The Ramsey Show - App - No Amount Of Debt Is Too Big For A Comeback

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Ken Coleman & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: ‘Finding a girl that likes me and not my money' 'I don't see a way out of my debt.' 'My wife doesn't want to give up her horse' 'What's the best way to start a business?' 'I work full time but I still feel broke.' 'Should I invest in farm land?' Next Steps: ✅ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Help us make the show better by taking this short survey!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠send us an email.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  📈 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✔️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🎆 ⁠Buy 1 Book, Get 1 Half Off! ⁠ 🛡️⁠Get trusted insurance coverage that fits your budget.⁠ Connect with our Sponsors: Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ALDI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get 10% off your first month of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ BetterHelp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boost Mobile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to switch today! Learn more about⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Christian Healthcare Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get started today with⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Churchill Mortgage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get 20% off when you join ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DeleteMe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FAIRWINDS Credit Union⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for an exclusive account bundle! Save 15% on your first ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Field of Greens⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ order with code RAMSEY Find top Health Insurance Plans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Health Trust Financial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mama Bear Legal Forms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NetSuite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today to learn more Use promo code RAMSEY for 18% off at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Nokbox⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get started with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YRefy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or call 844-2-RAMSEY Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Zander Insurance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for your free instant quote today!  Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Ramsey Show Highlights⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🧠 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Dr. John Delony Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smart Money Happy Hour⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💡 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Rachel Cruze Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💰 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Kamel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🪑 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📈 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EntreLeadership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

This is the Ramsey Show America. Thrilled to have you with us. This is where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. The phone number to jump in is triple eight, eight two five, five two two five, triple eight, eight two five, five two two five is the phone number. Alongside the incomparable, the fabulous Jade Warshaw,

I am Ken Coleman, and we're here to coach you up today. So we got those money questions, we got some work related questions. Hey, I need some more income. I like helping people make mo money. Mo money, mo money, mo money. And by the way, if you're at the Ramsey Show and we help

you make mo money, it doesn't come with mo problems. It better not. Not here. Yeah, we have the good kind of mo money. That's right. So, let's get right to it. Josh is going to start us off in Augusta, Maine. Josh, how can we help today?

Um, so I've got a bit of a strange problem here. Perfect. Jade loves strange problems. I love weird problems. It's perfect. It might not sound so strange once I explain it. Um, I'm a, I'm 25 years old. I, uh, I own my own home. I built a construction company. I make about $130,000 a year. And I've got a real proclivity for building my income, building my business, building my personal wealth over time.

Great. And one of the things I'm really struggling with, and I'm looking for a non-biased opinion because you know how friends are, they're great, but you know, you can only get so much. I'm looking for any sort of advice on how to select a partner who's not remotely interested in my position in life. When you say- Because we have a lot of- Are you talking about business partner or romantic partner?

Romantic partner. Got you. Your position in life. I mean- Just at 25, I'm doing fairly well. Tell us what that means. What's your net worth? Net worth. Like, are you saying if I, my business net worth or if I would liquidate? You don't have that much, my friend. You just can't answer that question. Listen,

I appreciate where you're at, young man. You said you're 25 and you have a proclivity. Great word by the way. Yeah, wonderful vocabulary. I'm a big fan of proclivity. Just used it twice there because I like the way it sounds. To make a lot of money and all this kind of stuff. No, we don't know that. You're 25. I appreciate your confidence, but if the question is how do I make sure I find a girlfriend who's not into me for my position in life, I go, well, I don't know that I want to find a woman who's not interested in my position because that position in life, the way I'm hearing that is, um, you gotta provide position leads to provision, Jay. Come on. Okay, Ken, you're right.

And so, I mean, you're not in a place, my friend, where you're worried about gold diggers unless you're hanging out in the trailer park. Are you dating women that are in poverty situations? I try not to, but they pop up. Okay, so listen, this is good. Listen, Joel, listen, if you are dating, I gotta be very careful how I say this, but I'm gonna answer the question. Go for the gold, Ken. I got you here to correct me, but- Maybe I ought to say it. No, let me say it.

Okay. If I'm trying to, I got it. I'm, I'm, I'm channeling Stacey right now. I'll make sure my wife is right beside me. And I'm thinking, what would Stacey want me to say? Okay. Cause she's a good woman. If a woman who is in poverty pops up into your dating life, I don't have a problem with

that. People deserve dignity and there's lots of great women and lovely women and lovely men who come from poverty. So I'm not saying cancel it out. However, if a person from poverty pops up in your dating life, as you begin to date them, you should have some discernment there to go, am I a ticket out? Yeah. And so you just have to have some extra judgment and discernment there. I wouldn't cancel them out, but at the same time, I wouldn't necessarily be hanging out in those areas either.

So I'm trying to walk the fence there. I just think this is a problem he doesn't need to be worried about. I don't think it is a problem. I think it goes both ways. The same way you are, all that stuff matters to your point. Your station in life, your work ethic, what you're accomplishing, that's part of the resume.

Yeah. You know, the personal resume. And so the same way that you have built a personal resume that people will learn about as they get to meet you, you will learn about their personal resume as you meet them and learn about them. And you get to decide who gets the position based off of their personal resume.

And so there's nothing wrong with that. You opened up the call talking about, this was a strange or weird problem. And I don't think it's strange at all. I think it's just part of everyday life when you meet somebody and you get to decide, okay, is this person gonna be somebody that I'm going to be friends with? Or is this person gonna be somebody that I'm going to be friends with or is this

person gonna be somebody that I date long-term? Have you had a lady, you said that this has popped up a few times, so have you had someone that has come from extreme poverty that has dated you and you felt like they were only dating you because you were a meal ticket out? Yes, it's happened to me more than once. How do you, how did you know? Tell us, be very specific. How did you know? When did you know that she was only after you for your money? It happened a couple of months, about three months in. I noticed at first she was very big on balance as far as our personal time and psychological investments.

You know, we're able to talk and work things and figure stuff out between us as people. But as time goes on, it turns more into what kind of life you can provide for me and my future children. And there's no reciprocation besides physical, which to me is, you know, it's got a value, but not the greatest value in the world. I'm not going to lie. I'm not sure I understand. And I want to understand. I agree. You're not being specific enough. There's part of it that I think it is part of the conversation. Maybe, maybe, and I don't know, you were there, I was not there.

Maybe she's saying, hey, here's what I'm looking for in life. These are what I consider gender roles. I would love to be in a relationship where maybe the guy works, maybe I stay at home with the kids. She could just be sharing that that's something that she's looking for. Am I, did I miss it or?

I think she's right. Josh, did she say, I want you to buy me this and buy me that. And I mean, was it very obvious or is this just a young lady talking about what life might look like? In separate instances, it's been both. Well, you're worried about stuff

you shouldn't be worried about on that. Let me put this way, Jade, when you and Sam got serious. You don't want to ask me this question. Yes, I do. What were you thinking? Like, what were you wondering about Sam? My exact words were, you gotta come correct. Those were my exact words,

meaning I have a high standard of work ethic and what we both do. Did you ask him about his professional future and what he thought he was gonna do with his life? I didn't have to ask, I could see it. Okay, but my point is you were interested in it. I was interested, I'm like, listen, I'm a go-getter, you're a go-getter,

like everything we do, we do 100%. Like that was the standard. It's like, if you're gonna be around me, you gotta come correct because I'm an intense person. And so that was that on that. All right, so all right, I'm putting Josh on hold here. I said what I said. What's your dating?

I think he needs to be in better pools. He probably needs to be in better pools. I also think that, and I don't say this to be, there's no salt or shade on this. I do think that he's viewing himself in a light that's a little bit puffy. Oh, 100%. And so I think that if he just kind of chills a little that's a little bit puffy. Oh, 100%. And so I think that if he just kind of chills a little bit,

everybody's not after him. You're doing well, but you've not like. You don't have a proclivity to build wealth yet. You're 25. Can I just say that? Yes. Come on, man. You're doing well, but chill out.

Relax. Use your discernment and get a good group of friends who can discern on the ladies for you. That always helps. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw, helping you through this hour. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225. Michelle is joining us now in Jacksonville, Florida. Michelle, how can we help?

Well, I have an adult son who's in a situation where he has a house with his girlfriend, and they have a good interest rate and a really good payment, and they broke up, and so she wants him to refinance the house in his name, and he has bad credit. I put $40,000 down on the house to them, And he wants me to either help him to get the house by co-signing for it or for me just to buy it outright. And then he rents from me. But I've been helping him his whole life and he's like 35. And I just don't know, I'm a widow and I don't know when to say, I guess he has a history of mental illness and a substance abuse. So I'm kind of guilty feeling like I should. Yes, I'm scared.

No, let's listen. He finally got a good job, really good job, but he can't manage his money. Yeah. Well, don't buy this house for him. Do not. Do not put yourself in this situation. But I also, I understand you're scared, but I think this is the moment where he's looking to you for direction anyway.

If he's got a really good job, you're just going to sit down with him and be okay to let him know that why you're not doing it and what his real options are. And the two of these, these two young people are on the, well, they're not even that young for heaven's sakes. They're on the home, both of their names are on the home? Both of their names are on the deed, but only his girlfriend's name is on the loan, so she's suing him to force him to refinance a house or move out, and he doesn't have the credit to refinance it.

Well then it's a really clear decision. He moves out. Yeah. He moves out. He said, I'm just so scared this is his only chance in life to own a house. No, no, no, no, no. Of course it's not.

What is the evidence that this is the only time he could ever own a home? Well, he makes about $60,000 a year, and they each pay half of the mortgage payment, so they each pay $750,000. And he says he can't afford child support. They have a child together. He can't afford a mortgage payment, he can't afford a new car, his car's about to die on the side of the road.

He wants me to co-sign for a car too. Credit card is max, no money and savings. But I don't want him to be homeless and on the side of the road with no car. And I just have fears. I get it. And my husband died, so he's not here to like, away my fears.

Well, there's so many other options though. You're choosing options that put burden on you and you called because quite frankly, you're exhausted at the idea of doing this. The very idea of doing this is exhausting and it's probably equal parts scary. And the only reason you're even considering this and not saying hard pass immediately

is because you're worried about your boy he's had a lot of struggles and you feel like but I gotta tell you I think this is a blessing in disguise he's got a new job a good paying job sounds like there might be some growth opportunity they break up yeah he needs to get out of this house because it's the only shot he's got to be able to afford the child support because he didn't have any shot on that the judge is gonna decide that but he says that rent is higher than his mortgage payment not a feast not a few Sharon no not if he's renting with one or two other guys that are single and believe me there's plenty of those in Jacksonville Florida this is where you can mama him in the sense of

showing him adult options and saying one of the options that you don't have is me. So here are the other options. Yeah he's even down to saying he can't afford to move the stuff out of this house or for a rental like a storage unit. I wish he was on the phone because this guy needs a he needs a good sip of grown-up juice. Did you say that you put the forty thousand down for this house that the girlfriend basically has the right of ownership to? Well they each have a fifty fifty ownership share and he was living at my house in the basement paying no rent and he had trashed my basement because he was on

substances at that time. So I honestly just wanted him out and for my peace of mind, I put down, I put down 40,000. Yeah. And it was in 2022. And you're not getting that money back. No. And that's what he held that over my head and said, I hate to see you lose your 40,000 unless we finance this together. Now he's pissing me off.

I felt a little bad for him. But now this is a kid who's manipulating you and you know why he's doing it? No, because it works Yeah, it always has worked. I operate on guilt a lot. Today's the day 35 year old boy needs to understand it's time to be a 35 year old man And the best way he's gonna do that is you have to look at him and go and by the way I'd be okay being really raw and sharing your emotion Share with him why you've done this in the past because of guilt and now you've got to learn him and go, and by the way, I'd be okay being really raw and sharing your emotion. Share with him why you've done this in the past because of guilt. And now you've got

to earn this and go, I can't do it anymore. I can't. It's not good for me and it's not good for you. And I know deep down you don't want me to hurt me. I don't know, Jade. I don't have anything but tough love here. What do you? I have nothing but tough love. I'm holding my tongue. My son is young and you're further along in life than I am. And so there's part of me that just wants to wallop this dude, but I also understand that there's, you know, like there's motherly love here.

And so I get that, I can understand that there's this pool that you probably have to want to get involved, but I also feel like you can't, like you gotta just let this guy do what he's gonna do and all you can do is pray and you know. You know what he needs Michelle? I'm gonna tell you the one thing I think you can and should do in this situation.

We've already told you what not to do. I think he needs belief from mama, not help. Oh, that is probably something I've never really offered. That's true because I'm always operating on fear and guilt. And by the way, you have, and listen to me, Michelle, I say this, I say this with a father's heart and I say this from my own experience. He needs belief. No more help. Yeah. You need to sit down with him and tell him what he should do and show him that he can do it. And then you need to walk away. Okay. Thanks for taking my call.

I think you need to be his number one cheerleader. I love that Ken. Oh, that's so good. It's so good. It's tough. It's so hard because we want to help our kids. My goodness. I mean, it's just so good. It's so good. It's tough. I, you know. It's so hard because we want to help our kids. My goodness. I mean, it's just so hard. I get it. I truly get it. Yeah.

But at this point, I mean, and that's the rub, right? He's 35. He's not a boy. I honestly think when it comes to this house, I think they just need to sell it. I was gonna suggest that. And get whatever the profit is, give it back to mama. She's the one that put the money down to begin with.

I was gonna ask you, but see, you get the girlfriend involved and her name's on it, so she gets all the dough. She's on it, yeah, they need to get a lawyer involved. This is what happens. He's broke. This is what, yeah, but mama does. Mama's already, if she wants her money back, if she cares anything, she might not care. She might be like, I wash my hands of this situation,

I'm out, but if she's like, man, I'd love to get my 40,000 back, I'd cares anything, she might not care, she might be like, I wash my hands of the situation, I'm out. But if she's like, man, I'd love to get my 40,000 back, I'd love to talk to somebody to see how this happens. Yeah, I just don't want her racking up 10 grand in legal fees, and that doesn't take long. But I like what you're saying, but I think this is the get out of jail free card for this guy, I wish we had him on the phone

and say, I know you guys broke up and that sucks I know you got a kid, but the girlfriend's gonna want his name off the deed I'm not right. I'm not exactly sure what the process for that the best process for him to start over Yeah, meaning he's already got the breakup 100% got a good job. Yeah, but I don't buy this rent is so expensive He's manipulating there. He's manipulating a child support coming staring him in the face Jay. He's got a good job. Yeah. But I don't buy this rent, it's so expensive. He's manipulating there. He's manipulating. He's got child support staring him in the face, Jay. He's got a lot.

He needs to make more than $60,000. And he's just got to get his life together. Yeah, he's got to grow up. My guy's got a lot to get together. By the way, Jay, I'm going to give it to you. We've got about a minute and a half. I think this is a great time for new listeners and viewers that come in all the time.

I want you to tell them why this call is exhibit A on why we shouldn't buy a house with somebody we're not married to. Because there's no clear rights. Like I said, with this it's like, okay, both their names on the deed, one name's on the title, mom put the money down. Like there's such a tangled web here, and it's going to take a lot to untangle. That's why I said, if I was mom and I wanted to see about this, it's like now you got to involve a lawyer in a different sort of way. There's no clear division of assets. And so this is just what is known as a hot steaming pile, Ken. That's what this is. And so it's not good. Don't play house. Don't play. I haven't heard that in a long time. That's what this is.

I know, but that's how I know your dad's a preacher. Oh, 100%. 100%, that's true. That's true, I can't get it. You can take the preacher's kid out of the church, you take the church out of the preacher's kid, right? You can't. But you know, that's what happened here.

We love each other. Let's go in and do this house. Yeah. And now look at it. You know what? They would benefit from some counseling too. They really would. The two of them, mom and son together, mom on his own,

on her own, son on... I just saw flashes of a reality show where you're coming in and telling these two, get your stuff fixed and just love each other and get married and get this nonsense over with. I'm not a counselor, but I can send them to better help. And they can help. I think you could be a matchmaker.

You think I could? Sit down and be quiet. Let Jay fix this. Act like you got some home training. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. I'm Ken Colman.

Jade Warshaw is with me. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. Let's get back to the phones. Chris is there in Columbus, Ohio. Chris, how can we help today? We're doing great. What's going on? Well, straight to the point. I got into some credit card debt. How much? About $50,000. What happened? Yeah. That's,000. Oh, 50,000. Yay, yay, yay. What happened? Yeah. That's a lot.

What took place? It is, so all right, about 2021, I bought a house. Went into it, having a little bit of credit card debt. What I didn't realize is when buying a house, there's stuff that need help. You know, I had, it's, you help. I went in like maybe $8,000 in credit card debt and had it sitting on a 0% balance transfer. I wasn't that worried and it was great. I still think the house was a good investment. We got in sub 3% on the interest rate and values gone up by like 25 percent but the cost

of ownership the cost of owning the house a lot of times that just fell to the credit cards yeah it was that because so the question I have is that because you didn't have any margin in your paycheck when it came to everything else and so any kind of house repairs or all that was just a squeeze on you or was it because you had a new house and you're all excited and you guys wanted to start doing some projects and you didn't have the cash for it so you thought well we'll just put it on the card was it that some of both what were we talking

about little little bit of both I mean so you know I got I got young boys they are when we moved in here they They were eight and six and man That's really the perfect time to build a tree house in the backyard You know, yeah that went I went to the credit card You know, we got we got a half bath downstairs and I'm pretty handy. I could do a lot of stuff myself Uh-huh. Well, what percentage of your easy to what do you take home every month? What's your take on pay between your wife? So I'm making about a hundred a year and that's just because of a new position I've taken this year. Last year and when

I bought the house I was making about 85. And what's your take home pay? What do you see on your check every month? Let's see, I make 13 and change every week. Every week, 1300? Yes. Okay, and then what percent, how much is your mortgage? 2,400 with taxes. Okay. So 5,200 on that, right?

Yeah. Wow. So that's a little bit, tell me again, I'm sorry, Ken said something, tell me again what your mortgage is every month? 2,400. 2,400, okay, I think that's where some of the problem is because you're getting really close to that

being half of your take-home pay. Yeah, it very much is. And so that's where we get into this. Cause I mean, think about it like this. And I don't think people take enough time to think about these ratios. We say, all right, your mortgage should be no more than 25% of your take home.

So there's 25 there. If you're a giving person, you're probably doing around 10% there. And then when it comes time to do your investing, you're doing 15% there. That's around 10% there. And then when it comes time to do your investing, you're doing 15% there. That's 50% right there. So if you mess around and your mortgage creeps up, 25 more points, you're at 75% of your income

and you haven't even done anything yet. So yeah, no wonder you would be going to credit cards, right? Cause you haven't even bought groceries, you hadn't taken a vacation, you've done nothing. So I think that what's really, really squeezing you is the mortgage, that's probably thing one. And then if you're not on a really tight budget, then this money just disappears.

Are you guys doing an every dollar budget? We're very good about budget. We're both emotional people, and so occasionally do have some impulse purchases that take us outside of that budget. We're both emotional people and so occasionally do have some impulse purchases that take us outside of that budget. And you're aware of it. We're getting a lot. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what it might be for you guys. The no spend months. Okay. So, but that's not sustainable. So what it might be for you guys, it's one of two things. The first thing is if we know that

we're on a tight budget and we knowingly say, we can't afford this, but we're gonna put on the credit card, you know? We're gonna do that. So you've decided that. And so for that reason, then you need to say, okay, this is a habit we have and it's not working for us. Let's cut up the credit card.

That way, when that sneaky feeling of, let's build a tree house sneaks up, you can't put it on a credit card because you ain't got a credit card, right? So let's take the cookies off the shelf so you're not tempted by them. And then you're forced to stick to your budget. And then what will happen is you'll go, man, I'm just, I'm not happy with something, with our lifestyle, we want more money. And then your creative brain will kick in and you'll go, okay, what can we do to bring up our income?

And you won't be dependent on these credit cards anymore. I think you should cut your card up right now on the year. Hey, ho. Uh-oh. Oh, we got it. Uh-oh, I double dog dare you. Did you hear the chuckle? That was the respectful chuckle.

It's an uncomfortable laugh. This credit card, I'll take it. Do all of them. All of them, cut them right This credit card, I'll take it. Do all of them. All of them, cut them right now. Yeah, I know. Yeah, you know what? I would, honestly, we've stopped using them. I used to be in the habit of,

you know, we put everything on the credit card and we pay it off. But you know, just a couple of those times where it has leaked beyond where we were able to fully pay it off. Chris, you're not ready. He's not ready. Chris, you're not ready. You said I ready. Chris, you're not ready buddy.

He just said I would, but. You gotta get, here's the problem. I don't think you've hit, I don't think you're ready. I don't think you've hit that moment of- What do you think, 10 more grand? Should he charge 10 more grand? Let's get it to 60 grand. What's gonna make you miserable enough?

Something's gonna have to make you so uncomfortable with these things that you're like, no more. That's what we, Ken, that is what we find on this show. I agree 100%. You're not there. You're not there yet. You called us. So what is the reason for calling us? I'm feeling pretty close.

What's the reason for calling us? So my question is dealing with the credit card debt. I feel like I've got three, well, maybe four. We just told you. We gotta stop using them first. And then we pay it down. Here, roll this over in your mind, Chris. Roll this over in your mind.

You cannot solve a problem while simultaneously creating it. So as long as you have these credit cards, you're creating the problem. So you'll never solve it. It's infinite. It's the cat chasing its tail, a dog chasing its tail. So you have to stop the crazy cycle.

And the way you stop the crazy cycle is you say, I'm not gonna keep contributing to this problem. I'm not gonna keep adding to the pile. I'm gonna stop it, turn off the faucet. Then you can clean up the mess. Yes? Absolutely. And so what Ken and I were-

I think I'm at that point, and that's kinda why I'm calling. Then you gotta cut those bad boys up. Snap them up. Put them through the little- Dude, I'll cut them up right now. Yes! There we go.

Cause you guys got an impulse problem. Yeah. And you just said that, that was your words. You got them right now? We got about a minute and a half. You got them on you? Yeah. You wanna check cards?

Let's go to town. Yeah, do it, do it. That a boy. And you're gonna be in the fetal position later today, you're gonna maybe sob in the shower because you're gonna realize, oh my gosh, this was a security blanket. All right, so you got some scissors?

Do we need? Hold on. Okay, tell everybody what's happening right now. Describe what's happening. We gotta make this exciting. Should I use names? Okay, which one have we got here? Yeah, hold it up, tell us what it's called. Ooh, Chase Visa. Ooh, Chase Visa. Oh, shall I use names? Okay, which one have we got here? Hold it up, tell us what it's called.

Chase Visa. Chase Visa. Got it. Hold it near the phone so we can hear it. Okay, hold on. Chase, this is a Chase Visa. Okay, let's see if you can hear that. Yep. Oh, did you catch it?

We heard the cut and we heard the exhale. Are you sure you weren't giving yourself a haircut? That was a, sounded like barber scissors. So we gotta go, we got about 45 seconds. What's next? Options, forgettin' at the clinic. I don't wanna do somethin' stupid, but I mean, with these, they're charging 30%. Cut it, stop talkin' and cut it.

What are you, cut it. Oh, I'll cut another one, come on. What is it? You got it. Which one going to cut it. I'm going to cut it out of the 30%. Cut it. Stop talking and cut it. What are you cutting? Cut it. I'll cut another one. Come on. What is it? You got it. Which one are you cutting? Tell us quick. Hold on. City card. City card.

Go. Yes. Out of here. We won't wait for the sound. Just tell us when it's cut. Oh, yes. There it is. It's gone. Do you see? That's great. How many more you got? Wait till I get to the MX in the drawer. We're running out of time. Keep going. Well, you know what? We're a cash business and we got a lot of people that need to hear these advertisements coming up. So we got to take care of business. You, my friend, need to keep cutting.

Yeah. Keep cutting. Don't stop. Good job. Good job, Chris. Love it. Did you hear that every time he cut one? He went, he went, oh. Yeah, it's painful. It's visceral. You feel it. That is so fantastic. Keep cutting, Chris. Yes.

All right, we'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. ["The Ramsey Show Theme"] Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, and Jade Warshaw is alongside 88825-5225. That's the phone number to jump in. We'd love to hear from you. Taking your money calls, your income related calls today. Matthew is joining us in Houston, Texas. Matthew, how can we help?

Hey guys. How are you today? Good. How are you? I'm good. Thank you. So I'm 25 years old career salesman at the beginning of this year. I landed a new job, which I've been you know, my income has grown drastically and Closing on a house at the end of the month And I just wanted to know, you know at my age. I want to start investing early. I also want to be debt-free Is there a balance to? investing early. I also want to be debt-free. Is there a balance to investing, you know, post-tax dollars and paying off the home? Or should all of my excess cash just be going to

the principal and, you know, I start investing once that's paid off? Because, you know, at my age, the value of the compound interest, if I start now, I feel it could really pay off down the road. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good question to have, and I think it's a question that a lot of people have. So you just closed on this home. Let's make sure you're in the position to begin investing.

Do you have three to six months of expenses saved? I do. Okay, great. And then at that point, you would be considered baby step four, which is you're investing 15% of your gross income every single month. Are you doing that? I haven't started. Well, I contribute to my company's 401k plan, but other than that, I haven't started, which is pre-tax, but I haven't started investing any post-tax money yet. Okay, good. So what I would say is whatever you're doing now, if you have access to a match through that employer account, I would invest up to that match. And you said it's an after-tax? It's a pre-tax with my employer. So they match 3%. I'm contributing 6% right now.

Okay. So I would do up to the match and then I would go over to a Roth IRA and I would go ahead and max something like that out. And then if you still have money left in your 15% of contributions, then you could go back out and get as close to maxing out that 401k as possible. The goal here is again,

for you to be investing 15% of your gross income. And most people do it on a monthly basis because you can kind of set it and forget it with your employer. And so that's what I would do. And then beyond the 15%, any money that you have extra, I would put it towards the paying off of the house. And so that's the way we teach at 25 years old,

you're not married yet, you don't have any kids yet. So you can kind of forget for now about baby step five because you don't have any kids yet, so you can kind of forget for now about baby step five because you don't have any kids, there's no 529 that you need to really add to. And so then for you the next step is baby step six, you're putting extra money towards the house and you get to decide how intentional you're going to be about that, right? You don't have to go crazy like you did with the other baby steps, but you're a single guy, you could probably, you know, make a lot of headway on that. What do you owe on the house? So around 450, 460.

Okay. I haven't even made my first mortgage payment yet. Yeah, you said you close here. You haven't even closed yet, right? Or you just closed? I haven't closed yet, right. Okay, yeah. And so that's what I would advise you to do.

That's what I did and that's what I do. Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you. I mean, I love Jay's advice, follow it, but I just wanna commend you. I love this. Excellent. I love this mindset that you've got, man. You haven't even made the first payment yet. You're calling and going,

what do I do first? But we want you to be set up for the longterm and you're gonna have no problem getting rid of the house payment. And the reason I suggested you going to the Roth right after the 3% is we want that 3% match. I mean, obviously that's free money, but then I love the Roth option for you

because on down the line, you're gonna want money that you have access to, that you don't have to pay taxes on and that you don't have that required minimum distribution. And so that's why we would say that and then come back and you can fill up that 401k when you're done. What do you expect to make in the next 12 months?

I'd say around $400,000. Ooh! Wow, my son. See, I've been wanting to ask that. I had to wait. I didn't want to interrupt, but I was going, I had a sense that he was- Killing it? That he had jumped into a- Well, when he told us the amount on the house,

I was like, wait a second. So here's the reason I asked that again, this is all an exclamation point to what Jade said. I can't add anything to what she said on that. With that kind of income, you're going to be fine. You're going to be more than fine. So you'll just follow the baby steps. And with that kind of income, man,

it is going to be ridiculous. Okay. Have you gotten your hands on an investment calculator? I so I was just going to mention I took a look at the amortization schedule on the loan and that really just kind of ticked me off you know. Sure. So I want to let it tick you off but go in order. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. Get your investment strategy because because with that kind of income and what Jade's talking about with the investment calculator is one of her favorite things to do. Are you running some numbers for him?

I'm going to run a few numbers for him. He's so upset about his loan, his mortgage, his amortization payment. We need to get his mind focused on this part of the advice. Okay, so then let's play a game. How much do you already have in retirement investments? Do you have any? Only maybe six or $7,000. Okay, I'll put 7,000 in there.

All right, and then let's say you contribute, let's see, 60,000 a year. So let's say 5,000 a month. All right, and then we'll get you at 10% rate of return. Cause you make a lot of money. Dude, if you don't do anything else from now until forever, like from now until 65, oh, actually, hold on, hold on. Yeah, I was gonna say.

I accidentally put in the wrong retirement age, but it's actually worth noting. I put in 48. Like if you were to retire at 48, you'd have 5.3 million. I thought I put in 65. Let's put in 65 and see what it says. If you go till 65, I'm shook. Tell him the number.

Now remind him what he's putting in every year. No, this is monthly. If you put in $5,000 a month, because you make $400,000. That's $60,000 a year. That's $60,000 a year at a 10% annual rate of return. You already have $7,000 there. If you do this from age 25, you said you're 25, right? Yeah, I'm 25. Until age 65. You sitting down? Are you sitting down because I'm standing up? $31 million! $31 million! $31 million!

That's crazy! I had to put my pinky like on Austin Powers. Yeah. So now you feel a little bit better? I do. I feel a lot better. But that's really why I called you guys, because I know that, you know, if I start now,

by the time I'm 65, it's gonna make a huge difference. Right, huge difference. And oh, by the way, that doesn't mean you aren't paying your house off. You're still paying the house off. Yeah, we didn't even talk about that. And we didn't even talk about the fact that this is you starting,

like this is not you at your full potential. You're still going up in the world. You're still on an upward trajectory. Man, I thought something was wrong with my calculator. No, that's 15% of your income and oh by the way, after you budget all that, you're now making extra payments on the house. Oh yeah. And you'll pay the house off before you know it. So this isn't an either or, it's both and. That's the point of the exercise. Matthew, I'm happy that I know you. I'm happy I got to talk on the phone to you. Hey, check back in with us. Keep letting us know how this goes because so many people need to hear this. If you can get these things firing on all cylinders, even if you're not making $400,000 a year, if you're making $200,000 a year, what is possible when you get ahold of your finances so early is so amazing.

And for anybody listening, if you've never played with an investment calculator, I suggest we have a great one, ramsysolutions.com. You can check it out, or you can just Google Ramsey Investment Calculator and it'll pop up. But start playing with those numbers to see what your life can be.

And I mean, that's motivating at the very least. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the call. I love the breakdown, Jay. That's always fun when we get into the numbers. Because in his mind, he's like, I got to pay that house. I'm going to pay that house. It's like, no, it's both and.

It's both and. It's not either or. And fun to run those numbers. And boy, that's a staggering number. That is a staggering number. And let me just. And not many people make his money. No, they don't.

I won't at least call that out. Or at that early in life. At 25, to be making 400K. No, this. He's in the top 1%. Top 1%, 100%. So I just wanna at least call that out. But let's also, Ken, let's explain why we care so much

about paying off the primary mortgage. Tell us. Because at the end of the day, yes, we want you to have the compound interest, but at the end of the day, there is going to be a time where you do not work and you don't want to be making payments on a mortgage or mortgage is the biggest line item in your budget. You want that done and paid for by the time you're you're you know that age so that you can just live. Yeah, I totally, totally agree. There's a young man that's living like no one else. I promise you, he's going to be living like no one else and also giving like no one else. At a young age, by the way.

Great stuff. Good hour, Jade Warshaw. All right, does it for this hour. There'll be more Ramsey Show, I promise. Welcome to the Ramsey Show where we coach you to win in your life, specifically winning in your money or with your money, winning in your work and winning in your relationships. The phone number for you to get coached up today is 888-825-5225.

I'm Ken Colman. Jade Warshaw is with me and we're here for you. 888-825-5225. We'll start it off in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan. Sarah is on the line. Sarah, how can we help? Hello? Hi.

How are you? Hi. Good. How are you doing? Good. What can we help with? Well, first of all, thank you for taking my call. I listen to you guys.

You guys are absolutely amazing and help me so far. The challenge I'm facing now is I have $300,000 worth of debt, and I just can't see a way out. I'm working three jobs and it just doesn't seem to work. Wow. Well, break it down for Jade here. So start off with your income through the three different jobs, give us a range, and then walk her through your debt.

My salary position, I bring in 80. I'm sorry. My salary is 80. I gross, I'm sorry, my salary is 80, I gross, I'm sorry, I bring in 80 and then I net 55 when you take out tax and insurance. And then I have a second job that I gross 40, but then I'm an independent contractor so I have to take out taxes and stuff. So I net about 30 to 35,000. Good.

And then I have another part-time job that brings in about 600 bucks a month. Okay. Okay So 72 on the 85 so you're somewhere in that 92 93 range with those numbers. Is that right? That yeah, I mean that sounds amazing, but that's Yeah, yeah, but you do something with that. Yeah, dr. Jade is in today. So it's gonna be okay I'm gonna pretend like you didn't say that. The debt doctor, no? Oh, okay, okay, I'll take that. See what I'm doing?

You didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know where you were going. Sarah, now that I know where he's going. You can do surgery on this. I can help you. So you're bringing in almost $8,000 a month, which ain't too shabby, but you've got $300,000 of debt,

so walk us through this debt. It's all student loans. Okay. Private? Federal? I have $12,000 with private. I will have those hopefully paid off by December. The rest, the $300,000 is all government. What was it for? I'm just curious. I went to law school. And are we practicing law?

Yes. And that's the number one amount of money you gave us? What kind of law are you doing? Yeah, I do estate planning, probate stuff. Gosh, it feels like we've got a path to be making a whole lot more than that. Am I right? Or are you feeling like you're capped out and why?

No, you hit the nail on the head. I've been looking on Indeed and stuff and I'm, that's actually the average pay for where I live. And it's pretty, it's hard to deal with because I do feel that I earn, I should earn more, but it's about average. Is there anything keeping you tied to the Detroit area? Our family, yeah. Okay. Okay. One other silly question, Jaden, and I'll get out of the way. I am curious with what you've done so far. Is there a pivot or some type of additional legal work that you could do that would add to your income based on your

current qualification or specialization? So I got my real estate license about a year and a half ago. So that's my second job. Yeah, I'm talking just the legal field right now. Well, the reason why I got a different type of job is I'm really burnt out practicing law. So I'm trying to expand on other things. So that's why I got my real estate license to help bring in more money. But that's extremely part time.

But I really want to try to pivot out of practicing. I get it. But I'm going to and again, I'm about ready to hand it to you, Jay. No problem. But you got $300,000 in law school debt. I don't think you get the burnout yet. And I think that the greatest opportunity for you to make money is through your law, your legal work. You just don't have time to sell houses.

That's a full-time deal. So it's either or. It's like you go all in on selling homes and if you do that, then there's no limit to what you can make. But I'm just gonna make that point. You've got to bring in some more income here because 300,000 is doable. I'm going to hand it over to Jade. Jade, walk her through the process here. Okay. So the loans, did you consolidate them or are they single, singular?

They're single. Okay, good. That's good. That's good. Okay. So as trite as this may sound, all we're doing is listing them from smallest to largest, and we're paying minimum payments on all of them. Hopefully, I don't know, are you enrolled in any of the assistance plans? Are you in save plan or anything like that? The income driven payment, I've been on that for about 13 years. Okay. And is it going to run out or do you still have time to be on it?

I mean, honestly, I try to re-enroll and it takes months and months to get an answer. So I don't know, I'm kind of in limbo right now. Okay, what's your current payment for the lot of them? I don't pay anything. Okay, good. So here's what we do. The fact that your minimum payments are zero

is a good thing for you right now, because that means you can put the full strength of your income on the smallest debt and knock it out fast. I wish there was a way thing for you right now, because that means you can put the full strength of your income on the smallest debt and knock it out fast. I wish there was a way to tell you that there was an easy button here. There's just not. And if you've listened to our show for any bit of time, you know, my husband and I had 280, okay?

And at the time we weren't making what to combine what you're making now. And so there's a part of this that you have to just, you know, ride that income until the, the debt is gone. You know, once you have maxed out your money for your time, and I don't know that you have yet, Ken, I agree with Ken, I think that you can do more to max out your time and get better money for it. But once you do hit that point, there is a point where you just go, okay, this is what I'm making and this is how long it's gonna take. And as I've said many times before, you gotta ride that horse to the

Old Town Road. That's what you gotta do! And then when it's done, it's done! That song is gonna be in my head now all day. I'm having you to thank for that. I'm kind of like torn because I actually make more money selling real estate in half the amount of time versus my salary position. Of course I get that paycheck every two weeks. Well, then what's that transition look like? Because that's what I'm getting at. If you get after it and you can double, triple your income, then this is a game changer.

Key word is consistently. If you can do that consistently, then that's a great sign to... It's almost like what would have to be true for you to change your schedule, stock some money up or something to be able to then go, alright, I'm dropping one of these jobs. My gosh, you got more jobs, you know, than you know what to do with right now.

So we got to create some margin time-wise, which means we got to have some margin money-wise, right, Jade, you track it with me. And then what would it take for her to get to a place to where she can now go all in on real estate and that's going to take a little bit of time to build that pipeline up? Yeah, I mean, we're always looking for you to be able to replace whatever your income was at its best, right? And if you can do that consistently with real estate, I say more power to you. The weird thing about real estate, though,

is of its nature, it tends to be up and down. What's the market like in Detroit area? It's slow. I get consistent at least two listings and closings, but it's a roller coaster. Yeah, see, so you got it's a roller coaster. Yeah. See, so you got it. To Jade's point, we got to factor that in.

The market determines what's going on in some degree. You don't just, you know, hang a shingle and it's everybody wants to buy a house from. I'm going to tell you, when you have this kind of debt, there is something to be said for being able to count on. I know what's coming in and I know what I'm doing with it. There's just kind of that assembly line that you can just, I'm cranking it out. I'm paying off the debt and this is temporary and when the time comes you'll do what you love. I agree. Because of the market where it's at, I'm going to go with Jade's. Decide what you can do and lock in on it and then if something changes

then the timeline changes. But get that mindset for the climb right it's gonna take me a lot of climb this mountain but I will get there appreciate the call you got this stay encouraged this is the Ramsey show. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show America alongside Jade Warshaw I'm Ken Coleman the phone number for you to jump in, we'd love to coach up today, is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Amy joins us now in Vancouver. Amy, how can we help today? Hi, my question is about a shared asset

I have with my other adult sibling. So the asset is actually in Texas, and it was given to all of us by my parents and it was, it's definitely been a blessing and it's getting to the point where there wasn't really a long-term plan put in place. So it's starting to feel less like a blessing and more of a point of conflict. So me and all my siblings have lived there. It's a house. And all me and all my siblings have aren't names are on it. And we have all lived there at some point while paying rent,

except my brother is now he's been in the house for about six years and he haven't paid rent. And he's currently on leave with the military. And I tried to reach out to make a plan before he left and he didn't respond to anything. So I'm wondering how to navigate this asset and keep it a blessing while preserving our relationship. How many siblings total? There's four of us. And how did he get this deal?

How did he just start living in when everybody else has lived in it and paid rent? I'm presuming you guys have rented it to other people as well. Is that true? I think we've rented it to one other family. Um, how did he get away with living free for six years? So it was kind of like on your integrity. Um, there was an account set up and you put a certain amount in that, that account every month. Um,

and he decided he didn't't wanna use that same account. He wanted to do his own thing, which we're like, that's fine, you know, you can pay rent how you want. What is the rent? What is it? It's $250 a month. Oh man. Oh my gosh, this is a joke. And so he's not been paying it.

Not once. No. What do the other siblings think about this? So basically, like, we would, we don't know how to resolve it. The communication's not great. They kind of want to be like, well, yeah, we'd like to talk about, they've kind of written it off as like, oh, like we're just never going to see money from that. It's just never going to, nothing's going to change. How do you arrive at the 250?

Is that like an arbitrary amount or is that maintenance? What is that? So that was set up like over a decade ago, like a long time ago. And it was with the purpose of like, oh, this is affordable so we can live in it and save money so we can kind of get ahead. It doesn't include like

utilities or anything like that. So all four of you are on the deed? Yes. What's it worth the asset? Probably 200,000 at the on the bottom side. And there's no debt on it, right? No. So do the other three siblings, I'm sorry there's no debt on it, right? No, no. So do the other three siblings, I'm sorry, there's four of you, so the other two plus you, are they all wanting to get out of this as well? No, the other siblings were all in agreement. Okay. Okay, well that helps. Majority rules.

So I'm going to, I don't know, so I want to say something, but I'll first say I don't know, I've never experienced this before, so I would be seeking counsel, actual legal counsel on this, on what your options are when you've got four people on a deed, three want to get out. I just don't know enough legal on that, but I would say this. However this goes down, it's time for three of you to stop letting him bully you. This guy's a bully. And I know it's your brother. I'm just telling you like it is. He's not returning your calls. He's just acting like a schoolground, like on the playground bully. I'm not going to talk to you. I'm giving you the silent treatment.

I'm creating all this tension and I'm not playing ball. I'm just creating all this and I'm daring you. He's daring you guys to do something. And I think he's doing it because he knows you're not willing to do anything about it. And I think, uh, that's the only little thing I wanted to put in there. Cause I think however you resolve this, Jade, I'll get out of the way if you've got a point on this, but I think whatever needs to happen,

he needs to realize the gig is up. Yeah, I think- You've long outstayed your welcome. You've taken advantage of us. It's over. Yeah, so just for clarity for me, so you guys, the plan was when you live in the house, you put the $250 in the account

and that's split amongst the other three siblings, right? No, so that amount goes just towards repairs. Like, oh, if something like breaks, you have money in the account to pay for it. And so while he's been living in the house, if something broke, what happened? I'm not sure. So, well, there are things broken and they're just not fixed.

So he just didn't take care of the place while he was there either. Right. Oh, wow. Okay, so yeah, I mean, the majority rules here, if you have to get a judge to force this, I don't think it would be that difficult to do it. We could talk about the idea of him buying you guys out,

but I don't think that's gonna happen. It's just not gonna happen. So yeah, you might have to sit down, all of you guys sit down and try to make it light. But for me, the fact that you're calling, it's no longer light. So you can try to keep that a light conversation, but I think the longer you let this go on,

the worse it gets. So to Ken's point, yeah, I think you guys get together, somebody talk to a judge and say, how do we force this? Because we're ready to sell it, we've kept it this long. He's not paying rent. And the truth is, um, I kind of like the fact that he doesn't owe each of you. Cause I mean, if you guys are splitting this money, truly he'd owe each of you $6,000, but he doesn't since he's not even taking care of the place. Although who knows if that'll affect the resale value, but I'd get out of it immediately. Cause if you look at this split, let's say they sell it for 200,

and it's less than 50 grand each. It's just not enough money to be dealing with all this garbage. So Amy, I'm with you, I think your instincts are right. Let's get out of this thing. No messing around, it's not worth spending a bunch with a lawyer to the judge thing, whatever. I think Jade's right, let's clean, efficient,

force his hand, we're selling this thing, and we avoid all the tension. And then Thanksgiving and Christmas takes care of itself. But yeah, I'd get out quick. I really would. That's an unfortunate situation. I mean, when you get, and see, that's an okay. So I'm sitting here. I've already pulled out a hole, but I didn't ask, I guess I should have. If mom and dad are still alive, I got the picture they aren't around. I got the feeling they're not around.

But I just, and for that reason, I just, I sat there and I went, note to self, if Stacey and I wanna bless our three kids, I need to bless them individually. Not try to do a, hey, we're gonna do this asset and work the three of you into it. I just sat there and I went, note to self. Cash money. And individually. Yes. You're not in it together. Yeah. I'm blessing you

this way, I'm blessing you this way, this way, and it's not this like joint thing where there's just, it's just what, I don't see what the value is in that. It was probably the family home is my guess and I think in, they probably had the option to sell it early on but they weren't ready to part with it yet. And so it probably just became, listen, I am adding all sorts of story to this that I don't know are true. So I'm sorry if that's not true. But you agree, right?

Yeah. To give four kids a house. All right, you guys, here you go. Yeah. Even if there's not a problem, it just feels like it's easy for a problem to exist. Cause then you have four different people who have four different views of life.

Yeah. Money. It's like when you get a gift problem to exist because you have four different people, have four different views of life. Yeah. Money. It's like when you get a gift card to a restaurant you don't really like. You're happy for the gift card, but now you're forced to eat at Applebee's. Oh, jeez, you just went there. Just saying.

A shot across the bow. I'm just saying. Eating good in the neighborhood. You're like, thank you. I mean, there's a lot of people that like an Applebee's. Hey, note to self, team, no Applebee's gift cards for Jade. That would not go over well. Yeah, it's happened.

Where would one get you a gift card too? I'm with you. Asking for a friend. Visa gift card. Cash. No, no, I want it. I'm putting you on the spot. 20 seconds. If I'm gonna get you,

Stacey and I are gonna get you and Sam a gift card to a restaurant. Where do you want? Where do you want to go? Um, and it has to be national so people know it. Okay. Come on. I don't know. Jay Alexander's? All right. Do you guys have that? Yeah. Do you guys? You live here too. I'm not gonna lie. I wanted to- Do you guys have that? Can't call me. Are you aware you live in Middle Tennessee as well? I wanted to say Red Lobster. I don't mind that at all. I love a good lobster. All right, quick break. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me is Ken Coleman. Let's go. Best-selling author of many books, but most recently find the work you're wired to do home of the Get Clear Career Assessment, which is very, very great. Very fun, very

fun tool. And it's always good to be with you. By the way, you're a best-selling author too. Yeah, money's not a math problem. Pick it up. You can find them all at ramsesolutions.com slash store. Get into it, get involved. I want to get involved with these phone lines. And by the way, if you wanna get involved with us, call us, the number is 888-825-5225, and we will pick up your call. Let's pick up Alicia's call. Alyssa, actually, is how we're gonna pronounce that.

Green Bay, Wisconsin, what's going on? Alyssa? Hi, thanks so much for taking my call. Did I say it right? It's Alyssa. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Got you. You did. Yeah.? It's Alyssa. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Got you.

Yeah. Very nice. Thanks. So I have another insurance question for you. Wow. It's the day of insurances, wow. All right, hit us with it. So mine's about life insurance.

So my husband and I, we're actually in disagreement on how much we should have. Okay. And we're actually on the same page about most everything else when it comes to finances, but this one unit so I'll just lay it out. Yeah, what does he think? Yeah, how much? Okay, so we both right now have 500,000 on each of us and he is completely fine with that. Okay. And I used to be but then I've been listening to you guys a lot more and now I know that it should be 10 to 12 times our annual income.

That's right. And so we're just not at enough. And he is like, not about it. Well, this makes him wrong and this makes you right. Well, yeah, I agree with Ken and let's talk deeply about it. The purpose of insurance is to, if something, God forbid, were to happen to either of you, anybody that's dependent on your income, they will be set up, right? And it's not just for the moment, it's ongoing.

And so what's your income and what's his income? So mine's right at about 100 and his is about 130. Okay, so yours is at 100, his is at 130. So if something, God forbid, were to happen to you, he's got five year salary, basically. But you're saying, hey, I'd love for this to be even better. I'd love for you to be, if we do what I'm saying, which is you'd have over a million dollars of coverage.

2.5 is what I'm recommending, I'm bumping it up. Okay, yeah, okay. Because you got them at 230 combined income. Yeah, but I'm saying individual policies. Right. I know, but my total is gonna be 2.5 between the two of them. Yes, exactly. That's all I'm saying.

Exactly. But if something were to happen to you, for you to be able to provide basically 10 years of your salary to him. What a great gift. I mean, that allows and vice versa. So what's the difference? He's probably thinking about quarterly payments

or monthly payments. What does this look like? Have you priced out the numbers with Xander? Yeah, actually I did. And so basically he thinks it's a waste of money and honestly we probably would have none if it weren't for, we're in the military. So we have to take that 500. Okay. And so thank goodness. But, um, and no,

and he does have a point, like he says, you know, like if one of us were to pass the other one, you know, with that 500, like could easily pay off everything. And then we each make enough to like, you know, live our, with our daily expenses. So I get it. But I was telling him cause I heard you say actually not that long ago. Um, and it kind of made me like really look into this and like be like, wow, I never thought about this before. Cause we'd always had that same mindset as

like he has now. But you said, um, you know, the intent is that if they pass, it's not just to like, Oh, here, pay off your debt and, and like not a retirement plan. It's like, Hey, invest this. And then the interest should pretty much make up for the income that you're losing. And I was like, Oh my goodness, that makes so much sense. So I really want to do it. Yeah.

Um, but he is like, he, he just doesn't, he thinks it's a waste of money. And of course, like he jokes when I mentioned it and he's like, you know what, I'm not going to die until we're way older anyway. So it doesn't even matter. And I'm like, well, I love your confidence. That makes me a little uncomfortable almost. I think he's uncomfortable. I think, I think the whole, like you said, it's the 500, it's part of work, it's required.

So in many ways for him that was a no-brainer, but when it's time to actually turn on the lights in his brain and start thinking about it, it's an uncomfortable conversation. You're talking about what happens when you kick the bucket and that's not exciting. I'd flip this on him. I think he's real cavalier about this. I think he's too cavalier about it to be completely honest. But, okay, play it his way. Go, alright, I ran the numbers, got some quotes from Xander. Let me show you the quotes. And since you're okay if I die just living with a 500, turns out I'm okay with that too. But tell you where I'm not okay. If you die early Sparky McGee, I don't think 500 is enough for my safety gland and I got some numbers I ran and I'm pretty much telling you that we need to do this.

I'm not asking your permission. I'm just getting you to buy in from my piece of mind. And I'd lay the real numbers out, which by the way, I'm just getting you to buy in from my piece of mind and I'd lay the real numbers out which by the way I'm just curious what would it what would the total increase be year over year with the numbers you got from Zander? I'm just curious. I want to know too. Okay. Yeah and actually I was really impressed so I did a quote on just mine for another 500 because that would put me at a million and that that's only going to be like $17 a month. So I go back to Sparky and I'm sorry, I'm calling your husband Sparky,

but he's kind of irritated me a little bit and I'm trying to be nice. I'd go back to him and go, Hey, listen, I know you're good with the 500k. If I kicked the bucket early, I'm not. I just bumped it up to what this guy Dave Ramsey's been teaching for decades, and it's $17. I mean, come on. That's one drive-through. That's one time through the drive-through for the month. Yeah, that's two Starbucks.

You know, come on. So I would just present it. I'd present it that way and say, I'm doing this. Yeah. Yes, Ken. Oh, by the way. We do have to agree on everything. That is something that we are sticking to. Oh, I know, I know.

I'm having some fun with this. I'm not. I know. But we're also talking about real things. $17 a month. I don't think this is a knockdown drag out, is my point. Is he being stingy? Are you guys still in debt? Is that why he's being kind of tight with the purse strings?

Okay, yes, we are. We do have debt, but it is not out of control. Okay. Is he super tight? Yes. And the thing is, is like, it's not that I don't understand it and I value it and everything. But I just think that like he thinks it's unnecessary.

So we are not about unnecessary spending. And I would get in like, no, we're completely covered. Like he is like, oh no, like, you know, if the 500,000 that would take care of everything and we both make enough income that like all of our, you know, monthly expenses are good. There's just no reason for it. Let's go back to the basics of this.

We need to, and this is what you tell him and hey, play the call like the whole, this is, you tell him, and hey, play the call. Like this is documented. Oh, I can't wait. Sorry, sorry, man, for Karna's sparking. So here's the thing. Let's go back to the basics on this, because when we, what we teach here, right, the baby steps on getting out of debt,

the whole entire purpose is to change your family tree. It's all legacy built at the end of the day. It provides peace now, but it's also providing peace for the future and for the people that come after you. And such a huge part of that is insurance until you can self-insure because we're building wealth not just for us, but to be able to pass down. And until you can self-insure, depending on insurance companies to help you with that is such a huge part of the wealth building process for you.

Because again, I hope you guys live until, be as old as Methuselah, I don't care, live as long as you want. But if for some reason you don't, this is here, it's kind of just that fail safe that kicks in and to spend Sparky Marky mark Biff, whatever your name is to spend the extra $17, but it's $204 a year It's $204. Yeah to make sure your family has half a million more for by the way for your peace of mind

I keep playing that card. I wasn't I was having fun with it, but I'm not joking around He's tight play to that go you're tight because you're fearful about money and stuff. And I appreciate that. There you go, Ken. But guess where I'm tight. I'm nervous about this. And it's $204 a month. So go. So you know what? Yes, we got to be in agreement. I'd say Sparky is time to have a new budget meeting. We have, it's like calling Congress back for a special session. We're having a special mid-month budget meeting and I am gonna find $17 a month to make sure that I'm not stressed out when you die early because you drink too much Diet Coke or whatever. Sorry Diet Coke drinkers. You

mean sorry Sparky. We love you Sparky. We want the best for you. We do love you. Help your wife out dude. Come on. This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. Thanks for being here, America. We're here for you. Triple 8, 825, 5225. Before we get to the phones, quick question from the Ramsey Network app. This is from Jared. I started following your program about five months ago and paid off two out of five credit cards. I lost my job two weeks ago but was given a severance package.

Should I continue attacking my debt or pause until I gain employment again? I'm actively looking and have been interviewing. Good question. Very practical. Yeah. I mean, 100? I'm actively looking and have been interviewing. Good question, very practical. Yeah, I mean, 100% I would pause it. This is something we would call a storm. So you're in storm mode. So I love that you're working the baby steps. I love that you were just starting

to get some momentum there, but let's pause it for a second, get a job under our belt, and then we can push play once things normalize. Yeah. Trent joins us now in Wilmington, North Carolina. Trent, how can we help today? How you guys doing? Good, how are you sir? Doing well, doing well. What's going on? How can we help? So I got some money in the stock market and started with my wife and I was wondering if I should

take that money out to pay off some of this house debt. I have a couple rental properties and a primary house. One of the one of the rental houses is completely paid off. And the next one has 180,000 I owe on it. And then of course, I just bought my primary residence a few weeks ago. OK, so you've got a paid off rental, a rental where you owe 180 and what is that one worth it if you were just to sell?

I'm just curious. It's probably worth about 430. Nice. And then your primary house, what's the mortgage on that? It's about 3000 a month. No, what do you owe? Like the big picture. Sorry, sorry.

That's okay. I owe about $500 on it. Okay. Okay, and tell us about these stocks. Is it single stocks? Mine's in index mutual fund and I have $260 in mine and then my wife has an inherited Roth IRA and she's got $360 in hers. And then my wife has an inherited Roth IRA and she's got 360 in hers. Wow. Okay. So the Roth IRA, is she required to take any distribution of that or not yet?

Yes. She has to take out, I believe it's like right at 500 a month. Okay. She's required to take 500 a month month and you're talking about liquidating that? You said there's 360 in that? Yeah, I didn't know if I should pay off that second rental with some of my money that's in the stock and maybe some of hers or should I just keep it all in there and just keep letting it grow as is?

I just, I really have a passion for rentals and stuff like that, so I'd like to get back into that, but... I wouldn't liquidate the Roth IRA because you're going to have a penalty, I believe, if you do. Now, the mutual index fund, that's non-retirement. It's just a brokerage account? Correct.

Okay. And how much did you say again? Tell me again. $260. Okay. That one, if you wanted to, do you have any other consumer debt? Um, no. Okay, so no consumer debt. Do you have any other retirement funds?

Just that one rental that's paid off. That's part of your retirement, you think? Yeah. And what's that worth? Right now? It's worth like 230 around there. Okay. And what's that worth right now? It's worth like $2.30 around there. Okay. And how old are you? Uh, 37. Sorry, I'll be 38 in a week or so. Listen, I just grilled you. I understand that. Um, yeah, I wouldn't touch this. Um, you don't have any other retirement. If I were going to do anything, I would liquidate the other paid-for in order to do this to clear some of this out. I or I

would keep the paid for rental and I'd liquidate the one that's worth 430 and get that and put that 250 or whatever you gain from that onto the house. That's what I do. That way it keeps you with the paid off rental that you're hoping will continue to add value and then when you're ready, you sell it for lots and lots of money one day and you're paying off half of your house by selling this other one that you had debt on anyway. You're saying liquidate, sell the one that I owe 180 on

and pay down my current house, is that what you're saying? That's what I do. Okay, okay. Because I don't wanna keep around a rental that I've got debt on at the expense of me living in a paid off house. And I think that this mutual fund that you have, for all intents and purposes, I'm treating that as a retirement account. And from now on, I would, unless you're self-employed,

I would be trying to invest in my 401k at work. I'd be looking at a Roth IRA instead of just a brokerage account. Okay. Yeah, I am self-employed. Okay. Yeah. and even setting up something like a an individual 401k something where you're getting more benefit um than just this brokerage account it's it's not a bad place to start but even Roth IRA is is good for you so that's just a side note but yeah in your case let's get rid of that rental and start knocking out this house. Okay okay sounds great too easy. Yeah go. You know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I got nothing ahead over here.

Nothing? I was gonna say I concur. Yeah. There's a lot there. I thought you did a great job. Thank you. Nothing to add. Thank you, Ken. Yeah. I'm sorry. America doesn't need to hear any more on that. You nailed it. Thank you. Yeah. Very good. Nicholas is up in Phoenix, Arizona. Nicholas, how can we help?

Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. You bet, what's happening? So I've got a health insurance question for you guys. Love voice. Me and my wife, we've got, yeah, we've got our open enrollment coming up this Friday and we're trying to decide between an HSA, which I know you guys are a big fan of, or a PPO. The one factor that's making this difficult is we have a

baby due our son in February. So we kind of have like unknown hospital expense going into this whatever account or whatever insurance we choose. But we kind of got burned this past year with a PPO. And I just checked it yesterday with the low deductible between my entire family. We've only spent $100 towards it with like $5,000 in premiums. So I'm just trying to decide whether or not, you know, with the baby on the way, that's so complicated or you guys would still recommend the HSA? I love an HSA because of the savings component to it. And there is a part of this where, you know you're having a baby, you know that you're going to hit the deductible possibly.

I mean, there's a good chance. And so there's part of that where I like to know, if you've done the PPO and it didn't work out for you, and you know that you've kind of, it's burned you, then this might be a good opportunity to switch lanes. Yeah, so we did the, for our daughter, for our first child, we had, we're on a PPO plan, and it seemed to help out there because between the, before like all the appointments going up to that and then the labor and the delivery, we hit that deductible pretty quickly. And so the actual hospital bill was only about 800 bucks. But because it's at the beginning of the year, I kind

of feel we're going to run up our deductible either way. Yeah. The I guess I can give you guys some more details on the numbers. Our deductible for the PPO would be 4600 for the family, 23 per individual. And then for the HSA, it'd be 4,600 per individual and 9,800 for the family. So we're basically for sure going to hit the PPO deductible. And then between 30% coinsurance after that. And then on the HSA, after we hit the deductible, it's 25% coinsurance. So a little bit more coverage after we hit that high deductible. I like having the higher coinsurance because like you said, even after you hit the deductible,

if there's any other costs, you're still on the hook for a percentage of that. And so I'd wanna be on the hook for the lower percent. What's the out-of-pocket max between the two? The out-of-pocket max, yeah. So the out-of-pocket max for the PPO is 13,800. And then for the HSA, it's 12,800. I like that better.

Is that for individual or that was family? That's for family. Individual, it's probably half that. Are you healthy? Yeah, my wife's 23 and I'm 24. She's had two beautiful pregnancies I'm making this choice based on her and I'd probably go with the HSA It's got the lower out-of-pocket max and it's got the better coinsurance. So for that reason I'm out

Judge Jade folks. She does it well. Good hour. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome to The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life, America. Specifically, winning in your money, winning in your work, and winning in your relationships. The phone number for us to coach you up is triple 8, 825, 5225.

Triple 8, 825, 5225. the dynamo next to me is the one the only jade warsaw I'm Ken Coleman she'll take lead on the money calls and help you manage the money and I want to help you make more money so it's a good combo let's get right to it we're gonna go to Denver Colorado Peter is there Peter how can we help today hey guys thanks guys. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. So, I'm calling in because my wife and I are in baby step two and trying to get out of debt. And about a year and a half ago, I got my wife a horse lease started because she

loved being with horses and working with them. She was at the time volunteering at a horse center for people with disabilities. So she got to basically just shovel poop and be around horses but didn't get to ride ever. And I saw how much joy that was bringing her, so I got her this horse lease. What's that mean? Can you explain that more to me? Yeah, I've never heard of that. Yeah, so basically we pay $350 a month. And she can go out to this property and ride the horse whenever she wants. Her, myself and the kids actually. So it's been a lot of fun, but I'm wondering if we're being irresponsible since we're in baby step two. Is it, can I ask more? I'm just gonna

dig deeper on the horse lease real quick. So is it there's several horses on the property and she can ride any horse or does she kind of get assigned a horse that's like that's her horse? Tell me more about it. Is it personal? Is it? Yeah so we just have the one horse that we have access to. And how long is, how long have you been doing this? Uh, about a year and a half. Year and a half. And the idea of her giving this up is met with what kind of reaction?

Um, not great. Uh, a lot of tears and, um, she feels like it just helps her a lot emotionally. Um, Yeah. Wow. How long would you have to give it up? I mean, how long is you guys' journey? Are we talking? So we have like 21,000 in debt.

I've got 3,000 on the last credit card, 5,000, maybe it's over 21. So 5,000 on my truck. And then I just got a personal loan for 15,000 to cover last year's taxes because that was the first year we'd ever had to pay taxes. Okay. So you're at 23 now. Yeah. Okay. So is so you're at 23 now? Yeah. Okay, so is that it or is there more? That's it. Okay, and what's the income? Sorry, Ken. No, go ahead. I make about 120,000. Oh, okay, so why this is gonna be gone in a year? You're gonna live on a hundred and you're gonna knock this out

in one year or less? Yeah. Shooting for like nine months. Yeah. Well, good for you. Can she work or does she work outside the home? So she homeschools our three boys and stays at home. Um. That's not what I asked. Can she work?

So she does sometimes, um, doing well, I, I'm a trim carpenter. Uh, and so when we're done with houses the general contractor that I work for will hire her to go in and do the post-construction cleanup. And what kind of money does she make and how long does it take her to make this money? It's very sporadic because it's just when we finish houses so it could be like three right in a row or like the next one we'll have is maybe two months away.

How much time does she take when she cleans? One to two, one day usually. One day. And so she's able to do this with the kids? Yeah, usually we just have my father-in-law babysit. All right. I'm gathering information over here. I mean, I'd simplify it.

I'd simplify it like this, and some people might hate this answer. Technically, if you're in baby step two, you cut out things like this. Now, you guys aren't, you're not burning like some people are in debt, and you could be if you choose not to go hard on this, but you're gonna be out of debt so quickly.

What I'd say is if you wanna spend $350 and keep this lease up with this horse that you've probably established a relationship with, just earn the $350 a month, earn it back. Go out and get a job. First of all, I am shocked right now, but I love it. I thought you were gonna go hard on this one. It's an amount of money that's,

that is truly not gonna make or break them to that extent. Yes, but I'm with you. I wanna make sure the audience hears this. I wanna make sure that Peter hears this. I love this idea, cause that's what I was gonna say. Go on it. Mama needs to go make the 350. Yeah.

Or there is no horse. Yeah. She's gotta cover the horse. But I do have one question on that. Peter, let's say it takes you nine months and all this is clear. Is that the number you gave us? That's what we're shooting for you.

What's the name of the horse? Jesse. Is Jesse going to be available for lease nine months from now? It's certainly not guaranteed. Is Jesse old? Well, that doesn't make any difference, because if Jesse dies, we can't lease him anyway. I know, but I'm just saying maybe she wants to live out here. Jesse's last nine months. I'm gonna throw a

wrinkle into this, Peter and Jade. I'm gonna throw something out and let you two discuss it. Okay. You ready? Yeah, I'm ready. I like your idea, but I think the better idea is to go talk to Jesse's owner.'s owner and tell Jesse's owner what the story is and say nine months from now, we're going to be debt free and this is super important to my wife. I need to know that we can jump back into the contract and lease Jesse nine months from now.

And I would take the 350 and I would help mama get motivated to knock this debt out and say, we're gonna stop riding Jesse for nine months. OK, but I'm just throwing it. I'm throwing a hard alternative out there. Peter, Jay discuss. So, Peter, are you saying that if you were to cancel the lease, are you worried about Jesse not being available

and that somebody else would take the lease spot? Is that what you're concerned about? Essentially, yes. Yeah, she could just lease her out to somebody else. Which is why I have the conversation with Jesse's owner. Yeah. Well, but if I'm the owner, if I'm Jesse's owner, I'm like, you want me to hold the horse? But how can she not lease him out to like 50 people? How many times can you ride Jesse in one month? I mean, you've got to be available. So we're, there's usually only only one by the way. I should point out to people who just jumped in the call Jesse is a horse. We're talking about riding a horse. Yes, I probably made that clear

Yes, I refer to him as the horse from now on see the horse so it's not to confuse everybody. All right How many times can you ride the horse in a month? He she goes out like once a month right so he's a week. Okay, twice. Oh, that's a lot. Well. Twice a week for $350. And I don't want to get too deeply into your business, but I did want to ask, cause you kind of alluded to it.

Does your wife struggle with like some, anything mentally? Cause you said it helps her mental health. I don't think it's so much like a mental health problem. So much as just like she she she's with the boys constantly She homeschools totally and that's not like her no need. Yes our children drive us crazy We are she needs a little time with nature. Come on Okay, I I listen I think Ken's idea can't hurt it can't hurt you to go by and say hey We've got a nine-month window. We've been working with you guys for a year and a half.

We love it. We need to temporarily suspend this and then we'll be back, you know, give them the date and time. If he says, yeah, say yeah. But if not, yeah, tell mom and be like, hey, mama, if you wanna keep this going, you just gotta fund it

because we decided that our priority is paying off the debt. And so we decided that that's the priority with our current income. And I wanna stand by that. And if you decided that that's the priority with our current income. And I want to stand by that. And if you want to do something more. Go clean some houses. Mama gots to fund it.

Go clean some toilets. It doesn't have to be toilets. That's the last thing I'm going to, that's the last job I'm taking. I'm trying to make a point. She really wants to ride the horse. You gotta pay for it. This is the Ramsey Show.

You gotta pay for it. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I don't know about you, Ken, but I feel like the last couple of calls we've gotten have had something to do with protections, making sure that an inheritance is safe, making sure that the money and the net worth that we've amassed is safe, making sure that my identity is safe. It all has to do with insurance and everybody wants to have the right insurances after all insurance is there to mitigate risk, right?

Whether it's health insurance, home insurance, renter's insurance, all of these things are out there to protect you in case a cost comes up that you yourself cannot cover, your insurance is there to kind of fill that gap for you. And it can be very confusing to navigate all of the insurances and doing, you know, going through, I don't know, Ken, that is something that if we start talking about insurance, my eyes glaze over and I want someone to handle it for me. Yes, I would concur.

And so our Ramsey Trusted Pros, they shop the market and they compare all the insurance quotes so that you don't have to, and so that I don't have to. And your pro will compare the quotes, they'll look at the discounts and they will bundle the deals for you at no extra cost, which is great. When my husband and I moved here, Ken, we were in a new house, we had to have the housing insurance for that, we needed to get the umbrella coverage and all that. And they shopped all the quotes. They rolled it into one nice, neat bow and we got

more coverage for less money. Like that. I love that. So Ramsey Trusted Pros will make sure you have all the coverage you need and nothing that you don't. So there's not going to be any fluff here. Ramsey Trusted Pros, they're interviewed, they're vetted and they're coached to make sure that they're

market experts. And here's the best part. they truly do have your best interest at heart. I've experienced that, Ken, I know that you have experienced that. So the question you need to be asking yourself is, do you have the right coverage based on your individual needs? Okay. And so to do that, go to ramsysolutions.com slash coverage. Again, that's ramsysolutions.com slash coverage. And let me just add, because I hear it in the wind, insurance guys is not a baby step, okay? It's not something that you wait until you're after, you know, after you've paid off your debt

or after you've saved up your savings to do. Insurance is something that you do the moment that you've learned about it. And so if you've been listening to the show for a couple of segments or even just this one segment and you're like, oh, you know what? I don't have life insurance. That is your signal that you need to act on that today.

Not once you've paid your debt off, okay? If you don't have health insurance, check out Health Trust. That's the partnership that we have. You need health insurance today. If you're a renter and you don't have renter's insurance, this is your sign from, oh, this is your sign. You need renter's insurance. You are out here with no coverage, anything can happen.

If you don't know, if you have the bare minimum of auto, you need to do our insurance checkup and make sure that you are covered because if you get in an accident and your coverage isn't what you thought it would be, you're about to be up a creek without a paddle. So please please please prioritize this in your every dollar budget. It is so so very important to get the coverage you need today. Our Ramsey Trusted Pros will help you do that. All right let's go to the phone lines. Tyler in Buffalo, New York is here.

What's going on Tyler? Hi, how we doing today? Doing good. How can we help? Hi. So I'm looking into possibly starting up a home inspector's business come this winter here and I was just curious on what the right steps would be to do that. All right. So home inspection, why did you pick that problem or that solution? What drew you to that? I guess the big part that came out of it is the flexible miss. Because I have a job right now that's kind of seasonal.

It pays very well what the season is on, but then winter time you don't have hardly anything going on. Okay, all right. And what's the Holmes inspection business like in the brutal winters of Buffalo? I'm guessing you Buffalo folks, I mean, do you just know how to handle that kind of snow? I mean, you guys were in the news last year during the football season, crazy snow. Is it a normal rhythm and there is not a big drop-off in the wintertime in Buffalo as it relates to home inspection? Nothing too crazy. You know at that time right there I actually lived south of Buffalo and there's a lot of new builds going on so there's a lot of

possibility for it. You have a background and some expertise, some skills set that lends itself to doing that well? I did plumbing for about five years. I've shed an electrician. I've worked with carpenters. You know, when it comes to the nuts and bolts of it, I know it fairly well. You got it. Trust me, you had me at plumbing. I mean, it's like, okay, you've got the skill set for that. You enjoy the work. It can be a pretty good business. I mean, you can build this thing and to where it could replace your seasonal income. So I'm not seeing any red flags on this.

How much is it gonna cost for you to get qualified to do that? Is it a certification? Yes, the bits I've looked into, you can go online and file for a course and then that right there is roughly probably about 2,500. 2,500 bucks, do you have the cash for that? Yes.

Alright. I like that, so no red flag there. And is the market saturated? Is the market moderate as it relates to people out there that are your competitors? Or is there hardly anybody doing it? In my micro area there's two and they, you know, honestly the quality of the work they do is not very well. And you know, it's something I actually seen an issue when I was working in the trade still. Okay, so you've heard this from viable sources that these guys or

gals aren't doing a good job. Yes, and even seen it myself. Are they covered up in business or are they what's their business like? The flow of business? They seem to stay fairly steady, but at the same time the exact grit of it, I'm unsure. What's your gumption level as it relates to talking to realtors, bankers, mortgage pros? Are you a guy that'll get out and connect and shake people's hand, look them in the eye and go, I'm the newest home inspector on the block and I come from the trades and I'm telling you my competition, they ain't so good. I'm fantastic. Give me a shot. Are you willing to do that? Absolutely.

All right, Jade, I ran him through my questions. I turn the balance of my time over to you. I don't see you red flags. You use the word gumption. I love that word. Gumption. I love that. Because this is a, the reason I asked that question Tyler is because this is a business where you sir are the product. That's right. And. Like Jade and I are in that same business. Jade's the product on product. So you gotta have that gumption necessary to put yourself out there. And the realtors that you want to work with are going to be the type who are doing high volume because they're going to be able to give you a lot of work. And if they are high volume realtors, they know how to talk. They know how to command a room.

They know how to, you know, their BS level is very low, right? So it's like this guy, you know, but if you come in there and you're like, listen, we need to work together. Here's why I love that. So my question that I, the only question I wrote down, which I kind of feel like that's what we're into now is how do you get clients? Like what's the strategy for you to go

in there? Because it's not like you're trying to railroad anybody or steal, you know, you're not intentionally trying to like, uh, steal anybody's clients, but at the same time you want the work. Does that make sense? So it's like, how do you see yourself getting in there and kind of pulling the boat close to the dock and getting those clients? See that's one thing I'm kind of unsure of. I don't know really where to start with it. I wasn't sure if it's something you can get in with the banks or you know you contact realtors or if it's just a matter of you know just talking to everybody you can to get your name out there. Okay well it's the list that I ran through earlier, but I would start with your mortgage

companies in the area. They're the ones that when a house is going for refinance or the actual initial financing, they are the ones that are getting the home inspector out. I know when I've refied, the company I refied with, they're the one that chose the, they have their guys and they get their gals. So for certain mortgage, I would check on the realtor side. I'm gonna say I don't know.

I think that's more of a mortgage play. Okay. Because again, the mortgage company are the ones, the banks, they're the ones that need to know what the house situation is. Now realtors do it as well. I'm not saying realtors don't, but I'm saying realtors and mortgage companies when they do refinancing,

they'll have a, I'm sorry, I've confused the whole situation. You're talking about home inspection. I apologize. I got in my head home appraisal. Sorry, mortgage companies are appraisers. That's right, okay. Home inspection is realtor, you're right. That's okay.

My brain just got all cobwebby. That's all right, Ken. I got the broom out. all cobwebby. That's all right Ken. I got the broom out You're all swept clean. Appraisals so home appraisers. That's different than the home inspector. Mm-hmm So Realtors Realtors Realtors all day and hey listen, can we tell them Tyler if I were you? I'd start with the with the website RamseySolutions.com Find our those pros. That's it. The realtor pros. That's a gold line right there. Start calling them and go, I called the Ramsey Show. I'm a big Ramsey listener

and you are a trusted pro. Can we talk? Can I help you? So that's where I would go. Look at this guy. Come on, Ken. I had to get the cobwebs out of the way first. It's what he does. It's what he does. the cobwebs out of the way for it's what he does this is the ramsay show alongside jake warshell i'm ken colman phone numbers triple eight eight two five five two two five triple eight eight two five five two two five let's go to phoenix arizona johnson is there johnathan how can we help hey there's a thing about all is there Jonathan, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure.

I'm not quite sure how to start to be brief. I'm 24 with two kids of my own. My fiance has two kids from a past relationship. I am the only one that worked at the moment. And it just seems like I'm always drowning. I come from a family that has never really been financially stable. So I don't even know where to start to begin to get out of this drowning feeling. Yeah. Man, I'm so sorry, but can I just tell you real quick, before we go into this, I sense in you a guy who wants to change his family tree.

I sense in you a guy who is busting his tail and trying to do right by those little ones. And, uh, I wanted to encourage you cause I think you've got, I think you've got a lot of character and I love the fact that you're calling and asking for help. It's a big deal to go, I need help. And I, I want to, I just felt like you needed to hear that you're not a failure and, uh, you are going hear that you're not a failure and You are going to be able to figure this out. We're gonna help today. You got me? Yeah. All right couple quick things here I'm gonna turn you over to Jade. All right, so we're gonna try to do as much as we can in a quick amount of time

Number one, what are you doing? And what is your income? I Work in the HVAC industry and my yearly income is around 60 to 80 on a good year. Okay, that's not bad. So we've got somewhere between 60 to 80,000 gross and are all four, if I heard you right, you've got two kids and your girlfriend or fiance has, is she, is your fiance or no? Yes, she's fiance. Okay, I thought I heard that. Okay. she's got, are you got all four kids

staying with you guys all the time? Yes. Okay, so she's at home taking care of the kids. Yeah. Gotcha, okay. And what kind of debt do you have? We're in about 23,000 in a minivan. Like, you know.

Now wait a second, when you say, when you say we, did you both sign on to that deal? Yes, yeah we did. Alright. And it's 23,000 on a minivan? Yep. Okay, what other debt do you have? And then I have about, let's say, 1,600 in collections and credit cards and then she has around, say, 600 to a thousand collections and credit cards. That's it? Yeah. You got any money in the bank at

all? No, I did but we had to go through it and hit some unfortunate times so yeah, no, it's cleared out. What do you mean by unfortunate times? Give me 20 seconds on that. I lost my job, my last job, where it was great money, good work, I was able to save up around four to five grand and then once I got laid off from that company, we had to use that to keep our bills going. Was that HVAC work as well or something different? Yeah, no it was HVAC. You don't have to tell us, but was this something you did? Yeah. Did you learn from it? Yeah,

absolutely. Okay, so what that tells me though is that you have more income potential in that industry because you were clearly working for somebody else making more. What were you making when you were with them? About 96 grand. So what would need to be true for you to get back to that? Honestly, find a different company. Okay. But it's possible, yes or no? Yes. Okay. I just want to leave that there.

Yeah. Let's get to it. So, all right. I like that. I always like to kind of ask all the questions. I'm want to leave that there. Yeah, let's get to it. I like that. So, all right. I always like to kind of ask all the questions. I'm kind of like the general doctor and then she's a specialist. So she kind of sits over there and she's like rubbing her chin.

You filled out the paperwork for me, Ken? Yeah, that's what I am. Let's be honest. I'm the intake nurse. That's not true. No, but I think this is doable, Jade. I do too. I like what you just said about the opportunity to make more, and if I'm you, I'm getting

on that today. Ken, what's the first step? Where do you go back? It's a budget. No, I'm talking about for him to find the job. Oh, sorry. I apologize. You see where I was at?

You had already clocked out. Well, no, because they've not done it. They have no idea where their money's coming and going. That's the issue. Here's what I would say. Jonathan, because you're in the trades of HVAC, you don't have to stay at this current company for a 10... I mean, you go to the best situation that you can go to, so I would be... really, because you're stable now, now I'd be looking, and you learned your lesson from the last one. HVAC can make really, really good money

and so you're looking everywhere all the time until the next opportunity comes and the minute it shows up, walk right to it. Love that. So that's homework number one is we're looking for that. Homework number two is you do need a budget. We're gonna make sure you get set up with an every dollar budget.

It's the best way to budget because you're gonna see all the things that you're spending money on and you're gonna be able to pinpoint, okay, where's an area of concern? Where's an area I can cut back on? Maybe there's more at our disposal than we realize, but it's just been going out to things, I don't know, DoorDash, Instacart, whatever.

So we're gonna give you the budget. I also wanted to know, what's your living situation? Are you renting? Do you have a house together? Tell us about that. We're renting. Okay and what do you pay every month for rent? Just under two grand so 1980. Okay that's a that's a squeeze. I'm not gonna lie and I know you've got the kiddos but you know you need to find something that's more along the like 1400, $1,300 area

so that it's not squeezing you so much. Cause you told me make five to $6,000 a month. And so assuming, you know, it's somewhere right in the middle. Yeah, 1300 is really your max. So I'd be thinking through what that could mean because unless you see a pathway quickly to earn more money this rent is gonna continue to squeeze you. The van, what's the van worth?

You owe 23, what's it worth? It's about 21. Okay. I'd be looking at getting out of that and into something a little less expensive. Take a couple months and save up the difference so you're not upside down and get out of that van and get it or go over to the credit union and say hey The van is worth 23 or I owe 23. It's worth 21 Can I get a $2,000 loan and can we add like seven or eight to it so that I can get something else?

Jonathan listen real quick to what she just said. Okay, this is doable You bust it go to a credit union or something get a different loan, you know, whatever we got to do pay this thing off Um, because you're gonna save yourself a lot of money. What's the car payment on that? You guys don't want to know. Yeah, we do. We do want to know. I know.

That's why I'm asking. 741. It's way too much. $783 a month. So, Jay, tell him how to get rid of that car because that is a $700 raise. This is the how to. The how to is the first place I want you to try to go to is a credit union,

because they're gonna care about the fact that you're a human being. But wherever you end up going to get this loan, I want you to get this loan, okay? So what you're doing here is you have to pay $23,000 to get clear on this, but it's only worth 21, right? And so you need to clear that $2,000 difference. That's what you're going to get the on this, but it's only worth 21, right? And so you need to clear that $2,000 difference. That's what you're going to get the loan for.

So that when it comes time to pay this off, you actually get the title, right? That's, or you can give the person the title who buys it. That's what we're talking about. But then you're without a car, right? And so the idea is don't just get the loan for 2,000, get it for a little bit more, maybe 7,000. Start looking online

tonight and see what can I get that'll get us from point A to point B. This is temporary, this is not forever. This might be for a year and a half until you can get, you know, later on, add some more money with it and trade up, okay? But look for an $8,000 car. Now you're in for $10,000 instead of $23,000. You see what I did there? And now instead of paying $7.83 a month, if you can get in with a credit union with a better interest rate, maybe you're only paying $300 a month. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah. So that's what we wanna do with the car. With these credit cards and collections, let's settle them. Okay, and whenever you settle them, you're calling them up and saying, hey, I know it says I owe you $2,000. Today I can give you $700, take it or leave it, that kind of thing.

And you get it in writing first. And they're gonna settle with you. If it's already gone to collections, they will settle, but you're gonna have to be like white on rice. Like you're gonna have to be on them, calling all the time. Because if you dealt with Betty before and Betty didn't do it, call back and talk to Shirley.

And if Shirley won't do it, talk back, call back and talk to Heather. Somebody's gonna do it for you, but you have to do your due diligence and stay on top of this. The good, the only good news that comes out of this collection stuff is that you're going to end up paying it for a lot less, but it's going to be at your expense as far as the effort goes.

Yeah. Jonathan, you can do this. Hang on the line. We're going to get you in every dollar. Please just start plugging the numbers into this thing. It's so intuitive. It's so simple and it's a game changer because you will now know where your money is going and that is half the battle. What Jay just did for you is a huge victory to get out of that car payment and on the path to building prosperity for those kiddos.

You can do this, Jonathan. We're here to help. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman, 88825. 5-225 is the number. Our scripture today comes from Hebrews 4 verse 16. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. I feel like that should be the verse for all budget meetings. Yeah, you're probably right. Let us approach this budget meeting with grace and confidence so we'll receive mercy.

That's pretty good. And our quote of the day from Mark Twain, a man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. Classic. The man was deep. He would have owned Twitter if it was a thing back then. That's got a lot of depth to it. Good stuff there. All right, Paul is joining us now in Edmonton, Alberta. Paul, you are on The Ramsey Show. How can we help? Thank you so much for taking my call.

How are you today? We're good. How can we help you? So I recently got a raise at my job. I doubled my salary. I just needed to quickly Google my currency. I make 37,000 US a year. It's not a today purchase, but down the line, the reason I called was, is it worthy, and a worthy investment to purchase some farmland and then

lease it to farmers as like a, I don't want to say passive income, but like as another source of income. All right. Before we answer that, I'm guessing you've done enough research to answer this question. So give me an example of some acreage and how much you could lease it for to a farmer in this scenario. What kind of real revenue are we talking about?

Have you run the numbers? I just know, I just only heard about like this kind of format through some of my friends. They worked with farmers in the past, and then I had another friend that leased their farmland to farmers. So it's kind of been a short thing that I got introduced to, so I wouldn't have that number. All right. So you get my point in asking this question? Before we get to the financial side of this, there's just the good old fashioned common sense. And so, uh, it's like somebody saying, should I

buy a business? Well, we want to look at your financial situation and we're going to dive into that. But, but we want to also go, what's the business and does it have viability and have you done a business study? And so in this situation, this will not be hard for you, but you need to go become an expert in the numbers.

In other words, it's got to be this amount of acreage and then based on that, and it's got to have this kind of soil quality and then based on that. And you got to be able to buy it. Well, you know, we're going to get to that part, but I'm just saying like even if financially you can do it, which you're going to coach him on. I just wanted him to know, is this an actual smart investment, even if you're in position to do so, which I don't think you are. But that's my little quick warning. I want Jay to jump in on your financial situation. And I'm getting in Ken Coleman territory here. I don't sense that it's necessarily something you'd be passionate about.

It sounds like something you just heard some folks doing. That's a good point. And it's like, oh, maybe that can work for me. And I think that could also be a bit of a, at least I'll call it an orange flag. And can we also say real quick, there's no such thing as passive income. No, no. It doesn't exist. That's a lie. Yeah, for sure. So back onto the other side, if we do, let's say, let's just pretend I can't say what I was going to say. Let's just pretend that you had vetted this out

and you had some numbers, okay? And you said, yeah, I've looked into this, I can make X amount of dollars. Then my next question to you would have been, okay, what's it cost to buy these acres of land? And then if you would have said, well, Jade, it's gonna cost me $400,000 to get the land, da-da-da-da-da, cause I need at least this many acres.

And I would have said, okay, how are you going to pay for it? And so I think that's where we get into the land, da da da da, because I need at least this many acres. And I would have said, okay, how are you going to pay for it? And so I think that's where we get into the numbers nitty gritty of this, which is you're making $37,000 a year. I would never tell you to invest in $400,000 and go into debt for it. I would say the first line of your investing needs to be you investing 15% of your income, and that's steady, and that's like your kind of country road of investing and then on down the road. If there's other things that you're interested like real estate or land,

that sort of thing, I would say, listen, the idea is to pay cash for it. And that's really, really, really the best way to purchase, um, land and real estate is in cash. So I like that you're thinking about more ways to earn money. I like that you're kind of creative in what that could be. It's not just, I don't know, kind of the typical route, which is cool, but I think that you have a lot of work to do and a lot of study on this.

It was never something that I was gonna put like a, like be in debt for. It was always gonna be something that it would be a cash transaction, but that would be like 10 years out. Like it's not like something. Oh, okay, great. I love that. I don't have that money today. I don't have but that would be like 10 years out. Oh, okay. Great. I love that. I don't have that money today.

I love the question. It would just be something that, given with the recent bump in income, and I've been already investing on the side and whatnot. Okay, good. Paul, I was just telling Jade this during the show breaks today. I'm kicking around an idea idea friend brought me an investment opportunity I've never invested in something like this before and I am doing a lot of due diligence I've had some really smart guys that have done things like this before that are my friends and I'm going take a look at this

What questions do I need to be asking? So the advice I'm giving you I'm actually taking and I I would never want to make any kind of investment Yeah, that I even and what's this is what we teach by the way in mutual funds, we want you to sit with a smart investor pro, multiple people, who do you connect with? Chemistry, do they have a heart of a teacher? Do you understand what you're doing so that you can make your decision?

They're not telling you what to do, you are telling them what you'd like them to do with your money. And so this thing on farmland, my advice is just do your homework and know it inside and out. Know what the risks are, know what the upside is, and so that when the time comes and you've got cash, and you can do it. So I really appreciate the call, young man. I love the forward thinking.

Let's get in one more quick call. Andrew is joining us in Indianapolis, Indiana. Andrew, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. You bet. We got about three minutes, so make it fast. All right, I'll make it quick. I just wanted your guys' opinion on giving, say, friends or family financial advice. I was approached by my mother-in-law, gave her some advice. She's kind of thinking about taking it. Mother-in-law? Well, the the key is she approached you. My answer is don't give it unless they ask for it. Well and she did. It seems like a no-brainer

based off what I've learned from you guys and I absolutely appreciate that. But part of me is going well if she does it and doesn't do it right and it doesn't work out then she comes back to me and says, you told me to do this. Listen that's our job every day. Ken and I. Yeah, but it's interesting that you say that because the advice that we give on here, if somebody does it the way we tell them to, then we're not worried about something.

So what, what was the advice that you gave her? Well, she's got a, she's paid a car payment and miraculously somehow, I'm not sure how she timed it just right. She's got a lot of equity in said car but also has about the same amount of credit card debt and she doesn't really drive much and the numbers are there to make it work to sell this car pay off the credit card debt by a four or five thousand dollar car to do the minimal driving that she does, then

pile up that money to maybe buy a better car or work on her mortgage. The only way that doesn't work out is if the four to five thousand dollar car she buys is a lemon. So this is where you as a son-in-law can get massive son-in-law points and go, hey I will do the legwork or help you get a mechanic who will be willing to see said cars and don't buy any four to five thousand000 car that the person won't let you take it to the mechanic. And you just walk her through that and guard. I just don't see how that turns out bad. Do you?

Um, no, I don't. I really, I really don't. It's, it's really up to how they work out the advice and if they take it to the letter and to the T. Yeah. And that's where we're struggling. She keeps sending me links for cars that are like eight or 9,000. I say you can't afford that letter into the T. Yeah, and that's where we're struggling. She keeps sending me links for cars that are like eight or 9,000.

I say, you can't afford that. You need to lower your budget. I mean, the hard part for where you're sitting is, again, if they've asked for advice, you offer the advice. And then after that, there comes a time where you do kind of have to go, okay, now my hands are off of it. If you choose to do it, great.

If you don't, if you need help, I'm here to help you. But what I'm not gonna do, and I'm gonna say this very carefully because we're on air, you cannot, for people asking for advice, you cannot be what I call an ask-hole. Boy, I'm glad you slowed that down. Because an ask-hole... Not you! Is there a person who asks the same thing over and over and over to avoid actually doing? Okay? And that's annoying. And so if you feel like it's getting to the point where this person is being an ask hole. See, did you see how I stepped in there? Then you go, okay, I've given you the advice. It's up to you what you do next.

I like that. I think that needs to be your next little product. I think it needs to be some type of a money bumper sticker that you sell Jade in your store. A t-shirt. I think a lot of people would like to wear that. I'm afraid to say it because I know I'll mess it up and the FCC will not be happy. We hit that K pretty hard. Oh we did. Hey thanks for the call Andrew. Thank you Jade for always being awesome. Thank you, Kelly and the team for keeping us on the air. Thank you, America. This is your show. This is the Ramsey Show.