The Ramsey Show - App - Paying Off Your House Is a Great Forced Savings Plan (Hour 2)

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

George Kamel & Dr. John Delony answer your questions and discuss: "Should we still pay off our house if we're planning to move?" from the blog: How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early, "How do I get my wife on board with the Baby Steps?" How sports betting is the new oxycontin, "Should I start an e-commerce business to get out of debt?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Join a Personality-led FPU class. Click here! Enter The Ramsey Cash Giveaway for a chance at $3,000! https://bit.ly/TRSgvwy Shop our bestsellers during the $10 Sale! https://bit.ly/TRS10Sale Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? https://ter.li/s64ye3 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Bonds Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm Ramsey Personality, George Campbell. Join this hour my fellow Ramsey Personality, Dr. John Deloney, host of The Dr. John Deloney Show, which has just been going zoom zoom, as they say, John. So be sure to check that out on podcast and YouTube if you're a fan of John, which I assume you are. Who says that? I don't know.

It just felt right in the moment, to be honest. Felt good? It did. As they say. And I've joined the ranks now, John, as a fellow YouTuber with my new YouTube channel. You are. I gotta say, it feels as good as they said it would. You're crushing all of us, man.

When I tell my family, I'm like, I'm a YouTuber now. It feels so good. I get a newfound respect. Oh, no. That's how my kids bring me back to earth. But that's what all the kids want to be these days, so it actually makes me cool. I think that's an important thing for you to continue to repeat to yourself over and over. It makes me cool with teenagers.

Yeah, that's, you know, things aren't going well for you. But your show is going fantastic, man. Tell us about it. It is. Yeah, we have about 14 episodes. We do Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. It's funny. They put memes and clips and it's snark and sarcasm with the Ramsey principles that you know and love.

And my show can get kind of dark, and it's an hour long. Yours is pretty quick. These are like seven, eight, nine, ten-minute videos that we're putting out there, and the team's been doing it. I mean, really, the fact that people are commenting going, the editing is amazing, tells you how incredible the team is behind the scenes making this happen. Our editors here are second to none. Go check it out. We hit 30,000 subscribers in 30 days, John. Congratulations.

I call it a win. Yeah, it's a big win. It's been fun. The comments have been awesome. I had nine subscribers after 30 days, so that's fantastic. That's when James was running the show. Most of them was the team. It's my mom just hitting refresh over and over again.

Well, now you've got hundreds of thousands, and it really is a great show. I appreciate that. And I mean that, which I rarely do. And George does call in the show under pseudonyms, and it really is a great show. I appreciate that. And I mean that, which I rarely do. And George does call in the show under pseudonyms, and so... Only way I can get John to take me seriously. Correct. Well, we're answering your questions on today's show. 888-825-5225 is the number to call.

Connor is in Salt Lake City. Connor, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks for having me. Absolutely. How can we help? Yeah, so my wife and I, we're currently on baby step six, but we're looking to move in the next couple of years. We're just wondering if we should be paying extra on our mortgage or if we should just be saving that money. What would you be saving the money for? I don't know. Down payment on a house. We have

our emergency fund, obviously, but I feel more comfortable with the money in the bank I have. So with your home equity, what does that look like right now versus what you owe? Like how much equity we have? Yeah, what's left on the mortgage and what's the house worth? So there's $275 left on the house, and it's worth about $450. Okay. I'll tell you what I did. And everyone plans on moving at some point probably if they're in their 20s, 30s,

40s, 50s even. And so I like to look at this as a forced savings plan where I go, if I have a pile of money over here, we might go, oh, you know what? We got to upgrade the old thing. We got to do the renovation. We got to go on the vacation. And all of a sudden, the money that would have been going towards helping you build wealth in your home equity is now going towards other things. So as just a human who is fallible, I like to just go, let's pay down the mortgage. It's not disappearing. It's going to be in the home equity when we go to sell.

And then you just roll all of that money into the next house. Yeah, that makes sense that way. You can access it. Connor, how much of your concern about having a pile of cash in addition to your emergency fund is just what's in the air right now? You've got every news channel trying to scare you to death you've got every nonsense influencer telling you it's all coming down we're gonna be trading cigarettes and rocks and coffee for like how much of it is that there's just a lot in the air right now a bank fails and it just as warren buffett says fear is contagious how much of it's that you're starting to get nervous

yeah i'd say it's probably 50 i don't know i've always just been a saver and like to have have money in the bank but yeah i mean i watch the ramsey show and people call in about the banks u.s dollars so i'd say that's definitely fueling that so desire to have more cash on hand i want to tell you that the idea of the the feeling you think you're going to have, like let's just imagine you're sitting on your couch and you imagined I have $100,000 in my checking account. You can just picture that.

And you imagine how you would feel. My promise to you is, if you were sitting there across the dinner table from your wife and you all have no house payment that feeling is infinitely more powerful because if the u.s dollar goes away and we're trading water and cigarettes and turtle shells for food or whatever they think or we're just suddenly going to go to bitcoin and beanie babies or it is. A paid for home that nobody can take from you is a level of security

that you don't even know your body needs. Okay? So there's something about, I get the math and I get the, hey, it's all coming down and I do get the fear is contagious. I'm with you. I get nervous about that stuff.

I'm just cosmically blessed that I get to sit by Dave a couple of times a week and I'm like, Hey, we're good. Right. And he's like, we're good. And so, uh, and he's supernatural about that, right? He just has a piece about him because he understands. And if it was going sideways, he'd let us know. So most people don't get that, which I understand. What I want to tell you is there is another level. It's like a, it's like an elevator open, secret elevator opens up beneath your home. Another level of peace when you and your wife have paid off a home and nobody can

take it from you. And you can kind of do whatever you want. You want to sell it? Cool. And hey, it has $450,000 in equity. I mean, it's worth $450,000. You pay it off. and let's say it goes down to 300 it just it almost cuts in half that would stink and you'd still have three hundred thousand dollars to to do life with if you sold your house and wanted to move see what i'm saying it's just another level of peace and so um i i can't recommend enough man i get all the smoke and mirrors that's out there and all the screaming and yelling and fires and all i get all the smoke and mirrors that's out there and all the screaming and yelling and fires. I get all that. There is something that we have seen over and over and over and experienced. Pay your house off, man.

Just get that sucker out of your life. Knock it out. And be able to sit back and then go, whew, now we can start making some different decisions. Yeah, no. And that's honestly the goal. It's just like I said, we're looking to move. So I know I'm not going to get that $275,000 mortgage paid off before we move. So I mean,

but you'll get that money back. Yeah. Yeah. I know I will. What's your household income? I make about a hundred a year. And that's just you? Are you married? I'm married. Yeah. I just work my last day's home. Okay, cool. So when it comes time to move, man, just roll over that equity, and you'll have a lot of peace. And the other thing is,

you got to unfollow and turn off the dudes out there going, it's so dumb to pay off your house, man. You could make so much more if you invest that money in the market. And I'm going, the market was down 18% last year. Like, where are they getting this free magical money guaranteed? And so I know that's out there, and that's probably a part of this equation, is you're going, I could make more with my savings account.

It's not apples to apples. There's no freedom like having a paid-for house. And the guys who say it's dumb to pay off your house don't have paid-for houses. They don't know what that freedom tastes like and feels like. So you know what to do, man. Keep chugging away at that mortgage, And even if you don't pay it off, it's a great forced savings plan to help me avoid stupid decisions. Appreciate the call. More of your calls coming up. 888-825-5225. This is The Ramsey Show.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney. Hey, if you're listening to this show, I hope you're enjoying what you're hearing. And if you do, if you like the show, please consider doing a few things that cost you nothing, but take maybe like a brain calorie. And that is consider hitting the subscribe button, leaving us a review wherever you're listening, and sharing this with a friend who might enjoy it. That helps a ton. It helps the algorithms love us, which really just means

we get to spread more hope and make more impact. Yeah. And actually, George, I think it's important to note, like, yeah, it makes us feel good and helps our numbers. That's cool. But if you are like me and you're frustrated when you see people spending money they don't have, not because you're high and mighty, but because you know what it's doing to their family you know what it's doing to our economy the more you like and subscribe and put five star reviews in there the more this thing kicks up into more algorithms and gets in front of more people it's a no it costs no money to get this message out in front of other people and so you don't have to say anything you don't have to proselytize about it.

All you have to do is like and subscribe, and it just kicks it up more and more and more and more. It helps dispel all the toxic crap out there. Right. Love it. Let's get to the calls. We got Joe in Lexington, Kentucky up next. Joe, welcome to the show.

Hey, guys. How's it going? Great. How are you? Oh, pretty good. I have a long, drawn-out story i'm gonna try to condense down as much as i can because it starts years ago um my wife and i currently we're not in any debt other than our house but i still want to go through the baby steps. Um,

you know, we've, well, okay. Let me preface this with saying, I tried to get her to do the baby steps, baby steps 15, 20 years ago. She fought me on it,

argued that we didn't make enough money to do it, continue to be heavily in debt. You know, I worked two jobs to make ends meet, you know, of course she worked as well. Uh, then my father passed away in 2020 and left me a decent amount of money.

And that was the only reason we were able to pay anything off. And we did under the unfortunate circumstances obviously um some of the money that we had left over my wife you know i kept it in savings and my wife kind of used it as a piggy bank you know uh whatever we went over whenever we went over our expenses she She kept pulling from it. And I explained to her that, you know, it's not an infinite amount of money. It's going to disappear if you keep doing that. And she just continued to do it. So I ended up taking half of the money, putting it in my own savings account, and saying, you can do whatever you want with your half that's left.

You know, I'm keeping a savings. So, you know, we have, you know, I'm trying to keep it as an emergency fund. Of course, that didn't go over well. But, you know, recently, within the last couple weeks, I've tried to stress that I wanted to be able to save money, create like a full emergency fund, save money for our kids' college funds. And she fights me on it constantly and says that we don't make enough money to do these steps. And I just want to know if she is totally against it, is there any way to get her on board with, you know, the baby steps?

So, Joe, I would tell you there's a lot going on here. This has nothing to do with money. And I think you're correct. This is a marriage that's in a lot of trouble. Am I right? Uh, I would, I would agree. Yes. And I think there's an extra layer now that she has burned through what you would consider holy money, right? Sacred money, money. My dad left us that we had to spend a huge chunk of to pay off last year's meals and last five years ago vehicles. An old man bailed me out one more time. I'm going to put this money and we're going to hold it and it's going to keep us safe in the future.

And she's buying shoes and clothes and whatever with it. Correct. That's not about money man that's about two people that i'm afraid are sit four inches away from each other on the couch every night but y'all are 4 000 miles away in what your marriage looks like in priorities in dreams and hopes and mental health issues all that stuff most of the time let me me just back it out. I think, George, correct me if I'm wrong,

but on the millionaire study, there is very few, if none, people who became very wealthy fighting a spouse the whole way. I think the data that Dave has spoken about, and I don't know it off the top of my head like you and Dave do, George, but a couple that works together in partnership is virtually unstoppable, not only financially,

but with just about anything. They do cancer together. They do passing of parents together. They do problems with kids together. They just ride or die, man. And conversely, spouses that drag on each other create a cascade of problems. One of those is financial. So no, I don't think you can just create this alternative universe where you get you out of debt and you suddenly just create this alt universe. I mean, it's just a further way to drive a wedge between you and your wife. Can I ask you a hard question? Sure. Why has she created an alternative life that does not include you?

Are you a guy who's always got a scheme or always got a plan or always like, hey, we're going to try this and try this? Or is she just really immature and undisciplined? I would have to say that she's undisciplined. She's not extravagant in her lifestyle, but her thing is that, well, I'm tired of giving things up. There you go. I've had to give up so much.

And I have to hear that all so much. And so that's, and I have to hear that all the time. Can I give you a hard word for that? Childish. Exactly. I have a seven-year-old daughter and that's what she says and it's developmentally appropriate

for her to say it. I don't even get mad at her. She's seven. Right. But the fact that I've had to give up everything is going to cost y'all all of it. And so the only way I've seen it be successful, George, hop in here. The only way I've seen it be successful is not for you to talk about the Dave Ramsey plan or total money makeover or financial peace.

But to sit down in front of your wife, y'all go out somewhere, get out of your environment at your home because we just act different there. And I always tell people to go to breakfast because it's early in the morning and it's not, I don't have to go to bed or anything like that. Go to breakfast, go to lunch and let her know, hey, we're going to have a big scope conversation. And you start that conversation, not throwing grenades at her. All of the conversation is I language. I am scared to death that I'm about to lose my marriage. I'm scared to death about our financial future so much that I can't breathe. I'm scared of looking my kids in the eye when they know granddad left them a lot of money

and they've got no college fund at all. I can't breathe. I'm so scared. Okay. Would you help, would you be interested in healing this marriage? Because if not, we need to have a harder conversation.

Right. But you see what I'm saying? All of this is about you. Because if you start being like, hey, you don't spend money this way. You don't do this. You don't do this. She has to put up a brick wall

to defend herself against you. She has her whole life probably. And I know she's got her own story. She's not here to defend herself. And I don't want to be in the business of talking bad about a man's wife. But you've got to go first and risk her looking at you saying, I'm not doing any of this crap. And then you're going to have some hard decisions to make.

I think if you lead with that vulnerability, Joe, it's going to change the conversation. She's going to go, this is a different Joe. He's not coming at me. He's not going with the what and the how. He's talking about the why. He's sharing his fears. He's sharing his dreams. And then once we have those laid out and you hear her side, what are your fears?

What are your dreams? What's driving this spending? What's the root cause? Well, then we can develop a plan. And the plan becomes, this is what we both agreed on is our shared vision, our shared goals. And then it's not one person against the other. Hang on the line here. I'm going to send you a free Financial Peace University for free and the EveryDollar app and the Total Money Makeover book. Y'all can do this together. So I'm going to set you up. And if you get to it,

after she agrees to begin repairing your marriage, this can be one of the tools that you'll use to get back on the same page. Hang on the line. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell joined by Dr. John Deloney. Open phones at 888-825-5225. So, John, this article got my attention because we've talked about sports betting a lot on this show, but this headline was interesting. Sports betting is the new OxyContin.

That's interesting. A really excellent way of explaining the problem here so that everybody's clear your state governments are profiting off the complete and total collapse of the state citizens mental health when it comes to the issues with sports betting especially you're able to just do it with your phone wherever you happen to be you don't have just, you can't go to a casino and you can just do it whenever. And states are raking in this money. So 33 states and DC, it's now legal. Unbelievable. Soon to be four more, six more are debating legislation. And we see these sports betting app. I've never seen advertising so aggressive from DraftKings, WinBet, BetRivers, FanDuel, Caesars,

and there's a bunch more. And now professional sports leagues are going, oh my gosh, we can make so much money through advertising and betting partnerships if we take advantage of this. Yeah, I love the way Brian Hatch, who's a recovering gambling addict and now an addiction counselor in Connecticut,

he writes, the industry is profiting off people with an addiction the same way the Sackler family profited off opioids. Opioids were pushed by the drug companies and doctors relentlessly. Gambling is now pushed by the industry and we're the government. We're here to help your state government, right? So you can't even blame it on the evil drug companies. Now it's the state government, right? So you can't even blame it on the evil drug companies. Now it's the state government, the same people who provide your roads

and your cops and your firefighters. Those are the folks saying like, hey man, have you thought about taking a sports bet? When they know how addictive this is, how destructive this is, and now with cell phones, there is no breaks. There are no breaks.

You had to get up, go get cash, and go to a casino. Then they put ATMs in casinos and made it a little bit easier. And your bank cut you off. And then credit came. Even the credit cards would cut you off. Now you just sit there with your phones, man, and go and go and go. And it's madness. Well, it feels more dangerous because it's socially acceptable. It's like, oh go and go and go, and it's madness. Well, it feels more dangerous

because it's socially acceptable. It's like, oh, it's innocent, John. It's sports. We're having a good time with the buddies. And it actually is. It can be a lot of fun, unless you got a problem with it. And that's...

Listen, man. But no one thinks they have the problem. They go, well, John, I mean, all my buddies do this. We have a good time and we leave. Yeah, sometimes I'm down a few hundred bucks, whatever. What do you say to that guy? Yeah, it's a mess.

It reminds me of folks who struggle with addiction, right? If you struggle with cocaine, one of the first things, or with alcohol, one of the first things they tell you to do, the first lines of defense, is you've got to change your environment. You've got to change the places you go, the people you hang out with. You have to avoid alcohol. You have to avoid places where cocaine is, right? If you struggle with disordered eating, it's infinitely more challenging because you can't avoid food. You have to make peace with it in your body. It's an infinitely more complex process.

It's hard, man. It's hard. It's what's why eating disorders is a disorder. Eating is one of the most deadly mental health issues there is. So similarly, there used to be guardrails. It was an event. It was a trip. And you could blow your family's savings in a weekend. And that's about where it stopped.

Now, you just have this phone with you all the time and so you've got to make peace with this and then you've got these government officials who just keep dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign which by the way doing a bang up job of spending what they got as is and they are just profiting off people who are falling apart if you look at the the number of people calling addiction hotlines for gambling it is astronomical when you look at the number of people who are are reporting losses astronomical it's just it's madness madness madness yeah and the math on it is extra sad i mean mean, there's professional bookies out there, and you're thinking, like, I'm going to beat these guys.

I'm going to get the spread. I'm going to take these odds. And in the long run, you always lose. And you've got to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to see any real money from this. And so if it's just innocent fun, go spend it on a great meal and just enjoy sports for what it is versus then adding this layer of peer pressure and addiction on top of that or if you're with if your finances are good and your buddies are putting ten dollars on a thing or i mean again i sound like i'm talking on both sides of my mouth they're they're the the recipe for this to get out of control is so significant and man i don't

want to be i'm not a fuddy-duddy like have a good time right but we all have folks in our life that we know hey i'm gonna be respectful that guy's two years sober we're not bringing alcohol to this thing everybody y'all are coming over to my house we're not drinking everybody just y'all i need y'all to know that awesome he's one of the gang it's hard to know that now and everybody's got a cell phone with them 24 7 365 this this whole thing makes me sick man it makes me it really is gross i think it's going to be the next kind of epidemic in the addiction world. Well, it's going to be equally an epidemic. You're going to have a group of citizens that are completely melted down,

and they were cheered and clapped on by their local representatives, and you're going to have government officials who are not great at windfalls. They get these, what is it, New Jersey bettors have waged nearly $35 billion. The states made $300 million off of it. In Pennsylvania, bettors have waged almost $20 billion, generating more than

$380 million. The government is going to come to see this as expected revenue and they're going to take it out on cops or we can't afford police officers or we can't afford to fix your roads because we don't have any more people to sacrifice.

It's just madness, man. It's really, really frustrating for me. Having sat with folks who are struggling with gambling addiction, I mean, it's enraging. It's enraging. Yeah, well, definitely seek help if that's you. If you have the self-awareness to go, I got a problem, please, please seek help. It's out there. All right, let's go to the phones.

Nick joins us over in Grand Rapids. Nick, welcome to the show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I just want to know if I should switch jobs from a job I like to a job in the same field, but with better pay and benefits. This feels like a home run. What's stopping you? I guess I just really like the job that I'm at right now, and it's kind of on the ladder that I want to be on.

You know, I want to own my own construction company at a certain point, and right now I'm learning every facet of construction. And in this new job, it'd be more specified and not so much everything. Do you think it would slow down your goal of running your own company if you took this new job? I think it could. I think it could because there's certain things like, for instance, framing a house. I'm learning that right now, but I don't know how to completely. And in this new job, I wouldn't be doing hardly any framing. How old are you?

I'm 21. And what's the pay bump? I guess not. I have an interview next week, so that's going to be specified. But it's probably at most a $4 an hour pay bump. Okay. But right now, I have no benefits at the job I'm at and the job that I would be going to has 401k, a lot more paid time off, health insurance, stuff like that.

That's big. I mean, so you're talking probably an 8k pay bump plus the benefits that you don't have any right now. And so you're paying for those out of pocket. Do you have health insurance? Yeah. It's actually subsidized because my wife is currently staying at home. So it's like 30 bucks for my son and I. Okay. A month. What are you going to be doing in your new job? Um, it's kind of like, I'd be like the wrap up guy kind of, um, going through that house, putting on the finishing, a couple of finishing touches, like cleaning up a good bit. Um, good bit, and occasionally doing more involved stuff. So how hard would it be to do this new job and also go above and beyond, show up a little bit early,

have somebody teach you some things, stay a little bit late to have somebody teach you some things? I have met some of the most generous teachers in my life on construction sites. Those tradesmen love to teach people their craft because they're so proud of the work they do. Is that possible? Yeah, I think it could be for sure. I guess I'd just be concerned about the, you know, specifically like framing a house and stuff like that. Like that takes a lot of hands-on work. You're exactly right. You're exactly right.

Here's what I want you to know. You're 21. Either job you take, if I'm you, I would take the, I would take the pay increase. I would. And I would work my butt off to learn and learn and learn in my spare time. Know this, the work you put in in your twenties and halfway through your thirties will be what cascades you through the back half of your life. Work like crazy right now.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney this hour. Call us up at 888-825-5225. Listen, sometimes you've got to buckle down and sacrifice if you want to make progress with your money. But today is not one of those days because we're giving you the chance to win some of Dave's money in the Ramsey Cash Giveaway. All month long, you can enter to win up to 500 bucks or the grand prize of $3,000. All you got to do is go to ramsaysolutions.com slash giveaway, and you can

enter daily, which will increase your chances of winning. And there's no purchase necessary, but you got to be 18 or older in order to win. And today keeps getting better because the $10 sale is also back. And I love a good deal. And inflation's not hitting us here at Ramsey Solutions. So we can still offer you some of our bestselling tools and products like Dr. John Deloney's book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, for the first time in the $10 sale. Ever. Ever.

That's amazing. And there's nothing better than being on commission and your boss saying, Hey, I'm going to start selling all your stuff for half price. It feels so good. It's for the good of the people, John. That's right. Buy two. And we have John Deloney's Questions for Humans conversation cards

for just $10 each as well. It also includes the Total Money Makeover, Baby Steps Millionaire, some of Dave's bestsellers there that will lay out the plan, help you pay off debt, and build lasting wealth. But don't wait. These deals are going to be gone soon. Go shop the $10 sale today at ramsaysolutions.com slash store, and don't forget to enter the giveaway at ramsaysolutions.com slash giveaway. All right, let's go to the phones. Matthew is up next in Salt Lake City. Matthew, what's going on?

Hi. So me and my fiance were in some debt, and I was just wondering, I've been hearing about e-commerce, and I was just wondering what your take is on us trying to get into e-commerce to pay it off. What do you think e-commerce is? So I don't quite have my opinion on it quite yet. I love it. It's like, hey, so we're going to do this internet thing where we get a million dollars. Can we do that?

Well, yeah, no, I get that totally. Is this dropshipping? What are you talking about here? Yeah, like dropshipping, I've looked into that. I've also been like having people approach me at work, and they keep offering these sit-downs to go and talk about TV. That's called multi-level marketing. Yeah, sophisticated Avon, dude, or essential oils.

Let me guess. They didn't tell you exactly what the business is, but it's a great opportunity, and you can make some extra money, right? That was a couple of them. Yeah. Those ones I know are not the real ones, you know. Here's what George and I will do for you. If you mail us $5,000, we promise to make good choices with that money, and you may be entitled to, yeah, don't do that.

Don't do that. How much debt do y'all have? So she has $18,000 in student loans and $2,000 in credit card. I have a, let's see, $12,000 on my car and about, I want to say, $2,000, $3,000 on my credit cards total. That's including medical bills. Okay, so we're talking $2,000, $3,000 on my credit cards total. That's including medical bills. Okay, so we're talking $35,000 total. And you guys are about to get married.

What's your household income going to be? So I'm making about a little over $20,000 a year right now. And she is doing part-time right now at a newspaper, and now she's going to be switching over to doing Walmart, working there full-time during the summer until she goes back to school. Are you in school as well? I am not, no. I chose, I'm like, I don't feel like going into debt for something that I have no idea what I want to do yet. What do you do for a living? I sell cell phones at Walmart Okay I think we need to get a better paying job

Can you just work the retail part of Walmart? Because if you're working full time You've got to be making more than $20,000 Yeah, that's Yeah, it's like $22,000 or something like that Yeah, that's like $10 an hour You're worth double than that

You can go to McDonald's and literally double your income Yeah, it's One of the things though is that worth double than that. You can go to McDonald's and literally double your income. Yeah, it's one of the things though is that I've been with this company for like two years. What company? They are taking your soul. You're about to be married. You're making 20 grand

a year. What is your loyalty to a company paying you minimum wage? And why is that loyalty greater than the loyalty to your new wife? And to the loyalty to you? You're worth more than this. Yeah, I'm getting paid. So I'm getting paid $14 an hour.

And this is like the job that I met my fiance at. Does that make it special? Is it like a special sweater? If I met my wife at Arby's, it doesn't mean I have to work at Arby's. Exactly. But if you're making $14 an hour, you've got to be making more than $20K a year if you're doing that full time. Yeah, we're doing it. I don't know.

It's very weird because last year I got laid off from the other company, and then we started up with a new company. I think you guys need to find careers instead of jobs, and that's longer term because you guys are young. How old are you? I'm 22. She's 23. Okay. Once we find careers, it's going to help pay off this debt, but e-commerce is not this. No, you're not in a position to run from it.

I just did a video on this on my new YouTube channel. It's called Savvy or Scammy, The Truth About E-Commerce Side Hustles. Go watch it. It's nine minutes, and I hope it talks you off the ledge of thinking that you're going to be the next guy. Construction companies make good money. That doesn't mean I should go start a construction business because I know nothing about it, and I have zero passion for it. I would love to see you ask to meet with a manager at the Walmart where you work. Do you work for a company within a Walmart?

Is that the deal? I work for Premium Wireless. There you go. Okay. Yeah, we're a separate company from Walmart officially. I need you to hear me say something. You are being taken advantage of. They are taking advantage of a 22-year-old guy,

and they say things like loyalty and yeah, bro, and all the opportunities. You are worth more than what they are paying you. I would love to see you stop by the management desk at the Walmart where you work and say, I'm interested in a management track. Could we talk? That's one of the things that i'm hoping to get no don't hope to get go get them go get them and they what's the worst they can tell you is hey man you're probably too young or you need to start stocking in the back and that only pays 18 bucks

an hour unless you work at night then it only pays 27 bucks an hour and then your eyes are going to pop out of your head and you're like wow i can make 45 000 slinging boxes overnight as a 22 year old yep yeah i don't know i just yeah like with this company that i'm with i'm hoping to eventually move up to management positions but i guess what you guys are trying to tell me is don't just want it or no don't just hope for it go get it no that's what we're telling you you're being taken advantage of and listen if they sat down and said hey we're paying you twenty thousand dollars a year we're going to grow five grand because we're a small company we're going to give you this responsibility we're going to move you here we're going to move you here. We're going to move you here. I might tell you, go get it. I've taken a pay cut several times in my career

to go to another job, but the map forward was very clear. What they're doing to you is taking advantage of a young guy who is very loyal, who doesn't have any additional education, and they are bro-ing out with you so you will stick around. That's what they're doing. And you can hear it in my voice. It makes me mad that they're doing that to you. More importantly, they're making you feel like you're one of the gang. And one day you're going to be in a management position. I promise you they're not making 20 grand. I promise you they're tripling or quadrupling what you're making. Yeah, my buddy who's the manager over me, he's making $40,000 a year.

I think you can do better than that. I guarantee you, in the same building where you go to work every day. So I think we need to do some soul searching here, and I'm going to help you out with that, Matthew. Number one, I'm going to send you my friend Ken Coleman's assessment, the Get Clear assessment, because I think right now you're just going at whatever the thing is in front of you. I think we need to pause and go, what was Matthew wired to do, created to do? What lights him up?

And whatever that thing is, you got an entrepreneurial spirit. Go chase that and do it the right way over time. We're also going to send you Ken's book, From Paycheck to Purpose, to help you get there because I think you're worth more than that. And as a newlywed couple, I want to see you guys win. I want to see you pay off this debt. So should we send them FPU too, John? Yes, I'm going to send you FPU. We're going to send it to you for a year. That's our wedding gift, FPU and every y'all are at. But listen to me, you get married in nine days. You're going to look at somebody on a stage and you're going to say, I do forever.

If you're going to make that kind of declaration and covenant and commitment, you have to put her and your future ahead of, I don't know, man, it may work out, bro. That nonsense is for kids and that nonsense ends today. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, go to ramseysolutions.com slash show.