The Ramsey Show - App - I’m About To Get Married and I Want To Start Us Off on the Right Path!

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

Ken Coleman & George Kamel discuss: How to prepare for married life, Should you put more money in your pension or an IRA, Splitting assets during a messy divorce, Buying or renting when you move to a new city, Awesome companies hiring special needs workers. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

We'll be right back. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we talk about your life. We're talking about your money, your work, and your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Campbell this hour. We're taking your calls. It's a free phone call. 888-825-5225. That call 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 you warmed up george you're ready to go i'm pumped yeah it's friday and i'm with ken coleman i know it's a good

day it's a good day we were just talking during the break uh both of our wives are out of town we may just carry the show uh to a pub or something. Hit a happy hour. We might. We might just take this advice to the happy hour. Can we broadcast it live for the people? I don't think Kelly would want to do that. She's not trying to hang out with us this weekend. That doesn't make her happy. You see what I'm saying?

You see what I just did there? We'll find other friends. Other friends. All right, there it is. All right, let's get to the phones. Hunter is up next in Los Angeles, California. Hunter, how can we help? Thanks, guys, for taking my call.

How are you doing today? We are having a blast. What's going on? Hey, so I'm getting married in a couple weeks on June 11th. Hey, congratulations. Thank you, thank you. We're young. We're 21, so we're excited.

Listen, I was 23 when I got married. You'll figure it out. Young love. You got this. That's great. Basically, my question is, I feel like we're kind of set up right now, but I just want to make sure that we're setting ourselves up long term. We need advice on how to be wise with our finances in the future

and how not to screw up what we already have. Tell us what you mean by you feel like you're already set up. What does that mean? Is there a trust fund involved? No trust fund, but I think we're doing all right. So right now our before-tax income is going to be $115,000. Nice. Wow.

Yeah, we both just graduated school, so we're super excited about that, too. And you already got jobs lined up. Yeah, yeah. So I'll be a civil engineer, and she'll be an elementary school teacher. And no debt? No debt. Wow. Well, you are set up nicely. So what's your question for us then? Yeah. So her parents, my future in-laws are setting us up with a $150,000 lump sum. Whoa. Yeah. Did you hit the jackpot?

We want to make sure we're doing that right. Well, first thing you want to do is think about what gifts you're going to send George and I for the stellar advice we're about ready to give you. Yeah, I got to say. Ben, you're flush with cash. This is awesome. Okay, do you have any money in the bank currently? Yeah, I think our combined savings is somewhere around $12,000 outside of the lump sum. Okay.

Spectacular. Great. So you kind of have, I'm guessing, a starter emergency fund, maybe close to fully funded, three to six months of expenses? Yeah. Are you guys renting when you get married? Yeah. So we're looking for apartments right now, so we'll move in once we get married.

Awesome. Great. Okay. So you're asking how do you set yourselves up for success? I think you're already a sharp young dude at 21 years old. You already have money. You have this wonderful gift from the in-laws, and so I want you to steward that well. So I would look at what are our next goals as a couple.

Sit down together, and maybe it's a nice date night. Maybe on the honeymoon you start dreaming a little bit of what life looks like and go, all right, are we good on cars? Do you guys have decent cars that get you around? Yeah, so that's the one thing we need. Her car's fine, but my car, I got an old beat-up Toyota that needs to be replaced. Okay, so maybe we upgrade that to something reasonable. Let's not get crazy because the rest of the money,

I really want you to have that as a down payment on your first home together. Now, I don't want you to rush into that. I suggest waiting, rent for a year, get to know each other, get settled into married life, start to look around, work with a real estate agent, and start to go, where do we want to live? How much is it going to be? And when you do that, do a 15-year fixed with as much down as possible, and let the payment be no more than a quarter of your take-home pay, and then aggressively pay that off. Are you guys planning to stay in Los Angeles?

So we're actually in the central California. So we're a little bit north of there. Okay, cool. So you got a good idea of what housing looks like out there? Yeah, it's much more. I mean, the house and where we're at is about half what it is in Los Angeles, honestly. Okay, good. It sounds like you guys are on the same page financially about your values already. That's a wonderful thing. Yeah, I think this is great. Well, we'll give you a wedding gift of one year of Ramsey Plus. It includes Financial Peace University, every dollar premium.

Would that be fun for you? Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, we would love that guidance for sure. I think that will give you some ideas and some inspiration, some motivation along this journey as you start off your life together. If you watch those videos and start doing an every dollar budget, because what can happen is you're a newlywed couple. You start to go, we have jobs now.

We can start to have some fun and start to live our life. So I want you to balance your short-term goals with the long-term goals. So the long-term goal might be we want to get in a house. About three years from now, we're going to keep stacking up cash to have a great down payment. But we also want to go on vacation when we upgrade the car. It's okay to enjoy it, too. You guys have done really well at 21. Great head start.

And when did you say the wedding was? The wedding is June 11th. George, what's your calendar look like on June 11th? I'm free. I happen to be free, Ken. George, listen, he's going to charge you a little bit, so I would suggest considering some of the $150,000 going to George for him to be the wedding singer. He's wildly entertaining with his little guitar up there, and I do mean little.

It's not a little guitar. It's a normal-sized guitar. Oh, it just looks littler with you. That hurts. I apologize. But I have been hired before, for the record. Yeah, yeah. Well, congrats, man.

I'm really not trying to pawn George off on you, but he's a wonderful, wonderful singer. Thank you for that. Hey, Hunter, you guys are off to a great start, man. This is super exciting to hear about a young couple. And can we just slow clap for the mom and dad who are in a position to be able to give them a $150,000 head start? I mean, what a legacy. How about blessing? While they're alive, they're leaving a legacy.

Wow. Unbelievable. That's incredible. George, can you get in another call in two and a half minutes? Sure. Let's do it. Terry, you're up in Manchester, New Hampshire. Terry, how can George help?

Let's get to it, Terry. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I have a question. I'm about three years from being able to take my full service retirement through my employer in a school system. Okay. And I reached out for information about if I could make additional contributions to boost my pension amount. And they came back to me and said with only three years left, I could do that. And it would be about $14,000 a year for the next three years that I could add into what I'm already contributing.

Okay. And I'm just wondering if it makes sense to do that or to invest that $14,000 somewhere else. Well, what is that going to amount to in the payments and the pension? So it would amount to an extra $6,000 a year that I would get in my pension for the rest of my life. $6,000 a year? Yeah. Okay. So I do the math and I go, all right, that's $42,000 that you're putting in. $6,000. So it takes seven years to ROI on this decision. Okay. Does that feel good to you? I'm not sure. How old are you? I'm 57. You're 57. Personally, I don't think it's

worth it because I think if you invested $42,000, I think that money is going to be much bigger money down the line. Okay. That's why I was calling because I don't know how to articulate all that math in my head. So thank you very much. What's the total pension per month that you're looking at currently? So currently it would be about $46,000, and this would be $52,000. Okay. Can you live off that $46,000, and this would visit to 52. Okay.

Can you live off that $46,000 plus your retirement? Do you have anything else in retirement? I don't. And one of my ideas is by retiring at 60 is because that could allow me to jump over to the other state nearby and work full-time and start on another pension. Oh, okay. That's not a bad idea. Yeah, just make sure you can live off whatever the pension's going to be and that you feel

good about that. That's definitely part of the plan. Thanks for the call. Yeah, very exciting. By the way, she's 57 years young, so point that out. Good, good, good pointer. See there, George? Saved us all.

You asked a woman how old she is. I'm sorry. It's part of the job. Still, chivalry still must be applied, George. Fair is. I'm sorry. It's part of the job. It's still, chivalry still must be applied, George. Fair point. I'm working on it, folks. Don't move. More Ramsey Show coming right up. You've got a lot on your plate, a job, your home, your marriage, and your growing family. While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances.

As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your healthcare. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. The Ramsey Show continues. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell joins me as we take your calls this hour, 888-825-5225. George, the housing market over the last couple of years has obviously been bonkers.

Yes, that's one way of saying it. Very unique, right? Home prices keep going up, up, up. Hungry buyers were pouncing on homes as soon as they hit the market. But now there's a bit of a plot twist. The Federal Reserve is up the ante. The federal funds rate been raised for the first time in three years, and now mortgage rates are going to go up too. And that's got a lot of people out there, including those of you listening, watching today, a little bit worried that higher mortgage rates or maybe even a recession might make buying and

selling more difficult. So first of all, let's all take a breath, turn off the news, and get some perspective. A whole lot goes into buying and selling a home, not just market conditions and mortgage rates. So, anytime you're looking to buy or sell, you've got to do homework. And team up with a pro who actually knows what they're doing. So, if you want more info on how the Fed works, why this interest rate hike happened, and what you can do about it, head over to ramseysolutions.com slash rates. That's ramseysolutions.com slash rates.

You can also go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent to talk to one of our world-class endorsed local providers in that program. These Ramsey-trusted real estate agents know how to handle market changes, and they'll help you. Ramseysolutions.com slash agent. All right, back to the phones we go. 888-825-5225. William joins us in Columbia, Missouri.

William, how can we help? Hey, George. I wish you all a blessed weekend. Recently divorced, and as part of the divorce settlement and separation of marital assets, we need to figure out what to do with the house. And I gave my ex the option to buy it and give me a payout of equity. She did not do that, and so now I have the option to buy the house and give her a split of the equity. So she doesn't want the house?

She does want it. She just didn't refinance it. I do have some money, you know, the emergency fund and a little bit of cash and everything, but not enough to cover the equity. And so I'm looking at doing a refinance or a HELOC or something. I don't have any other debt. I've got my cars that I could take out a title loan, but I know all those things are very anti-Ramsay.

Yeah, the only thing I would suggest in your situation is a cash-out refinance. I would not do a HELOC. Okay. So if you refinance it, you take the amount you need out of there to pay her and be done with it now would you qualify for that with your income um i believe so um but even with the increased rates and the loan origination fees and all that it's not a super high value home and so those fees make a pretty sizable percent of what I'd be getting. I mean, can we just let go of the house?

Yeah, I'm wondering, can we sell it? Be done with it? Well, we could. It's the only house my kids have lived in. That's okay. I've lived in multiple homes. I've lived. I survived it.

Let me say this, and I hear your heart, William. I hear that. And I don't want to add insult to injury here, but I want to be really honest with you. These kids are going to go through and are going through more trauma as it relates to the divorce than the issue of the home where they live. It will not – them moving to another place where they haven't lived is not going to impact them anywhere near as badly as the divorce. And I'm not saying that to make you feel bad. I'm just simply saying

that's not something that would hold me up. It seems like this is the best move financially. If we remove the emotional attachment, is selling the house the best financial move for you right now? Yeah. As an aside and um my so sorry what's the situation as it stands right now are they in a hospital? Are they with you? What's going on? Yeah, she's in the hospital.

Is this something that she was struggling with prior to the divorce, or is this divorce-related? Well, with COVID, the divorce stretched out several years. She's been having difficulties since she was 10. Yeah.

What's her health situation right now as far as being in the hospital? Is she going to be okay physically after this attempt? Yes, there's no permanent damage, but then I don't know what the psychological diagnosis is. Yeah, this is an ongoing battle that you're in the midst of. What's the urgency with the house situation? Do you need to make a decision soon? I've got three months. Okay. So let's, for a moment,

you need as much mental capacity and financial flexibility as possible right now. Is that correct? Right. So what was your plan if you were to sell the house? Would you just rent an apartment? What would you do? what was your plan if you were to sell the house? Would you just rent an apartment? What would you do?

I would like to buy something and, you know, make a home. Yeah, I know you'd like to, but how much do you stand to make? Let's just look at the numbers here for a second because this is important with the tremendous turnover. Yeah, it's probably around 30 to 40 total equity in it total total yeah and how much would you how much would you have to give to your ex-wife 15 so you're going to walk away with 15 right do you have any money right now in the bank I've got $2,000 cash. I've got $12,000 in the bank. Okay, good. So do you have any debt currently other than the mortgage?

No. Okay, good. That's great news because you and your ex-wife, I hope, are in some type of alignment that you've got to do everything you can to fight for your baby girl, right? Not at all. It is very little cooperation in anything. What's the custody situation?

I get the girls for a week. She gets the girls for a week. Okay. So here's the deal. We would love to line you up to talk to Dr. John Deloney if that's something you're comfortable with because you're going through a lot of stuff right now and you need as much clarity as possible. So if that's something you want, when we put you on hold in a moment, we'll get you lined up. But here's, George, here's where I'm at. William, I don't want you thinking about buying another place right now. You are

debt free. That's the good news in this situation, that you have no financial debt as another stressor and an anxiety driver in the midst of this situation you're going through with your daughter, not to mention your own pain and the other children's pain. I wouldn't be thinking about buying anything right now. I would be just socking things away, keeping your head above water in your work, keep bringing in money, save, save, save, let the dust settle. The health professionals, the mental health professionals are going to get together on your daughter and then hopefully there's going to be a path of healing forward for her and that's going to cost some money. William, could you scrape together the $15,000 to pay her?

You almost have it. Like I said, I could, but that would totally wipe out any emergency fund and everything like that. Well, I look at this almost as a debt. And so if you can clear this without having to refi and go through, like you mentioned, all the fees, origination, I think it's a cleaner break if you can save up some money in the next few months. And keep the house. And still have a few thousand in the bank. Is that what you're saying, George?

Yeah. Keep the house? Keep the current house? Keep the house for now. And that way, when you do sell it, if you choose to do so down the line, because I think right now the A1 is the health of these children and the safety of these children. The house, to me, is just an asset. We'll deal with that later. William, here's the deal.

Hang on the line. Kelly and the team are going to pick you up. We've got some great resources for you. We'll get you connected to Dr. Deloney as well. If you'd like to talk with him on the air and get some advice on your health, your daughter's health as well, mental health. Please call us back if we can help in any other way, man. So sorry you're going through this.

So very sorry. Our hearts are broken for you, William. Fight for your family. Fight hard for your precious daughter. This is the Ramsey Show. Oh, yeah. Just let that play for a second. Can't beat Tom Petty, George. I'm pretty sure our podcast and YouTube, it's all different music.

So who knows what they're hearing? Also, when I say that. I don't know. They'll get you bailing me out. Someone in the booth, tell me. All right. Do they all hear the same music wherever they listen? No, they don't.

Sorry. It's different. If you want to listen to the radio show and hear the music sometime, the team does a great job. Great bumps. Great bumps. You know, we can't do that anymore because everybody's got to get their little license. They can't write a song for the world to enjoy. Got to get paid.

I'm going to start writing my own music for the show, Ken. Custom with you. Get a ukulele and a kazoo. We'll just do our own bumps. Kelly said no. Kelly's had enough. There will be no ukulele, she said. No ukulele for you.

I love a little ukulele. It's very whimsical. I think it's actually fantastic. I think it could work. But hey. I'm okay with the ukulele. It's more the kazoo I have an issue with. And you know what?

I would agree with that. Fair point. So I could just sit over here and watch you, George, instead of trying to chime in. But we had one caller recently say that they would love to hear me sing some Ricky Martin. I think it was a dark curiosity. I don't think it was a compliment. It will go

unquenched because I'm not singing Ricky Martin ever. Not even like at the house. And that is called a blessing. So thank you. Fantastic. Alright. Atlanta, Georgia is where we go next. Kevin is there. Kevin, how can we help? Hi, guys.

Thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's up? So, yeah, the big problem we're trying to figure out is we are moving in a month. We've been at this house for about two years. We renovated it, and we're about to sell it. We just finished paying off about $70,000 in student loans, so we have no debt.

Way to go. We have. Thank you, thank you. We've been working hard. We have about $15,000 in savings, plus about $50,000 in 401K. We'll be making about $120,000 profit on this house, and we're wondering what to do with the profit. So in our heads, we're thinking three options,

either rent an apartment, buy a house, and rent it out a year later to buy another house with, or just go ahead and buy a long-term home. We just never sold a house before, and we don't know what to do with this profit, so that's kind of where we're at. Well, you definitely have options. so where are you moving to moving from atlanta to chattanooga tennessee okay well i would rent for now as you get acclimated to the area and figure out what's

going on and let the market do its thing yeah maybe cool off a little bit and park that money than 120 000 in a high-yield savings account. High-yield is a hilarious – it's just a term, but it's probably about 1% right now if you're lucky. And I'm okay with that because you said you're planning on probably buying a property in the next year. Right. So we don't want to throw that money in the stock market and it continues to go down and your $120,000 just turned into $90,000 and now you need to buy a house. Yes.

So that's why I'm parking it in kind of a boring savings account for now as you figure out what your next steps are. Yeah. And I'm curious to know, you said one of the options you mentioned, well, maybe we buy another house and then rent that. I mean, what kind of prices are we talking about? What are you looking at financially? Because we don't want you to get over-leveraged.

Right. About our price range is about $'t want you to get over leveraged. Right. About our price range is about $200,000 to $300,000. Okay, good. Cool. So you'd have a nice healthy down payment. I would only go with a 15-year fixed rate mortgage and make sure that payment is no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. What's your income? $50,000.

Is that total household income? Currently, we're looking at more options, but that's currently it, yeah. Okay, cool. Well, that's going to be my plan. Park that money, use it as a down payment on the next house. Are there any upgrades you guys have to do? Do you need to park some of that for moving costs? Yeah, probably a little bit.

Okay, so do what you need to do there. Make it reasonable. Make sure that we don't touch that emergency fund. Is that 15K basically your emergency fund? You got it. Okay. Make sure to separate that out. I would not leave them in the same account because all of a sudden, you know, all the

cookies in the cookie jar start to look the same. So park that money aside only for true emergencies. That means it's urgent, necessary, and unexpected, which means moving is not one of those. Moving is not an emergency. And buying a house is also not an emergency. But you're doing great, man. It's a good problem to have. Yeah, and I would second, George, what you said.

I think it's really important for people, certainly young couples, that you're moving from one city to another. Take a year minimum of rent. I mean, we don't think renting is a sin around here. People think it's throwing money away. I think it's buying yourself patience, buying yourself some time to make a wise decision. I love that. Get some perspective, you know, get an idea. You're moving to a new city. So from Atlanta to Chattanooga, that's a whole different world. There's enough to acclimate to, let alone the Hvac went out all of a sudden exactly don't be itching to you know spend this money for an investment as opposed to going what's the right house the right location i mean because you and i were talking during the break i mean i mean we've both benefited as have millions of americans of these rising home prices but

buying in the right neighborhood in the place, is a bigger benefit than other places. We're thinking in calls, Ken, of people buying sight unseen with no inspection or appraisal, and all of a sudden they're in a money pit because it needs a new roof, and the foundation's cracking, and they just got into it out of impulse. Yeah, it's completely absurd. And you could make a purchase thinking, oh, it looks good, you have all the factors, and then you get yourself trapped. And freedom, meaning I don't have to have a mortgage, I don't have to lock into something, I mean, that's a good thing. That's a really good thing.

And people, they get on to us, Ken, for our parameters around housing. We say the only mortgage we're not going to yell at you for is a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage with the payment being no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. And people go, that might have worked in the 80s, Ken, Dave, but that doesn't work in today's market. And the truth is, it does work. I did it. It may just mean you need to take more time. You need to save up for two or three more years to have a healthy down payment. So we were talking about this recently, all the personalities, Dave, we were in a room and we were talking about this. We are in a really extraordinary

time where for many people the housing market is still too hot now we're starting to see uh some cracks if you will signs that so the pressure is relieving a little bit and and housing prices might slow down but not regress but you've got people that are listening and watching right now george who are they're saying simply put george are you telling me i gotta wait two years three years four years i i can't afford to do the 15 year i just can't do it right now what do you say to those people um i tell them you can't afford to be a homeowner and that's not me being a jerk yeah that's just me wanting them to win financially because I know we also get calls.

People go, we got into the house, and we're house poor. We can't achieve any of our goals. We can't save for retirement. We can't send the kids. We can't save for college. We can't go on vacations because we're too tight. We have no money in savings. We're in this big old mortgage, and we have no way out.

And I don't want that for them. And so I don't want you to be house poor. And if that means – now, I'm not saying you need to pay cash for your house. People go, oh, you want us to wait 20 years to save up? No. I'm saying save up 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% down on a reasonable house. Have a different picture of what that first home may look like for you, especially first-time homebuyers. That's right.

And then you go, okay, what is it going to take to get there? Well, it means we've got to get out of debt. We need an emergency fund. Then we're starting to save up for the down payment. Well, and let's also talk about the factors that can help you accelerate this process. Yes, housing prices are high. Inflation is high, but so are incomes right now. That's right. And so we talk to people all the time. Well, I feel like I'm limited. Why do you feel limited? Well, I want to live in this area.

Well, what's more important, living in this area or being able to get that house or to get that job that you want to make the money? So is the job more important? Is the professional advancement more important than the type of house you live in? See, sometimes you have to make choices, folks. And if you are advancing in your career professionally, and it requires that you pay your dues, whatever that looks like, and part of paying your dues is that I've got to get here in position X for company ABC, whatever, to be able to advance to where I want to be, listen folks, five years, 10 years, 15 years down the line, then that means I can't maybe, it's not a

good decision to buy a house right now. Yeah. Or maybe I get something that's, or I live further out. Whatever I've got to do to get where I want to go is what we do. Not, well, I want the house, plus I want the great job. Well, I want a Lamborghini, George. Can't do that for you, Ken. I really do.

I drove one a long time. And then what sacrifices are you willing to make to get there? That's right. And by the way, it's not even willing to make. Right now, I've got three teens. I can't make the sacrifices to drive that Lamborghini. And you can't afford the bacon to feed them. Yeah, boy, that's...

We're switching to turkey bacon. Is that really it? It's really a thing. Wow. Not great. I've had turkey bacon. I'm always choosing the pork. Just me.

Hey! Don't move. Much more important issues still to come. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague George Camel. So glad that you are with us. Our scripture of the day comes from Job 17, verse 9. Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger. Our quote of the day comes from Bo Schembechler.

Boy, I don't know if somebody just teed this up for me or not. Legendary Michigan coach. Will, were you behind this? No no he can't take credit every day you either get better or you get worse you never stay the same all right nice i'm a big michigan fan i'm sure there's always some buckeye out there that gets offended when i say that there wasn't enough money in the world for me to know who that was ken so i'm glad you're here i wouldn't have been able to pronounce the last name, let alone guess it was a Michigan coach. Fair, but you know how to play a ukulele, so I can't do that. We all have our strengths.

We all have our roles and our strengths. So I wanted to share a feel-good story, if I might. We could use that right now. Is that right? So much of the news in today's world is so negative. It's designed to get your attention. It's designed to get your click, to scare you, to get you to dive in more. And I shared a story earlier today on the Ken Coleman Show about three companies, two of which you'd know the names easily, the other one you might not. One is Amazon, of course, and of course they get beat up all the time big bad evil amazon some

people think they're evil you know who knows um walgreens one of the stalwart you know pharmacy type companies in our country and then wawa which is a regional gas station kind of convenience store are you a wawa fan yeah fun to say fun to visit yeah big in the northeast i think and the headline it was from cnbc but the headline was basically that these three companies in particular are winning the war on their employment issues. So we've got this big employment gap in the United States that I think everybody's pretty aware of where we've got more jobs available than people who are unemployed. It's what's driven up salaries and hourly rates. So these three companies are looking to a group of people who have some form of neuro disabilities who are overwhelmingly unemployed. In fact, 85% of people with those issues or challenges are unemployed, George.

And the reason is, and the article points this out, is because it takes some accommodations. Not a lot, but some accommodations for these men and women, some young teenagers, young 20s, to be able to come into your workplace and do a good job. But whether it be warehousing, stocking shelves, whatever, Walgreens specifically has done an incredible job. So you take kids with autism. So one in 45 adults is on the autism spectrum, which is pretty fascinating. It's a big chunk of people. And I got to tell you, I read this article and I was so fired up in a good way. Because you think, number one, there's an employment gap where these men and women can be given an opportunity to do something valuable, make a living, and receive the benefit of that, George.

And you think of the burden that it is for so many families who may have a family member who struggle with this and the opportunity to get out and be gainfully employed and to live a life and they can be effective and and as i was reading the article there you know again several quotes in this but we're talking one or two accommodations walgreens has actually hired a uh outside firm that coaches these men and women so that they learn the job that's cool and they become and here's what happens the attrition rate and the amount of people who leave in these positions is very, very low. And so retention is higher. Wow. And you just think of so many men and women who need a chance. And there is an opportunity here.

If leaders would just be willing to deal with the uncomfortableness, maybe Asperger's syndrome or something. So what? So there's some awkwardness. There's awkwardness all the time. And, George, I've got to tell you, it really warmed my heart because these men and women deserve the opportunity to contribute to the world and make a living as well. And so Amazon training these men and women, basic accommodations and a little bit of coaching. I love to hear that. And it's really, really working. Now, on top of that, the purpose that it gives people to throw themselves into some work

that has meaning, I don't know if that's quantifiable at a soul level of what it does to go, I'm needed in the world. I have an impact to make. Right. No matter what it is. I don't care if you're a surgeon or a Walmart grader. There's immense purpose in all types of work. Yeah, and so many different types of people who they use the word disability and understand why.

But instead of looking at them as disabled, what if we looked at them as differently abled? I've got a dear friend who has two Down syndrome children. And I don't know if you've ever spent time with someone who has Down syndrome, but they are... Immense joy. There's no more joy on this side of heaven. And I think if you've got a business

where you want a greeter, I'd be hiring those fine folks to greet people because of the joy, the love. They just warm everybody's heart. And everybody can do something. Even if it's the most menial of tasks. Well, a lot of people don't want to do menial tasks. Or if they take the job doing the menial task, they quickly want to be promoted.

But these men and women who have some neuro challenges and things of that nature, they can absolutely be fulfilled. I mean, like joyous stocking the shelves. And so there is an opportunity. So I just wanted to tell you, we hear a lot of negative news about big companies like Amazon or Walgreens, but these companies are seeing an opportunity. And I think that this is available for small businesses as well to say, hey, I'm having a hard time getting people in. Hey, you're a restaurant and you're having a hard time staffing a host or hostess? That's where I'm going.

Somebody with a smile who can greet somebody and lead them to a table. Wow. Well, Ken, I saw another article this morning and it was very, of course, fear-mongering. It was the job market. Everyone's very pessimistic about the job market. It went on to say, well, there's actually two jobs for every one American, but people are very pessimistic about the job market. It went on to say, well, there's actually two jobs for every one American, but people are very pessimistic about the job market. It's ridiculous.

What's at the heart of all of this? Are people just not satisfied in their work? Well, you mean all the job hopping? Everything. It's just the pessimism around work. There's a lot of pessimism around work in general. Yeah, well, so there's two schools of thought. One, business leaders, business owners, they don't like this big gap because it's driving up salaries and hourly rates.

So when you – it's a supply-demand issue. So when the supply of jobs is very wide, the gap between how many people are employed. That drives up costs in the form of salaries. You ready for this? The Fed. The Fed. Our friends over at the Fed. Are they our friends? I don't think so.

It was tongue-in-cheek. They're trying to convince the biggest corporations in America to go on a voluntary hiring freeze. The reason? Yes. That's how I reacted. I'm confused by that. Because they think it's going to help with inflation. So people are leaving jobs.

You've heard this, the great resignation. We've had nearly 40 million people leave jobs. But wouldn't more workers stimulate the economy? Yes, but these morons at the Fed think that if we do a temporary hiring freeze, first of all, who do they think they are to tell private companies whether they can hire? No, of course they can't. But they asking nicely but that is so absurd and nonsensical because they're going well that's going to help stem the tide of inflation because one of the major drivers of inflation let's make no mistake about it is in fact the increase in salaries

because if i've got to pay a kid at Taco Bell $3 more an hour, well, trust me, you're going to see that in your chalupa. I never thought I'd hear that sentence today. It's a brand new one for me. Well, we were just at a local restaurant last night, and there was a 45-minute wait, and I looked around. There was empty tables everywhere, and I'm confused. They had about three people running the whole show.

And so there is a severe labor shortage and a lot of work to be done. And I think some of it stems from people going, well, I don't want to do that. And I'm going to find something else to do. I'm going to find another line of work. By the way, I mean, you know, look, you can have different schools of thought on this, but a sign of a healthy capitalistic economy, there's always going to be a bit of a gap. It shouldn't be as big as it is now. But you're always, in a healthy economy, you're going to have more jobs available than people.

You want low unemployment. True. So, anyway, all that to say. You know what warmed my heart, Ken, though, about all that? There was a server there, and she said, hey, are you the guy? Yeah, and she said, I just finished a high school curriculum in personal finance. Come on. She's a junior.

Come on. Crushing it, and she called me sir, and I went, wow, that is the kind of respect I've been needing around here. Yeah. So mad respect. So she finally called you sir, and that makes you happy. Yeah. Whereas I don't want to be called sir. There you go.

I'm still young enough. Yes, you are. It warms my heart. Gave you a little more stature. Yes. No pun intended. Hey, George Campbell. Fun stuff today.

I want to thank Kelly and the entire team behind the glass. And you, America, this is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks. Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.