The Ramsey Show - App - I Have Nothing To Show for All My Hard Work (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: Finding purpose in your work, Changing spending habits when you realize you have nothing to show for your work, Pulling from a TSP to invest elsewhere, Quitting a high-paying job to pursue a dream, Investing in international funds, Getting family on board with the baby steps. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Ramsey personality, George Campbell, joined by my colleague Ken Coleman this hour, and we are taking your calls at 888-825-5225. I would love to help you with any money questions, crossroads you're facing in your life, and Ken, he's the man when it comes to your work, your purpose, your career, how to navigate all of those challenges, and we are both here to talk about the intersection of all of that. So, 888-825-5225 is the number to call. And Kyle kicks us off in my hometown, the great city of Boston, Massachusetts. Kyle, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for taking my call. How are you doing?

Good. So, I have less of a numbers question, more of a philosophical question. So, just for some background, I'm 24 years old. I've been working for the federal government since I was 18. So on paper, my job is amazing, you know, great retirement, great benefits. I make great money for my age. But ever since COVID happened, we're fully remote now. And, you know, in terms of my mental health, I think things have deteriorated a little bit. And I guess ultimately, before I keep on blabbering, my question is, is it bad that the only fulfillment my job is giving me is a paycheck?

Yeah, it is. That's why I wrote my last book, From Paycheck to Purpose, because if we look at work and experience work as just a thing that we do for provision, slowly our soul seeps out of our body. I don't apologize for saying this. I believe that we were created to contribute through our work. I was just reading something today on the plane back from Minneapolis

that a professor out of the University of California did 20 years of research studying people. And they found that the good stress, meaning the stress from a challenge, a challenge is something that we, it pushes us. We're able to do it, but it pushes us and it rewards us when we meet that challenge and work that the longer we do that, the longer we live, that we're healthier. So there, I mean, this is the way that the human body and the soul, we are spirits. This is the way we're wired. And so absolutely. And it's already happening to you. You're 24 years of age and your soul is slowly seeping out of your body. And if you just think about the average American Kyle spends and you're on the front end of this 90,000 plus hours at work in

their lifetime Monday through Friday and you go in and you have no fulfillment what's going to happen is and it's more intense for for for some than others. But the undercurrent begins to go, wait a second, my work doesn't matter to me. And then we start to say, do I matter? And now that can get really intense. You're starting to feel that, yeah? Yeah. And just, you know, it's just hard because, you know, I have a great boss, but the work just isn't challenging. But then I think, you know, I'm already making $80,000 and I basically have a ladder that'll take me up to $150,000.

So then I think, you know, well, even if my job isn't giving me fulfillment, maybe I can devote every other hour of the day to doing things that fulfill my time. But like you said, I mean, that 90,000 hour number is pretty staggering, you know? Yeah, well, so you make a very good point, and I'm glad you brought this up. So you could choose that path to say, I'm going to stay in this path, and I'm going to eventually get up the ladder and make $150,000, have all this government, you know, retirement accounts and all these things. And then I'm going to find fulfillment, you know, in volunteering at nights and weekends. weekends you could choose that and i'm not going to say that that is wrong i don't think this is a right or wrong but i would challenge you that that is a less than choice you could

leave the government sector and go to the private sector and make as much and completely more and actually do something that fulfills you. You know, we've got the – Yeah, I think part of it's definitely complacency too, you know, and just wondering. No, I'm going to tell you, complacency is the output. I'm going to tell you what's going on, and this is not judging you. I'm just trying to help you. It's not complacency. It's comfort.

You've gotten comfortable with what you know. And even though you're miserable, you're going, well, at least I know what to expect. And we humans would rather be miserable than uncomfortable. But life starts at the end of our comfort zone, somebody said. I saw it on a T-shirt or a coffee mug one time. I'm sorry I don't know who to attribute that to. It's not mine, but it's true. And so I would tell you, Kyle, I'm going to don't know who to attribute that to. It's not mine, but it's true. And so I

would tell you, Kyle, I'm going to give you my get clear assessment, which is going to measure your talent, what you do best, your passion, work you love, and then your mission, results that motivate you. When you all three of those things come together, it looks like this. You're using what you do best to do what you love to produce results that matter to you. Let me tell you what's happening. You're on fire. You can't burn out. That flame cannot be extinguished because you are doing what your creator put you on this planet to do. And I'm going to give you that clear assessment because my challenge to you is not just to take the assessment, but to look at that purpose statement and the detailed report you're going to get on all three of those areas and let that

become a high-level job description. And then because you've got good experience and you've got skill, let's make the transition. We don't have to rush. You're in no dire situation. You love your boss. All that's good. But now is the time at 24 to choose the path of purpose. And it is going to be uncomfortable. But I can tell you this, Kyle, when you get to the end of your journey, and I hope you make it to a long life and an old age, I'd rather you look back and reminisce, not regret. And that's the choice we as humans have to choose. And, Ken, there seems to be four buckets or so where someone either they don't get paid enough, but they love what they do.

They get paid really well, like Kyle, but they hate what they do. Then there's the I don't get paid enough and I hate what they do. They get paid really well, like Kyle, but they hate what they do. Then there's the, I don't get paid enough and I hate what I do. And then there's the sweet spot, which is what you're talking about. You can get paid really well and love what you do. Or here's another thing. You can love what you do and it's enough money.

The third largest group of net worth millionaires are teachers with a median salary, a median of $60,000. You know, I'm all for people making as much money as you want, but I can tell you this. Meaning is what I define success by, not money. Well, there's been so many studies that show after a certain dollar amount, you don't actually increase happiness and joy. The number $75,000 is pretty interesting.

So people think, well, if I just made $80,000, Ken, my life would... No, you go with you. And so an increased income, lifestyle creep happens. You just spend more and you go, well, that wasn't it either. I don't have the joy in my life. I don't have the passion. That's exactly right. I mean, here's the deal.

When it's all said and done, and we want you to have financial peace, and that's what we're about here on The Ramsey Show. But when it's all said and done, all of that financial peace is going to allow you to make the contribution you want to make anyway. And so let's begin to look at work as more than just provision. Let's look at it as an opportunity for contribution. And it reminds me of this quote. I think it was from Rachel Cruz. She said, contentment turns what we have into enough. Yeah, great statement. And man, there is such a lack of contentment in today's culture

because of all the marketing and everything's 24-7 and all of the inputs we have, it says you're not enough. You don't have enough. You need to be doing more. You need to be more. And man, that is an endless chase. So we got to stop and go, enough is enough. We're going to learn to be content.

And if we're not content with where we are, we're going to be driven to get to that next thing. But, man, if you keep chasing, you'll never get there. Yeah, it's true. So run your own race. If you want to change careers, you have the ability to do that in this country. There's so much opportunity out there. But please don't stay paralyzed by indecision. Don't do that.

That is the worst place to be. Take action in your life. You have control. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ramsey personality George Campbell, joined by Ken Coleman this hour. And we're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. Jonathan joins us up next in Vancouver, Washington. Jonathan, welcome to the show.

Hi, guys. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. How can we help today? So I am currently a 19-year-old full-time working, full-time college student. I just bought a car in March of this year, and I don't pay a dime for college because I work through FedEx and FedEx pays for all my college. Yeah. So I've been working since I was about 16 years old and I have had a little bit of a spending issue and I only have about $2,000 in my savings account. So I was wondering if you guys could give me some ways to budget my money better and just say, you know, my friends asked me to go out and say no and have

that, uh, that, um, what's the, what I'm looking for. Discipline. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So George is the money guy. Let George work on the old budget for it. I'm curious, what are you spending the money on? Do you think you know? Like, what are your major areas of expenditure? Yeah, so I actually refinanced my car. I was paying an arm and a leg a month, about $400 a month just for a car payment alone and another $270 just for my insurance. So I just refinanced the car, and a lot of it was going to my bills. I'm very independent.

I'm on my own phone plan. I pay for my own cash, my own groceries, a lot of it was going to my bills. I'm very independent. I'm on my own phone plan. I pay for my own cash, my own groceries, a lot of things. I just, the stuff that I do save and I have quite a bit left over at the end of the month, I just spend on impulse decisions, like impulse buys. Okay. So, Jonathan, what are you making right now? I make $22.90 an hour and about $40,000 a year. Wow. While being in school full-time? Yes. When do you graduate? I'm planning on graduating in 2026. Okay. So you just started?

Yes, sir. And what career field are you looking to get into? Law enforcement. Okay. So you have two grand. You've been working for three years. Now you're a young guy, and you said you paid cash for this car, so you don't have the car payment anymore? No, I actually do have the car payment. Explain that. You said you paid cash for the car. Oh, no, I did not pay cash. I put $3,000 down.

Okay, well, that's very different. What's the car worth? It's worth about $20,000 right now. Okay. And what is left on the loan? About $23,000. Yikes. Okay.

I mean, it's a lot of car for your income. We say we don't want all the things with the motors in it to add up to more than half of your annual income, and you are right there for a 19-year-old to be driving a car that nice. So let's just say you keep the car. What is the plan to pay this thing off? Just keep on my payments. Like I said, I refinanced this. My payment did go down, but I'm planning on- That's not solving the problem. You just move the money around. Yeah. So I was planning on just paying more than my monthly payment was just to add up some extra or take off some time to pay it off. Okay. Do you have any other debt? No, sir.

Okay. Are you driving for FedEx, or are you in an office or a warehouse? I work at the airport, so no, I'm not driving. Okay. George, I would like to see him, you know, he doesn't have a lot of time, but I'd like to see, I'd like to see him change his budget so radically that he can get not upside down. So get on the right side of this thing and then sell the car and go with a three or $4,000 car. Yeah. Is that too extreme? Well, we say if you can't pay off the car within two years, then we got to sell the car, right? It's just too much of your world wrapped up in this thing. And your future is too important for you to just have these payments

you're sending out on top of the spending habits. And all of a sudden, man, you're making great money. You got nothing to show for it. And part of that is the debt. Part of it's the spending. We can get both under control. One of those ways is through a budget, which it doesn't sound like you're doing right now. And we want to help with that. I'm going to gift you one year of every dollar premium if you're willing to use it. Are you willing to get on a plan? Yes, sir. Okay. So when you open up every dollar, you're going to list your income at the top, followed by all of your expenses. And here's the thing. You are the boss of that budget, and when it's done, it's the boss of you. Yeah. And so what that means is once you set it,

you go, man, I am not spending more than $200 on food this month on, I'm not spending more than $70 on entertainment this month. That means when your friends ask you out, say, Hey dude, come out with us. And you go, sorry, dude, it's not on the budget. And they're going to say, dude, you're so lame, man. You get a lot. And you're going to say, that's cool. Uh, you guys can go into my place. We can get some pizzas and just hang out. And if they say no no to that it may be time to find better friends if they're just unwilling to to compromise and cheer you on with your financial journey and with every dollar i'm going to gift you fpu i think going through that will motivate you because you need a long-term why right now you're a young guy you're

driven already the fact that you're at this place in life. But if you have a long-term mindset, I want 29-year-old Jonathan to be proud of the decisions that 19-year-old Jonathan made. Yeah. And that's a different mindset to have because most people your age are thinking about next weekend, not 10 years from now. Yeah. By the way, Jonathan, that's incredible advice,

and that's what you're going to have to have at the top of your mind. You need a true visual of what George is talking about. Where do you want to have at the top of your mind and you need a true visual of what george is talking about where do you want to be at 29 get a clear i mean crystal clear image of that and when your buddies start giving you a hard time come on man let's go man let's go to the club blah blah blah whatever it is they say these days do the kids go to the club i don't know i'm so old i don't even know but i'm not even sure where the voice came from. But the point is, is the ability to say no only comes from

a decision that is made much earlier. And you make that decision and then you manage that decision every time you're tempted. You make the big decisions early in life and then you manage those decisions the rest of your life. A lot of wisdom in that, Ken. Well, thank you so much for the call, Jonathan. Hang on the line.

We're going to gift you one year of Financial Peace University, as well as every dollar premium. Get your friends involved. Get them on the plan too, man. That'll get you guys going. Yeah, they're all broke. All right, we're going to go to Robert in Boise. Let's go, Robert. How's it going with you? That's good. How can we help today? Okay, so I had a TSP question. All right. Or actually two questions about the Thrift Savings Plan.

I retired last December. Congrats. Thank you. I worked at the Border Patrol for 21 years. Wow. But since then, because of COVID and because of backlog of people retiring, I haven't got my full pension yet. It's been almost 12 months. So I'm getting a partial. So right now between child support and rent, I'm coming out at zero. So I'm trying not to dip into my TSP at all if I can help it,

because it's taken a hit over the last year or so. So it's drastically reduced. And then I've got friends who are taking their TSP and going to like a private, I don't know, like LinkedIn Financial or someone where they can still play with it and make some money. I've got to just kind of sit in there doing nothing right now. Okay. So questions are, do I dip into it because I got to pay some bills and I'm going in debt further and further using credit cards and everything, waiting for the government to come through with my full pension. And the second part is, do I shift it over to a private company where I can possibly make money on it? Well, number one, I never wait on the government to do anything in

my life because you're going to be waiting a long time, as you know. So number one, I'm cutting up the cards and the just debt is not going to be an option. And if we need to adjust the budget, if we need to go get some work right now, even though we're retired, I'm going to do that to stop the bleeding. Number two, I wouldn't just jump out of the TSP and go play with it elsewhere in the private sector. I don't think that's wise either. Now you can, if you need some of it to live right now, that's okay. But I would be working with a financial advisor. You can connect with a smart investor pro. Those are the ones that we vet over at ramsaysolutions.com. We've got some in the

Boise area who can walk you through the best decision to make with that chunk of money that you have in the TSP. If it's worth moving somewhere else, if you can make more elsewhere. But I would not just go cash it out to survive because you're not stopping the actual behavior that's causing us to to feel this pain right right okay i'm sorry you're going through this man that's tough to go i worked 21 years ken and the government said they were going to take care of me and here we are and they're kicking the can down the road that frustrates me to no end and i hate that you may have to go back to work for a little bit to make ends meet. But man, that credit card is a rubber crutch. It's not setting you up for success. It's not a blessing in your life. Cut it up, get on a budget,

use that debit card, and we hope that you win in retirement and live your best life. Thanks for the call, man. This is the Ramsey show. Well, we just got back from our Building Wealth event in Minneapolis. It was a powerful night. Sold out. 5,000 folks out there. Incredible energy. So good. Wish we could do those every night. There's a powerful night, sold out, 5,000 folks out there. Incredible energy. So good. Wish we could do those every night. There's a lot going on right now. Midterms are wrapping up. Inflation's still hanging around. Stock market's a roller coaster. But that's

exactly why we are out on the road doing these Building Wealth live events. We want people to know regardless of what's going on in the White House, there is a way to take care of your own house and build wealth for your future. And our Building Wealth live events have been such a hit that last week we added more cities to our spring lineup. It's going to be me, Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, Ken Coleman, Dr. John Deloney. We're going to be in Nashville on January 12th and on Salt Lake City. A home event. A little hometown show, Ken. I like that. Get to go home. In January. Okay. And Salt Lake City on April 24th. And tickets are on sale right now, and they start at just $39. And you don't want to wait to get these passes because our other events have sold out very quickly,

especially the VIP-level passes, and general admission is moving fast as well. So quick recap on where we've been, where we're headed. Nashville, January 12th. Indianapolis on February 16th, Austin, Texas on February 23rd. I love Austin. Salt Lake City on April 24th, and Anaheim on May 2nd. We're going all over the country, and we love meeting folks out there.

And people travel from all over the country to even get to these events. We have people that will drive hours and hours through the night, get on planes, and we so appreciate all of that. So head to RamseySolutions.com slash events and reserve your seat for our Building Wealth Live Tour today. All right. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why they are the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Be sure to use the promo code RAMSY to get the best deal.

Today's question comes from Clinton in Texas. Should I leave my $200,000 a year offshore oil field job at age 41 to live my dream of being a charter boat captain in the Caribbean? I loathe my job. By the way, that's a word that we should use more. Loathe. Loathe is a great substitute for hate, and it'll score you some points. Just for quality word, that's a little commercial. I loathe my job, and even though I only started saving four years ago, thanks to Dave's videos, I have saved, wait for it, George, just over five hundred thousand dollars between retirement non-retirement

counts wow but i loathe my job two loathes that's impressive three he wins a prize yeah uh he says he's currently living on his 38 foot sailboat debt free and he's obtained his u.s coast guard master's license i'm eagerly my job ahead south for the caribbean um i'm committed to putting 20 000 a year in a universal life policy until i'm 55 don't do that george will give you more on that which i feel is an easy task uh blah blah blah blah blah so let's get to this okay clinton i think it's an easy answer here ken it's a very easy answer all. It's time to get out the captain's hat. It's time to put it on the head and it's time to head down to the warm waters and breeze of the Caribbean. I love this. Dude, you've done the hard work. You got $500,000 saved. You're going to make really good money.

You got no debt. The only issue I take with this entire thing is the universal life policy. Agreed. So George, while I'm picking out a captain's hat for him in my mind and some Tommy Bahama shirts, I mean, I'm picturing the whole thing. Captain Clinton. Oh, boy. What are you going to tell me about the whole life? Yeah, well, he said he's been watching Dave's videos, but he hasn't been watching closely enough or watching them enough.

George, there's no need to be snarky. Come on, it's Captain Clinton here. Out of all the things in the financial world, these universal life policies, whole life policies, they drive me bonkers, and they're always pushed by, guess who? The whole life salespeople. Right. And here's the problem with this in general.

They go, well, Ken, you could use your life insurance policy as an investment vehicle and make so much money. Tell me more, George. Well, they take all of your giant premiums they charge you. They put that in their pocket, and then they give you a crappy investment return with these cash value parts of the policy. So here's what you do instead. Instead of putting $20K a year in a universal life policy,

get a term life policy for 15, 20, 25-year term, level term, and it's going to be a fraction of the cost, and with all the extra money you just saved, invest that money, and you'll be way better off. Don't listen. I don't know who sold you on this, man, but you're a sharp guy, and you do not need to be sinking 20, no pun intended there, Ken. I think you did there.

Sinking 20K a year. And I'd add one other thing, if I could, Captain Clinton. When you get to the Caribbean, email George and I. Tell us where your charter boat is. With a photo. Give us a special discount for our incredible advice that we've given you, and we'll do a Camel Coleman vacation. We'll take the wives down there,

and we'll get out there on the boat with Captain Clinton. Sounds lovely. The ladies deserve it. Yeah. A little catamaran, maybe? You ever done one of those? No. It's another great word nobody uses. Catamaran. Catamaran. Gosh. I tell you what, George word nobody uses. Catamaran. Catamaran. Gosh. I tell you what, George, nobody loathes being on a catamaran. You listen to this show, and Ken will teach you about 17 new $10 words that he's got in his back pocket.

Yeah, you win at work with those words. Ken is wealthy when it comes to vocabulary. Didn't have a TV until I was 12. And it shows. Read a lot of books. And it shows. All right, let's get to some calls. Kevin is in Minneapolis.

Kevin, how are you? Were you at the event? I'm outstanding. Don't let anybody give you crap about the Mall of America. And, Ken, your cardigan game is strong. Okay. Context there, folks. We need to explain to the audience what Kevin is talking about.

Ken was wearing a cashmere cardigan, and John Deloney was dogging him the whole night. Because John is jealous that John only wears shirts you get at Hot Topic, and so when you wear a cashmere or anything, it throws John off. He doesn't even know how to spell cashmere. While in Minneapolis, me and our Ramsey personality, Eddie Cullen, went to the Mall of America to see what it was all about. And Rachel called you out on the panel and mentioned that. And we got flack for that.

And so thank you for that, Kevin. I appreciate that. Hope you had a great time at the event last night. Fantastic. And it's ironic that you just plugged it, but anyone who can get to these events, it's life-changing. I was able to bring my wife. She wasn't on board, the whole Ramsey-ish stuff, and that'll be my question. But just real quick gratitude. Borrowed Future gave me a moment with my 18-year-old daughter that probably changed her life permanently. And I just want to say thank you so much. Oh man, that warms our heart. Thank you for that, Kevin. Absolutely. It was fantastic. My wife, like I said, I'm a total Ramsey Kool-Aid drinking person.

I love it. Maybe that's not the best reference. But my question is, now that she's kind of getting into this, and it's kind of been a hot topic where I'll do anything. I'm ready to quit my jobs just to get to baby step three. Last night, Dave created a crystal clear image of where he was walking out of a job because I don't have any more payment.

That's my dream. I want to get to that point. But my fear is if I just go work, you know, to do anything, make as much money as possible, then I might get burnt out, you know. What would you tell someone like that, that, you know, we've got a daughter who's in club volleyball. It's very expensive.

I don't want to take that away from her. Kevin, I'm sorry to interrupt. Is your question, should you get a better-paying job right now that you may not really be in love with just to fast-forward through the baby steps? Is that your question? Kind of. I love what I do.

I have two jobs. One job pays well. The other job i love and doesn't pay very much at all so what do i do yes kind of well then i would stay in the job you love but i would bust my butt and i would go make much better money on the side hustle let's get gazelle intense but i would not leave the job i love unless i can replace that with another job i love that makes me even more money. Does that make sense?

Okay. Yes. I mean, this is bust it. This is get after it. Anyway, it comes to baby step two. What do I do with a spouse who's Ramsey-ish? Well, number one, I would encourage you guys to go through Financial Peace University. I know you heard about that last night, but that's one of the ways you create a common shared language.

You create common goals. You create a vision that most married couples have never taken the time to do. And so when you position it that way, it's not about, well, Dave said we can't go out to eat. It's, hey, we decided our future is too important to continue down this path. And so that becomes a different conversation. Great. And that's the other thing. And I would just say, Kevin, that this is not a, I'm this and she's that, and I'm not getting on you. And I don't think that your heart's that way, but this is about vision casting. And so taking

the classes, but then helping her see this isn't about me getting all excited about this dude named Dave Ramsey and getting all crazy. No, this is allowing us to accomplish the desired future that we long for. It's vision casting. I love it. Take her on a date and say, this is our future. This is where we're headed. Bring her along into it. Let her dream too. It's not just your dream that you're dragging her. That's never going to work in a marriage. And so once you do that, you go through FPU. I think over time, she sees that this plan works. She gets fired up, 13. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. George Washington

once said, the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation. Man, beautiful words. They don't make them like they used to, Ken. And quickly, I want to give some context for Veterans Day because there's a lot of mythology around there. The purposes of Veterans Day versus Memorial Day often get mixed up. And here's the difference. Veterans Day honors all who have served and are still with us, while Memorial Day remembers those who have lost their lives in service to our great nation. And both days are hard for veterans

because on both occasions, there are reminders of their fellow servicemen and women, the ones they've lost, the ones they couldn't save, the ones that couldn't save themselves. And if you know a veteran, you've got one in your life, understand this is a day of mixed emotions of pride and loss. So please be sure to thank them today, love on them today. And their response may feel short as it can be uncomfortable being thanked for something they felt was a duty to their country and was an honor for them to be a part of. But showing that you care enough to give a simple thanks does go a long, long way, Ken. Yeah, it reminds me of my grandfather. Growing up, he left Pearl Harbor six months almost to the day of the bombing at Pearl

Harbor, and anytime he would be honored on Veterans Day, he would get a little teary thinking of some of the men, some of his friends that stayed in the service at that time and lost their lives on that fateful day. So it's a very good call-out. And, again, I think one of the things that would be good for all of us, and specifically young people, is making sure the young people in our lives understand the value of today. This is not National Pretzel Day. It's Veterans Day and we derive great

liberties from the men and women who are courageous enough to put their life on the line. Amen. Big day. Yeah, it definitely gives me pause and causes me to be extremely grateful for those men and women. So thank you for that and happy Veterans Day to you all out there. All right, let's go to the phones. David joins us up next in Salt Lake City. David, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hey, thank you for having me. I really appreciate you guys, the whole Ramsey team. I've learned a ton over the last few months since I started listening to you. Sure. And I really appreciate your appreciation of veterans too and helping them out. Thank you. How can we help today? Yeah, so I was listening last week,

and David mentioned on the show that, or a caller mentioned that on your site, it says that for stocks, you should invest in kind of four buckets, growth and income, growth, aggressive growth, and international. And so it gives on the website, it gives kind of, I guess, an alias for growth and income, which would be large cap or blue chip and so on. It kind of describes the other three buckets a little bit better, but international, it doesn't really say what you would suggest investing in as far as the international bucket goes. And I'm looking at my 529 options and there's six different options,

like growth, value, developed market, emerging market, stock index. And so I was wondering what would be good because I want to have a good investment in my 529 and my 401k. And I also max out my HSA and I want to invest anything after what I need for my deductible. Way to go. Man, you are so far ahead of the curve. It is inspiring. So you're doing a great job. And the fact that you're asking these kinds of questions tell me

that you are going to win when it comes to money. So with international funds, what you're looking for here is a proven track record. So it's not that there's a specific company. And when you say stocks, I want to make it clear to everyone listening, we are not talking about single stocks in an international company like Samsung. We're talking about mutual funds that represent shares of many, many companies inside of that international fund. And so that's what we're talking about here to be clear. And you're right, there's a lot of options. And I, you know, there's so many different types of accounts and every company has different funds. And it depends on what you're looking at. And so do you have a good financial

advisor, a good smart investor pro in your life that's walking you through some of these decisions? Not currently. I was kind of holding off on it a little bit, but yeah, I mean, I could definitely, you know, look into a smart investor pros, just trying to kind of watch costs right now. Sure. Well, you know, they're not going to charge you a fee just for sitting there, but what they can do is work with you to look at, hey, this is what my options are. Show me how to even do the research on these funds. And you can use a site like Morningstar and you can type in the names of those funds and it will show you exactly what the track record is, what the mix of stocks that are in there, what the makeup is,

and that really helps you make a long-term decision. Of course, you're looking for one with a long-term track record. And so not just what has happened in the last six months, but over the last 10 years, what has this fund done? You might see, oh, one 12% average return. And so you start to look at the ins and outs of that, and it will help steer you in a direction. But at the end of the day, don't get paralyzed by indecision on this. Go with a fund, ride the roller coaster. And the fact that you're even investing in a diversified fund like that will cause you to have long-term success.

So I love that you're doing that homework. And again, I would connect with a SmartVestor Pro. I have one. Ken has one. Dave has one. Rachel has one. And they help us because they are doing this kind of research day in and day out of what's going on with these funds, what's changed, which ones we help today? and now I don't have an income personally myself to example how great this program is but I believe in it 100% I personally am debt free I want to get my family on board I come from an incredible

family hard workers but not good with money management and so they struggle constantly it impacts the whole family I have I think I am starting to kind of get there a little bit with them, but my dad and my brother, their words are always that basically people with money can do this, but people who don't have money can't do it. And I keep trying to like show them, but since I can't be the example myself quite yet in life, I have had my parents mention that maybe they would let me help them with their finances, but they haven't taken the full leap. And so I really want to get them on board with this, but I guess I'm just looking for some advice of how.

Well, the best way is your own personal testimony. You living out this plan, them seeing the results and then over time it's on their end. They go, Hey, what'd you, what are you doing there? Cause it seems like you've got a different thing happening. You're joyful. You're peaceful. You don't have any debt. Tell me about that. But you can't force someone to just get on board. I don't have an income myself and I can't wait. Why is that? Why is that? We only have about a minute and't like... Why is that? Why is that? We only have about a minute and a half. Why is that?

You've said that multiple times. Yeah, because I have a disability that doesn't allow me to work and I've not been able to get disability at this point. Are you single? Recently divorced. Okay. Okay. So you don't have disability income.

How are you paying the bills? Well, currently I'm living off of the money from the divorce, but yeah, it won't be around for long. So we need to get you back to work that you're able to do. Yeah, I'm working on that. What kind of stuff could you do? They said that question would be too long for this call. Okay. That's for another day. But as far as getting the family on board, I mean, you can talk to them about it, but again, if it's not on their terms, they're going to say, we don't want to hear

about this Dave guy. And so the best thing you can do is find their pain points. What is their true felt need? Are they stressed out about money? And you go, Hey, would you mind? I just want to, I'm just going to take a look at your budget. I'm not going to tell you what to do. I just want to look at it and see if there's other areas I can find to help you experience a little bit of peace. And if you can give them a taste of what that is, they may go, oh, tell me more. And that might mean giving them a book. I guess that's what I'm trying to do, but I'm kind of like, I don't really, since I haven't been able to implement the program myself, like I don't really know if I look at their income that I'm going to know what to tell them to do. Well, that's probably fair.

And I've got to tell you, even if they were to give you permission to manage their money, you shouldn't do that. They're grown. They're your parents. Get them the books. Gift them our stuff. But don't take the burden of this is my job now to fix their financial life. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

Yeah. That's a tough one. Well, thank you so much for the call. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Ken, what a great show, my friend. Always good to be with you, That's a tough one. Well, thank you so much for the call. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Ken, what a great show, my friend. Always good to be with you, sir. Always a pleasure. My colleague. Until next time, folks, spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral?

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