The Ramsey Show - App - My Sales Job Is Making Me Push Financing (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss: The dilemma of working in a job where you push financing, How to handle money when you have a terminal diagnosis, Ramping up the intensity of your giving, Budge...ting your way out of 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where dad is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, and the author of the best-selling book, Pay From Paycheck to Purpose, is here. We'll be talking about your careers, we'll be talking about your work, your relationships, your mental health, your parenting, your marriage, and your money. We do all of it right here at the Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. John starts off this hour. He's in Colorado. Hi, John, how are you? How are you doing, Dave? Appreciate you taking joining us. John starts off this hour. He's in Colorado. Hi, John. How are you?
Starting point is 00:01:07 How are you doing, Dave? Appreciate you taking my call. Sure, man. What's up? Well, I've been an on-off listener to you for a few years now, and I don't think I've ever heard this question posed to you before. What do you guys have advice for somebody that's kind of living with a death sentence? And if I may give you a little brief overview of what my situation is. Sure.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Well, when I was born, I was born with my leg, you know, shorter than my other one. I went through a bunch of surgeries. The first one, I was seven days old. Went through about 13 more. Went to the Shriners Hospital, which was a great facility there in Houston, Texas. Got fixed up with my leg. Well, ended up with an autoimmune liver disease. My body started thinking my liver was a bad thing,
Starting point is 00:01:54 and it was probably due to all those anesthesias, drugs, et cetera, et cetera. So I ended up getting an autoimmune disease since I was 17. I'm about to turn 50 years old, Dave, here in April. My mom and dad, they've been married 53 years. I've had a very strong, you know, church-bound, very strong family behind me. My mom told me that I had a brain just because I couldn't dig ditches. I wasn't going to be some SSI kid, and she was going to make me use my brain. So I, you know I went through college.
Starting point is 00:02:26 They didn't have much. I had to keep my grades up to pay for all my schooling. I did become an MRI tech. I've been an MRI tech now for 28 years. I've been having this roller coaster ride off and on of these meds. Seven years ago, I was probably up for a liver transplant. I refused to do that, Dave, because I'm just plain out tired. But I did my own research, and I found a way to fix myself, and it bought me about another seven years.
Starting point is 00:02:53 Well, here I am at seven years, and my condition is getting worse. Now, I make $77, and eighty one cents a year uh i can only afford to pay uh put ten percent into my 401k but i've had to pay you know the route that i decided to save myself with uh insurance doesn't pay of course so you know that that i took a big hit seven years ago so i only got about maybe forty thousand in my 401k my I only can afford to put 10 months cause it costs me about two to $300 in supplements and so forth and so forth. So, uh, your, your, your plan doesn't seem to be a viable plan for someone like me. I, they're telling me now that I probably got maybe another seven, eight years. I don't have any debt other than I just bought a town home. Uh, last year I just
Starting point is 00:03:44 paid off my car. I'm looking for another beater because right now you don't want any debt other than I just bought a townhome last year. I just paid off my car. I'm looking for another beater because right now you don't want to buy a car right now because the prices are through the roof. So I'm just kind of hoping this thing lasts me for a while. I do have a small little Roth IRA with only about $1,500 in it. I'm sorry, $3,000 in it. I stopped going there because I wasn't comfortable with my financial advisor that was advising there. So I just stopped contributing to it as a point. So I'm basically sitting here thinking that I have a life insurance. I want to be able to leave my niece and my nephew something
Starting point is 00:04:19 and my sister. My parents are in their 70s. I'm close to them uh so i go down and take care of them best i can um but like i'm saying is uh i know i'm never going to be a rich person i just don't even have the time to do it but i uh i want to be able to find uh it's been difficult to me because i want to find some financial advice that somebody's on the creative of my situation john i i um i can't imagine facing what you've been facing i mean you've been a fighter you've been a fighter your whole life um yeah it's been rough and every time every time they tell you you're done you get another seven years is the story i heard so i'm not sure you're as done as you're describing um and i suspect that something will come along because and if it does
Starting point is 00:05:07 you'll find it that will be a way to do this um so here's the thing well basically my question is dave go ahead my question is basically dave is i want to be able to make sure i'm not wasting money on all these insurances and uh stuff that i, crap like that. I want to be able to leave them something, but still I want to be able to enjoy my life right now. You're not wasting money on insurance if it's taking care of you. Okay. And taking care of you is more important than you leaving a niece or a nephew something. Well, I have like AFLAC policies, and I know you're not a fan of those, you know, and I have crap like that. Okay, then get rid of them.
Starting point is 00:05:44 I mean, I just... Then get rid of them. Well, I I just. Then get rid of them. Well, I don't. Get good health insurance. Work your plan. I have it through my work. Okay. I have it through my work.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Then don't file. I have all that set. I just want to make sure that I'm not wasting money. You got the wrong goal. Your goal of leaving your niece and nephew money is the wrong goal. The right goal is take care of you. I'm fine right now. No, not you're not you're not fine you don't have any money you don't have any margin in what you're talking about and you're sitting here telling me that the idea of living on lesson you make
Starting point is 00:06:17 and avoiding debt and building up wealth is not for you well it is for you do you have exactly the same timeline as everyone else no you don't um you but you're a fighter i guess that's what you're a scrapper and you know what i would do is i would have you build up savings stay out of debt which you have done a great job of and um you know don't don't leave a bunch of behind, but don't worry about having an insurance policy for a niece or a nephew. You need to take care of you. And what money you can scrape together, let's spend on your health and on some solutions and on some life extension things and some quality of life things and spend that on you. And that is not selfish.
Starting point is 00:07:01 You have been dealt a hand of cards, and you've been a scraper and a fighter fighter and you've done a great job. I'm very proud of what you've pulled off. But I disagree with your premise that our plan doesn't work for you. Now, maybe you're going to adjust some of the nuances of it, but our plan is save money, live on less than you make, be generous, live on a plan, a written budget, stay out of debt. That's our plan. And you've done that by and large. So you've done a good job, Ken. Yeah, I agree, John. I think that you feel some sense of pressure, and I think you have to let go of that, find out why you feel this pressure to leave something behind for your niece and nephew.
Starting point is 00:07:37 There's nothing wrong with that. That's very good-hearted. But I also think that it's created a narrative that Dave has really enlightened you to, and you don't need to feel that. If you want to live a life that you enjoy and have a quality of life, which is what you just said a moment ago, I think you have the finances already to do that, and I think that's what you focus on. And then if there is something left over, get a good financial advisor, one of our Smart Investor Pros that does have the heart of a teacher. Let them guide you. You understand
Starting point is 00:08:04 everything they're guiding you on, and then you leave it behind. But you need to live. Seven years or 17 years from now, when someone steps into the pulpit and delivers your eulogy, it needs to be, John was a fighter. John was a scrapper. He self-sustained. He always took care of himself, and he was always generous. Not, he left money to his niece and nephew.
Starting point is 00:08:28 This is not where your greatness comes from. Your greatness comes from who you already are, John. This is The important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Christian Health Care Ministries is a
Starting point is 00:09:26 Ramsey Trusted provider. Many of you have been filing your taxes the same way with the same old software for years, but you're actually sick and tired of it. You don't like the add-on fees. You don't like the ads trying to sell you debt while you're just trying to do your taxes. The reality for most people is they think it's free, but when they get into it, it's not really free. By the time you realize you don't meet the free criteria, you've put in too much time to start over somewhere else, so you pay up. Folks are making a killing off of you this way, and we think you deserve better. That's why we're offering Ramsey Smart Tax,
Starting point is 00:10:20 so you can file your taxes online without paying more than you were told. Ramsey Smart Tax includes every form you need with no hidden fees, no surprises. Even have a promo code right now, and you can do the federal taxes for free. And if you'd prefer to have a priority support situation, extended audit protection, you can go with a premium version. It's a whole $20. That's rough, I'm telling you. If you're ready to ditch the other guys for surprising you, selling you out, and trying to sell you crap,
Starting point is 00:10:55 instead of just letting you do your taxes, go to RamseySolutions.com slash smart tax. Get started right now. RamseySolutions.com slash Smart Tax. Will is with us in Denver. Hi, Will. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Ken. Hi, Dave. How's it going? Better than we deserve. What's up?
Starting point is 00:11:16 Well, your phone screener tells me I have a good question, so I hope you agree. Okay. I've been listening to you all my life. Sometimes I agree with her. What's up? Sometimes you get called stupid and arrogant that's happened too wow will bringing it today this better be a good question will with that kind of intro i'm an avid viewer like i get even the most that was one of my favorite calls of the last year by the way yeah that was that's one of the most popular calls of the last year so good call out it's not just popular on your channel all the other channels
Starting point is 00:11:49 are talking about it too it's lighting up my youtube feed sorry we'll always say more time so uh been listening to you about half my life like i said and i have been very inspired by uh what you said about giving um i've had the opportunity over the past couple of years to be able to give big or what's big to me to people on an individual level, and that's been every bit as rewarding as you said it would be. As far as the baby steps, I now have my emergency fund
Starting point is 00:12:16 and recently became a homeowner. I'd like to start using some of my freed up cash to give kind of on an organizational level. I've heard you talk about the importance of feeling your giving, and I was wondering how I can go about feeling my giving when giving to a cause or organization as opposed to, you know, just an individual. If you can allocate some time in your calendar to interact with the people that organization is serving, even though you're not
Starting point is 00:12:46 handing money directly to those people but you're interacting with the people that it is helping for instance like let's just say i'll just make up one let's say it's a a community medical clinic that helps the underserved with medical issues in a tough neighborhood, okay? And you want to give them, I'll make up a number, some substantial money. Call it $10,000, okay? That would be organizational giving, but you didn't give to the actual people. You gave to the clinic to take care of them, to support them so they can continue to do the work that they do. Well, go down there and spend half a day and see what they do and talk to the people that they're serving. And you'll get it.
Starting point is 00:13:29 You'll get it just fine. And you really should do that anyway if you can, if you're going to make a substantial gift, because that's just due diligence to make sure that your giving is going to something that is actually pulling off what it is they claim they're doing. Make sense? Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:13:50 Yeah, so my daughter Denise runs our family foundation, and that's actually her job. She spends time with the ministries that we're going to give to or consider giving to to determine that they're really getting it done, that they're really effective. We pretend like we're investing in a company, and we want to make sure that company is being run well because we're investing God's money. What are red flags you look for? I'm sorry? What are red flags? Just curious, what are red flags you look for when you do this betting? I want to know what percent. I look at their budget for one thing.
Starting point is 00:14:25 In our case, we don't give to ministries that take on debt because we don't want to support a bank. We're there to support the ministry, and we don't believe in debt. It would be a little inconsistent if we don't borrow money, but we give to something that does. I'm not saying you have to do that, but that's a red flag we look for. Another red flag we look for is the percentage of the charity work that's of the total. You know, these nonprofits are all profitable.
Starting point is 00:14:50 A nonprofit that's not profitable goes out of business. Okay. It's just an accounting entry that makes it a nonprofit. So they have to be bringing in more than they have going out or they go away. So how are they managing that and what percentage of their top line, so to speak, their total revenue incoming is going to administrative versus actually feeding the hungry if they're supposed to be feeding the hungry or buying or providing medical care in the example I gave a minute ago.
Starting point is 00:15:19 So I'm looking for percentages on that. And, you know, believe it or not, we've run into things that 90 cents out of every dollar is going to administrative, and only 10 cents is going to help the actual people. So all we're doing is paying for people to have a job. We're not giving to the actual person that's in need through this organization. So we don't give to that one, by the way, if it's that high. Ken, what else do you think? It's in that line. I would
Starting point is 00:15:46 follow right off of Dave. After you look at the percentage of the money on administrative costs versus whatever the actual product is, the service, the type of service, I'd be hanging out with those people to see how they run their events, you know, or whatever that need that they're serving. What's it look like? And I think you could do that when you do what Dave recommended first, which is, you know, just get around the ministry, not just to kind of see what they're doing, but watch how they run things. You know, one of the things I've grown up in ministry, one of the things that I think sometimes we as investors, and I love that Dave laid it out this way, we kind of overlook
Starting point is 00:16:18 people because it's, well, they got a good heart. Well, the reality is, is if they're not doing as good as they could be doing to the point where they're only kind of addressing a surface issue and they're mismanaging their time, volunteers' time, and funds, I would look at that, too. Not from a critical spirit, but this is an investment that you're making. And I would look at that, too, because if it's poorly managed and poorly run, that's a problem, too. It is not mean. No.
Starting point is 00:16:44 There's a lot of need. Yeah, a lot of need yeah a lot of need there's more need than you'll ever have money there's someone out there hurting more a bazillion times more than you'll have personal money that that you can do so what you what you're looking for is not the not not how much the need is real the need is almost always valid the need is real. The need is almost always valid. The need is almost always real. The person hurting on the other end, the people needing assistance on the other end is almost always very real. The question is not is the need valid.
Starting point is 00:17:16 The question is are you called to the need, number one, and then number two, are the people taking care of them competent and efficient in taking care of the need? Otherwise, you're just wasting your money. That's exactly right. It's just a waste. And good intentions don't mean anything. If I intend to send my wife flowers for Valentine's Day, I get zero points.
Starting point is 00:17:38 So you got good intentions are bogus. I've got a good heart. I do have a good heart. I love my wife, but I forgot to send her flowers. I didn't, by the way but thank god but um but i'm you know you know that doesn't mean i'm a bad person if i forgot it just means i was incompetent that's correct i didn't do my job and so you can't finance that kind of stuff or you shouldn't finance that stuff based on he's got a good heart the need is real but they're not competent that's correct that's
Starting point is 00:18:05 not money that's not a place you put money that's bad use of god's resources and so and that's not to say i hate that person or i don't believe in the need i like the person but i just don't believe in them i don't believe they're competent i don't believe they're doing a good efficient job of bringing healing to that area of need or bringing help to that area of need. That's so good, Dave, because here's the flip side. If you go and see several organizations, and let's say three out of four, it's kind of like their pants are on fire. That's a warning sign, but you find an organization that's doing really good work and is efficient, guess what?
Starting point is 00:18:35 Those dollars that you are investing are going to come back with a higher return. That's why we're saying this. On disaster relief, if you put up the Red Cross beside Samaritan's Purse, blow your return. That's why we're saying this. On disaster relief, if you put up the Red Cross beside Samaritan's Purse, blow your mind how much more efficient Samaritan's Purse is. How light years they are
Starting point is 00:18:56 in terms of carrying baggage around. But both do a good job, and both are serving disasters. Which is doing the most efficient? This is the Ramsey Solutions. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Best-selling author of the book, From Paycheck to Purpose. You can gather it up at RamseySolutions.com.
Starting point is 00:19:58 In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, on the Ramsey Debt-Free Stage, Ramsey, Ramsey, Ramsey, Ramsey, Ramsey. Oh, my gosh. They're here. Eric and Brittany are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Good.
Starting point is 00:20:09 Hi, Dave. Welcome. Where do you guys live? Tucson, Arizona. Good. How much have you paid off? We've paid $125,782. Love it.
Starting point is 00:20:18 How long did this take? Two years, nine months. Good for you. And what was your range of income during that time? About $75,000 to about $105,000. Cool. What do you. And what was your range of income during that time? About $75,000 to about $105,000. Cool. What do y'all do for a living? I'm a physical therapist. I'm an entrepreneur. I have several small businesses, but I mostly work in fitness. Good for you. Well done. What kind of debt was this $126,000? Student loans from physical therapy school.
Starting point is 00:20:41 Oh, Sally Mae. Kick the old woman out i love it way to go guys so how long have you two been married uh three years and three and a half years yeah three and a half years so right after marriage you look up and go oh crap there's a lot of student loans here well it was actually a premarital counseling we were doing with our pastor that directed us uh towards the total money makeover book and that kind of lit a fire under us. He encouraged us to get the book. And so we...
Starting point is 00:21:07 Can I tell you how much I love your pastor? Yeah. So we bought it and we both read it right away and we got married in September. So we took like September, October, November, December to like figure out how to make our money work together and what that looked like. And then in January of 2019, we hit the ground running and we finished in september of last year wow way to go you guys so first order of business and marriage right after the uh right after the pre-marriage counseling is get after it yes i like it i like
Starting point is 00:21:37 it good for you guys how fun so how's it feel to be free great so good so you guys are what are you 27 26 29 29 31 29 31 awesome very good so none of your contemporaries none of your running buddies are doing this hardly unless you talked them into it we've talked to some people about it but nobody is where we are we've made an acolyte of my sister though she lives listens to you guys religiously ah okay we're got got one on the way yeah all right what's her name her name's katherine katherine shout out there it is yeah that's worse that's that's like total now she has to do it i know we're watching 22 million people now know katherine's doing this all right good way to go guys love it so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? You're very successful.
Starting point is 00:22:27 Doing it together. Yeah, doing it together. We did our budget together, and the thing that really helped us was visual cues. I'm a visual learner, and so we had a whiteboard where we listed all of our goals, which included budgeting and what books we wanted to read and trips we wanted to take and how we were going to do all of those things. How much debt we were going to pay off. And then I made charts that were on our fridge that we like put every
Starting point is 00:22:48 month okay this is how much we paid in this month and they were there next to our budget every month so we could see what we accomplished and where we were going and seeing those things every day was like the thing that kept us going absolutely i. I like it. I like it. Most people are more visual learners than they realize. Yeah. And so it never hurts to have something right there in front of you that's constantly messing with you and constantly giving you an attaboy, an attagirl saying you did it. That was it.
Starting point is 00:23:16 One little red line on there is a nice little thing. Get to write that on there. You know, it's perfect. And, man, it's just I've heard some great, great stories about people doing that. Visual cues are a big deal. Yeah. It definitely helped us. Good job.
Starting point is 00:23:29 Way to go, guys. Very, very fun. What was the hardest part of this for y'all? I think just, like, keeping going. I mean, if we really, once we got the snowball going, though, we saw, like, we had early success. And we had, I think you had seven different loans. Seven individual loans. And started with the smallest and got things going.
Starting point is 00:23:50 And then it's like, okay. Now, how scorched earth was your lifestyle? We did pretty well, actually. We lived for a while in a very rural town in Colorado. And so cost of living was quite low there. And we found inexpensive ways to have some fun in there too so we did a lot of hiking getting outdoors that sort of stuff but we we did pretty well just you know finding ways to do things that didn't cost a lot of money and we had a low cost of living
Starting point is 00:24:15 and between that and then the pandemic putting interest on hold we just kept plowing forward we were like we're we're going to have this paid off before they put interest back on we're not going to pay any more interest ever again and that's really what got us going yeah use the advantage of that rather than going this is a chance to kick back and slide you went came on we didn't take a break at all yeah wow way to go you guys so proud of you very well done who are your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you? Family. Pastors got to be on it. Pastors on there. Our families were full bore, 100% supportive on us.
Starting point is 00:24:52 The last two and a half years, we basically said for Christmas, holidays, birthday, we don't want gifts. Cash is preferred, so we can just throw it onto that student loan. And people did it. And people did it. Yeah, my parents are here, and that's what they gave us. Cash, they gave us checks for all of our holidays and birthdays for the last few years, and we hardly got any physical gifts, and every dollar that we got in went to student loans. And we gave everyone updates.
Starting point is 00:25:20 Everybody was excited with us. If you're going to support this ministry, we're going to give you an update. Yes, exactly. I like it. Good for you guys. Well done. So when Dave asked you a question a few moments ago about what was the hardest part, you guys were kind of looking at each other. You really got some momentum.
Starting point is 00:25:37 But in that first four months, I believe you said, before you started in January of 19, you guys were trying to figure this out. There had to be some tension there as a couple trying to figure out the money. You're shaking your head. What was the hardest part about that four months of learning each other's behaviors and then making them shared behaviors? Well, yeah, I think, I think we were both like ready to do it. Like it wasn't a question of like, did we want to do it? It was just like, it felt really daunting to start. And then like we made a budget every month and we had, you know, we printed out the sheets from your website and like, you know, we had written it all, wrote it all down.
Starting point is 00:26:12 So it was all ready for us right there. But like sometimes the first would roll around and we'd be like, oh, we have to budget. Yeah. We don't want to do this. We don't want to do that. It really. So that was, I think that was the hard part and like getting going that was real just getting started was the hard part yeah but then once the momentum kicked
Starting point is 00:26:32 you know it is weird it that that first step of actually the problem with the first month of doing the budget is you are now saying out loud we're going to do this yes and there's a little bit of fear of of making that commitment because you're afraid well now i said it i gotta do it you know it's like you get sucked into the vortex you know and you can't get out totally i know i was feeling intimidating it's intimidating yeah but the good news is once you take that first step it just and it picks up you know and it got easier as we got going and we started to understand where our money was going even more that like we did the budget but we didn't need it as like in the forefront because we started to figure out okay like this this goes to this and this goes
Starting point is 00:27:14 to this and it wasn't as it becomes a vital yeah it becomes a game yeah and the game slows down once you get moving yeah that's that's amazing i don't mean slows down literally i mean that that thing they talk about with athletes when you when you catch a zone when you get in the flow everything just seems to slow down and you can do it you don't think about it yeah it just became automatic yeah go and get groceries like oh okay i know i've got this number in my head this is where i'm looking or or whatever it was yeah we were always planning for whatever if we were going to take a little getaway we were like planning to make sure that we were ready to do that or like, you know. Budgeted for the getaway.
Starting point is 00:27:51 Or Christmas or whatever it was. We got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. Number one bestseller. How ordinary people built extraordinary wealth. How you can too. That's your next chapter to go on and be millionaires. And you're going to. No question about it.
Starting point is 00:28:02 I'm proud of y'all. Thank you. Well done. And also a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away and stir up someone else. It's holy ruckus. I love it. Well done. Eric and Brittany, Tucson, Arizona.
Starting point is 00:28:14 $126,000 paid off. All student loans. PT is now free. Two years and nine months, making $75,000 to $105,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're dead free yeah baby this is awesome man oh man oh man wow this is the Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 11, 2,
Starting point is 00:29:44 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Teddy Roosevelt said, Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground. Roosevelt was almost as good as Churchill at popping off one-liners churchill might have been the king yeah i think that's a really good that'd be a fun kind of historical exercise for nerds like us but you're right both of them had a way with words uh you know and back in those days they talked differently than we talk now you know i mean they said things in different words but they the depth of that state they spoke more eloquentlyquently yeah right that's a great depth statement i don't think either one of them ever said yeah no no no
Starting point is 00:30:30 tom is with us in jacksonville florida hey tom what's up hey what's going on hey man we're gonna make it how can we help hey so i got kind of a scriptural question for you and then a follow-up about what I should do about it. So I took a job selling solar panels in Florida. And my original plan was to, you know, develop my sales skills and earn money at the job while I'm building my own business on the side. And I've been doing it for a few weeks. And what I've started to realize is I'm not really selling solar panels as much as I'm selling the loans, the financing for them. And this is kind of making me want to reevaluate, uh, what I'm doing with the, uh, with the job. So,
Starting point is 00:31:21 um, I'll explain how the company uh frames the financing and because i want to hear your opinion on that um oh i know and then okay yeah okay so and then and then and then i want to know like you know if you think i should just keep it moving and focus on building my business full-time instead of you know doing this so and yeah you might already know this but i'll just i'll just run through it real quick. That's okay. You don't need to run through it. They basically sell it for the savings on the electric bill
Starting point is 00:31:52 due to having solar panels will pay your payments. And we endorse solar panel companies in several cities, but we never endorse them doing financing, and we never endorse anyone doing financing because we don't believe in debt and that's an obvious thing but that that doesn't necessarily affect you that's us and uh but it's a standard thing in that business they use the savings to pay the payments is that is a sales pitch and then they usually sell the paper and sometimes they make a congenial dollars on the
Starting point is 00:32:20 paper when they sell it as well depending on the company and how jacked up the financing situation is. Ken, how do you think you address this from an ethical standpoint? I think from an ethical standpoint, I don't think you're doing anything ethically wrong or legally wrong, but it's a clear violation in your mind of your values of what you believe in, and that is okay. But I think we have to separate what you disagree with versus you doing something wrong. And so I would quickly try to look for another sales job,
Starting point is 00:32:51 but I'd stay where I am until I can replace my day-to-day income. Here's why. You're probably not able to pay your bills with your side hustle. Is that true or false? Yeah, currently not. Yeah, so you've got to look at this as a math situation. So when you can get to the point where you can pay a large portion of what you're making now, at least to take care of your basic needs, then you're ready to go full time.
Starting point is 00:33:15 Until then, you're not. So you're not doing anything ethically wrong. I start looking for another sales job that will allow you to make the money you're making now, maybe even more, which will continue to give you stability to allow you to grow the side business. But you're not breaking the law. Therefore, this isn't an ethical thing. This is a values thing. And don't make any crazy jumps, nothing for you to be ashamed of or feel guilty of. You've seen the light.
Starting point is 00:33:40 Take your time. Find something. Replace it. Move on. Yeah. There's a lot of things you can sell that you don't have to sell through financing lots and lots of things uh that it's optional you know that not every buy that buys a car finances it not everybody that buys a solar
Starting point is 00:33:56 panels finances it for that matter and um i'm a big believer in solar panels uh in certain situations uh the the current technology is far superior to what it was even a decade ago uh and so the break-even analysis on it is real but i would pay cash for them or i wouldn't buy them but i say that about everything there's nothing i would pay i would buy that i wouldn't pay cash for um if it's valid or not valid whatever it is i mean whether it's just a stupid luxury item or whether it's something that's going to actually have a break-even on it. So that's the way I view it. But if this company is jacked up and, you know, like you're disobeying your superior
Starting point is 00:34:34 if you don't cram financing down their throat and you're uncomfortable doing that, then it's time to look for something else to sell until you get your side gig moving because you're not in alignment with them and you're not going to be comfortable doing it so hey man thanks for the call you know i'll tell you where else i ran into that was the underwear place victoria secret they um i didn't run into the underwear place the way that all started i didn't run into it but a lady that was working there was tell me she she said if they don't uh if they don't sell if they're working the floor right as salesperson and they don't sell a certain number of credit cards a day get a certain number of applications a day for the victoria's secret credit card they get fired oh
Starting point is 00:35:14 wow yeah so i mean it's nothing about it's nothing about selling the small underwear it's about selling credit that's right well that's happening a lot there was no there was no quota on amount of underwear sold no just the financing card you know just just whether or not you got the victoria secret card yeah and so best buy is about the same way oh big time best buy is a horrid mess you can get really good buys in best buy on things if you just pay for them but they make because they don't have a lot of margin no they don't make a lot of money. No. They don't make a lot of money on TV. Those TVs are not a bad buy at all. No.
Starting point is 00:35:47 You'd be hard-pressed to beat their prices. You can find, you can beat them. It's true. But good prices. But they make all their money on extended warranties and on financing. And the stupid Best Buy credit card. My God, they will put an extended warranty on a number two pencil over there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:02 I mean, I never saw anything like it. They are just unbelievable. It's the same place, that room that goes, the same deal. It's just walking, you can't a number two pencil over there. Yeah. I mean, I never saw anything like it. They are just unbelievable. It's the same place that Rooms to Go is the same deal. It's just walking. You can't even get out through the register. No. You've got a 19-year-old hanging around your ankles until you sign the extended warranty, you know? It's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:36:15 It's true. But what I'm out to is they got sideways when they realized they could make more money on the issuing of credit than they could on the sale of solar panels. They got sideways when they realized they could make more money on the issuing of credit than they could the sale of televisions, or more money on the extended warranties than they could the actual television. That's correct. And so, you know, used car dealers, man, some of these used car warranties are unfreaking believable ripoffs.
Starting point is 00:36:42 So you've just got to, you know, you cannot be successful at something when you feel like you're not doing right for the customer. Yep. Long term, you can't look at yourself in the mirror and go, I wouldn't do this to my brother. I wouldn't do this to my mother. I wouldn't do this to my best friend. Then you don't need to be doing it. That's correct.
Starting point is 00:37:02 But don't make a bad financial decision, meaning leave a job without something to walk into because you feel bad. You're a good person. You're not doing anything illegal. Be smart. Yeah. Dave, here's something I've got to ask you about because you're absolutely right about these companies like Best Buy.
Starting point is 00:37:19 They understand people are just so needy for stuff that they're in the finance business. I've got to ask you this i saw a headline over the weekend that there are huge swaths of the american public that are paying several thousand dollars above msrp for a car oh yeah and i just don't understand why people feel like they've got to have a car that bad a brand new car uh sales yeah i mean it's it's marketing and sales. I mean, it's scarcity and urgency. I was talking about that today. Rachel was making fun of me because we had a guy call in and wanted to
Starting point is 00:37:52 buy a new car, and I still wouldn't go with it because he said he could get it at Sticker, and the cars are going for more than Sticker. So he thinks it's a bargain. It's a bargain, yeah. But used cars are going up. You think this is a trend that's going to continue for 10 years? Come on, man.
Starting point is 00:38:08 It's not going to. But I have a good friend that went to look at a $100,000 vehicle. Sticker on is $107,000. And the guy told him, you know, he said, okay, so I'm going to buy it at invoice. And he goes, no, these cars are sticker. Full sticker? You want me to pay MSRP? He goes, yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:27 He goes, if you go to the other dealership across town for this $100,000 car, it's a $20,000 over sticker. Oh, yeah. He goes, we're the good guys. We're selling it at sticker. And I'm like, oh, I think I'll sit this one out, boys and girls. Yes. And, you know, that's what's interesting.
Starting point is 00:38:44 The power of the people. If people would realize if you would just say no to your urge and you stop doing this, the car dealers would have to drop the price. We can't control ourselves. That's what I'm saying. It's all about demand. Yeah. The shortage of supply and demand.
Starting point is 00:38:57 And that's why it's driven all this stuff up artificially. And it's going to come right back down on some of this. You know, lumber, cars. You don't have to worry about those. They're going to come back down it's not a bubble it's just a supply demand curve that puts us out of the ramsey show in the books we'll be back with you before you know it in the meantime remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace christ jesus hey folks ken coleman here did you know the ramsey show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world it's your daily dose of advice on life and money check out all of our shows
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