The Ramsey Show - App - How To Get Your Budget on Track (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving in storage studio, it is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money. I am your host, Jade Warshaw. I am joined by Ken Coleman. Look, now's the time to call in. Give us a call, 888-825-5225.

I'm the money person. And Ken knows all about what you're facing when it comes to your careers. He's there to help you find work that matters, find what you were born to do, Ken, what you were loved to do. 96% of the everyday millionaires that we studied, over 10,000 of them, we found that 96% of them loved their work. They enjoyed their work. And that means when you're doing what you know you're

good at, what you enjoy, let me tell you what happens. This idea that, oh, you'll never work a day in your life, that's not true. You work harder because you're more fired up and the income gets really, really good and you're able to prioritize your life. So a lot of people wonder, can I change jobs to make more money or to do what I love while I'm in the baby steps? That's a big question. That is. The answer is yes.

Explica, por favor. Well, we'll take those calls, but you certainly can because you're not going to just jump into the abyss of the unknown. That's true. You are going to stay in that current job, and you're going to do what it takes to get there. I help with that all the time on the Ken Coleman Show, help here on the Ramsey Show today. But then we step from the boat right onto the dock,

and so that's the idea. So there is no interruption of income with what we teach, and if you can make more money, a lot of our debt-free screamers report making their income go up during their journey. So just going to point that out. I'm here to take any questions related to your work that's changing, transitioning, starting over, starting a side hustle. Can I do it while I'm in the baby steps? How does the work and money thing come together? Well, it's always together. And so if

I can help you make more money, I'm here to help. We'll take those calls as well. I love that. Life's too short to not be doing what you love. Think about how much time you spend at work. So much time. So much time. You need to be doing what you love. So I would even challenge anybody who's listening to this right now to start asking yourself a couple of personal questions about how do you really feel about what you do every day? Because some of us can, we just go through the motions. We don't stop to honor ourselves enough to go, do I? It's a very interesting thing you said there, honor ourselves. I love how you said that. You know, this idea of you just grit and bear it instead of going, is it possible that I could make some money,

the money I need and do something that I enjoy where I get valued and cared for. A lot of people don't think that's possible. But anyway, we're here to help in that as well as your money questions as well. I love that. Well, in the meantime, let's hear from Chris from Hartford, Connecticut. All right, Chris, what's going on? How can we help? Hello.

Yes, I'm a husband and a father of four kids. We have over $100,000 in debt based around different things. We sold our condo for $60,000, and we now rent through our employer. I used $20,000 of that to get all of our bills current, but $40,000 of that my wife suggested I put in a separate account. I did not, and that dwindled away in a year just simply because of, I say simply because of family expenses. So right now I feel like I'm drowning in expenses,

and anything that focuses on maybe a credit card, I'm pulling from rent. If I want to pay rent, I'm pulling from student loans. And I'm just concerned because we can get to that garnishing standpoint. So I'm really trying to figure out where it is to start. And just a note that both me and my wife, we work at the same place. It's a very, very flexible, comfortable, no commute situation for us. So I'm the only driver. So me changing a job completely changes the dynamic.

So I'm trying to figure out how to work through this. Okay. Just at first glance, at first pass, listening to the situation, it just sounds like there's no control. It just sounds like you're just flying by the seat of your pants, just putting out one fire after another. Yeah? Yeah.

Yeah. How much money is coming into the household each month? I make 80. My wife makes 30. Total, we net about 7,700. Each month. How old are the kids? We have 11, 9, 2, and just one and a half weeks old. Okay, so is there child care or is your wife at home? What's the situation there? Right now my wife is at home, but we have had child care.

So this summer it's been a little bit of a break for us from that, but I know that that eventually will come back in order for us to keep working. So I need to understand, you guys have a good income. Where is everything going? You don't have this mortgage that's inflated because right now you're renting, right? What are you paying in rent every month? $1,700. Okay, that's fine. Wow. Where is the money going, Chris? It's not daycare. Yeah, I'll just say this is from, I'd say, years of not really focusing on budget. I've budgeted and have the Excel document of all of our bills. But when it comes to our, I would say, operational, gas, clothes, diapers, food, that part has not been budgeted as strongly. so I've been working on that. Okay, so I'm going to push you a little bit, Chris, all right? Because Jay's a lot nicer than I am. Where do you think it's going?

That's really good income. Where do you think it's going? I think it's, one thing I could say, it's gone toward all of us feeding the family. We don't eat out a lot, but it's gone towards feeding the family, and we do have some extracurricular no for the kids no it's not sorry i'm calling bs on that because it doesn't cost you you're not spending four thousand dollars a month to feed your family no no we're not and if you are something's wrong okay here's what i want you to do um it sounds

like you it sounds like you treat the budget the way i used to treat a budget as long as you know the big the big ticket items i know what the cell phone bills are i know what the rent is i know what gas is everything else kind of ends up in a pile of discretionary funds and it just gets piddled away that's the only way that you piddle away forty thousand dollars um in a year's time of sitting money, right? And the thing is, you've got these kids and they want school supplies and they need this and you're taking family vacations and you're doing this and that. That money, if you're not planning for every dollar, you will see thousands and thousands of dollars piddled away month by month, okay? That's just the way. I mean,

in that way, Chris, you're no exception. It will happen to anybody. So what I want you to do is get on an every dollar budget. Not a spreadsheet because spreadsheets is on your computer. It's easy to set it and forget about. I don't want you to do that. I want this thing on your phone where it's on your phone. It's on your wife's phone.

You're taking it to the grocery store with you. It's updating. It's telling you what's going on in real time. And I want you to do a brand new budget every single month because every single month is different. And what you're going to find when you do that budget, Chris, is that you're going to see, oh my gosh, we are blowing through so much money every month. And you're going to start to see line items on there that you were treating as mandatory,

but are actually discretionary. You don't have to do that stuff every single month. So you're going to find ways that you can cut your budget. I want you to sign up for Rachel Cruz's Every Dollar Webinar. She is going to walk you through, like literally take your hand and walk you through how to do this budget. I want you to sign up. You can sign up at ramseysolutions.com slash budgeting. I believe that's what it is. They'll put the lower third on there for you to see it. But I want you to sign up for this because this is what's going to break you free. The budget is where you find the money.

Most people are able to find 9% of their income just by doing a budget, Ken. They've got plenty of money to do what they need to do, but you've got to know where it's going. That's right. You've got to find that money, and we'll help you do it. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw, joined by Ken Coleman. And we're talking about everything going on in your life with your money, your career.

Sometimes we jump into that mental health space of Dr. John Deloney is on. But today is me and Ken ken so give us a call the number is triple eight eight two five five two two five and ken will help you walk down a path to finding work you love so if that's the boat that you're in give us a call and of course i'm here to help you out with the money stuff you are and the last time well i don't know that was the last time but a few times ago we were on together. And if you missed it, I guess you could find it on our YouTube page. But Jade brought in food items for me. That's right. And she was showing me the difference in the budget because we were talking about budgeting and every dollar.

And most people blow their money on food. 100%. Whether it's eating out or groceries. Yep. In that particular show, I believe you brought in ketchups. Yes. And you brought in fries from downstairs at Ramsey Solutions. These were great fries, and they were hot. Yeah, they were.

And then you had a name brand ketchup. Yep. You had a middle-of-the-line brand ketchup, and then generic ketchup. That's right. And then you did the same thing with cookies. Oreo cookies. The real deal, the knockoff. i think that's what it was yes that's right good memory and i'll just be honest with you folks i came in today expecting to eat i thought oh jade and i are back on together you gotta let it go ken i

so i'm like that's it i got one shot at a at a taste test. No, we'll bring it back. And next time we'll talk about the difference between when you buy the prepackaged stuff. You can buy the little bags of chips. Or you can buy the little bags of trail mix. Or you can just buy the big honking bag and put it in a Ziploc bag yourself and save a bunch of money. See, this is what people want to know. You know how to save money on food. And a lot of people don't know how to save money on food.

They're out here, Ken, buying the Quaker oatmeal in the individual little packets. Right. Spending $3 and $4 a pop. And by the way, is it true that these companies, they've started putting less and less in there, a lot more air? Oh, yeah. They call it shrinkflation. Shrinkflation.

Shrinkflation. That's real, by the way. That is so real. Because let me tell you, these tater tots, they don't go as far as they used to. The frozen bag of tater tots I buy, it got half the size for the same price. So you're a bulk shopper? For the most part, you know, I'm a family of four. Five-year-old, three-year-old,

lots of snacks in the house at this point, Ken. Boy, that's true. This is the age of snacking. Yes. You got more goldfish than you've ever thought you'd ever have. I don't want to tell you, Ken, what I spent at Costco last weekend. I don't want to tell you. Now, don't get me wrong. It was in the budget.

This is real. This is hitting Americans, by the way. This isn't idle chit-chat. We're talking about budgeting, and food is one of the biggest issues. And this is what's hitting America, by the way. You look at the inflation numbers. Just so everybody knows why we're talking about this. Inflation right now is back up.

It's moving up. Where? Gas, groceries, and you've got to figure out how to game this. And you talk about this a lot on your Instagram account, at Jade Warshaw, by the way. That's right. We saw grocery inflation at 12.4%, Ken. It's freaking you out when you see the number.

It's a lot. And you know how to shop. I know how to shop, and we have a good amount of margin in our budget, but everybody, I don't care what your budget is, you either felt this or it pounded you. Yes. Like it pounded you. Because to say, oh, you know, I was spending it.

Now I'm spending $100 more every time I go shopping. $100 turned into $20 bills. Yeah. Nothing costs $20 anymore. What would you say? I'm putting you on the spot. Yeah. But I know you can handle this.

What would you say? Family of four, not teenagers, I got teenage boys, so they eat like, two teenage boys are the equivalent of six humans when it comes to eating, all right? And I know I'm griping about it, but that's my reality, so get over it. Let's talk about real things, Kim. Let's talk about a family of four like yours, little ones, so they're not eating enormous amounts of food. What would you say is a reasonable grocery budget based on the times i'll tell you um so if you read the articles out

there if you read the sources they'll say for a family of four on a healthy yet modest budget is somewhere around 987 a month which that sounds like a lot i'm gonna be dead honest with you guys uh before uh let's see right after covid i was spending about a thousand dollars a month on groceries and then when inflation started i was like this is crazy and it was hard for me because i was like i feel like i you know you have to face what's actually happening so i i did some research and i found an article that said family of four could spend anywhere between 800 and 1200 a month on groceries. So I upped our budget to $1,200 a month, had the margin to do that. However, there have been months where I've been like, okay, since it was at $1,200 a month, I've got so much extra in the cabinet. Then

there's months that I can drop that thing down to like $800, $700 because I'm using the stuff from the month before. Like I'm using the extra stuff in the pantry. That's why I led you there. Yeah. Because we got people listening and watching going, I can't do that. No. So what could they do? Can you do it? Can you do it? $700 a month? What are you talking? What's that look like? What's a $700 a month grocery budget look like? I have been working on content here, Ken. You can get that thing. You can get that thing down to like $400 or $500 if you want to. I thought so. You can.

Here's the thing. Noodles. Rice. Okay. Okay. Okay. Chick peas. Black beans.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. How many proteins have we got in that budget of $400 a month? How many proteins? You can do a protein every night. You got fish, chicken, beef. Look, we're not doing filet mignon you're not doing filet you're doing talk you're doing ground beef or ground tofu tacos you're doing steak that's tougher than you know yeah or you know you might do spaghetti some nights without putting beef in the sauce because you're

trying to save money you can still make some nice red sauce you know you're you're having breakfast for dinner you're having you know pancakes yeah it's doable it is so doable the thing is i think as now i'm saying this from a female perspective i think sometimes as moms or maybe you're the dad in the house that cooks we want to do the most it's like a way to show love and so it's like we want to have this beautiful plate that's got four i don't know why maybe it's just me a plate should have three things on it. Is that just me? The plate, for me, the plate should have. I see that.

But I like the divider. If I got three or four things, I'm like a little kid. I don't like my food touching. I want the divider plate. Here's what I've learned. Your family, they love you. They don't care. If you give them grilled cheese, they're actually kind of happy about that.

Who doesn't love grilled cheese? If you serve pancakes for dinner, no one is complaining complaining it's really true and you're ready for this uh because james childs our fearless eater is a very healthy eater he's a very clean eater and he's in the he's in the booth going just pancakes for dinner listen i endorse balance of nature here on the show guess what you can have your pancakes and you take your balance of nature and you got your veggies no i don't know fruits and veggies so now you got your pancakes you swallow your three little fruits your three little veggies hey we got a balanced meal my friends from balance of nature yes and it's on a budget yeah i'm just pointing it out but also eat your fruits

and vegetables you don't have to when you have balance of nature that's the whole point it's not a gratuitous mention. It's actually very practical. That's good. Because I like two greens. Yeah. Broccoli and green beans. Outside of that, I don't like much.

Do you know what you can do, Kent? The occasional green pea. Most places, you can go online. If you just search online whatever the ads are in your neighborhood, any grocery store, and find the cheapest price. If you take that over to walmart do you know they'll they'll honor that see this is why you listen and watch the ramsey show yeah don't make sure we didn't miss that if you google because there's a lot of these little um

grocery stores that are like really small mom and pop stores that maybe will sell things cheap or um you can go on there and google like save a lot. Okay. Even if you've never gone into a save a lot. If you Google the price of save a lot grapes, they're usually the cheapest. You take that or Bravo. They have a store by me called Bravo. I don't go in there. And do you have to take a screenshot?

Take a screenshot of it, print it out and say, hey, they're selling it for this. And you're telling me. They will add match that junk. You walk that up to the cashier at Walmart and go, let me show you a couple picks.

Man. And they will honor it. They'll honor it. They'll ad match it. And if somebody doesn't. I think there's a little social anxiety with that. Are you in line and everybody's waiting on you and you're scrolling through? I used to go straight over to the customer service.

I'd go straight over there. But Ken, we don't care anyway. We do not care what the people think. I was bringing up an objection and you smacked it out of the park. Oh, yeah. So you don't care what everybody, do not care what the people think. I know, but see what I was doing? I was bringing up an objection and you smacked it out of the park. Oh, yeah. So you don't care what everybody, what's she doing up there? Let's go, lady. You're like, listen. I'm saving money. Wait your turn, please,

sir. That's what I say. So what I'm hearing you say, Jade, is it is possible to budget on groceries and food even in inflationary times. There was a time we spent $60 a month. $60 a week on groceries. Oh, I was going to say, good heavens.

I did that math real quick. I'm like, that's not right. $60 a week. I think you were rationing, not budgeting. No, if we can do it, you can do it. That's good. You got this, America. You got it.

All right, what's going on, everybody? You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I am Jade Warshaw, your host, joined by Ken Coleman. We are talking about your life and your money. Give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. Let's go directly to the phone line, Ken, because we've got Elijah in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and he's got something to talk about.

What's going on, Elijah? Hi, Jade. Hi, Ken. Thanks for taking my call. Of course. Hey, so I have a question. I'm a little bit in a predicament. I don't know if it's me just getting panic or what it is, but I worked at a fire protection company here local to Fort Wayne for about four years, and then I just left there back in January.

What kind of company? A fire protection. I was an engineer there. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. And so I left there after working there for four years, basically because work environment just kind of deteriorated, especially caused by the pandemic and everything. A lot of people ended up leaving and the company just didn't live up to its glory days. So I ended up taking a leave as well and took a different engineering job for less pay. During that time, I was living at home and just saving up money for a house,

and then I just recently purchased a house about a month ago. And so I took this job for less money on this new one. And now I'm getting, I think, a little bit panicked as far as the monthly bills, utilities and everything. And I was just recently approached by a buddy of mine who now works at a different fire protection company for significantly more than what I'm making. And so I'm tempted to take it.

However, I really enjoy the job that I'm at right now, albeit making significantly less. Okay, hold on one second. What is significantly less? Give me a real number here. Yeah, okay. So whenever I was working at the first company, the first fire protection company, I was making $65 a year whenever I left,

and then I took a new job at a small company, still engineering, but a different industry. And I am now making, instead of salary, I'm making an hourly wage, which if you do the 40-hour work week, I'm making about 56. What I was approached with, with the other fire protection company was 75, as well as they have some sort of freelancing incentives as well for instead of doing overtime, I could take on extra work and freelance. All right. So we'll come back to work in a second, but I want to go now to the money piece of this. Are you panicked because you've made a bad decision and you've gotten too much house or are you panicked because this is your first big boy move and you've never done this before and you're kind

of scared because you don't know what you don't know and it's just kind of new it's changed it's a big step what's causing this panic yeah the panic i think is more so the probably the big boy purchase um it's the first i mean obviously, obviously, I bought a car before, but this is like the first. Have you run the numbers on the house and what you're going to be paying in mortgage and homeowner's insurance wrapped into that all together? You've run the numbers based on what you're making right now? Yes, I have. Do you have margin?

I do. Okay, then. Should you be panicked? Probably not. How much? I just want to know. How much margin? I do. Okay then, should you be panicked? Probably not. How much, I just want to know, how much margin? What are you bringing home, about $4,000 a month? Yeah, I mean, if you take my take-home pay, yeah, it's at $3,000. Okay, and how much is the home payment? Home payment, just mortgage alone is $959,000 with insurance included in there. It's $1,119,000.

Okay. It might be a little tight. Yeah. You're at a third. And that's why you're feeling tight. So here's the challenge with this. I don't want you taking a job, doing something you did in the past that you didn't really love, and leaving a job that you really enjoy for what amounts to, let's see, when it comes down to take home, it's not going to be that much more.

Okay. Because here's what's going to happen. You'll take that job with more money because you're feeling tight because you did bite off a little bit more than we would want you to chew. I'll let Jade walk you through that. But it's not the end of the world. But putting yourself in a job situation that you don't enjoy, you're going to end up resenting that house, and you're going to end up resenting this decision.

So the question is, do you have a ladder where you are in this work that you enjoy? Do you see a normal path to some promotion and leading you down the road? I'm thinking 10, 15 years from now that you're doing the work you really want to do. Maybe. It's a very small company, but it was bought out by a holding group that owns some other companies, and their grand plan is to combine all the companies. So, yes, if their plan goes according, then I can see a ladder, but that's dependent on their future. But you enjoy this work? Absolutely, yeah.

You really enjoy it? Yep. Okay. And are you single? Yes. Okay. Have you already bought this house? Is this a done deal? Yeah, this is a done deal. I own it now. Okay. Well, you know what? I think because you bit off a little bit more than you can chew, you have to decide. This is not my call. I personally would not leave a job I enjoy to go do a job that I don't enjoy just because I'm going to get a $15,000 bump. Because after taxes, that $15,000, you know what I would do if I were you? I'd find

a way to freelance and do some stuff because I'm single. And you might be ready to mingle, but you might have to put that on hold a little bit and go, you know what? I bit off more than I can chew. And so I'm going to big boy it right boy it right now Jade yeah and I'm gonna go I got some skill and I'm gonna go make an extra $30,000 okay and put all 30 of it on the house and essentially make up for what he should have put on in the down payment that's where my head's that's interesting do you agree or disagree oh well I would want to know do you have any other debt, Elijah? No. No other debt?

Look, baby step wise, you're pretty close to that because let's see, are you investing 15%? I was up until the career change. I got standard five right now. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, the numbers are- Well, what I'm saying still holds. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm glad you said that. I want you to use the

baby steps. I want you to get to merge it. But what I mean is, is if I were you, you've already bought this house. Yeah. You got to make it work. So my point is, is he needs to go make some more money. He keeps working the baby steps, but he could still knock that. He could knock that down. Well, can I ask a career question? Because I... Okay. So Ken and Elijah, you say you love the job you're in,

and the other job option, it's in the exact same field. What makes us feel that you might not switch jobs and also love it because it's the same? It's not like you're switching fields or trying something new. It's the same profession. Is it the same profession?

Well, it would be technically the same profession as an engineer, but it's in two different industries. My current industry would be in industrial mixing, and the other industry is fire protection. Right. So it is slightly different. So it's slightly different. He's an engineer, but it's a different industry. So my point here is this is income. I would fix this, and I would get my income up.

Yeah. Because I would get through the baby steps, start investing the 15%, get the emergency fund up first, then that baby step four. But I would really be, I would be increasing my income so that I could start working on that house,

knock it down, but I've got more margin. Because right now, I mean, you plan to get married one day, yes? Oh boy. Did you hear the crickets well i think we lost him that's okay if we lost him because i kind of want to go further on this all right go for it because can i think you know people get themselves in this situation a lot and we're like hey you know side hustle get you a side hustle But in this case, this is a long-term issue where something short-term like side hustling

may not be the move. And I'm not saying that you were saying it's a move, but I'm saying out there in the culture, it's like just side hustle your way. Side hustles are great, but you also have to be real about the reality of your situation and whether or not it requires you

to make changes to your core income that are sustainable. Yeah. Right? So with this guy, I mean, he's... He has a possible path. That's why I'm saying... Oh, he's back.

Yeah, we're not going to be able to get him back because we're running up against a break. That's true. But I would say this. You're absolutely right. But in this situation, because he really enjoys the work, I think he, for the $15,000 to go do something else, I'd rather him go make that on the side. Yeah. While he is seeing if his path does allow for a promotion. That's good.

That's good. Yeah, because he's got the ability to do, you know, that side over time. He can increase his income until he finds out what his relationship situation is. He may or may not. But theoretically, he's probably going to eventually get a woman in there. We've got a double income. Oh, yeah.

Eligible bachelor. It's not the end of the world, but he needs to increase his income. Absolutely. But not at the risk of doing something you don't enjoy. That's good.

This is The Ramsey Show. It'll eat you up. What's going on, guys? You guys are listening to The Ramsey Show. I am Jade Warshaw. He's Ken Coleman. He's our career guy. So if you have anything going on in your world as it relates to your career,

we want your question. We want to help you out. And by we, I mean Ken, because he is the expert on such matters. No, you got something to say about just about anything. And it's going to be good. So we're good. We be good. That is, you know. So we're good. We're good.

That is true. By the way, if you're watching on YouTube or you're not watching, Jade is looking very, very wedding minty today. You've got the jumper. Is that what you call that outfit? A wedding mint. You got that cool green thing going today. Yes.

Cooler than the other side of the pillow. That's my favorite from Stuart Scott. R.I.P. Stu Scott from SportsCenter. That's a high five right there. Now let me tell you something, what's cool with that? There's no other Ramsey co-host that's going to get that reference. I love that. There's no chance that George Campbell or John Deloney or Rachel Cruz have any clue what that phrase means. So that is one of the many reasons why you are fantastic. Are you telling me in the middle of the night when it gets hot you don't flip the pillow over so you can sleep on the cool side come

on i go one better i asked the wife to flip your pillow no you know that's not happening i'm like no no no no no no she bought me a special cooled pillow oh yeah it stays cool all does it work yes see i got the target version and mine doesn't work you need to get your you need to get in every dollar and save your and get your budget line item for a stay cool all night pillow because that's what i got it never gets hot look you one thing you guys need to know about ken is when it comes to comforts creature comfort it is no cost there is nothing that this guy will not do i don't want to see you got telling you're draped in velvet ken i'm telling you i don't sleep on anything less than

750 thread count either that's suffering oh my goodness all right let's go to nathaniel he's in sandusky ohio what's going on in your world nathaniel did i lock it, you got it. What's happening? Yeah, you got me? Yes, sir. Good. Hey, I appreciate you all having me on here. I had a question. I work a job that is a regular income. I work in sales and live off of 100% commission,

and I am ready to move out of home. I have been living at home now for the last two years. And after listening on the show, it's like, I should make that move to make the move out. Um, but, uh, and curious in doing such, you know, what are some strategies living on an irregular income to be able to do so, to be able to, you know, survive, I guess, on a regular income where months maybe are on the low end where you're just barely scraping by. And to provide some more insight as well, I do have a base residual that I get based off of the portfolio I have. How much is that? So it varies month to month. You know, this past month I netted about $15.70 off of that alone. And that is kind of what I'm trying to use as my base in treating anything past that as extra income

and using that to build my budget. Is it real estate? What kind of work do you do? So I work in the merchant services industry, probably one that's not very well viewed by the Ramsey team. Collectors? Not quite collectors. No the Ramsey team. Collectors? Not quite collectors. No, no, no. So we do financial technology.

So we do things like point of sale systems additionally. You're saying because you process credit cards. Right, right. Get off the phone. They're in the technology side of it. Yeah, there's no shame in your game. Do your thing. So I got a question.

Jay's going to help you out, but I am curious. The 1570, is that, if you look over the last 12 months or so, how consistent is the number around that? I mean, how often is that kind of the mark or near that mark? Yeah, it's close. I mean, it goes up month by month. I know, but is that the low mark? Is that the low mark over a 12-month? I would say over 12 months, the low mark has been about, you know,

$1,200 to $1,000 on the low end. What do you think, Jade? I was trying to get clarity, and when you said $1,570, I was like, is he saying $15.70 an hour? Is he saying $15,700 a month? I was trying to understand, is it $1,500? It's $1,500 as a residual base. Okay.

Yeah. And then what's the commission above and beyond that? What would you say is an average? Look over the last 12 months and give us kind of an average. Yeah, my lifetime average monthly growth has been about 5,400 on an average for the last two years. Within the last 12 months, that was upwards to, you know, I would say within the last 12 months it's been around on a seven or eight thousand that is good so i had a really good july what are you so nervous about man um i don't know i guess part of it is um is the parents push me, you don't have to move out. Don't worry about it and other things. And I think part of them are afraid to be empty nesters themselves.

But additionally, well, that part can't play into your decision. Yeah, you got to go out and be a grown man. Dude, come on. Is it that you're trying to, are you trying to go straight into like home ownership and is that nerve wracking you or are you, you're going to rip first, right? Yeah, I've got about 86,000 in student loans I'm paying off at the same time as everything else. And I've thrown around the idea of getting a duplex, but have kind of withdrew the decision to do that based on, again, listening to the Ramsey show and hearing how that's probably not the wise choice, but I should keep knocking out debt before I start to take on any mortgage. So something tells me, those student loans, are they federal loans? Yeah, I've got one that is $33,000 all in my name and then a Parent Plus that's $53,000 that I still want to pay back. What was the plan on the $53,000 Parent Plus loan? Because that's in your parents' name.

Yeah, I mean, I'm planning on paying off the $33,000 first and then the $53,000. I want to pay that back as well because even though it's in my parents name it's i was still the one that went to school whether i'm using my degree or not um i still feel like that was invested into me okay um that's your yeah that's your choice um i think this i have a guess that the pressure pressure that you're feeling and what Ken is picking up on is about these student loans. Because you've been living life and you've not had to budget for that payment. You've not had to consider that. Really think about that debt for the past three years.

And now it's coming back and it's like, oh, how is this going to affect things? Am I right at all on that? Yeah, I have paid off quite a bit. I've been implementing what I could for the last two years. I've paid off over $32,000 so far out of $121,000 total. I had over $10,000 in credit card debt I knocked down and then almost $12,000 in medical bills. My friend, I'm jumping in because I don't think this is a money call. I could be wrong. I don't think this is a money call. I just heard enough, Jade. He's responsible. He's done enough of this to know he's responsible. He can do this.

I think Jade's right. I think you're a little bit worried about taking on the new payments, but I think, my friend, you're just like every other human on the planet. You're afraid of the unknown, and I think you're afraid of also disappointing your parents. I'm going to keep it real with you. I think that's what's going on. And I think you're trying to make the money thing a crutch, or you called us to get us to nudge you and push you to do the thing that you really want to do, but you're afraid to do.

Yeah. That's what I think. Now you tell me if I'm wrong, and I don't mind being wrong. I think that you're probably accurate in that. It's time for you to live your life. How old are you? I'll be 30 in October. Dude, mom and dad are going to be fine. It's time for you to leave the nest. You've got what it takes with financial experience and that you've paid stuff off before. You've got a very good income.

Do not make an excuse with irregular income to not leave mama and daddy. Plus, we got every dollar for that. They can help you out with that paycheck planning. Just slide on over there. Just go see them every Saturday morning. Let mom cook some pancakes or something. That's right. Get out of the house, dude.

Do your own freaking laundry. Live your life. Gee whiz. That's right. Get out of the house, dude. Do your own freaking laundry. Live your life. Gee whiz. Oh, man. By the way, he does need to get on every dollar, though. Get that paycheck planned on every dollar because having a plan, getting into this matters. I do want you to pay off your debt, but you can do all of that. 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? Get your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.