The Ramsey Show - App - Learn How to Live More and Worry Less (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 18, 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show, America. It's common sense for your dollars and cents. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Marcella starts off this hour in San Antonio, Texas.

Hi, Marcella. How are you? Hi, Dave. It's so nice to talk to you. I can't believe this. This is awesome. I'm's so nice to talk to you. I can't believe this. This is awesome. I'm glad I get to talk to you. How can I help? I had a question. I've been saving a long time for a home. I'm now debt-free, so now I'm moving on to the home. And I had a question. I have $140,000 for a down payment. Wow. And I have, it's been a long time, $30,000 in savings, like for my emergency fund.

I'm looking for a home in around $260,000, and I was wondering if I had enough or if I need to continue saving. And if so, is a geodesic dome home a good option to buy a home, or should I go more for like a traditional light home? Well, the downside of the geodome home would be that it's a very unusual property. And so when you get ready to sell it, and you will sell it someday, either you or your heirs, you're going to have a harder time selling it. And anything that is an unusual property, whatever unusual means in that area, you know, makes it harder to sell, and therefore it doesn't go up in value as much because it makes it harder to sell. So, you know, it sounds like this might be your first home purchase, is it?

It is. It is. It's going to be my first ever. Yeah. I don't think I would do that for my first ever. Okay. Because you could get stuck in it. You could lose money.

You know, you might make money. There's nothing wrong with the home intrinsically, but it's just, as you know, a very unusual property. And so it has a very limited number of people that would want to buy it on the resale versus just a traditional home. You've got a wide open market for that. So I would not do that. As far as $140 down on $260, that's a wonderful down payment. I mean, you're over 50% down. And, you know, if you want to put the balance on a shorter term, that's great.

I mean, I'm assuming you can put that on a 15-year fixed or less, right? I was looking at a 15 fixed and i did because with my three jobs they bring in about 4k per month um so i didn't know if that was going a little high on that calculator that i did yeah you just don't want your take you don't want your payment to be more than a fourth of your take-home pay and i don't know if i want to buy something that forces me into continuing to work three jobs in order to pay for it uh that that you know that forces you to continue that lifestyle so you got to look at that and decide but uh whatever number whatever number of jobs you want to use to figure it out i would not buy something where the payment is more than a fourth of our take-home pay. JJ is on the line in San Diego.

Maybe not. Let's go to Steve in Los Angeles. Hi, Steve. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Ray. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help?

Thank you. Thank you. Well, basically, I'm new to your show. I've been listening to you for the last three weeks, and I'm a normal American citizen. And normal. I learned with you that normal sucks. How can I get my wife on the same boat as I am? I'm motivated, and I want to do this, and I think I'm done with baby step one. But she doesn't seem to be motivated.

I'm with a total debt. So three weeks ago, you weren't motivated, but now you've started listening to the show and you've gotten motivated. Is that fair? Correct. So what do you think the show did that motivated you? Well, I've been broke for the last 10 years. I've been just getting in debt.

That was the case three weeks ago. But something when you started listening to this broadcast of me yakking, something in that yakking made you believe, right? Yes, yes. What was it? Well, we make enough money to be out of debt. Oh, there you go. And you never thought of that before?

No. Okay. Did you say that to her? Trying to get the right wording on it. And she said yes, yes, but she's not as aggressive as I would like her to be. Well, three weeks ago, you weren't aggressive. Correct. So what happened was that you got new information in your brain that made you believe.

It's called hope, right? You went, I think we can do this. Not only that, I think we should do it because I think we can get out of debt, and I think we should get out of debt because if we were out of debt, we could do this. We could build wealth. We could retire with dignity. We could give more. Whatever it is that's running through your head, right?

So my point is this. You can't talk to someone about how to do something before you talk to them about why to do it. And what was going through your head is, honey, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. This is you talking to your wife. I'm tired of being broke. I'm tired of being stressed. And when I started listening to this information, it made me believe that we could get out of debt if we were willing to pay a price. And it made me believe.

And I thought, wow, if we didn't have any payments, all the things that we could do. How wealthy could we become? We make too much money to be this broke. And you just start talking about the why rather than walking in and going, hey, I'm listening to this radio program. When do you sell your car? That does not work. Okay. So, nope.

So you got to go another direction with that. And as you talk about the why with anyone, when you're talking about them engaging in a reason, I mean, why would you go to the gym and huff and puff and strain and work? Because you think it's going to cause you to feel better and look better. That's why. But you wouldn't just go strain and huff and puff for no apparent reason. There has to be a why.

There has to be a belief that, a hope that, if I follow this diet and exercise plan, I can look like that and feel like that instead of the way I look and feel today. You have to have that or you won't lift, you won't run, you won't do your aerobics, you won't do whatever it is you need to do in the gym, and you won't back off from the food. And it's hope. The only way you change behavior is you look up and say, hey, doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. We're not going to live like this anymore.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. We have to change something we've been doing because if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to be so broke that it's going to be no fun around here. It's already no fun around here. We make too much money to be this broke. And it's all about a reason to do stuff, and then you'll do what it takes. Then you'll do what it takes. It changes everything, though. You've got to have a big enough why. That's how you do it. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

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 Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care 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 Live Events. chministries.org. Brittany is in Little Rock, Arkansas. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Brittany. Hi, Dave.

Thank you for having me. Sure. What's up? I have a question for you. I'm currently on baby step number two. Okay. Your phone is messing up. Are you able to speak directly into it or get it where we can hear you?

Yes. Are you able to hear me a little bit better? Yes, ma'am. That's a little better. Let's try that. Okay. Sorry about that. So I am currently on baby step number two. I've paid off all of my debt except for my student loans, and I currently don't own a home. My question for you is I have been accepted into graduate school, and I'm slated to start next summer.

So I wanted to know the money from now until then that I would be paying off my current student loan debt if I should save that money to cash flow my graduate education. You should pay cash for your graduate education or not do it. Okay. Which means, yes, you would stop paying extra on your student loans and get ready to pay cash if you're going to graduate school. What are you studying? I'm going to get my nurse practitioner's degree.

Are you working while you're doing that? I am. Hopefully, we'll be able to continue working. I doubt that I would need to completely stop working. So, if anything, I'd still be able to work part-time as a nurse. Okay. All right. Are you single? I am single. Okay. So how are you going to eat through this process if you're not working? Well, not working is really not an option for me. I would drop down a part-time if I needed to. But enough to cover your expenses, and then you're going to have saved up enough to pay for the school. Correct.

Okay. Yeah, let's do that. And, you know, put your student loans on hold pay minimums on them uh and then when you enter school of course you can stop them temporarily again uh stop paying anything but your goal is to add your first goal is to get the degree without adding any more debt that's goal number one and then once you've pulled that off obviously your income will come on up after that too. It's a great, great career field that you've joined. And so you can make a lot of money doing this.

And it's very rewarding too because you're helping people. So, yeah, I definitely would stop paying any extra until you get out of school. And then once you're out of school, you can really lay into this. And once you finish up that grad work, you can lay into the student loans and knock them out really, really fast. But first goal in a situation like this is add no more debt. That's the first goal. Judith is with us in San Jose, California.

Hi, Judith. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm better than I deserve. Good. How can I help today? I have had $22,800 invested pre-marriage into an individual investment account. I do have $6,000 in an IRA and $6,000 in a Roth.

But with marriage, I gained an awesome godly husband, but I also gained his student loans, which are now $27,000. We do have $7,000 in our savings, but we're wondering if we should pull out the $22,800 and add our savings to that to pay off the student loans now um or to continue on how we're doing now and just paying as much as we can each month now you said an individual investment account you mean you simply have an investment account it's not a not an ira it's not a retirement there's no penalty for pulling it right right right i'd pull it in a heartbeat yes okay anything that's not in retirement comes out and goes towards debt until we finish up baby step two.

And then you build your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. And then you start, or in this case, restart your 401ks or Roth IRAs. I would be doing none of that until I got this debt all paid. But it sounds like if you put all that together, you're able to knock it out, right? Yeah, I think we can knock it out today. Good then you'll be debt free by the end of the day and then you gotta then all you gotta do is just build your emergency fund up and then restart your long term investing and uh and after the emergency funds built up is also where you'd save and pay you know start for your down payment on your house if you're going to buy a home and that kind of

thing all right in there uh rondon is in san San Francisco. Hey, Rondon, what's up? How you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help? I'm just calling because I'm a young guy. Just got divorced, and I'm $58,000 in debt, making around

$45,000 a year. So I'm just trying to figure out how do I displace my income around all this debt I have. Gotcha. What's the debt on? $23,900 on school loans. $17,800

on a car repo. A repo. Yeah. Repo repo. Um, I didn't know about gap insurance and my ex wife let her friend drive my car and she told her this car. Okay. Yeah.

And so how long ago was that? That was around, it was like four or five years ago. Okay. All right. And what else? What other debt? Then I have an old apartment debt for $1,210, and then I have a bunch of little phone bills and knacks here and there like that.

Okay. All right. Well, the bad news is that there's just you to work on this. The good news is you don't have to convince anybody but you to work on this, right? Yes, sir. So it's just you and it's game on. All right. So let's do a couple things.

One is we're going to get you on a written budget. Jump on everydollar.com and download the budgeting app it's free for your phone or put it on your computer either one but you need to fill out what you're going to do with every dollar of your income every month before the month begins and you take great command over your money. And then the faster you cut, the deeper you cut your spending, the more money you can throw at the debt. Does that make sense? Yes, sir. Which means the more you have no life, the faster you're going to get out of debt.

Okay? Yes, sir. All right. So the first thing I want you to do is save $1,000, and then the second thing I want you to do is save $1,000. And then the second thing I want you to do is list your debts, smallest to largest. Pay minimum payments on everything but the little one. And attack them. Attack the little one with every dollar you can squeeze out of your life, out of your budget.

Anything you can sell. Work extra. Anything you can do to find some money. Throw it. Throw it. Throw it at as fast and as hard as you can't that smallest debt when that one's gone you take the payment you used to pay there and you throw it at the next one and so on down the list right on down through there now when you

get to the seventeen thousand dollar repo they will settle that with you it's a very very old bad debt they will settle that with you for around 20 cents on the dollar, probably. So $3,000 or $4,000 cash offered to them as a settlement in full on that debt, they'll take it. Okay. They may argue with you. You may have to negotiate. You may have to whine. You may have to go on a little bit.

That's all I got. I can't give you anything else. We'll put it on payments. No, we're not putting anything on payments. All may have to go on a little bit. That's all I got. I can't give you anything else. Well, we'll put it on payments. No, we're not putting anything on payments. All I've got is $3,000. Do you want the $3,000? If you do, it settles it in full, period. Okay?

And if you can push that through, then that's what we're going to do. But then you get that in writing before you give them any money. The way you do that is you have to have saved up the $3,000, but you'll be able to do that if you knock off some of these other debts. Yes, sir. And that's the process you're going to go through. I'm going to do two things. One is I'm going to send you a copy of my book, The Total Money Makeover,

which is exactly step-by-step how to walk through this. You can do this. And if you'd like to, I'm going to be doing one of our Smart Money events with Chris Hogan in just a couple weeks in San Francisco. We'll be there October the 2nd. And if you would like to come and bring a friend, I'll give you a couple tickets to that. Yes, sir.

All right. Come on, man. Hold on. I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll get you a Total Money Makeover book, and we'll get you some tickets to the Smart Money event. By the way, the Smart Money event in Charlotte, North Carolina, this Thursday is on. Game on, boys and girls.

Game on. Game on, Charlotte, North Carolina, this Thursday. I don't think we're talking by there into getting an emergency fund, do you? Wow. But it's, do you? Wow. But it's, hey, game on. We're doing it. And then the next week, October 2nd, we'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina. Or San Francisco, I'm sorry.

California. This is the Dave time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk. And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only

recommend term life insurance since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use. Term Life Insurance is inexpensive and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps. That's Zander.com. Or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. Ben is with us in Naples, Italy.

Hey, Ben, what's up? Hi, Dave, I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking my call. Sure, what are you doing in Italy? I work as a DOD civilian here in Naples. Cool, cool. How can I help? So I'm a disabled veteran, and I'm currently debt-free, only for my mortgage. And then I was getting treatment for my service-connected condition on base, and I started getting bills from the Department of Treasury.

And so I started forwarding those bills over to the VA. And if you're familiar with the VA, everything's a process. And in the meantime, the Department of Treasury sent my bills over to collection, and it dropped my 820 credit score to 600. And it really hurts because I was in the process of refinancing my home and um i'm wondering what can i do well um you don't have a lot of pull because you're dealing with a huge animal called the government as you figured out and obviously their incompetence and slow processes have cost you your credit score.

Because the bottom line is you owe the money, according to the Treasury Department. They didn't bill the VA, they billed you. And when you didn't pay it, then they've dinged your credit score. And unless you can talk them into undoing that, which I would say is about a zero chance, but you can always try, go, guys, you report this to the credit bureau, and I'm a disabled vet. I mean, for goodness sakes here. The VA was supposed to be paying this, and they haven't paid it. It's not my fault.

You guys have got to give me some help here. I need you to go to the credit bureau and reverse that negative entry you've made. Good luck with that. But that's really what should happen, isn't it? Yeah. But I don't have a lot of optimism. Do you? I don't.

I don't. And it's caused me a severe depression, and I really don't know how to deal with this. Okay. Well, let's stop right there. The depression, if you're getting depressed over your credit score being down, that was your choice. It didn't cause it. You just decided this was a bigger deal than it is. I mean, your credit score is down.

That's a bad thing, but it's not the dadgum end of the world, so what? You don't need to worship at the altar of the grave, FICO. He is not your provider. You know, my credit score is a zero. I'm not depressed. You see what I'm saying? I intentionally did that. And so what I would do is get the problem solved and take action on the problem.

But I don't know that your credit score is going to recover unless you can talk the Department of Treasury into reentering the data with the credit bureau. But I, you know, if you can do that, I mean, you probably ought to be in sales. But I would not accept it as a life-altering situation. It's not. I mean, there's nothing to be depressed about. It's just a stupid credit score. And so, I mean, whoopee. You didn't refinance your house. Where's your house?

In the States? Yeah, it's in San Diego. Yeah, just sell it. I mean, if you can't refinance it, you can't afford it, it doesn't work the way it is, just sell it. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff you can do short of being depressed. It's just money, man. And it's just a FICO score. For God's sakes, it doesn't mean that much.

Except it's got a block on something you were trying to do. And the aggravating part is you didn't deserve it. What you deserved would be honored for your service and your government, your country, to take care of you. But the VA and the Treasury Department have not ever been known for that. So it's oxymoronic to me that the Veterans Administration was formed to take care of veterans and doesn't do it. Very seldom do you people at the VA actually take care of our veterans. You're just aggravating. So, but, you know, here we go.

So I'm sorry, sir. I wish I could tell you something else. But the only thing I can tell you is, dude, keep it in perspective. It's just a FICO score. You know, sell the house. It's not that big a deal. And get you into the house. And I'd rather you didn't have a credit score

because you quit borrowing money. Patty is with us in Orange County, California. Hi, Patty. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? So I am basically tired of being sick and tired. I'm reading or audio book your total money makeover. Cool. And I'm on chapter six, which I feel like the lady at the beginning of the chapter with wondering if we make enough money for our rent. And now with daycare, we just added daycare. Have you done your budget? Have you done your budget?

I am working on it, and I have a very great friend who recommended you, and she is helping me through it also. Have you pulled up the EveryDollar app yet? Yes, we have. Well, it shouldn't take you. It's not like working on it. It's about 10 minutes to lay the thing out. What's your income? About 93. Well, it shouldn't take you. It's not like working on it. It's about 10 minutes to lay the thing out. What's your income?

About 93. Well, that's good news. Okay. And I just started a new job, which bumped us up from about 70 to 93. Okay, so your household income is 93, and how many kids have you got? We have four. And how many in daycare? Two.

So we pay about $1,300 a month and our rent is around $2,170. Okay. And I just am, I think we just need to maybe figure out where our money's going, but I'm trying to know how to get my husband totally on board.

Okay. Well, I think you need to sit down with him and explain to him this is very, very stressful for you, and I need some help. I need you to look at this with me because this is driving me nuts, and I'm not okay. It's not going to be okay, and I'm not going to chill, and you're going to help me with this. I need my man in my going to help me with this i need my man in my corner to help me with this and we've we've been a little bit more than less than paycheck to paycheck lately with the change in job so it's been Okay, you gave me two numbers. You gave me rent and you gave me daycare.

Yes. Daycare was $16,000 and rent was $24,000. Okay? Mm-hmm. Annually, when you multiply those two numbers by 12. Okay? Yes. So that's only $40,000 of your $93,000.

Yes. So those two things, there's still room in there for food there's still room in there for lights what other debts have you got um we just have our regular utilities we actually with the new job we got rid of my husband's car and we have no car payments good so we both have cars with no car payments but we have our monthly you know internet phones we got rid of cable you have fifty thousand dollars to do that i just don't know where everything is going and i have he he's the spender okay then i know then i know where everything's going he's spending money i mean

he's spending money like it's water because you got all kinds of room after you if you pull out food lights water internet you know groceries uh don't eat out and you pull out daycare and your rent there's still 30 000 bucks000 left here. Yes. So you need to look and see if you're getting a huge refund. Have you stopped all 401Ks and stopped all stuff down at the office coming out of your check until you get this balanced? I actually just listened to that part of your book this morning. Okay. Well, listen, when you get your budget laid out and you get him on board

and he quits spending like he's in Congress, you're making enough to turn this around. You're going to be okay. You can do this. You can do this. Now, you get a little bit further down in it, if you've got some specific questions, you call me back and I'll help you. But the numbers you're giving me give me great hope for you.

I think there's more room in your budget than it feels like right now. But as soon as you start doing the written plan, you will have that, oh my gosh, where's all our money been going moment. You'll feel like you got a raise. And that is exactly how it feels the first time you finally lay it out in detail. Every dollar this month has an assignment before the month begins and you agree on it with your spouse and you stick to it. Ding, ding. You can do it. This is the Dave Ramsey Personality is a business coach

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It'll take you to another level. Go to businessboutique.com. Sign up for the free workshop the three essentials to business success aj is in los angeles hi aj welcome to the dave ramsey show mr ramsey thanks for having me on i really appreciate you taking my call sure um i'm new on the ramsey train i heard about you for the first time a week ago actually and uh i've i've been listening to podcasts soaking up as much as i as I can, and I wish I would have known some things now for a long time ago that I know now, unfortunately. Me too, brother. Me too. Yeah, I know. I got a

question for you, but I'll give you a little backdrop just to kind of set the scene. So my income, $80,000 after taxes, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom. We just had a baby. She's four months old. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. She's a blessing of grace for sure.

But anyway, we went from dual income, no kids, to now single income, one kid, and my wife being a stay-at-home mom, best job in the world. And money was never really an issue for us, so we never made a budget, nothing like that. And now we're kind of struggling month to month and having to take out some cash out of savings, about a couple hundred bucks for the past three months now. And my question for you is we have about $30,000 total on car loans. So I'm just curious if we should just pay off both of those loans to free up, you know, $700 a month in cash or at least one of those cars just to help out?

Pay them off or sell them? Excuse me, both. So we have about $70,000 saved up and $30,000 in a 401k. Oh, okay. So you have $70,000 in savings? Yes, sir. And your only debt other than your home is $30,000 of car loans? Correct.

Okay. A good rule of thumb is to not have things with motors and wheels, anything you own that has motors or wheels, added together, should not total more than half your annual income, because things with motors and wheels go down in value very fast. Yeah, I'm finding out, unfortunately, that is true. more than half your annual income because things with motors and wheels go down in value very fast. Yeah, I'm finding out, unfortunately. So you're pretty close to that.

I mean, what are these cars worth? The new car is a 2018, so it's worth $27,000, and my Jeep that I drive for work is worth $16,000. Okay. So, I mean, you're over your 40 if you make 80 you said 80 take home so not yeah you're you're probably so you're making 100 so you're right about you're right about it you're fine you if you love these cars and you want to keep them write a check and pay them off out of your savings today sure if you don't love them enough to do that, then that says you need to sell one of them.

Okay, for sure. If you love your savings more than the car, I'm not talking about your retirement. You said you had $70,000 in a simple savings account, right? Yes, sir. Okay. Okay. So I'm either going to make the decision tonight

when I get home talking with your wife, you're going to make the decision and say, all right, do we want this money or do we want this car yeah and if we want if we like the car write a check and pay it off and never borrow on car payments again and then that means you now have uh what uh you said you had 30 000 owed on these two cars uh so you'll have 40 000 left in the bank and that takes you to baby step two which is three to six months of expenses being saved and so we'll use some of that 40 000 for your three to six months of expenses and then we're just going to push our way on through

the second thing you gotta do is you gotta get on a budget because you should not even with those car payments you should not be able you should not be having trouble living on 80 grand take-home pay you ought to be able to do that so you need to get your written game plan out and uh for sure we then rid of these car payments you'll be able to do it but that tells me that you're disorganized in your spending plan and the two of you together need to lay out that every dollar budget very very carefully tonight as well and just begin this discussion. The good news about the baby is the baby's here. The great news about the baby is it's a wake-up call to be a grown-up now.

And you're going to have to pay attention to this stuff. And you're doing it. And so way to go. Great dad, great husband, great man. That's the kind of guy you're supposed to be. You step up, man, for your family. So I'm proud of you. Very, very well done.

And if we can help further, you just yell, I'll help you anytime. Chris is with us in Sioux Falls. Hi, Chris. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help?

Well, I could really use some quality advice. I'm really, really struggling right now, and I'm faced with some very, very difficult decisions, and I'm trying to come to terms with how that might affect how I spend quality time with my kids. I have been separated from my marriage for four years, divorced about three. I have my kids every other week. And I just recently went through my second job loss in two years. I've been unemployed for the last two months. The last time I was unemployed, I went through about nine months of unemployment.

And the funds are really, really low. The debts are piling up and I just really don't know what to do. Um, I've been listening to a lot of your podcasts and, um, the one thing, well, one of the many great things that I've been hearing, um, but one of the regular things that I hear is to just work, work, work. And I'm not afraid of work. I just want to make sure that, you know, my kids are 9 and 14, and I want to make sure that I can have some quality time with them. Well, you're going to have to work to be able to do that.

Right. I get that. And so there's going to be, listen, all dads and moms have tradeoffs. We have to produce economically to provide for our family, and that means sometimes we miss a recital. Well, and I certainly understand missing a recital, but, you know, if I'm picking up, you know, second shifts or third shifts here and there, or maybe that's my regular job, you know, and my kids are in school, how am I spending time with them if I'm a single household income? Well, I'm not positive on the short term. On the short term, you figure it out.

On the long term, the short term you figure it out on the long term you change that around i would not prescribe that you work something where you never see your children ever for 10 years but you may have to do that for five months because you're broke and unemployed it may be a very difficult five months but um if you wallow around and i i can't do anything to create money because i have to have time for my kids you're going to struggle from now on what were you doing before what kind of job are you were you doing before um i was a project manager in the medical industry the long-term health care industry and making what kind of money um at my most? No, the one you just got fired from. Oh, the last one that I just got fired from was not.

That was in a technology field I was making between 50 and 55. Doing what in technology? A lot of electronic data interchange. Data passing between insurance companies and health care providers. Okay. All right. Can you take those skills? That was not my industry.

Okay. All right. But your industry is project managing? Yes. Okay. And why did you lose the job? It was part of a large corporate layoff. They laid off about 10%, 15% of their staff.

Well, one thing you can do is come up with a self-employed idea where you take some of your project management skills or your tech skills and you start doing those as an outsource for small business. And then you can control your time because you work when you want to work and when the customer needs you, but you're going to have to work when you want to work. At least you're not locked into a set schedule that way. But you desperately need to do something to create income around there on a regular basis. Hey, guys, this is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.

I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.