The Ramsey Show - App - I'm 13 and Started My Own Business (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your money and your life. I'm John Deloney, joined here by best-selling author, international sensation and good friend Anthony O'Neill, and we are taking your calls about your money, about your life, about the things that are going on inside and outside of your home, and your heart and your mind, and in your

checking account. Anthony, how are we doing? Good, man. How about yourself? We're doing all right. So as we're taking your calls, 888-825-5225, it usually helps to give the number here. Anthony, how's your week, month, year been going? It's been a little rough, bro.

But, you know, I'm getting through it, man. You know, we are fighting through doing some things. But just grateful to be here, man, you know. Just grateful to be walking. Grateful for another day to get up and do God's work and do what I'm assigned to do, man. I've had a similar... It's been a rough couple of weeks. Yeah, yeah.

What's a go-to thing? And I realize that there's millions of people listening to this. I'm just asking you as a buddy, what's a go-to thing for you? When things get heavy and when things are... Man, kicking that leg out of bed in the morning gets tough yeah yeah i think for me man i honestly uh just disconnect you know some people may say like

you as a therapist or a counselor may say that's unhealthy but for me um i disconnect so i get off social media i get off of uh the cell phones i i don't respond to text messages i don't respond to people. I just get in my own little private little prayer closet and just spend some time in the dark, breathing, meditating, reading something either spiritual or inspirational just to reset my brain. That's that's super healthy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, and so that's what I do, you know, and it works well for me.

And then honestly, then honestly, bro, then I'm truthful throughout the day. If I'm not having a great day, you know, people walk by like, man, how are you? Hey, not doing so great, but I'll be all right. You know, in the past, but hey, how are you? I'm doing good. How about yourself? When really I'm doing bad or really I'm not feeling the best, but I should be able to be honest and still be productive, still have a smile on my face and still be good. So that's one thing that I do, man.

I love that. That's, that's living an authentic life, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, cause before I used to try to cover it all up and I think covering it up is unhealthy. Yeah, it shows exactly. It shows it down, right? That's, that's, that's, you depress it, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, it's just like, hey, let's just be real, Ayo. You're not having a great week. You're not having a great day. But I can still be respectful. I can still smile. I can still be honest.

Show up and get your stuff done, right? Yeah, show up and get the job done and go home and play with my little girl, Raven, and run around with her and still be decompressing what's going on and talking through it. But really, for me, man, I connect with my mentor, my therapist, and my spiritual leader, man, just to get me back focused.

Because what we do as a living bro, we got to be on all the time. We are expected to be on all the time. And so sometimes when I'm home, I just disconnect it. So I can be on when I have to be on. I think that idea, man. If you were to ask me the same thing, I'd disconnect it. So I can be on when I have to be on. I think that idea, man. If you were to ask me the same thing, I'd say this. You got to withdraw and you got to find solitude and then you've got to

reach out to other people. Those two things, man. And like your text message yesterday morning, I was like, man, I appreciate that, bro. I was honestly in my therapy talking to my therapist and right in the middle of that, I get your text message right around like 8, 15, 8, 30. Turn your cell phone off during counseling, man.

No, I mean, I didn't read until after counseling. Oh, okay. But when I got in the car, I was like, oh, man, that's what's up, man. So I appreciate that because she was just asking me how am I, and I was just being honest with her. And so to get in my car to see your text message, bro, that was just good. That's important, too. When you are going through, make sure you're connected to healthy friends who know how to speak into your life.

That can help you push forward. It's become incredibly important to me after losing several people I care about over the last few years. If a name pops into my head, stop what you're doing. Make a phone call. I need to do that. If a name pops into my head, especially someone I hadn't thought of in a while.

Yeah. I'm going to stop what I'm going to do. I'm going to send a text message. I'm going to shoot an email to write a card to, um, you can never tell somebody that they're loved enough. You know, that that's pretty,

that's pretty good for those of y'all listening right now, to the millions of people listening right now, whatever name just popped up in your head right now, I think you need to send them a text message, give them a call, send them an email, send them a DM, and just be glad to them. And some of you, that means you're going to reach out and say, I'm sorry. Yes.

Right? You're going to reach out and say you're sorry. Absolutely. All right, let's go to the phone here. Let's go to Haley in Kansas City. Let's see here. Haley, what's going on? Hi.

How are you guys? Good. I'm excited to be talking to you guys. We're excited to be talking to you. So what's up? How can we help? So I'm actually about two and a half hours away from Kansas City. I currently am self-employed. I'm a hairstylist in Manhattan, Kansas, if I should go back to being an employee,

quick background, I'll try to keep it brief. I currently drive about an hour and 45 minutes to work. My husband and I moved back to his hometown in north central rural Kansas in the fall. That's highway driving, not like city traffic driving. And I've been self-employed one year, survived COVID. My business has done really well. And I have an opportunity to maybe buy a salon space where we live. We would be taking out a small business loan to do so. We're debt-free. We're building up our emergency fund again post-COVID. I would probably take a wage cut if I went back to working for someone up there. I have a better chance of maintaining my income, staying self-employed, but then we'd have the small business loan to pay off on this long-term location.

Why does it have to be either or right now? Well, I had a year in my lease. That you earned and you built up over time? It could. So I signed another, I'm in a year lease in my current studio. So i'll be commuting until december basically but um it definitely kind of takes a toll being away during the week we don't have kids or anything but i have dogs and um you have a husband i guess i i have a husband too i've got dogs and he knows. But yeah, I just I know I don't want to be commuting almost two hours one way, four days a week come next year. So I want to be closer to home. But just trying to decide, I guess, what the smartest thing to is, and if that means kind of sacrificing my self-employment for a few years. Yeah, I think you've made your decision.

You want to stay at home. I think it's how you're going to get there. Never in a million years did you take out a small business loan. And you've already signed a lease, so you're committed to this thing through December. So what I would do is look at ways you guys can sock away money. You guys can pack and sock away money.

I think you can probably open your own business there or you can do both. It's when we get into this either or thinking but you've made your decision up. You're going to move in. You're going to move back closer to home with your husband. Work closer to home with your husband. Figure out how to make it work

and do not take out a loan. For God's sake, don't take out a loan. This is The ramsey show this time last year we didn't know how our lives were going to change we didn't have a clue that covid job loss and homeschooling were about to take over our daily existence. And you may be feeling like last year got away from you. Maybe you lost complete control of your money. Or maybe you had to find a new job quickly to make ends meet. The bad news is a lot can happen in a year.

But the good news is a lot can happen in a year. Which is why now is the time to think about where you want to be this time next year. And if you're looking for a proven plan to get back on track, our number one bestselling book, The Total Money Makeover, will walk you through the seven baby steps for getting out of debt faster, creating a budget you can stick to, building real wealth, and becoming outrageously generous. Get your copy of The Total Money Makeover today at the online store at DaveRamsey.com

or call our Ramsey concierge team at 888-22-PEACE. That's 888-227-3223. This is the Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. I'm John Deloney, joined here with best-selling author, Ramsey personality, Anthony O'Neill. We're taking your calls on your money and on your life, whatever's going on. We are here to help, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Jessica in New Orleans.

Jessica, what's going on? Hi, guys. What's going on? It's such a pleasure to Jessica in New Orleans. Jessica, what's going on? Hi, guys. What's going on? It's such a pleasure to speak to you both. Anthony, it's just amazing. I recently bought your debt-free degree for a friend of mine because she really could use your wisdom. But I'm calling about my own situation today. I recently decided to walk away from a job of 14 years and dropped my family income by about $100,000.

So I wanted to tell you kind of what I have and what you think I should do. So I do have about $230,000 in my 403B, but I'll have to decide where that's going to go. Where should I roll that to? I have 75 in cash and savings, which is more than my six month emergency fund. I have 143 on my mortgage, but I also have the money on hand excluding the 75, but I can just go ahead and pay that through the end of the year because I'd really like to just take some time off and enjoy my family. Okay. And I'm kind of just wondering, what do you guys think? What should I do? I have no debt other than my home. Our cars are paid for. We have no college loans that's paid for. I have a master's. My husband, he's been working part-time. I've let my income allowed him to do so. We've always been very supportive when the other needs a break or needs a change.

And this time, it's my time for the change and the break. So what are your thoughts? So, Jessica, why did you walk away from the job? So I'm a nurse, and I grew within the organization and went into administration and got to the point where I felt there was nothing more I could do for my team. I really loved my team. Um, but it was just getting difficult to work within that arena, um, in administration. So I decided to take a step back and think about something that's going to bring me joy and find what that is and take my time to find it. Okay. Okay, cool. And so I believe you're in a healthy place right

now. Okay. I think that with you being 100% debt free, I would definitely jump on the phone with one of our smart vested pros so we can get your $230,000 rolled over into a, uh, an IRA. And so that way I would definitely jump on the phone with them like today to get that process started. And then from there, I think you and your family need to sit down and now are you married? Correct? I am. What's your household income now? About 40,000. My husband works part time, but again, we're, we're pretty well, we've made good financial decisions up until now. What's your mortgage payment?

Mortgage payment's about $1,200. I've paid $20,000 on it since November. I've really been attacking it, trying to get it completely paid for, but course, I'm going to pause since I'm leaving my job. Yeah. So, I mean, you're in a good place. I think I don't have a problem with you taking off the rest of the year. Now, here's my only thing. Is $230,000 all you all have invested into your retirement accounts? No, that's just my portion. My husband has probably $250,000 in his. has probably 250 okay okay cool so you all in a

healthy place i think what you got to do is really sit down and come up with a game plan for what's happening moving forward okay i'm gonna take the next six months off spend some time with the family uh but next year january of 2022 this is what I want to do. This is where I'm going to go. Or whatever you all plan. You're in a healthy place now. You don't have any debt. The only debt that you have is your mortgage, and that's okay. And your mortgage payment is only $1,200 a month, and you have the cash to take care of that.

I think once you start getting below your six months reserve, you want to make sure you don't go there. So I would definitely plan on making sure that you have a game plan moving forward within the next six months. I don't know if I'll take off a whole year, Jessica. That's just my personal opinion. And so I need to watch doing that kind of stuff. But I'm saying for you, sit down, have a

conversation with your family and figure out what's best for your family moving forward. But I would definitely look at a game plan within the next six months. And Jessica, I spoke to a high-level exec this morning who is returning from a leave. And he said something profound. He said, the first few weeks were magic. I got to breathe.

I got to look at my kids in the eye. I got to watch them. I got to have breakfast with them. It was, and then he said about week three, four, and five, I started getting really itchy. And this time off became as much of a burden as the time was that was at work. Right. And so I had to begin reaching out to folks. I had to start planning. I had to start solving problems and moving forward. And so be intentional about the time you take off. Yes.

And structure that in some shape, form, or fashion. Just this dream of doing nothing is so good in a vacation. It's so good for a short time. But we're not designed to do nothing, and that could end up becoming a burden too. Yes. No, I absolutely get that. My days are well planned.

It's time to focus on me for a while. I think these last 14 years have just taken a toll on me, especially the last three have just really hit my health, so I definitely have some big focus on that during this time, but I agree. I have to stay busy, but I have realized those aha moments where it's like, oh my, I look at my watch and there's no calendar appointment whatsoever. And that is priceless. It will be priceless. And after you've had a chance to breathe, it will start to slowly creep. It'll, it'll create some anxiety in your soul. Right. Um, because we have that purpose and in, in staying busy, I don't hear

me say you got to stay busy. You just have to be intentional with purpose. Right. And that may mean I'm intentionally going to take a nap every day for the next two months. Right. I am intentionally going to go exercise. I'm intentionally going to use my nursing skills to go volunteer. I'm intentionally going to get out there and do some things, but I'm not going to be held to a clock. I'm not going to be held to, you know, all these TPS reports that I've got to get turned in all the time. I'm not going to be held to that kind of stuff, right? Yeah. The administrative world, man, can take your soul from you. Anthony, the hardest thing I've, working with professors who then

become associate deans and they become deans, most people got into the field of teaching or the field of nursing because they love that engagement with a student or with a patient. And then they're so good at it, unfortunately,

the reward for being so good is let's take you away from that and give you a different type of job right yeah and then you're good at that let's take you even further away and now you are managing light bills and you're managing budgets and structures and you're so far away from that thing you love to do right yeah yeah and so man there's an administrative burden that comes with that have you ever had a job in your life, Anthony, that you were so good at, they started, you know, the reward was, we're going to move you further and further away from it?

I'm trying to think like in ministry, right? When you're really good at working with young people, then it's like, well, we need to get him on a stage. And then you do well on a stage, it's like, well, we need to get him in some administrative roles. Or maybe not. Maybe you've just stayed plugged in yeah i mean all of my jobs uh in the past when i did really really well i know they kept me they left you alone yeah okay no we can't afford to

have him leave that that particular area uh which is why i think sometimes transitioning jobs are difficult because the employer is like well no you're the best in that position, so we need you in that position. That means you never have to grow and ever get to move, huh? Exactly, exactly. I've never been in that position. That's a common experience she has that I hear from administrators who are in the health care. And God bless the nurses, man.

What a year they've had, right? The hospital administrators. How are we going to pay our bills? Are we going to serve all these people? I can just imagine. And good for her for setting her family up in a situation where they can actually take a break. A young couple with $75,000 cash, only $143,000 on their mortgage with close to $500,000 in retirement. That's a healthy, vibrant young couple.

She's worked hard to where she can take a few months off and just enjoy her family. And I think that's good, man. Well, it's good just to regroup? Absolutely. Figure out what's next? Everyone needs a couple of months off just to relax. Do we?

Everyone. Hey, you and me, we're going to date with that one. I like that. I like it. We may not get that signed off, but yeah. Pretty sure Dave's going to say, hey, appreciate the email, guys. Y'all get back tomorrow. I love it.

This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here with bestselling author Anthony O'Neill. We're taking your calls on Money and Life. Let's go to area in Washington, D.C. What is going on? Hello. I'm really glad I made it to The Ramsey Show. I'm a first-time homebuyer. Me and my husband are planning for our very first home. We're looking in north virginia

region and you know with the market being so crazy right now i'm just kind of looking for a little bit more advice of what we should do because we just see that you know prices for the homes are really shooting up everyone is waiving contingencies all the buyers are lining up and overpaying for the house on average around fifty50,000 in the home. So I'm really a little bit apprehensive of should we kind of wait it out and see what happens to the market in the future and maybe go ahead with our plan next year? Or what should we do? Well, where are you currently right now in the baby steps? I just recently started watching, and I'm familiar with the baby steps. So our income together, your income is around $200K.

We have like $20,000 in debt, and we have saved like $100K for like 10% down payment and the closing cost. But, yeah, we don't have really emergency fund. It's just kind of really be saving for the home. Yeah. So we haven't really started on the steps, let's say, honestly. All right, cool. So no, you're not ready to purchase a home yet. Okay.

Now, let me tell you this, though. You're not far away from it at all, to be honest. How much of a home do you want to purchase, for an to be honest um how much of a home do you want to purchase for an example give me how much of a home are you looking at purchasing so we were starting looking around like 600 to 700 and now we are at the point that we have to kind of stretch it out if we really want to jump into this market train okay so you're looking at 600k home all right um hold on one minute. I'm just doing my math on my calculator right here.

I'm not as quick as Dave. And so here's the thing. So check this out. This is what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would pause and wait till next year. Okay. And let me tell you why. I want you to be debt free with a fully funded emergency fund before you even consider a home.

You'll be a stronger buyer at that time. So what I would do is I would take $20,000 out of you all's money today and go pay off all of my debt. All right. That's going to bring you down to $80,000. Okay. That's going to bring you down to 80,000. All right. Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to look at three months of expenses because it sounds like you all are in a good, stable job situation. So you probably need about twenty five. Let's say about twenty five. Twenty five thousand dollars to have for a fully funded emergency fund. Right. So that leaves you with fifty five thousand dollars left in your account to go towards a down payment to get a six hundred thousand dollar home.

You're going to need right around one hundred and twenty thousand dollars for a 20 percent down payment to get a $600,000 home. You're going to need right around $120,000 for a 20% down payment. That's a great way to get in to avoid a PMI. So what I teach is you have the bare minimum of 10% to 20%. So you don't need to bear minimum of about 90,000 to $120,000 to get into a home with you all's income, you can be debt-free, have a fully funded emergency fund, and have 20% by this time next year. Now,

you're in a healthier place to purchase a home. You have no debt. If something happened when you moved into the home, at least you have an emergency fund for that. The game plan that you have right now, if you go out there and you purchase a home and spend way more money than what the house is actually worth, you're still going to have $20,000 in debt. And you're going to spend all your money on your down payment.

You don't even have an emergency fund. But you make $20,000 gross a month. So that sounds good. But, no, I want you to be safe. So my recommendation is push off. See what the market is going to do over the next 12 months. While you're waiting for the next 12 months, go ahead, go ahead and transfer that money. Pay off your debt today. Transfer twenty five, thirty thousand dollars over to a separate savings account, a money market account that is simply just for emergencies only. That's going to leave you about 50 to 55

thousand dollars then you and your husband sit down and figure out okay cool bae how do we get the the how do we get up to 120 within the next 12 months what do we need to do within our budget to be a strong candidate to purchase a home so that's my two cents on that and i think right now you're in a great position. You're not unhealthy. You're not looking bad. I'm just saying let's just reposition some things so we can be even in a better place within

the next 12 months. This is a great question, man. Yeah, and anyone who tells you, well, it's about to... You don't know. Yeah, you really don't. But here's the beauty. When you have a fully funded emergency fund, when you've put 20% down and the market does what it's going to do, which is to go up and down. Listen.

You don't lose sleep. Right. You go, oh, that sucks. Yeah. But you're in the house that you want. Yeah. And then you go to the next day and the next day and the next day. It's when you're leveraged out.

You're barely making that payment. You had a $600, dollar budget and then you buy a seven hundred thousand dollar house because you had to bid up on it and now you've gotten underwater right yeah and i think right now man right now the market is a seller's market by far like if it's i mean people are spending right here in our own city um it's bananas it's about twenty thirty forty thousand dollars over what they're asking for. Nine times out of 10, this is over what the house is actually worth. And so if you are financing a home, it's going to be real hard for you to get into the home if you don't have the money down.

And so what I'm saying is, I'm not saying do not, not buy. What I'm saying is just make sure you have your foundation and you have some cash so you can get into the home that you really desire. But for me, I'm not spending $30,000, $40,000 on that more than what the house is actually worth. Now, we actually waited nine months, and we kept putting in offers, putting in offers, getting rejected, and then finally we found the right place. Let's go to Melody in Raleigh, North Carolina. Melody, what's up?

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. How are you guys? We are so, so good. Thanks for calling. How can we help? Alrighty. So I am 19 years old. I started listening to Dave Ramsey when I was 16, right before I got my first job, and he has really helped, you know, keep me from making a lot of young, dumb people decisions. Right now, I currently make, with my current job job around $1,100 a month.

I have about a $2,300 cash savings and emergency fund and just side savings. My question is, do you guys think that I should be investing or do you think it would be a good idea to continue to just save up into my savings? So you're living at home with your parents right now, right? Yeah, I'm currently in school and they allow me to live at home. Cool. You're 19. I like that. I'm cool with that. I was about to say something else, but I like that you're in school. Eleven hundred dollars of income. We are 100 percent debt free. We don't have any credit cards, no car loans, student loans, no student loans, no mama loans,

no boyfriend loans. Yeah. Yeah. None whatsoever. I bought my car outright. I saved up for that. Um, and I pay for my school on a monthly, it gets, you know, drafted from my account. $60.

Cool. Great. Talk to me about school. You're on a 100% scholarship, so we don't need any more books. We don't need dorm room, food. We don't need nothing paid for for college to complete college 100% debt-free. I am not on a scholarship. I'm through actually an online course going through veterinary technician program to advance

to hopefully a doctor down the line. I'm fortunate enough that, you know, in the field that I work in, a lot of the vet techs have gone through that program, and they've been giving me their old books that they no longer need anymore. Cool. So it's not a guarantee that you will be able to pay cash, it sounds like, or you'll be able to get the funds moving forward to pay for college, meaning that you may have to come up and provide some cash

or get some scholarships in the foreseeable future, correct? Correct. Yeah, so I don't want you to invest at all right now. The number one investment you can do, Melody, is invest into yourself. And what I want you to do is invest into yourself and make sure that you graduate 100% debt free. So this way, when you actually graduate college, you walk across the stage ahead of your peers. You walk across the stage debt free, little money in your account, and you can enjoy your future. So do not invest the money into stocks, none of that.

Invest the money into yourself. Save it until you need to use it to go towards your college. Listen to me, America. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. Don't try and jump to get compound interest and you're racking up debt. Avoid debt. Then let's talk about how we get this

bag, which is how do we make some more money? This is Anthony O'Neill. This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 This is The Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by best-selling author Anthony O'Neill. And we're taking your calls on money and life. Let's go to Austin in Sumner, Illinois. Austin, what's going on, brother? Not too much. I've just got a few questions for you guys.

Bring them on, brother. How can we help? Okay, well, I'm 13, and I'm starting a little business. It's called AKW Farms. I'm going to be selling goat's milk this summer, honey. Right now I make shells and stuff. I do a lot of woodcraft and stuff. And I was just wondering how much money I need to be putting back into the business and when I can start taking money out for me.

Austin, you just made my whole day, brother. You are awesome. Awesome. Awesome. How long have you been talking about this and doing it? I've been talking about it for about two, three years. I actually started it. You could say I started it about two years ago when I got goats,

but I really started selling stuff last year at the farmer's market. I make sales out of pallet boards. Wow. Okay. All right. That's so cool, Austin. Well, here's the thing, man. What I'm going to do is because there's so much we can walk through this, Austin, and I just love your heart behind it so what i'm going to do is uh when we get off the phone with you i'm going to have kelly send uh you have your mom or dad say stand by so they can give you uh so they can give kelly your

address because i'm going to send you a copy of my toolbox kit my teen entrepreneurial toolbox kit uh where i'm going to literally walk you through the whole process so when you get this kit young man i want you to um read it read it with your parents and it's going to teach you your sales pitch it's going to teach you how to make a business budget and i'm gonna even teach you exactly how should you be allocating your funds the first thing is going to really figure out okay what does it cost you to run the business okay you got to buy materials you got to buy products so you got to put money back into the business so we need to identify how much do you need to put back in there and then from there then yes what are you going to be paying yourself what are you going to be putting into your checking account into your savings

account but i think right now the main thing is that you would need to sit down with your parents and figure out how much money do i need every month to keep producing what you're producing? Have you all even talked about that already? Well, kind of, yeah. Luckily for me, I can get pallets for free. My dad works for UPS. There you go. Whenever they're done with loading, he can just pick up pallets,

and we have a bunch of stockpiles. So you've got raw materials just sitting there. That's fantastic. Yeah. What other tools do you need real quick, Austin? I've got a pallet buster, which my dad was wanting one of them before, so it's his, but I can use it. I mean, I use a circular saw, a jigsaw, hammer, nails, and usually some hooks.

Okay. So it sounds like your parents are already setting you up to win. So the income that you would need to put back into the company and then the income you would use to pay yourself may be a little different, depending upon, it sounds like your father can get you the tools and the material for free. So you may be looking at 90%, 80% of your income that you make

will go into you, into your future. And maybe 10 or 20% will go back to your father for helping him get the materials or helping your father get some materials for you down the road. So I'm loving it, young man. Let me ask you this question that's off subject. And again, I want you to stay on the line.

And Kelly's going to get your address to send you a copy of my Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox Kit. But what are you going to do with all this money? When you start making this money, how are you going to spend it? Well, there's a few things. Like I said, I'm buying a cow soon with some of my money I already have saved up from. Because I do 4-H and stuff like that, so I have money saved up from the auctions. So I'm going to be buying part of a cow. Me and my parents are going to go in on it all together. That's what I'm talking about, Austin.

And one of the big things I'm wanting is i'm saving up for a 22 mag rifle and a four four-wheeler this dude is what's up this man just said i'm saving for a gun and a four-wheeler that sounds like a bright kid uh to me okay no it was a cow and a 22 in a four-wheeler. You are my hero, Austin. This is unique. This is interesting. Hey, man, I'm rooting for you. I am celebrating you, Austin. Stay on the line, man.

Kelly will get your address. She'll send you that Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox kit. When you get the cow, when you get the rifle, when you get the four-wheeler, man, send me and John a picture of that so we can celebrate with you, man. If you guys would like to see it before I, well, not before, but before I get to send you

guys pictures, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel. It's AKWFarms. Hey, listen to this. Number one, brother knows how to push his name. And hey, you are better than I am at that, so well done. And yes, we will check out your website. Tell us one more time.

AKW Farms, my initials. AKW Farms, good folks. Go to that website. Get yourself some honey and some goat milk. From a 13-year-old entrepreneur. Who's put it together. And all he wants, America, is a cow and a 22 and a four-wheeler. Hey.

Help him out. I am not mad at him at all. Man, hey, he could have said Xbox and what. Good for that kid. Man, he just made everything better in my day. All right, let's go to Stephanie in St. Paul. Stephanie, what's going on? Hi, thanks for taking my call.

Yeah, what's up? So my question is around paying down our house versus investing. So I'm 31 years old and getting married in June. My fiance, thank you. Um, my fiance is 34 and we're both doing really well financially. We're going to make about two 40 combined. Um, and once we get married, we won't have any debt after we pass his car which is about 19 um thousand and the only debt left will be on that house which we just refinanced to a 15 year with lower interest rate um i'm selling my house too so we're going to get income from that um we both have emergency like two to three months of emergency fund and cash. And then I'm also investing 14% in my 401k.

He was doing about six. And then we started doing about five grand into stock health accounts and bonds. So my question is, we live in Minnesota, but we're hoping to move closer to family in the next few years. My family's in Illinois and his is in Michigan. So we're wondering, since we don't know if we're going to be here long term, should we still be trying to pay off this house that we're going to be in as fast as possible? Or should we be saving that cash in the bank or investing into bonds or something that we can pull out of when we're ready to make

another down payment for the maybe forever home. Two things. Why are you investing 14% of your 401k? Are they matching you, your 14%? Yeah, they actually match. It's an 8% match. So do you have a, uh, do you have a Roth IRA outside of your 401ks? Um, yes. Yep. Yep. And so that's what I'm contributing. But sorry, between the both of them, I'm, I'm doing 14%. Oh, okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So it sounds like you're doing 8% over there, the 401k, then you're investing the rest over there. Okay, cool. Let's get that at the 15%. It was one more percent. Um, cool. Let's get that at 15%. It's one more percent. That's that. And then two, my answer is going to be yes. Continue focusing

on the house. Here's why. Because you said possibly. You said possibly. If you knew for sure we're going to be gone in the next few years, I would say just go ahead and make the mortgage payments. But you cannot go wrong because what if life changes and you all decide to stay there? Well, at least you are ahead of the game. And here's the thing. Let's say if you go the next two years, boom, you're going to get the money back. It's going to come back to you because you're going to sell the home and you're going to make some more money on it with profit. I'm not into bonds. I'm in the mutual funds. I'm not into single stocks. I'm into just making sure that I'm investing in a good, solid way. And so for me, if I'm in your shoes,

I'm going to keep attacking the house because that's the best investment. And if I sell it, I'll get that money back and then some when it comes to equity in the house. So that's what I would recommend for you. Great job. Congrats on getting married. Let's go ahead and get that debt paid off, though, because you ain't debt free yet.

So if you all have two to three months in your emergency fund right now, use that money, pay off your debt, restock up your emergency fund, then start going on Babysets 437. That's a couple that's going to get married and be able to sleep the whole night through out of the gate. This is The Ramsey Show. This is James Child, producer of The Ramsey Show. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts.