The Ramsey Show - App - I'm Frustrated at Work...Should I Pursue Something Else? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's The Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, and host of the ever-popular Ken Coleman Show, is my guest, my co-host today here on the air. We'll be answering your questions about life and money. Ken's area of specialty is always around career. So if you're looking for a new job, you hate your Mondays, this is your guy.

He can help you with that. His book is The Proximity Principle. And we'll be talking some about that as we go throughout the day. But here to take your questions, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Andrew is in Atlanta to start off this hour. Hi, Andrew. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I am in my sophomore year at Kennesaw College going into my junior year, and I am lucky enough that I'll be able to graduate debt-free. And right now, between a CD, stock markets, and my personal savings account, I have about $15,000, and I'm wondering how can I grow that growth and prepare

myself for when I get out of college? Well done, sir. What's your degree in? So I'm double majoring in both professional sales and in marketing. Oh, very cool. Very cool. I walked through that campus not long ago. We were down there doing some speaking in the area, and I went for a walk and ended up on the campus and walked through all of it. It's beautiful. Great, great little college. Yeah, it's really blown up over the past few years. Yeah, very cool. Good for you. Well done.

And great job on the money stuff. So I think you've got a pretty good mix. You've got some in savings. You've got some in investing. And you're going to come out and start your career. And, you know, that transition for housing and, you know, whether you need to upgrade a car from your high school car or whatever. I don't know where you are on that. But you're going to use some of that cash, a little bit of furniture,

maybe something other than a beanbag chair from college. And, you know, you're going to do a little bit of that kind of stuff, and that's okay. That's what having a nice pool of money coming out of college will do for you. You can transition much easier. So what's your career feel? What are you going into? So right now I have an in with a company called Gartner, and that's where I would really like to start my first job at. But as of leads, that's kind of the only one I'm having right now.

I'm looking for an internship this summer, but I'm not sure. I feel like I have all this money sitting around and not sure what to do with it. It's not being lazy. It's there for a pad, and it's there for a pad and it's there for track to it it's it just gives you margin it gives you the ability to make these transitions without having because let me tell you if you're broke you'll take any job and oftentimes oftentimes the wrong one right ken that's exactly right you don't want to be desperate you're in a situation where you got a pretty good idea the type of work you want to do in the type of company so what you want to do is you want to get yourself some more options right now.

I love that you want to intern. I think that's one of the best things that college students can do because it allows you to clarify and verify. And that's the process of getting in the actual field itself and rubbing shoulders, rubbing elbows with the professionals that are doing the work. What's it look like? What's it feel like day to day? And that's the clarify. And then as you begin to experience and immerse yourself in this field that you think you

want to go into, by doing that, Dave, then the verify takes care of itself. The head and the heart, the head's logic, and then the emotion of the heart to say, ding, ding, ding, or er, and that process is really important. So I love the idea of interning and then i would come up with two or three other uh company targets you need more than one option so that you can start working the proximity principle what relationships do i have that allow me to know somebody just anybody in that building to begin to learn more about the company's culture that's another thing dave we get this question a lot on the ken cole show. Lady called just in the last hour and said, you know, how do I know, how do I, I'm leaving one

state to go to another state. My current company's going to let me work remote for a while. I eventually, I just can't be on my own. I want to work in an office environment, which I understand that. That's how I'm wired. She said, but I have such a great experience with the current company. How do I make sure that I don't get on board with another company and the culture is terrible? I said, well, that's easy. Start talking to people who know people who work there. Believe me, they'll tell you about their company, the good and the bad. Now, you've got to learn how to parse that out and go, is this a disgruntled former employee?

But you can do enough research. Former employees, I wouldn't even interview. You don't talk to them. They're former for a reason. That's right. You want to talk to people who work there. You want to see what their vendors are saying about them. And you can find out that a company's healthy.

It's not this big, giant, stick your finger in the air, and it's a big risk. There are ways to find out if a company has a healthy culture, and you talk to people who work there. Just because somebody posts something on Glassdoor, that's a lie. Doesn't mean it's right. There's no accountability to that at all. Very careful of that stuff. No accountability on that at all that's a horrible yeah i mean we've had horrible experience with

glass door because people put stuff on there that they just make up what's and they have nothing to do with every company's got people that have left and didn't like it but you can promise you they have here that's absolutely so you've got to talk to people actually work there and and you're going to hear the right things and then you go go, okay, this is a healthy culture. And, again, no culture is perfect. Stop making that an excuse. But I hear that a lot, people really scary. How do I know?

Do your homework. And here's the thing, interview. Yes. If you can get an in-person, and you can walk in a building, you can feel a vibe. You can feel the spirit of what's going on. Are these people all heads down and look like they're in a cult, and they've got zone going through their eyes, or are they running around happy and high-fiving and getting work done

and productive and looks like there's some giggling going on? You know, I mean, that's what you get when you walk through here. Oh, sure. And so, obviously, it is not a, you know, some kind of crazy, you know, cult thing going on. That's just absolutely, you know. Well, it's great about this. People can say whatever they want about Ramsey Solutions. Then you can come here and actually walk through the building

and experience it for less than five minutes, and you're going to find out really quick it doesn't match up to anything that you would have heard. And so that's true for folks that are listening today. Yeah, so learn for yourself is the point. That's it. Yeah. Get the eyeball test. You know, Yelp had this problem when they first came out.

They lost all credibility as a rating service because, you know, Yelp had this problem when they first came out. They lost all credibility as a rating service because, you know, the restaurant across the street would write a negative review on their competitor anonymously and just make up crap. Right. And fill up the Yelp with all negative. And so they were not vetting their inputs. And so, you know, it's like I told somebody this week, if the National Enquirer runs a story that Tom Cruise, that they interviewed an alien that Tom Cruise had sex with, does that make it true? Exactly. Well, how many times has this happened to you, Dave?

And I trust my friends and family members and coworkers here. But this has happened to me many times where someone has said, ah, I didn't have a great experience at that restaurant. And it affects me. Yeah. And I say to Stacey, I go, well, I mean, so-and-so said, and I've had this conversation. I tell you, I just really want to check it out for myself. And I go, and it's not that my friend or family member who had different experiences is wrong.

It's their experience. It's through their perspective. It's through their lens. Maybe they didn't think the menu was any good, but I thought the menu was great. Or they didn't think the customer service was great, but my experience was great. Maybe it was a waiter that had a bad night, or maybe it was a doofus, you know, hostess or whatever. Here's the whole point here that I'm making. Even though we may hear something, even when you go get feedback from people that you trust.

Go walk it. You have got to experience it. I want to go to the restaurant. I'll tell you what I think about the restaurant. I want to go to that company, and then you're going to find out if the culture's right. That's right. So you don't have to be afraid about that. No, it's not a mystery.

If you have your antennae up, and you just walk around with a smile, and just be observant, if you can physically get to the company, I mean, these days, who the heck knows, but if you can physically get in the presence, you'll get a spirit off of it. That's exactly right. And you can trust that. It's trustworthy. That feeling. It's trustworthy. If you can physically get in the presence, you'll get a spirit off of it. That's exactly right. And you can trust that. Yeah. It's trustworthy. That feeling.

It's trustworthy. It really is. This is The Ramsey Show. Listen, this is important. Are debt collectors calling you at work? Are they reporting errors on your credit report? Folks, that's not just wrong. It's illegal. If you think you're being harassed, take a quick survey at CollectionBully.com to determine whether you're a victim of illegal debt collection harassment. If you are, Collection Bully will help connect you to a consumer law attorney in your state to make the harassment stop.

Learn more and get the help you need at collectionbully.com ken coleman ramsey personality joins me this hour as my co-host he is the number one bestseller of the book proximity principle here to help you with your career questions the phone number is 888-825-5225. And we'll, of course, answer your questions about anything you want to talk about. It's what we're here for. Christine is in Pittsburgh. Hi, Christine.

How are you? Hi, Dave and Ken. First of all, I just want to say thank you for everything you and your team do. I just hope you know how important you all are to so many people. We just love you. You're very kind just love you. So yeah, my question is what my husband and I should do with a $10,000 gift that we got when we were married about seven years ago. My husband and I are on baby steps four, five, and six. We're finishing up with four and on five and six um we're just not

sure what we should do with that gift whether we should invest it or pay off our home we we like the idea of using it to pay off our home we've been through our fair share of debt with student loans and a car payment and we just hate that interest rate that eats at you. But we weren't sure if that was the right thing to do. Well, any money that is not in a retirement account will apply to wherever you are in the baby steps. Baby step four is 15% going into your retirement plans. You said you're already doing that. So five is kids' college and six is your home. And so you would either use that money towards your kids' college funds

and invest it and resituate it in such a way like a 529 or whatever, or you'd put it towards your home. Either one is fine because four, five, and six are done simultaneously. Are you doing anything towards kids' college? Yes, right now. We just started that a couple years ago, and then we still have to set up a 529 for that but my husband did start saving for them okay good well so we've got that so maybe step five the box is checked and then the only question is do you want to just enhance that

or do you want to throw it onto the mortgage either one will be fine either one will be fine you need none of these are in the dumb column. Both of them are in the smart column. Kyle's in Kansas City. Hi, Kyle. How are you? Good. How are you guys doing today?

Better than I deserve. What's up? I've got a quick question. 32 years old, $73,000 in debt, about half of it school loans. My question is on my 401K, I just found you guys. So my wife and I are just starting Baby Step 1. I was looking to free up some cash, and I was looking at my 401K. Currently, I have $130,000 in my 401K.

So my question is, where should a 32-year-old be with their 401K? And then if I'm there, I'm putting in 9%, my company is matching four, so I'm getting 13 total. Should I back that down to the company match to give me some more cash in my paycheck to actually go after these loans? Yeah, you said you're new to us. What we teach folks to do is when they have debt other than their home, to stop all investing, even the match, temporarily, temporarily, while you knock these debts out.

What is your household income? $130,000 combined. Okay. So, Ken? Yeah, absolutely. So, immediately stop investing in that 401K. You're already thinking through that. That's going to give you more cash in your paycheck, which means you fully fund that baby step one, that $1,000 immediately.

And even if you can sell something, you're new to us. So if you get $400 or $500 worth of stuff in the garage that you can move online, do that. But get that $1,000 right away and then step right into the baby steps. That second baby step is all about the debt snowball, the smallest debt all the way up to the largest debt and attack that smallest debt and then when you pay that off you roll that payment into the next one and that's where momentum really begins to build yeah that's exactly how it works and so the the the problem is when you're brand new to this stuff uh that that you freak out and

go i'm gonna miss the match that means i'm going to hell and you know you can't miss the match and so the match is like a big emotional thing listen i don't want you to miss the match for long and i'm saying temporarily i want you to knock this debt out really really really ridiculously fast and um so you know a year two years something like that you need to roll up your sleeves and punch this debt in the face and be done with it. Because you cannot win dragging Sally Mae around behind your car. She's just a dadgum anchor weight. So there you go. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Roger is with us. Roger's in Los Angeles. Hey, Roger, what's up? Hey, Dave. How are you guys doing today? Better than I deserve. How are you? I'm doing just fine. Happy to be calling in today. I have a question for you on spending your retirement account. I came down with Parkinson's in the spring of 16, and I had to retire from my job as an insurance adjuster in January of 18.

Our retirement, so I'm fully retired. I get a small pension from the city I work for. And then I'm also taking Social Security starting this month. So I'll be bringing in around $30,000 a year. My wife is three years younger than me. I'm 62. She's 59 and we would like her to retire at some point in the near future. I have 1.825 million in my account. And, uh, I'm just wondering how, how do you decide how much you're going to spend out of it each month

or each year. Absolutely incredible. Well done. Thank you. Well, I took your advice and I had some smaller pensions that were going to pay me like $400 to $600. I took lump sums and got like $100,000 or $250,000 added to my IRA, so that helped a lot. Wow. So how advanced is your Parkinson's?

Well, when I retired, I had not come up with a medical solution to my tremors, so I was having major tremors when I worked. That's why I retired, because of the stress of my job. I since had a deep brain stimulator put in two years ago, which is pretty much taking care of my tremors, but I really can't work because I, I'm really tired all the time. I don't sleep well and, uh, I'm starting to have balance issues. So the odds, the odds of me working again are slimmed down. I wasn't, I wasn't asking for that reason i was asking for quality of life and i'll try to figure out what i'm used to so if i'm in your shoes the years that i've got left with your wife i'm going to use some of this dadgum money that you worked your whole life for

that's what it's for okay and so let's just pretend let's pretend that it's making i'll just throw out a number let's just for round numbers let let's say it made 10%, that's $180,000 a year. I think y'all ought to spend that and go do some of the stuff and buy some of the things you've wanted to your whole life while you have the quality of the, while you've got some timeline left in your quality of life.

Okay, she turns 59 and a half I think in February, which then accesses her you know, close to over 600,000 of hers. Yeah, I'd leave that alone. Okay, well, true. What I was going to do is take my Social Security and plug it into her IRA or her 401K and just make making like 26% there. Well, you can, but my point is this money is for security.

It's also for enjoyment. And while you've got quality of life timeline left with your wife, spend some money. Roger, I'm curious, what does she make? What is her salary in her job? About $110, $120 a year. So let's say it's $110, and then you said you were making $30K through your pension, the city pension, plus Social Security.

So right now you guys are living off of $140, correct? Yeah, we do a lot of giving, though. So we're giving like a third of that away. We support a bunch of missionaries in our church. Well, but Dave told you 180s. That gives you, if you pull 180 out, you know, he was giving you round numbers. That still gives you guys a nice bump where you can give a little bit more, but also live some, too. I think you're in a great position here.

So I don't want you to look up seven years from now and the parkinson's have it have have advanced on you and you don't have the ability to go physical ability to go enjoy some of this money that you've worked so hard for this is what it's for this is what it's for you really i mean you you can spend a hundred to two hundred thousand out of this account if it's invested wisely and not even make a dent and enjoy some time together. And that's exactly what I would do. Ride a bull named Fu Manchu, man. Yes, sir.

This is what you do. Carpe diem. This is The Ramsey Show. Imagine the day you submit the last payment on your debt and you finally have extra money to spend and save how you want. For some of you, that day feels like it will never come. I get it. I've been there. But it doesn't have to be that way.

It's a new year and it's time for a new way of thinking. You have to believe you can get rid of debt and take control of your money because you can. And it won't take nearly as long as you think with ramsey plus you'll learn practical ways to get small quick wins that add up to big results fast we'll help you put more money back in your bank account so you can get where you want to be faster debt free and spending your money without worry. This year, you can make more progress on your debt and savings than you ever thought possible, and you can start today. Get Ramsey Plus so you can start living the life you want faster.

To start your free trial of Ramsey Plus, text TRIAL to 33789. and coleman ramsey personality number one best-selling author is my co-host today here on the dave ramsey show jason and dana are with us here on the debt-free stage right here at ramsey solutions hey guys how are you better than we deserve i love it where do you guys live uh near baton rouge louisiana a little town called, it's the city of Central. Okay, wonderful. So good to have you guys. Thank you so much for joining us. So you are here to do a debt-free scream, and how much have you paid off?

$185,000. Wow. How long did that take? 30 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that two and a half years? $165,000 up to about $189, 189 and then back down a little bit to 185. Okay.

What do you guys do for a living? I'm an engineer. I work on coastal and marine habitat restoration projects. Okay. And I'm an administrative program manager. Wonderful. Cool. Good to have you.

Wow. What kind of debt was the $185,000? Well, you're looking at weird people. You paid off your house? Yes. Awesome. Very cool. So how much is that house worth?

About $350,000. How much of the $185,000 was the mortgage? That was it? All mortgage. All mortgage. Wow, look at you. So tell me your story. What in the world happened two and a half years ago?

Well, maybe it goes back a little bit before that. A co-worker of mine who's actually here with us today, a good friend of ours now, introduced me to you in about 2013 and started listening to you on the radio, and I was hooked from then on. But I was doing a little bit of a Dave-ish thing for about two or three years, and by 2016, I decided I hadn't even done FPU or anything yet. So I said, well, let's do FPU. Decided to coordinate the class.

We've since coordinated seven classes. But at that time in 2016, I was dropping some hints of maybe, because we had a really big note on a big mortgage on a much bigger house. And it was really just sucking the life out of our future, so much waste on interest, taxes, and things like that. So in my mind, I was like, I want to get to Baby Step 7 fast because we didn't have very much Baby Step 2 stuff to take care of. So in 2016, I was dropping hints.

And that's almost like to sell the house. And that's almost like telling a guy you've got to sell his bass boat or sell his motorcycle. It was a very nice house. It was very nice. I'll bet. She wasn't buying it. But after going through FPU, we did decide to sell that house. It took a couple of years to get all that process done for us to get in a new house by 2018.

And that's when we started paying off this $185,000. Wow. And boom. Done. Done. Done. Just like that. So what was the other house worth? The other house was close to $500,000.

Okay. So you moved down $150,000. Yes, sir. Roughly. Okay. Wow. Well, that's a big move, but it's not like you moved to a third or something. I mean, that's very cool.

The new house is still really nice, too. Yeah. Oh, it's super nice. Yeah. $350,000 will buy a lot in Baton Rouge area. Yeah. Good. Way to go, guys.

How's it feel to be 100% debt free? It's great. It's awesome. It's the most accomplished I've ever felt. You know, it's like you set a goal and it was a very lofty goal when we first started. You know, sell a house, get a new house. It was a lot of process to go into it. And, you know, we've been together for a very long time.

And it's the biggest thing we've ever set in front of us. And we just knocked it out the park. And I just feel so accomplished. Let's stay there. I think people need to hear more about that. That's a great word. Because you two came together and said, all right, we're going to put this stretch goal out there. And it was really hard, I'm guessing.

Big time sacrifices. Talk about how it is worth it to people that are sitting here on the fence right now going, should we sign up for this kind of a challenge, knowing it's going to be difficult? Oh, absolutely. I don't think you realize how much burden you have on your shoulders until it's gone. So people are bebopping around with their debt, with a big mortgage, and it's hard for them to see or feel what it's like without it because that's a normal feeling for them. So that's kind of what I said is that you don't feel that burden until it's gone. And it's huge. You don't even know it's there until it's paid off and you can breathe and you don't

have a payment in the world. All of your check is your check. How has it changed your future thinking? Well, I never really liked payments. I did get them. I ended up paying almost all of them off early and that was just dumb. But cash is the way to go. Future thinking, I'm thinking more in terms of family tree, legacy.

You know, what are we going to leave behind so that, you know, our future family is different from here on out? How old are you guys? I'm 38. I'm 36. Wow. That sense of, you know, you're standing on top of the mountain, hands up, Rocky Music's playing. That's the accomplished feeling in it. It's like, I did this. I did this.

That's a great word. I love that. The sense of having done something very, very hard, lifted a weight that no one has ever, not very few people lift that weight. And you guys did it. You were able to pull it off. Very cool. You guys are heroes excellent job so what do you tell people the absolute key to getting out of debt is well i thought about this question dave because i know you ask it and it's hard to nail it down

to one thing uh it's the whole package you can't davish it you got to do it all and it's it's three things it's three p's it's um perspective and process. And you've got to have your perspective, which is your reasoning. It's your why. It's your drive. It's what's behind you. It's why you're doing it. If you don't have that, it's probably not going to happen. And you got to be around good people. You got to be around people who's going to lift you up. You can't hang out with the turkeys and expect to fly with the eagles, right? So you got to surround yourself with some people who are going to share that vision with you. And then the process

is the budget. You have to have a budget. You've got to have, you've got to live on less than you make. You've got to have the nuts and bolts of it, which is every dollar app, whatever it takes, the mechanics of moving that money around. So it's really a complete package. That key, it's tough

to nail it down to one thing. You've got to do the plan. If you have faith in the plan, just do it. It's really a complete package that key it's tough to nail it down to one thing because you got to do the plan if you have faith in the plan and just do it it's going to work ish doesn't work yeah i got goosebumps that'll preach right there three p's to financial peace i wrote them down i'm gonna steal every one of them well you should perspective people process that's incredible it's great alliteration it'll make a Baptist sermon. I'm just saying. I'm going crazy right now. We need to do an altar call, Dave. Right now. Right now.

So, Dana, after the house sold, the other one, and you moved into this one, and you guys started working on this together, how many big money fights after that? We never really had big money fights it was always he was the money person and i was the free spirit and it was just like hey how much money can i go spend right now and you know i think i want this is it okay i have no idea and so um now it's we sit down we do the budget together i know what's going on before i had no idea how much money we had. I had no idea how much debt we had. It was just go with the flow.

You tell me what I can do and I'll go do it. And so now it's we are so much closer in our marriage. That was a major change for us in our marriage is now we we're just on the same page and i understand why he's frustrated or carrying the weight yes yes it's it's i bet that caused you to feel accomplished even more than i mean you're speaking into it you're carrying your share of the weight the decision making we're pulling this thing wagon together that probably caused that feeling of accomplishment more than not paying off the house even. Very likely, yes. 100%.

And that's something I see coordinating FPU where you don't necessarily have both people on board. Very difficult. It's very, very difficult. Way to go, you guys. So proud of you. So you brought the kiddos. What are their names and ages? Let's get them in the picture.

Sure did. Jet is 12, Della is 10, and Syriana is 8. Alright, very cool. And have they been practicing their debt-free scream? Yes. We have. The whole drive here. So they absolutely know that their family tree was

changed by their dad and mom who are heroes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very, very cool. Alright, Jason and Dana from Baton rouge louisiana 185 000 paid off in 30 months making 165 to 189 house and everything these are weird people count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two. We're debt free! Oh, most excellent. Most excellent.

Wow. That's the sound of a family tree changing, boys and girls. Oh, man. This is The Ramsey personality is my co-host today here on the air, host of the Ken Coleman Show. If you have questions about career and about your life, we're here to answer them. Of course, about your money, 888-825-5225. Ken, you know what is interesting is that someone feels accomplished only when they've accomplished something.

Strange how that works. We want to build people's self-esteem by giving them a grade that they didn't earn or giving them money that they didn't earn and call that success. But they don't feel accomplished because they didn't accomplish anything. Dana, on the other hand, feels accomplished because she has transformed the way she looks at and handles money. She was now participating in the adult decisions of the household and also was half of the people that paid off the $185,000. That's pretty cool. Yeah.

Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Connie in Pennsylvania. I've been at my job now for three years. It's a job I enjoy, but every time I try to get a promotion, I keep getting passed up. I'm at a loss, and it feels as if my job doesn't care how hard I work.

Many years ago, I went to school for massage therapy, but I never pursued it. I'm not sure if I'm even interested in pursuing it because it's been so long. Do you have any suggestions on next steps for me? Well, we've got two questions here within the question. The first question is, if I had you on the air, I'd want to know if you sat down with leadership and asked them for some real good 360-degree feedback from your peers, from them, as to why you're not moving up the ladder. What can you do better?

And really dive in and find out, is it a healthy culture like Ramsey Solutions, where if you do a good job, you know your role, and you accept your role, and you maximize it, you're going to get an opportunity to move up here. And if you're not, we're going to tell you. That's right. And then you have something to do. So you need to get, I'd like to know more about what you do know and then what you're doing about it. Now, the second half of the question.

You could be doing the wrong thing and working real hard at it. That's exactly right. We've talked about hard work. Hard work is a good thing, but it's not the only thing. That's exactly right. Hard, effective work that creates results and doesn't piss everybody in the proximity off in the process. That's right. That's a promotable event.

That's exactly right. If you're making everybody mad in the process, or you're working hard on the wrong thing, or you're working really hard but there's no results from it because you're doing it poorly, even though you've got a lot of sweat, there's nothing happening here. You can sweat and not score touchdowns. That's right. Now, here's the other thing. You could also be working really hard.

They can notice and appreciate the hard work, but you might be putting yourself up for a promotion that you don't have the talent to actually pull off. Sometimes our eyes can be bigger than our belly. The idea of going for something that you may not be a good fit for. And so that's why we teach on the Ken Coleman Show, the sweet spot where you use what you do best, talent, to do work that you love to do to produce a result that matters. So we don't know here what's... I think talking through with leadership is the big issue.

That's where you got to start. Yeah. You got to know where you stand and why you stand. Now, the second half of the question is, I pursued massage therapy, but I, excuse me, I went to massage therapy school. I did not pursue it. How do I know, Ken, if it's something I should do? And this is why I wrote the book, The Proximity Principle, which says, I went to massage therapy school. I did not pursue it. How do I know, Ken, if it's something I should do? And this is why I wrote the book, The Proximity Principle, which says, in order to do what you want to do, get around people that are doing it and in places where it is happening.

Now, in this case, you use the proximity principle to validate whether or not you really want to do it. I call it clarify and verify. So you're going to be talking to successful. What I mean by that is they've been employed a while and they enjoy massage therapy. You've got to talk to those people. And it's like doing a college or high school term paper. Ask everything about the day, favorite parts of the day, the part of the day they don't like, how they got there, what do they do to stay active and thrive in the role. And when you get that information, Dave, that's the clarify.

Your brain processes it, and then your heart's either going to go ding, ding, ding, or eh, and that's what you have to do. You've got to really talk to somebody, multiple people, and learn about the work. And your heart and head will combine in that situation, and you're going to know whether or not you should pursue that. I'll give you an example. I have a friend that hears me. I mean, always when I get a call from someone in the nursing field, I'm always bragging on them because it's a wonderful field in terms of opportunity. You can work as much as you want to work. You can make good money.

There's always a shortage. And so it's a wonderful field to go into in terms of that. And, you know, she was thinking of going to nursing school in terms of that uh and uh you know she was thinking to go to nursing school in her 30s and i said well you know ken coleman says go shadow for the day just go be like a college intern and go hang out with a nurse all day long now this was pre-pandemic but she goes and hang out she goes it's gross i said i didn't want to do that but all the idea of being a nurse and being helpful and kind and and uh you know healer and all that kind of thing was very appealing but when she saw what

it actually the day-to-day job involved it was gross it's gross i don't do that that's right and i was like well it was a one day well spent rather than going to nursing school and then discovering that so true one, clarify and verify. And for those people who want to kind of kick the tires on that talent, passion, mission, those three gifts from your creator that'll help you find your sweet spot, Dave, we have a free resource at KenColeman.com called the Career Clarity Guide, and it's free, and it'll walk them through, step by step, what I just kind of quickly went through, and you get a lot of clarity as to

some potential jobs in your sweet spot because there are multiple multiple career paths and then you do what we just described and you'd be surprised how quickly you can get clear and then you're confident to step out you could be real clear on what your mother wants you to do but that's not helpful boy and that's the truth you can be real clear on what makes a lot of money, but that's not helpful. What you need to be clear on is what you're designed to do when you're here. KenColeman.com. It's a free resource, and it's called, again, what? The Career Clarity Guide.

Career Clarity Guide. Those of you on YouTube are looking right at it. Okay. Peter is with us. He is in New York City. Hi, Peter. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. Peter is with us. He is in New York City. Hi, Peter. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I'm finishing Baby Step 2 this month. I'm paying off $28,000 in eight and a half months. Way to go. Thank you.

So part of the Baby Step 2 was a leased vehicle. I'm also within days about to receive an injury settlement of $13,000. Do I take this $13,000 and buy the leased vehicle outright so it's mine, or do I fund my baby step three? Well, you need to pay it off if you're going to keep it. Well, it is paid off. That's the whole thing. I satisfy all the monthly payments. Oh, you've paid it off through the end of the lease, but you don't own the car. No. So that's what I'm asking. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You need to pay it off if you're going to keep it. Now, what is the final balance on the car? Well, they said the purchase price right now would be $14,500. And what is the car worth? The car is worth private $16,000. Well, that's a pretty good buy on a $16,000 car, and you're going to have the money to pay cash for it, right? Yes, sir.

Okay. Do you like the car? I love the car. I was just wondering. Well, I mean, let's pretend you didn't own it, and you had $15,000 in your checking account, and you walked up to that car, and you said, hmm, nice car. What's it worth? $16,000.

But I'll sell it to you for $14,000. You go, I'll do that. Right? Right. So if you weren't in the middle of all this crappy lease stuff, that's the way your brain would work. And that's the exact same series of questions you're going to ask before you make this decision.

Yes, buy the car. Okay. I just wanted to make sure you didn't want me to put that towards my emergency fund. No, you're not debt me to put that towards my emergency fund. No, you're not debt-free until this car is paid off. Understood. So once you're debt-free, then we start working towards the emergency fund. And that's baby step three at that point.

Barry's in Baltimore, Maryland. Hi, Barry. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. How you doing, sir? Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up we just came into some money after selling a townhouse and we're thinking about paying the house our our mortgage off at our

house uh just want to know if that do you think that's the right idea how long you've been listening to me about three weeks okay and i i already know i already kind of know the answer yeah but i why would you not pay it off why would you not pay it off and and i like i said i already know the answer it's only going to leave us with about an emergency fund of about 26 000 that's okay that's a decent emergency fund that should represent three to six months shouldn't it it does it does. It does. And we were thinking we were heading in the right direction. We are getting close to retirement.

Both of us are 56 years old. But if your credit is good, here's my challenge to you. I'd pay it off tomorrow. And if you hate being debt-free, you can go get you a mortgage next year. That's a new challenge. He's literally going, Dave, did you just say that? Well, I mean, you know, no one ever does, right? No one ever does.

That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell your story.