The Ramsey Show - App - It’s Not About What You Did, It’s About What You Do Next (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague and dear friend, Jade Warshaw. And we are here for you this hour. It's a free phone call, America. And so we want to help you. Some of you are very new.

We see this in the data. We see this in the reports every day. And we know that we've got some language that maybe you're not used to, the baby steps. So we're going to get into that later this hour. That's going to be a lot of fun, just a basic breakdown to bring a lot of you into the conversation, because this process absolutely works, and we want you to understand it. So let's get to the phones. We start off with Ann in Sacramento. Ann, how can we help? Hi, how are you guys doing? Great, how are you? Good. So my basic question is, my husband and I have recently decided to

get very intentional with getting out of debt to a current mean babysat too. I'm very familiar with this bet. I used it prior to us getting married to get out of my student loan debt. So I'm very familiar with the steps. I used it prior to us getting married to get out of my student loan debt. So I'm very familiar with the intensity and everything. So five years later, with not being super intentional with our budgets, we started to get on the same page. But my question is, I wanted to do FPU. He wasn't open to it. Didn't think that would be for him. I even asked for it for my birthday present. Um, and then he recently decided, okay, let's try it. And last night was supposed to be our first class, but unfortunately the coordinator didn't show up. It was a virtual class and now he's kind of put off on it, um, and doesn't want to do it anymore.

And I was super hopeful in, in, in that it would teach us both the baby steps together versus me just teaching it. And so I'm just wondering, do I keep trying to push to do FPU even though it's now a topic of contention or just focus on, you know, okay, let's just focus on our budget and getting more gazelle intent, trying to get out of baby step two. Look, I mean, I hate that that happened. Something must have, there must have been some extreme, extenuating circumstances with that. But I would keep trying because what you said, I agree with, as long as you're the one teaching him. And it's kind of like,

if he's viewing that as you, even if you're not intending to, but if he's viewing that as you kind of like, this is what we have to do. And here's the steps and here's like, he, it sounds like his personality is not feeling that. So I would keep pushing to have, you know,

Dave and the other personalities be the bad guy in that case. And let the, let us teach it to you. So I would follow up and find out what happened with that but i would definitely keep trying for it because here's at the end of the day here's what happens when a couple is trying to get on board get both spouses on board you start kind of if one spouse doesn't want to do it you start compromising and when you start compromising it doesn't go the way you want.

Because in our minds, we think, oh, we're compromising. Like, that's a good thing. But it's not. Because what happens is you start just being ish. And when you're ishing, right, you're not doing it full force. And before you know it, you've looked up and it's been five years and you still haven't really made any headway. And not only are you tired and you're frustrated,

he gets the right to be like, see, this thing that we tried didn't work, right? Because you did it kind of halfway and you never saw anything go through with it. So I would push to say like, we're doing this or we're not doing this. Like we're going ham on this. Because here's the thing. If he says no,

the ish is gonna hit the fan anyway, right? Because you're gonna keep living out of control. And pretty soon something great happens when your back is against the wall and the other walls are closing and you realize you do have to make a change. So I hate for it to get to that point. But at the same time, sometimes when you split the difference on this, it becomes, do you see what I'm saying? It actually backfires on you in the long run.

So I would push to get on the same page. And that is, in this case, him jumping over to your page, not you, you know, ripping a page out of your book and him ripping a page out of his book. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. And so he's definitely on the same page about getting out of debt. Like I just started a second job and he's currently looking for something that can also work with his current work schedule. So we're definitely on the same page about being more intense, but you know, I want to go after that. Like I want to be on the same page with our three to six months. I want to be on the same page with, you know, all the, basically all the baby steps. Um, so that's

what I was hoping FPU would be for. Um, uh, but now like, he's like, we need to get a refund call to get a refund. And so now I have to do all that. No, I agree with you. That's a cop-out. That's a cop-out. I don't think he wants to be on the same page with you. Something's not adding up, and I'm not saying that you're not telling us the truth.

I'm not sure you're getting the whole story. Because he either wants to be on the same page with you or he doesn't. And so if he wants to be on the same page with you and he wants to get out of debt, then you're going, this is a great plan. Whether or not our coordinator and whatever happened there, we'll get to the bottom of that. In fact, Austin, let's make sure we get customer service involved with this, with Ann, to make sure that we get to the bottom of what happened because we want to serve you well there. But he's using this as a cop-out. And so this is time for very serious talk. And you have to, this is a marriage conversation, not a financial conversation. And I'm just going to call it. And by the way, show him this.

I don't care. Because dude, let me tell you something. If your wife says that she's stressed out by this money situation she wants this she doesn't feel safe whatever's going on and you're saying yes i'm in and and you're using this uh snafu or whatever happened last night as a i want my money back and i'm out you were looking for any excuse possible and i I would dare say, my friend, you are manipulating her because you really don't want to go all in. And Jade already discussed the negatives of the ish. But I just think, Ann, this is you saying to him, I need you to do this for me. I want you to do this. It's a marriage conversation, Jade. This guy, uh he's not all in he's not on the same page no he's not all in you know it's interesting this whole thing of i feel like

we find that a lot ken where it's two spouses and one is like i'm totally on board and the other one is like i'm not and the call we get so much is how do i get my spouse on board and there it's always hit a point of they've said you know we've compromised and we've tried to work together on this and you know he or she doesn't want to said, you know, we've compromised and we've tried to work together on this. And, you know, he or she doesn't want to go all in. And so we've just done the best we can. But, you know, you look up five years later and you've still just made no headway. In some ways, you've gone further into debt. And I love what you said. It's a cop out. And in some ways, compromising is a good thing. But in other ways, compromising is a cop outout because you end up with one black shoe and one brown shoe and you look like a fool in the end and you're tired and you're worn out

because you didn't do the plan as written and the plan works as written. It doesn't work when you do these various versions of it that you just pulled out of your you-know-what. Well, I think what's going on here is that I think he absolutely does want to be debt-free, but he does not want to do what it takes to be debt-free. Now, there's a very big difference. We can love the idea of a better future, but not love the idea of doing what it takes to get said better future. That's the difference. That's the bridge between someone who is in any area of their life not happy with where they are. At some point, you've got to go, you know what, if I want it that bad, then I want to do what it takes. He's not there yet, unfortunately.

It may take a little bit more pain and frustration to get him there. But, Ann, we're on your team. Hang on the line, Ann. We're going to figure out what happened, if there was anything going on with our coordinator, and we can make good on our promise. But, no, don't get the money back. Make him show up for the class.

This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, where we talk with you about your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman, Jade Warshaw. With me this hour, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Matt joins us now in Bristol, Tennessee. Matt, how can we help?

Hey, thanks for having me. How are you guys? Great. What's going on? Awesome. I just wanted to first thank you guys for everything you guys already do. I always joke with everyone saying that I was raised by three parents, my mom, my dad, and Dave Ramsey, and they just instilled that in me at a young age.

And I just want to thank you guys for everything you all do and just the information you guys give out. But I don't want to hold too much of your time. I just wanted to ask a quick question. I've been out of school for about a year, year and a half now. I currently live in an apartment, and my lease is up in May. I've lived here about three years and absolutely love it. Um, but I do have a, uh, I did make the decision to get a German shepherd and, uh, space is a little bit small.

Um, it's funny cause actually we actually made a trip down there in March and visited the Brampton show and with Cookville and got him. And he's, he's the best thing. He's awesome. I love him. But, uh, obviously that's a, that's a big demand of having a backyard. And one day I want to be able to, uh to get one, but just doing it the right way. And like I said, my lease ends in May and just kind of want to take the steps of eventually going to getting a house.

I love that. So let's find out if you're even close. So I'm assuming you're debt free based on what you said about all the Dave Ramsey stuff. Do you have three to six months of expenses saved? I do. Yes, ma'am. I went to school, graduated after about eight years, graduated last May and have just been working and doing as much overtime as I can and finally have all debt paid off and have all have about a three to six month savings plan set up just in case of emergencies and just kind of want to I just I just don't want to go in because I know that the now is a good time to buy one because it's not really going to get better but then again too I don't want to go overboard and well the best time

to buy a house is when you can afford it right so kind of scrap that out of your mind of of is the market telling us it's a good time or is the market telling us it's a bad time? The best time and a great time to buy a house, no matter what the market says, is when you can afford it and you can put the right down payment down and all of that. So let's put that in our brains. So you've got, do you have three months or six months of expenses? Cause it's just you, right? Yeah, it's me. I have, I have six months. Great. Excellent. So what do you have saved in way of a down payment's just you, right? Yeah, it's me. I have six months. Great. Excellent. So what do you have saved in way of a down payment? Have you done any research to kind of find out what that down payment should be? Well, I mean, I don't want to do anything below

20%. That's kind of where I'm at. And I think I'd be able to get that by that time frame. I've been living on a budget pretty consistently in the past about four months and I've gone over it, but I mean, I've been able to adjust and not make purchases that I shouldn't. And I just want to kind of gauge on when that should be shown. I mean, I feel comfortable living another year here. I love where I'm at and I think that I'd even be able to put an even much bigger down payment and maybe even get a little bit more. But I love that. I just want to go about it the right way. Yeah. Yeah. So the first thing is doing your research to find out, OK, what am I looking at? What do those what if is what I'm looking at? Can I afford that? And so it sounds like you've done that. You want to put 20 percent or more.

I think that's great. You know, our guidelines are somewhere between five and 20 percent. The 20 percent, obviously, you are avoiding private mortgage insurance, which is great. And if you're able to do up and beyond that, I think that's excellent. However, I would not necessarily let that keep you because it's going to be a moving target the way the market is like, everything's always going to go up. So you trying to be like, oh, I'm going to get to 40%. Like that could be an ever moving target. So once you get to like, I'm pulling the trigger as once I get to 20, I'm pulling the trigger once I get to 20. That's kind of the way I am with this market. I mean, if you wanted to wait it out, you could.

But my point is, does that make sense? What I'm saying is that that target could move again by the time you get that extra 10% saved to where your 10% has now gone back to 20. That's what I've been thinking about. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I've been thinking about where I save up and then the insurance rates

go up and up and up. Uh-huh. And it's almost as if I'm just kind of playing catch up when, I mean, I'm not in any rush or anything. Right. That's not something smart to do

is be in a rush with finances. That's right. But I mean, it would be ideal to be in a house about a year, year and a half or so. Excellent.

And then, of course, as long as you're looking at 15-year fixed rate mortgages, have you looked into that? You're not looking at 30 years, right? Right. I am. Yeah. I'm looking at 15 years. It's just a matter of being able to find something I'd be comfortable in without having to do, I mean, 50 to 60% of my income. I mean, no more than 25% of your take-home pay is what you're aiming for. And that your take-home pay is, um, you don't have to worry about what it, uh, well, you shouldn't be in, what, what do I want to say? If you're investing, if you've already started investing

15%, it would be what it is before your investment dollars. Right. So it's 15% of that money. Then your 15% is going away. Like, that's what we're looking at. It doesn't have to be like 15% of your, you know, pre-tax after, like after investment, after insurance. We're not looking at that. It's just your take-home dollars, 25%. Does that make sense? Right. Yeah. It's just, it's one of those things where I, I tell Mrs. if I get on Zillow every night and just calculate stuff out. Um, and I'm sure a lot of people do that too, but it's just one of those things where I'll calculate it out and I'm like, well, that, that more, that mortgage payment is going to be, I mean, 30% of my income, but if I wait a year and a half, it could be 25 or, I mean, I may have butchered that a little bit, but it's like 50 or 40 to 50 now. And then,

um, I mean, being able to afford it just based on the down payment but with how the market's moving i just wanted to kind of so well let me ask you about that then and ken can take the ball from here but your income is what it is now what do you see it doing in the next one to three years one to five years it would most likely stay about the same if not a little bit more but not too much yeah then you know i wouldn, I wouldn't creep much above that 25%. It would be different if you're like, yeah, I'm getting a certification and that's going to cause my income to rise. And if you're like, Hey, some of these are looking up to 28, 29, that's a little bit different, but I would not creep past much, much more past 25. If you don't see a, a path to increasing your income anytime soon. Okay. Yeah. I, Matt, I think you're itching for this house more than you're letting on.

You keep coming back to it, and I'm just going to speak truth to you as an older brother. You need to stay off Zillow because the more you're on Zillow, the more you, you know, let me just tell you, basic psychology here is we act on what we focus on. And we're looking at Zillow all the time. It just keeps getting itchier and itchier, and you just want to scratch it. And I'd stay off Zillow. I would stack up cash. It's just you and the dog, right?

Yes, it is. Dude, I don't want you going 25%. I think you need to relax. I think you need to be like, it's just me and the dog. And you're fine. And I would save up more money. I wouldn't mean any hurry. Sure, if you want to go for a year and a half, bust it. Go make some side income if your income is somewhat limited.

You have the ability to do that. But the more you're on Zillow, the more this becomes something you feel like, I've got to fulfill, and I'm not fulfilling this desire. And you're single with a dog. And I wouldn't be in a rush to get a house. I just wouldn't. The more money you could save, the better. Because you're not in a rush right now to where you have to get a house, as Jade said.

So I would just relax a little bit. I can hear it in your voice like, oh, I've got to do it. I to be a grown up. I got to be responsible. I got to get a house. And we don't know what your life's going to be like a year and a half from now. Let's say you got that money that you want for that down payment a year and a half from now. And let's say that somebody else, a significant other, a potential mate, a life partner comes along. Now everything is, we started at ground zero in my mind is i'm not going to buy a house like i would never buy a house if i knew that i wanted to settle down with somebody until i found that said somebody that's me really a hundred percent that is uh controversial

no it isn't it's just my opinion but you don't know i'm not telling everybody else to do that but no no i get it but it's uh it's interesting because there's a lot of unknowns there. Right, but I'd rather not be locked into a mortgage. I'd rather be stacking cash, living on less than I need to make, and look. Wait a minute, Ken, because I'm walking down this road now. Fine, let's run down the road. You wake up five years from now. No, this is good. This is good, Matt. No, I started run down the road. You wake up five years from now. I need to start something. No, this is good.

This is good, Matt. No, I started it. Trust me. Because you wake up five years from now and Mrs. Wright still hadn't come around the corner. Are you still waiting to buy a house? Even if you've got the money? Maybe not. And right now.

But we're not talking five years. We're talking now, which is exactly why I wouldn't buy the house in a year. If he's dating, if he wants to settle down, I wouldn't buy right away. But that's not a principle. It's not a principle. It's not a Ramsey principle I'm espousing. No, I got you. Me personally, I'm just, this rush to buy, it's dangerous.

And cash is good. It gives me options. Renting's good when I'm playing the field. You know what I'm saying? This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is with me, and we are here for you.

888-825- 5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Nate, who is now joining us in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nate, how can we help? Hello, my friends. My wife and I, we started our journey with Dave Ramsey about 12 years ago, and it's been a wonderful thing, let me tell you.

We love Dave and we love listening to your show. We made it all the way through baby step three. We had three to six months in expenses saved up, and then it's been a little bit of a rough year. A couple of months ago, I lost my job. We've also got some medical bills. Oh, thank you for that. We've also got some medical bills that stacked up,

and so we are back on baby step number two at this point, and we're looking for a little bit of advice on how to navigate these next couple of months as I'm on the job hunt. Are you bringing in any income at all right now? Or are you still on? I have a little bit of residual from my previous employment, a couple of months of money they set me up with just to help with that transition. Our company was bought out and I was downsized and they took care of me, but it's not going to last forever.

Sure. Just so we can walk through this, how much more time do you have with that paycheck coming in? About three months. You got three more months before that goes away. And is it the same amount of money you were making before? Yes, sir. Okay, good. All right. So what specifically are you thinking about? What are you guys wondering about? Well, we've got, like I mentioned, some medical bills, about $2,500 in medical bills.

And then, you know, just as we were making decisions to keep the lights on and things as we were dealing with this rough year, we also ended up not paying or tithing to our church for a few months. And so we'd like to make up that difference, which is about $2,500 there, too. I love your heart. So $5,000. What is $5,000 if I sent you a check for $5,000, which, by the way, I'm not going to. But if I did, what would that do for you mentally and emotionally in light of this call? Well, you know, that would take a lot of weight off.

But the discussion my wife and I are having is do we take this residual income I've got and do we stuff it into our baby step, which, you know, got dropped back down to $1,000? Do we build that up or do we work on our debt snowball while I'm doing this job hunt? So is the only two debts, the $2,500 in tie that you're considering a debt and the $2,500 in medical, or is there other debt? Well, we've also got our mortgage, but you know, that's less than 25% of our income, but those are the only two because, you know, we've been working the system for a while. Yeah, and we'll put the mortgage off. We'll leave it for a baby step six where it belongs.

Why don't you work and go make $5,000 while you're searching? Yeah. Why don't you just go get a J-O-B? It doesn't have to be in the same career field, but why don't you just go while you're connecting, networking, applying, why not go make $5,000 on the side? I'm going to call it on the side. You're still getting your severance. And get the $5,000 that you want to pay the tithe and the $2,500 for tithe, the $2,500 for medical, and then be all good. Why not do that? Oh, I'm absolutely open

to that. Now, we've got a little 10-month month old at home. So as soon as I go find a job, it's got to fit in around either daycare or my wife's or my wife's schedule. She works too. She's a teacher. So I'm, I'm absolutely open to that. I've been looking, um, I've called in on a couple of, you know, temporary opportunities, but haven't found anything that's, that fits in with, with that lifestyle. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait wait what do you mean lifestyle you need a full-time job anyway what does that need to look like what's the schedule it means it means my full-time job's got to pay at least um two thousand dollars a month to cover that daycare so your wife's your wife's income basically covers everything except two thousand bucks like that's what you feel like at the very least you need to be able to make per

month yep okay are you watching the baby right now and she's working That's what you feel like at the very least you need to be able to make per month. Yep. Okay. Are you watching the baby right now and she's working? Is that what you mean? Yes, I am. She's in the high chair in the other room. Okay. I see.

Now that explains. Because I'm telling you to go get a J-O-B. Why don't you work nights? Absolutely. I'm open to that. No, no, no, no. Not open. Do it.

There's a difference between I'm open to it and get busy, man. Go work at Walmart from 6 until midnight. Yeah, you'll make $2,000 a month. While you're searching for the full-time job, brother. I'm trying to save you some money. Now, you can do it your way, but my way is better because you get to keep that severance money for living expenses. Go make $5,000 on the weekend. Listen, you're 10 months old, does not have a concept of time. I'd be working Saturdays. I'd be doing whatever to

come up with $5,000 to remove this weight. You use the word weight. The baby doesn't know when you're there and they don't know. They're not going to remember that. It's like you're a bad father. Nate, you're in storm mode right now. And so I know that you have these debts sitting here that you're like, man, if I could just get this money, I could pay them off. Until you get something stable where you're bringing in the right amount of income to supplement your wife's income

so that you guys can keep your life going. These are bare necessities. We're talking about daycare and things like that, right? So I would take the severance money and I'd hang it back and put it with your emergency funds right now. Because if you don't get out there, like Ken said, and make money, do you want to know what's going to happen? You're not going to have enough money to cover your basic bills next month.

So I would not push ahead trying to do these baby steps because you don't have enough money coming money to cover your basic bills next month. So I would not push ahead trying to do these baby steps because you don't have enough money coming in to cover your bills. So like Ken said, you've got to get out there and you've got to get any job that will take you while you're on the search for, you know, whatever that ideal job or dream job is. And you want to know what? Let's talk about this from a little bit of an emotional standpoint, because there is something to be said. Like you you said you've been listening for 12 years you got so far down the path with the baby steps and then this thing just kind of blew you backwards and it's like oh man like we're failures and it feels like that but you're absolutely not the the the moral of

the story here is the big bad wolf huffed and puffed but he didn't blow your house down because you did have those things in place and you're not deeply you're not back deeply in debt you got you're you're trying to pay back tithes for crying out loud you know what i'm saying like it's not like you've just been blown to smithereens and i think you've just got to forgive yourself and go look we did everything right we had three to six months of expenses in place and I lost my job and that money was there when we needed it. And now we're just building it back up, right? Right. You know, so don't, don't get down on yourself. Just get out there and you know, it's, it's about what you do next right now. Yeah, I agree. And I wouldn't feel the pressure to pay all 2,500 and tithe back right

away. You know, just, just manage the situation. Be a good steward of what you have right now. And I think that's the key. Really interesting. Again, I see a pattern here. And again, love Nate. But this idea of I'm open to it, I'm open to it as well. I mean, I can tell you something. If you want to change your life life you have to grab it by the neck and wrestle it down i'm thinking of i mean i'm thinking of the uh geez i'm gonna upset some of the animal rights activists uh but you know i watch those rodeos every once in a while and they hop off and they grab the little calf and they wrestle it down to the ground yeah that's the idea like at some point you know waiting for change to just fit beautifully into the existing

schedule we have will get you in a situation where you wake up 5 10 15 years down the line going man I never made that change yeah where'd the time go I mean get after it yeah get after you know you you bring up an interesting point I've been reading this book about um negotiating and in the book he says when people say yes or you're right you're right you're right yes yes they the chances of them actually implementing that change is almost nothing really the phrase that you're looking for them to say is that's right when they say that's right that means they understand what's going on and they understand uh how they've been thinking and they see that you understand it too and when you hear the phrase that's right that's when you know there's a change that's about to implement and the

whole time he kind of was like yeah yeah yeah you're right ken you're you know i mean and it's kind of funny because now when i hear that i'm like like, I don't know if they're going to do it. So, Nate, I hope you get to the point of saying, you know what? That's right. That's right. I do need to get out there. I do need to get a job. We're not failures.

We just hit a rough patch. And that's right. All right. So I've got something for you, Nate. Hang on the line. We're going to give you the Get Clear Work Assessment just to give you some extra clarity and affirmation on the type of work that you were designed to do. And then the book, From Paycheck to Purpose, which is the guide to the next gig for you. Hang on the line. We appreciate the call, Nate. So happy for you in that 10-month-old, but get busy, my man. Let's take advantage of that severance, not just use it. This is The Ramsey Show.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Hey, we have a lot of folks that are joining in on this conversation on all the different platforms, podcasts, YouTube, of course, radio, SiriusXM. And if you're new to all this, you're kind of wondering where do you sit in this journey, these seven baby steps, you just want to get caught up. We've got a great resource for you at RamseySolutions.com called Get Started. Just go to the main website, RamseySolutions.com, click on Get Started, and it's just a couple of minutes, and it will allow you to see where you are on the baby steps, get you caught up, so that you can truly get started to changing your life. Also, if you are enjoying the program, would you subscribe, leave a great review, and share? That all helps us spread the good news. 888-825-5225. Caleb is up in Seattle, Washington. Caleb, how can we help? Hi, folks. Thanks for taking my call. How are you guys? Great. What's going on? Just short and sweet, I have about $50,000 in my savings account and roughly $13,000, $14,000 in a couple of debts. And I'm just wondering if I should pull that trigger and pay that debt. And after the fact, how am I wanting to invest this savings towards like a future purchase or retirement?

Just kind of confused. Doing all the research myself has been really stressful. Yeah. The answer is yes, you should do that. And now Jade's going to tell you what you do after that. Yeah. So where's that money sitting now, that $50,000? It's currently in a high interest savings account, getting about 4% interest. Great. Yeah. That's just where it should be. And I would pull out the $13,000 or $14,000 and I would pay off this debt. And then assuming, I don't know what your month-to-month expenses are, but I'd like for you to keep whatever is remaining at least for three to six months of expenses. Is it just you or are you

married? I'm currently single, but I live with my mother. So we share the bills together. We currently rent our home. And I recently just took over expenses from my grandmother who kind of moved to a different home. So I'm taking over the rent, the power bill, all of that. So I think my monthly expenses are roughly $2,500 a month. And I bring in just over $5,000. Okay. So I would set aside whatever three to six months

of expenses for you. You're a single guy. I know you're living with your mother, but you're single and at some point you're going to branch out. So three is fine, but whenever you go to branch out, which we're going to get to in a minute, I bump it up to six. And then whatever is left, are you doing baby step four? Are you investing 15% of your income at all? Yes, currently that's 15% of my paycheck goes towards a retirement account. Okay, great. So now we can get back to the other question. How long is this living situation with your mom going to be? Because it's not going to be long. Right. I wish I had a definitive answer. We're mainly here for the sake of stability.

She's going through stage four kidney failure. So just a stable home with, we know our expenses. We've known this landlord for 20 years. I've lived in this house for maybe 15 and we know him. So he keeps our rent low just for the sake of being helpful being a good christian man okay so i i would say maybe a couple of years at max um you know i do have a girlfriend i i haven't considered popping the question okay and i haven't thought about making that step i'm almost 25 so yeah you're just taking care of your mom right now right yeah so i think that i i think going off the, so let's give you some action steps getting off the phone today. Number one is the first thing you're doing

is you're paying off that debt. And then what you're doing is the money that is left. I want you to kind of divide this in two separate areas. I love, by the way, this is not an ad or anything like that, but I use ala.com for my HYSA. And I like it because they've got these different buckets. And so you could say, okay, I'm going to put my three to six months in one bucket over here, right? And whatever bank you have, do whatever you want. But the idea is I've got this money set aside for my three to six months over here. And I know exactly what that amount amount is and I know that I'm not touching it unless there's an emergency and then whatever's left I want you creating a three a baby step 3b which is you just putting aside money because

eventually you are going to want to buy a house and eventually you are going to want to you know maybe you marry this girl maybe you don't but uh with any extra money I want you being intentional about putting money towards a down payment as well with anything extra that you have coming into your monthly budget and even whatever is left out of that savings after you've put away your three to six months. Okay. Sound like a plan, three-step plan? That's a great plan. I love it. Thank you. You break it down really, really simple. Good, good, good. It's a lot less stressful. Oh, good. Dude, you're good hanging out with your mom like this. Who's taking care of her while you're working?

So I work from home currently, and my mom is a part of a state program that sends caregivers out to kind of look after her, make sure she has what she needs. And when they're not here, it's kind of I'm here to get her something to eat or something along the lines of that. Okay, that's great. All right, well, you're a good man, and so sorry that she's going through that, and sorry that you were having to see that and provide that role, although I know you're more than willing to as a loving son, but that's tough stuff. It is.

So thank you for the call. Let's go to Ethan now in Newark, New Jersey. Ethan, how can we help? Hi, my name's Ethan. I have around $75,000 from inheritance, and I just want to know what I can do so I don't blow it. I have around a few thousand in my Roth IRA, and I'm making around $1,600 monthly. I'm a waiter. Okay.

How did you inherit the money? Well, it's actually a crazy story. So my dad's aunt, I guess you could say, so my great aunt, she was not fond of the family, and she didn't leave the money to anyone. So it ended up going to not that family and, uh, to all the grandchildren. Wow. Oh, so that's your,

that's your share of what all the grandchildren got. Yes. Okay. Good for you. Cool. Cool. And did you tell us you're, you're making $1,600 a month?

Did I understand that correctly? Yeah, just roughly it ranges, but yeah. Okay. And that's right. So you mentioned you had a Roth IRA and then you said I'm making $1,600 a month being a waiter, correct? Uh, yeah. Um, are you doing anything at this point to like further education?

Like what's that look like? Well, so right now I, uh, really, I, so I got this, this money around like the end of my senior year. So I wanted to take a gap year. And so that's what I'm doing right now. I'm planning to go next year to one of the local community schools for a x-ray technician job. Okay. And then overall, though, further education besides that would be just like trying to learn other ways to

make money i opened a website um trying to figure that out but it's still you know i'm just trying yeah yeah no uh my screen says what should i do with this money so i don't blow it so i think that's uh hilarious and i think that's a good way to be thinking um My A1s and A123 for you would be somewhere along the lines of this. Well, first, where are you living? What's your living situation? Well, I'm 18, so I'm just living with my parents. Okay, you're still with your parents. Okay, so my first thoughts on this would be there's nothing that you need to do that's of major need right now like you said the biggest

thing is don't blow it so i'd put it i'd probably drop it in a high yield savings account for a moment because you're going to need to pull out this money when it comes time for you to get your x-ray tech education right how much does that cost it's actually not that expensive because it's through a community college and they have a good apprentice program. So it would of would love for you to do some research on what that's going to look like, because my guess is you're 18 and at least in a year or maybe a year and a half, you're going to be moving out on your own. So let's start looking at what that might cost and what that might look like. And then we're setting that money aside and you're going to talk to your parents and you're

going to say, look, I really need accountability. Do not let me blow this money. I'm not buying a new car. All right. going to talk to your parents and you're going to say, look, I really need accountability. Do not let me blow this money. I'm not buying a new car. All right. I'm not, you're not going to find me in the club by 50 cent, right? You're not doing any of that. You're going to sit on this. It's going to make money for you in the HYSA until it's there when you need it. Good stuff. I'm not sure Ethan knows who 50 cent is. You could find me in the club. Yeah. Everybody knows that.

I don't know. All right find me in the club. Yeah. Everybody knows that. I don't know. All right. This is The Ramsey Show.