though we do all have the brands that we like or we go to first. But look into it. The other thing I'll say, Tina, and I'm guilty of being just, you know, I get on, I'm really persistent with things, but I just, I really want you to sit down with someone, a financial coach. We, you know, we've got these here at Ramsey Solutions, an investment professional, someone

to dig into this. Is there any other way around it? Not because you can't get a car. That's not the point of this. I just hate the fact that you're making a decision on a car mainly because you're not allowed to keep this money that is your money when there may be a way to spend 10 of it on a used car and then do something with the other 16 or maybe in the future if you it are some inherit some money or something

to to know what your options are versus oh i've just got to get rid of it because i'm not allowed to have it that is just that is i don't like her being locked in like that i don't like any of it makes me mad will Will you just, will you just keep looking, Tina? Will you keep looking into that? Sit down with an investment professional or financial coach and just see

if you have any other options you may not be aware of that are not as widely known at this point. I want what's best for you and so does George. This is

The Ramsey Show. You've got a lot on your plate. A job, your home, your marriage, and your growing family. While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. If there's one thing that 2020 taught us about investing, it's this. You cannot invest alone.

You need someone in your life who knows the market better than you and helps you make smart decisions. By the way, George and I both have these people in our lives. We don't do it ourselves and we work at this company. You need someone in your corner. Now, I love do-it-yourselfers, but data tells us that we mess up when we DIY on investing, especially when there is a global crisis. You invest in the wrong things. You get caught up in trends. You make rookie mistakes. You build a portfolio based on what you read on Reddit. Oh God, please don't do anything based on what you see on Reddit. Trust me, you don't need to add any unnecessary stress in your life. Let 2020 be your wake-up call that never again will you let your investments be at the mercy of some global crisis. Get some people in your corner. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor and we'll put you in touch with one of our SmartVestor pros who can walk you through this. There are some

areas that you can do it yourself. Y'all, this isn't one of them. We're talking about tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, potentially, potentially if you do it right and you follow our baby steps early in life, potentially millions of dollars. That's at stake here. Don't guess. Don't just Google this and try to figure it out as you go.

You need someone that this is what they do all day, every day. Get a SmartVestor Pro in your corner. You can also text INVEST to 33789, and we will get you in touch with someone that we trust. These are people that we use, people that you can trust as well. Christy, I can't even DIY sourdough bread. So if you think I'm going to mess around with thousands and thousands of dollars, you're wrong. There are some areas that you just need some help. All right, let's go to Tyler in LA. Hey, Tyler, how are you?

Hey, how's it? How's it going? Great. What's going on? Hey, so I had a quick question. I'm born and raised in Hawaii. I just moved out to California recently. I have a home in Hawaii and I have a business in Hawaii and we're looking to buy another house up here in California. But my question is, I've been working less and less and less with this whole, you know, remote working. And I'm getting a little itchy to either, you know, like get a job up here or start a new business up here. Or I don't know if I should just burn the ships in Hawaii and sell the house and sell the business.

I mean, I'm just looking for some outside, you know, opinion on what maybe I should do because all this is new to me. My wife's from California, so we decided when the pandemic hit in Hawaii, or in the world I guess, I was working remotely and then we're like, man, we have a chance to move because we're still making money with me not being out and about in the field and stuff. We decided to do it and here we are.

And I feel like I've got one leg on both sides of the fence here. And, you know, I mean, that's basically the question is, you know, maybe some guidance on what I should do. Yeah. Give me a little bit more information. What's your business in Hawaii? It's like an RMR company.

It's got recurring monthly revenue, so it makes a lot of money. It does like a million a year. It's a really good company. I promoted one of my guys to a general manager, and I really helped him, and now I'm just doing less and less. I have Zoom meetings with him on Friday and Mondays, now I'm just doing less and less. You know, I have Zoom meetings with them on Friday and Mondays,

but, I mean, I'm just doing less and less. Are you planning to go back to Hawaii? Yeah, I go back all the time. I've only been up here for like three months. My wife's from here. Gotcha. Okay, so you have a house in Hawaii, a house in California, and you go back and forth kind of.

Well, no, I own a house in Hawaii, and I wanted to buy a house in California, but California is just so stupid right now. I had to give the guy a whole year of rent. So I gave him like 50 grand so he could just get to California to try and buy a house here. Gotcha. So we're looking around to buy a house here in California now. When I get the house in California, I'll put my Molly house on.

It's either I sell it or I'll put it on like a 15-year fix and refinance it after we close over here. Because the whole goal is my kids, I want my kids in school up here because Maui with COVID or Hawaii with COVID is so bad that it's like, that's why we came up here. Gotcha. Okay. So are you completely debt-free? Oh, no, I have debt. All right. Are you familiar with what we teach? I just heard about you guys, and I've been listening to you guys. My father-in-law, he bought a house in Arizona, and he doesn't know anything, and he's got a house in Hawaii, he doesn't know anything, and he's the one that told me about you guys. So I've been listening

for a couple of weeks, and then I just figured I'd call. Cool. Well, here's the one that told me about you guys so i've been listening for a couple of weeks and then i just figured i'd call cool well here's the thing tyler and i'm gonna let george jump in here but i just want to start by saying this it sounds like you need some goals you feel a little bored you need some goals and here's the great news we're about to give you some goals oh yeah we're about to give you some goals tyler so just get a pen and paper george take it away so you know zig ziglar says if you aim at nothing you you'll hit it every time. And right now, you've got the business running on the side and you're kind of aiming at nothing. But it sounds like you do have financial goals. You want to buy a house. You made that clear, but you've got a pile of debt here. How much debt do you have total?

I have a brand new 2021 black on black Tahoe for my wife. That's a lease. And then I've got my truck and then I've got a couple of vans for the guys. So. And you've got debt on the vans. Do you know how much the total is? Uh, I'd say like, maybe like 50 grand. 50 grand.

That feels low for what you just laid out there. I mean, the 2021 Tahoe alone feels like that could be 50 grand. Yeah, but it's a lease, so it's only like 16,000 is all it is. Do you know what the early buyout would be? I don't know that yet. No, I don't. Okay. So what is your income?

Well, I take $150,000 from the company, and my wife is amazing, and she takes $50,000. She doesn't do anything in the business, but she takes $50,000, so $200,000 a year. Okay, and I want this side hustle, now that we're talking about this, I want this to be to pay off this debt. I mean, you guys have a great income. Obviously, you're in a high cost of living area, and so it feels more difficult to do anything because, like you said, it's just stupid right now. But I want this side hustle, whatever it is. You seem like you're an entrepreneurial guy. Is that right?

Absolutely. I don't think I could ever work for somebody. I can't picture you taking a side hustle. For 14 years, I've had this business. Wow. Well, it's successful. So whatever you're doing, you're good at it. And so is there something you could spin up in California to bring in income and pay off this debt really quickly?

Well, that's the thing. Like I said, I could burn your shit. If I sell the house in Hawaii, the house in Hawaii is worth a million dollars. I owe like $375 on it. So, I mean, I don't know if I should keep the business. Well, do you need the house in Hawaii? Well, eventually, you know, I wanted to be able to be in Hawaii for summers and then be up here during the year. That's the goal.

Do you need the house that big in Hawaii? Would you sell it and then you could downsize and get something smaller later on in life? Yeah, sure, we could. I like this idea only because I don't know how much you're using this house. What's going on with the house when you're not there? Well, it's rented right now for $5,000 a month. Well, that's not bad. It's rented.

Yeah, it's rented right now. Yeah, there's a lot going on here. Rent up here was $4,000, so I had to pay him a whole year. Yeah. Well, what I would tell you as far as the goals go is I want you to follow the baby steps that we teach, which is have $1,000 for a starter emergency fund, which I imagine you have that. And then baby step two is where we pay off all of the debt. And that means no more leasing cars. That means no more debt on the work vans.

I want you to just live a debt-free lifestyle because if you do that, you're going to be so unbelievably wealthy, you're going to be bored out of your mind. I can't wait to see how bored you are once you don't have any payments in your life and you can do whatever you want. And so once we've got that, we can get the emergency fund, start investing, and I don't know where you're at with that side of things, but I want you to do things in order so that you feel the progress. Well, and the whole why behind what we teach, Tyler, is the quickest path to building wealth. That's the why. So we have seven baby steps,

and George just referenced that really quickly. The why of the baby steps is to get you to wealth, true wealth, which means debt-free wealth, where you own everything and you can do anything you want to, businesses, houses, you can do whatever you want. Give outrageously. I want you to stay on the line.

I'm going to have Austin get you registered for our game plan event. This is coming up in September, September 28th. I'll be speaking along with George, Dave Ramsey, and we're going to give you a game plan for your money. This is exactly what you need right now, Tyler. It's going to give you the steps and the plan that you need to reach your goals so stay on the line we'll get you registered for that event so How many times in the past year have you heard someone say, I wish things would just get back to normal?

Maybe you've said it. But what was normal like for you? Worried about money? Too much to do? Not enough time to do it? Been there. You shouldn't have to go back to that normal. There is so much better ahead for you. But if you want to get the life you want, you need the right game plan. So I want to remind you

about an event we are doing on September 28th. This is a free live stream called Game Plan Live. We're going to give you a game plan for your money, for your time, and for your goals. We're gonna give you a game plan for your money, for your time, and for your goals. We're gonna show you step-by-step what you need to do to get to where you want to be. George Camel and myself and Dave Ramsey will all be speaking. We will be laying out clear goals

and the path to get there. We're even gonna talk about how to have a vision that gets you excited. We're gonna talk about how to set healthy boundaries that keep you excited. We're going to talk about how to set healthy boundaries that keep you focused. And of course, how to take control of your money so it can start working for you. You don't have to go back to the normal

that is broke and burned out. We're going to help you make this year different. But you're going to need a game plan to do it. You can have the abundant, balanced, debt-free life that you want. And it starts at Game Plan Live. To register for the live stream, text GAMEPLAN to 33789. That's GAMEPLAN, all one word, to 33789.

We'll get you registered, get your spot. It's going to be a really great night. And I encourage you, if you're married, have older kids, watch it with your family. We're going to give you some language around this where you guys can come together and talk about your goals, talk about your values, talk about your vision, talk about your boundaries, talk about what you want this next season of life to look like so that you can be on the same page and watch how it brings you even closer together as a family. I'm excited. George, give us a tease of what you're going to be talking about at the game plan event. So one of the biggest things I found, because I've been where a lot of people are, where they set like 48 goals and they're like, new year, new me. I'm

actually going to do it this year. I'm going to read 85 books. I'm going to lose 25 pounds. And I never accomplished them. And I finally realized after a few years of doing this, what went wrong. And so I'm kind of letting you learn from all of my mistakes. And so we're going to learn how to set the right goals for the right reasons, and even better, how to create the right habits and systems so that you can actually accomplish them. And so you're coming alongside me right after that to really help people go, okay, now how do I fit this all in my life? Because that's what I found. I got all these books I want to read, and I go, oh, I didn't plan the hour every day to read. Right, right.

We've got all kinds of goals, and we're excited. We're even motivated. We've got great intentions. But yeah, how do you make the time for it? Or as people often ask me, how do I find the time? How do I find the time to work out? It's like a couch cushion. And I say, you don't find time.

You don't find time. You make time. You never find time. I'm going to show you how to make time for things that matter the most to you. And I think you guys are going to leave that night really inspired and excited. But you're also going to have tactical steps that you can follow to put this stuff into action. So be sure to get your spot for Game Plan. It's free.

It's free. You got nothing to lose. But you do need to get your spot. You do need to get your spot. RSVP, get your spot. Text Game Plan, all one word to 33 789 all right let's go to matt in fort wayne indiana hey matt how are you i'm doing okay about you great what's going on all right thanks for taking my call um so i i'm a high school

personal finance teacher and i actually teach um your actually teach your Dave Ramsey program for teenagers. And, you know, what I'm trying to ask is, you know, I don't just tell them that I just take teaching you to teach this. I actually tell them I do live this. I try to, you know, I try to do the steps just like I'm trying to encourage them to do. One of the things, though, that I noticed, and I try to bring in stories from my life. We do the videos. We do the worksheets. I can see it on their faces sometimes. I think they think some of this is just a hoax.

They just don't care, Matt. Go ahead and say it. They just don't care. Yeah, that was your life where you screwed up and you made mistakes, or that was Dave's life. I'm so-and-so. So how do I break through that wall, if you get what I'm saying? So do they think they have it all together?

Like, I don't need this stuff. This isn't important to me. I really do believe some of them think they got it all together, that this is the host. And I try to tell them the folks that think they have it all together are the ones that are going to come apart first well here's i think i'm not here's what's interesting matt a couple things um i'll say and then i'll let george jump in here but the i spoke to high school students on money for about six years before i ever was doing business coaching or life coaching any of the

stuff that i'm doing now. And one of the things that is so difficult, and you know this better than anybody because you're on the front lines, is it is so hard to make a high school student care about something they just don't care about. Specifically, it's hard to make them care about a topic that they feel is not relevant to them right now. So you can talk all day about being on a budget, but if they've got the 24 hour ATM of mom and dad, they're not really motivated to give every dollar a name because they just asked mom for a 20. Can I have a 20? Can I have a 20? So part of it is you have an uphill battle on the fact that you're teaching them something that either is not reinforced at home or it's

just not even, it's just not even a conversation at home. So the one thing I would say just to kick this off as we dig into this with you is anytime you can have a conversation with the parents at parent-teacher conferences, tell them what you're talking about. Ask the students to go home and ask the parents, do you have any debt? How do you feel about debt? Begin to involve the parents and almost come alongside them and say, hey, let's together help set them up for success. And some may be resistant. Some may have some shame of their own money mistakes. But until you get the parents on board, it's going to be harder to break through because

there's not a real consequence, reward, or even motivation. The other thing I would just encourage you is, and I'm definitely a product of this, of being a high school student, but you are planting seeds that you may not see grow even by the time they graduate, but you have no idea what that's going to turn into and how it is sticking with them. So I just want to encourage you, even if you don't see a huge transformation right now, in the back of their mind, these conversations, these lessons might come to mind when they're offered a credit card in college and they make a different decision. We heard a really cool story from a young man that was on the fence of which college

to go to. One, he was thinking about taking out a ton of student loans because it was his quote-unquote dream school. And another one, he could pay cash and work his way through. And he ended up paying cash, working his way through. He's completely debt-free, making an incredible income. And he attributes that to our foundations and personal finance course. So even if you're not seeing light bulbs go off,

that doesn't mean you're not planting seeds that will come into play later. But it's hard, George. This is a hard audience to teach because they just don't care. High schoolers, I'm not usually scared on stage. High schoolers, they put the fear of God in me. They're just sitting there with their arms crossed. They're sitting back and they're like impress me. They look like they're actually asleep.

Like you're not cool. I see right through your soul. You're a loser. I'm like, oh my gosh, I guess I'm a loser. And so here's what I found. High schoolers, middle schoolers, they're insecure, and they're playing it off with this kind of false confidence, like they're too cool for everything. And so what I found, because I actually hosted the latest edition of our Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum, and as I'm writing these scripts, I'm like, how do I connect with a 16-year-old? I'm like, what would 16-year-old George want to see on the screen?

And I realized I just need to own my mistakes and be self-deprecating, connect with them where they're at, and talk about their goals, not talk about me and why it's important to invest in the power of compound interest. I want to get their vision for what they want for their life. And usually when you get them talking about themselves, then they're bought in to why it connects to what you're trying to teach them in personal finance. So, Matt, I love what you're doing. I already love teachers in general. Sure. But especially the ones that are teaching personal finance and even more so the ones that teach our personal finance curriculum. And so I don't know what your class is like.

They may love you already. But get them to talk about their dreams and their goals. And what I found is it is like an interrogation when you ask them about college. They say, what do you want to do? How much is that going to cost? Do you know how much that is a semester? Do you know how much books are? How much student loan debt are you willing to take on?

And you start to ask these questions and they get all frozen. They go, oh my gosh, I need to learn some things. I got to Google some stuff. I got to talk to mom and dad. And like you said, Christy, they're not having these conversations at home. So Matt, you are an especially important part of their lives. And so you can pour into them even more so than some of their parents who are maybe unwilling to have these conversations, don't agree with the Ramsey principles because they're drowning in debt and feel like it's normal. And so what I would do if I was you is connect with

them on their dreams and their goals and get on their level and don't talk at them, talk with them. And once you do that, it's going to be a partnership where they're going, hey, teacher, how can I learn more about this? This is fascinating. It may just take some time, but Matt, you're doing awesome. That's a hard job, and we commend you. We are so grateful for you doing that hard work on the front lines, and we really do believe that that is going to pay off.

You're planting seeds. You may see it tomorrow. You may see it this year. You may not, but I believe it's going to stick with them in more ways seeds. You may see it tomorrow. You may see it this year. You may not. But I believe it's going to stick with them in more ways than you know. Great job. Thanks for calling. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Chrissy Wright.

George Camel and I are taking your calls at 888-825-5225. Calls about money. Calls about what decision you want to make. How to manage your time. You know, George, one of the things that's been interesting in the last 10 years of coaching people in business, and I'm kind of known as the business girl, right? I've spoken at Entree Leadership. You host the Entree Leadership podcast.

And I've helped women and men at all stages of business. But what's interesting is of all the events I've spoken at, of all the different people I've worked with and different types of businesses, over the last decade of doing this, the number one question I'm asked is not a business question. It's this question, how you balance it all.

I get it on every Entree Leadership event, every Q&A, every panel, coaching sessions. It doesn't matter, male or female, kids or no kids, different ages. It doesn't matter. We all struggle with this idea of balancing it all. And one of the things I've noticed is we always talk about it in that way, how do I balance it all? Balance is a verb. And we think, oh, I've got to have this 50-50 split between work and home, or I've got to do everything for an equal amount of time. And the truth is we just try to do more.

We try to be more productive, wake up earlier, stay up later, multitask, be more efficient, be more productive, pour more coffee. And we just end up exhausted. And I think we're asking the wrong question. I think when we think the solution to our problem with time is more time, we're getting it wrong. Because if we is more time, we're getting it wrong. Because if we had more time, we would just cram more in. Yep.

If you had a 25th hour, you'd just overschedule even more. You would. You'd just try to please more people, do more stuff. Get less sleep. Right. How to sleep one hour less. That's fine. We'll make it work.

I know. And honestly, that's one of the reasons I'm so excited to tackle this topic. We joked earlier about the history of this with me and Dave and this back and forth. Dave wrote the foreword for my new book, Take Back Your Time. But it's such a pain point for people. And because I have that entrepreneur spirit, I've got the problem solver spirit in me that I want to tackle things that are hard. But it's also something I've needed for myself, having three kids in five years and a busy

career and being in seminary and having a lot of interest. It is hard. I get it. It's hard. It's easy to get overwhelmed in our culture with a lot going on. And I think one of my favorite parts about this journey of writing this book and putting this out there this week with Launch Week is that the feedback I'm getting is so consistent. And it's so exactly in line with what I wanted it to do. They're saying things like, this is not another time management book. This is not a productivity book. This book lets me breathe. This book sets me free in my life. And I'm going, oh my gosh,

that's exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't want to help you just do more and be more efficient. Yeah, we're going to talk about the calendar, but I want to help you figure out why you felt out of balance in the first place and fix it there. Yeah, that's so big because on the show for years, Dave has been setting people free with money. And with this book, you're setting people free with their life and not feel this sense of I'm never doing enough. I'm doing too much. I'm overwhelmed. Things are out of control. I'm burning out. And it's all in the name of busyness and everyone's too busy and everyone's overscheduled and we have so much to keep up with. And we have this conversation on the Entree Leadership

Podcast a few episodes back. We sat down and unpacked some incredible principles in the book and you make it so easy. It feels like you're like, well, yeah, balance is just a myth. That's not a thing people actually achieve. And you talk about all these different ways and the questions that you need to be asking to get there. And so there's so many practical takeaways in the book. It's not just encouraging. There's actual tactical things that you walk through there. It's just incredible. So I'm so pumped for this book. If you don't have a copy by now and you've been listening, I don't know what they've heard about this book for like 18 months now. What are you doing? You need to get a copy and get one for like every person in your life

to say, I love you and I want you to set you free with your time. Well, one of the things that's been funny too is because this word balance, people have such mixed feelings about balance, about like they kind of have eye rolls and groans or whatever.

And it's funny because as much as we hate the word, we can't stop talking about it. And so someone asked me on a media interview this week, they said, I think it's pretty bold that you just went ahead and said the guilt-free guide to life balance. I was like, oh yeah, I want to call it what they call it. I want to reclaim that word, redefine that word and show you how it actually is possible, but it doesn't mean what you

think. It means something else. And that something else in fact is possible and that's good news and so um if you guys want to get your copy it is available at ramsey solutions.com anywhere books are sold and in case you didn't know it's a target and y'all that just feels like a big deal maybe it's because i love target maybe it's because a lot of people that read this book go to target it just feel it's i think this is one of our first books we've ever gotten in Target. That's a big deal. You know who else got the book at Target? Your little girl, Mary Grace.

I mean, your Instagram story of her. Where's mommy? And she pointed at your book and she grabbed two copies. It's really cute. It was adorable. So I love that. Your kids are so proud of you. Your husband is so proud of you.

I was in tears looking at his Instagram post about you last night. It's really sweet. Talking about how you've actually living, you've been living out these principles. This is not theory. Yeah.

This is real life and you have put it pen to paper in such a brilliant way. You're such an amazing thought leader in this space and these are your words.

Oh, thank you. In your heart on this book and I know you took so much time and care in writing it for a long time and you've been thinking about this topic for a decade.

It takes that long to get this through with Dave Ramsey. It's like a very long pregnancy. It's like being pregnant for 10 years. Not that I know. When you put it like that, George. Yeah. Hey, I am persistent, if nothing else. I'm like, oh, Dave hates this topic.

I will not give up. We will write a best-selling book on the topic, and I'm sure it will be. I'm so excited about this. Oh, my gosh. Well, thank you. All right. Well, let's go to the phones. We've got Will in Phoenix, Arizona.

Hey, Will. How are you? Hey, what's going on, Christy and George? Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. I'm excited to be here. So as of today, I made my last payment on my student loan. I'm 25 years old, so I did $35,000 in 30 months.

So I'm debt free. Okay, well done. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much. I've been following Dave's principles and I did the financial piece through my church. So it was a very great experience. But now my question is, is like, question is, what's next? I have a 401k through work, but every other investment I'm very green on. I really don't know where to put my money and how to make my money work for me. So I was just calling to get advice from you guys. Someone in my position who's single, 25 years old, is now debt-free, where should I go next? How do I put my money to work? Sure. You called the right place, Will. So do you have a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses? Not yet, no. Okay. So before you get

starry-eyed about investing, which I love that you're thinking about this stuff at this age, I want you to save up that baby step three, fully funded emergency fund, three to six months of your expenses. And then we can look at investing. Does that sound good? Sounds good. Okay. So on the investing side, you said you're real green to this stuff. And truthfully, no one knows all the ins and outs unless you're a financial advisor.

There's so much out there. Your 401k is going to be a great option. But there's also other things you need to be looking into, like a Roth IRA, for example. And so what I want you to do is connect with one of our SmartVestor pros. These are trusted pros in your area, investing professionals who can sit down with you and actually help you understand what you're doing. They're not there to just tell you what to do. They're there to educate you on your options and help you make an informed decision. And here's the best part. They're going to do it the Ramsey way.

You don't have to wonder if they're going to sell you a crappy product or steer you in a different direction. They're going to do it the Ramsey way. So you can go to RamseySolutions.com, click on Trusted Pros, and connect with one of those in the Phoenix area who can help you understand this stuff. And if you do this at this age, you're going to be a multimillionaire if you just keep following the baby steps, Will. You're crushing it, man. Congratulations on debt freedom. Congratulations. And to be so young, you're 25.

You should be able to get this emergency fund pretty quick. I'm guessing your expenses are pretty low at your age and stage of life. And the other thing to keep in mind, Will, if there are things in your life that change in the next few years, because they may, you may want to buy a house. You may get married. you may start a family, all this could happen in the next five to 10 years, potentially being how young that you are, then these are all things you can save up in cash flow. So you save up for a down payment on a house, you save up for a wedding, those types of things, engagement ring and so on. And you're in a position now that you have that debt gone, that you can cash flow all of that and you are just setting you and any future family up for success and uh and we're cheering you on we're so excited

for you so yeah take it one step at a time the baby steps go in that order for a reason we want you to tackle one step at a time especially until baby step four so go ahead and get that emergency fund and then you'll be ready to invest and uh save up for any of those other things what i love about the baby steps is that they build, and the habits that you built in Baby Step 1 and 2, they carry on because now you know, oh, I can actually save up money. I know how to do this stuff. Right.

I can do this. And you start to believe. Right. And it becomes reality. And so I love that Will's grabbed a hold of this stuff at this age. I love it. So good. Thanks for calling, Will.

I want to thank producer James Child, associate producer Austin Selby, and you, America. Thanks for tuning in. This is The Ramsey Show. This is James Child, producer of The Ramsey Show. You can listen to all our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Browse by topic or even sync clips to your friends. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today. Ramsey Network