The Ramsey Show - App - My Fiancée Wants Us To Financially Support Her Family (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Ken Coleman & Dr. John Delony discuss: Transitioning to become a stay-at-home mom, The boundary issues around financially supporting a future spouse's family, Saving for an emergency fund and paying off debt.   Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6   Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to talk about life, specifically your money life, your relationship, mental and emotional health part of your life, your your money life, your relationship, mental and emotional health part of your life, your work life. We're going to talk about it all. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by Dr. John Deloney. And we are here for you this hour, 888-825-5225. It is a toll-free

number. You may just be one phone call away from breakthrough. We'd love to try to help give you a practical plan for hope for a better future. 888-825-5225. That is the number to jump in. Betty is going to start this office hour in Reno, Nevada. Betty, how can we help? Hi. So my question was, should I go back to work, hold strong, or maybe move some money from stocks? Currently, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I used to teach seventh grade, and I've been on a single income since April because I was put on bed rest after my second pregnancy. I am going to school part-time to get a master's. So I do plan to go back to work to teach, but our hope was in two years once that program is over. But right now,

our savings are depleting. We're down to $17,000. Our take home with my husband's single income is around $3,500, but our expenses are coming out to like $4,500. I'm going to ask this and it's going to sound dismissive. So understand I'm asking this as though we're just hanging out. Okay. This isn't me being ugly. Are your expenses truly $4,500 or did y'all adjust your income when you chose to stay home? You just didn't adjust your lifestyle. No, believe me, I've been budgeting, budgeting, budgeting.

Our mortgage is about $2,000. Okay. So you guys are busting it. You've cut everywhere you can cut. Yeah. Okay. Do you have any debt pretty much no we actually were after my first son was born in 2020 we have all other debt um

we paid it off and so we're just working on our mortgage now okay well here's the thing um we don't want you using that emergency fund the way you're using that right now that emergency fund the way you're using that right now. That emergency fund is for an emergency. It is not a floating fund. And because of the fact that you're eventually headed back to the classroom, I'm having a dinner table conversation tonight. I mean, this is a family meeting, and we've got to get some more income. So the way I see it, there are two ways to get more income, Betty. One, you go back to full-time or part-time work, or your husband takes on an extra job right now. So this comes down to two things. It is a financial decision, but it's also you're at home for this season anyway for a reason, correct? Yeah, yes, exactly. I have another possibility, too. I'm wondering if we should do this.

My husband gets stocks from work, and so we have like 90,000 restricted stocks vested. So I don't know if we should take some of that out. I would not for this because this is, see, again, it sounds attractive, but you're coming up with a bandage with the stock thing. Yeah. It would give you a little bit more time. It would replenish your savings, but you're going to pay taxes on that. If you're going to do anything with the stock, you know what I would do?

I would invest that wisely and let that be working for you. That's what I would be doing with the stock. I would not be using it to live off of. I think it comes down to who's going to take care of the kiddos if you go back to work. Have you walked through that? And see, that's part of the reason why I'm staying because the only daycare close by wasn't really great at all. Okay. So for the moment, let's go, okay, it's not ideal for you to go back to work right now. When you were planning to go back after the Masters, would the kids be, I mean, you still have to have a daycare situation, right? Well, at that point, we were thinking of relocating to California where we have family.

That's where I was getting at. I might fast forward that. Absolutely, yes. I would go ahead and move near family now and allow for the family to come around you so that you can get back into work and get back teaching and do the master's on the side anyway. I would just fast forward that whole plan. Yeah, absolutely. Benny, you are grappling with what millions and millions and millions of Americans are grappling with is the cost of doing life has just gotten so expensive and jobs like you are doing like being a teacher I met with some some

K-12 administrators yesterday and the starting salaries are very similar to what they were when I was a high school teacher and that was a long time ago. So the cost of doing life has gotten more expensive and the cost for some of these jobs hasn't. You found yourself there and what you found is it's an uncomfortable, nobody likes to talk about it and it's like hush hush, but you've landed in a mathematical reality to continue to live here doing the work that we love to do and having kids is no longer feasible. So we either have to change jobs. We have to change locations.

We have to make concessions. Ken and I have both driven all over the city to drop our kids off at various places because there wasn't one by our house. That may be part of it. And so that means your day looks a little bit different. That means husband's got to cook dinner because you're going to be out. Whatever it is, you're having to own reality, acknowledge it, and you can't just say, well, this is just where we live. You can't if you've got a $1,000 gap between income and bills, right?

So, man, I'm with Ken. I would accelerate that move to California. I would be super clear about the financial aspects of this, and I might even pause that master's degree because that's costing you money that quite frankly y'all don't have right now and that master's degree is always going to be there and you might find a school district that'll pay for it for you that's exactly right uh you're a teacher you've been a teacher um i like this move i really do i i i wouldn't put any other option up there. I hope you all go this route.

And, you know, the child care thing, John, it just. It's a nightmare. It is so prohibitive. Yeah, it's a mess. To working women. Oh, yeah. I was reading something recently. We knew this shortly after the pandemic really hit.

About six months into 2020, we saw data come out where a ton of professional women had to go home and that was because everything was shut down and uh they were the you know they're the moms and they went home and it set back professional women tremendously yes and at the same time child care costs have escalated and so it's keeping women back yeah so they can't afford to go work. You can't go back. Right. It is cost prohibitive to go to work. Right. Yeah. And that makes me angry. It's an absolute mess, yeah.

And we as a society, and I'm going to just, this is dangerous to expose a problem without a solution. Right. But I can say with confidence, we the people have the brain power on both sides of the political aisle we got to figure this out to take care of moms God sakes we got to figure out child care

in this situation so that people can I mean there's got to be a way and I know there's some bright people a whole lot smarter than me that can figure it out especially when you look at the downstream cost of

well yeah how much we spend on the back end of some of these challenges man that it could be solved if we take care of mothers much we spend on the back end of some of these challenges, man. It could be solved if we take care of mothers and we take care of kids. Good grief. Yeah. So, anyway, there you go, Betty. Betty, make the move.

The good news is you have a support system for you and your hubs. And I'm very excited for you guys. Boy, life is going to be a lot easier. Put that house for sale up and make the move. Thank you so much for the call. For the rest of you, don't move. We've got more Ramsey Show right around the corner. welcome back america you have joined the conversation here on the ramsey show i'm ken coleman joined by my colleague dr john deloney the phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225.

Last week, we were in Phoenix, John, for two amazing crowds at sold-out events on the Building Wealth Tour. And if you've been thinking about joining our fall Building Wealth Tour, you better move quickly. The events in Sacramento and San Antonio are completely sold out, but we still have a few seats left for our Building Wealth Minneapolis event on November 10th. I think I might wear a turtleneck to that one. I might try to see if I could maybe rock the turtleneck.

What do you think? I will not wear a turtleneck. You will not. I'm going to try. I'm not going to try. We'll see. Don't tell Dave. We'll just surprise him.

If you want tickets, you need to buy them now. Prices for Minneapolis go up this Friday. So to get the early bird discount before it's too late, you better move. Me, Dr. John Deloney, Rachel Cruz, George Camel, and Dave Ramsey all are there. We'll talk about building wealth in this current economy and show you how you can get on a path to building the wealth that you desire. So again, recap of the dates. Everything is sold out except Minneapolis. November the 10th, tickets start at $25,

or you can get a four-pack starting at $60. So tickets start at $25, a four-pack of tickets starting at $60. Go to ramsaysolutions.com slash events to reserve your seats now. Every time I read that and I hear four-pack, I immediately think of Chick-fil-A. I don't know. The four-pack. Yeah. But we're talking about tickets, not chicken fingers.

I was thinking of craft beer, but I get what you're going with. Hey, and by the way, on these Building Wealth Tours, don't forget, Ken and I have been going to spend an hour before Dave's talk, basically just doing our shows live.

The John Deloney Show and the ken coleman show and taking questions and man there's been some really magic moments it's been pretty neat um listening to people this is what they're struggling with and trying to help them find the next right step yeah a lot of stress out there in our home lives and our work lives and oddly enough we can look to one side of those for where a lot of the stress is coming from a lot lot of stress at work sometimes is because of stuff going on at home and vice versa. So we team up on that. That's a lot of fun. It's a pre-show.

You can get your tickets to that as well. So go check that out. All right. Let's get back to the phones. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Kristen in Alberta, Canada. Kristen, how can we help? Hi.

How are you? We're having a blast. What's going on? Okay, so I wanted to go to school next year, like in a year's time. I just wanted to know, I have a little bit of debt. I'm planning to pay that off. But is it wise to mortgage while I'm going to school? Where are you going to school?

In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Where are you going to school? In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Where do you get to study? So ultimately I wanted to get into law, but I have to do a couple years. So I'm going to go towards my social work degree. Okay. In hopes of getting into law school. So you're going to get a social work graduate degree and then head towards, or is that a bachelor's degree?

It's a bachelor's. So I need two years of something in order to even apply for law school okay so if i if i don't get in then i just complete my social work right so law school is at a minimum three years out is that right and then law school i'm assuming in in canada it's the same as it is in the states that's a three-year course yeah okay um i i wouldn't i wouldn't either no no i wouldn't i would go rent because who knows what after you finish your social work degree what the job market looks like what the law school entrance rate looks like what all that you may be in in this area for 18 months and then all of a sudden you need to get out yeah i just think first of

all it's not that it's it's not that it's a bad idea. I just don't think it's the best idea. And we want to always try to give you the best idea. And I think what we're saying is it gives you options. You know, once you purchase a home, a lot of things change. You feel like you're rooted there and you're getting after this. You've got a clear professional direction you want to go. I would not do it.

I would wait. Especially since you don't know if you've even got into law school yet you haven't got into law school period you haven't gotten to law school there you may end up in law school somewhere in the states who knows where you're gonna end up um what's the housing market like in canada um it's up and down i guess i was looking at like townhomes and and um uh condos even. And what's that purchase price? What's the purchase price going to look like?

I can find one for $150 to $200, a decent one. Yeah, but those townhomes and condos are going to be there by the dozens. I'd sit tight. I would. I'd get my degree and then figure out what I'm going to be doing. Which way were you leaning when you called us? Oh, you were about to buy, weren't you? Oh, I was 100% going to buy.

And yet you called. Why? I thought I'd, I don't know. I thought I'd be talked out of it anyways. See, that makes me wonder if you had a good size of doubt there. Like you were like, all right, I want this. There's no question I want it, but should I do it? And that's the nature of your call.

I just would hold tight. It's just going to give you more options. So, Kristen, I don't know if you know my background, but I spent five years as an administrator in a law school. So worked with law schools and i love them i'm glad you're going to do that the world needs good legal minds out there serving the people um the number of students who would come in and then they would spend one year somewhere else doing an externship they would study abroad they would end up working at this firm over the summer and then have to come back during the year. It's a lot more mobile than you think it is.

And by buying a house, you're tying yourself down unnecessarily. It doesn't make sense. I would solve for freedom in the next four or five years. Thank you for the call, Kristen. We're excited about what you're going to be doing. Let's go to San Diego, California now where Mark is on the line. Mark, how can we help? Hey, how are you guys doing? We're having a blast. What's up? Hey, so yeah, I've been dating this girl for about nine months and we kind of started talking about

finances and money. And she has about $300,000 in debt. She had she had a PhD in, um, pharmacy. So she's a pharmacy manager making around, I think around a hundred thousand dollars a year. And, you know, that was kind of a shock to me because I, um, I have no debt. I have good credits for, I have an emergency fund. I have enough money to actually purchase a home right now if I want to. I have a thriving business. And when we talked about it, I kind of said, okay, well, you know, if in the future, you know, cause we're not going to share expenses or financially until we're married, I would be happy to support the household when we're married while you're having your income mostly go to the debt so we can kind of work on it together. And that seemed like a good plan. And then a couple of weeks later, she kind of

brought up, you know, the understanding of like, oh, you know, I have, um, uh, a brother that's, uh, special needs that, you know, might need financial assistance in the future. You know, her parents are taking care of them right now. So I'm trying to figure out, okay, what would my responsibility be? And then she kind of said, you know, there might even be a chance that we might need to take care of my mom hypothetically, but probably not in the future financially. And I'm getting concerned because I feel like the expectations are quickly kind of increasing on me to be able to provide and I don't know.

And I'm like, it's causing anxiety for me in the relationship basically. When you marry somebody, you marry their family too. Yeah. Right. You marry somebody, you marry their family too. Yeah. Right? And so I don't think it's out of bounds at all to take care of an aging parent. I don't think it's out of bounds at all to have a plan to take care of a special needs brother and sister. I think that's beautiful. What you have to ask yourself is, is knowing that loving her comes with also helping support family,

is that a life you want to buy into? That's the choice here. Don't overcomplicate it. Okay. In fact, I think it's beautiful that she is that articulate up front. Really? I read that a little differently.

Okay. Did you read it differently than that, Mark? Did it feel presumptuous out of nowhere or did you feel like it was an extension like john saying i could be reading it wrong um i don't know i mean okay hold on hang on we're gonna we're gonna dig i want to dig into this one yeah yeah hang on the line mark we're gonna go to a break here i'm gonna put you on hold and we get back i could be wrong there's some onions here no no i might be i i just wonder if he doesn't feel like whoa that was a little fast when you came at me with mom and the brother. I don't know.

I actually want you to spin them more. I want to watch you dig into this one. I'm going to dig, too. That's a good question. I agreed with what you said. All right, let's do it. No, let's do it. I don't know.

This one feels weird to me. Hang on, folks. This is what we do here on the Ramsey Show. We dig. We dig deep. It's going to be great. No, let's do it. I don't know. This one feels weird to me. Hang on, folks. This is what we do here on The Ramsey Show. We dig. We dig deep. It's going to be great. Mark, hold on. This is The Ramsey Show. you Welcome back to the Ramsey Show America.

I'm Ken Coleman, joined by Dr. John Deloney. And as we were going into our last break, we had Mark with us on the line in San Diego. And so Mark, just going to reset this for you if you're just joining us, has been in a dating relationship about nine months. And Mark is debt-free and makes a very good salary. And his girlfriend has a lot of debt through, I believe, a doctorate in pharmaceuticals. So he's going to be making very good money. And as they begin to talk about the future, potential future of their relationship, they begin to talk about the future potential future of their relationship

they begin to talk about money and in subsequent conversations after the initial money talks the girlfriend brings up that she has a brother who struggles with some health issues and disabilities and so maybe they would have to help with his finances and then potentially her mom. And so Mark was like, all right. I mean, I kind of like, well, what do I do here? And John, I want you to repeat your thought there, and that led us to what is he feeling?

But you said as we were going to break, what did you say? Ultimately, it's not out of bounds for someone to say, hey, I've got a brother with special needs that I anticipate having to take care of down the road. And by the way, I'm hoping that, or might be that one day one of my parents is going to have to come live with us if the other one were to pass away.

And so I want to have space in our relationship for that because it's probably going to happen. I don't think that's out of bounds at all. In fact, I was saying I like the fact that she's this clear this soon but something is a little bit off and i just felt like mark maybe you called us because it and not to say that she's got any uh untoward uh ideas but it felt like maybe it caught you off guard and and maybe you're like oh how should i react to this how are you feeling about this yeah i guess it's difficult for me that's kind of like um like i'm a planner like i like to

understand the expectation that's put on me i'm good at like solving problems and then you got minimizing risk and to me it's almost like okay so like if maybe i should already be starting a fund you know for the brother or for i don don't know, her extended family or something. All right, so let me push a little bit more. Do you feel uncomfortable? Did you feel uncomfortable when she brought up her mom and helping out with her mom's finances? I understand the brother who cannot help himself. Am I reading that correctly?

Yes. But what about the mom? Did that make you feel like, why should I have, I'm just curious and maybe you didn't, but I just want to know. Yeah. So if I'm being truthful, the reason why is because she has kind of told me how her mom is kind of passive aggressive and can be very controlling And my interaction with her hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been great. So I think, obviously, if I had more love and connection with her over time,

then, of course, I'd want to help out a loved one. All right, so now I'm glad I dug, John. Now how do you react to that? So here's what it sounds like. It sounds like you have a picture in your mind of what you getting married is going to look like. Yeah. And you can prep for that by getting all the funds in the right place, getting all the jeans in the right drawer,

and getting all the cars in the right place in the garage. And what I would tell you is this. All relationships, 100% of them, whether you've been married one week or 50 years, all relationships are a risk. Yeah. You open yourself up to somebody could hurt you. And the beauty of a marriage is somebody says, I'm going to open up myself to you fully and

you are going to spend the rest of your life loving me. And I'm going to do the same back to you. And the scary part about it is it only works if both people jump with both feet. We get a lot of flack here for telling people to share bank accounts, to talk every week about their schedules and things like that. No, I got to be me, bro. Dude, it's not going to work. You both got to be all in. And that means you have to say, I'm going to plan. I'm going to dream but we're going to plan and dream together and that is a skill set that you don't have and that's okay very few people have that going into marriage um you just have to decide you want to learn that but okay i'm i'm like i i don't feel right

about this so john i want you to keep going going. I think you're okay planning for the brother. I don't think you're okay. I don't think you've bought into the fact that you even need to support mom. And I, quite frankly, sitting here, go, I'm not sure I'm signing up for that. Am I on to something? Yeah. So, here's the deal. Are you ready to marry this woman, or are you just talking about it?

I think I'm ready. I think I'm ready. I mean, I i love her and i want to marry her and i i don't yeah i don't know yeah but i know you don't because let me put it this way if she had not brought up taking care of mom how would you have answered that question? Come on, man. I think I would have answered it a little bit differently. I think I need to be able to have the conversation just with her and more. I think so, too. John, I'm going to throw it back to you because I appreciate everything you said. But I don't think he has to put himself out there.

Here's the thing. He's got to tell her. Okay, so here's what I think, Mark. I think, John, I'm going to pass it back to you. I would like to see him sit down with her and go, okay, here's what I'm feeling about this. I'd like to know your mom's finances. I want to know the whole picture.

If we're talking about you're expecting me to maybe help, I want to know the whole enchilada, what's mama's finance situation? And see what the risk would be. And how old is mama? And can mama get her acting gear? And I'll support mom if she does this, this, and this, and she needs a place to stay, yes. But as far as letting her run up debt and be irresponsible with money, when I't agree with that i'm not buying into that

i guess mark that's what i'm feeling underneath the surface am i right well i you know i'm gonna actually ask you that with that with what you just fixed i completely agree isn't it kind of like just in general if i'm lending money to family members or that i'm crossing that threshold that is kind of my responsibility to have an understanding of like... Yeah, but we don't want you to lay ass. So here's where you got to be real careful, Mark. My guess is, and I could be out to lunch, your girlfriend slash future fiance

slash future wife made a blanket statement of some sort that said, come hell or high water, I'm going to take care of my mom. I need you to know that about me. I'm a kid who's not going to let my mom be on the street. And in your mind, you're a planner. And you went to, okay, well, what's the budget for that going to be?

And what's her 401k look like, right? And so what ends up happening is you have a picture of take care of mom, which is this is a problem to solve. And she has a picture of I'm going to take care of mom, which is a person to love. And what happens is y'all are having a fight that shouldn't have to happen because you're having two separate conversations. So I enter that conversation and say, I love the fact that I love a woman who wants to take care of her mom. In my head, here's what this looks like. I start thinking about how much is this going to cost?

Are we going to have space? We have to buy a different house. Are we going to have to move communities? Are we going to get all those different nuts and bolts? And now you're in a very different conversation, which isn't, are we going to love mom? It is, how are we going to do this? And you can say, I am all about loving you, all about honoring your mom.

I'm not in the business of loaning people money. They can live in a room in my house. We can get a mother-in-law suite on top of the garage. Here is a core principle of mine. And if she comes back and says, we're going to loan our money to our family, now you've got a values issue, right? That's less of a mathematical formula issue or a risk issue. That is a, no, I loan money. I don't loan money. And now you're talking about

future issues in your marriage, which is why you date, right? Is that, is this making sense? Yeah. Cause I've kind of, well, kind of, I know why she reacted this way because out of a moment of emotion, she said, I know that you're big on not loaning money. So she is aware of my general values and boundaries. But then like you were saying, like the loving and planning and how do you do it together with someone that you'd be one with in a marriage and her family be my family, just kind of complicates.

Here's what I'm going to do. This is like a pre-engagement gift. We're going to send you one year of FPU. I want you to watch all the lesson videos with your girlfriend. And if her mom will join you, that'd be great too. I want you to watch them together and it will give her some context of where you're coming from. And if nothing else, it will give you all a common language for which to build your relationship or to make the hard decision to call it. Right.

Thanks for the call, Mark. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I am joined in studio this hour by my colleague, Dr. John Deloney. And we are taking your calls, 888-825-5225. That is the toll-free number, 888-825-5225. Talking money, talking mental, emotional health, relationships. We're talking your work as it relates to, hey, I want to get out of it

or I want to get into something better, make more money. Hey, I'm stressed out. I'm burned out at home. Relationships are on fire. John and I are combining on all of those topics, plus, of course, your money questions. Let's go to Clayton, who joins us now in San Antonio, Texas. Clayton, how can we help? Hey, guys.

Thanks for having me on. I'm new to Dave Ramsey's program, to the content, and I guess I'm on baby step one right now, just trying to figure out what the best way is to go about handling trying to get out of the debt versus getting $1,000 into emergency fund? Well, first of all, thanks for listening and being new to the show. And because you're new, we want to make sure you understand those baby steps are in order. So you are in fact on baby step one, and that's all you should be focusing on, not debt right now. So we're looking at super intense, man. We want to get $1,000 in your savings account, not $1,200, not $1,700, $1,000. Once we get that, now we are going to shift to baby step two, where we take your debts and we're looking at your smallest debts of, let's say I'm making

this up. You got $1,000 on a credit card and then you got $5,000 on a car and $20,000 to loans. Whatever it is, we're going to focus on that smallest debt and knock that baby out. And then once we pay that off, we take the payment we're making on that, and we double it. We dump that into, if you will, the payment on the next debt. So let's go back. How much money do you have in savings? Right now, nothing. Okay. What brought you to this moment, man? Just some really bad financial decisions I've made in the past. And I'm kind of right now at

a rock bottom and want to get my finances under control. Want I have wisdom when it comes to my finances and trying to better myself so I can ultimately give back and help others. That's awesome. Good for you, dude. How much debt do you have? Total of about $20,000.

What's that made up of? Card payments. I owe I think $12,000 on that. And then a college loan. I owe, I think, about $8,000 still on that. It takes me to $20,000. And then last year I made some really poor decisions and took out a few same-day loans

and really regretting that now. Okay. Can I ask you a bigger question? Yes, sir. Are you struggling with addiction or did you just blow up a big relationship? No. What's underneath the $20,000? My rock bottom was six figures in stupid financial decisions. What's beneath the $20,000? Just a bunch of stupid financial decisions. I mean, I've never been wise with the money that God has given me,

and I've just squandered it and spent it on foolish things, and now it's really come back to bite me and haunt me. What's the car worth? The car is, I got it for $13,000. I make about $300 payments on it a month right now. So what's it worth if you were to sell it today? So it's worth about $8,000. I have about $4,000 negative equity on it.

Sure. All right. And did you get a degree with that student loan or is that just partial time at school? That's just partial time. All right. So let's go back. Let's go back to the, to how do we get $1,000 first, right? So you've got nothing right now. Are you gainfully employed? Are you working full-time, part-time? What's your situation? I am. I'm full-time. Okay, what do you make? About $30,000 annually right now. Okay.

It's not going to be hard. Are you single, married? What's your relationship status? Just single. Okay. What's your rent? Or do you have a mortgage? I rent about, with my parents, I rent about $100 a month. Okay, dude. All right, so here's the deal.

Your first question was, hey, do I focus on $1,000 or paying off debt? And I got great news for you. You can pay this debt off very, very quickly if you go all in. Are you willing to go all in and stop making what you're saying foolish decisions and just make decisions for your future? Are you willing to do it? Yes or no? Yes, sir. All right. So $1,000. That's selling stuff. You got anything you could sell? You got a guitar, some shoes you don't wear. What do you got? I do actually have a number of stuff I can sell. All right. Since we can.

That's one way. Yeah, he's right. John's right. Online, yard sale. Facebook Marketplace, done. I mean, dude, sell anything that you can sell. All right, let's say that we could sell up to $500. I'm just picking that number.

Now we're halfway there. You're also single, and we are in a really great job economy right now. Clayton, San Antonio, Texas, how many different places could you make $20 an hour, even part-time? The answer is a lot. What do you do to make $30,000? I work at a car dealership. Well, then we could just upgrade the gig altogether.

There's two ways to go about this. You either add the part-time work work or you just get a better job. And we bring in more income. And getting $1,000 as an emergency fund, you should be able to do that in the next, I'm going to say, two weeks if you really get after it. Max. If you're selling something and you're working on the weekend, come on, man. I mean, Walmart will hire you for $19 20, 21, 22 bucks an hour right now. If you've got to stock shelves for a week at night and not sleep, you can do that. You don't

need sleep to sell a car for a short term. Okay. We're just talking about, I want you to just see how attainable, how reachable a thousand dollars is. Do you see it now? I do. All right. So that's baby step one. Now, let's talk about the debt. John, I mean, we've got a couple ways we could go on the car. He could keep that intensity up and pay that car off pretty quick.

That's what I would do. I'd keep the car. And then the student loan of $8,000. I mean, that's actually next on the list. On the snowball, it's the $8,000. Unless these payday loans, you said you owed $20,000, but then you mentioned payday loans. Have you paid those off? No, sir. Well, then what's the payday loan? How much? About two, three thousand. Okay, so we get a thousand dollars in the bank. Boom, we're going to do that in 10 days, all right? And then we immediately go after

the payday loans. We knock those out next. Then we take on the student loan of $8,000, and then we take on the car. And if you work like a madman and you double your income one way or the other, you can do this very quickly. And here's the thing. Here's what's working for you is hang on the line. We're going to send you a plan, okay? We're going to walk you through it okay we're going to walk you through i'm going to send you all fpu the financial peace university the flagship product you can walk

through all this stuff and i'll send you the every dollar app okay only if you promise you're going to do it and so that's the benefit here's the negative thing ken and i have been doing the show for long enough now that i'm simply out of excuses in my personal life because I've seen too many people, teachers who just say, fine, I'm going to get done teaching and I'm going to go drive Uber. And after I get done driving Uber, I'm going to edit papers for grad students. And then I'm going to get up in the morning and I'm going to do Postmates before I go teach my classes. And suddenly they're out of a hundred grand in a calendar year because they just got maniacal. You sound like somebody who overthinks and overthinks and overthinks and overplans, and then you find yourself and you've actually done nothing

for all of your effort. Is that fair? Yes, sir. We've got to be done with that. I want you to stop thinking, and I want you to start acting. Go get jobs. Go get jobs. Go get jobs. And it may be that your mom and dad say, well, you need to rest, honey. I know you've been working hard. And you say, not now, not in this season. And you're going to be stunned, my brother, if you stop the thinking and start the doing in this particular situation. And by the way, everybody listening, sometimes I tell people, stop acting.

You've got to sit down and grieve this. You've got to think through this for a minute. This isn't the season for you, brother. This is the season to go work, work, work, work. And you're going to find yourself right side up with this financial situation in no time. Yeah, and Clayton, you know what? If Dave Ramsey

were here, he would say, I've done a lot of dumb things with money, so cut yourself some slack. Yeah, dude. This is not insurmountable. We're not talking to some fool. You're fine. You're a normal guy. Yeah. Normal. And you didn't dig too big of a hole. You got this.

Get your chin up, shoulders back. Hey, I want to thank Dr. John Deloney for hanging out. I want to thank the crew behind the glass for keeping us on the air. And you, America, we appreciate you. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country.

To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.