The Ramsey Show - App - I’m Not Happy at My Job and Want To Make More Money (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

Ken Coleman & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss:   I'm not happy at my job and want to make more money, The problem with a YOLO mentality around money, Preparing to move, What to do with life insurance money, "Should I put money in a CD while I learn to invest?" from the blog: How to Start Investing: A Beginner’s Guide  Pausing Baby Step 2 for a new furnace. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America's hanging out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's get right to the phones.

Ryan is joining us in Raleigh, North Carolina. Ryan, how can we help? Hey, first off, how are you doing? Well, I'm having the time of my life. I'm with George Camel for a better part of my afternoon. It doesn't get much better than that. I'm sure it doesn't. He said that in sarcasm.

I'm really hoping for some career advice. I've been working the debt snowball. I've been doing everything and it's honestly, it's just been a very long, hard slog of a track. I think it's been going on about 10 years since I

started my journey. Oh my, okay. I'm just, I'm wore out. I've been looking at my life trying to figure out where I've gone wrong, what I've done, and I realize I've just not had a decent career, I mean, and a decent job even where I paid enough. I've never made over $40,000 a year.

Okay. Well, let me just start by saying those days are over starting today because you've got to actually believe and then beyond belief you have to then act on that belief i believe i can make way more than 40 000 and now i'm going to do what it takes to do that are you in that mental place do you truly believe you can make more than 40 000 a year i know i'm worth more than 40 000 i know you worth more. There's no value we can put on a human being. I'm saying, do you believe that you can make really, really good money? Yes or no?

Yes. All right. Everybody can. Yeah. All right. Good. So what specifically do you need my help with? Because you're presenting as though you're going, I've never done it.

I believe I can do it, but I don't know where to go from here. Is that what we're dealing with? Or we have a good idea of the destination, but not sure how to climb it. What's your best description of where you sit today? Basically, exactly what you said. I just, I don't know where to go. I don't know how to find anything. My work background is basically very eclectic. Alright, forget about that. So you're telling me from TV to working retail. Okay. Do you know what you want to do?

Honestly, I think you do. I really enjoy repairing arcade games. I mean, the coin slot arcade games that you and I probably played in the 90s and 80s. Yeah, but okay, so let's go deeper. Let's forget the specifics of what you like to repair.

What do you enjoy about that idea of repairing old machines? Honestly, it's getting things working again that weren't working either right or not. Good. All right. And so what is something else that you enjoy working on? Give me something else. Whether you've done it or not for a paycheck, I don't care. What would you look forward to tomorrow?

If I set up an eight-hour day, and I'm not going to let you say old arcade and video games because you've already thrown that one out. Give me something else you'd enjoy doing all day tomorrow. If I said, here are the tools, you've got the know-how, fix this all day long, what would you be fixing? You've already thought of it. You've already thought of it, so say it. Cars sometimes. you've already thought of it so say it um cars sometimes um i have an electric truck i've been working on for a little bit so let's just say cars and machines if you could do that all day

long tomorrow and do it in an environment where you were appreciated and you were rewarded would you jump into that or would you think twice about it jump or think twice what would you do um honestly i'd be on the fence because i've i've why would you be on the fence i've had people i've had i've had things start off as valued and appreciated and then all of a sudden yeah but you changed it but you changed the question on me so So, Ryan, you're an overthinker, aren't you? Yeah. Big time. The whole audience can hear it, and I'm not knocking you. I'm trying to wake you up from it.

I gave you a question. I'm going to ask it again, and you're not allowed to think your way through the question and change anything. Answer it as I ask it. If I gave you a gig tomorrow where you were making really good money, fixing cars or some other type of machine, and you were in an environment where you were valued and rewarded for your work, would you jump to it or would you think twice about it? Probably jump. You would jump, but she still said probably.

Now, George, you are one of my closest work friends. We've known each other a long time. I appreciate that. And I'm bringing you into this for a reason. You're a neurotic overthinker as well. 1,000%. And I don't say that in a negative way because we both are. George, you've heard this entire conversation.

He's identified what it is he wants to do, but he's still overthinking. Everything is honestly this, probably that. But the question you have to ask underneath everything you're doing is, what is it about this task, this skill that gives me life? And what it is that drains me that I never want to do again? And as you start drilling down, which is exactly what Ken's material does, his book from Paycheck to Purpose, which is what we'll send you at the end of this is Get Clear Career Assessment. It helps you figure out the root. Because once you figure out the root, you can go do a bunch of things and actually really enjoy it and make great money. But right now, we're just stuck on that fence. And so we've got to make a decision to go, I'm going to dive into this for six months. I'm going to explore being a mechanic and see if I love that.

Because you can make great money being a mechanic. I don't know the career potential of, you know, fixing arcade games. That may be a hobby. That may be a million-dollar business. But we've got to explore it and do some homework. So, Ryan, today's the day you stop thinking. And you know what? You have had a checkered past.

Some of it your fault. Some of it not your fault. It doesn't matter. You're good at fixing machines, yes or no? Yes. You like fixing machines, yes or no? Yes. You can make more than $40,000 a year fixing machines, yes or no? Yes. You can make more than $40,000 a year fixing machines, yes or no?

Yeah. All right, so here's the deal. Pick a direction. It's not going to lock you in for the rest of your life. Let's go get qualified. What qualifications must I have to fix cars or fix other types of machines? Hey, look into fixing heat and air. Hey, it's all the same basic idea,

whether it's a carburetor or the inside of an HVAC system. You want to talk about doing work that matters? Go fix somebody's heat and air unit in extreme weather. You're the most valuable person in their life, and that's part of what's going on with you, Ryan. You don't see the value to who you are and what you're doing for people when you fix a machine. But the world moves on people like you, Ryan. So let's look at all the different machines and things that I could fix. What do they pay? What's the upward mobility look like? And then what does it need to be

qualified? Go after that and then you're on your way. Hang on the line. This is the Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion

in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman.

I'm joined by my colleague, George Camel. That's Camel with a K. Thanks for that clarification. And we are here for you. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And I've got to mention, if you're a new listener, George, as you know, we're getting new people in every day that we put the show out. It's very exciting. And if you want to dive deeper into this Ramsey system we call the baby steps, go to ramseysolutions.com. Click on Get Started. Simple click, and we're going to help you assess where you are in your financial journey as

it relates to what we talk about here on this program. And then we'll get you the resources you need to move forward. ramseysolutions.com. Click on Get Started. Now, speaking of getting started, I am just now getting started with understanding the new vernacular that's coming out of my kid's mouth. That's true. I've got three teenagers. So it's cap this, and there's all these kind of new terms all the time. It's mid. Oh, yeah, that's a new one. Have you heard this one? I've heard mid.

This is their way of saying it's average. Well, that's so mid, and I have no idea. So I'm trying. The goalpost moves every day. It moves every day. I'm a father of three teens. I'm hopelessly unable to stay up with the terms. There's no point of understanding it because you can't use it

because then they make fun of you and say, no, you don't get to say that. And then I use it on the show and then you make fun of me. Either way, you're not going to win. But one of the terms I am familiar with is YOLO, which apparently, and I'm stepping out on a real scary, precarious edge here. I think it means you only live once. Is that right, George? Ding, ding, ding. All right. And so why does this matter, this term? So I like to keep you young by showing you new videos that I find on TikTok. You're helping me. There's some actually, as much as people like to hate on TikTok, there's some really creative,

funny people out there making some great content. And one guy I follow, Matt Bushell, made one that he walks through the streets of New York with general observations. This one is about checking your bank account on Monday, and YOLO is the theme here. So I want you to see this for the first time. We'll get your reaction. Every Monday I play my least favorite game show. It's called Should I Check My Bank Account or Should I Just Keep Being Happy? Because no one wins.

It's kind of scary. I don't think 824 could make a scarier movie than the moment when you officially log in and see that credit card number. You're like, how much have I racked up on this thing? And the second you see it, it's always a little too high. So you're like, well, I will be composing a strongly worded email to the bank to let them know that fraud has been committed on my account. And then you click it because all the pending stuff, now that it's Monday, has gone to like pended i guess is the word and then you look at it you're like let's see what happened here let's see if i can find what happened like well did go get dinner there and then uh yeah i did go get drinks at that bar with every and then yeah we did take that uber

across town kevin did vema me ten dollars for the seventy dollar uber so that's pretty much fine and then uh yeah we did go to that bar we did go to that but you're like okay okay okay that's fine then you see one thing you're like a boogie company fifty dollars to boogie company you're like i got it i found the fraud and then you remember in the uber you bought like a weird t-shirt from an instagram ad from a brand you've never heard it like oh nope they got me this time they got me it's so sad there's nothing you can do you just have to admit defeat close out of the bank app go into google and just type in like how to actually cook dinner. Okay. So I get the YOLO reference.

Yes. Yeah. So he's walking through the average kind of millennial Gen Z's lifestyle and they're going, there's got to be fraud in here somewhere. I don't know. I didn't spend all this money. Right. And it turns out it was all him at the end of the day.

So he's a funny creator and really taps into what people are feeling these days, which is I'm broke. I have almost no money in the bank, but I want the happiness on this side. I want the YOLO. I want to go out with my friends. I want to enjoy my life. And they feel like they can't have both. And we know that's not true, but we also know it takes sacrifice and you can't go out every weekend to all four bars and go uber all around town and buy anything you want from instagram and still have money in the bank i'm going to come up with a new uh a new thing for this what is it i to i oh no the letter i i know this i number two and then i injury to insult is what this practice is i'm going to get in i know i'm broke but i don't

know how i'm broke i know i'm broke but i've got to go back and do this awful scavenger hunt in my bank account and just keep getting an injury and the insult. That's so good. That's an old phrase. It's terrible. I hope Gen Z picks that one up, Ken. They're not going to. Who came up with that one?

Oh, this 47-year-old guy, Ken Coleman. Yeah, this old boomer who's trying to wear a hoodie to look cool next to George. Oh, that's good. No, but you understand what I'm saying? Yes. That's horrible. Oh gosh. Well, the key is we know exactly what we're doing to ourselves, but we don't want to feel any pain, which by pain, I mean getting on a budget, being intentional, saying no to friends, having the boundaries to say, Hey man, I'm trying to get out of debt. I want to have more than $40 in my bank account at any given moment, which means I'm going to be side hustling, driving for Uber instead of getting into an Uber. And that's a very different mentality. And that's what I had to do when I was getting out of debt.

I drove for Uber and Lyft. So I was downtown Nashville on the weekends, Ken, but I was doing it because I was trying to make an extra $40, $50, $ 60, $70 that night to pay off debt. Here's one more old man idea here on this. If you're spending, you're young, you're out hanging out with everybody every night, that food and drink, it better be really good because you are kind of forfeiting your future. You are delaying real independence, real financial freedom, all because you want to go have, you know, not even that good of an appetizer. Well, they go, well, Ken, I couldn't cook this at home. And I get this feedback, Ken.

Well, cooking at home, it's even more expensive than eating out. Goodness gracious, because here's what they do. They go willy-nilly to the grocery store, get all this stuff. They make one meal out of it, throw the rest away, and then complain that $90 on groceries is more expensive than $40 on eating out. Yeah. Makes no sense. You know what you ought to do? It'll be a fun video for you on TikTok and YouTube is take some

young Gen Zers that are single and working and take them to Costco and literally shop for them. It would be my heart's delight. I know. You would love that, wouldn't you? Yes. It'd be a good video. Like literally go, okay, now look, I'm literally going to shop for them. It would be my heart's delight. I know. You would love that, wouldn't you? Yes. It would be a good video. Like literally go, okay, now look, I'm literally going to shop for you for a month. Cut a food you like, and then you go on there and you go, now look, this will last you. They tell me their budget.

Yes. And we shop within that budget. Yeah, they think you're going to work miracles. Man, this is a great idea. If any Gen Zers are open to hanging out with me and going to Costco, let me know. Yeah, at George Campbell. Maybe Ken will tag along. We'll get some free samples. Yeah, I'll tell you what. I could just be the old guy

who eats the samples and comments on the samples. That's a good pot sticker right there. I'll tell you that right now. I don't know why I'm doing that voice. It's the content America needs. Yeah. Let's go to Ryan in San Jose, California. Ryan, how can we help? Hey, guys. Yeah, Thanks for taking my call.

So I've been following your guys' principles for a little while now. My family kind of taught me some of the same things when I was growing up. And my question today is to kind of get an idea if there's any intentional things that we should be doing in terms of saving for our next home. And our circumstance right now is that we have about $305,000 income a year. Our home is worth about $520,000. We have $170,000 in debt towards that and have a plan in place to pay that off around February of this next year. Awesome. We have about $40,000 in company stock and a $36,000 emergency fund as we sit today. So we're trying to think, you know, once we have the house paid off next February,

is there anything we should be doing other than just saving the money and putting it and letting it sit in our savings account as we anticipate that new house in three to four years out? Okay. So you're going to pay this house off next February, but then it's going to be another three years until you move. That's correct. And so you'll be in what we call baby step seven. You'll have no debt whatsoever and a fully funded emergency fund and you're still investing. Correct? Correct. Love it. Well, with a three-year time horizon, I'm probably just going to park that in a high yield savings account and stack up that cash quick. If you were talking five plus years, I would say we can invest that in some mutual funds, index funds, and allow that money to grow.

But with three years, it's kind of a tight time horizon where the market could take some dips, and all of a sudden, you're trying to make this move, but you're down. And so with your income, you're going to have no problem saving up, what, $100,000, $150,000 a year for three years? Yeah. On top of your paid-for house, which000, $150,000 a year for three years? Yeah. On top of your paid-for house, which we'll only continue to appreciate over the next few years? Yeah, that's the plan.

Is your goal to pay cash for the next house? Yeah, we'd like to pay cash, and hopefully buy it outright, but we'll have to make those decisions kind of depending on where we are when the time comes. Man, that's awesome. Yeah, factor in your closing costs and, of course, your moving costs. But outside of that, all the equity is in the house, and you're going to be able to roll that into the next one on top of that huge pile of cash you guys have. What an incredible picture of what it looks like to have peace financially, man. Way to go.

Yeah, seriously, Ryan, you are a stud. Your wife, heroin, you guys are amazing. This is why we do the show, George. Gosh. Wow. Smiling ear to ear. Their future is really, really bright. They sound like the Camels. George and Whitney. I'm with that. They're in that club. I love that. Alright, don't move. More of your calls

coming up. This is The Ramsey Show continues. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell joins me in studio this hour. It's a free phone call if you want to jump in. We're going to talk about your life, specifically your money, your work, because I'm in here today. If you're just feeling stuck, you want to get a raise, maybe you've been overlooked, rejected, trying to figure out what that pivot is,

anything work-related, we'll take those calls as well 888-825-5225 hey uh taxes are confusing that's why i use a pro george um the idea of me doing my own taxes i don't trust it you're getting audited man you missed a few boxes i'm sure as you would say forget about it is that how you say i no one would take me seriously i do bada bing bada boom that's it same idea uh but if you uh if you want to make sure that you've got your taxes in order um you need a pro uh big life changes can mean big changes for your taxes that may have happened to you this year uh maybe you had a baby bought a house started a business taxes may be the last thing on your mind but i promise you they're not the last thing on Uncle Sam's mind. And so with all those potential life changes, you're going to need to have a pro making sure that you get the break you need or that you pay

what you're supposed to pay. So how do you keep all this straight? A Ramsey-trusted Pro. As George would say, bada-bing, bada-boom, a Ramsey Trusted Pro will help you. They're part of our endorsed local provider program, and you can use Ramsey Smart Tax if you're comfortable filling it out online. Now, George, I feel like you could use Ramsey Smart Tax and do a great job. I, on the other hand, would get distracted and go to jail. I actually have my tax appointment this weekend. Oh, you do? With a pro. Okay. I just don't mess with it, Ken. I actually have my tax appointment this weekend. Oh, you do? With a pro.

Okay. I just don't mess with it, Ken. I don't want to mess with it either. So that's why you get a Ramsey Trusted Pro to help you. It walks you through, by the way, if you want to use Ramsey Smart Tax, it walks you through all the steps to claim all the major deductions and credit your eligible for, and it's available for only $19.95. So we got your do-it-yourselfers.

The Ramsey Smart Tax will do it for you for only $19.95. Or if you're like George and I and you're scared, a Ramsey Trusted Pro is the way to go. Here's how you get both resources, ramseysolutions.com slash tax. That's ramseysolutions.com slash tax. All right, let's go to Mary who joins us in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mary, how can we help? Yes, I have $281,000 in my savings right now, and the bank called me. The CDs are at 4.25. Do you think it would be okay if I tied up some of my money in a CD while I learn about investing?

Great question, Mary. Where did this money come from? My husband recently passed away, and about $220 of it is life insurance. I'm so sorry for your loss. How long ago was that? December, December 26th. Oh, my goodness.

How long are you guys married? 42 years. Wow. Incredible. Well, what a legacy to leave, to leave you with only the grief of that loss versus financial grief as well. So are you in a good place financially? Do you have any debt? I have the house and I thought I'd pay that off and that would take me down to $215,000. Okay, so you only have about, what, $65,000 left on the mortgage? Yes. Okay.

And are you working, or are you retired? I am retired. I retired when he got sick for the second time. I do have a 403B, or he did. It's got $102,000 in it. Okay. And are you needing the income created from this $281,000 that's sitting in savings, or do you have income separately that you're living off of? I think I'm going to be okay. I've done my math, and I'll have $4,300 a month with my social security in my retirement. I was a teacher and I think my budget is just about $2,800. Oh good. That's good news. And so you're saying,

hey, I don't need this $281,000 right now. I want to park it for now. I want to invest it long-term, but right now I just want to park it. Right. Okay. Because I don't, yeah. What's your mortgage payment? I don't know anything about investing. What's your mortgage payment per month? Once we pay this house off, that's coming off the list. So what's that number? Oh, well now I didn't put that in the 28. Okay, good. It's 852. Okay, great. Awesome. So here's what I would do temporarily. I wouldn't park it in the CD only because we don't know what the future holds, and I don't want you to get dinged with penalties for pulling the money out of that CD prematurely. Oh, I see what you mean. Okay. And most of those are going to be FDIC insured. And so you'll park that money in a safe place. You can get, I'm getting, you know, 4% right now in my high-yield savings account.

And it's totally liquid. And so if you needed the money for anything, you can pull it out without any penalties. Okay. And then longer term, I want you to sit down with a smart investor pro so that we can make this money work for you long term. Do you have a financial advisor right now? I don't, but I am interviewing. I used your website and it sent me back like five different pros. Perfect. I've interviewed my first and I have two appointments this week. Oh my goodness. I'm so proud of you. So that's the long-term play

because what we can do with this money is if you invest, if you invest $200,000, $250,000 into good growth stock mutual funds, if you look, they'll show you this. The long-term return of the stock market has been 10%, 12%. And so I want that money to grow for you. Now, some years, like last year, it was down 18% or 20%. Some years, it's been up 30%. And so the goal is if we don't need this money long-term, we can let it sit and grow. And that money can compound, which means the interest is earned. Then the money you're making interest off of that interest plus the balance. And over time that could turn into 400, 500, $600,000. So that would be the end goals so that you can

live the life you really want to live. Do you feel like you're missing out right now? Are you covering all your expenses and then some? I think so, yes. I'm doing well. Okay, good. It's just been a month. Oh my goodness. I know, I can't even believe you're here calling the show, getting all this done just two months later. Well, I've just been, I just... You just went into action mode? I wanted to work for my children. I don't know. I just want to be smart with it. You're incredible, Mary. The fact that you're level-headed enough to even be looking at all this, interviewing pros, I'm just, I'm proud of you, and I'm so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine going through what you went through. Is there any material out there for me to read and learn more about the mutual funds and

investing? Yeah, we cover that in a lot of our books. I'm going to send you a copy of Dave's book, Baby Steps Millionaires, which walks through his investing strategy that so many people have used to build wealth. Of course, we've got lots of articles on our website around, hey, here's the four mutual fund types. Here's how to go through the selection process. And of course, the Smart Investor Pro will help you with that as well. So hang on the line. We're going to send you a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires, and we are wishing you the best on this journey. Yeah, Mary, we are sorry for your loss, but you are in great shape financially. You've got all of the fundamentals in place to live very, very comfortably. And as George has just laid out advice for you, you're going to win.

You're going to win financially in the years to come. So make that choice. And what I love about Mary, George, is sometimes I think people miss this part of the advice we give. So for new listeners, new viewers, we really recommend that you interview multiple SmartVestor pros. In this case, Mary went to the website, RamseySolutions.com. She clicks on SmartVestor Pro. We shoot back people that are in her area that have already been vetted by us, but we still say, interview them. Put them on notice that, hey, you are deciding who's going to handle your money, and interview them. Stay in the driver's seat.

This is about connection. This is about, do I understand everything? Not, do I feel like they're good enough to make all these decisions for me? You've got to understand the process. Absolutely. And the other thing that I love is that there was life insurance in place and we recommend everyone have term life insurance, avoid whole life insurance altogether. You want term life insurance, level term, 10 to 12 times your annual income, and you can get a 15, 20, 25 year level term. And the great news is if something happens, God forbid, you have a giant

pile of money that you can invest and you can peel some of that off a small percentage every year so that you can sustain yourself financially after losing that person's income. So if you have anyone that depends on your income, get term life insurance today. Our friends at Zander, that's who I have mine through and all of our team members here have it. Go check it out, ramsaysolutions.com. You can check out all of those resources. Do you have a money question? Do you have a professional, a work question? Do you have a relationship question? Hey, it's a free phone call. George and I are here for you. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel. Always, always good to be with you, George. It is a free phone call if you want to jump in, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's see here. Let's go to Christy, who's joining us in Terre Haute, Indiana. You ever been there, George? No, we've done a few live events out there. We did a couple live events. It was before my time. Yeah, before your time. All right, let's go to Christy.

Christy, how can we help? Hi, thanks for taking my call. You bet. My husband and I, we just bought a house back in December, and it's an older 1960s home. And we've been getting our electric bills now, and they're quite expensive. Our heating system is the original heat, but it does a good job. It heats the house well, but we're in baby step two, and my husband, he's going to be getting a bonus coming up. I didn't know if we could use the bonus to upgrade our heating source. Aha. What's this new furnace going to cost? It's going to cost $6,500. Okay. And how much debt do you guys have? We have $115,000. What kind of debt is that? Mostly student loans. There's a little bit of credit card. We have $115,000. What kind of debt is that? Mostly student loans.

There's a little bit of credit card. We have one car loan and some personal loans, but mostly student loans. Okay. And what's the household income? We make $145,000 combined. Wonderful. What's the electric bill running? It was $800.

Wow. Yeah. And it's a total electric home. Wonderful. What's the electric bill running? It was $800. Oof, wow. Yeah, and it's a total electric home, and we weren't expecting that at all. And I thought I had a heart attack the first electric bill we got. Sure. What do you think it would be with this new furnace? Well, the house that we lived in previously, our electric bills were less than half, and the house was twice the size. So we thought downsizing in-home, we would come out ahead,

and we would have a bigger shovel to pay down debt. And then once we got the electric bill, it really took us back. And we thought, well, our shovel decreased a little bit. And as far as the utilities, we're still way ahead by downsizing at home. So you think you could save $500 a month by getting a new furnace? Oh, yeah, probably. That's what we were thinking. And we also had someone out and they thought maybe we could do a wood stove

and it was $5,500 to put in a wood stove. So I didn't know if that's something we should consider or if we scrap this completely and use the – Well, let's play this out for a second. What would the wood stove, would that remove all of the heating, the electrics? I mean, it's going to drastically reduce it even more. I would think we would have very minimal electric bill. From what the contractor told us, of course, he could just be upselling us to buy a stove, but for our size of home, he said we would easily heat the house with a wood stove. Yeah, but what about AC?

Because if you get the HVAC system, you get your AC as well. Yeah, we already have central air. Oh, this is just for heat? Have you gotten a few quotes? The heat system that we have is like in the ceiling. Some people call it cable heat or radiant ceiling heat. Like I said, it's really warm heat. It's just not very energy efficient.

It's not efficient, yeah. Have you gotten a few quotes or is this the only guy? We got three quotes on the furnace and we got two quotes on the wood stove. Okay. And how much is your husband's bonus that's coming in? It's going to be $14,000. Oh, wonderful. And how much do you have in the bank right now? And our savings are checking. Combined? Combined. I'm trying to do numbers. It can be a round number, just estimate. Probably $5,000. Okay.

We've got some money in our, that's mostly in our savings. So we'll have $19,000 in liquid cash once this bonus comes in, roughly, right? Yes. And so if we spend $6,500 on the furnace, that still leaves us with $12,000 or $13,000 to start throwing at our smallest debt. And hopefully that saves us a lot of money. So if this is a burning issue, no pun intended, go ahead and get the furnace done. It's not urgent. It's not broken. It's just inefficient. So there's not a true need. I wouldn't call it an emergency. But if this has just been a real pain point for you guys, and it's a hurdle for you to continue to this debt payoff journey,

and you could have an extra six grand in your life, it should ROI within the year at that point. If you save 500 bucks a month for 12 months, that's six grand. That's what the furnace costs. That's what we were thinking. We've had a mild winter here in Indiana. So I'm afraid if we'd have a typical winter, what will our electric bill be next winter sort of thing?

Yeah. And beyond that, I would just set up a little, a sinking fund line item in your budget for home repair, renovation, maintenance type stuff, so that you have a little pile of cash that's growing over the course of the year to cover things like this. Obviously, this is a big, big adjustment here. Well, thank you so much for the call, Chris. That's a move. I mean, look, that's one of those things where I'm sitting there, I'm back and forth on that one. Because if you had a mile, it was like, how could we heat that place without running the crazy, whatever she called that, heat coming out of the ceiling.

I never even heard that before. It's fantastic. Well, 1960s homes, it was, you know. Right. They built them different back then, Ken. You remember. You remember. Thank you. Yes, indeed. All homes, it was, you know. Right. They built them different back then, Ken. You remember. You remember. Thank you.

Yes, indeed. All right, let's go to Ottawa, Canada. Alex is on the line. Alex, how can we help? Hello? Hello, Alex. Hi. So I just had a quick question.

I'm thinking of looking into buying a new car. I know the car market right now isn't good. And I just want to make sure I'm not making a sort of dumb decision. What do you want to buy and how much does it cost? So I'm going to look at the numbers right now. I'm debating maybe Mercedes or should I go smaller and go towards like a Honda? It's a little better, but somewhere in the range of like 15 to 20,000. $15,000 to $20,000?

Yeah. Okay. And you're paying cash? Yes, it will be fully in cash. Okay. What's your financial picture look like? What's your income? Do you have any debt?

So I've been following, because I'm 22 right now, I've been following the Ramsey plan, I guess, since I was 16. So I have 22 right now. I've been following the Ramsey plan, I guess, since I was 16. So I have zero debts whatsoever. I paid off my college. Currently, I have about $30,000 in the bank. I have about maybe another $15,000 in investments, a mutual fund, and a little bit more in retirement, like maybe like $2,000, $3,000 in retirement. Way to go.

And what's your income? I make $80,000 a year. Wonderful. And you're driving something right now, correct? I'm driving a 2006 Honda, so I've been driving crap, just like Randy said. Been there, man. Been there. Okay, so we're going to sell that thing and get this new car, or used, new to you?

Yeah, so it'd be kind of new. So would it be dumb of me if I were to go for a Mercedes instead of going for the simple Honda? It's not dumb. Here's where you're going to run into. Mercedes, I just actually saw this. I follow one of these car dealership guys who gives you the industry insider scoop. Mercedes is holding its value, and people are paying top dollar. So you're going to have a hard time finding a deal, which means you're going to get an older Mercedes, which is fine, but you've got to be prepared for a higher cost of ownership. That thing may be in the shop. It may be some expensive repairs versus the Honda. Yeah. I drive a Mercedes. So I'm going to tell you right now, your oil change, do your homework. Do your homework on all this stuff.

What's an oil change cost on the model you're looking at? Could take premium gas versus regular. It absolutely needs to be premium gas. And so you start running those numbers and then, you know, then you can kind of play off of George's ratios here on what you should. But I mean, you've got the cash. Yeah, you're in a great place, Finan. You're not doing anything dumb either way. I just want you to be prepared for what's ahead. You could get a newer Honda or you can get the older Mercedes. The Honda is going to have a lower cost of ownership over the next few years. The Mercedes, you're going to need a bigger line item in the budget for car maintenance and repairs.

That's all. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, that's right. And you're in a spot to do it. So don't feel bad. You have earned the right, man. You're 22. You've crushed it.

You've been following this stuff since you were 16. And it's those people, Ken, that have the hardest time parting with the money. That's right. Now, I want our audience to know, we get new people all the time. So you went from driving a Honda- An 09. An 09 Civic. I bought it. It had 170,000 miles. I bought it for $6,000. Bought it for six. You saved up and you bought a Tesla. Yes. A used 2013 Tesla. A used 2013. And that was only after we paid off the house. Of course.

So that was the treat to myself. You don't need to explain anything. You're very responsible. My question is, the expense is way less. Oh, yeah. Way less. Because of the no gas. Nothing can go wrong in that thing.

Well, you hope so. I hope. Unless the battery dies and I'm in like 20 grand. I'm going to throw up. 20 grand for a battery? I think that's what they cost, Ken. I don't know. Well, I hope you got an emergency fund for that, George.

I do a lot of prayer in that car. I don't know. Hey, always fun to be with you. Thank you for being with me this hour. I want to thank James and the crew behind the glass for keeping us on the air. Mostly, I want to thank you, America. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hey, it's Ken. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Go to ramsaysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsaysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.