The Ramsey Show - App - I'm Up to My Ears in Debt! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 15, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Dave Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Ken Coleman, host of The Ken Coleman Show, which is part of the Ramsey Solutions Network, joined by my colleague Chris Hogan, host of The Chris Hogan Show, a part of the Ramsey Solutions Network. And we're thrilled to Chris Hogan, host of The Chris Hogan Show, a part of the Ramsey Solutions Network. And we're thrilled to be here together, taking your calls this hour, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. You got some retirement questions, you got some investing questions, you got some general

money questions. Well, we got Chris Hogan right here. You want to talk a little bit about that big shovel part of this deal. You're not happy in your work. You're not making the kind of money you want to make. You want to figure out how to make that transition and still stay on the baby steps. Well, I'm your guy. We'll take those questions as well.

And, hey, if you want to dip into a little bit of the Chris Hogan show and the Ken Coleman show, well, we'll take those questions. You know us. You know what we do. So, hey, the point is we're here for you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. You ready to go, big fella?

Let's do it, man. I'm excited to see who we have on the line. All right. We got Paula in Dayton, Ohio. Paula, how can we help? Hi there. I am a problem child. What does that mean? Wait a second. I'm not sure I believe that. So what does that mean?

You haven't heard it yet. I'm on the edge of my seat. Okay. I am 52 years old for one and have never budgeted a day in my life. Money was never spoken of in my home. My mother, I had no idea where money came from. It just was there. We just had it. And got married at 18, stupidly went from my parents' house to my now ex-husband's house. And it was kind of, if he wanted it, it was great. If I wanted it, it was stupid. So as you can imagine, that was one of the reasons we got divorced 15 years later.

So never knew anything about money still. So then I was on my own, and here we are now 20-some odd years later. And I went back to school after the divorce and got a degree as an occupational therapy assistant and started making some pretty good money, still no budget. You know, if I had it in my pocket I spent it and that kind of stuff was in debt often and a lot and then had finally paid off all credit cards all I owed was a car and a condo and so that was great and then my mom got sick with Alzheimer's, and I went in and helped my father with her, sold my house, and moved in with him. And I thought that I would end up getting that house because I was the only one that they had out of he had children, she had children, they had me, um, that was not the case. So I, um, wasn't willing to buy his house, the house that I was going to get, you know what I mean? I was

going to inherit this house, but he wanted, kind of wanted his cake and eat it too kind of thing. And I was paying all the bills and then he wanted me to buy the house so we he sold the house and I bought the house that I'm in now um so long story short I ended up having three surgeries last year I broke my foot broke tore my meniscus um tore my wrist hey Paula I am so sorry about all that but we we have limited time, and I know you've got a lot going on. That's okay. What's your question? What's your question for Chris and I? So here's my question.

I have gone from a $58,000 job down to a $20,000 job. Whoa. So my monthly expenses, monthly, is $24.88. My bring-home pay is $3,100. I have an $18,000 credit card because I had to use that to live on while I was off on surgery to make up with workman's comp because they don't pay very much. I owe $19,000 on my car, which that's included in that $24,88. I owe $99,000 on my house for my son and I. I have a 30-year-old son who has autism. My father is now 80 who will probably be moving in with me because he spent all of his retirement.

So is your question? So, Paula. What do I do? I don't have any money left. How do I budget? All right, great news. How do I budget if you don't have any money? Great news.

Hold on, Paula. Paula. Paula. Hang on. Help me. All right, we got you. Chris, tell her what to do. Yeah, first and foremost, you've got to take a deep breath, right?

And you do have a lot going on, but here's what you can't do. We can't tackle everything all at once. So you're going to have to take a deep breath. You've got a lot of stuff in your rearview mirror, but what you have to believe is you've got much more in your windshield. And what I'm saying is you can glance back and look at the things that didn't go well or that did or didn't go as planned. But now in front of you, you have what's called choices. And so realistically, what would I do? I'm going to start to think of ways, number one, and how to boost my income.

Like, number one, to go from $58,000 to $20,000 is a drastic drop. Yes, you had some surgeries. You had some life happen that was outside of your control. But we're going to control the controllables. My faith, my attitude, my outlook, and my actions. And so in that, I want you to control controllables. Let's begin to take on extra jobs if you have to. Get this car sold and out of your life so you can eject that payment and get the boot off your throat.

And so it's these kinds of things that you do. You start to take control of things that you can. You may need to go sit down and talk to a therapist to just say, you know what? I got a lot of stuff that hadn't gone as planned. Help me. And that's on the mental side, the mental health side of things. But as far as strategically, financially, you got to take control. So I'm going to tell you to get over into Ramsey Plus.

We got a free two-week trial right now. I want you to go over to see if you are going to commit to this. Because I have figured out, Paul, some people love drama. Some people love it. Other people are allergic to it. Other people say they've had enough. And so if you've had enough, you can get over in Ramsey Plus, learn how to budget. We're going to show you what the best budgeting tool on the planet.

It's called EveryDollar. And so it's a matter of taking this one step at a time, Ken, not trying to feel like you can fix everything all at once. Yeah, you won't be able to fix it all at once, Paula. But listen, you've got to take us up on the Ramsey Plus. Get in there and start using the EveryDollar budget. Make sure you go through the Financial Peace University and walk through this. And as Chris said, my number one priority right now would be increasing my income so that you can begin to make some headway. And I want you to start to have some boundaries for yourself and have real things.

If things didn't go as planned with your dad initially, and now you're talking about he's moving back in, okay, well, you said he had kids and previous marriages. You've got to have a conversation. So I'd probably be pulling the siblings together so we can talk about what's going to be done for dad. Who can afford to do what? That way you're not having a silent bitterness. You're getting clarity. That's right.

But you can do this, Paula. You've just got to take control of what you can control. Make some more income. Start paying off that debt. If you've got to sell the car and drive a hoopty, that's fine too. Freedom is not as far away as you think i've seen people pay off way more than what you've got you can do this we believe in you stop using that credit card that's right get it out of your life all right folks don't moveward of your money is more important

than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org. Welcome back to the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined in studio by my colleague, Chris Hogan. As we take your calls about your life, your money, your work,

the relationship issues around money. We'll take it all on, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. I want some of you out there, maybe new to the show, I want you to just picture for a moment your life with no credit cards or medical bills, no student loans, no car payments, just think about that for a second. How much better would you feel?

After 2020, most of America feels the same way you do right now, stressed and out of control, but this year can be different. It's time, finally, to take control of your money. The best way to do that is the Ramsey Plus Money Reset. It's our challenge for anyone who wants to start and does start Ramsey Plus this year. How much progress could you make on your money if you went all in for 90 days? All in to paying off your debt fast and finally saving for emergencies. With Ramsey Plus, we're going to show you how to get daily small wins with your money and even some really big ones.

Then we'll help you turn those wins into lifelong habits. This year is the year you can decide to reset your money. To go all in for 90 days and take control of your money, make today day one and start Ramsey Plus for free. DaveRamsey.com slash reset. That's where you go. DaveRamsey.com slash reset. That's where you go. DaveRamsey.com slash reset. Chris, there's power in just deciding to go, you know what? Why not?

Oh, yeah. I'm just going to go ahead. It's kind of like jumping in the pool when you know it's going to be cold. It's that first spring pool visit, and you know that water's too chilly. Kids don't care they just they run in like crazy we adults we get there and we go get to be our age we we know we know some things but you're right you just got to jump in though you really do and and i want to encourage people with this i mean we talk so much about 2020 and we were holding our breath since july

waiting for the year to end and lo and behold behold, it has ended. And so now what? And I think a lot of times, if you're not careful, you'll get a continuation of last year if you don't change some things. And I think it's important to change your expectations, your outlook, as well as your actions. So, you know, it's just time. It's time to make some decisions. It's time to make some changes. And sometimes the Band-Aid just has to come off.

And so you've just got to pull that thing off and say, know what i'm changing stuff now i love it well we've got people lined up that want to make some positive change in their life and in their money triple eight eight two five five two two five that's the number for you to jump in as well triple eight eight two five five two two five modesto california is where bobby joins us bobby how can we help all right thank you for taking my call how you guys doing man we're having a blast what's going 225 Modesto, California is where Bobby joins us. Bobby, how can we help? Hi, thank you for taking my call. How are you guys doing? Man, we're having a blast.

What's going on with you, sir? All right. So, man, I'm on baby step three. I paid off all my debt in the last, actually I paid it off last year. As crazy as the year was, I got a chance to pay it off. It was $33,000 in total. There you go. And me and my wife, thank you, man. Me and my wife, we stuck to the baby steps, and we went ahead and knocked it out.

We also got our six-month emergency fund. Thanks. Good. I love it. I love it. Yeah, man. We really went gazelle intensity, and we just really put our hearts and minds into it, and we got it done. My question now is, going into the new year, you know, the stimulus,

tax money coming in for debt-free, what do you guys think is the next best move for me? Is it to save for a house? Is it to put the 15% into investing? How much do I save for a house? What percentage or not? Is it a good time? I would be a house, what percentage or not. Is it a good time? I would be a first-time homebuyer, stuff like that.

I just, first of all, I'm pretty excited about where we're at. I just want to touch base with you guys. Well, you should be excited about where you are. You all have taken back control of your financial life. Congratulations. You paid off $33,000 in debt. You don't do that by accident, and especially in a year where we had a pandemic. So I'm very proud of you guys.

You've been very intentional. Now, you had multiple questions there for me, Bobby. So let me tell you this. First and foremost, when you're looking at buying a home, you got to be aware of your landscape. You guys know in California, you guys charge for air out there. I mean, it is expensive. So you got to look and figure out what part of California, you guys charge for air out there. I mean, it is expensive. So you got to look and figure out what part of California are you looking to buy or are you thinking about moving? So you got to be aware of this and start to understand kind of the median home prices in your area and what you're thinking of. I'd connect with a good real estate ELP in your area just to give you a lay of the land and know what's going on. The next thing I'd do, if I'm in your shoes right now, I'd start to save for a home down payment. It sounds like house is something you guys are going to be intentional with.

However, if you don't see that being something that's going to happen in the next two to three years, then I would definitely say it's baby step 3B when you save up for a down payment. Minimum of 10% is what you want to have. I'd prefer you go in with 20% down, but a minimum of 10%, and you could just park that money right in with your emergency fund in the money market account. You know, if you've got $15,000 in for your emergency fund, anything over and above that is a part of your home down payment. That's what I do.

If it's going to be two to three years out that you got to say, you know what, we're going to rent for a little bit and be intentional to try to save up money, that's fine too, but have a plan. Yeah, really good advice there. Thank you so much for the call, and congratulations. You know, let's just revisit the fact that in a crazy year, a pandemic year, he and his wife got debt-free. Fantastic work. That's really good. The best and his wife got debt-free. Fantastic work. That's really good. The best is still ahead for you, Bobby. Great stuff.

Let's go to Steve now in Seattle, Washington. Steve, how can we help? Yes. I have recently retired. I'm 66 years old, completely debt-free. I have a Roth IRA and a conventional IRA. The Roth IRA is worth a quarter of a million dollars, and the conventional IRA is worth $600,000 in mixed mutual funds.

The Roth is more speculative than the conventional. But what I'm wondering is if I should consider backing out all my money into cash and then dollar-cost averaging back into the market using the Ramsey portfolio models of the 25% in each category. I want to conserve my nest egg, but I don't want to get out of the market completely. But I'm thinking we might be due for a crash here pretty soon, or at least a big adjustment. And I just want to be prepared. What's your opinion? Well, okay, Steve, let me hear if I'm asking you right. The backing back in, are you talking about that from the traditional IRA or your Roth?

Both, I was thinking. Okay. Well, here's what I tell you. You know, people typically, whenever there is a new election or any kind of new year or new season that's coming, people are always trying to have a magic crystal ball. They're always trying to tell us that a crash is coming or an increase is coming. And here's the thing that I realize. If we look at what happened in 2020 in the year of the pandemic, and the market dropped like it did as we look back in March, and then we look at the climb that it made back in October and September,

here's the reality. Nobody can predict. So what I would tell you is, is with the Roth money that you have, the quarter of a million, you've got that thing. I mean, it's after tax, you've got that money growing tax free. I'm not messing with that. Looking at your traditional, you know, you got to begin to talk through and look at and say, okay, am I at my point? Have I hit my number where I want to be? Or do I want to continue to keep growing this? Like you said, preserving the nest egg, but you just don't want to preserve. You're also probably looking to grow.

We know inflation is a very real thing. The cost of living is going to go up. So we need to make sure that our money's growing, not just kick back in a hammock. So I would tell you this, as you look at your income and what you're planning to do work-wise, if any, over the next five to six years, you may have an opportunity with your income that you have as opposed to moving or changing your investments. But I want you to do exactly what I just told a friend of mine to do in your same spot, was to sit down with your investment professional. Bring in your Roth IRA.

Bring in your conventional. Bring in your 401k, everything. And let's get it all on a complete game plan, meaning have the dollars all kind of working together. What's the goal of this? What am I planning to leave? What am I planning to grow? And just get a unified plan for you.

That way you can start to look and do you need to back down and be less aggressive or do you need to tune up in some areas? It's a better deal to get this holistic view rather than a hit or miss thing trying to jump in and out of the market ken and i were talking about that at the break trying to time things in the stock market will lead to heartache and headache and what we saw as you referenced a moment ago in 2020 we did see some really big dips yeah crazy dips yeah we did we also saw it come back that's right and so this idea of well oh it's gonna crash it can't keep being overhe. And so this idea of, well, oh, it's going to crash.

It can't keep being overheated and all this kind of stuff. Nobody has a crystal ball. Stay on the roller coaster. Stay focused. Put a seatbelt on. And that's called having a plan. Yeah, I love it. Good stuff.

All right, he is Chris Hogan. I'm Ken Coleman. We're sitting in here on the Dave Ramsey Show. More of your calls coming right up. Don't move. The Dave Ramsey Show continues taking your calls your questions and we're going to inject some clear

steps and some hope and we're going to cheer you on I'm Ken Coleman joined by my my colleague, Chris Hogan. And it's always fun, big man, to get in here and just meet people where they are. That's exactly right. Real-life conversations. We've all been there.

Yeah, we have. There's no shame in your game. Nope. Reach out. Get some help. Especially when you're trying to get better. Yeah. You know?

And so the most important thing is not to do it alone. Yeah. Reach out. Get some guidance. Get some encouragement. Get some encouragement. Get some coaching. Or maybe even get a little kick in the pants. Uh-oh.

If necessary. Right? That's part of coaching. And Coleman, you're the career coach. Yeah. I'm the money coach. Yeah. We coach people.

Yeah. You know, I like that. You know, the old kick in the pants is good as long as you get a little pat on the back, too. That's right. Come on. And it's got to be well-intended. Yeah.

Right? And so we got to make sure hey we got to push because what's crazy is is that you know when you have goals and you have things that really matter to you one of the things i talked about on my show well the chris hogan show was not it's real easy to set a goal but i want to take it a step further go check it out on youtube you can see it it was one of my first of the year episodes. But what I said was, is I gave a new spin on it. We got to not only identify what we want, but let's think about who stands to gain. Like when you have that, that mindset of what you want to accomplish, who stands to gain in your family? If you reach that goal, then let's take it a step further. What are you willing to sacrifice to get to that goal?

See, we have this and mentality in our culture today. I want to do this and do that. Well, hold on. Can't do everything. So if I do this, then what? Or what am I willing to give up? Am I willing to watch a little less TV to start to work on this dream job or this side gig or to attack debt?

And so it's these little things that we can do, Ken, to really help promote our goals and to promote ourselves. By the way, I'll make sure I promote. All you got to do is go to YouTube, search the Chris Hogan Show while you're there. Search the Ken Coleman Show. Subscribe to both of them. We're going to coach you up. But I want to add something you said there because it's absolutely true. And I found this in my life, Chris, that I finally started getting breakthrough in multiple areas of my life when I grasp the concept of the long haul. And let me explain about that.

If I went out on the street, let's say I took a camera with me and a microphone and I walked around the street and I just got a bunch of strangers and I said, hey, let me ask you this. If I guaranteed you success in whatever area of their life, let's just say, I guarantee you your dream job, would you do whatever it takes? What do you think 9 out of 10 people would say to me? Oh, yeah, they would say yes. All right, let's just say, I guarantee you it's your dream job. Would you do whatever it takes? What do you think nine out of ten people would say to me? Oh, yeah, they would say yes. All right, what if I then followed up and said, okay, great, one more question.

Are you willing to wait as long as it takes? What do you think the answer would be there? No. I think it would be a lot of pauses. Oh, yeah. Because, see, therein lies a little bit of what you're touching on, and I just wanted to add to this. Anything worth having, you're going to have to be willing to wait.

Yes. Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that you're just sitting around waiting for it to happen. A lot of people are just waiting for their lucky break. I'm saying I am getting up and I am persisting. Rice and beans, beans and rice, that snowball. In my lane over here, we talk about, well, we're going to get qualified. We're going to do what it takes, and it's going to take some time.

Maybe it takes three to five years to get qualified. In my journey, it took seven years to get to the opportunity to then get the dream job. So what I want people to understand is the game changer is I'm willing to do whatever it takes, and everybody's up for that. Woo-hoo! We're all fired up when you realize are you willing to do it for three years for five years yeah for seven years are you willing to wait on the results so i gotta get out there and i gotta chop wood and when i'm chopping a big old tree down chris it ain't gonna happen in an hour no i'm telling you this might not happen in an afternoon. No, because that tree has been there a while, and it's taken some effort.

But here's what I figured out in waiting. There's wisdom in waiting, and there's also working in waiting. And I like that you said that. It's not just sitting still. I'm moving in a direction. And I can remember way back in the day when I was in mainstream banking, and I knew that wasn't for me. I knew I didn't like pitching people products and stuff. I wanted to help people.

And so there was two to three years of that frustration and irritation before I moved into the next realm. And so what I would encourage people to do is let that frustration and irritation be a motivator for you instead of a frustrator. And I think that, that, that can help because where you are right now doesn't have to be where you end up unless you stop. Persistence is real. Yeah, it's got the sizzle factor.

We all like those persistence stories, but nobody ever really talks about the patience while persistent. Yeah, that's a good point. And so that's the point here. Grab that. Grab the importance of patience. Some of you are early on in this journey. And you're going, come on, man.

Seriously, how long is this going to take? Well, I don't know. But I know that you're going to have to be patient while you persist. You have to sacrifice. But keep that mindset and understand that it is the patience that will end up fueling the persistence. Well, and also, as you have to wait to get to something you will not you will savor it once you get there isn't that the truth you will look at it totally different as opposed to if you got it three or four years earlier you may not have even appreciated it as much you know it's

so weird if i start running right now around the block and you show up within the first 30 seconds of the bottle of water i don't know i'm grateful oh yeah but i don't appreciate that bottle of water unless you let me run a mile or two then show up with the water now how much do i love that water you really appreciate that water yeah so there you go folks all right let's get to the phones hunter is up in santa cruz california hunter how can we help hi guys thank you so much for having me on the show you bet how can we? All right. So my wife and I are on Dave's Set 3, and we have about $3,500 in our emergency fund. So we're almost halfway. But as we get closer, I keep wondering about retirement. I have a Roth IRA target retirement, but I was reading that you guys were saying that

normal Roth IRA is better. You get better returns, and so I want to be able to get a chance to... Hey, Hunter, do me a quick favor. Let's see if we can adjust that phone, get it close to your mouth, and see if we can hear you a little bit better. Is this better? We'll try it. Chris, you can take over.

Yeah, go right ahead. So Hunter, what you're talking about with target date funds, these funds are essentially set up to auto invest for you based on your age. And here's the problem with that. My first book, Retire Inspired, I'm going to send you one. Zach's going to get your information and we'll get it to you. But I said in that the subtitle of that book is, Retirement's Not an Age, It's a Financial Number. So target date funds are set up to auto-invest based on age. As you get older, it gets much more conservative. So I don't like those.

I'd rather you utilize the growth stock mutual funds that we talk about, so that way you are controlling the growth, you're controlling the mindset of where you are. Now, hear me. You're not there yet because you're still working on your emergency fund. But I appreciate and respect the fact that you're kind of peeking ahead. You're getting motivated. You've got dreams you're trying to chase down.

But I want you to sit down with a smart investor pro. Look at growth stock mutual funds. Diversify across the four. And truly start to be intentional. A couple things for you. Go over to ChrisHogan360.com. I've got a free investing guide, an everyday millionaire investing guide at my website. It's a 35-page PDF.

It's free that you can download, and you and your wife can start looking at that and start reading through it, preparing to sit down with a smart investor pro. But I also want you guys to do the retire inspired quotient, the RIQ. This is going to show you really how much you're going to need to live the dream. But here's what I love. It helps you with the dream date. So you guys can walk through and start to really uncover what is retirement going to look like for you? What are you guys wanting to do later in life? What motivates you? What gets you excited? And it's going to help you guys unite on the plan. And so that's the route to go. You don't ever want to set it and forget it mentality with investing. You want something that's active and it is connected for you and your dreams.

You know, Chris, this highlights the reason why we believe so much in our SmartVestor Pros, when you've got these super customized plans that need to be developed based on the progress that you've made financially plus your age group. That's right. There's a lot there. I just had a friend of mine, he had his parents come to me and said, hey, my parents are in good shape, we think. And I said, you know what?

Where do they live? And we got a couple of SmartVestor pros to talk with them. They picked the one that they like the most. I just really want to underscore why we actually have that program. That's right. You want to remove the question, right? There's so many questions in life and things. You want to work with a pro that's going to help you get there. Yeah. So DaveRamsey.com, Smart Investor Pros. Sit down with somebody. Interview multiple. Yep. Multiple people. Get a good feel about it. You're hiring them, not the other way around. Don't be intimidated. Keep asking questions.

It's kind of like that kid. If they get frustrated with all them questions, check them off the list. Keep on asking questions so you get the answers that you need. Speaking of questions, we're going to take more of yours coming up next. Don't move. Chris Hogan, Ken Coleman, here on The Dave Ramsey Show.

Welcome back to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague Chris Hogan as we take your questions about your life and your money and your work. 888-825-5225. Today's scripture, Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Our quote today from Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, we must all learn not only to not fear change,

but to embrace it enthusiastically, and perhaps even more important, encourage and drive it. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. Let's go to Robin, who joins us in Lexington, Kentucky. Robin, how can we help? Hi. I'm in bed up to my ears. Okay. And I've got, the guy you talked to about an hour ago with his wife and husband being separate incomes.

Okay. Well, I'm kind of in that way. My husband's on disability, Social Security, well, just SSI, and two children. So with the government with that, I can't work. They won't let me work because they'll take his check.

So, I mean, I've got student loans. I've got over $118,000 in student loans. I've got a master's degree. And we're a finance company. We're pawning everything just to make money. It's, what, the 15th of the month and we are broke. What did you get your

master's degree in and for what purpose? Well, I got my master's degree in ministry. I was wanting to go to the mission field but financially that's not working out. Okay.

Which I know most missionaries start out, because I'm from a missionary family, start out with nothing anyway. How much is your husband's disability check? What's that income, the net coming in each month? It is $793. Okay. And the two kids are $793. Okay. And the two kids are $793. Those will be on within four years. So we have three payments of $793 a month coming in.

That just started the raise in January, yes. Okay, and that's the only income you guys have coming in? The only income. Okay. My house is paid off. I paid that's the only income you guys have coming in the only income okay you know my house is paid off i paid that with the first stimulus i do not get the second stimulus because i didn't file a 19 okay and so you have the student loan debt of 118 000 what other debts do you all have um well we've got things that are all in pawn. We have a finance company. I have another finance company, which you just like Cash Express. I don't know if you know about that or not.

I sure do. I do. Well, I do that. Okay. And we are postponing like water bill and electric bill. We're just making payments to keep it on. My water bill, because of a leak, was over almost $300 this month. So if you guys are bringing in right now around $2,400, where's it going?

Well, I only have the two checks. He only pays the finance company, and I don't know what he does with his money. Okay. And the other two, I make payments on everything else. Okay. So you guys are operating with divided money? Yeah. Okay.

Okay. How long have you all been married, Robin? It'll be 20 years next month. Okay. Is this the way it's always been? No. We started out working until he got sick and got cancer twice and some health problems happened.

Okay. All right. Well, and looking at this, I mean, how old are your kids? The ones that are on disability, we have three that are still, well one's fixing to get married. She'll be 18 next month. I've got a 14 and a 15 year old that are on disability. Okay.

Well, I can say this, you know, one of the most important things for you all to do with limited income right now is to absolutely be on a plan. And these finance companies, I'm going to tell you right now, those things are eating away in the charges. And, you know, you got to get this cobweb off of you. And you guys aren't going to be able to do this working independently. You're going to have to sit down and come together. And that's talking about putting your money in a joint account together, a bill-paying account, and really

starting to dig in and look at this. I've tried that. He just doesn't want to do that. He's been married before, and there's no trust there financially. He won't do it. Right. Well, you guys have been together 20 years, okay?

So I don't know what happened in the previous time, and that ain't your fault. I'm going to tell you right now. And so, you know, are you all plugged into a church at all? Yes, I am. He is at now. Okay. We're in a very small church. I'm really not in Lexington.

I'm outskirts of Lexington. I'm more close to the Tennessee line. Okay. You look at McCree County, we're the poorest in the nation, so I live in a very small... Hey, Robin. Robin, you know, listen, can I shoot you really, really straight here? And I'm going to try to say this as lovingly as I can, but you in some ways are a victim of really bad government policy, and I can't stand when I hear calls like this.

If I go to work, he loses his disability. And I don't know what's going on with the kids. We don't really have time to break that down. But I think you're going to have to also consider how much money could you make if you worked a full-time job? I did have a job about two years ago. Okay, how much were you bringing home? What was your net?

I was bringing home... Not exactly. Give me a ballpark figure. I was bringing about, maybe about $1,000 to $2,000 a month. Okay. That's... And I worked at Walmart, so I was a full-time employee at Walmart. Wow.

Great, but here's my point. You're full-time at Walmart, and if you had to for a season, you could work a second job beyond that. And if you got that take-home to $2,500 or $3,000 a month, you're coming out in the positive. I'm telling you,

you have got to get back to full-time work, and this puts the pressure on the hubs to kind of come together here. And we go, hey, look, we cannot keep taking disability payments and trying to live off of that. You cannot do this anymore, Robin. You've got to go out and work your tail off. And when you do that, this is America, and I'm sure in Kentucky and Tennessee, there's

plenty of jobs that you can get out there and make a substantial amount more than even if we lost those disability payments and go, who cares? Moving on. But we're free from the shackles, because right now, you're limited. I'm pretty fired up, Robin. Robin, you need to go get a job. And I mean, like, another job. I know that.

No, no, listen. I could go back to Walmart. They would hire me back in a heartbeat, because I left it. Then go today. Get it. Hang on. I'm hanging up on you. Yeah. I could go back to Walmart. They would hire me back in a heartbeat because I left it. Then go today. I'm hanging up on you right now because you need to get in a car, and you need to go get a job, and you need to play this back for the husband. And, Hubs, listen to me, Hubs. I'm shooting you straight, Hubs.

20 years you've been married to this woman. You're full of crap, sir. You don't have trust problems. You have discipline problems. And you don't want to own up to it. And so you're leaning on a crutch from a previous relationship that was 20 years ago.

Let it go, bro. Let it go and step up. And I know you've had health problems and I don't begrudge you for that, but you can still be a man and own this problem with your wife and take care of this take care of your kids take care of them and i gotta tell you well you know what because this is this is wrong yeah no and it's a systemic problem this is a systemic problem it's a government benefits problem where it motivates and disincentivizes people to be free.

But here's the other thing. This dude has no excuse to not do joint bank accounts and sit down with her and go, I'm going to stop spending my benefits check however I please because I'm so freaking miserable that it's my excuse. I'll tell you something, Hogue. You better take over. No, you're good, dude. Because my blood – No, you're good.

It's wrong. It's wrong. I see your neck getting red. You're getting feisty. It's a good thing. I'll tell you something, Hogan. You better take over. No, you're good, dude. Because my blood – No, you're good. It's wrong. It's wrong. I see your neck getting red. You're getting feisty. I hope he watches it. Robin, you better play it back for him because I'll be the bad guy. Yeah. All right.

We got to help people. That was coaching. Yeah. Yeah. There's the kick in the pants. There it was. There's no pad on the back there. All right.

Hey, I want to say love you, bro. Appreciate you, man. Always fun hanging with my friend Chris Hogan. I want to thank our producer, James Childs, Zach Bennett sitting in today, associate producer and call screen. Thank you, Zach. But most of all, thank you, America, for listening. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top four most popular podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration from the Ramsey Network,

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