The Ramsey Show - App - Is It Biblical To Accumulate Wealth? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 19, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. Dean is with us in Pullman, Washington. Hi, Dean. How are you? Doing good. How are you? Better how are you better than i deserve what's up well first i just want to say it's an honor to talk to you um i have a question regarding a piece of scripture and then wealth and you probably definitely know it but it's in mark 10 and he talks about that it's easier for a camel to enter through the eye of the needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. My question is, what is your advice on how to take that verse into account when establishing a life and investing and essentially building wealth? Yeah, what's your advice on that?

Well, I appreciate your question. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, The Legacy Journey, and I unpacked the rich young ruler at quite length there, but I'll give you a radio version of that story because it's something that comes up a lot these days. The concept being, obviously, a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle, which means if you just take that exact scripture exactly the way you read it, then rich people are not going to heaven.

Right? Right. Right. Well, this is a bit problematic from a practical standpoint for two reasons. One reason is this. If you make $39,000 a year, which is about 40% of the, or I'm sorry, about 60% of the average household income in America, you are in the top 1% of income earners in the entire world.

So if you live in North America and you make $39,000 a year, if you take that scripture the way you presented it, most people listening to this right now are going to hell. Well, that's a little absurd when you think about it. Okay, number one. So we kind of have to, then we have to pan back and go, okay, so what's wrong with the equation that I was using? Look at that.

What's wrong with this? Well, number one, in the first century following Christ, there was a group of heretics called the Gnostics. And the Gnostics believed that, and there's still Gnosticism in the world today. The Gnostics believe that anything of substance, anything of material was evil, and only the spiritual was holy. So things like filthy money, that kind of thing came up then. And anything that had to do with wealth, anything that had to do with owning a shirt, anything that is physical is by definition evil. Even they thought their own bodies were evil. Where our scripture in evangelical Christianity believes that God, you know, is blessing us

and loves us and created good things for us in living in abundance. Now, the big deal with this is the Gnostics were heretics because they believed that you could not go to heaven if you had material goods, much like we were just discussing. Now, why is that heretical? Why does that make you a heretic if you believe that? Because those of us that are followers of Jesus believe that the blood of Jesus at the cross,

Jesus' sacrifice, when you believe on that, that you're going to heaven. Whether you were a murderer before, whether you were a prostitute before, or even a rich person before. But if the blood of heaven is good enough to get a prostitute or a murderer into heaven, and it's not good enough to get a rich person into heaven, that is heresy. Follow me? Yeah.

Because you're breaking down the work that was done at the cross. Now, we're having a very biblical Christian discussion here, but it's a very biblical Christian question, and so it's the only way to address it. Now, let's go back to that particular story and pan out just a little bit. Because you can take a single line of Scripture and completely create a toxic movement over it if you don't take it in context. And so pan back a little bit. Let's go back to the whole story. Number one, where did this occur?

It occurred in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the home of the spiritual elite, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And if you were a rich, young ruler, you were by definition part of the religious elite, if you were in Jerusalem. Now, if this had occurred in Galilee, he might have been a merchant, because the merchants would have been the wealth holders there. But since it occurred in Jerusalem, we know by definition from historical fact that he was a part of the religious elite, which Jesus, by the way, had very little use for, if you remember.

And so he walks up and says, good teacher, what have I got to do to enter heaven? And the good teacher says, you have to keep the law. And he said, I've done this since my youth, which, of course, is impossible. No one keeps the law completely. And so that was an arrogant but statement. Yeah. Okay. But Jesus plays along and says, okay, now that you've done that, let's prove it.

Sell all that you have and give it to the poor. And he goes away with his head hung low because, by the way, the wealth that he had gotten, he did not earn. The wealth that he had gotten had been given to him because of his status in the religious community. And he went away with his head hung low because he was a person of great wealth. Jesus turned to the crowd and said, it's harder

for a camel to get, harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is a camel to get through the eye of a needle, right? And that's where it is. Now, here's where the magic happens. Not magic. Here's where the answer happens. You keep reading. Keep reading. And the disciples then are amazed. They were amazed that rich people can't get to heaven. And Jesus turns and says, no one does.

No one gets to the Father except through the Son. That's true. So this was not a teaching on wealth is a prohibitor to heaven. This is a teaching on grace that the only way to him, to the Father, is through the Son. And that's what Bible believers believe. But then what happens is people either A, they have an ax to grind, they're jealous, they have problems, they're socialists,

they're whatever they are, and they want to get in and figure out that somehow Christianity is inconsistent or full of hypocrites, and they pull one line of Scripture out of the story, out of historical context, and out of the context of what Jesus was actually talking about. The reason the story is recorded is because of that final line where Jesus looks at him and says,

one way, to the Father, through the Son. Yeah, through him. Even the rich people. Yeah. So that's the answer to your question, Dean. So then it becomes, okay, what are we called to do as believers? We are called to manage, not to own. We're called to be kind and generous.

We're called to do good with the money that we take care of. First step is take care of your own household first, or you're worse than an unbeliever. Scripture. And then you work your way through, and you're supposed to manage things for the good of the kingdom if you are a believer. And that's what you're called to do. And so, last time I checked, poor people aren't feeding hungry kids. This is The Ramsey Show. mz show i saw some recent financial statistics and there was some pretty troubling news when families were asked how long it would be before they faced financial hardship if a spouse died, nearly one-third said they'd be in trouble immediately.

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This has to be a priority. If your family is in this situation, you need to get this done. Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thanks for joining us. We're glad you're here. Melissa is with us in Seattle. Hi, Melissa. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Thank you very much.

Hey, what's up? So I had a question on what we should do first. So we have everything paid off besides my car, which we owe about $10,000 on, which we should have paid off within the next six months. And then my student loan, which is massive. Oh, it's massive to me. And so I'm a stay-at-home mom, and my husband's an electrician. And so he works for the union where, even though he personally has an experience,

they do come in these periods where sometimes they don't have work for periods of time. So my question with that is, should we save, after we pay off the car, should we save towards that $10,000 in case something like that happens, or should I just knock out the student loan debt? What's your degree in? Health Information Management. How many kids have you got? Four.

Got a house full. What ages? One to 13. Wow. Wow. Whoa. You are a busy lady. Okay. What does he make?

Altogether net with the VA benefits that he also has, we get about $90,000 net. Ninety? Yes. Okay. And how much is your massive student loan? The VA benefits that he also has, we get about $90,000 back. $90,000? Yes. Okay. And how much is your massive student loan? $80,000. $80,000. Okay.

With a $10,000 car debt, that means you need $90,000, making $90,000 to be debt-free with four kids. And we have a son who's going to private school too, which we were kind of cornered into because of the Washington state laws that have been passed recently. I'm not aware of what you're talking about. Basically, we were kind of cornered into putting him in private school because we felt that the public school district has become very unhealthy teaching kids they should not be teaching. And my son was being bullied as well at his school because he's a Christian. Okay.

And how much does private school cost? A little bit under $8,000. Okay. All right. So if we said $30,000 a year, that'd be pretty aggressive in your situation in debt reduction. You'd be debt-free in three years. Okay. The more unstable your husband's job is, the more you would push pause on all of this and pile up cash.

But I don't think it's that unstable. I think it's just unpredictable. Yes. And the most he's haven't worked since he started a couple of years ago was two weeks. But then there in the history of the union, there was guys who didn't work like in 2008 where they didn't work for a year. Yeah. In which case he'd go get another job. Yeah. Melissa, I'm curious about this too. If you guys sat down and discussed union versus not union, electrician opportunities for him, even in the state of Washington? His union, he will not make what he makes where he is at.

I mean, they make over $60 an hour free insurance. Our union, the employers pay the insurance, great pension. There is no one that's going to touch what he makes. Okay, all right. Has he actually shopped it, or is that just what the union told him? No, so right now he's an apprentice, so he's getting a percentage of that. But once he is licensed in two years, he will be making that, and that is what they make for everybody.

And yet we get great insurance that's completely employer-paid. He's not going to, and they're one of the best in Washington. How open is he to doing side work as well, whether it be electrician work or any other kind of handy work, because he's got more talents than just electrician? Yes. Actually, we used to own our own construction business. I know he's been trying to work a lot of Saturdays as much as he can.

Good. And he is okay doing side work. He can't do it with being an electrician because it's against the law in Washington. Okay. How long has he been out of work? What's the longest he has been out of work? Two weeks. And how long ago was that?

Last November. Okay. All right. And you can't eat on $1,000 in two weeks? Yes, you can't eat on $1,000 in two weeks? Yes, you can. Okay. So I'm going to stick with the baby steps, and I'm going to put you on a scorched earth budget, and he's going to pick up all the extra he can work.

You go to $1,000 in the bank in case he's off for two weeks or in case some other little thing comes up. Two weeks is not going to kill you, and you're not going to be out of food, everything's going to be okay. And if you see a long layoff coming, he needs to change jobs because your family can't afford for him to have a long layoff. And then in the midst of that, you've got to start really beating the snot out of this debt. And I want you debt-free in three years and i want you debt free in three years a hundred percent debt free in three years that's this that's the schedule that's 2,500 bucks a

month for three years and you can do this but i'm telling you you got your hands full with four kids you got a lot of stuff coming at you right now a lot of different issues that you outlined in this call and uh so there's a certain amount of grown-up stress with what you're dealing with. And I think you can do it, though. I really think you can do it. And it's what I would do if I were in your shoes. Because I think the best life for you three years from today is to do what I just said versus something else. And, I mean, you can have a pile of cash sitting there if you want.

It's not what we teach. And the only way I would teach a pile of cash sitting there is if you have a high probability that you're getting ready to lose your job, in which case you need to change directions on the union versus non-union direction. Because I can promise you that there's a housing boom in Seattle, and you can get a job as an electrician, and you're pretty much feeding me the union line back when we're asking you about this. Good insurance, good insurance, good insurance. $60 an hour, you can't make that anywhere else. Only he doesn't make $60 an hour, and he doesn't average that if he gets laid off for six months so um i'm not i'm not anti-union but you just can't you know you gotta you gotta assess the entire opportunity here compared to being

non-union and then decide which one i'm okay if he wants to stay union but you can't you can't have it both ways you can't go oh it's completely unstable i'm freaked out but it's the best job in the world right and let's be very clear a qualified electrician that is in a non-union situation can eat all he wants to eat. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet right now out there as far as work goes. So I don't know that you can't make more than $60 an hour. If I was trying to get out of debt and I was an electrician, whew, I mean, you can make up some ground right now, and that's not going anywhere. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Brandon is in Detroit. Hi, Brandon. How are you? I am well. How are you guys? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right.

So I'm a full-time nurse, and I started a business called Photos. And what this is is I go into restaurants, take professional pictures of their menu items, post them to my website, foodphotos.com, and give them QR codes so their customers have direct access to these pictures. Now, I am having a very hard time getting my information in the hands of restaurant owners. Why? And I've tried multiple ways. One, going in and trying to speak to the owner. The person at the front door shoos me away. Second approach, go in, eat their food, take pictures of it, talk to the owner or a manager and show them what I do and show them

how I can make their food look amazing. And they say, okay, we'll take your information, and I never hear from them again. I am told that it'll cost between $5,000 and $10,000 for a consultant. Oh, bull crap. Hold on a minute. We'll talk to you after this break. That's cray cray. ... ...

...... ...... We're talking with Brandon in Detroit. He's got a side hustle where he's taking pictures of restaurant food, putting a QR code for the restaurant customer at the table to be able to look and see a picture of the food when they get ready to do their order. Having trouble getting restaurant owners to buy in. Brandon, do you have any other $10,000 offer for some consultant, which is BS, to do advertising for him, meaning that the guy made one sale him um the so brandon do you have any customers at all i do i have three customers okay uh what

what price point medium high end low end right now uh i know how covet impacted the world especially the restaurant industry i am an Instagrammer with a few thousand followers. No, no, I didn't want to ask. I said, how expensive is the food at the three that you have? Middle, high, low. Oh, okay. I see. Okay, it is low to medium.

Okay. So those guys know other guys that are their competitors and friends and will make a phone call for you if you ask them to. Ken has a book called The Proximity Principle. And there's more that happens with relationship hands-off than cold call walking in the door. Cold call walking in the door, you're going to get thrown out by every angry 21-year-old host hostess in the world you're going to get booted by the maitre d every time but if you can get a couple of these guys to call a couple of the other guys and that'll open up everything for you hold on we're going to have kelly give you a copy of the proximity principle i wish i had time to completely unpack into a full business plan for. I think your idea is cool, but we are on a schedule around here.

We have trains to catch and people to take care of, so sorry about that. In the lobby of Ramsey Solution on the debt-free stage, Matt and Sammy are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Great. How are you? So here to do a debt-free scream. Where do you live? Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Love it. Love it. Well, welcome to Nashville. How much have you paid off? We have paid off $56,000 in 10 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? Range of income was $75,000 to $109,000.

Excellent. Okay, good. What do you guys do for a living? We're restaurant managers, actually. So how does he get to see you? Yeah, yeah. So I'm the general manager of a buffet chain managers, actually. So how does he get to see you? Yeah, yeah. So I'm the general manager of a buffet chain restaurant, actually, and she's the assistant general manager of the same one.

We do oversee a couple other restaurants as well, and then we had some side gigs of health coach. We decided we need to do something about our weight, especially being in the restaurant industry, it's so easy to eat all the food all the time. So we were like, let's just jump in, let's join a program and lose some weight. So we did that, and then we decided to health coach as well,

which was great for us because it was extra income. Yeah. And then we also did DoorDash. We would do that together frequently. Wow. What kind of debt was the $56,000? It was a college degree and then two car loans. All right.

So what was the wake-up call 10 months ago that made you decide, hey, we got to do this? A lot of it was, I mean, there was, we had a credit card, and every month it was $2,000. And it was like, where is this going? You know, what is it? So we were just like, we got to figure something out. So I put the credit card down, started envelopes. thousand dollars and and it was like where's where's this going you know what is it um so we're just like we got to figure something out so i put the credit card down started envelopes and within envelopes i was doing i saved eleven thousand dollars in five months and i'm like holy cow so done with the credit card we just started doing cash for everything and it was crazy to

see how much money we could save up so quick. And that's really what opened my eyes a lot. Also, when I graduated college, student loans came due, and I was paying $900 a month, and that just made me sick to my stomach. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. It was crazy. Wow. Ouch. Yeah. So then you connected with us how?

I listened to a radio show in the morning, and they always talked, oh, Dave Ramsey this, and you've got to save up all your money and use it on your debt and save it for this. And I was like, they talk about this guy kind of a lot. Maybe I should look into him. So I was like, let's just look into him, you know, search your podcast. And I didn't turn it off. You know, it was on all day.

I went to bed listening to it. I woke up and listened to it. I listened to as much as I could during COVID. You know, at the restaurant, we were closed for dining. So I was in the kitchen. I would listen to it i woke up and listened to it i listened to as much as i could during covid you know at the restaurant we were closed for dining so i was in the kitchen i would listen to it in the kitchen i would try to get other staff to be like hey check this out you know so it's just crazy to see what what can be done you know when you when you put down your credit card and really just use cash i mean you knock this in the head in 10 months that's's $5,600 a month making $75,000 to $100,000. That's rocking it. And four years ago,

we actually had $101,000. So we paid off total $101,000. Wow. How's it feel to be free? So good. You know, it's still pretty fresh, but it's just great. You know, I wake up super early now

and it's like 8 a.m. I wake up. I get up out of bed before she's out of bed and I'm like, hey, it's payday. I get to super early now, and it's like 8 a.m. I wake up. I get up out of bed before she's out of bed, and I'm like, hey, it's payday. I get to pay off that loan. Now it's like I get to put this much into our savings. It's just exciting to see what we can do now versus before it was, oh, I got to pay the loan, which was exciting, but at the same time, it's not ours anymore. Now it's growing in this bank, and it's just like, oh, my goodness.

So it is really cool to see that. Great job, guys. Very good job. Thank you. Yeah, you know, I see you two, and you can see just the smiles. And as you were sharing the story about all the different things you did, DoorDash, I mean, you guys were doing everything. How important is it for couples to really get on the same page,

not just in the concept of the budgeting and the baby steps, but I mean, getting after it together. Cause you both were getting after it hard. Why is that so important? Well, it's important. I mean, because you can't do anything alone. You know, there was a few months where we were doing things differently because, you know, we weren't a hundred percent connected in it yet. Um, you know, there was times where I was putting, you know, I was paying this,

and then we were going out to eat here, and it's like, well, we didn't do, nothing helped there, you know. So at one point, we're like, we need to figure this out together. And once we did that, it just took off. You know, $56,000 in 10 months is not something that happens on a mistake. You know, you are intentional doing it, you know. And we always reminded ourselves, we're doing it you know and we always reminded yourself we're doing it now so we can live like no one else later yeah and that is really what motivated us to continue yeah that's a great that's good that's very good live like no one else so that later you

can live and give like no one else you guys are amazing i'm so proud of you thank you go rock stars very good they're absolute heroes They took control of their lives. How old are you? 28. 27. And not even 30 years old. Wow. Dead free.

How does it feel to be free again? Free. Amazing. I love it. Well done. We've got a copy of the Legacy Journey for you. That is the next chapter in your story for sure. You've changed your whole legacy.

Way to go thank you very cool and we've got a copy of the total money makeover for you to give away to someone help them start their journey and get them moving you never know where it's going to come from whether it's the morning show guys talking about us or what's going on how about that that's pretty cool i'll take it every time man thanks green bay we appreciate you our affiliate up there is awesome that's very very cool. Good stuff. Very, very good stuff. All right. It's Matt and Sammy. Green Bay, Wisconsin.

$56,000 paid off in 10 months, making $75,000 to $109,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Yeah! three two one we're dead free that is fabulous well so well done so well done absolutely fun you know there's always a story about hard work and extra income.

And the good news is right now in America, it's available everywhere. There's a shortage of workers. Yeah. It's an unbelievable time, Dave, for people to actually switch. People are paying more than they would normally pay to attract you if you're talented. They're offering increased benefits such as signing bonuses, tuition reimbursement, or in some cases, full tuition. And I'm always struck by every time we do a debt-free stream, I've yet to hear one where there wasn't an increase in income through the journey. I love that we always look at that. And that speaks to what you're

talking about, the hard work. They see the prize prize it's so sweet to look through the glass and see sammy's tears because there's hard work there there's accomplishment there's sacrifice and so the tears are tears of joy because of the accomplishment it's worth it every time when you when you leave it all on the field and you break through the tape on the finish line yes tears of joy that's worth crying i'm just saying that's right i cry every time i do that and to be finished just happy to be done yeah just so happy to be here that's so true this is the ramsey show Thank you. Our scripture of the day, Matthew 6, 20 and 21. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy,

and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Robert Louis Stevenson said, Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Mitch is with us.

Mitch is in Phoenix. Hi, Mitch. How are you? I'm great, Dave. Good. What's up? So I'm a smaller general contractor. I specialize in small to medium, large commercial construction projects.

And one of the things we've been having trouble this last year is cash flow. A big time with delays in material and just labor shortages like everything, just cash flow. And it's been really hard to try and catch up. We've paid off a significant amount of debt over the last 18 months, even through all these issues, but still are having cash flow problems. And one of the solutions my wife and I have been kicking around, and it's kind of bittersweet, is to sell our house to help out with the problems we've been having. And so, yeah. Okay. If you have a labor shortage, then you don't have money going out for labor.

How does that create a cash flow problem? Well, we're pushing large commercial projects. We can be out anywhere from 60 to 90 days worth of labor. So, yes, we have a labor shortage, you know, which is causing us to not be able to hire the amount of employees we need to do the work. So it's causing me to go out in the field instead of doing my job in the office, if that makes sense. But that doesn't cause cash flow problems. You're right. It's putting out the money for 60 to 90 days.

But you're not putting out the money because the people aren't working because there's a shortage okay well i i misspoke i'm i apologize no i'm just i'm trying to understand because that's just okay so uh but but what is happening is your contractors are jerking you around more than ever well no so we're sub two so we're general contractors specializing in we're sub for all intents and purposes so we subcontract we do um we do millworks construction and door and hardware is what we specialize in but we're a general contractor okay so you go and you and but you go and you install millwork and doors and then it's it's 60 to 90 days before you get paid yep yeah so and that's the way it's always been that's the way it's always been and it got worse during covid because of the banks weren't coming these are all bank finance projects

that they're anywhere from like okay so that i'm back to my point you're your contractor that brought that brought you in to put the windows and doors in is jerking you around because the bank's jerking him around, jerking his client around. And so they're throwing you out another 30 or 45 days beyond what your business model used to be. Yeah. You know, as they say, crap rolls downhill. Yeah, it does. And so your problem is your house isn't going to fix your problem. That's right.

That's exactly right. And, like, you're completely right. You have a business model that's broken. Okay? So you are going to have to quit taking bad business. And bad business is business that does not pay on time. Okay. Now, you have a broken business model.

And so you're going to have to go, contractors who are going to jerk me around, who are not going to pay their bill on time, are not going to get my services because I would rather do nothing than work for somebody and not get paid on time and get my tail in a crack. And it's gotten better, Dave. No, no, stop it. You called me up to sell your own home to fix this business model problem. Now you're defending it.

Well, I agree. I guess the amount of equity in the house was just a thought process. Yeah, what it is, my problem is you're treating the symptom, not the problem. Yes, yes, yes. And I think you're also ignoring how much leverage you have, Mitch. Do you not feel you have leverage? I mean, they need you to get the job done. There's a reason why you're in business, because contractors aren't doing that work.

Am I right? Yeah, and there really is. And like I said, it's not like every project's that. It's like we've put off a significant amount of debt. I know. I just told you. You've been dealing with bad ones and good ones. You need to fire the bad ones, and your cash flow problems are going to go away.

Call their bluff, Mitch. If they need you as much as I think they will, then do it. 50% up front. Yeah. 50% deposit, or I don't show up. Yeah. Because you've not been paying on time. That's exactly right.

You've got more leverage than you're actually worth. I just changed my terms with you. There's cash on delivery. Yeah yeah because you don't pay your bills or don't i'd rather not take the job take fewer jobs make better margin with people you want to work with that pay on time that you know you all right say no that's that's that's why I'm calling in. But I also was trying to, you know, maybe find a way to help pay off past debt, you know, from the business and be able to have a safety net. You know what I mean? To be able to take those hits, you know.

I don't want you to take those hits. I want you to turn this business model over where they take the hits, not you. Listen, I've got a friend that will make a million dollars net profit this year on a remodeling company. He does residential remodeling. If you want him to come into your house and do remodeling, do you know what you have to do? 50% up front before he sets foot on the dadgum job yeah he's not he's not he's not cash flowing his customers needs their cash flowing their own needs and he's simply executing the work but he's demanding oh and by the way he's a phenomenal contractor. Yeah. The work gets done, and it is pristine.

Yes. And he's making bank. Here's the deal, Mitch. I'm just going to shoot you straight. You're in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country in what is one of the most historically hot real estate. Yeah, no pun intended. And you have leverage. You need to start acting like it.

Dave's exactly right. You need to man acting like it. Dave's exactly right. You need to man up and just tell these guys, stop screwing around, or I'm going to hold your doors, or I'm going to hold this, or I'm not going to do it. And you go find somebody else who's not going to do the job that I'm going to do. This has to stop today. It has to stop. I've got a $50 million commercial project going right on the hill right here, right now. And I'll guarantee you, if I don't okay i'm the customer and i've got a commercial general contractor up there doing it and when we sit down and do pay and it's two

million bucks if i don't write that check you know what happens to work up there it stops exactly right and that's not because they're bad guys no it's our deal yeah i'm they're not they're not my bank yeah and i'm not i'm my bank, and their job is to build stuff. You're playing banker here. And so you need to cut out about 10% of your customers, and they're causing 90% of your problems. And then about another 15% or 20% of your customers need to be taught new tricks. And you don't have to be a jerk, but you can be direct. You can be direct and go, hey, look stops it's not it's not being unkind

it's just going this is the deal that's right my buddy that gets 50 up front he's not a jerk no he's kind of he's a wonderful man he's a craftsman but um but you but he's not working for you unless you put them he's not your bank and don't tell me the banks are flush with cash right now. No, no, no, no. They were jerking people around during COVID. Oh, during COVID. They were not issuing – Yes, I agree with that.

They were sitting at home with their thumb in their ear instead of going to work, and they were not issuing checks on these construction loans, and so the construction loans were not going out to the owner, and the construction – and then the owner wasn't paying the general, and the general's not paying his subs. But that's not the environment now. And he's right. That crap rolls downhill, and it rolls downhill from't paying the general, and the general's not paying his subs. But that's not the environment now. And he's right. Crap rolls downhill, and it rolls downhill from Bank of America.

That's what it rolls. Right. So, because there's a big load of it over there to roll downhill. So, but that's just, you know, that's the way, that actually was happening. He's right about that. Yeah, but it's not now. But here's the thing. You've got a general contractor that's doing a $50 million project.

He's got some bank. He'll find the money if the doors aren't in store guy trust me he's got so much leverage you're you're don't sell your house i want you to throw your shoulders back and strut around a little bit more seriously oh man you you got the stuff you're you're in the driver's seat more than you think you are please don't sell your house to fix those people's problems. Please don't do that. Please, please don't. You may want to sell it for other reasons, but don't do it for that reason. Ken Coleman, good hour. Ben and Kelly, great hour. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show and the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

This is James Childs, producer of The Ramsey Show. You can listen to all our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Browse by topic or even send clips to your friends. Download the Ramsey Network app in your smartphone. Browse by topic or even send clips to your friends. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.