The Ramsey Show - App - If Your Money Plan Isn’t Working It's Time for a New One

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome, America. This is where we help you win in your life, win with your money, win in your work, and win with your money, win in your work, and win with your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225 will get you in on the conversation. I'm Ken Coleman, the fabulous, the incomparable, the stellar, the author of a very exciting book we'll talk about later in this hour. She is Jade Warshaw.

She is my friend. You know what I forgot to bring today? What? I forgot to bring my trophy. We'll talk more about that later. Oh, what? More about that later. Okay, more about it.

Let's get right to the phones. There's some trash talk a little bit later if you want to hang around. It's going to be a lot of fun. But we start with Robert in Hartford, Connecticut. Robert, how can we help today? Hi. Sorry, guys. I'm a little nervous, so bear with me. You're

doing great. So I have a career-based question. I took over a business, basically running a tax business preparation four years ago, and I ultimately wanted to get my CPA, so you need to work under a CPA for a year. I found a CPA firm a year ago to take me on in New York, and I worked there for the year. I technically have my full year of experience, and they're aware of that. They brought me in to talk about that and the potential future and that they've said things like, you know, we, we view you as a potential partner and things like that. And, and there's a path to that and whatnot. And I'm trying, I'm at a roadblock because this job would require me to give up my business

if I was to continue working with them and become a partner in the future. But I'm also trying to figure out if I should just keep my business. And because I am taking my CPA exams, I do have my year experience. And should I just focus on growing that? So do you want to be a partner in someone else's firm or do you want to be your own boss? We're looking 10, 15, 20 years from now. So I obviously would rather be my own boss. They're kind of trying to tell me things like being, which I have been for four years, a sole proprietor is, you know, you do a lot of work on your own. You don't have that other person there to bounce ideas off always. I obviously plan to expand the business, and it's not just going to be me.

I just didn't know if, I mean, obviously, maybe it's less risky to join them. They are offering me to keep 10% of my top clientele as well. So what's the better financial situation, if you stay working for yourself or go to work for this firm? Um, can I give you some numbers? Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Okay. Sorry. Um, the business nets about 50,000, but I only have to work three and a half months because it's tax season. Um,, they hired me on for $55,000 a year salary, but that's because they have a deal with me where I work part-time during tax season. Okay, but what would partnership look like? What kind of financial windfall? So that's, sorry, so that's the thing. They really won't give me any numbers. They're really looking for me to go to them with a number of what it would cost for all these things.

Okay, what are you doing in the other nine or eight and a half months of the year when you're only working for three and a half months? So that's, I'm working here currently. With the firm that they've offered you to be the partner well that's the thing i i don't think i would become a partner that day no no i know i know that but you're asking you're asking us what should you do and i'll be honest with you i think i think you're confused so instead of me trying to dig a little deeper i'm going to switch gears on my tactics. When you called a few minutes ago, which way were you leaning? To probably keep my business and stick with that. Why? Because I get to be my own boss. I make the same money now working much less months. It could probably contribute more time to my business and us.

And once I get my letters, CPA letters, I would like to think that business could expand more. And long-term, you want to work for yourself. Can I interject a question or just get clarity? Is the reason that you're only working tax season is that because you don't have the cpa certification yet but once you have the cpa certification then you'll be able to work year-round doing other books for yourself yeah um unfortunately without the cpa my client base is very specific. Right, but you're getting it. Yes.

And then you'll be able to do the whole gamut. Yeah, I should have my CPA by January. Got it. Okay, my opinion is, I'll see what Jade says, I think you need to not take the offer to eventually become partners. I think you stay in whatever arrangement you have with them. I'm slightly confused, but I would work for myself and freelance and do whatever you're doing until you get your CPA license and work on building your

business. I think that's what you want to do. And quite frankly, I think it's probably the better play for you financially. So for me, it's check, check. Jade? Yeah, 100%. Listen, I think it's weird that a firm is offering you a partnership. You don't have your CPA yet. They don't know what you can bring in revenue wise yet. Like they don't know anything about truly what you're bringing to the table. So that feels odd to me. Not to cut you off. Okay. No, it's okay. Tell me. They are fully aware of my business. They're fully aware of everything. They won't give me those numbers. They're more so trying to say, what would it cost for you to stay with us? And we basically promising down the line partner is what I'm trying to say. Sorry. It doesn't change my answer.

Yeah, me either. It doesn't change my answer. I think that you have a lot, you've tapped into like 20% of your potential on your own. And once you get that CPA certification, once you get that license, you're going to be able to really see what this business can do. And it's worth it to me to pan that out and see, you know, being your own boss. Few things rival that. Yeah. I think you keep the course you're on and be confident in it.

That's where you want to be. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry if the question was silly. No, no, no, no, no, no. You're doing great. I just want to be able to make sure that I understand and that we understand which way you're coming to this thing, but I trust your gut. How about that? I trust your gut. I think you got a good gut on this. And so understand that the,

the, the desire to build your own firm, I think you're already in a position to do that. The only way, Jade, I would have changed my advice in this situation for Robert would have been if the time spent with this firm would give him the necessary resources and or experience, intangibles, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, up later set him up later to do his own thing but the fact that he's already doing his own thing and he's just all he's got to do is finish getting qualified this is the get qualified stage yeah and the cpa license once he's there this is a no-brainer and and that's a really good business by the way 100 to own because there is if you talk to anybody in the tax field, there's not enough people. Yeah. And so I, in this situation, Robert, we're on board, man. Stay the course, be patient, and do your own thing. Hang your own shingle, which you already have, stay

with it, and I think you're going to be better off. So good stuff there. Love it, love it, love it. Love the soul, the solopreneur who's going to then build a business, a small business that provides jobs. And it's what keeps this American economy going. It's a small business. Small business, small business, small business. Oh boy. I appreciate your vote in November, folks.

Just kidding. All right, quick break. We'll be back with more of your calls. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, quick break. We'll be back with more of your calls. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy.

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by Jade Warshaw. We're here to answer your questions. 888-825-5225. Jade's our resident money expert today, and I'm the resident income expert. How about that? Mo money is my theme for you. Mo money, mo meaning, right? And more money,

more meaning is what we're going for here. And one of the keys, Jade, to being successful, we know this from research, is the people that you hang around with. Yep. If you aren't where you want to be in your life, I can do an inventory of family members and friends, acquaintances, the stuff you're reading, the stuff you're watching, and I will tell you that it's a direct impact. So speaking of tribe, you should, when you can, vacate. Vacation with people that are like-minded. Okay, now I see where you're going with this. You see where I'm going? Yes.

And for all of you baby-steppers out there, those of you that are in baby step 4, 5, 6, and 7, I think you need to be thinking about the Live Like No One Else cruise. I like that. Because you're going to be on this boat with Dave and Rachel and Jade and me and John Deloney and George Campbell, but you're going to be on this boat with a bunch of people who live the way you live, who believe in the value of debt-free living and making the most of your money. So that's my pitch on why you should join us. And I just found out you don't even have to have a passport because we're going from uh american port to american that's true and so some of you are

thinking i don't have my passport you don't need it i just found that out although i'd bring it though i don't want to be locked up abroad without my passport i'm just telling you what i'm hearing i'm with you i'm bringing mine as well uh we're going to be in turks and caco st thomas puerto rico in the bahamas uh Every stop is stunning beaches. There is a pickleball court situation on the cruise ship. If you're a nut like I am, I will be on the pickleball court every day, literally holding court. I will take no mercy on anyone.

I play to win. You know this. He plays for keeps, Ken. I play to win. Beyond the Ramsey personalities, and Dave, you're going to see Trey Kennedy, comedian, Stephen Curtis Chapman, great award-winning musician, Manit Chauhan of the Food Network lore, Deanna Carter, Mrs. Strawberry Wine, country music star herself, and more.

It's a seven-day cruise, March 22-29, 2025. You don't want to miss this. 90% sold, so you better get on it. It's going to sell out probably this month. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash cruise. ramseysolutions.com slash cruise. Are you going to have your guns out? You know, I mean.

Sun's out, guns out? Yeah, I mean, when I play pickleball in the sun, I like to have no sleeves. The less hindrance for that forehand, you know what I'm talking about, when I come over the top. We definitely don't want any hindrance. No hindrance.

No hindrance, Ken. Let's go to Cody now in Lincoln, Nebraska. Cody, how can we help today? Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's up? So the reason I'm calling is my wife's 31, I'm 32.

We own an event rental company that does pretty well. And three years ago, we purchased a commercial building and opened up an event venue. The process of doing that, we went into debt about $900,000 after remodel. Yep. Sheesh. thousand after remodel yep after the remodel and um and then plus about another 150 to 200 to my in-laws for what um for the remodel um we we the the commercial property was we had to do an extensive remodel on it to kind of make it how we wanted and the in-laws gave you the money for it? For the extra. So we got a million dollar loan with, you know, and then on top of that was about another 150 from the in-laws.

And that was three years ago and it's going all right. We're in year three and it's starting to pick up. When do you break even on all this? That's why I'm calling. We're quickly finding out with this much debt, it's difficult, very difficult. And, you know, in reality, I think it would be 15 years from now before we'd even get close to. Your dream has become a nightmare. A little bit, a little bit a little bit it's still fun and we enjoy it how much do you guys take home what's your income you and your wife off

of this business uh you know i'll be it's we haven't set up where we can live off of we're living fine um i don't know the exact number but but I would say anywhere from $100,000 to $120,000. Okay, why don't you know the exact number? We probably should be a little better at this. We kind of just intertwine. Oh. Do you have any other income? Yeah, we know what's going on.

You don't have a budget. You have no other income, but this is event business. The event venue and then our event rental decor, which the event rental side of it is probably making more money than what our event venue is. Okay. What does it make? So that will probably make about $250,000. Bottom line? And that's probably, yeah, yes.

That's not gross? That's a net number after all expenses? Yeah. Okay. So what happens to that money when you when you net that profit out where does that 250,000 go that's our problem it's like we're making all this money and we're working super hard and it's like where does it go no profit is profit like you're either reinvesting it or it's sitting somewhere in retained earnings

or you're paying it back to yourself like if you're only paying yourself 150 then then to jade's point where's the other 100 it goes into things like our our uh ac unit um just all the things you got to fix up on this building it's a hundred year old building like it's great right but that's not an old building if you're doing your books the correct way that would have already filtered through and it would not be reflected in your net profit that's the whole point so is somebody managing your books or are you doing it no we have an accountant that does it she helps us through all this um something ain't right i'm telling you last time you had a meeting with said accountant and she walked you through your actual books to the point that you could understand it? I mean, not about every tax season. Good Lord, man. I'll be honest with you. I don't even think this is a profitable business. My guess is this thing is

not profitable at all when we put both of them together. And, you know, we're not trying to, listen, you're stressed up to your eyeballs. Clearly, you got a million dollars of debt and you don't know your numbers. So that right there is very, very stressful. But you got to you got to right the wrongs on this and you've got to get involved in what's going on with these numbers, because I would hate for you to think that your event business or the the event rental side is earning money when it's really not. And I want you to get with whoever's doing your taxes. I want you to get to with whoever's doing your books and make sure you understand this, because if you don't understand it, you need to work with people who are going to help you understand it. Because as long as you don't understand this, you don't know what's going on underneath the surface. You don't even really know if you can trust the person who's running your books because you can't look behind them and go, yeah, that looks right. Or yes, I get it. I understand. So there's a part of this where being in business for yourself, you do to a certain

extent have to wear these hats where you can at least understand, right? Can the basics of your bookkeeping so that you know you're not getting cheated so that you know if you're actually profitable or not. It's like trying to fly an airplane blind. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and you say you're having fun. I don't disagree with all that. So, okay, we did a diagnosis. What's your question for us? Okay, so my question is, is we've had an appraisal done on our commercial property, and we could sell it for anywhere from about

$2.75 million to $3.6 million. Dude, take it now. Like, list it now. Hang up with us now. Take this briefcase and run. Are you kidding me? This is a get-out-of-jail-free card. They don't come along very often.

Yeah. Take it. And that's what we thought. Well, there's no more thinking. There needs to be some doing. If I'm you, I want Jade to weigh in on this. Jade, here's what I'm doing. I'm selling the building, but I'm going to keep the rental business.

Yeah, I'm fine with that. I like that. Only if, only if you get a really good bookkeeper like Jade is saying, who's going to hold you accountable. Because you started, Cody, with just the event rental, right? And then that was doing well. And so you guys were like, we're doing amazing. We're going to go rent this or buy this space.

So that was the mistake when you went to buy the building was the mistake. So let's offload the mistake. You get your money back plus a million and some. And now you've got this really great income that you're running the business you always wanted to run and you know how to run. Now you don't have to buy a building because you know how to rent equipment. So you can rent a building if you want to keep the event side of the business going. You can do that without having to be in massive debt. So my goodness, Cody, this is a good day for you.

This is a sign from hallelujah on high. Wow. I mean, I just went from like, that was a two Pepsi at AC call to now my tummy feels okay. I know. It feels okay. Listen, let us get a cut of that 2.7 million. Easy now. Jade wants a commission. This is the Ramsey Show. There's a time in your life and in the baby steps for renting, but you don't want to do it forever. Because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage, just somebody else's.

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Jade Warshaw is alongside. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Let's go to Nicole, who joins us in Memphis. Nicole, how can we help today? Hey, I was just trying to see if you guys could help me undo the mess that I'm in. I don't know if I'm cursed or what, but I'm in a lot of debt, and I'm a single mom, and I'll be close to retirement age shortly, and I just, I don't know what to do. Okay, how old are you? I'm 46. Okay. And what's

going on? Tell us some more details. Okay. So last year, my goal was to own a home and I know about debt to income ratio and my highest debt would have been my car note, which was 772. Long story short with that, I ended up making a bad deal, end up at 615 still, but no gap insurance. Since then, the job that I had, I have now lost. I have a new job, but it's $3,800 less. That's a lot. It is. Per month less? Yes. And I'm struggling right now. I'm close to addiction.

I'm about to, I'm close to about to lose my car. So tell me, tell me what you're making now. I'm averaging about $1,200 to $1,400 a month. Barely making it. Oh man. Yeah.

Okay. $1,200 to $1,400. Tell us what your rent is. My rent right now is $980, but it's behind and I'm close to eviction. So it's about $2,700 plus a $350 fee for their attorney fees. It's crazy. What do you do for a living? I'm a barber.

And before that, when you were making the $3,800 more, what were you doing? I was still a barber. I was working at another barber shop and I was let go. What was the difference? Is it just the way that they do it and the old place was sending more clients your way? Tell us. Yeah, I had more clients. I was still more clients your way. Tell us. I had more clients. I was still on the low end, but I was making weekly pay.

This is only every two weeks, and I'm averaging about $500 every two weeks or a little over. And is it just a salary you get, or is it based on the number of heads you do? So it's basically 50% commission or $12 an hour, whichever the greater of the two. Okay. So, yeah. Okay. The problem, the glaring issue here is the income. And this can't go on.

Because my thought here is if it's 50% commission or your your base pay then that means you're not making the commission which means there's not enough people coming through which means essentially essentially you're kind of standing there like waiting for something to do right are you spending a lot of your day kind of standing around waiting right so what i did was what i was doing the first when i first started there i was like this makes no sense I can do lift rides right yeah to make up the short but now my car is breaking down and it's still not enough lift lift rides sometimes are not as great as it was when I started right um so it so it's it's not it's it's not coming in I tried to get an uh been applying for other jobs like what nothing is coming through like I'm great at customer service

and things like that I love barbering okay um I really do love it but I was trying to get an additional job like work at Amazon at night and it's hard to work at Amazon at night see six years ago I lost one of my kids and my other children were there and so what's happening is I have to kind of be at home with my younger daughter because she's feeling the repercussions of all of that. She's got a lot of mental issues, you know, going on trauma stuff we've got going through. So I can't really leave her at night and it's hard. And that's the other reason why I've also lost jobs because I have to stop and go to school, and it's heartbreaking. I really wish that I could get a job that was financially stable where I could be at my child's disposal. You know, I just put one through college.

I just dropped her off at MTSU, and thank God she had a lot of scholarships, but I still have to pay a small amount for the next three months. That's right. I don't know where it's going to come from. Well, let's look at this let's look at this okay you love barbering but right now barbering's not making you money um and for sure for certain I feel like you could go on what do you do are you a braider do you do so what do you do no I don't I don't do that part anymore I can do women's hair but I love I love cutting men's hair okay okay okay so here's the thing i think barbering

goes on the shelf for now because it's not making you money maybe you do it on the side and that's your side hustle but it's not your main core income right now um i want you to get a full-time day job go over to target go over to walmart go over to wendy's go over to chick-fil-a anything today because you got to make a little bit more than what you're making now and then make barbering the thing that you do on the side on the weekends early in the morning um if night times don't work for you that that's the only way here's the thing the good news is you were earning a salary that was making your life run and making your household run so you know you can do it it's just a matter of filling in the puzzle to make sure we're putting the right pieces in to get that income um let's talk about the car so the car is not running that's the only vehicle correct yeah it's running but it needs work okay how what what year is it and

what's it worth and what do you owe on it um it's a 2022 volkswagen t I owe about $29,000 since it went up. I was at $26,000, but since I refinanced, it's back up to $29,000. Okay, and what's it worth? Nothing? Probably not right now. Okay, I want you to go. Your homework is to go on Kelley Blue Book and see what is it worth private sale. You're probably going to be upside down on it, possibly substantially,

because I don't know what all you've done with this thing. But we may need to get out of this vehicle because it's costing you what? $600 a month? It's costing me $615 a month. Yes, ma'am. Oh my gosh. Okay.

So yeah, we're going to have to sell this car eventually. And probably what you're going to end up doing, Kenna, if you have a minute, if you look this thing up, maybe you can give me a ballpark on it. But by the time we get off this call, maybe we can give you a ballpark on it. But if I were you to get out of that $30,000, what other debt do you have? I have an $8,000 signature loan. I have some student loans, which I got to try to figure out how to get back because I was in a settlement.

And for some reason, just tell me how much they are for the sake of the call. It's like six thousand, sixty thousand dollars. Sixty thousand back on. Yes, it's 60K. OK, and they're federal. It's not supposed to be on there. They're federal. They're federal loans. Yeah, it was it was one in a settlement that they were supposed to take that off oh because the institution is not is no longer with us it's not they've come back but it's gone through a lot of stuff uh they've been in the news and everything how much of the 60k is

that settlement um all of it all of it okay so you're gonna have to do some due diligence on that and figure out what's going on with that uh because 60,000 is not a lot that you want to lollygag with okay what else is there anything besides that um no just a 400 credit card that i that i was paying so this is an income issue nothing and by the way, we're running short on time. Let's get her a session with one of our financial coaches as our gift, because there's a lot to layer through here. But, Nicole, you have got to come up with a situation with your daughter. Friends and family, it takes a village. I'm not betting against a single mama. I know you can find a way to get some care for your daughter.

It's hard. It's really hard. I know it is sweetheart. And, but I'm telling you, I'm not betting against you, but you've got to get some help with your daughter. She's been through a lot. You've got to get some people around you who can be with her. We're in therapy, but it's not a lot. I mean, it's not a lot of help. I just, I know, but listen, I'm talking about people around you in your community. You have got to say, I need some help because you've got an income issue. And the more you work, if you were to get back up to $3,800 a month, Jade, she can work her way out of this. 100%.

And so, Nicole, all I'm saying is we're going to get you with one of our financial coaches who's going to spend more time with you. But listen, you've got to get more income. And you've got to get a income and you've got to get a community around you who say, you say, look, I need help with my daughter who's still going through this trauma over here. I need some support because I'm mama bear and I got to go make some money. And the more money I make with our financial coach, and we're going to give you all the resources, by the way. So Christian, if she needs total money makeover, every dollar, give her everything we got.

Christian's going to take great care of you. And listen, I don't know if you go to church or not. I want you stepping foot inside of a church this Sunday. I don't care what you believe. You need people around you who want to help you and love on you, and they will do just that. We're going to walk with you, Nicole. You're not on your own, but go get some income and watch this thing turn around. Hang on the line.

We're going to take care of you. This is The Ramsey Show. What does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts and you'll get 10 different answers. Economic growth or a recession. Business taxes will go up or down. AI will help us work or it will replace us all. But there's no such thing as a crystal ball. That's why more than

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It's free at netsuite.com slash Ramsey. It's free at netsuite.com slash Ramsey. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, and Jade Warshaw is alongside 888-825-5225. That's the phone number to jump in. We'd love to hear from you. Taking your money calls, your income-related calls today. Matthew is joining us in Houston, Texas. Matthew, how can we help?

Hey, guys. How are you today? Good. How are you? I'm good, thank you. So I'm a 25-year-old career salesman. At the beginning of this year, I landed a new job, which I've been, you know, my income has grown drastically, and I'm closing on a house at the end of the month. And I just wanted to know, you know, at my age, I want to start investing early.

I also want to be debt free. Is there a balance to investing, you know, post-tax dollars and paying off the home or should all of my excess cash just be going to the principal and, you know, I start investing once that's paid off because, you know, at my age, the value of the compound interest, if I start now, I feel could really pay off down the road. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good question to have. And I think it's a question that a lot of people have. So you just closed on this home. Let's make sure you're in the position to begin investing. Do you have three to six months of expenses saved? I do. Okay, great. And then at that point you would be considered baby step four, which is you're investing 15% of your gross income every single month. Are you doing that?

I haven't started. Well, I contribute to my company's 401k plan, but other than that, I haven't, I haven't started, which is pre-tax, but I haven't started investing any post-tax money yet. Okay, good. So what, what I would say is whatever you're doing now, if you have, if you have access to a match through that employer account, I would invest up to that match. And you said it's an after-tax? It's a pre-tax with my employers. So they match 3%. I'm contributing 6% right now.

Okay, so I would do up to the match, and then I would go over to a Roth IRA, and I would go ahead and max something like that out. And then if you still have money left in your 15% of contributions, then you could go back out and get as close to maxing out that 401k as possible. The goal here is again, for you to be investing 15% of your gross income. And most people do it on a monthly basis because you know, you can kind of set it and forget it with your employer. And so that's what I would do. And then beyond the 15%, any money that you have extra, I would put it towards the paying off of the house. And so that's the way we teach at 25 years

old. You're not married yet. You don't have any kids yet. So you can kind of forget for now about baby step five, because you don't have any kids. There's no 529 that you need to really add to. And so then for you, the next step is baby step six. You're putting extra money towards the house and you get to decide how intentional you're going to be about that, right? You don't have to go crazy like you did with the other baby steps, but you're a single guy. You could probably, you know, make a lot of headway on that. What do you owe on the house? So around 450, 460. Okay. I haven't even made my first mortgage payment yet. Yeah. You said you closed here. You haven't even closed yet. Right. Or you just haven't closed yet. Right. Okay. Yeah. And so that's what I would advise you to do. That's what I did. And

that's what I do. Yeah. I'm going to agree with you. I mean, I, I, I love Jay's advice, follow it. Uh, but I just want to commend you i love this excellent i love this mindset that you've got man you haven't even made the first payment yet you're calling and going uh what do i do first you know and but we want you to be set up for the long term and you're gonna have no problem getting rid of the house payment and the reason i suggested you going to the roth right after the three percent is we want that three percent match i mean obviously that's free money but then i love the roth option for you because on down the line, you're going to want money that you have access to that you don't have to pay taxes on and that you don't have that required

minimum distribution. And so that's why we would say that and then come back and you can fill up that 401k when you're done. What do you expect to make in the next 12 months? I'd say around $400,000. Wow, my son. See, I've been wanting to ask that. I had to wait. I didn't want to interrupt, but I was going, I had a sense that he was,

that he had jumped into a... Well, when he told us the amount on the house, I was like, wait a second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here's the only reason I ask that, again, this is all an exclamation point to what Jade said. I can't add anything to what she said on that.

With that kind of income, you're going to be fine. You're going to be more than fine. So just follow the baby steps. And with that kind of income, man, it is going to be ridiculous. Have you gotten your hands on an investment calculator? So I was just going to mention, I took a look at the amortization schedule on the loan and that really just kind of ticked me off, you know? Um, so I want to let it tick you off, but go in order, you know what I mean? Like get your investment strategy

because, because with that kind of income and, and what Jade's talking about with the investment calculator is one of her favorite things to do. It is. Are you running some numbers for him? I'm going to run a few numbers for him, my guy. Because he's so upset about his loan, his mortgage, his amortization payment. We need to get his mind focused on this part of the advice. Okay, so then let's play a game. How much do you already have in retirement investments? Do you have any?

Only maybe $6,000 or $7,000. Okay, I okay i'll put seven thousand in there all right and then let's say you contribute uh let's see sixty thousand a year so let's say five thousand a month all right and then we'll get you at ten ten percent rate of return because you make a lot of money dude if you don't do anything else from now until forever like up from now until 65 oh actually hold on hold on yeah i was gonna say i accidentally put in the wrong retirement age but it's actually worth noting i put in 48 like if you were to retire at 48 you'd have 5.3 million i thought i put in thought I put in 65. Let's put in 65 and see what it says. If you go till 65, I'm shook. Tell him the number now and I don't remind him what he's putting in

every, every, every year. No, this is monthly. If you, if you put in 5,000 a month, cause you make 400,000, that's 60,000 a year at a 10% annual rate of return. You already have $7,000 there. If you do this from age 25, you said you're 25, right? Yeah, I'm 25. Until age 65. You sitting down? Are you sitting down?

Because I'm standing up. $31 million. $31 million. $31 million. That's crazy. I had to put my pinky like on Austin Powers. Yeah, yeah. So now you feel a little bit better?

I do. I feel a lot better. But, you know, and that's really why I called you guys. Because I know that, you know, if I start now, by the time I'm, you know, 65, it's going to make a huge difference. And oh, by the way, that doesn't mean you aren't paying your house off. You're still paying the house off. Yeah, we didn't even talk about that. And we didn't even talk about the fact that this is you starting.

This is not you at your full potential. You're still going up in the world. You're still on an upward trajectory. Man, I thought something was wrong with my calculator. No, that's 15% of your income. And oh, by the way, after you budget all that, you are now making extra payments on the house. Oh, yeah. And you'll pay the house off before you know it. So this isn't an either or. It's both and. That's the point of the exercise. Matthew, I'm happy that I know you. I'm happy

I got to talk on the phone to you. Hey, check back in with us. Keep letting us know how this goes because so many people need to hear this. If you can get these things firing on all cylinders, even if you're not making $400,000 a year, if you're making $200,000 a year, what is possible when you get a hold of your finances so early is so amazing. And for anybody listening, if you've never played with an investment calculator, I suggest we have a great one, ramseysolutions.com. You can check it out. Or you can just Google Ramsey Investment Calculator, and it'll pop up.

But start playing with those numbers to see what your life can be. And I mean, that's motivating at the very least. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the call. Love the breakdown, Jay. That's always fun when we get into the numbers. Because in his mind, he's like, I've got to pay that house. I've got to pay that house.

I've got to pay. It's like, no, it's both and. It's both and. It's not fun when we get into the numbers because, you know, in his mind, he's like, I got to pay that house. I'm going to pay that house. It's like, no, it's both and. It's both and. It's not either or. And fun to run those numbers. And boy, that's a staggering number. That is a staggering number. And let me just.

And not many people make his money. No, they don't. I want to at least call that out. Or at that early in life. At 25. Yeah. To be making 400K. No, this. He's in a, he's in the top 1%.

That's top 1%. 100%. So I just want to at least call that out. be making 400k no this he's in a he's in the top one that's top one percent one person 100 percent i just want to at least call that out but let's also ken let's explain why we care so much about paying off the primary mortgage because at the end of the day yes we want you to have the compound interest but at the end of the day there is going to be a time where you do not work and you don't want to be making payments on a mortgage your mortgage is the biggest line item in your budget. You want that done and paid for by the time you're, you're, you know,

that age so that you can just live. Yeah. I totally, totally agree. There's a young man that's living like no one else. I promise you, he's going to be living like no one else and also giving like no one else at a young age,

by the way. Great stuff. Good hour, Jade Warshaw. All right. Does it for this hour. There'll be more by the way. Great stuff. Good hour, Jade Warshaw. All right. Does it for this hour. There'll be more Ramsey Show, I promise. Welcome to the Ramsey Show, where we help you win with your money, win in your work with that income of yours, and win in your relationships when you're

tackling things like money problems. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is with me. 888-825-5225. Let's get right to the phones. Doug is joining us in Dallas, Texas. Doug, how can we help today? Hi.

Hi, Doug. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. Well, I guess I'm trying to figure out the next steps for my family economically. Had a change in employment status. Had a whistleblow in my last job after 10 years, unfortunately, and cost me my job. I had set my wife down before this happened to kind of explain what was going to take place.

I met with an attorney and made sure I knew kind of what was going to happen. And obviously it cost me my career. I've kind of been blackballed in the line of employment that I was in at this stage. I'm 55 this year, so I'm kind of running into some challenges with ageism and just kind of getting looked at, dealing with navigating AI. Okay, so let's dive in here. So what were you doing? What industry were you in and what role were you playing? I was in health insurance in the healthcare payer side and had been in the provider side for a number of years and moved over to the payer side. And I was working in administrative services-only accounts.

What does that mean? I understand those words, but I'm not sure I understand what that day-to-day looks like. So I was on an account that was a public-funded account, taxpayer money that was paying on claims for public employees. And so were you leading were you leading the team yeah i was in the leadership role okay and is that just your classic management role like if i if you described what you were doing day in and day out and you didn't tell me the specifics you just told me how you were dealing with your team what i know that you were in health insurance yeah oh okay i kind of thought you were going to answer that differently it's why i led you into that one the point is

you are leading people and and you can lead people true or false true doesn't matter the industry does it um mostly health care no no no no let me ask it a different way you can manage people you know how to lead a team of people that has a very clear direction and they have a very clear agenda attached to the direction. You know how to lead and manage people, true or false? Yes. Doesn't matter if it is in healthcare or not. You know how to lead a team. True. All right. That's where I'm going with this. I don't know what to say, and I doubt Jade does either. We don't know the circumstances. There's no way for us to talk you through, well, you haven't been blackballed in the healthcare industry, or you're not dealing with ageism.

There's really no way for us to counter that. And so what we've got to do is we assume that this is what's happening and then give you advice based on that. So first things first, and Jada will weigh in here in a second, I would say that you can lead. You have an extensive resume. You were 10 years with this one company. You can lead. You have transferable skills and transferable experience.

And I would be looking throughout multiple industries. And the narrative is I was in healthcare for a long time. I don't want to pivot. I want to pivot. And it doesn't matter what happened in the situation where you felt like you had to blow the whistle on somebody and it ended up backfiring on you. But you get a new chance. You're out of a bad situation, sounds like to me. And so that's the issue that I would be focusing on is I can lead people. And so if I've got to go manage a Chick-fil-A or an Applebee's, or I've got to manage in a technology field, there are transferable skills and experience, and that needs to be the narrative.

Now on the ageism issue if if ageism is happening you know i'm not saying that it isn't but if it is that's because you are playing the normal game which is i'm going to go on linkedin i'm going to go on all these company websites and i am a i mean just a i'm just a profile i'm a digital profile and they see how old i am or you know are i getting interviews where i don't have an edge, meaning I don't have a relationship. And so now I am compared against other people. What you've got to do is, and I'm going to give you my book, The Proximity Principle, as a gift. You have got to leverage relationships in these companies that you're going to so that, and let's say I'm trying to get in a company and I know Jade works there, a company ABC. I got to go to Jade and say,

Jade, listen, we've known each other for X amount of years. I'm going to apply. I'm going to do the online thing. In fact, I just submitted it today, but would you be willing to take my resume and would you hand it to this guy named Bart Jones? You know, Bart over there, she goes, I know Bart. And she walks by Bart's office or his cube and she puts a personal touch on it and says, I know this guy, Ken. He just applied. He's a really good dude. Here's how I know him. Here's how long I've known him.

And I think he's a viable candidate. I can vouch that he is not a wingnut or whatever. That's the game, Doug, that you've got to play. Sure. I've leveraged on some relationships in different industries to get my resume in front of some people, and I've restructured my resume a couple of times to get away from a linear presentation to try to downplay the, you know, here's when I went to college, here's when I did this job, here's when I did that job. I tell you what, I've got a template that we'll give you. Christian, let's give Doug my free templates. I've got six templates you can get at KenColeman.com. But I've totally flipped the resume on its head years ago,

and this thing's been really popular, and we just use common sense. I have no HR background at all, but we were like, let's try this. And it really works. I've had Fortune 100 employees email me and say, I got through the list because my resume looks totally different than everybody else's. And I'm not going to go through a breakdown of it for sake of time. But Doug, it starts off with who I know. That's the top of the resume. It says, Doug, whatever your last name is. And the first bold heading is who I know. And what you've got to do there in order to fill that resume out is, is have a one

or two or three or four or five degree connection to somebody in that company. So you're making it custom for each, you're customizing it for each. And you're also, or it might be industry specific. So if you're going to get in the tech industry, you go, uh, I know so-and-so who's a leader of programmers over at big name company and people start to go, Oh, Doug knows, Doug knows some people. Doug's connected. I'm saying, try it. It only works if we're going to actually leverage. So here's my point, Doug, this is a numbers game. I'm trying to give you a pep talk here to go. I believe all those things happen to you or may be happening to you, but that does not, that does not, that does not cancel you out. You can get hired. You will get hired, but you're going to have to be really, really intense. This is a,

I am burning the ships moment. I'm going to keep going. I'm not going to just submit resumes and sit back and wait. I'm going to submit resumes where I've got a person in that building who's willing to submit that resume as well. I'm talking to anybody and everybody I know going, hey, I've been a leader for 10 years. I'm leaving my current company. I'll lead anywhere, anytime. And this becomes your full-time gig is spreading the word, talking about it. That's where opportunities show up on our doorstep.

But absent of that kind of intentionality and resilience, you're going to be calling us a year from now going, I've been trying to apply for jobs for a year. Nobody's paying attention to me. Yeah, I know. Because you're a ghost. Can't be a ghost. You got to have gumption. There's your theme. Look up the word gumption, Doug. There's your new theme word. is the ramsey show hey you guys i'm not a fan of the big banks and you probably already know which ones i mean but i do like credit unions because they're non-profit organizations that focus on their members and i'm proud to endorse fair winds Credit Union because they share the Ramsey mission of helping people get out of debt and live generously. In fact, they design products to help keep you from going into debt in the first place.

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And while you're there, look at the combined checking and savings account bundle they created just for Ramsey fans to help you take control of your finances. That's Fairwinds, F-A-I-R-W-I-N-D-S dot org slash Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, my colleague and friend. Jade Warshaw is with me to take your calls. And by the way, she has got a very, very exciting announcement. I mean, you're holding something fresh.

I'll take it from here, Ken. What you got? I'm just kidding. It looks good. You know what? Today is the day, the official launch date of the Graduate Survival Guide. This is five mistakes you can't afford to make in college. And if you notice, the color is the same as my nail polish.

I was going to point that out if you didn't. Did you do that on purpose? Yes. They were like, this book needs to be Jade because when it comes to college and making mistakes in college, Jade knows a little something about that. Yes. And that is true. This book is literally crafted on the five biggest mistakes that I made going from a

senior in high school to a freshman in college. I love it. And so the book outlines five mistakes that I don't want your grad to make. Because if you're listening right now and you've got a college senior, if you're listening I love it. So it's like a journal. You can just knock around on this. You can put it in your backpack. It's not, but it reads like a magazine. See, this is what I like. Look at the graphics. The colors are super colorful.

It's just. Pay attention, parents and grandparents. Yeah. Because this younger generation, this is how they read. This is how they read. It looks like social media. Yeah, I was going to say, it looks like an Instagram post. It looks like Instagram. It looks like TikTok.. I was going to say, it looks like an Instagram post. It looks like Instagram.

It looks like TikTok. And honestly, it reads like TikTok as well. And so I talk about student loans, Ken. I talk about credit cards and avoiding credit cards. I talk about dumb choices when you buy your first car note. So I talk about how to buy a car in cash. I talk about what happens when you have no plan and you don't have a budget. I talk about what happens when you have no money and you don't have a budget. I talk about

what happens when you have no money in college and the desperate things that you start to do. And so this is the guide. Here's the thing. Your kids might not listen to you, but they might listen to me. Right? I think so. I know my kids listen to you. My kids hardly listen. My kids don't even listen to me. They're five years old. But if my brother or sister tells them something, they listen. I agree. Because it's just another outside voice that they think is... You're Auntie Jade. I'm Auntie Jade.

I like that. And that's how, actually, that's how I describe myself in the book, Ken. I did not know that. I describe myself as your younger, your older, yet surprisingly young looking sister. I love that. I love how you described yourself. Yeah. And so this is the book. I want you guys to get this it's out today uh i guys i've been there i went into can let me tell you the dumbest mistake i ever made i want to know i want to

know i had a full volleyball scholarship and a full academic presidential scholarship and i still took out student loans why because they said j said, Jade, you need to live, right? Like you want to go to the homecoming game. You need to buy clothes. You need to buy groceries. You need a car. So you took out a loan just for the living expenses. Just to live. I took out a student loan. Okay. Here's dumb thing number two. I remembered hearing Dave Ramsey say you buy a car in cash. Yeah. I took out a student loan and caught myself saving that money in cash and then bought a car and thought I was buying a cash car because I used actual cash to buy it, but it was loan money. That feels wrong.

That feels wrong. But that's the kind of, listen, that's what goes on in the mind of an 18 and 19 and 20 year old. We don't know. We don't know yet. And so I'm trying to get into their mind and tell people where to get it. Okay. You can get it on sale today. It's on sale today. Go to the graduate survival guide. You can get it at Ramsey solutions.com slash store. You can click the link in the description. If you're listening on YouTube or podcast, or you can check out my Instagram at Jade Warshaw.

You'll definitely find it there. Get it today. This is the most important. If I had had this, I would have been, I would have been a Scrooge McDuck by now. I would have had millions. I like the Scrooge McDuck reference.

Very fantastic. By the way, if you're watching on YouTube and you understand what I'm about to say, if you're listening on the radio or via the podcast or the Ramsey app, you're going to get, with buying this book, you're going to get a great suggestion of a nail color for all you ladies out there. It's a neutral. Because you are, I don't know that that color is neutral.

Ken, I guarantee you it matches everything. Oh. It matches you. That's what that means? Yeah, it means it matches everything. Oh, I stand corrected. But that's one of the bonuses. The five mistakes,

the five colors, the same as your nails. I'm going to call that lemon meringue. It's called lemon juice, Ken. Is it for real? Yes. Well, that's close. I mean, I'll be honest with you,

way closer than I would have ever guessed. I thought you were going to make fun of me for that. All right, good stuff. So there you go, ramsaysolutions.com in the store to get the book right now. Fantastic. Can't wait for people to get that. It's a great gift that keeps on giving. Yes, it does. All right, Nicole is joining us now in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nicole, how can we help? Hi, thanks for taking my call. You're probably going to think this is a stupid question. Speaking of college loans, should you take out, if you have the money for college, should you take out a loan for the sole purpose of helping your child establish credit, cycle score, and a repayment history.

What do you think the answer to that is? Take a guess. I think it's a dumb question. It's not a dumb question. I think the answer is don't take out the loan. Yeah. Survey says. But this is my other question. Okay. This is my other question. And I know Dave has talked about

cycle scores and apartments. How easy or hard is it for someone to rent? I've never had to rent an apartment. So how easy or hard is it for someone, a college graduate, 25, 26? It's not hard. It's not hard. It's not hard. To get their first whatever. It's not hard. Without a repayment history. It's not hard. You just have to do your due diligence. It's not going to be,

it might not be the first apartment complex that you wander into, right? So there are some complexes that say you have to have a credit score, but there's plenty that say you don't. Or if you're renting outside of an apartment, if you're renting a house, maybe he and a couple of buddies rent a house or they rent a, you know, a condo or they outside of an apartment, if you're renting a house, maybe he

and a couple of buddies rent a house or they rent a, you know, a condo or they rent a townhouse, something like that. Yeah, you can definitely find it. It's just going to require you to do, like I said, it's not going to be the first complex that you throw a rock at. You might have to visit a couple of them and let them know and just go in there with cash and say, listen, I've got cash for first and last months. They charge you a little bit extra that's fine just going with the money and you'll be you'll be fine it's it's not that big of a deal okay got it yeah great questions no no dumb questions no dumb questions and only dumb actions right okay I'm with that you know what I mean like we can all do dumb and we all have. Most definitely.

But to ask a question before doing something dumb does not make it a dumb question. Yeah. And especially with her question because it was based on what she's been hearing. Oh, 100%. Oh, yeah. And she knew, by the way. Yes. She knew.

By the way, just a little nugget here. The reason I did that with Nicole is because I could immediately tell that Nicole had a lot of common sense. Yeah. And so I wanted to just illustrate before we weighed in on our opinion that our opinion is not based on expertise. It is based on common sense. Okay. I'll go with that. I'm not saying you aren't an expert.

I am not a self-proclaimed expert. Yeah. But you get my point? Yeah. It's not that we're smarter than anybody else. It's that all of our answers on this money stuff and work stuff, it's all common sense based. So if you apply some sense to the situation.

Yes. In other words, if your gut's telling you this is probably a bad idea. Listen. It's a bad idea is all I'm getting at. Yeah. And so many things that we get into, financial troubles, relationship troubles, professional troubles, is where that little voice, that feeling in our gut, we were like, I don't know. That just feels, it's a feeling. And now I'm going to get some other facts and I'm going to get some other facts and i'm gonna get some other opinions

and i'm gonna put them in a glass and i'm gonna stir them okay you feel what's happening yeah i feel what's happening keep going and so then we talk ourselves out of the feeling the common sense feeling and i'm gonna give you a little bit of research on this just so you don't think i'm no i'm nerding out okay so i read a a book written by a physicist and a neuroscientist, and they were talking about the gut feeling. And they described a test that some world-class researchers did on grandmaster chess players. They put a heart monitor on them. What they found was before every fatal move in a chess match, the chess player's heart

rate spiked, telling them not to do it. They did it anyway. So what was the point of the study? That gut feeling is attached to your actual brain. Don't ignore it. It's your body saying, stop, stop, override the brain. Some call it a still, small voice. There it is.

So trust that common sense. You're sensing it. Believe it. All right. Quick break. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw is alongside. We're here for you. 888-825-5225. Time for our Ramsey Show question of the day. It's brought to you by Y-Refi. Y-Refi refinances defaulted private student loans and builds a custom loan based on your ability to pay.

Now, you guys, private student loans are different than federal student loans like Sally Mae. So to learn more about this custom refinancing option and a lump sum payoff option that you could qualify for after 24 months, go to Yrefy.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. Okay, today's question comes from Aiden in Massachusetts. He says, I'm 20 and attend college to get my bachelor's in electrical and computing engineering. I took Ken's Get Clear assessment and engineering was one of the careers it suggested and it's the one I'm most passionate about pursuing. I currently work part-time for a

retail store and thankfully they are paying for my degree at no cost to me. But as excited as I am about my future, I'm discouraged because I still live at home and my job is not fulfilling at all. And on top of that, the process of getting my degree is a long and grueling process. Am I overthinking this or is this a thing most college students experience? I could use a pep talk. Okay. Yes and yes. Yes, you're overthinking it. And yes, this is normal for college students to go through this. There is a roller coaster where a college student first leaves the nest. Many are excited about it. Many are scared about it. So whatever that range of emotion is, that's the kind of the beginning, right? And then you get there. And for again, let's just leave it. Most people are kind of like, I'm on my own, living my best life. Mom and dad

aren't breathing down my neck, telling me to clean my room, the whole nine yards. And then we start getting into classes. And, you know, depending on your situation, you're going to deal with some hardship there. Very different ballgame there. Sometimes it's a lot harder, depending on the major. You're on your own. You don't have a bunch of study aids. It's like, hello, I got to be an adult.

Then we start moving into, okay, I know what I want to do. And in this case, he knows what he wants to do. But he's looking at four years. Four years. And to have this emotion, it's very normal. Are you overthinking it? Yes, because all you're thinking about is the climb. It's the climb.

Thank you, Miley. I'm sorry. Thank you, Miley Cyrus. That was actually perfect. What you're not thinking about is the destination. And so what has to happen is you have got to come up with a mental approach to, I got to do what I have to do so that one day I can do what I want to do. And the only analogy that I could give here is a pep talk. I'm going to hand the baton to you, okay, for your locker room speech. When I train for the half marathon and you're currently training for a marathon, I hate to run unless I'm running in a game involving a ball and a victory. And a pickleball paddle.

But the idea of just running, I hate it. Just to run. And so I remember in my training, Jade, early on that I figured it out and I would be approaching a long grade or a sizable hill. And that's where my hate of running voiced itself the most. Okay. To the point where it was like, you're a grown man. What are you doing? You could stop right now and walk home, crack open a beverage and watch TV. What are you doing? This is absurd. Yeah. And what I learned was, is what I'm describing here. I had a mindset for the short term and the long term. So you know what I started doing? You may laugh at this. What? I stopped looking at the top of the hill. That's genius. Once I knew the hill was there, I went, I got to get to the top of that hill and I'm going to feel better about myself.

I'm going to gain endurance. It's going to be good for what I'm training for. But once I saw the top of the hill, I took my eyes off the hill and I started looking at my feet. And I literally, mentally just looked at one foot running against the next. And when I just looked at there's one foot, there's another one. I'm just doing this right here. And all I'm looking at, and occasionally I would glance up just to make sure I wasn't about to run into a parked car. But I never looked at the top of the grade anymore. And I'm going to say, I think that's the approach. If you know that the degree is leading you in the field that you want to be in and you got to get that degree, if that's the case here. So the pep talk is a glance

at the destination to say, that's what I'm aiming for. But now I better focus on one week, then the next week, the next week, before I know it, a semester is over. And before I know it, I'm at the top of that hill and I will tell you the moment I adopted that I had a much better mental approach to running hills and I will also tell you that I started measuring my pace didn't drop off as much because you stopped focusing on the thing that was freaking you out stop going good grief I got to run to the top of that and it was nope no one foot, one foot. And I would say to myself, one foot, one foot, one foot, because you can't have two thoughts at the same time. That you know what, Ken, that's actually genius, because that's that's a big part of this. I agree

with you 100%. You can't look at the summit, you have to look at where you're at in the moment. And I mean, this is not going to sound very eloquent, but it's the truth. Hard work is hard work. Like people say hard work, like, kind of like a euphemism, like, oh, it's gonna take a lot of hard work like people say hard work like uh kind of like a euphemism like oh it's gonna take a lot of hard work can't believe i gotta do that and then when you do it they're like why is this hard i'm like hard work is hard but you can't look at you can't look at like like ken said you can't jump to the finish line right like right now i have an app that you know does my training for me if i were to skip forward and look at a couple of weeks from now, my heart will start pounding. It's a great illustration.

Because I'll be thinking, oh my gosh, there's no way I can run 20 miles. Right. Because right now I can't. Right. But if I keep going day by day, by the time that day comes, I will be able to run 20 miles. So true. And so this guy, he's just got to look at it one day at a time, focus on the reward, focus on what it's going to build inside you.

Because at the end of the day, you're going to get this degree and you're going to know how to do the things in the field that you need to know how to do. And that's motivating. And for you right now, what is your personal, what's your personal why for this marathon? In other words, let's fast forward to race day and you're going to finish. Let's not even think about your time. What's your why on this a couple of things number one i started hearing a lot of people with a lot of money run marathons so you go i want some of that heck yeah and then i looked at dave and i said if dave ramsey ran ran a marathon at i think he was what how old was he james like 40 in his 40s i think older than that yeah mid

40s i think i mean i mean, I'm exactly 40. And I'm like, if Dave can run a marathon, mom is going to run a marathon. Like, no, for sure. And then the other thing is, there's been two things that have really been definers for me. One was when we paid off the $460,000 of debt. I was like, you can't tell me nothing. Like after this, like nobody can. Don't try to tell me anything because that just created a confidence the second thing was when I had my two babies

I was like now you really can't tell me nothing that's tough and now I'm like if I can run this marathon mentally that just it's a toughness that I want have you have you uh because you've done halves before yes so it's not like your first time but this is the longest and the most grueling workout. 26.2 miles. Are you hitting, are you experiencing that halfway mark where you start to hate yourself? Not yet. Or question your, your reason for living? No, not yet.

Last week, last weekend I ran 13 miles. This weekend I'll run 15 miles. And for me, and I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but for me, this is like, yes, like I am like full Dragon Ball Z, like powering up mode right now. Like I am feeling great. But you're telling me in the middle of the 13 mile run, you're saying I didn't, I didn't hit a moment where I had to press through. I have hit those moments, but Ken, you said it and it is so true. What you say to yourself, you can only have one thought at a time. That is so true what you say to yourself yeah you can only have

one thought attack that is so good because when i'm running if you could hear my my brain in my brain i'm like come on jade like you're a freaking boss jade like you got this like you have to talk to yourself like that because there's nobody else yeah to say it yeah when i'm running i'm by myself anybody else miles coming up this weekend yeah well. You want to do it, Ken? I'll zip along beside you on a bicycle. I mean, I exercise, but I keep mine to short pivots. Ken Coleman is in shape. Let me brag on you.

And I know you guys, you want us to talk about money. I play pickleball. This is all part of it, mindset. I play pickleball with Ken. And Ken, I'm saying this in your favor. Okay. Ken is older than me and older than a lot of the other players. He has more years on us.

I'm the oldest Ramsey personality. I can handle it. But Ken dominated the courts. Let me just tell him. Ken had on his sweatband and his bad guy hair was in his face. That's true. And he won. That's true.

He was in shape before all of us i was like oh my god the thing i'm most proud of is how long i can play pickleball for i can play for three hours and i can keep going ken wanted to keep playing after the pickleball tournament was over everybody else is exhausted they needed lunch we needed a margarita i tell you what i needed i needed more competition feed me he eats competition for breakfast. Feed me more competitors. I'm a gladiator with a paddle. This is The Ramsey Show. I've been doing this show for over 30 years,

and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable. Yeah, and what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to eat next week? Yeah. In the middle of all that grief. Like it's just, it is, it's terrible. So life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive.

Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance. And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza to get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282 or go to zander.com.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show where we help you win with your money, win in your work and win with your relationships. So hey, we're about ready to get back to the phones, but I want to let those of you know that are listening via radio, we're going to continue with you after this segment. But for those watching on YouTube and listening via the podcast app that you prefer, this will be our last segment unless you move over to the Ramsey Network app. That's where you get the full episodes, the full three hours, the only place you can get it unless you are listening on radio. So just wanted to let you

know that. And again, you can check out the Ramsey Network app in the app store or on Google Play. So check that out so you can get the full show. We got some great calls lined up for the rest of today. What's Google Play? Google Play. Just kidding. Oh. Listen to me struggle. I was like, well, it's a, all right. Andrew's joining us now in Toronto, Ohio. Andrew, how can we help today? Hi. Thank you very much for taking my call.

I actually live in Canada where everything is quite a long ways away. I live in the northern region of Canada. And I drive about 7,000 to 8,000 kilometers per month. And I was wondering, should I be looking at maybe leasing an electric vehicle or keeping my current gas SUV? Okay. Is there anything you want to add to that?

You seem like you're going to say something else. I was just going to say something else. I was going to say, because the amount I spend in gas each month is roughly $200 less than electric car lease with the extra kilometers for $80,000 per year. So that's why I thought, I'm usually very against leasing, but I thought, I don't know, is this the one time that there's an exception here? I'm not 100% sure. Well, I think there's two, it sounds like there's two issues here. One is the affordability of your gas, and if you want to lower your gas bill. And the other issue is, if you choose to change vehicles, can you afford it? And do you have the cash to buy the vehicle?

So let's look at it kind of separately for that purpose. First off, for your gas SUV, what are you spending now? How many dollars are you spending a month to fill it up and do all that? About $1,280. So that's the average in the past three months I looked at. Okay, and you're saying that with an electric vehicle, you could lower that by $200? No. So the electric vehicle, because leases usually only go to 24,000 kilometers here in Canada, so buying the extra kilometers, which is $0.08 a kilometer,

totals me about $1,400-ish per month for leasing on a two-year lease and the reason is because i i'm assuming there's no residual value left in the electric car and if there is it'd be small so the the warranty is for 160 000 kilometers and i thought well i'll probably reach that within two years so you know leasing it over two years then here's the keys and i don't have to deal with the speculation on how consumers are going to perceive the value of the electric car once it's gone. Here's the thing. I'm never going to advise you to lease a vehicle and I'm never going to advise you to go into a car note for a vehicle. For the lease, I'm not going to suggest that because it truly is the most expensive way that you could possibly operate a vehicle. Even though you're

like, hey, it's electric's you know rebates that i'm going to get all that uh when you when you do the math on how the payment is how they come to the conclusion of the payment you're going to realize oh my gosh this is the most and i can go over that in a minute um what i would do if i were you it kind of feels like you're going from one extreme to another you've got a the electric vehicle on this end, but then you've got a gas SUV on this end. What if you had a gasoline car that wasn't guzzling as much gas? What if you did that? So I would kind of advise you to look at your options. But at the end of the day, what's really going to inform this is how much money you have. Do you have money to spend on a new vehicle? And that's really where my mind is. So I own my current vehicle.

And yes, I do. I actually teach corporate finance, of all things. But yeah, I have enough to, you know, if I was to go into a dealership and comfortably buy a vehicle, I was going to buy a lot instead. But, you know, if I have to buy a car with it, that's no issue.

But honestly, my current vehicle is fine. It has a lot of life left to it. It's just more of the fact that there's a depreciation expense, right? And there's a gas expense. And by the way, when you lease a car, the depreciation is built into the price of the lease. That's built in. So you're not avoiding that. No. Like that's built in. So you're not getting, you're not avoiding that. No, what I am saying is, you know, if I could buy the electric car in cash, except the car

salesman said, once they're out of warranty, they're really only worth, you know, maybe, you know, 15 or 20,000, you know, in residual value. And he gave an example because he had one that he recently had to buy. And he said said it's because consumers don't realize you can you know maybe replace the battery but you know still it's kind of early and um yeah i mean to your point to your point we are saying i mean we're getting more and more people calling in saying i bought an electric vehicle it's now barely a year later and the value has gone down substantially so there is there are issues there i i'm not necessarily saying that i'm in favor of you having an electric vehicle you're just saying hey this is what i want what i'm simply saying is if you decide to do that i would buy it outright and i would buy it used i would not lease it so

that would be my advice to you um i mean you're grown so you'll probably go away from here and you'll do what you choose to do but that would be my advice okay i'm going to stick with my my gas card and the only incentive i thought was the lease payment was cheaper than the gas but you know what the way that you but i don't understand i don't understand why not why not even maybe try to come to the states and get a used electric car that's what i'm thinking uh would they be under warranty though right and how long to do those electric car batteries last in lifetime you're asking the wrong cat because i don't i don't want an electric car ever i'm a classic car guy in fact the older the car the better for me uh so i'm just being honest i don't

know i'm asking you so you came at us with a lease about 200 000 kilometers and then they have like a you have to pay 20 000 for a new battery to be installed yeah and andrew okay good so so in my asking that you've given yourself another an answer as to why it's not a good play for electric cars in general and there's another part of this with the amount that you're driving uh and i don't know i don't have an electric vehicle i only talk to the only person i know who has one, which is George. And the few calls that come in here about them is the charging. Like there's more to the charging than meets the eye. There's the time. Yeah.

And then if you want to do the quick charge, that costs more. Do you know how much a battery costs for my gas car? Why would you buy something? And I'm not even, Andrew, I don't even know why anyone would buy an electric car based on what you just told me because it's like once the battery goes that's that and you have to know where you can charge it you're driving long distances can it make that distance like how many trips can you make per charge that's the way my brain is thinking that feels like a headache to me so yeah as they say on shark tank for that reason i'm out yeah yeah i love that and that means i'm out too so i was leaning towards keeping the car but i the math was going the one way i'm like

ah this can't be true but let's call it a ramsey show but i'm glad you guys agree yeah you know as a society we really don't know enough about these cars to make a is your car are you using your car uh for your own business or do you work for someone else and it requires you to do all this driving? My own business. So you do write off all those expenses, or at least every expense that you can on the car. So that's at least a positive. There's some breaks there about running that through your business. But, I mean, that's what it is, man.

And that's the nature of what you're doing. So you got to build into that. You know, my retainerings on a business like that would be like car replacement funds. 100%. 100%. I'd have a line item on that. Are you doing that, Andrew? No, I usually include travel in with my consulting practice that I have. I usually include travel in the price that I give for the engagement, but maybe charging the service might be a better idea. Well, no, it's great.

But what I'm saying is, Jade, you're with me. If you're going to do that, I would put all that money into a car replacement fund. It is a huge part of your business, my friend. I see what you're saying. You should be putting, well, let's just run this through. We've got about a minute and a half. I'm going to give it to the budget guru. So how much money do you pay yourself?

Me right now? Yeah. $150,000 a year. Okay, great. And do you have some margin? I'm guessing you have some margin in the business after you pay yourself? Yeah, I usually keep very little profit in the business to minimize corporate taxes. But how much money could you put away, real quick, how much money could you

put away a month in your business for a car replacement after paying yourself at all expenses? About $1,500. Yeah, do that. That's great. I'm doing that today. Yeah, I would too. I mean, you've got some margin there. Start putting a car replacement fund in your corporate bank account, and, boy, that's going to be great. Good hour, Jay. Great call. Enjoy that. This is The Ramsey Show. This is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life.

Winning with your money, winning in your work, and winning in your relationships is the goal, and we're here to help. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225 for you to jump in on the conversation. It's about you and your life, so let's go. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw with me. Let's get to the phones. Denver, Colorado is where we go next, and Derek is there. Derek, how can we help? Hi, guys. Jade, congratulations can we help? Hi, guys. Jade, congratulations on the new book. Thank you.

I appreciate that. All right. Okay. Is it cool if I give a very quick breakdown just so my questions get a little bit more set? Yeah. Okay. So I live at home.

I'm 19. My dad, Henry, introduced me to your guys' financial guidelines very early in my financial career. So I've never opened a credit card, no FICO score, none of that. Right now I'm saving for my 20% down on my first property that I'm going to buy, I plan on buying in a few years. So I'm just wondering if you guys have any tips for the whole manual underwriting process, things I should be doing now to prepare myself for when that day comes and things like that. Yeah. Listen, I love that you are doing the

Ramsey principles. This is going to be great for you. It's already panning. Listen, I love that you are doing the Ramsey principles. This is going to be great for you. It's already panning out well. I love that you're saving the 20% down. So when it comes to manual underwriting, the biggest thing that you're doing now that I would be aware of is if you're still living at home, I would make sure that you're paying your parents some form of rent. Are you paying them anything? Yep yes i am okay and there's a paper trail um uh it's more sort of me just transferring my mother money um it's not i don't know if there's a certain way i should be doing it or yeah i mean as long as it's electronic and you can go back and show hey i've been paying this amount in rent for this amount of time

um that's actually going to be really really really helpful for you. Because when you're doing the manual underwriting process, they want to see that you have 12 months of documented rental history. Oh, okay. So just make sure to keep track of those things. Uh-huh. And make sure that it's consistent. It's, you know, all those things, just as though you were in an apartment. It's consistent. You're paying it every month. You're paying it around the same time every month. Because truly, that's what they're looking to see is can you handle a payment every month

and are you consistent in that way? The other thing that they're going to look for are other trade lines. So trade lines are things like cell phones, utilities, even if you're making insurance payments. So if you're not paying your car, let's pretend your parents are paying your car insurance. Now would be the time that I'd say, you know what, mom and dad, let me pay my car insurance because that's one of my trade lines. And again, they're going to want 12 months of documented history of those trade lines. So these

are the kind of the things that you're going to want to be making sure that you have in place ahead of time before you do this manual underwriting. The other thing, of course, is actual money, right? They want to know with manual underwriting, they're not looking at a credit score. They're looking to see, do you have money and how are you managing it? So they're going to want to see your income for the last 12 months and 24 months if you're self-employed. So think through that. They're going to want to see pay stubs for the last 30 days, that kind of thing. So that's what they're going to be looking for. Okay. Sounds good. And then do you guys also have any advice on, you know, just first-time property? You know, do you guys, you know, condos, houses, you know, is it too early for a house?

You guys have advice on that? You know, it's kind of just a, you know, I just early for a house you guys advice on that um you know it's kind of just a you know i just have a ballpark right now i'm not sure what to really aim at um yeah that makes sense yeah i mean i would not bite off more than you can chew uh now's not the time to be buying a four-bedroom house i'd be looking for something that suits your needs maybe it's a townhouse maybe it's a condo um you're not going to buy the best house in the neighborhood you're probably going to buy one you know the cheaper house in the neighborhood that you maybe do a little bit of fix up on and that, you know, it has some room to appreciate over time. That's what I'd be looking for. And above all, it's what you can afford. That's above all. You don't want this thing to be any more than 25% of your take home pay. And that's everything all included that's homeowners insurance that's

HOA fees all of that all in should be no more than 25 percent. Yeah so the idea is crawl before you walk here you know there are seasons of life where you're upgrading and I remember the first house we bought it looks like a matchbox you know if I were to drive by it you know so that just is what it is so what you can afford and just be patient, be patient, be patient. Andrew's up next in Greenville, South Carolina. Andrew, how can we help? Hi. Hi.

So about a year ago, I was in a car wreck and I ended up being okay. I had to get reconstructive surgery in my hand. A year later, I graduate from university. I am now married. Living on my own, I have a living on a budget, a ball on a budget. And in the settlement, um, I'm, um, all of my medical debt is going to be paid, but, um, I'm expecting to get anywhere between a hundred to $300,000, which is the most money I've ever, um, had. And I wanted some advice going forward. Um, I, and my biggest question is,

is it more important to invest in a property and put equity and flat out pay for a house in cash? Or is it better to just invest a lump sum into the stock market and not touch it for like 20 years and just have compound interest accrue on that. I've had some people give me general advice. The first and foremost is I'm paying off my family's student loans and we're just going to be debt free house. Okay. When you say your family's student loan, is that you and your wife, or are you talking about extended family? Me and my wife. Okay. Let me just break in real quick and make sure I understand. So is the only debt that you and your wife have, the student loans, that's the only debt? Yes. And how much is it?

I think it's going to be total about $40,000. $40,000 for zero? Yes. Okay. And then you told me that the settlement was going to be enough to cover the medical bills. And then you said you should be receiving $1,000 to $300,000. Is that after the medical bills are paid? Yes.

Okay. So then my next thought is there's a big difference between 100,000 and 300,000 when will you know what it's actually going to be um probably in the next six months um it's um my lawyers i mean of course they say they can't know for sure but yeah okay so then let's play let's play out both tracks so if you get 100,000 you pay off the student loans that leaves you with 60,000 you need three to six months of expenses let's call that 25,000 I think so okay so now yeah okay so we take I mean what would you say between 20 and 25, right?

Or do you think you need more? It'd probably be on the lesser end. Right now I just, I have, um, we'll call it 20,000. My cost of living is not that high in my area. Um, but then we'll call it 20,000 and now, and now you've got 40,000 left. And so you could, you could call that a down payment on a house that you can afford. So that's how I play that out. With the $300,000, suddenly you have a lot more money.

After you pay off the student loans, you've got $260,000 left. You get rid of that. You get rid of the three to six months. You got $240,000 left. Suddenly that looks like maybe you could buy a house outright, depending on your area. left. You get rid of that. You get rid of the three to six months. You got $240 left. Suddenly, that looks like maybe you could buy a house outright, depending on your area, or you could split the difference and you could say, I'm going to put $100,000 on a house and I'm going to invest $140,000 into a lump sum. What you do need to make sure you get with is a Ramsey SmartVestor Pro.

So after this call, get on to ramseysolutions.com slash SmartVor or slash trusted, and we can help you out with everything you need. Good call. Got to run for a quick break. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman.

Jade Warshaw is with me, and we are here for you taking your questions. 888-825-5225. We want you to win with your money. We want you to win in your work with your income and we want you to win in your relationships. And you start looking about, you start looking at the relationship between money and work, which is your income,

your greatest wealth building tool and relationships around money issues. You start going, you know what? If we knew where our money was going and we had a plan as in a budget, maybe just maybe each one of those areas of life wouldn't have to always have tension. Maybe there's harmony. And that leads me to a live seminar. I say seminar, webinar for heaven's sakes. Nobody does a seminar anymore.

This is the new phrase for that. It's an online seminar. Let's seminar. Webinar, for heaven's sakes. Nobody does a seminar anymore. This is the new phrase for that. It's an online seminar. Let's call it a webinar. Let's call it an online class. Online class. It's a class. And you are leading one, coming up. Yeah, it's an online class.

It's a live training, if you will. It's this coming Thursday. So in two days, September 12th. It's going to be at noon Central Time. So whatever that means for you lunch and learn lunch and learn i like that it's a time for you to get this right here says get clarity with your money but what i'm going to say i'm going to shoot straight with you guys we're going to show you how to find two thousand dollars in your budget and i don't know anybody who would

say i don't need two thousand dollars everybody wants to find two thousand and when i tell you we're about to get real practical on this we're going to talk about things like changing your withholding. We're going to show you exactly how to do it to find an extra $300, $400. We're going to show you how to change if you're contributing to your investing and it's not time yet. We're going to tell you how to pick up side hustles. We're going to recommend some for you. This is so tactical and practical. This is us rolling up our sleeves and getting dirty with the budget. So you can find some money. You can register for free. Again, this is totally free. You can go to everydollar.com slash webinar, or you can click

the link in the description if you are listening to this on YouTube or on podcast. But guys, we've had over 100,000 people register for these events. These live trainings are crazy. And you really get the tools that you need to go on and actually be able to do your budget effectively and actually win with money. So now is your turn. This is the number one way, guys, the number one way to do the things we teach to eliminate debt. You got to budget in order to build wealth.

You have to budget in order to get on the same page with your spouse with money. You have to budget in order to build wealth. You have to budget in order to get on the same page with your spouse, with money. You have to budget. It's part and partial to this whole thing. You can't get around it. The number one way to eliminate stress in your life is to budget. And so if you've been putting it off or if you're like, Jade, I don't know how to do it or Jade, I don't have time. Now's the time to put those excuses aside because I'm going to show you.

I'm going to be there with you, and we're going to get this thing under control. All right. So we'll be looking forward to that. Going to be some great results. Back to the phones we go. Dee is joining us in New York City. Dee, how can we help? Hey, Ken.

Hey, Ken. Hi, Jade. How are you guys doing? Good. How are you? We're doing really good. Thank you for asking. Sure.

Before I get into my questions, guys, I just wanted to give a big shout out to you all. Thank you for everything that you guys do. And I say that with personal experience because, you know, when I moved to this country in 2008, I didn't have much to my name. I only had 200 bucks. And I wish I had found the Ramsey Show earlier on. But fast forward to 2024, we recently just paid off our mortgage with about $450,000. Wow. Way to go. In under two years.

Wow. Holy moly. We just threw everything at it. Yeah, we threw everything at it, much like you guys recommend. So we paid it off in under two years. We're saving for our children's college fund where we pay off our home early. So I suppose I'm in baby step number seven. Yeah, you are. Yeah. Yes, sir. If that mortgage is gone, yes, sir.

I'm telling you right now with bells on. Wow. Thank you so much for that help, by the way. It's been phenomenal. You did the work, and you worked hard. That's a lot of house payment in two years. Way to go. Yes, sir.

How can we help today? We just bid to go ahead. Yes, sir. How can we help today? So my question today is, um, when do I, when is the right time to quit my, my full-time job and dedicate my energy and resources towards my side business, which I'm hoping to make my full time. Um, so I have a coffee company. I'm a coffee roaster. I've been roasting for about five years now. And the name of my company is American Dream Coffee Company. And I named it that because, again, like I mentioned, I moved here in 2008 with next to nothing to my name. And in 2024, I have a decent sized house, a couple of cars, good savings, paid off the mortgage, a wife, a four-month-year-old child. So everything is going in my way. And it's thanks to God. God really blessed me with everything that I have. And I want to spread that message that the American dream is still alive. And you have to work hard for it. Amen. Good for you, bro.

Amen is right. And anything that's difficult is worthwhile. And if it's not worthwhile, or if it's not difficult, then it's probably not worthwhile. How much money are you making in your day job it's uh it's it's a good amount it's uh about 350 did you say 200 or 300 300 350 000 what do you do sales advertising sales okay good and how much revenue is is the coffee roasting company bringing in? Gross revenue. Yeah, gross revenue for this year, we're projected at anywhere between $75,000 to $100,000. Okay.

And my guess is you are not paying yourself any of that this year. You're just putting it all back into the business? Yes, sir. Okay. And you have no debt. You're baby step seven. How long have you been doing the coffee roasting? I've been roasting for about five years,

but the company is just a little over a year old. Okay, and so you're projected to do 75K to 100K gross. All right, let me ask you this. What is your profit margin on that? Let's just make it easy. Let's go 100 grand because we're talking in round numbers. It's not going to affect my answer that much, but I'm curious, what's your profit margin on that? Let's just make it easy. Let's go 100 grand because we're talking in round numbers. It's not going to affect my answer that much, but I'm curious. What's your profit margin on 100K? Somewhere around 55%. Okay. Good.

Good. Okay. So how much money will you have saved in the coffee roasting company at the end of this year? Saved? So that's a good question. I don't save anything. I just put everything back in the company. Okay, but could you? Or do you need to put every dime back into it at this stage to keep it generating this kind of revenue? Unfortunately, I do have to put every penny back. It's okay.

There's no right or wrong answer there. It's just the stage of business that you're in. So you understand what I'm doing? I'm trying to get an idea of how much money you actually could put in a retained earnings. That's our way of describing a company savings account. So here's my simple answer. to your question, which is, when do I leave my full-time gig and step into my side hustle? And everybody's got a different timeline to this, but my rule of thumb is you move to the side hustle, the coffee roasting business, when it pays you what you're making now. This is a rule of thumb. Pays you what you're making now, and you have six to twelve months of your income your current income in the bank of the roasting company now i said rule of thumb what i mean by that is that's not a hard and fast rule because somebody like you in your situation of life uh that might

change right you may not need the you don't need to be able to pay yourself 350 because of what you've done to this point, and you have some financial freedom and margin. But a rule of thumb is whatever you want to make, all right, you better have six months minimum. I'm a 12-month guy. I want 12 months of what I want to pay myself if I walk from the day job and I walk full-time into the coffee roasting. So that's going to take some time and some patience, but that would be my answer. Jade, you may have a different take on it. I just have a clarifying question. So when you say can six months,

that's in savings? In the retained earnings. So in other words, in the coffee roasting savings account, he's got six months of the 350 so say he wants to pay himself 150 a year so then he's got that times three i want 75 okay if he's going to pay himself 150 i want 75 minimum in the coffee roasting company set aside for his income got it now i prefer 12 let me ask about this because this is the part that i think about because uh D I my husband and I have a small business um how many months do you want to see that type of profit like what yeah how many like not just in savings but how long do you want to see that that consistency oh I want to see two years on the books and he's already going to be at a minimum of that right now. So that's the whole point. It's a very good question. That's why I put that six months of

your income to 12 months, because that's going to require you to have that pipeline just brimming for a couple of years. Because here's why I want that. Small businesses dip. They ebb, they flow. They do. They do. I want that income set aside so that we're not struggling. It's already hard enough to run a business. This is The Ramsey Show. The Ramsey Show continues. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside. 888-825-5225. That's the phone number to jump in. 888-825-5225. Emily is up next in Springfield, Missouri. Emily, how can we help today?

Hello. I am 20 years old. I currently do not have a job. And in order to get a job, I need to get a car. But I don't have money to get a car. And I don't have credit either. I've never had a credit card or anything like that. So I'm just, I don't really know what to do. My parents can't help.

I'm living at home with my parents. Okay. And what kind of job do you think you could get if you had a car? Give me some ideas that you've got running through your head. Okay. So right now I'm actually in a lobotomy program to get certified. I had had some experience before, but usually in order to get a job, if you're not certified, you need like three to five years of experience, which I didn't have, or they want you certified.

So I went to do that. I have three weeks left of the program. So that's kind of what I was thinking of a job. Okay, great. So what would be entry level coming off of that certification? From the research I've done, it looks like depending on the area, anywhere from 15 to about 20 an hour. My local area is a little bit on the lower end. I was also considering

moving to Tennessee, and it's a little higher there. Okay. And how long have you been living with mom and dad? I mean, this has been through the whole process, high school, and you've just been with them the entire time, or is this a new development? Okay, so I haven't really lived at home much since I was 17. Okay. After high school, I did two short training programs, more like lifestyle, health-based things, not really certified, can't get a job with it. I was really grateful for the information.

And then I just, like a month and a half ago, came back from a year of volunteering slash mission work overseas. Okay. How old are you now? No, I'm at home. Uh, 20. Okay. Um, I, I don't, I don't think that this is impossible as you think it is. I'm bringing in auntie Jade here. Um, cause I think she's going to agree with me. Um, mom and dad can't help. Okay. I don't know what that means. And I don't's going to agree with me. Mom and dad can't help. Okay, I don't know what that means. And you're living with them. And I don't even need to know. They're already helping you out there. I think you can get a job or two or three

and find a way to Uber or take public transportation, Springfield area. I mean, there's a way to get to a job until you can buy a car but if this is a setup for i am the case where you guys are going to have to say should probably go get a car loan that's not where we're going jade you want to jump in you've heard as much as i have yeah i i'm with ken um you've got three weeks until you're certified until then i'm applying everywhere within walking distance.

Your parents aren't moving their cars. The Temptations had a song called 25 Miles. Your parents can't take you to work? Yeah. Okay, here's the problem is, Springfield is the largest New York City, but we live like an hour and a half from there, out in the boondocks.

Okay, but your parents can't take you to a job? 20 to 30 minute drive to any town. Okay. Okay, so that is one potential option. However, we have about two vehicles that work. One, we're still waiting on the title so we can start driving it. And they're wanting to sell the other ones. Are they going to sell it in three weeks um probably not because i'm still using it yeah so just tell them say mom dad i need three weeks i got i have the certification certification coming up i'm trying to get up out of your house yeah i need three weeks to use this car to get to my job because i got to get a job so that i can get a car so i don't have to drive your car what are they going to sell that car for do you know um well they need to they're wanting to get another smaller vehicle that i also could use um i don't know how long

no like my question is getting old and dying i get it but how much are they going to sell that car that you're currently using what are they planning to sell that car that you're currently using? What are they planning to sell it for? I think maybe $2,000. Great. Tell them you'll buy it from them. Say, mom and dad, let me use it until I get a job and then I'm going to buy that car for me. For $2,000. I think you have more help than you realize. Yeah. Okay. The only question I had for you is when you do do the training for the phlebotomy are you gonna is it enough work that you'll be working 40 hours a week uh yes i can do there's even some that i can end up working more okay excellent because i do think that you're going to need more um and moving and by the way i I love moving. I love the idea of moving. I love you getting out of the sticks out of mom and dad's house.

That's good for you. Yeah. Yeah. Fly. Fly, little bird. I'm so allergic to the house. Oh, well, that's even better. I didn't know you were allergic to it.

Fly. Yeah. Go. Okay, so just a quick question about buying their car, which I agree could work. It is a giant nine-feet or suburban, and it gets like 10 miles to the gallon, something like that. Yeah, I get that. So I would like something that has much better gas mileage and is smaller. It was just a suggestion. If you don't want to buy their car, you don't have to.

But the idea is you've got options here. Again, lay out the plan. Say, Mom, Dad, I got to borrow the car. I'm getting this job. I'll be able to save up an X amount of time to buy my own car. Really sit down and put this plan on paper and put timelines, put amounts,

put all of that detail there so that not only for your parents, but so that you can look at it and go, okay, wow, in six months, here's where I'll be. And I have the numbers to back it up. It's almost like a business plan. And you'll be able to look at it and see, okay, I have intention here. I have put urgency to this. I've put facts and numbers to this and I can walk this out step-by-step. Yeah, I agree. You presented us with a no way out scenario. And I hope that we have

encouraged you to see that you have plenty of ways out. Yeah. In three weeks, you'll be making $15 per hour. That's $2,400 per month. If you say, you know, how much can you save for the next six months? How much do you need to save to get a car? Go online and look at the car that seems about right. Find you a $5,000 car. Say, how long will it take me to save that? Okay. I put that on the sheet of paper. Once I've got the car, now I'm going to start researching places like Tennessee and I'm going to see what does it cost to move? And put those numbers out.

Do your research. You know what I think she needs? Emily, I'm going to make a suggestion here and I'm probably going to get criticized for it from Jade, but I'm going with it. Go with it. You know what I think you need? I think you need to play Katy Perry's song,

Roar, really loud. Oh, man. I can't sing it. and i'm gonna blow out this microphone come on that's good she's a little little girl power you're gonna hear me roar like i can do this that's good i can finish this certificate i can get hired i can move somewhere else i can buy my own car you're gonna hear me roar i like it katie perry you see what i'm sorry? I'm sorry about the, you know, I'm not a music connoisseur. That's a good song. You're going to hear me roar. That's good. I love when you, see, no other Ramsey personality can do that like that.

Listen, I tried to back off from the mic. I'm not even going to look at James. He's probably mad because we don't have licensing. Is that a licensing issue? No, I love it. It's great. He loves it. Look how enthusiastic he is.

No, he's always that way. If he won the lottery, that's how he would sound. Yeah. He'd be like, this is ridiculous. I won $5 million. But James doesn't play the lottery either. We don't want rumors to be started. Emily, you know, I'm trying to encourage you.

Like, that was a silly thing to say. But you're right, Kim. You got this, kiddo. You just came back from overseas in a foreign country serving other people okay you got this i mean the sticks near springfield missouri's got nothing holding you back nothing on you listen most kids your age can't survive in a in another country another country without some type of support system. You went out and you did it. You left mom and dad.

You went and you served people. I just want you to sense that. We believe in you. I want you to know that you've got this. You aren't limited. You are unlimited in what you can do, Emily. Wow. Thank you so much.

You got it. That's really helpful. Good. So maybe a different do. Emily? Wow. Thank you so much. You got it. That's really helpful. Good. So maybe a different song. That was good. But the spirit of it. Yeah. I'm thinking I will survive.

Gloria Gaynor? Yeah. Come on. Legend. At first I wasn't afraid. I was petrified. But see, I'm okay throwing out the one recommendation and you make it better. I'm okay with that.

I'm like, you made me have to belt on live radio. Oh yeah, I made you. You loved it. You were like, you were getting that in your head. I had to remember how it went. Yeah, that's right. No, I love it. Emily, listen, you're a world changer. And we believe that. And we're speaking that over you today.

So thanks for the call. You got this, kiddo. Alright, quick break. Jade's going to have to gargle some salt water after hitting the high notes, acapella. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside.

Our scripture of the day comes from 1 Peter 4, verse 10. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to then serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. Our quote of the day from Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts. Life, I should say, the comic strip. Some people are like, what?

I thought that was George Washington Carver. No, no. See, I know some people were confused. I knew I confused them immediately. Snoopy. Snoopy, no. See, I know some people were confused. I knew I confused them immediately. Snoopy. Snoopy. Yes. Thank you. Charles Schultz. Life is like a 10 speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. I'm into that. Yes. Ouch. You're training for the marathon coming up. Nashville Marathon nashville marathon and um do you on some of your longer runs when you've got you know you've got the last half mile

are you uh are you giving a little extra i put on you can't actually sprint at that stage because you're running so long but do you do you speed it up i put on countdown by beyonce and i go as fast as i can go so you do finish finish strong. Yes. I love that. It's very exciting. You know, Stacey and I may have to come out to cheer you and Sam on. That would do that. I would feel warmth in my heart if he did that. Because I've run, I ran the half.

I was one and done. I retired. Yeah. After one. You got injured, right? I look like an injured water buffalo on the Serengeti that you see on National Geographic. You know, it's like the one where like all the wildebeest have run off and poor Wilbur's there yeah he's limping and it's like it's a matter it's like oh he's 30 seconds from death the the lion they're on him poor guy

he's limping his left leg it's gone he's got no shot okay did you finish I did finish you were able to finish yeah that's all that matters. But I remember that my wife and kids were there. Yeah. And it meant the world to me. Yeah. Here's the segue. You need people in your corner cheering you on.

And I sort of get it, half marathon. So Stacey and I will be there, and we'll make sure that we get you to an immediate pasta, pizza, something. Immediate. I need intravenous red sauce after that you will that's gonna be fun all right daniella is up in san antonio texas daniella how can we help today hi this is so exciting well we're excited to talk to you what's happening so i've been listening to the show since i was 18, and I decided right then and there that I was going to graduate from college debt-free. Way to go. Good for you.

Thank you. So fast forward four years later, I just walked the stage this past May debt-free. Come on. Very good. That's wonderful. I wish I had the graduation music queued up. I'd play it. We're very proud of you. That's an awesome achievement. Like you are in the 0.1 percenters. Way to go. Yeah. Thank you so much. So yeah, I'm starting off my post-grad life with a clean slate and I have a degree in health. I'm not necessarily looking for a job as a nurse or a medical assistant. I like doing health education, customer service, community outreach. And I've had a few job interviews. I've been applying for jobs, but nothing has really stuck.

And I was just wondering, what's your best advice for someone like me starting off to stand out in the job search process, make better connections and land more interviews? Well, you answered your own question. Make better connections. Right now, the best thing you can do because you're young, you're right out of school, but you're in a field right now that needs a lot of health workers. I mean, that field is growing. In fact, in the latest job report, it was one of the highest growth sectors. So the opportunity is there. And you just have to stand out. You essentially answered your own question. So I'm going to give you the book, The Proximity Principle. It's the number one best

seller. And I'm going to give it to you. Christian will give it to you, whatever format you want, audio, ebook, or hard copy. And I want you to read it, but I'm going to sum this up for you. Okay. Here's what The Proximity Principle says. In order to do what Daniella wants to do she's got to be around people who are doing it and in places where it is happening. Does that make sense? Yes sir. Okay so listen that means that right now you are trying to have lunch or coffee or shadow as many people as possible that are in those, and I think I heard you outline three positions. I think I heard three professional positions. Let's look at all three. We want to have coffee, lunch, or shadow them. Now, how do we do that? This is Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, your social networks, your church networks, your college school networks,

wherever you're living, if you're living in the San Antonio area, who do I know that works in those positions or who do I know that works in a hospital? Because if they work in a hospital or health clinics, then they probably know those people. Does that still make sense what I'm saying? Yes. All right. So those people who know those people or who you know who are those people. Does that still make sense what I'm saying? Yes. All right. So those people who know those people or who you know who are those people, those are the people that you're doing coffee with, lunch, shadowing them. And the idea is we're going to show up humble and hungry. Okay. And you're there to learn from them. How did you get in? What would you recommend for me? Are there three people or two people that you could connect me to? I'd like to work over here. There's an open position. Do you know somebody over there? This becomes a full-time job for you. And now's the time to go all in. Now, if you've got to get in, now I say full-time job. My point is that's your focus. But if you've got to get a basic job right now, waiting tables or whatever, that's okay. You're not a failure. You're in transition,

but I would do whatever it takes to stay afloat and do exactly what I just described. And if you do that, the opportunity is going to knock on your door because somebody's going to go, I know, I know somebody who's hiring right now. They got a clerical position. It's going to be half paperwork and files, a little bit of reception stuff. And your answer is I'm in, right? You take an opportunity because you're not limited to that. You're just now getting on the ladder, kiddo. Auntie Jade, what do you got? I think you just, for me, it's a little bit of a patience game. Like you're just getting started. Give yourself a little bit of time, give yourself a little bit of grace. You're still learning. So there's going to be things, obviously you're calling in here to're still learning so there's going to be things obviously you're calling in here to learn more but there's going to be things that you do right and then you're going to learn from the things you did wrong so

just embrace the fact that this is a timeline that's right i mean ken my question is you're fresh out of college how long like on average do you find that it takes people to kind of land that first, I'm in my field, I'm ready to kind of hang out in this position for maybe a couple of years? It's interesting. I'm going to look the data up on that. So I want the audience to know that this is a gut feel. I haven't studied data on this, but I'm going to say 60 to 90 days. Okay. Two to three months.

Okay. I mean, you're fresh out. You're fresh. You know, and it all depends on location. Yeah, I think that's a big player here. You start looking at my field, the metro, I'm going to say metropolitan area-ish that I'm in, and then what's the need? So if we look at the data, Danielle, what I can tell you is that people are, one of the fastest growing careers where jobs are being added at the highest rate is in healthcare. All right?

And so you mentioned two or three different positions in the healthcare space. Sorry, I did not turn my phone off. That was my text sound. No, that was me whistling. Thank you. Jade's like, Ken, I'd like the ball, please. I have something to say. Could you imagine if you whistled at me?

I've got something to say. Sorry about that, Daniela. But I just think that you are in a field where they're looking for bodies. And so one piece of advice I didn't give you is, please do not rely on the online submission of your resume. I know you've had a few interviews. I know you've had a, is that what you've been doing? No, I've had different connections and then I'll go do the interview and then they tell me that they're not hiring or I'm calling the different departments and saying, hey, just following up. So I'm trying to outreach and do that type of thing. Good. Listen, keep doing it. It sounds like you've been really close, but you're having conversations that may come back to you six hours from now. True that.

But if they're not hiring, that's okay. But you want to actually be connecting the dots to places that are hiring. And so my homework assignment for you is, in your area, see if you can find in those two to three positions you mentioned, five to ten places that can find in those two to three positions you mentioned, five to 10 places that are hiring in those positions. Now, what I want you to do is, is start asking, who do I know that works in those locations? If the answer is nobody, then go, who do I know that knows somebody? And that's where we put the word out. You go, Hey, I'm looking at five different clinics. Here

they are. Anybody know anybody over there? And that's how that opens up. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes. There you go. This is just, as Jade said, this stinks. You know what this is? This is the tension between persistence and patience.

Oh, good one. Right? I got to get up and go after it. I'm hunting, but I may not kill it today. Yeah. But there's always tomorrow. But it'll come. Good show hunting, but I may not kill it today. Yeah. But there's always tomorrow. But it'll come. Yeah.

Good show today, Jay. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks to James Childs, our fearless leader. And you, America, this is The Ramsey Show. I'll see you next time.