The Ramsey Show - App - Make the Right Decisions Now To Set Yourself Up for a Great Future! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Branton, the Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. My name is Anthony O'Neill, host of the popular YouTube and podcast show, The Table withony o'neill and co-hosting with me uh today is the national syndicated host ken coleman uh the host of the ken coleman show the number one career show in the world and today we are real excited to be talking with you here on the ramsey show because we're going to be talking about your life your money your, how to land your dream job. And then once you get the dream job, I'm going to show you how to get some more money, pay off some debt, and build wealth.

Yeah, that's how it works. That is. You know, you want to make more money, let's get you a better job. People ask all the time on the Ken Coleman Show, because they know I'm a part of Ramsey's Illusions, hey, Ken, can I change jobs while I'm in the baby steps? And the answer is yes, because I do not prescribe that anybody jump off of a mountaintop. Whee! You know, we're just going to take a big risk.

No, no, no, no, no. That's not necessary. And some of you out there are feeling like you know what you want to do, but you don't know how to get there. We'll take your calls on that today. I'll give you a very, very clear path on how to get there. Some of you know what you want to do, how to get there, but maybe you've got some family holding you back.

You've got some money problems holding you back. That's where AO comes in, and we'll work through that and get you on a plan. And when you get your money plan going, well, then you can actually move towards that dream job a whole lot faster. So we're taking your calls all across the board about your life. We're really excited. So what are you waiting on? I think somebody out there right now has been listening.

They're going, all right, I'm going to call. I'm going to trust these guys. And if you are, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Ken Coleman, Anthony O'Neill, we are here to take your phone calls. And we're going to go out to Boston. And I love Boston because we have Terry out there. Terry, good afternoon. How can Ken and I help?

Hey, hello. Thank you both for taking my call. Yeah. My question today is regarding purchasing a used car. I've been following the steps and we're on four, five, and six. And I'm, you know, I need a new car, but I'm not going to buy a new car. So my question is, when purchasing a used car, do you recommend certified pre-owned versus just pre-owned? That's one.

Do I buy a warranty on these things if I were to do it? And if I pay cash, typically do the dealers negotiate when purchasing used cars? Oh, man, Tara, this is such a great question because I'm actually in the middle of this literally right now. I totaled my vehicle back on February 14th, actually Valentine's Day. And so I am in the process of doing that. But here's the very first thing, Terry, that I want to ask you. What's your budget? So I'm not worried about a warranty. I'm not worried about CPO, a certified pre-owned car. What's your actual budget? That's what you need to ask yourself first. Right.

Well, presuming I get about four for my current car, I would pay a total of 18. Okay. So that would be like 14 of my own. Cool. You know, plus a trade-in. So that's, that's your budget. Yeah. $14,000 cash plus your budget. Then the next question you got to ask yourself is what's your ideal car?

Then once you identify that ideal car, you're going to do some research around that car. OK, what's the maintenance on the car? How many miles do they tend to start having issues? You're not really looking at, OK, hey, I want to get a warranty. I want to get a CPO. There's nothing wrong with getting a certified pre-owned vehicle. Don't get me wrong with that part. But the very first question is budget your ideal car, do the research, and then from there,

determine the car's value. If you're getting a Honda, if you're getting a Nissan or a Toyota, man, those cars are reliable. You don't need a warranty on those kind of cars. So I would not be concerned about a warranty because here's the truth. They're going to charge you four grand for a warranty that only costs them $500. Yeah. You know, so I wouldn't do it. Ken, you have any ideas? I would just add one thing. I thought what you said is absolutely spot on. I would say that any reputable seller of a car, whether that be a dealer, a used dealer,

or a person in the marketplace, a direct seller, tell them you want your mechanic to check it out. Yes. And so you can provide something to them where they know you're not going to steal the car, they know how to find you, and I would take the car and get it checked out. Yes. And so you can provide something to them where they know you're not going to steal the car, they know how to find you, and I would take the car and get it checked out. That would be the only thing from a warranty standpoint. It's not a true warranty, but hey, I'm going to have my mechanic look this car over and go, this is the shape it's in.

A mechanic on a car like that adds to the research that AO told you to do, which is, you know, hey, how do these cars do? I'm not going to mention any names, but there are certain cars that are very nice premium cars that once they get to about 100,000 miles, it's just a problem waiting to happen. Absolutely. Can you hit that dead on, man? I'm actually having the car that I'm looking at purchasing. You got a guy looking at it? Yeah, I had the actual dealer looking at it.

Oh, good. So that's one thing. If you don't have a mechanic, hey, take it over to the dealer. Give them $100, and they'll do a certified pre--owned pre-inspection to where they'll go through it like they're about to sell in their car lot and they'll let you know hey here are the here are the issues uh but these are not major issues so do the research but a key thing here though is america you set your own budget when you set your budget if it's fifteen thousand, then find your ideal car within the budget. Do not do, hey, I want this car, and then will it fit in this budget?

And if it doesn't, then you up your budget. Do not do that. So that's the very first thing I would say. I'm going out to New York City to have a conversation with Danielle. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. It's a little bit complex, but hopefully you guys can help me out.

Yeah. Um, I, um, so I, I have a great job. I have, I work for the state of New York and,

um, but, uh, everybody knows New York is a very expensive state. Um, I pay a lot of taxes. My mortgage, my,

my mortgage isn't, uh, what I owe my house is not that much, but the taxes just kill me. Now, uh, my wife, I'm married. I have three kids. Um, I make about 75,000 a year. My wife works part time and stay at home mom part time also, but we, we are in baby step two. I have, I saved my thousand dollars and um i just

have so much debt not so much debt but i owe about twelve thousand dollars in credit card i have a pension loan is about five thousand and my wife has a student loan that's twenty thousand now the issue i'm having is because my mortgage and the taxes, I'm pretty much house poor. My money goes all in what my house is, my bills, my utilities. Now there's an opportunity where my grandfather, I could buy his house for really low price in Florida. It consists of me starting over. And I don't know, it's not a right away kind of thing, but it's more of me starting over. And I don't know.

It's not a right-of-way kind of thing, but it's more of a future thing. Is that something I should do or consider doing? I don't know. Well, I think you have to consider it because of the financial opportunity, but you only consider it as that. Okay, if we move to Florida, our housing all of a sudden gets way, way, way more affordable. But what do you want to do with your life? What work do you want to do?

Do you like the work you're in? You have to look at the whole picture. How does your wife feel about it? The kids are probably young enough. They don't care. It doesn't really matter. But I think since that's a long-term opportunity, Anthony, I think, Daniel, what you've got to do is we've got to figure out how to get your housing situation better right now. This Florida thing's not something that's happening anytime soon. So in order for you to get out of these baby steps a little bit faster,

let's look at how we can sell that home and maybe sacrifice our living to have a much cheaper living arrangement now to make progress for the future. Absolutely, man. And sorry for calling you, Danielle, man. We went too quick. Daniel, I own that one, man. Hey, this is The Ramsey Show. This time last year, we didn't know how our lives were going to change.

We didn't have a clue that COVID, job loss, and homeschooling were about to take over our daily existence. And you may be feeling like last year got away from you. Maybe you lost complete control of your money. Or maybe you had to find a new job quickly to make ends meet. The bad news is a lot can happen in a year. But the good news is a lot can happen in a year. Which is why now is the time to think about where you want to be this time next year. And if you're looking for a proven plan to get back on track, our number one bestselling

book, The Total Money Makeover, will walk you through the seven baby steps for getting out of debt faster, creating a budget you can stick to, building real wealth, and becoming outrageously generous. Get your copy of The Total Money Makeover today at the online store at DaveRamsey.com or call our Ramsey concierge team at 888-22-PEACE. That's 888-227-3223. This is the Ramsey Show and Jack is with us in New Orleans. Good afternoon, Jack.

How can Ken and I help? Hey, thanks for taking my call, y'all. Yeah. I am wondering about how to help support my mother. She doesn't need it right now, but she doesn't have enough saved up to retire when she wants to. And I have the opportunity to make either a lot of money in my future career or less money. The trouble is a lot of money is going to come with a lot more work

and not necessarily doing the kinds of things that I necessarily really love doing. And I'm just trying to figure out how to prioritize that. So are you asking that question as if, which decision do I make which is best for me or best for my mom? Sounds like that's how you're asking that. Am I understanding that correctly? I mean, I'm trying to thread the

needle here i want to do both i guess no i don't think so i mean you you i know you want to help your mom but you don't want to take that career path that makes a lot of money but has a lot of other sacrifices correct yeah yeah you'd be right about that the only reason you're even considering is because you think it'll put you in a position to help your mom play catch-up, correct? Well, I mean, it would be nice. I got about $40,000 in student loan debt, and the benefit of that would be that I'd pay it off quicker, right? And that's nice. But I'm pretty decent at budgeting and saving money, and so I don't need to do that, I don't think.

All right, so my point is, I'm trying to help you hear how you sounded, because the answer to that is no. I'm never going to recommend somebody, and Ayo wouldn't either, to go work in a career or go pursue something that is going to cause all kinds of other long-term sacrifices that are not necessary to be made. You don't have to make those kind of, I don't like it, it's not something I do, but I'm just doing it to make more money and help mom out. So that needs to come off the table. Now, how to help mom to sit down with her, I'll let AO take that one. But I mean, this is sitting down with mom and going, hey, mom, we got to start to take

this really seriously. And where do you want to be? What do you want that to look like? I'll tell you what I'd do first. I'd have her go to Chris Hogan's website, ChrisHogan360.com, and I would do the Retire Inspired calculator just to get some real numbers. It's a really wonderful tool. And then she knows what she's dealing with.

But reality and clarity is what we need right now with Mom. But I don't think that outside of helping Mom with a plan, helping mom with a goal, but you to make a professional decision, even in small part, to help mom, that's not on you, brother. That's not on you. Yeah, I agree. How old is your mom? She's 55. 55.

Okay, cool. And she has no savings at all? She has about $100,000 in retirement. Okay, so she has about $100,000 in retirement. And anything else? Does she have any debt right now? Her house. She's got about $100,000 left on the house.

$100,000 left on the house, $100,000 in retirement. Okay, and then any kind of income coming in right now? She currently works. She's a nurse, but she works in, like, a high-intensity kind of nursing, and she's already talking about how much strain has taken on her working so hard. And so I have a feeling that she's going to step down into a lower-paying position soon. Cool. Well, Jack, I want to tell you, man, I appreciate your heart as a son.

I can tell that you love your mother. I can tell that you want the best for your mother. I want to echo what Ken said. I totally 100% agree with him. But I think now is the time you just start. You got to have a real good conversation with your mom. I would definitely say, you know, take your mom out to a nice dinner, man, and you pay for it. Say, Mom, let's dream here. Where are we going in the future? I'm concerned. I love you. I want the very best for you. But how can we set you up to win? So this doesn't impact me and my family down the road, but how do we start making decisions now that impact your tomorrow, that impacts your retirement, that impacts your future, all of our futures, and just walk through the steps with your mom. Definitely get her plugged into our colleague

here, Chris Hogan. Have her go to chrishogan360.com, walk her through the retirement calculator, and just start figuring out what can we do to start setting her up to win. But how you help your mom is just by having the conversation, not by putting more stress onto you and your you and your family, personal family. And so that's what I definitely recommend. But I appreciate your heart, my brother. And I believe God is going to bless you for your heart. But just have the conversation, man. I appreciate y'all. Hey, no problem at all. No problem at all. Man, Brad is with us in Wisconsin. Brad, good afternoon. How can we help? Well, the question isn't for me, guys. Well, first of all, thanks for taking my call. This is for our 19-year-old son. He was homeschooled

through high school, got a 30 on his ACT, loves God, volunteers at church, and he decided to take his first year after high school to work. And true to his word, he has been working like a dog, and he's doing very well at work, but he doesn't know what he wants to do. He is self-taught in graphics. He built his own piece. Oh, we lost him. Boy, we're getting to the good part, too. I know. It was getting good, man. Oh, we lost him. Boy, we're getting to the good part, too.

I know. It was getting good, man. Oh, boy. We're going to try to get him back. We're going to try and get him back. So let's set this up while we try to get him back. So here's a dad whose son, very bright, says, Dad, I want to take a gap year, and I'm going to work.

And he has. So he's busting it, right? But he doesn't know what'm going to work. And he has. So he's busting it. But he doesn't know what he wants to do. Well, 19-year-olds have limited life experience, A.O. So what do we want to do? As parents, we don't want to get concerned about that because we've got a kid who's very intelligent, probably done very well in school, has been working, he said, like

a dog, been working hard. And so that puts him in a situation where we've got a character kid. We've got a kid who's got good character yeah so what do we want to do we want to go in and get some themes and i'm going to see if we can get this from dad when we get him on the line we want to get some themes of the type of work and we already started to hear it he's self-taught with graphics and right before he got disconnected he said he likes to build and so it sounds like to me we got a kid who a with his head and with his hands yeah he likes to be, and so it sounds like to me we've got a kid who, Ayo, with his head and with his hands, he likes to be active and creative in some form or fashion.

So what we want to do, parents, is we want to look for the themes that we've been watching these kids with their whole life. What are the themes? What do we see where they're really, really good at something, Ayo? They naturally are gifted. Other kids, or maybe even another kid in the the home struggles with one issue or one topic, and this kid excels. That's the talent piece. And then what makes their heart get real excited when they're engaged in it?

That's the passion piece. And the last piece is what do they want to produce in the world? What result do they want to put out here in the world that makes them feel like, I have done something that matters deeply to me because I see a direct result in my work. That's mission. Talent, passion, mission. So the way that works, AO, a purpose sentence for anybody, parents out there looking to start this conversation with your kid, here's what it looks like.

You were created to use what you do best, that's your talent, to perform work that you love to do, that's passion, to accomplish results that matter deeply to you, that's mission. Yes. That's your purpose. Now, you can fill in the details. For A.O., it's a little bit different for me, right? Yep.

But that's how we begin to see this. And for a 19-year-old, when you got a kid, you're going, oh, they just don't know what they want to do yet. Well, they have a pretty decent idea. You just got to be okay digging, A.O. Yeah. You were a youth pastor for years. You've had these conversations with parents and kids. Absolutely. But, Ken, just got to be okay digging a.o yeah yeah you were a youth pastor for years you've had these conversations with parents and kids absolutely but ken i'm

going to ask you this question he was a smart kid very smart how come he didn't go to college i suspect i suspect because i wish dad was on the line we're gonna try to get him online i suspect it's one of two things maybe both one the kid kind of knows i'm not sure the traditional college is the best way to get where i want to go right but that's a that's almost taboo to a lot of families yes for a kid to even say that and then the second reason is as uh i think he's wondering deep down yeah what he really wants to do he's trying to figure it out it's one of both so he's going i actually just want to take a year because he may be one of those kids

who goes, I just want to see what it is before I commit to something else. He could be that mature. It's not crazy to think that he could be that mature to go, I'm not sure yet, so I'm going to work a little bit, save up some money, and maybe he's read Debt Free Degree. Am I right? I love it. There's a third reason why he didn't go. I wish we could take a poll right now

If your kid was this smart I want y'all to answer this out loud While you're driving in your cars While you're watching this on YouTube If your son or daughter were smart And they came to you and said mom, dad I don't want to go to school, I want to go work Would you tell them no, you're going to school

Or you're working When we come back, we may talk about that a little bit more. Hey, I love this one. We got to get them back on the line, Kelly. This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. This is The Ramsey Show. The one and only national syndicated host.

The number one career radio show in the world. And I mean that. I know my producer is saying in the world. Yeah, you can listen to him on podcasts. Ken Coleman. And my name is Anthony O'Neill, host of the popular YouTube show, The Table with Anthony O'Neill. And before, actually not right before the break, but on our last segment, Brad was on the line and he was raving about his son and just speaking highly of him. And unfortunately, we got disconnected. So, Brad, we want to come back to you and we really want to

finish this conversation because it sounds like you have a sharp young man and we want to help you out however we can. So go ahead and finish what you started before we got disconnected. Yeah, well, hope this one works better. Thanks for calling me back. Yeah. Our son Mike is an amazing young man. He's always been able to have conversations with adults. He was homeschooled by his mom, as are his two brothers all the way through K-12. He is a self-taught graphic artist. He has done some graphics for his youth group at church

he assembled his own computer at 16 an avid reader loves to work out and at his job they tried to make him a manager at 16 but had to wait until he was 17 because that was their policy and he just doesn't know what he wants to do. He knows he doesn't want to take on a bunch of student debt, chasing a degree he may or may not want at this time. And he's got like $20,000 saved up. My wife and I are everyday millionaires. We both grew up without any spoons in our mouths whatsoever, just hard work and getting after it. And it hurts me to see him not have any direction. I know if he went to a university in the People's Republic of Wisconsin, he would get in trouble because he's very opinionated,

very conservative, and loves the Lord. And I don't think it would go well for him. So, okay, guys, given that, what would you tell this kid? Well, first of all, I want to talk to you. Before I tell you what to tell him, I want to tell you, Dad, you need to relax. I mean, I'm serious. You're a good man, but you need to relax. You got yourself a rock star in the waiting, and you're hurt.

Oh, he is. I know, but you can't. On one hand, you just gave us this glowing resume of your son, and I believe it. But on the other hand, you're like, well, it just hurts that he doesn't know what he wants. He's 19, and he's a kid who knows enough to say, I don't want to commit to college and go into some type of financial situation that is not sustainable long term. He doesn't want to go into debt for something he's not sure he'll use. This is a kid who's actually really, really, really level-headed,

and you and your wife have done a fantastic job, and I applaud you for that. So, number one, Dad, he's 19. I think you need to do what most parents won't do and go, Hey, kid, man, I'm proud of you. Twenty grand you've raised. Keep working. Let's work on some ideas. Let's explore some ideas.

Let's experiment a little bit with some things that you may want to do. And don't put any pressure on him to go to school. You're already worried about him going to a state school and being a fish out of water or something to those lines, is what you said. So here's the thing. What has the kid always done very, very well? You tell me. Well, to back up, we've already had that discussion with him. Good.

I've told him several times how proud we are of him. He's an amazing kid. And I've told him, I said, Micah, if I had it to do over again, I wish I didn't go to college right out of high school. I says, no pressure, my friend. I said, we love you. We'll support you. What does he like to do?

He loves doing graphics. Good. And anything computer-related, he's that kid that if you have a problem with your computer, you go up to him and you say, you know, this isn't working. Can you tell me why? I didn't give you half an hour on why it's not working and how to fix it. What is he doing now? Is that related to the job he's doing now? No. When he was 16, he started working at a restaurant.

It's a popular burger and fry place. It opened over two years ago. He was one of their first employees, and now he's been a manager for a year and a half or so. Here's what I want you to do tonight. I want you to ask him, if he knew that he could not fail, but he didn't have to commit for the rest of his life, what profession would he try for fun? Just a fun adventure. And my guess is he's going to say something to do with graphic design or something technology related. Wouldn't you guess? Yes. Yes, you guess? Yes.

Yes, you're correct. Then let's get him in that. Absolutely. Go online tonight, get him to say that, and then you go, awesome, let's do some research together. How can me and your mom support you to try several things in that area? So have him list out graphic design, maybe one. I'm making this up right now. Video game design, two. You know, whatever he says.

And then go online and look for training programs that are online. And it could be at a state school. It could be at a non-traditional, non-college type thing. It could be just a private sector training thing. I tell you right now, you need to go to BethelTech.net, Brad, right now. BethelTech.net. They sponsor and partner with the Ken Coleman Show, and they're training people. You ready for this? In less than nine months, in less than $15,000, they're getting people ready for the technology industry, and they have an 85% emplacement rating, starting at $75,000

and up. Would you be surprised to know that my lovely bride already brought that up to him several months ago all right so at beth at bethel and we asked him he said what about bethel and he said well i don't want to get a job that i can be replaced by he seems to think that kind of work eventually is going to be obsolete well if he's 19 he doesn't he doesn't know what he's talking about. But here's the point. Here's the point. Don't tell him.

You're 19. Here's the point. I'm just giving you them as one option. If he wants to do graphic design and things of that nature, then get him a graphic design training program. See if he can get a job locally. He's 19. He's got a good-paying job. What if he shadowed a couple of graphic designers in your area?

What if he worked for free for a couple hours a week, five to ten hours a week, if you will, following somebody around? Those are the things that he needs to do right now, Brad. And once he gets a hold of it and he tastes it and he sees it and he gets experience with it, he's going to come up with it. But you've got to encourage him and push him towards the path he's already looking down. Don't overcomplicate this. Yeah, don't do it.

Don't do it at all. And, Brad, also, I want to say this. He's 19. Let him make some mistakes. Don't fight him on everything that he says. Don't fight him on everything that he does. Don't fight him on everything that he does. Hey, give him suggestions. Let him explore.

Yeah, and just really, really let him explore. America, do you ever feel like you'll always be stuck paying off your debt or that you'll never have extra money to save and spend how you want. If that sounds like you, then it's time for a new way of thinking. You have to believe you can get rid of debt and take control of your money. Because here's the thing, you can. And it will not take nearly as long as you think it will. With Ramsey Plus, we'll kick you off with 90 days of guided help

so you can put more of your money back in your bank account. Not theirs, but yours. You'll learn practical ways to get small, consistent wins that add up to big, huge results and better habits. And that means you'll get you'll get where you want to be faster. One hundred percent debt free and spending your money without worry. This year, you can say this again. You can make more progress on your debt and saving than you ever have. Get Ramsey Plus and start living the life you want faster to reset your money and to start Ramsey Plus for free.

America for free. America, for free. Do me a favor. Actually, no, do yourself a favor. Go to DaveRamsey.com. That is DaveRamsey.com right now. And sign up for Ramsey Plus 100% free for 90 days. Listen, Ramsey Plus changed my life years ago, Ken. Because inside of Ramsey Plus is Financial Peace University.

And when I took that class, I was drowning in debt. I didn't really understand the power of true stewardship. And I mean, when I took that class, not only did I understand the biblical meaning of stewardship, the correct meaning of stewardship. But now I knew how to move forward. Now I know how to move forward with my finances. And I'm telling everyone right now, Financial Peace University inside of Ramsey Plus with all the great stuff Ramsey Plus offers, you are missing out if you're not a part of this community. Join the community and I promise you

it would change not just your life, but your kid's kid's life, but your family's life. This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 We have one phone line just opened up. Kelly is standing by and she will

I was about to say happily take your phone call. She's always happy to answer your phone calls, but she chooses who actually makes it through. So give her a call. Let her know the question and she will let you know if you can come through. If you make it through, Ken and I would

love to talk to you just like how we're about to have a conversation with Paul in Dallas, Texas. Good afternoon, Paul. How can Ken and I help? Good afternoon, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Yeah. So, look, I just started listening to the show last month.

We are currently on baby step number two. My household income is $89,000. I'm the only one that works my wife stays home with our one year old baby and my question is the only debt that we have is my car

which is around $32,000 $32,000 yeah $32,000 what kind of car is this this is a Lincolnincoln nautilus okay so you're driving nice nice what year is it yeah it's a 2019 okay yeah you're driving real nice nice nice yeah i wish that i would have known that the baby was coming you know i would have gotten something else yeah i

understand um anyways so but but but that's the only debt that we have. We don't have any credit card debt or anything else. But my question is, like I was saying, I just recently started listening to the show. So I'm already contributing 15% of my income between my 401k at work and my Roth IRA. And my 401k is also Roth, so I have both on Roth. My question is, obviously I'm trying to pay off the car

as quickly as I can, at least that's my plan. So my question is, should I pause my 401k contributions to then use that extra money to send on top of what I already sent for my car and try to pay that off as quickly as I can. Well, Paul, what you just said sounds so beautiful. Like you literally just answered your own question. That sounds amazing. What you just said is, should I pause investing into my future so I can take care of my present so I can set my future up to be sitting sitting on solid foundation? Yes. So the answer to your question is absolutely. You have two scenarios here.

OK, scenario number one is some people are probably screaming he needs to go sell the car uh that's what probably a lot of people are saying if you go sell the car you go buy something cash and used i don't have a problem with that but with this being your only debt compared to your income i don't have a problem with you keeping it as long as you get aggressive after it you know but if you i think you and your wife need to sit down and say hey you know what uh this is a lot of car okay um i mean if it's 30 something thousand dollars right now this means you probably bought it at 50 you bought it brand new yeah it was brand new it was like i guess 43 44 brand new yep yep yeah 43 44 and after taxes you paid about 50 grand and so you've already

had about 12 13 000 invested into this vehicle. So if I was in your shoes with this being your only debt, I'm going to stop all my investments. I'm going to figure out how can I even generate an extra 15 grand this year to go towards that. I'm trying to figure out how do I have this car paid off within the next six months before the baby comes. That's what I'm really trying to do. And if you look at it and you see you can't pay it off this year within the next six months to a year, by the end of this year, I'm selling the car. I'm going to sell the car and I'm going to buy me something cash. But if you can get aggressive, Paul, I would say keep it.

Just pay it off. Okay. Yeah, because my only concern was that, you know, I'm shooting to retire by 57. Okay. So my only concern was, like, you know, I'm probably going to lose out a year or maybe, like, 15 months, you know, while I pay off the car in the sense that I won't be contributing. That was my only concern because, you know, I don't really want to go over. Like, $57,000 would be ideal, and I know I can make it, but I don't really want to go over $60,000. All right, Paul.

So, Paul, let's just jump in here. How much is the car worth today if you sell it? Kelly Blue Book value. $26,000. Okay, so you're upside down on it. I hold that. Yes, yes, Okay, so you're upside down in it. A whole lot. Yes, yes, yes. A lot.

Well, so again, you get to determine, I mean, first of all, you're not going to lose that much ground. No. That's a myth that you're going to lose that much ground on your retirement investing. You're going to be able to make up ground by the amount of money you're going to put into it when you're debt-free. So I would go at this car, everything you've got. And again, I'll just tell you, this is me personally. I think Ayo's absolutely right. I don't disagree with what he's saying.

I'm going to tell you, if it was me feeling what you're feeling, I'd sell the car. Dave's given this advice before. And I'd go get the $6,000 difference in a loan. And then whatever cash you've got, you get something that's just reliable, a $5,000 car or whatever, and then pay off that $6,000, and then you're right back into the plan. That's what I would do. That would speed everything up.

Yeah, a whole lot. Do you have any savings at all right now? What I have is $1,400 for Vader Step 1. Okay. That's all that I have is $1,400 for, you know, for Baby Step 1. Okay. That's all that I have. I know I'm getting at least like $5,000 on my tax refund this year. Okay. That I'm planning to put towards the car, right?

Okay. So I know that's coming in probably late this month. Okay. Because I already filed my taxes. So that will be extra money that I have coming in. But other than that, I have $1,400 in savings. And then I don't know if it helps you guys. I have around $84,000 between my 401k and my Roth, and I'm 33 years old.

Yeah. You're in great shape. Yeah, you're in great shape, man. You're fine. Just knock this car out. Yeah. However you choose to do it, knock the car out. You're not going to get behind on retirement.

Yeah. And, Paul, here's the thing, man. You have to sit down and ask yourself, do I want to – it should not take you a year and a half to pay off this car if you're going to decide to keep the car you have to get aggressive after it you have to say you know in the next six months i'm going to attack this thing or you could take ken's suggestion is go sell it take out a loan for the six thousand for those of you are hearing this oh my goodness they're saying take out a loan listen he's going from a 30 plus thousand dollar loan down to a six6,000 loan. He paid off a lot of debt right there.

So we don't have a problem with that. But the problem he's going to run into is, Ken, he doesn't have the cash to go purchase the car. Well, that's where I take that tax refund. I go buy myself a $4,000 car. Exactly. And then I put $1,000 on the six, and now I only owe five, and I'm rocking and rolling. Yep. There's just ways. Rocking. Yep.

There's just ways to do it. Absolutely. And making $90,000 a year, I'm trying to figure out how do I generate another $15,000 and have this car paid off within six months. It's a nice car. Nice car. And so I would get aggressive on my end, especially at 33 years old. He could be driving for Uber. He could be driving. We met a young lady last, not last week, but the week before that, Ken.

I don't know if it was. No, it was John. Me and John met a young guy. He made $78,000 in one year driving for Uber. Yeah. So if you get aggressive, if you are determined, it can happen. Yes, sir. And it will happen.

Yes. But you have to be the one to say Yes, sir. And it will happen. Yes. But you have to be the one to say, you know what? I'm going to do this. And so there's no way in the world I'm making 90 grand. It's going to take me a year and a half to pay off a car. And here's another way. I mean, he could go bust it, work a couple jobs, take that tax payment, and he could actually get that car, what he owes on the car down to where if he sells it, he does

make some money. Absolutely. So, I mean, we've given him three ways to to get there um the reality is though paul um aos right it's the right question yes you need to walk the baby steps out we we pause retirement and we walk out the baby steps you got the thousand dollars in the emergency fund now we're going to pay the car off then we get to the three to six months emergency fund. Now we're going to pay the car off. Then we get to the three to six months emergency fund. Then we start doing 15% towards our retirement. So walk it out. You're 33 years young.

You're in good shape. You're going to be fine. You're going to make up so much more ground walking the plan. Absolutely, man. And what's the point of investing into your future when you don't even have an emergency fund? You might have a child come. No, get out of debt.

Get your three to six months set aside, and then, boom, start investing into not just your future, but even now your new child's future. Come on now. Let's think, man. Let's think. Oh, man. Man, this is a great hour, Ken.

Always fun. Always fun to be with you. Always fun. I want to thank Kelly, James, and everybody in the studio over there. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell your story.