The Ramsey Show - App - Is Bankruptcy the Answer to Your Money Problems? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 15, 2018

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave 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. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for calling. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Houston, Texas. Rashina is with us. Hey, Rashina, how are you?

I've been better days. Uh-oh. What's going on? I hate to use this term, but I'm drowning. I've been reading your books and your programs for the last couple months. You know what I can get at the library and watching your videos online. But everything's kind of come to a head, and I'm losing myself a bit, a lot. And I'm not sure what to do.

I'm considering bankruptcy at this point. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go back to school. I just honestly don't know what to do right now. How old are you? I'm 28. And how much do you make a year? At best, I make around $19,000. What do you do? Right now, I'm a substitute teacher. Okay. Do you have a teaching certificate? No.

I owe a debt that's actually preventing me from getting a certificate. I don't understand. I owe a college. In order to do the teaching program in Texas you have to have all your transcripts but because I owe a school they won't release it and they won't let me go with the transcripts I have I got you and how much do you owe them I owe them around thirteen hundred thirteen hundred dollars yes okay and how quickly would you land a job were you to get your transcript, do you think? Pretty quickly.

I've been subbing. I know this is going to sound so silly, but I've been subbing for about four years. The thing is the money's not constant. I'm not working during the summers. I don't work during major holidays. Do you live on your own? Yes. Man, you're barely making it, aren't you, kiddo? I'm barely making it. I owe so much student loan debt. How much other student loan debt do you have? I'm not counting this $1,300.

$62,000. Yeah, that's overwhelming making $19,000. And what other kind of debt have you got? Um, I have consumer debt. I've taken out, I know some stupid decisions, I've taken out payday loans. I have a car note that got repossessed last year. They want $12,000 on it. And I have a new car loan because I couldn't pay cash. So I'm paying that too.

How much do you owe on that car? The one right now, around $5,000. How much is your payment? It's $200 a month. Okay. All right. Well, let's walk through this for a second, okay? If you were to file bankruptcy, a chapter seven bankruptcy is the type of bankruptcy that cleans off all your debts okay student loan debt is not bankruptable so a bankruptcy would

not clean off the 62 000 it might clean off the 1300 one i300 one. I don't know. That sounds like that's a private debt, and that one might be cleaned. It would clean off your old repossession. It would clean off the payday loans. It would not clean up the $5,000 debt on the car unless you turn the car in. You don't get to get rid of the debt and keep the car. You follow me? Yes, sir. So you either keep the debt and keep the car,

or you turn the car in and can get rid of that debt. Okay? Okay. If you want my opinion, I don't think you have a debt problem as much as you have a huge income problem. I definitely agree with that. If we could increase your income $10,000, $15,000 a year, you still wouldn't be making a ton of money,

but it would change your life right now. Because let me kind of give you this number, okay? $1,300 changes your income because you get the transcripts back. $5,000 gets rid of the car debt. How much is on these stupid payday loans? Well, I only took out $800, but as you know, the interest rate. Yeah, how much do you owe on the stupid payday loans? $1,700 now.

Okay. So let's do this math. $8,000, $1,700 there, $1,300 at the college, $5,000 on your car changes your whole life. Yes, sir. Does that make sense? Yes. $8,000. And then you've got a student loan that you're going to have to work your way through,

but you've got to work your way through that anyway. You're not getting away from that one. And you've got an old repo of $12,000 that you probably could settle for a couple grand. So $10,000 cleans up your entire life and makes it awesome, not counting the fact you've got to fight through $62,000 worth of student loans. So, you know, that tells me that you really don't have a bankruptcy problem. You've really got a, I mean, a debt problem. You've got an income problem. So, how much is your rent?

About $600 a month. Okay. And so here's what I want you to do. Have you ever waited tables or delivered pizzas? A couple years ago, I was a waitress when I was a teen. Okay. And you're 26, you said? 28.

28. Okay. What I would tell you to do, if I woke up in your shoes knowing what I know, and see, I don't have all the emotions of being overwhelmed and scared. I'm just looking at the math. So I've got an advantage right now. Okay? You've got the emotions of being overwhelmed and scared. I'm just looking at the math. So I've got an advantage right now. Okay? You've got the emotions of being overwhelmed and scared.

I'm just looking at the math. And that gives me an advantage. I'm outside the forest so I can see all the trees. You following me? Yes, sir. I get that you're overwhelmed and scared, but I can tell you how to fix it. I mean, if I were you, I'd start working about 80 hours a week 90 hours a week i'd be delivering pizzas and waiting tables and whatever else you can come up with to make money tutoring i'd be

tutoring my little butt off and a lady was on here making 30 bucks an hour in charlotte tutoring as a teacher and that's how she got out of debt. $30 an hour would change your life, you know? Pick up three or four kids. Pick up three or four places you can wait tables and pick up odd jobs, doing whatever. I don't know what you can do that's legal and moral, but I want you to go make an extra $2,000 or $3,000 a month. But you don't have no life. You can't breathe. You're so tired, your nostrils hurt.

You follow me? You don't have to worry about it, though. You won't die from hard work. Right before you die, you'll pass out. You'll be okay. You follow me? Yes, sir. You need to work your butt off, your fingers to the bone, and go make you $10,000 in the next four months. Christmas, I want you debt-free except the student loans and the car repo. You get your transcripts back.

You get the payday lenders out of your life. Don't you ever go in one of those places again. They're killing you. Okay. And get your car paid off, and then you're going to have a life. You feel it? Okay. You can do this. You feel it? Okay. You can do this.

I'll walk with you. You call me back while you're working on it, and you and I will do this together. And you hold on. I'm going to put you through Financial Peace University, too. Get a community in your life where you can walk through this and get it done. You got this, kid. You can do it. But you just need a little bit of money, and the way to get that is work like a crazy person.

Hold on. Kelly will pick up. One question I get asked all the time is, do I need life insurance? Listen, the whole point of life insurance is to replace your income for someone who counts on you. So if you have a spouse or you have kids, yes, you need term life insurance. It's the only way to protect them until you're out of debt and have built up your wealth. You're only digging a deeper hole if you waste money on cash value plans since it robs you of the ability to make real progress. And that's why I send you to Zander Insurance, and I have for 20 years.

That's where I get all my insurance, and they only offer the plans I recommend. It is not expensive. It's not complicated. And Zander will be there as your guide every step of the way. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. You need to get this taken care of. I can give you the advice, and I can tell you where to go, but it's really up to

you to take that important step to get your family protected. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thanks for joining us, America. We're glad you are here. Chris is with us in Hartford, Connecticut. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm fine, Dave. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? God bless you for all the work you do, sir. Thank you. Seriously. You too.

Okay, so the reason for my call, I was divorced last year, and my ex-wife fought me for the house. I signed a quit claim deed over to her, and this year she decided to remarry a very wealthy person, and she moved into his home, and she just flatly told me that I am no longer paying for the mortgage, which, I mean, I really, I'm beside myself. I don't know what to do, because I was working her plan pretty aggressively, and I was almost

out, and now this. And I just, I don't know what my rights are. I don't know how to fight it. I don't know how to fight it. I don't know how to work it out. There are some variables that she introduced into the situation that are, they make it even a harder situation. She did a remodification on the loan, putting $30,000 on the back end of it, and it just, all the equity is gone, and it's $140,000

that I guess I'm on the bill for here with, hey, you know, I have a condo here that I'm paying rent on, and I just don't know what to do, sir. I was hoping for your guidance. You got bad advice from your divorce attorney telling you to quit claim the deed without requiring her to refinance. And she wasn't required to refinance in the divorce decree, correct? No, she was. Oh, she was? And she's in contempt of court.

And she's in contempt of court. Yes, she is. My divorce attorney said as much, but I don't know what that means, and I don't know what happened. That means you drag her into court and let the judge smack her around until her new husband pays his house off. Oh, okay. I'm going to make her life freaking miserable. I just don't know if that's the best decision for my children, though. Well, I don't know why it wouldn't be.

We have a 50-50 custody. Yeah. I don't know why it wouldn't be. Don't you have custody? Well, yeah, 50-50, we do. How do you lose custody causing the judge, asking the judge to enforce the divorce decree? Oh, that wasn't my concern. It was more keeping the peace between the two households.

I miss the part where she cares about that. Okay. You're the only one wanting to keep the peace. Translation, there will never be any peace. Understood. As long as you bow to that. I mean, you do whatever you want to do, dude. But I'm telling you this.

What happened was old moneybags looked at this and goes, listen, we don't need your credit. Just dump it, and you'll bankrupt your ex-husband in the process. And we'll just dump on him, and you don't need ex-husband in the process, and we'll just dump on him, and you don't need credit anyway. Anything that comes up, I'll cover it. Right. And so no way you should pay payments on this house, except for the fact that Moneybags forgot the fact that the divorce decree said the judge told her she had to refinance it,

and she didn't follow through on that, so she's in contempt. Right. And when you put that pressure on her, Moneybags is going to get a whole different theory on how to handle this situation. Okay. That's where this is coming from, dude. That's my supposition in two and a half minutes into the situation, but that's what I bet is going on.

I don't know how to find representation for this. Do you have services? Your divorce attorney won't handle it? Well, we split a divorce attorney, so she can't represent me in this, no. Why not? Because she represented both of us in court. We came to an agreement together on what we were going to do. I understand.

And so she won't take it. Right. Well, then ask her who she recommends that we get to enforce her piss-poor legal work. Okay. Good Lord. Thank you so much, sir. God bless you. Yeah, what a horrible situation.

You get bad legal advice and you don't have any representation. Yeah, this is just horrible. Yeah, you just, dude, you really, I mean, otherwise what's going to happen is you're going to get foreclosed on, she's going to get foreclosed on, you're upside down in the house, and they're going to sue you guys for the deficit, and she's going to be able to fight the lawsuit, and you haven't got time,

and she's going to bankrupt you. That's what she's trying to do. And all because you gave up the ownership in the house without getting off the liability of the loan. You should have held the quitclaim deed until the refinance papers were signed simultaneous with the quitclaim deed. And you don't get my ownership until you get me off the loan. In other words, folks, for those of you going through a divorce, that's how it works. And, you know, if me being nice about the house when you're trying to get me foreclosed and bankrupted on is the only way to keep the peace, there's not going to be any peace.

Will is with us in Waco, Texas. Hi, Will. How are you? I'm doing well, sir. Here's my question. I'm a student, and I got in an accident recently, and I'm getting a settlement check. I followed your plan. I had, you know, savings and all that accident recently, and I'm getting a settlement check. I followed your plan. I had savings and all that good stuff, and I was paying cash for school.

Well, the economy got a little bit slow here in Central Texas, and I had to pay cash completely for school, so it wiped out my savings. I ran up a credit card that my parents had given me, so here's where I'm at. I'm getting $2,800 on a settlement from the insurance company i owe a thousand dollars on my car and right at two thousand dollars on my credit card what's my best plan of action i have no more savings because i just paid for school i'm going to go for a fire for a firefighter and i'm pretty much done i got like okay what is the settlement is to pay for your car or an injury? For the injury. I was in another vehicle with my girlfriend, and she's been taking care of the cars and paid for.

She's all fine. I've been finding on my end, and I got $2,800. Okay, all right. And are you working now? Yes, sir. I work pretty much every day. I don't go to school. I go to school three days a week.

Every other day I'm working doubles, to make sure that, you know, I can stay in my apartment. Apartment's $500 a month. No big deal. I can afford that, but this is where I'm at. Okay. Then let's work the baby steps. You don't have any money saved at all, right?

I got like $300 in savings. Okay. Then we add $700 of that to get you to your $1,000 Baby Step 1 emergency fund. That leaves us with $2,100. Did I say that correctly? Correct. Okay, now you got $1,000 in the bank and $2,100 to do something to do with. And then I'm going to work your Baby Steps, which is list your debts smallest to largest.

So we would pay off the car. It's your smallest debt. Am I correct? Yes, sir. And then that leaves me $1,100 to put towards a $2,000 credit card. Am I correct? Yes, sir. Okay. And the credit card is cut up? Yes, sir. I threw it away. Good. Good. Okay. And the account is closed to further charges until you get that done. So then you need to come up with $900 by working like a crazy man, and then you're debt-free. Did I get that part right? Mm-hmm.

And you've got to save up for school, too. Yes, sir. That's where the hard part comes in. Firefighter is done. EMP is going to be done in 10 weeks. The next course of action is paramedic because in the state of Texas, getting hired on. And when do you need to take the paramedic class and what does it cost? Every semester is $2,200, and the faster you take it, the faster you get out,

and it's 18 months. When would you be ready to take it? January 1st is when they open back up for applications. I could probably have it done. Okay. If we do what I just outlined, can you save the $2,200 to go to that? I'm pretty sure I could. Let's don't.

If I keep going at what I'm doing. Let's just pay off the house, and let's set the $1,100 aside for paramedic school instead of paying the credit card. And let's pay minimum payments on the credit card. Because the thing I want you to do is I want you to finish school without adding any debt. Yes, sir. And then let's pay off the debt. So let's knock the car out, put the $1,100 aside,

pay minimum payments on the credit card, save up for the $2,200 until you get to that for your paramedic school in January. Once you're there, then start paying extra on the credit card. Okay. I appreciate your advice. Thank you so much, sir. Yeah. That way we ensure that you get on into paramedic school and get on out. So good question. Thank you for joining us. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225.

We are so glad you're with us. Thanks for hanging out. It's a free call. Dave, do you ever get tired of answering the same questions over and over from Helen? 90% of the time, no. Because 90% of the time, it's a new question for you. And I've been there when I didn't know the answer and when I was scared or when I was excited or where I was getting ready to make a mistake and somebody helped me and kept me from doing that. And so I can just think about you, not me, and it helps me to not do that. Sometimes when I'm tired, I just kind of roll my eyes like some of you do riding in your car.

But most of the time, no, I don't get tired of it. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry, a Better Business Bureau-accredited organization CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years.

And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Show. John is with us in Las Vegas. Hi, John. How are you? Outstanding, dude. How are you doing?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Always lovely to hear that. I got a question for you, and I'll keep it brief. I'm 41 years old. My wife and I are debt-free. We have a little girl, 6 years old. My wife and I are debt free. We have a little girl, six years old. Both of our cars are paid. We have a primary house that we owe $150,000 on. We have a rental house that I owe $70,000 on. The reason why I have the rental house is that I live in Arizona, but I also work in Nevada. And a couple of years back, I got a job transfer.

Anyway, we ended up buying the place and it worked out really good for us. So fast forward to today, my primary house is worth about 350. Like I said, I owe 150 on it. My rental house in Las Vegas, we owe 70 on it and it's worth about 225. My question to you is, should I sell that property and be debt-free with my house, my primary house, or should I stay on track and keep trying to pay off my rental house that I'm doing now? What's your household income? I make about $120,000 a year. You're doing well. Congratulations. Very well done. Thankfully, my parents at a young age instilled in us that debt was never an option for us,

so I've never been in debt. You know, I've done really well with our 401k. I think we have about $130,000 in our 401k. We've got about $60,000 in our savings. So I'm just curious to see what I should do, what's going to be my best route moving forward in the next couple of years. The conclusions I came to after going broke and learning God's and Grandma's ways of handling money, learning common sense that led me to this whole debt-free revolution that I'm at the front of, they came from these ideas.

Okay? So let's answer the question among these ideas. What is the safest for your family over the next 20 years? Which of these decisions? And which of these decisions will cause your family to prosper financially the most over the next 20 years? And the two decisions are keep the rental or sell the rental and pay off your house, right? Correct. Which is the safest for your family over 20 years and which will cause your family over 20 years to have more money? I came to the conclusion that debt-free was both.

That was the conclusion I came to. And here's how I reached the conclusion. The safety one is easy, right? Obviously. I mean, we've done detailed research, and 100% of the homes that are foreclosed don't have a mortgage, right? So, I mean, it's, you know, getting rid of a mortgage adds an element of safety to your life, and it changes your decision-making from that point forward. Because when you have zero debt, your career tends to blossom,

because you just have a sense sense of uh security that um sets you free you know you just make a little you don't have any you don't have any decisions based on anything except good things you know so that that part is there uh then so that's the safety part but then if i don't have any house payments does that money invested make me more money over 20 years, risk-adjusted, than the growth of this rental house will be? And my contention is yes. Because you're going to get back into other rental properties, but with cash next time. And you'll be thoughtful about where that rental property is based on where you live

and those kinds of things. And so, you know, the choice that we made when we were in a similar situation to you was that we got the house paid off and then we started our rental portfolio. We didn't work our way out. Now, I will tell you that I would not put either answer under the stupid column. There's some things people ask me on this show. You stupid if you do it that way you know kind of thing you know what i'm talking about should i lease a car no you're stupid if you do that you know that that there's not there's that goes under the stupid column it's yes or no smart or dumb right this is not that way

this is just a thing of okay both having both having a rental property and getting your house paid off and having the rental property paid off is not a bad thing, you know, and selling the rental property and getting your house paid off is not a bad thing. Neither one of these are bad things. There's not a stupid answer on the list. So it just comes down to which is best, not which is worst, you know, which is best. What's going to get me more? What's more likely to get me where I want to go in 20 years?

And when I frame it up that way, I came to the conclusion the borrower is slave to the lender, the Bible says. I came to the conclusion risk-adjusted, no debt. The cash flow increases mathematically because I'm not paying any money to stupid banks. I've got the ability to be generous and build wealth at an unbelievable exponential pace, and it's worked for me, and it's worked for thousands, millions of others that I've taught to do that. So that's the framework in which I do this. So, again, there's no big guilt trip.

If you want to keep the house, it's not that big a thing. You're going to have them both paid off in five years. The only thing that, for us, have them both paid off in five years. The only thing for us, when you nail it on the head, was location. It's just become a nuisance, the 90-mile stretch between the two. It's just becoming more of a burden than anything,

even though the property income that we get each month, around $500 positive on the positive side. You bought it at the bottom, and Vegas Real Estate is recovered. The Lord above was on our side. There it at the bottom, and Vegas Real Estate's recovered. The Lord above was on our side. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, Vegas Real Estate's recovered, so you made ding-ding on it.

I mean, you hit the nail on it. That was perfect, so that's all good. And the other way you can ask yourself that question with a little less philosophy than I just laid out, but it's a good question. That's why I wanted to lay it out because a lot of people, what we want to give people is the framework to make decisions we don't want to make decisions for them here okay and so the other way i can always ask that question and you've heard me do this is if you didn't own that rental property today and you had 150,000 bucks sitting in the middle of the kitchen table would you go put 150,000 down and have a 70,000

mortgage on a rental in las vegas and the answer is probably no no and if you wouldn't do it again then every morning you keep it you're doing it again i gotcha so sell it you know based on that but how did you come to that conclusion and it's some of what you just said the hassle and the distance some of it is i i'm starting to really value having my home paid off, maybe more than I value owning rentals. You know, it really is, Dave, and I'm in sales. And with being in sales and not having any debt,

I can definitely sell with confidence, and I've done that for the last 20 years, and it's made a big difference in the way I've been able to produce my sales. So I just think if I have that mindset with my house being paid off at my age that I'm at now, I think I can really make some heads turn. I think you can take that. I'm not suggesting you take that extra cash flow and blow it. I'm suggesting that. I just pay it towards my house, and I'd be done with it.

I'd have positive. No, I'm talking about your old house payment. I would set up a mutual fund coming out of your checking account for your old house payment plus $500, automatically draft it. just i did that i just stuck it in an index fund i called it my house fund because i just wanted to see how much i was going to make when i paid myself a mortgage you'd be blown away how fast that account becomes a million dollars well that one account right there i mean like 10 years you're gonna be there i mean it's it's amazing because you take that old house payment on that 150 000 i mean that's years you're gonna be there i mean it's it's amazing because you take

that old house payment on that 150 000 i mean that's 2,000 2,500 bucks a month i'm talking about automatically drafted going in there just keep paying you're used to paying a payment just start paying it to yourself instead of the man and it changes everything dude so um i'm honored to get to talk to you about it and you're right it does change the way you sell um because if you don't you know i was talking to a guy today we're negotiating looking at this contract thing and i was like dude you know i appreciate it and we'd like to do this but i'm not really looking for a job i got a job so if we can if we can work this out fine but you know we weren't there's nobody sitting at this table that's desperate. So let's start again.

It just changes the conversation that you're in. And it's the same thing with the sale. You can look at the thing and go, you know, this guy doesn't need to buy this. And you can walk away from bad business. Or this guy's going to be high maintenance. He's going to be more trouble than he's worth. So you can walk away from bad business. You spend your time on good business. And good business is always more profitable in sales.

It always is. It leads you to more money, and it leads you to better customer relations. It leads you to better quality experiences for your customers, everything around it. And all of that changes the less and less desperate you are. I mean, the extreme of that is a broke salesperson. A broke salesperson smells. Their vocal cords are tight. You can see the veins sticking out their neck.

You can sense it. You sense they're trying to make a sale, and they don't care about you. You're a transaction. You know that when it's a broke salesperson. You're on the other end of that spectrum, and we're going to take you the last step off the end of that spectrum. So good question, man. It's a good discussion. Thanks for letting me talk about it.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Sal is with us in Colorado Springs. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Sal. Hi, how are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Awesome. Not much, not much. Actually, man, I just really need some,

I just want to get your advice on what you would do if you were in my shoes. Okay. I am currently making about $113,000 a year. Good for you. Thank you, but unfortunately my position is being eliminated and the new position that is being offered in place of it is going to be drastically cut down to $50,000 a year. So my bills, unfortunately, will not cover my monthly bill. So I have $60,000 total saved up, and I have $60,000 in debt as far as student loans and car payments. So I'm wondering, should I pay off the debt and

then just basically barely make it with that new wage? Or should I take this money and try to invest in some sort of maybe a franchise? My father just purchased a Grease Monkey franchise. He's doing great right now. So I was thinking maybe even go on that route. Just kind of wanted to get your advice what you would do. What do you do for a living now? Real estate right now. It's buying, selling, and leasing, but I'm making most of my money off of the leasing as opposed to buying and selling.

I'm sorry. And you are getting laid off? So it's not like I'm not an independent agent in a sense. I work as, I'm employed with a company who owns thousands of single family homes and they, but in Colorado you have to be a licensed agent to even do leasing. So they hire us on to be their agents to negotiate the leases, whatnot, but it's all commissioned. So I'm making all this money on commissions. Basically their base rate is only $2,000 a month.

So all the extra is coming from commissions, but they're eliminating the commissions now. Okay, so they're cutting back the pay. The compensation program is changing, and that's what's cutting you in half. They're unwilling to pay as much as they've been willing to pay. Correct. Okay. What were you doing before that?

Before that, I've always been trying. I just turned 30 years old. I've been trying to get into the real estate industry pretty much my whole life. I've been dabbling here and there. I've done probably 20 deals since I was 18. I got my license at 18. What would keep you from being a traditional real estate agent? To be honest, it's always been a dream of mine, but I struggle with, especially here in Colorado, the market is a joke.

We've got probably 4,000 listings on the market and got probably quadrupled that as many buyers. So it's really, it's just, it's a tough industry. We've got over 40,000 licensed agents in the state. So I struggle with getting clients, basically. Consistency. Okay. Well, I mean, there's certainly people in Colorado Springs making $200,000 a year selling houses. You know that, right?

Most definitely. Most definitely. And I do aspire one day to get to that point. Okay. No, I don't think I would do either of the things you suggested. I think I would hold my $60,000 until you get your income transition made. When's the job over? It's ending October 1st. Okay.

Or the pay cut change is October 1st. Okay. Or the pay cut change is October 1st. Okay. Correct. All right. And so you've got three months to ramp up and start. You are a full-time employee of theirs right now? Correct. Okay.

So you don't have the option of listing properties today? I do. I do technically have the option, it that's a little more complicated but you're right though and it's too uh yeah you're what i would do what i would do is find where i'm going to place my license october 1st or sooner okay and uh and i would go out there and start working my butt off to get listings and get buyers. Okay. And let's enter the real estate business because that's what you, the thing is you were already on that track and you found this gig, it sidetracked you a little bit because it was kind of an

easier way. It was more like shooting fish in a barrel for you, right? You hit it right on the head. But it sidetracked you from actually learning to do the residential real estate business in a way where you make $100 or $200 a year. Correct. And now you need to go do that because that's what you wanted to do. You didn't want to be in the grease monkey before.

That's a cop-out because your dad's doing it, and it's making money, and you're kind of scared, and you're thinking, I just need to go make some money. Agreed. And I guess the most scary part of it is I literally just bought my first home, and they told me a month after that. So I'm just like, this is my first time ever really having a mortgage, having this type of responsibility. Well, I don't think the real estate business is that complicated.

I don't think you are unintelligent. You're articulate. I'm talking to you. You're making sense. You're doing good thought patterns here. Are you married? No, single. No kid.

All right. And so what I would do is find some people in other markets that are similar size and dynamic to Colorado Springs that are doing a few hundred transactions a year, 100, 150 transactions a year. And even if you use some of your $60,000 to buy an airline ticket and maybe pay them $5,000 a day and go hanging out with them for the day and learn everything you can from them and then come back to Colorado Springs and apply that? How would you get started today if you were getting started, if you were me?

And this is the kinds of questions you ask them, right? There's plenty of people in the real estate business that will do that, and some of them actually do it, and a little bit of side coaching is part of their deal. It's not that unusual to find people to do that. We've got lots of our ELPs that are involved in things like that. And so find a high-octane, high-protein real estate agent or two, spend a few dollars of your $60,000 learning how to do the business. You've got a runway between now and October 1st to get off the ground,

and let's start getting some of those things in place and then use some of the rest of the $60,000 to survive the shift over for a few months as you get things moving. And I would get your real estate business up and going. I would rather see you do that because I think that's what you wanted to do. And I think you're just scared. And it's smart to be scared when you don't know what you're doing, but let's go find out what the answer is. What is it we need to do to win?

What has to be true that's not true today? What level of knowledge do I have? What pieces of technology do I need to have? What level of effort do I need to put in that I'm not putting in now in order to make $100,000 to $200,000 a year selling residential real estate in a white-hot market, which is what Colorado Springs is. Everybody and his brothers got their license, but let me just tell you, man, it's the Pareto Principle.

Eighty percent of the money is made by 20% of the people, and if you take that 20% and you can do the 80-20 again, it's called the Pareto Principle. And it absolutely applies. You take the top 20% of income earners, making 80% of the money. Did you know that 80% of the money is made by 20% of them? 80% of that money is made by 20% of them. And so you're down to nothing now.

I mean, you know, this is who, it's true in every industry. And so these other people sell one house a year, and it's their friend, you know. They're not professional real estate agents. They're not making a living doing this. And so you can cut the wheat from the chaff real quick in that world. You've just got to learn your techniques, your your processes the things you've got to do what are the five things you have to do every day to be that person that is that successful and that's what i would do if i were you sal i think you got the stuff to do it and um and i think that's what if you had your dream come true i think that's what

it would be it wouldn't be the franchise that your dad's doing. Nothing wrong with that. It's just not what you were going to do. You just fell into that. Don't fall into stuff. Do stuff on purpose. And it'll keep you from getting yourself into a mess for sure. But make the transition intentionally. You've got enough runway here to get the plane off the ground.

And then ask yourself that question. I ask myself that question around here all the time. We ask ourselves that question on projects around here. We got a little tech project we're trying to get the plane off the ground. And then ask yourself that question. I ask myself that question around here all the time. We ask ourselves that question on projects around here. We got a little tech project we're trying to get done before Christmas comes out this year. And we're like, okay, that's almost impossible. Yeah, but what would have to be true for it to be possible? What would we have to do?

What would we have to spend? How many people would we have to hire for that to be true? And you just ask yourself, what would have to be true for me to lose 30 pounds? What would have to be true for me to make more money? What would have to be true for me to write a book? What would have to be true? And this is the thing that's standing between you and living the life that you want to live.

All of us have that. And you can do it, man. You definitely can do it. You got this. That puts us out of the day. Ramsey Show on the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Blake Thompson, our senior executive producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I am Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back.

Hey, it's Blake, chief production officer for the show. And here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. Hey, it's Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out.