The Ramsey Show - App - I Was Fired From My Job (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 25, 2022

Dr. John Delony & Ken Coleman discuss: Being fired from a job, Buying a home now or waiting, Being put in charge of parents' finances. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays fro...m 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, specifically your money, your relationships, your mental health, your work. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Dr. John Deloney. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:00:59 Let's go to Craig in Indianapolis, Indiana. Craig, how can we help? Hey, Ken, John. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. Just a little background. 2005, we got hooked up with the Ramsey Baby Steps and went through the process, and we're now in Baby Step 7 and Baby Steps Millionaires.
Starting point is 00:01:21 Way to go. Nice. But here's a couple months back, I got terminated from a job of 26 years on a policy violation, and going forward, I want to know how to broach that subject in an interview, because I know the question can be asked, how did you leave your last job? What was the what what are you comfortable sharing on this policy violation i think it will help it was it was i was i think it was misapplied but it was a racial discrimination and it was i do it was definitely misapplied and but i had no recourse indiana's a right to work state, so you can get fired for any reason. So when I go to the next interview, very few questions that truly stump me.
Starting point is 00:02:31 And for the moment, I'm stumped in that this is such a red flag for obvious reasons. Certainly you understand. You do need to be up front. But it sounds to me like, like okay so let me go back before i tell you what i think you should say you're telling me that um it's your word versus their word they're saying you violated something and you're saying i did not do it are you are you basically saying this was a misunderstanding no it wasn't a misunderstanding the company got hit with a fairly significant case a couple years back and they are just hypersensitive to this stuff and it doesn't take and it literally took almost nothing to trigger this right but and i don't want you to
Starting point is 00:03:17 share what you said because i don't want to be insensitive to anybody but was this something you said or something you did i was was something that was posted. You posted something on your social media? Yeah, it was a group chat, and I posted something, and it was taken the wrong way. I didn't even imply it to be the way it was. One person took it, and that's how it... Okay, let me ask you this this if you're in a job interview in the near future and uh would you feel comfortable showing what you posted to anybody
Starting point is 00:03:52 from any walk of life absolutely you would you would push it across the table previous co-workers say what happened because they're being real quiet about it and i've had previous co-workers asking what happened we don't understand why why you're gone so and i show them they're like they shake their head they just are in disbelief that i was terminated over that well then part of me says that you know because if you start getting too gray about this they're going to check your references you have to assume that that they're going to check your references and so what you don't want to are stellar i mean even my supervisors and everything will give me the utmost highly right high recommendation okay wait a second i know you're chomping at the bit but but let me let me ask you this if if you go interview for a company abc all right and they
Starting point is 00:04:42 call your past company where you were terminated. You're telling me that the people who terminated you are going to say great things about you, and they're going to say... Management terminated me, not my direct supervisor. Okay, but my point is that you're
Starting point is 00:05:00 going to have to plan for this. So I don't want to get cute. I don't want to try to describe or coach you on some sort of dance. I think you're going to have to plan for this. So I don't want to get cute. I don't want to try to describe or coach you on some sort of dance. I think you're going to have to deal with this. So I think you're going to have to have your post and I'd print it out and I would say, here's what happened. And I've learned now here's the deal. I would show them the post. And then I would also say, here's what I've learned. Even if you stand by what you posted, even if you think that you were wrongly terminated or that you were misunderstood or somebody was too sensitive, it doesn't matter. I would go, here's what I posted. Here it is. Here's who I am. Here's what
Starting point is 00:05:38 I learned. And I would just own it and say, but for 26 years, I had a stellar performance. And then I would just focus on the positives and why you want to be there. John, am I missing anything? Yeah, here's the one thing, Craig, that's bothering me, is you have a very victim-centric mentality. How so? Well, I don't even know.
Starting point is 00:06:02 You said it best, kid. Even if that's how it happened, it comes across as manipulative and disingenuous. And so I love Ken's idea. When you go for an interview, you should have a portfolio of some sort. Print it off and put it in there. And if you get down that granular,
Starting point is 00:06:20 then have the conversation. And I love what Ken said. If you didn't learn something from the exchange if you didn't learn hey i hurt somebody's feelings and i didn't i didn't even mean to i'm learning new things which by the way i have done over the past 36 months and i learned new things even if i think i didn't mean to hurt you it doesn't matter what i meant the person on the other end of what i said said hey that hurt please don't do that and i can do one of two things be an idiot and go i'm gonna say or i can say dude i don't want to hurt you i'm sorry i'm gonna change that and so you walking
Starting point is 00:06:53 away saying what did you learn i learned that um things that i think are private on the internet are public and so i'm gonna be more responsible about what i post i'm gonna have some friends that i reach out to if i hurt their feelings and say, hey, did I say this the right way or the wrong way? Right? So regardless of what happened, it's the, well, I don't know, just manage them. Man, take some ownership. Right? I posted something.
Starting point is 00:07:17 I got fired for it. I learned my lesson, and I'm moving forward. I'm a good guy. I got 26 years of track record. I have no – absolutely nothing in my body wants to hurt other people. And I did. I crossed a line. My company said I crossed a line.
Starting point is 00:07:31 I didn't think I did, but I did. And I've learned my lesson. You see what I'm saying? That is ownership. I'm taking this. I'm sliding across the table. Totally different than all shooks, man. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:07:41 You see what I'm saying? Yes. It's a hold your head up high. Yeah, so here's what we're doing. We're saying take the elephant out of the room. Absolutely. You start acting like a politician, you know, on those Sunday morning shows. They ask him a direct question.
Starting point is 00:07:54 Is the sun hot? And then they start going, well, it depends on the position. This guy talks about rain all the time. I can sort of ask you that. I didn't ask you that. So I would just completely own it that way. And, John, I love the advice. There's something to be learned.
Starting point is 00:08:09 And I love what you said. Don't take on the role of victim. Because you're trying to present yourself as a great candidate. And here's what they really care about. They only want to know one thing. And only one thing, Craig. You ready? Can Craig help us win?
Starting point is 00:08:25 And if they think that Craig can help us win, they'll go. You're hired. This is a guy that messed up and learned something. This is a guy that somebody messed him over, and he still learned something. That's the guy I want on my team. You're fine, Craig. No shame in your game.
Starting point is 00:08:39 Head high, but take humility into the conversation. It's going to be okay. Thank you for trusting us with the call. You're going to be okay. Thank you for trusting us with the call. You're going to be okay. This is The Ramsey show I'm Ken Coleman joined by Dr. John Deloney taking your phone calls about money, your relationships, work situations. How do I get unstuck, whether it's relationally, financially, or professionally? That's what we're here to help you with. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Buffalo, New York. Adam is there. Adam,
Starting point is 00:09:41 how can we help? Hey, guys. How are you doing here today? We're having a blast. How are you, sir? Not too bad. A little stressed, so hoping you guys can help me out here. All right. Just to give you a little bit of background here, so earlier this week, my mother came to me and asked me to help her with her finances, doing a monthly budget, and getting things in order as well, too. Going over some general information with her, I found out that they have about $65,000 in debt, but they're also looking to retire in the next three to five years. And I told them to go to a financial advisor. They're a little untrusting of people outside the family when it comes to money. So I'm just looking for some information, something that I can relay back to them as far as how to kind of get out of this debt before they go look to get into retirement. Sure.
Starting point is 00:10:33 How familiar are you with our baby steps? Very familiar. I'm actually following them myself right now. Great. Are they familiar with Dave and the Ramsey Show and Financial Peace or any of this stuff, or is this all foreign to them? Kind of. I brought that up to her when we initially talked, and I found out all this information,
Starting point is 00:10:52 so it's relatively new to them. Okay. Give us a quick snapshot of their financial picture. You said $65,000 in debt. How much do they make collectively? Collectively, a year, probably $100K. So $100K. And do they have 401Ks, pension plans?
Starting point is 00:11:11 What do they currently have in the form of retirement accounts? Yep, in retirement accounts, they probably have around $400K in their 401Ks. And then with pensions combined, when they do retire, they'll probably be making $2,100 a month with their pensions. And what's their housing situation? The house is paid off for, but they do have a home equity loan that the $65K is tied up in right now. Okay, and then what is the rest of the $65K?
Starting point is 00:11:40 Home equity loan, what else? Home equity loan, with the home equity loan they put um a couple i believe like five ten years ago they redid their kitchen uh which is probably i believe around between 30 to 50k i don't have that oh okay i'm sorry so so the 65 is just the heloc there's nothing outside of that correct oh okay gotcha all right um well i mean what you got to sit down with them and and you got to sit down and explain the the baby steps to them right i mean just literally walk them through this baby step one is the thousand dollars uh in their savings account and then everything else and they're they're obviously older so gazelle intensity to go we're
Starting point is 00:12:22 paying off the heloc right everything is it's one sixtyensity to go, we're paying off the HELOC, right? Everything is, it's one $65,000 snowball we're getting after, right? And so we just got to take that on every month and they've got, you know, X amount of years that they want to retire. And so that paid for home plus their 401k and the pension all puts them in a pretty decent space if they have no debt and they were to knock that out quickly and start investing as quickly as possible. Would you say that's true as their son? Yes, definitely. And what I'm wondering is, do they stop investing in their 401k and basically the money that they're putting into the 401k invest that into the debt once they knock that off? Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Yep. They pause on that because they have a paid for house right and they've got a pension coming their way so pause everything and they are knocking this out and walk them through this help them with a budget if they'll if if they're willing and i don't hear that there's any tension on this sit down with them and do a basic budget with them. Walk them through FPU and get them hooked up on every dollar. Literally do it with them and get them automated to where every extra dime is going into that HELOC, and they'll knock that out pretty quickly. And if either one of them can get some overtime or some side work,
Starting point is 00:13:40 or how much could you sell? Do they have 10, 15 grand of stuff laying around the house? I mean, that's the gazelle intensity to try to knock this out sooner rather than later gotcha yeah and they have about four grand in their savings account um should we drain that down to the one the 1k that you guys you know talk about baby step number one put that towards the 65k and then look to invest in that later. Yep, today. So now they're down to $62,000. Show them that.
Starting point is 00:14:10 And Adam, I would start the conversation with, you guys have this end goal of retiring sooner rather than later. You're going to have to change the way you live to do this safely and smartly. Gotcha. That's how it starts. I see it affecting their daily life. It will. And stuff like that as well, and tension on their their you know their marriage as well so i just want to see them financially free and get back to the happy you go lucky as hell they are you know you can't want this more
Starting point is 00:14:36 than they do correct you want them to have the freedom you're feeling as you walk through this stuff and you want them to have the optimism that you have walking through this stuff and they have to want it. You can't force it on them. You can't make them do it. You can show them reality, which is you've got a math problem here and y'all are gonna have to change your lives a little bit if you want. And here's what retirement is going to look like, by the way, here's your budget. So when my mom was talking about, Hey, I'm thinking about starting to have a conversation about retirement the first question i asked was can you all afford to do that because you want to retire all you want that's a math problem first and then an identity and what am i going to do next problem second so when someone's like i'm thinking about retiring first question is can you even is that
Starting point is 00:15:18 even a possibility for you and some people think they just magically can retire when they get to 62 or 65 and math says otherwise right gotcha yeah adam you're you're a good man um hang on the line let's uh let's gift them with a year of financial peace universally let's get them going and uh john that's great advice tell him to watch the video together yeah i was going to say how does he how does he approach that he's going to gift them with us it's our gift to him to give to his parents what's the great way to kind of posture that i'm coming over to watch this with you all right okay i'll come watch it with you great and here's what i'm doing in my house and it's making a huge difference you've invited me into this conversation um and so i'm just going to show it to you i'm going to give you a ring
Starting point is 00:16:01 set seat to it i'll do it with you yeah Yeah. I love it. Great, great, great. Thanks for the call, Adam, your good, good son. Dennis is up in El Paso, Texas. Dennis, how can we help? Hey guys. Uh, so I am struggling with something that my wife and I have been going back and forth on for probably about a year or maybe even longer. So we became completely debt-free March of last year, and we live in a small home, you know, that we didn't plan on staying in permanently. We thought it would be, you know, a few months out of the year. And so the question is, we'd like to upgrade and go to a little bit larger home with the thought of we have a rental property right now and a new home that you'd go live in and collect more rental because there would be two rentals instead of one property? Or would you save up for, let's say, six years because currently that's our plan, but we keep getting tempted when we look at homes, it's like,
Starting point is 00:17:22 ooh, start imagining and getting excited, and it's it's like oh we can actually probably make this work and we always say what would Dave Ramsey say and so finally making this phone call and really appreciate all taking the question yeah we only have about a minute I think this is pretty straightforward do you want to own two rental homes or do you want to own that next home completely debt-free from the get-go? What do you want? I'd like to have the rental and pay off that other home as soon as possible. Well, I didn't ask you that.
Starting point is 00:17:57 I asked you, and so I think you wait six years. If it's going to take you six years to save up to pay cash for the upgrade, then that's the deal. I wouldn't hold two liabilities and pay the mortgage company or pay the bank, give them a gift every month of my interest. I don't know why you would do that. You've done the hard work. You're debt free. Or sell the rentals and go buy a house with cash. But that's why I asked the question that way, Dennis. What's more important? If the upgrade cash house is more important, then I'm selling one of the rentals instantly.
Starting point is 00:18:31 Or selling both. But if I want to own two cash rentals, if that's more important, then it means I'm going to save up and wait longer to buy the upgrade. You get to decide, but don't go into debt. You've already become debt free. Don't go back. You don't need to. Decide what you want to do, Dennis.'t go into debt. You've already become debt-free. Don't go back. You don't need to.
Starting point is 00:18:47 Decide what you want to do, Dennis. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by Ken Coleman. And we've got a beautiful couple on the debt-free stage. Yes. Sam and Nikki on the Ramsey Solution debt-free stage. How are you? We are doing well. Better than we deserve.
Starting point is 00:19:30 Better than I deserve. Well done. He has voices as well. That's exciting. All right, where are y'all visiting us from? Southern California. So cow. How much did you pay off?
Starting point is 00:19:41 $127,000 and some change. $127,000. And change. $127,000. And you had to do it while paying Southern California taxes, man. It was painful. Thank you. Yes. How long did it take? Four years. Four and a half years. Four and a half years. And what was your range of income during this time? It started in the low 30s and it ended at about $140,000.
Starting point is 00:20:03 Excellent. What did you do for a living? Three jobs. Day job in marketing, night job as an adjunct professor of English at the Master's University, and another night job as a staff writer for the Babylon Bee. Wait a second.
Starting point is 00:20:15 All right, I've got to fan out a little bit. So the Babylon Bee, for maybe folks who don't know, you give us the description of Babylon Bee. Christian news satire. News satire is a subset of satire. Yeah. Christian news satire is what it sounds like.
Starting point is 00:20:30 All right. So, John, this is great because we have a Babylon Bee article here. I've got to read just a little excerpt because of the work you all do. It's so funny. The headline was, Biden calls Dave Ramsey's radio show for advice on paying off $31 trillion. And this was yours, right? Correct. All right.
Starting point is 00:20:46 I'm going to brag on you really quick. So for our listener reviewer, hang with us. This is Sam's work here. This is from this satirical article. Here we go. At first, the call had proceeded according to Ramsey's normal rhythm of uncovering, asking probing questions, followed by targeted recommendations for reaching financial freedom. Things derailed, however, when the caller elaborated on what had initially been positioned as a small deficit.
Starting point is 00:21:14 Folks, the caller is Joe Biden. Owning up to spending $6 trillion per year while making only $4 trillion per year, causing Ramsey to explode. You spent $2 trillion more than you make? You got a freaking credit card from China? What the heck is wrong with you? The caller, Joe Biden, had tried to interject excuses, blaming MAGA Republicans and deer-wearing Kevlar vests and corn pop. But Ramsey was having none of it.
Starting point is 00:21:43 He bellowed into his headset, you need to buy a lot of envelopes for these trillions because you have been living dumb. D-U-M-B, dumb. You nailed our boss, man. There it is. Well done.
Starting point is 00:21:57 We had to listen to a lot of hours to catch the voice. Yes. You got it. I got to tell you. Boy, wouldn't that be a fun call if that ever happened in real life. Okay, hey, what happened?
Starting point is 00:22:06 How'd you get involved with this weird gang that we run here? What happened? We remember it like it was yesterday. We were Dave Ramsey adjacent for a year. And then driving one day, we had made a habit of listening to the podcast. He started yelling at us. He started ranting and raving about stopping the Dave Ramsey-ish method. He said, go full Dave Ramsey or do nothing.
Starting point is 00:22:28 We realized we had been piddling along and only half doing it. We got serious within the week. Downloaded the $10 app. It took 10 minutes of shouting, but it worked. Tim, so what was going on in your lives that you thought, we've got to get out of debt here? We just wanted to honor the Lord with our resources. We weren't being good stewards of our money.
Starting point is 00:22:51 It was going in and out faster than we thought it was. And so we really wanted to honor the Lord. And after Dave's shouting at us, it just really turned a corner. What kind of debt was it? Student debt, about $60,000 from my student debt from a master's degree, about $60,000 from her for her undergrad. Okay, wow. All student debt.
Starting point is 00:23:14 What was the, I mean, obviously the multiple jobs. Okay, that was a lot of effort. Give us some of the maybe extreme choices or big-time sacrifices. Did you actually rice and bean it? I mean, what did that look like for you guys to make this kind of a dent in four and a half years? Well, by God's grace, he's given us four kids in five years. And at one point we were living in an apartment, a one bedroom apartment with three kids in the closet. And I worked from home. I'd have to keep
Starting point is 00:23:42 them at bay during my Zoom calls. Yeah. So we had three toddlers in a closet in our one-bedroom apartment. On behalf of the mental health practitioners of America, we thank you. It's going to be incredible. Redefining anxiety. 20 years from now. Yeah, I think you guys should write a book on redefining patience. Exactly. I don't even know how you did that.
Starting point is 00:24:00 She is a stay-at-home mom, and she's the world's best. Couldn't have done it without her. Wow. So what was your – I think back to those moments, She is a stay-at-home mom, and she's the world's best. Couldn't have done it without her. So what was your – I think back to those moments, and now you look back and you're experiencing financial freedom. You'll look back and think, man, we did it, we did it, we did it. What was the hardest part of this?
Starting point is 00:24:17 It's got to be some dark moments. You've got three people. This isn't what you drew up in your head. This isn't why you went to grad school. This isn't what you dreamt for your four kids. Take us back to the darker moments. It had to do with watching the interest payments rack up and see that they weren't going anywhere. That was one impetus. Yeah, definitely. And we knew that we wanted to give our kids a room. I think that was a fire under us. We wanted to make sure that they grew up with a backyard, that we just got out of there as fast
Starting point is 00:24:45 as we could, even though we loved it and we were so grateful for our cozy few years together real close. But yeah, it was definitely a sacrifice. Where does this, y'all have a very unique disposition. Y'all have chosen to look at the world as a series of challenges, yeah, that we're going to overcome and it stinks, but that's part of life and we're going to make our way. Where does that disposition come from? That's something that the world is lacking in a profound measure. Romans chapter eight, all creation is groaning together for redemption. We believe we live in a fallen world, which really is a negative universe with a lot of friction that you've got to be prepared for. The word of God prepares you for it if you live by it
Starting point is 00:25:22 faithfully. Yeah. Suffering produces perseverance and perseverance, endurance and endurance hope. And so every time a challenge gets laid in front of you, you instantly go to, there's going to be a light at the end of this. Let's go do it. The gospel frees us from this continuous negative ebb and flow and descent into tragedy. You know, we have hope now because of Jesus.
Starting point is 00:25:44 We consider it all joy when we fall into various trials because we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and steadfastness has its work in us, and we can be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing on the other end. Wow, I'm ready to take an offering right now. If we could get James to play on the keyboard,
Starting point is 00:26:02 I could take an offering. Shortly after William Wallace yells freedom, we're going to have an altar call. That's incredible, guys. Working as a couple, obviously we're seeing tremendous teamwork that we've already heard a little bit about. What would you say to other couples, not just couples, but people that are on this journey, whether they're in the beginning of the journey, they're midway through, what is the key to finishing this journey? get on the same page about it and then talk to other people about it so they are built in accountability um my parents were actually able
Starting point is 00:26:32 to help us a little bit during the process her parents were supportive we had a lot of cheerleaders but it all started with making sure we were both fully aligned with going full d Ramsey, not Dave Ramsey-ish. What was it like making $140,000 and not having the lifestyle to show for it? Did people give you a hard time about it? Did you have to deal with your fair share in Southern California of, oh honey, right? Did you have to deal with that? You know what? I feel like it's feast or famine with the real estate in Southern California. So everyone kind of lives, if we're below making below, you know, a certain amount of money, everyone lives in an apartment. And so it was just normal for us, but we, we budget a lot. So we still try now that we're debt free, we really try to have fun with the kids and, you know, take trips to out of state and do road trips.
Starting point is 00:27:21 So we talk a lot about peace and Dave and I, several of us have talked about, I don't even know that we have a picture of peace anymore. That's just become a mythological word. What is the peace you're experiencing? Be very specific. You just mentioned we get to go play with the kids. What are some other things, some tangible pictures of peace that have emerged in your home since you've become debt-free?
Starting point is 00:27:41 We've got a finish line that we've now passed, which has caused us to reevaluate our next finish line. And we didn't kind of start scrambling around blindly. We went back to the word. We went back to the Bible. Our finish line now is stewardship, ongoing stewardship for the purpose of investing and giving and setting our children up for success.
Starting point is 00:28:01 So peace looks like y'all get to decide what happens next in your life, right? Yep. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Well, Sam and Nikki from Southern California paid off $127,000 in four and a half years
Starting point is 00:28:14 making $30,000 to $140,000 and you're officially debt free. Count them down. Let's hear your debt free scream. Three, two, one.
Starting point is 00:28:24 We're debt-free! Very nice. Awesome. Yeah. You don't see that attitude very often. That's an inspirational attitude, you two. I love it, I love it, I love it. If Sam and Nikki can do it, you can too, America. today's scripture of the day is psalm 34 4 through 5 i sought the lord and he answered me and
Starting point is 00:29:21 delivered me from all my fears those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed. Chuck Norris says, running from your fear can be more painful than facing it, for better or worse. Nothing like a good Chuck Norris. I was going to say, easy for Chuck to say. Walker, Texas Ranger is not afraid of anybody. I know. He doesn't do push-ups. He pushes the earth down.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Chuck Norris is amazing. There's like a whole bunch of those out there. It's a sub-genre, yes. You know, it's funny. I never actually saw one episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. I like old-school Chuck. Like, old-school Chuck from his, you know, actually action films. It's like he took on a whole persona with that show i do there's something about wearing jeans and a button up and a cowboy
Starting point is 00:30:10 hat and doing karate it's incredible speaking of which texas listen that's the hard-hitting content you get on this show do us a huge favor yeah um yeah so you want more of that you want more breakdowns of chuck norris and his tv characters no here's the deal um every show is out there asking you to buy stuff we're always asking you to hey come to our live events by fpu not everybody's in a position to do that but if this show has helped play a role in your money transformation and healing your marriage helping you find work that matters here's a way you can help other people get that same info by buying nothing.
Starting point is 00:30:47 All we ask you to do is hit subscribe. All we ask you to do, whether it's podcast or on YouTube, please leave a five-star review letting folks know, hey, this is a good show. It helps kick the show up into the algorithm and it gets it into the hands of more people.
Starting point is 00:30:59 Share it. Share with your friend. That's right. If somebody says, I can't, I can't, I can't, forward them the episode that you're listening to that inspired you and say, yes, you can. Yeah, you can.
Starting point is 00:31:09 Yeah, please leave your reviews and your five-star reviews and subscribe. All right, let's go out to Chicago and talk to Claire. What's up, Claire? Hi, thanks for taking my call. You got it. What's up? Well, I'm calling because I've recently come into the Dave Ramsey kind of clan. Welcome to the gang. I'm really excited about it. What's up? Well, I'm calling because I've recently come into the Dave Ramsey kind of clan. Welcome to the gang.
Starting point is 00:31:30 My husband and I are debt free, but we're kind of slowly trying to work through the baby steps. So we're on, we're really blessed. I think already like stepped again, cause I'm kind of still learning step five or six. We just had a son about a few months ago. We've already got a 529 plan started for him. Both already contributing 15% to our retirement fund. You're all in, all in, all in. We are all in, all in already.
Starting point is 00:31:57 We've got the three to six month savings, $1,000 savings, all good there. Awesome. My question for you today is just about our savings accounts. We've got multiple types of savings, you know, one for car, one for travel, one for house, plus our three to six months and the 1,000 emergency and, you know, just a checking account. So I don't know if we should really kind of be focusing on all of our savings, taking it all out of those and putting it towards the mortgage. We do have, in addition to our savings account, we have, you know, the Roth,
Starting point is 00:32:34 we both have Roth plus our, our retirement through work. So just was wondering if maybe we should also take a, we have about $14,000 in a savings through that we're investing right now, and didn't know if we should be putting that towards a mortgage and everything else we have towards those, from those other small savings accounts for house, for car emergencies. Okay, here's what I hear, okay? tell me if I'm wrong. You and your husband went bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Y'all went for it, and there was a lot of energy and a lot of like, y'all were going, going, going, and then you were debt-free. And you didn't know what to do with all that unused energy, and so you created chaos.
Starting point is 00:33:26 Now you've got 14 different accounts doing 14 different things. You're still following the plan, but you're trying to keep that adrenaline going by making your life way more complicated than it needs to be. Do you all need a new car in the next two to three years? No, we don't. Okay, then I would not have a car fund. Are you all saving up to buy a years? No, we don't. Okay. Then I would not have a car fund. Are y'all saving up to buy a house? Nope. We already have a house. We have everything done except for the mortgage. There you go. So see what I would maybe have, like George and I disagree
Starting point is 00:33:57 on this and that's fine. It's just how our households run. George Campbell has his emergency fund in an online savings account. Okay. In a high-yield savings account. I have mine in my same checking account. I just don't mess with it. And it just is a line item. Like, it's a special account underneath my master checking account, okay? I would get rid of all of these different accounts and all these different banks and consolidate your money and let your money do one or two or three things at a time, not 15.
Starting point is 00:34:25 So, you're putting your 15% into retirement. You're going to pay your house down and you're going to put a little bit of money into the 529 every month and that's it. And what y'all are going to have to do is learn how to live and love your life, not running from the lion that's chasing you. You see what I'm saying? Yep. Nope. Certainly do. Am I right? Yeah. Simplify. At some point, you can become addicted
Starting point is 00:34:52 to the adrenaline and the cortisol. And you're probably also somebody who has imaginary conversations with people that you're never going to fight with, but you have it in your head and you win every one of them. And your husband probably has a bunch of spreadsheets and schemes in plant, right? Am I right? Right. Stop. Stop. I'm actually the one with the spreadsheet. Okay. Yeah. Reverse it. And he's the one having imaginary conversations.
Starting point is 00:35:16 I'll tell my boss, you're not going to tell your boss anything. You're never going to. So stop spinning yourselves up. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Now it's about peace. Now it's a life that we can smile and enjoy and kick our feet up because of the hard work that we've done. See what I'm saying? Yeah. And let's make a plan to get this mortgage paid off. And the way you guys are so far ahead of everybody, y'all are going to be fine financially. Just keep investing your 15%.
Starting point is 00:35:42 Keep putting some money in the 529 and get that house paid off. Is that cool? Sounds great. that cool sounds great simplify simplify simplify you are way ahead of the curve ken what do you got you got it i think you did it all right let's go to zane in boulder colorado hey zane what's up man mr coleman dr d how you guys doing today we are rocking on to the break of dawn my brother how can we help? Well, I'm thinking about dropping out of college, and I wanted to get some words of wisdom. Okay, what are you going to drop to?
Starting point is 00:36:17 I was thinking about opening my own business. What kind of business? I'd be a blower door verification for residential houses. Okay. And what is the reason that you want to start that business and thus you've got to drop out of college to do it? Well, my ultimate goal was to own my own business where I'm offering trusted service. So my first goal was to finish college and be a financial advisor.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Okay. What changed? The school part and also paying for that. Meaning you hate it and don't think you need it or you can't afford it? What is the big driver of this? I could probably afford it. It's more of not liking the school part. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:11 Well, I got great news for you. You don't have to have a college diploma to be a financial advisor. Now, you do have to get some education in the form of certifications and whatever state-by-state requirements are there. But you don't have to have a diploma. So this feels reactionary to me and i'm all for following your heart but i don't hear a lot of heart i hear a head idea that well i always kind of wanted to work for myself and the school thing is not me and by the way i'm okay with that i i i'm okay with someone going college isn't for me but it's not just a feeling. It has to be fact-based. And so if you want to be a financial advisor, we wouldn't be thinking about whatever the service is that you described.
Starting point is 00:37:52 That's an idea just to let me be free and work for me. That's not a good enough of a reason to drop. now if I drop out to then put my time and effort into becoming trained and certified and with an eye on getting to work for a financial advisor and working my way up and this is something that I really really want to do because I see a sense of mission behind the results of helping people with their finances I love coaching and advising people and I happen to be pretty good communicator and go with numbers check check, I'm okay with that. If not, stay there until we find the thing. Hang on the line.
Starting point is 00:38:30 You asked the best question. Go ahead. I just want to give him the get clear assessment. I want you to take this assessment and figure out what are we moving to? I love that question. Not what are we running from, what are we going to? Great question, Ken. Hey, that wraps up today's show.
Starting point is 00:38:44 Thanks to Austin, Ben, James, Andrew, the whole gang. And thanks to you, America, for tuning in. We'll catch you next time on The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.

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