The Ramsey Show - App - How To Spend Your Money (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show, author of the number one bestselling book, From Paycheck to Purpose, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. George is in New York City to start off this hour. Hi, George, how are you? Hey, George, how are you doing?

Better than we deserve, George. How are you? Hey, George. How are you, Dave? Better than we deserve. George, how can we help? Yeah. I was curious if you could help me with one thing. So I grew up in a situation where my family didn't have much financial legal room, and now I'm in a place where I can spend a bit more than I used to be able to. I live in New York City, like you said. I work in finance. I'm single. And as a fan, I max out my 401k each year and have a fair amount of savings. I guess it's just that every time I think about spending money on myself, there's this overwhelming feeling of guilt that I get. And I don't know if this is something that's common that a lot of people feel, but, yeah, I was curious if you could help me ration my way out of it,

or maybe if you could tell me that it's a rational feeling. It's so common that it's it's a rational feeling it's so common that it's almost everyone in your situation wow so it's very rational uh is guilt the right word or uh fear are you you feel bad towards that you hurt someone else or what that's a great question i think it is more fear actually because i think that the feeling is more related to... I feel like I'm irresponsible. Am I being irresponsible if I spend this? Yes, exactly. It's a feeling of like, do I know that the current situation can last forever? And if I have spent this and then something turns, that would be it.

Gotcha. That is universal by people who move from not having money to having money um i certainly have experienced it i mean ken you and stacy stacy and sharon his wife my wife are good friends we've all talked about this on trips we've been together like we're sitting in some trip and we're like how can we believe we're actually in this place we're sitting here together having this meal. Oh my gosh. Give us an example. Give us an example of something because I want to walk you through that emotion. Give us an example where you felt this. You wanted to buy it or you did buy it, then you had a negative feeling afterwards or in the process of getting it. Yeah. Actually, it's a pretty current example because I just came back from a trip to Portugal

and I was there for two weeks and it was a pretty incredible trip. like current example because I just came back from a trip to Portugal and I was there for two weeks and it was a pretty incredible trip. Um, I had to spend a lot of time like in, you know, some of the big cities I've been wanting to visit and also just the outdoors, but I guess you go to Lisbon. I did go to Lisbon. It's fabulous, isn't it? Did you go up to, did you go up the Duro Valley? I did. I did. I mean, that's the home of port, boys and girls. That's about as good a port as you'll get because that's the only place it's from. Wow, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty all of a sudden.

Man, that's a great trip. I've done that. Wonderful trip. Did you pay cash for it? Yeah, I did. How much was the trip? Portugal is pretty cheap, but the flights were expensive. I think all in I probably spent $ probably spent three to $4,000.

How much money do you make? Um, in a year, last year I made 400 K. And how much do you have in savings? Um, last year was my first year getting a paycheck like that. And so I have 140 K in savings. And how old are you? I'm 26. Way to go, George.

Way to go. What do you do for a living? I work on Wall Street. I'm so proud of you. Way to go, stud. So one quick question, George. Did you earn that trip? Did you earn $400,000?

Yes or no? Did you earn the right? Did you earn that trip? Did you work? I did. Did you earn the right? Did you earn that trip? Did you work? I did. Did you steal the money? I did not do that. Okay, that's the point.

Yeah. Listen, you're in great financial shape, and you worked hard, and you were frugal. You didn't spend $30,000 on the trip. You spent $3,000 to $4,000. You're single. 1%. Man, listen. I'll tell you what I think this is, too.

Like somebody making $30,000 and spending $300. Yeah. This is the family you came from, the environment. I think you were over there, and you're like, I can't believe I'm here, and I feel a little guilty that I've earned this right to get here, and maybe some of my family members didn't. I think there's some of that, too. That's why you used the word guilt.

Is that true? That is exactly what it was i think like it's comparison negative comparison like eating food and and you know experiencing whatever i was doing and thinking like oh my parents never got to experience this but i'm getting to do this right now and i guess there was a feeling of like oh should my parents be here or like should this be like eventually take them on a trip in one day, thank them for it. But you don't have to like walk around with this guilt that, that you're standing on their shoulders and you are. And I love that spirit to know that your mom and dad made sacrifices.

They're proud of you. They're proud that you're doing this. So let me, uh, let me give you the, to answer your question in a macro way. Number one, Ken and I are saying you have permission. You did a great thing. You should have done that. You should have, if you had called us, we would have are saying you have permission. You did a great thing. You should have done that. You should have. If you had called us, we would have said take the trip.

Okay? Absolutely. And there's a couple of ways that I can make that decision in my current life and feel no shame, regret, guilt, fear, irresponsible vibes. Okay? Number one, there are three things you can do with money. You can invest it, you can enjoy it, and you can give it with generosity. You should always be doing all three things with your money. You should always have built-in systemic generosity and random generosity.

In other words, large tips is an example of wonderful generosity. Just walk up and pay for somebody's gas at the gas pump randomly. That's little ones, right? And big ones, too. You make $400 freaking thousand dollars. Let's do some generosity. Let's do some investing. You've already saved $140,000.

You've only made $401 a year. That's a good savings rate. Well done. You're doing really good, by the way. At 26, you're mature emotionally beyond your years, because one definition of maturity is the ability to delay pleasure. Immature people don't even ask

the freaking question that you're asking. Okay? So this is incredible. Very, very well done, sir. Proud of you. So you should always enjoy your money. If you are being systemically and randomly generous and you are investing systematically as well, then when you choose to enjoy a percentage of your money, you can do that easily without any negative vibes or negative emotions,

especially if you do one last thing. And I always put it to the burn the money in the middle of the floor test. Okay, if I'm getting ready to do something that feels opulent or feels wacky compared to my childhood or feels like something my parents would have never been able to do or my friends maybe can't do, if I ask myself, is it okay if I do that? Is God going to be mad at me for this level of enjoyment of this money? I ask myself, if I take that amount of money and put it in the middle of the floor and light it on fire, is my life going to change?

If it's enough money that my life would change, that tells me I've got too much going into this crap. But $3,000 out of $400, you wouldn't have even noticed it. It passes the burn the money on the floor test, too. So that's how we know that you're more than okay here. Dude, if you were overspending and acting like you were in Congress, we'd have been all up in your game. Don't worry about it. We'd tell you.

We love you enough to tell you the truth. But the truth also is, if you got your generosity game going, your investing game going, also have your enjoyment game going. These are the only good things that you can do with money, and you ought to do them all. This is The Ramsey Show.

Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. Sherry is with us. Sherry is in Chicago. Hi, Sherry. How are you? All right. How are you? Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. Is it Shari or Sherry? Sherry. Sherry. Okay. How can we help? All right. So I am thinking about changing career.

I can't guess what will be my third, maybe second career change. And I'm just kind of like a little bit freaking out because this is more of a change where I'm not getting a paycheck paycheck every other week, that kind of a deal. So I currently am working as a procurement person in that, in that industry. And, um, I'm thinking about going into like being in the real estate, like more real estate agent. Why? And the market, why? Um, one of the things is like, I want to be my own boss. I want to go into, you know, you know, make my own hours. You know, if I put that much effort into it, then that's what I'm going to get. I just don't want to be chasing after the carrot.

You don't want a ceiling on your income, and you want to be in control. Most likely, yeah, definitely. That's what I'm going for. What do you make as a procurement professional? Currently, I make $75,000 right now. $75,000? Mm-hmm. Okay. $75 okay 75 000 do you have any debt what's your other financial situation look like um so i know i am married and my husband actually is you know he's like a day analyst he makes about 120 okay and we don't have any debt um we actually paid all

those off like years ago we actually made sure Actually, I made sure that those debts were just gone. We don't have any car payments other than a mortgage. We do have some credit cards here and there, but not that much. It's like we just paid off every month, that kind of thing. All right. So let's look at this real estate. Have you spent time with a realtor to where you know the ins and outs, the good, the bad, how long it took them to get going? How much of a snapshot do you have of a realistic launch into this industry? So that's the thing. So I started taking a course, and I have talked to, like, one or two people regarding it.

And I have, you know, gotten some like goods and bads and some people said they really loved it. Other people said they really hated it. All right. So hold on. The people who said they loved it, were they successful real estate professionals? Um, yeah, they were actually successful. All right. What about the people that hated it? Were they successful? They were not successful, but they totally hated it. So it was a totally different opinion kind of thing. Right. Well, but there's a reason I'm pressing you on this.

There's a reason why that is, and you've got to understand, of the stuff that you heard that was, well, I loved it, did that resonate with you? Of the stuff that they said they hated it, did that resonate with you? I mean, you have to understand, am I wired for this? A lot of people in America, in fact, Dave, I saw some data recently, 70% of Americans want to be self-employed, but only 7% are. Now, there's a gap there for a reason. That's a massive gap. And the gap is, here's what that data tells me, Sherry, and this is why I'm pressing you

for a moment. People want the freedom. The 70% want the freedom, but only 7% are willing to do what it takes to get said freedom. And many times you work harder for yourself. In fact, most people would tell you that work for themselves. It's the worst boss you'll ever have. Yeah, exactly. So I want to make sure that you have looked into this, the good, the bad, the ugly, and

is it something that you deeply enjoy or is it just an avenue towards this freedom that I want, that quite frankly we all want, but most people aren't willing to do what it takes to get this freedom. So let me help you a second. I grew up in the residential real estate business. Mom and daddy owned a company. I got my license when I turned 18. I sold real estate all the way through college. I sold for a couple years after that. Residential real estate agents work by, when other people aren't working. So be ready to work nights and weekends. Or don't plan to sell any houses.

That's right. Yeah. No, that part I understand completely. Okay, and be ready and know that you're going to work really, really hard and spend a lot of time on the first few deals, and a lot of them are going to blow up because you don't know what you're doing yet and you don't put them together right. And so it's going to be really freaking frustrating. The first six months is hell.

It's boot camp. If you can get through the first six months and do two or three transactions, you might make it in the first six months and do two or three transactions, you might make it in the second six months, but you're going to be working 60 to 80 hours a week to get this airplane off the ground. This is not for the faint. I went around and showed houses three hours a week and make $100,000 a year. Bull crap.

This doesn't happen. I mean, this is the only industry that people put glamour shots on their business cards and and 90 of the people leave the business when the market slows down like this so it is a great time to get into the real estate business because you don't have a lot of competition right now it's also a hard time to get in the business because there's not a lot of property moving right now the turnover is not nearly like it was a few years ago it's harder to sell a house and there's not as many houses for sale and so um both are both are happening when the economy slows down in bydnomics and so that's what you're sitting in the middle of by this time next year it might be different i hope it is for god's sakes i hope it is but um but in meantime, you've got a real harsh environment you are walking into.

And can it be done? Sure, it can be done. I made a living in 1983. Interest rates were 17%. And I sold houses. I don't know how in the crap that happened. But I was just too dumb not to stop. And so I sold houses.

But I worked like a maniac. And I was only 23 years old. So I was d too dumb not to stop. And so I sold houses. But I worked like a maniac. And I was only 23 years old. So I was dumber than a rock. But you can do it. I'm not going to tell you to not do it. I'm just telling you it's a lot of hours, a lot of frustration, a lot of drama. Because people are mean when they're moving. Yeah, there's one thing that I heard, Sherry.

I want to give it back to you because I know you got a question. because people are mean when they're moving. Yeah, there's one thing that I heard, Sherry. I want you to, I'm going to give it back to you, because I know you got a question, but one thing I heard in your voice was you said, and what you said, you said, I want to be able to put the effort in and control it. It's going to take you a while to build a pipeline and a reputation up to where you can downshift and control it like that.

Do you understand what we're saying on that? No, I completely understand what you're saying. It's just that right now I'm in a point in my life, I mean, like, I completely understand what you're saying. It's just that, um, I, right now I'm in a point in my life. I mean, like I still have 20 more years that before I could actually retire. And I actually went through like hell going through the cancer survival, you know, you know, it took me, it took me two and a half years just to recover from it. And it's still like, I'm having some side effects that I've have to recover from. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, me too. But the things are looking good. You can beat that.

You can win the real estate game. Yeah, before I was so afraid to just be my own, go through my own business, do something on my own. But after having a face-to-face conversation with Dad, it kind of changes the perspective a little bit. know what i mean so yeah well practically speaking can you financially do it if it takes you six years to get on six months excuse me six months to get on your feet i know scarred her to death uh can you guys do that financially live on your husband's income because you got 75 000 going away i got 75 000 going away. I got $75,000 going away.

However, we do have about $50,000 in our account. I don't want you burning it. You need to live on his income. I'm not burning it. Can you live on his income? I can live on his income. I can live on his income. Then live on his income and go do it.

Perfect. But just go in knowing this is going to be hard. Yep. And I am not expecting this to be easy by any means the rule the rules of business when i'm talking to entree leaders when i'm talking to entree leaders that are talking about starting their own business it takes twice as long as you think it's going to it costs twice as much as you think it's going to and you're not the exception those are the three rules okay yeah and then another thing that's like i just heard that you know like right now that

you know there's a lot of people in real going into real estate agent you know being an agent and whatnot and it's a great time to get in because everybody else is getting out and i've got an edge for you uh dave and i are really good friends with brian buffini buffini and company he's one of the top he is the top coaching company in the world for real estate professionals i would highly recommend you connect with brian buffini buffini and company and use them as your coaches to get you going because they i would agree walk you through all this you know what it's like a great guy and hey ken's not kidding he's the top company it's the largest coaching company they coach more

than anyone else and they do the best job in in our opinion. They're really incredible. So be sure and check him out. Hey, I think you can do it, Sherry. I'm just warning you that this is not Skittles, Rainbows, and a Yellow Brick Road. There's flying monkeys out there. Be ready. This is The Ramsey Show. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225 in the lobby of Ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage Eric and Alyssa are with us hey guys how are you

doing great doing great good how are you? Welcome, where do you live? Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Oh, that's fun. Well, welcome to Nashville. How much debt have you two paid off? $125,000. All right, how long did that take? About four years. Good for you. And your range of income during that time?

Started at $90,000 all the way up to $150,000. Cool, what do you all do for a living? I'm in sales. I'm in marketing. Very good. How long you two been married about two years oh so you started on this before you got married yes very good and completion after marriage i like it what kind of debts the 125 student loans is most of it and then

cars uh credit cards that's pretty much it. Okay. Who had the most? Me. You kind of owned that the way you brought it up. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Was it all you? No. Okay.

All right. Good. I'm feeling better now. All right. So 125,000 of normal. Yeah. And then you two meet and start working towards getting out of debt, then get married two years ago and complete. Tell us the story.

How'd you get connected to Ramsey and how'd you decide as a young couple you were going to do this yeah we were living kind of like just going along and uh it just it felt like we were we had adult responsibilities but we were still living in a lot of ways like children uh who didn't like the word no and that was really stressful so uh I actually listened to Entree Leadership first. And then, um, I, I listened to that for a while and then I was like, I'm going to check out Ramsey's show, see what it's all about. And then, um, it just felt like what we were missing, the discipline that we were missing. Um, and later that night I, uh, had him listen to it and I was worried that he was going to think it was like too extreme or,

but he was right on board right away. And from that point we were game on. We cash flowed our wedding. One of our dogs needed like a $5,000 surgery. We were able to cash flow that washer and dryer. It's like different things came up along the way, but like you say, David, it turned it into an inconvenience rather than an emergency. So it was wonderful. A great way to start our marriage as well. Way to go. So Eric, she says, this weird guy on the thing here, I want you to listen to this. You had to roll your eyes a little.

I mean, at first I did, but honestly, what we were doing wasn't working. I mean, we started the journey separately and you know when we were dating even I was down to my last twenty dollars sometimes and I was like oh we should go on a date and I was like well I better get my credit card out and pay for that and once she brought it to me I was like okay this makes sense you know no more dates yeah yeah exactly see what you did oh man that's fun so now what was the last thing you paid off student loan student loan the big one you gave old sally may her eviction notice oh yeah yeah pretty cool so i this seems particularly relevant right now why didn't you guys just wait to see if uncle joe and his proposal was going to come through? Why did you keep attacking it?

We thought about it for a minute, but ultimately we were like, you know, we've already got this momentum. We're already going at it hard. Let's just do it. Nothing's gaining interest right now. It's the best time to be doing it. And I can tell just because I have friends who didn't, and, you know, they're kicking themselves now.

Yes, sir. Wow. Yeah, the old interest and the payments have kicked back in and they kick some people in the teeth in the process. It's tough out there for some folks right now. Oh, yeah. I'm so glad y'all are free. Way to go. Way to go.

Thank you. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I'd say for me personally, it was having that strong reason why. What was your why? Mine was growing up, you know, my parents grew up middle class, but that meant having HELOCs, taking out, you know, credit cards and everything. And I can remember watching my dad at the kitchen table, talking to credit card, you know, holders and everything.

And, you know, I'm going to pay that next week. I'm going I'm gonna you know get to that this week or telling us not to answer the phone because you know he he knew who was calling and I knew I didn't want to put that stress on us I mean they gave us everything that they could for us kids growing up but I knew I wanted to be able to honor them by by not doing that and being able to build an even more bigger life for that our kids you know that's something that's interesting that with the culture doing away with the home phone uh the family phone in the family living room family kitchen there's no longer there uh the kids don't get to hear the collector calls yeah it's true you're right it's a lot easier to head outside or into the garage never

it's never a thing i mean just look down and block that one yeah it's like when it was ringing off the hook at home the kid's like i got it dad you know don't answer it yeah that's a i hadn't thought of that in a long time that's an interesting change though in the way we do technology in our lives so um alissa alissa what about you what do you say the key to getting out of debt is i think uh it was the budget the discipline learning that no is a complete sentence um we don't have to um keep up with what everybody else is doing we can do our own thing um and be on our own path towards our future while you're doing this for four years, $125,000, what was the biggest money fight? I'll take this one. So for my job, I'm on the road a lot. You know, I drive every day.

And during those drives, I'd like to stop at a gas station, grab, you know, a coffee or, you know, pack a beef jerky or something. But that wasn't in the budget. So anytime that would hit the budget and we didn't talk about it, we'd see that in the every dollar pop-up. It wasn't a beef jerky category. It was not. Uh-oh. Not even a dime.

Uh-oh. Feels like that still has a little pain attached to it. I saw that. There was a little, ouch, little scar there, a little pain attached to it i saw that there was a little little out little scar there a little scarring it still happens does he have a beef jerky budget now i do know he should have now yeah i should have a beef jerky and coffee yeah you gotta have that that's gas station food man you gotta do it yeah that's good i like that so yeah so you can't you came home to the walk of shame and said it was a beef jerky day. And she's like, I know.

I've already seen it. She knew Fridays was usually that day. You made it all week. And then your willpower dies on Friday. Yep. I know the feeling. I know this guy. Okay.

Way to go, man. That's awesome. Good realism. I appreciate that. You're 100% free. You're how old? 33. 29. Wow. How's how old? 33. 29.

Wow. How's it feel? Best feeling ever. I can't explain it sometimes. Yeah. Y'all can do anything now. If you can attack this monster, kill this dragon, you can kill anything. I'm so proud of you.

Way to go. Very well done. Well done, guys. Who was your biggest encouragement outside of the two of you? Yeah, we had our friends. They thought we were crazy, but once we told them that we couldn't spend money on things, only free activities, they were supportive, come over for game night, movie night. Yeah, and they were always happy to just come hang at our house or invite us over to their house.

Will you keep doing that now? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's fun. It's better community than the other stuff absolutely it's much more personal than some loud bar where you can't hear each other talk right it really is it's it's you can have an actual conversation with an actual friend yes yeah we had friends over friday night for dinner and it's an old-fashioned thing to have people to your house for dinner it really is it's it's a gone it's a lost art i mean it's really well but y'all brought brought it back. I'm proud of you.

Hey, we've got the Live and Give Box for you, the Baby Steps Millionaires book. That's your next step in the process. You'll be there soon. The Total Money Makeover book to give away and get someone started. And a Financial Peace University membership to either go through or give away as well. It's your Live and Give Box. Our way of saying thanks for coming to Nashville to do your debt-free scream all the way from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Eric and Alyssa, they're heroes.

They did it. They took control of their lives while everyone else stands around and watches. Way to go, you two. 125,000 paid off in four years, making 90 to 150. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. 3, 2, 1. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Yeah! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop! I love it! Well done. Man. Absolutely amazing. Good, good work.

This is the Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Psalm 32, 8, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise and watch over you. John Rockefeller said, if you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success. Yeah, it's interesting, Ken, the difference between the wisdom of studying other people and finding what we in business call best practices versus just carving your own path and making your own way. Sometimes doing an old thing a new way is a good idea. Yeah. Well, you know, it's really the heart of entrepreneurship. The problems aren't necessarily new, but the solutions to these problems are new. And that's how we see the entrepreneurial spirit the innovation these are by definition cutting their own path to find a new way to solve a problem or create a new

solution a new desire for people and that's the that's the name of the game right there yeah it really is the one that always just uh enthralls me and i always just think it's so interesting taking something that is so standardized and finding a new a different take on it in the 1920s there was not any uh freon there was no refrigeration you had a box in your house that was insulated and the wagon or maybe a motorized vehicle but likely a wagon delivered a large block of ice with tongs and they set the block of ice in the box for you to keep your milk, your eggs, your meat cool. It was called an ice box.

That's why some people still call their refrigerator an ice box because their great-grandmother did that, right? Then along comes refrigeration. General Motors invented, the chemists found Freon and invented what we now call air conditioning and refrigeration general motors invented uh found the chemists found freon and invented what we now call air conditioning and refrigeration and uh the frigidaire was a division of general motors was born and they started making refrigerated uh boxes that go in houses called uh we called them fridges or refrigerators or frigidaires first brand that got brand penetration was frigidaires so one of the ice houses that used to deliver ice in north dallas was called uh was owned by a guy

nicknamed john his name was johnny they nicknamed him uncle johnny was uncle johnny's place and he had this huge ice house and he had figured out that if he would store in the ice house it was at a central location in north dallas a um if he would store some meat and some eggs that people would come by in the mornings on their way to work or in the evenings after work and pick them up and he can use the ice house to store and he had a little store going there on the side well ice houses of course went out of vogue because there was no more ice boxes because refrigerators put them out of business, right?

But Uncle Johnny kept selling more and more stuff out of his ice house, and he ended up chopping up the ice and would bag it for picnics. And he named his little store after the hours he was open from 7 to 11. Oh, man. There it is. That's beautiful. Isn't that a great story? It's a great story.

That's entrepreneurial. But it was born out of a business that went out of business because of technology. Yeah. And so ice is now no longer delivered to houses. It has to be chopped up and put in a bag. Yeah. But by the way, we've been selling some eggs and some bread here. I love that. And so ice is now no longer delivered to houses. It has to be chopped up and put in a bag. But by the way, we've been selling some eggs and some bread here. I love that.

And now we sell lotto tickets. Yeah. And to bring it full circle on the ice, the greatest thing 7-Eleven has ever sold and ever will sell is the Slurpee. The Slurpee. The flavored ice drink. So, Uncle John, that's great. You really had me there. I felt like this was the old days. The rest of the story. You do a paul harvey right the rest of the story that's great yeah by

the way if you're a young person it's a market disruption yeah and we have all this technology that is market disrupting everything the internet has disrupted almost every industry in one way or another um the grocery business is now interrupted, right? That's right. You know, we've got an amazing number of people that work here in the office that don't go to grocery stores anymore, including one of my daughters, which shall go unnamed. Her name sounds like Rachel. Yeah, it starts with a R-

Rachel. Rachel, that's how it sounds. She doesn't go to the grocery store? No, she has that um automatic delivery crap and so she's um boy this is gonna truly a a true millennial i did not know this this will lead to some great harassment oh yeah next time i see her well that's good because we know she's trying to cause i want rachel harassment is always very interesting once it all delivered yeah ben is in anchorage alorage, Alaska. Hi, Ben. How are you? Hey, Ben.

How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I was calling. My wife and I were basically at baby step four, I guess, looking to... So you're saving 15% into retirement. Yep. We went through our budget, and we have about 17% left over after home repair funds and car funds and all that stuff. But we're debt-free, and so we're just saving up those things for replacements and whatnot.

And then trying to decide what to do with that 17%. Obviously, we'd like to invest for retirement, but we would also like to start a business. What kind of a business do you want to start? She's a baker. She's been a baker her whole life, but she's always worked for someone else, and so she's looking to kind of get out on her own. What would she bake? We're actually going to start with pizzas. Pizzas, okay. Kind of the magnet, and then artisan bread. You mean pizza crust?

Well, we'd be selling pizza. Oh, so you're going to the pizza restaurant business. Yeah, and then from there, she really wants to sell baked goods and bread, like artisan sourdough bread, but the pizza would be kind of a... Are you going to prepare it at a restaurant, or is it going to be cold and I heat it up when I get home? We're looking to start a food truck, ultimately. A food truck.

Okay. Yep. Expensive way to start. food truck ultimately a food truck okay yep expensive expensive way to start that's very expensive yeah so we're not we don't have enough money to start that way so we're we're going to start um with a small trailer that i'm going to make with two tiny ovens on it okay what does that cost it that is probably going to cost around $10,000. Okay, and what do you make? What do I make? What's the household income?

The household income is around $115,000. Great. Save up $10,000, build the trailer, and start the bakery and the trailer on the side as a side hustle. Yeah, but ultimately we would like to have up to that um uh that larger food truck um so we'd like to save for that and we would guess what the trailer the trailer with two ovens will pay for the food truck if you work your butt off that's our goal yeah that's a side hustle that's extra income above 115 right um i guess uh Why do I not believe you? Well, the question I was going to ask was,

my company pays 10% towards retirement of my gross income per year without me having to do anything. And so what I would like to do is put an additional 5% towards that to get 15%. That's not the 15% we're talking about. The 15% we're talking about comes out of your income. like to do is put an additional five percent towards that to get 15 and then that's that's not the 15 we're talking about the 15 we're talking about comes out of your income and if they match you the matching the matching is gravy on a business on a biscuit you can do both save up 10 grand and go build a pizza trailer pizza trailer self-fund itself you don't have to not invest your retirement to get a food truck the pizza trailer the two oven trailer will buy the

food truck but it may take two years hey i didn't start this thing with six studios and two thousand miles of wire and eighteen thousand computers or whatever it is i got in this stupid building i started i started this radio show and a radio station that someone else owned and they let me use it to do my radio show and i went and made money and after i made money i bought my first little computer and two station that someone else owned, and they let me use it to do my radio show. And I went and made money. And after I made money, I bought my first little computer and two microphones, and we finally got our own little studio, and it was pitiful. It was the pizza trailer.

Yeah, which is what we're going for. I just tried to accelerate it. But now, dude, I'm sitting in the freaking Taj Mahal over here of studios. But I didn't start there. It was 20 years ago. You'll get there. You'll get there. Yeah. You got to focus on proving the business first.

Everybody wants to accelerate. I heard the word accelerate and scale. You don't have to choose between retirement and business success. And by the way, Dave, the acceleration takes care of itself. You know what I mean? If the pizza's good. If the pizza's good, the bread's care of itself. You know what I mean? If the pizza's good. If the pizza's good, the bread's good. You can't keep people away from good pizza.

They're just attracted like flies, man. For that matter, artisan bread, too. My mouth's watering right now. I need to stop and get a sandwich. Get him some sourdough bread, James, please. Can we get him a loaf? Quick, get me a loaf in here right now. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show and the books.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.