The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Stay Gazelle Intense Forever?

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony discuss: Why you shouldn't stay gazelle intense forever, Planning for retirement later in life, Do the baby steps work even if you're older? Does it ever make sense to have more than one financial advisor? The best way for a blind guy to build wealth. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Dr. John Deloney, number one best-selling author of the book Own Your Past and Change Your Future, is my co-host today as we take your calls about your life and your money. It is a free call at 888-825-5225. Here on The Ramsey Show, we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create relationships number two line is joseph calling from savannah georgia to kick off this hour what's up joseph uh good afternoon gentlemen um

just uh want to call and uh ask for some words of encouragement and, um, help me as a, to stave off losing motivation. I'm on baby step number six, uh, currently working two jobs and I've been praying for God to help me with discernment to see if, uh, I should continue working in two jobs. Um, because the anxiety is just, it's getting to be a lot. And even though sending that big chunk to the mortgage company every month feels good. So you are debt-free except your house. Correct. You're putting 15% of your income into retirement. Correct.

Why are you working two jobs? Because when I started this, Baby Step 7 was always the goal. Yeah, but we didn't teach you to stay gazelle intense. After four, we said move from intense to intentional. You go from sprint to marathon when you go into four, five, and six. So how many hours a week are you working? It's two full-time jobs. Okay.

What do you make at your main job? I'm making $80,000. And what do you make at the second job? $60,000. And what do you owe on your house? $240,000. Are you married? No.

You have kids yes you have custody of the kids uh 50 and uh i'm covering tuition what is the second job consist of uh business analyst so both both works both jobs are remote so you you're never off cut the second job in half or by 75 or quit it completely today you don't need that 60k dave and i both know a bunch of millionaires who crossed that finish line and they looked around and had nothing that's why we teach it the way we do yeah you know you've you know you've taken gazelle intensity and put it over into those last several baby steps and it's not sustainable yeah the human body the human spirit you're gonna you're running out of gas that's why you're calling because you you're gasping for air and i don't blame you you're listen you're not afraid of hard work and you're actually not a workaholic you're just so goal-driven and focus-driven

that you've run you've run yourself out of your own shoes when was your divorce uh 2018 are you still running yes yeah you gotta stop because that shadow is chasing you and chasing you and chasing you and as the sun moves that shadow gets faster and longer it's gonna catch you there's something that is a little bit uh it feels like you're afraid if you sit still you won't like what you hear or see am i wrong or C. Am I wrong? I think being alone these last couple of years, God has been teaching me to listen to myself.

So I've appreciated being alone and taking the time to reflect. I think... I don't know when you had that time. The hours you're working. Listen, there is none, zero. There is no long-term wellness. There's no long-term healing. There's no long-term life with joy in it that is done in isolation. And that is done with this many hours in the job.

Two full-time jobs. It's not sustainable. You can do it for two or three years, and you have, because you busted through the first several baby steps, and that's fine. I'm not afraid of hard work, and I'm not afraid of telling people to go work hard. But, you know, the way I answer questions here, Joseph, is I woke up in your shoes. I'm three years to the side of a divorce. I got 50% of my time with my babies, and all i got left to do is knock out the mortgage i'm currently

putting 15 of my income away i make 80 i could easily take that 60 dial it back to 20 and i'd have so much free time i wouldn't know what to do with it and that's what i would do and then you just kind of i want you to take a deep breath and it feels like cold mountain air in the morning coming into your lungs. That's called peace, and just feel it. And that's what I would want for you. That's what I would want to be if I were you. And so I kind of did something similar, and I'm not accusing you of this, but when we went through bankruptcy, I worked like an absolute maniac the other side of that because I was so scared.

And I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to dial it back. And it wasn't a workaholism. It wasn't in that sense. But it was just a running, like John was saying. And so if I were in your shoes i'd dial it back yeah i think there's no question and i want when you do dial it back brother i want you to make a commitment to yourself i'm gonna go walk i'm gonna go to the gym a few times a week

and i'm gonna get a group of guys and i'm gonna invite them over to the house and we're gonna i don't know what you're into we're gonna watch fights we're gonna watch don't watch golf on tv god help you but we're gonna get a group of guys over together, and we're going to watch something. We're going to do something together, and I'm going to begin to build back relationships in my life. You had two years of being in complete and total isolation. That anxiety alarm that you're feeling is ringing off the wall because your body is saying, hey, we're not safe. You called us because you wanted us to tell you what you already knew. That's right.

That happens a lot around here. Dan is in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Hi, Dan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. How are you doing today? Great, man. What's up? Hey, I'm 61 years older.

I will be in July. I just went through a divorce two years ago and ended up selling the house and bought a holiday trailer to live in because I'm not going to pay for another mortgage. And I have about $170,000. That's $130,000 in cash and the rest in a mutual fund. But I'm trying to figure out what I should do for retirement because I have friends that are younger than me. They haven't had a stroke, and he can't drive anymore. My health is not the greatest, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. What's wrong with your health?

I just got screwed up guts. Screwed up guts and a bad back, so bad combination. Okay. Well, you're're not gonna be lifting anything for a living are you working oh yeah i'm a truck driver this is really not great for either or but i would like to get out of it and retire but that my plan was to get the house all paid off and and just get a part-time job and kind of enjoy life. And that kind of went out the window. Yeah.

Jump on RamseySolutions.com and hit the SmartVestor Pro button and find a SmartVestor Pro that can advise you on helping you get some of that $170,000 invested. It's sitting in a savings account, not making any money, and also sets you up as a Roth IRA and some other things to get some investing going so we can get your nest egg up a little better so you can relax here in the next couple years. It sounds like other than that, you're on your way. I just saw a study that really made me sad. It showed that families owning life insurance in the U.S. was at its lowest point since the 1970s. After what we've been through the past few years, I'm just lost on how people don't make this more of a priority. How are you going to make sure your family needs are

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Call Zander at 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com. That's 800-356-4 talk about your life and your money. If you've taken Financial Peace University university you know it's life-changing it's hard to watch your friends and family struggle with money when you know there's a way you know there's hope now you can actually help them change their family tree just like you did when you give them a ramsey plus gift card it bundles everything that they need to win with money into one gift it includes financial peace university a year of the premium version of every dollar the every dollar app so it connects to your bank and now we've also added unlimited group coaching from our team of financial coaches

so coaching every dollar financial peace university wow a ramsey plus gift card listen to this all of that that that should be like 500 worth of stuff 99 bucks and that's a year's access 99 bucks that's a deal that's a hookup man that's a deal i think we've made a mistake but okay but it's really it's it this is this is the best thing we do around here and one of the best thing we do around here, and one of the best things we do around here. And, man, so RamseySolutions.com slash gift. Get a Ramsey Plus gift card for just $99. You can give this to a friend. Maybe you know somebody's getting ready to graduate.

Hello. Getting ready to get married. It's wedding and graduation season. Gift card, $99. Get some everything. And here's the thing they can't throw it in the um back closet and not get it out for five years because it's only good for a year so they got to go do it and they can't buy something stupid on amazon with that gift card

so get them a gift card it's actually going to change their life you mean they're stupid stuff on amazon i've bought my share of stupid stuff it goes like every you know once a year this morning here's what you bought this morning. No, not this morning. But it says, if you don't want to buy stupid stuff on Amazon, the best thing to do is stay away from Rachel Cruz. Here's what you bought last year. And I look at it and go, oh, man, I really needed those special fishing hooks. I don't even know what that does, but I hit the button and got it delivered, yeah. Oh, all right.

David's in Dallas. Hi, David. How are you? Hey, Dave and Tom. It was great to talk to you and pick your brains on something today. Sure, what's up? Well, I'm 56. I've got $228,000 in six different debts, including two student loans, my wife's undergrad, and then my Parent PLUS loan for my kid, who has been on your show doing a debt-free screen back in 2018, and then also a master's work that I did.

Y'all are educated up around there. I hope you're making money. What's your household income? About $150,000. That's good. Actually, about $160,000 now, come to think of it. Okay. So what I'm trying to figure out is given, you know, my age, given the debt level, is it wise for me just to stick with Baby Step 2 or to go ahead and start putting some into Roth to start making some headway there?

What do you and your wife do for a living? We both work in education. She's a teacher and I work in IT. What do you do in IT? I'm a director. I manage email, voicemail, telephone systems, all the, my group handles everything that all the end users touch. So you're making how much of the $160,000? About $102,000. Okay. Are you allowed in your current contract to take any side consulting gigs? Yes.

Good. You need some. So here's what, number one, the answer to your question is no, you don't need to go get a Roth IRA. Instead, what you need is a vision for paying off this debt very, very quickly so that you're not panicked about the fact that you have no retirement. So what if I said, let's go completely out of our minds bizarre for two years and be debt free? You guys both are high intellect.

You're both very intellectual people. And if you're not careful, you're going to think yourself out of a visceral response to this problem, which is the fastest way out. I want you to get so pissed off that your eyes are bleeding and your brain quits thinking. And all you do is go make money like a maniac and get your income up at two and a quarter and live on beans and rice and you don't need to see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there and if you even get on amazon again i'm going to throw your computer in the dadgum trash and oh by the way you're not going on vacation you need to get your butt in gear and get this mess cleaned up that kind of emotion instead of using intellect to fix this problem because you use intellect to

fix everything because you're so freaking smart well if i were that smart i wouldn't be in this hey man you are both you are both highly educated very analytical people am i right pretty much yeah and so you're trying to figure out a way around this is why you called and instead i'm throwing dynamite in the middle of this thing, blowing you up, man. Well, I mean, I do pick up stuff that's primarily in the fall. It goes basically from August through January-ish, and I'm trying to add to it for the spring. I mean, I end up picking up additional stuff through work, working games, where I pick up, you know, $4,000 to $6,000 a year additional.

I'm talking about $50,000. Yeah, that's $5. I mean, that's $50 a pop. You got to make more than that. I'm talking about $50,000. You're in an industry where you can contract out and manage it from your home while your wife is asleep and go bananas. And I don't want you to do this for very long, but I want you to have no life so that very quickly you have a life again.

Because here's the thing. Let's pretend that you lost your mind and people thought you were crazy like I'm describing, and you guys just went bananas. You scorched earth on the lifestyle, and in two years you were free at 58. How rich are you going to be making by then probably $180,000 a year without working crazy and having no payments in the world for the first time in your recent memory? You're going to have so much margin that you're going to be able to throw

so much money. You'll probably be worth in excess of a million dollars by the time you get to 65 starting at 58 but you have this barrier in front of you and you have two years of hell to bust that barrier can y'all do that you know the only challenge we have is our daughter, single parent of an infant, and having to care for her sometimes and my wife having to juggle working late sometimes. But we can figure that piece out. It can also be a really challenging conversation sitting down with your daughter saying, we're going to be able to, we've got this plan,

which is going to benefit you and this young granddaughter in the long run, exponentially more than scattershot babysitting here in the current? Well, no, it's not that. She works 7A, 7P, and there is no daycare that we found. We found inexpensive daycare, 45 bucks a day, while she is at work and while we're at work but when we get home one of us is there watching that doesn't mean that i can't go ahead and work you know doing it stuff etc so so here's the thing um yeah there's a lot going on and you have some barriers the truth is though the best way to get where you want to be not the barriers the best way you

well they're they're obstacles uh they're things you have to work through whatever it is you can call them we can call them whatever we want to call them but best way to you be where you want to be uh nine years from today is what i just described but thinking about it and go get it done the highest probability of you getting there in the shortest amount of time is what i described from all of my 30 years of doing this i don't know a better way and it and it is not a better way to limp into retirement with three different kinds of student or four different kinds of student loans hanging around your neck and you've got a half butt roth ira right and that's where you'll be nine years from now if you try to just short circuit this system instead of punching this thing in the nose and but there's something that has to happen

inside of your deep down where you growl that's not your brain yes it's the i've had it moment and you're just howling at the moon and you're going no more i've worked my butt off i got this stupid parent plus loan i've got this kid single with a single mom one of my grandbabies and i love them dearly but dad gum what a mess and oh my gosh and i gotta fight through this and there's something you're just gonna have to double up your fist and just get after it and that's the best way out of this it's the fastest way out and i don't know a better way a modified version of that to tell you. If I did, I would. Because what I'm prescribing is a horrible two years.

I want you to have a miserable two years so that the next 25 are excellent. There you go. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Dead Free Stage. Kyle and Corinne are with us. Hey, guysinne are with us hey guys how are you great how are you better than i deserve it's so good to have you where do you guys live bellingham washington bellingham washington bit of a haul to nashville it was well it's good to have you thank you for joining us how much debt have you paid off 273 000 How long did that take? About five years.

Good for you. And your range of income during that time? About 92 to 140. Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a police officer. And I'm a part-time speech-language pathologist. Very good.

Cool. So five years and $273,000 in Bellingham, Washington. Was that your house? We're weird people, Dave. Woo! Look, talking to weird people. Yeah. I love it to weird people. Yeah. I love it.

Very cool. What's this house worth? Right now, it's around $750,000 probably. I hate it when that happens. I love it. How old are you two? I'm 39. I'm 38.

Not even 40 with a paid for three-quarters of a million dollar house. Yes. Y'all are truly weird. How much is in your 401k as your retirement stuff? Enough to probably tip us over to that everyday millionaire status. Way to go. Baby steps millionaires. Woo!

Wow. Look at you. You did it. Man. And not even 40 years old. No. And by the way, a police officer in a part-time speech path paid off their house before 40. Not brain scientists.

Not. They're not fixing rockets actually you're fixing neighborhoods which is harder for real but yes we're not making millions of dollars here man and they figured it out dude i gotta hear the story what happened this is incredible yeah how'd you do this uh so we bought a new house and uh we kept our old one as a rental because we just that's what people do i guess and then about a year into it, we decided that was not really good for us. So I started researching whether we should sell that house or not. And that's how I tripped on your materials. And after that, we decided to sell it.

We put all that money down on our current house, the new house that we bought. I was messing around with Excel, and you could see how much you would save by putting that amount of money, $40,000 down on it. And it was just incredible. It blows your mind. Yeah. And so then I just – Plus you got rid of all the hassle.

Right. Yes. Got my life back. And mostly him. He took care of everything. It's a pain in the butt. It is. Yeah, it wasn't for us.

So then I just deep-dived into your material, Dave. I just kept going to Corinne and saying, okay, let's put a little extra money on the house, and we can get it paid off early. And I'd just say, okay, sounds good. I come back to her and say, okay, I think we can do a little bit more. Totally fine. And then a little bit more. And it just kept going like that. Corinne, when did you finally say enough? I didn't. You didn't? No, I mean, I was, I was on board. I really. So he incrementally warmed you up to where you didn't even realize how crazy you got. He did.

It's like a frog in the water. Yes, completely. I got it. And I just trusted him completely with the finances. He kind of handled it. She's sweet. And I just, I mean, he would talk to me about it. And when he showed me that Excel spreadsheet and said, we're going to save this much, that was powerful for sure.

Then on that basis, we're doing that. I still wasn't fully. I wasn't fully i wasn't fully i like that as much as i trusted him okay yes i looked at the numbers and then i trusted him well and then i think what really happened is kovat happened and then that's when i well he'd always listened to you um actually one time i even asked him in the car i said why do you listen to him you know all the answers because he would spout them out before you. And COVID hit and news was just gloomy and sad and everybody was depressing. So I thought, I'm going to listen to Dave Ramsey. And I got hooked. You were hopeful

and you were upbeat. And you and John Deloney specifically just helped in those very early months of COVID for me. And I started listening and thinking, this is actually something I want to do. And you offered financial peace for free. And so we watched it at home after the girls would go to bed. And as I watched all your classes, I realized, oh, man, our opportunities will increase if we do this, if we pay off the house. And then also your generosity video really spoke to me. I was like, I want to be that person that offers to pay for somebody at the grocery store,

which I've done once and he turned me down. And that's where we just really started dialing it up. I think that going to that class really clicked in the why. And for me, it was like, man, what does this future look like with the girls? What kind of trips can we do for them? Pay for their college, maybe buy them a home later in life. And then for Corinne, it was for the girls. It was for education. I didn't really want to go public schools.

And I wanted to have that opportunity to either do homeschool or private school. And without having the financial burden of a mortgage, it just allowed me to either go even more part-time or quit my job or private. And just opportunities. Wow. Way either go part you know even more part-time or quit my job or private and just opportunities wow way to go you guys you're amazing well done so powerful the last 24 36 months has been real tough on police officers how have you kept your foot on the gas at home while also navigating a really just a tough work environment? Great question. I wasn't prepared for that one. Yeah, you know, that goes to kind of like how you do it. And I think it's just really intentionality for us was we just had that goal and it sort of drove what we chose to do and what we chose not to do in our lives. And

I've just found that you're successful at what you're intentional at. And so we really dove into the house. And I wouldn't say we made huge sacrifices, but it was just consistent choices. And then I think that's the same at work too, is you just have to make consistent choices of, I'm here to do this. I'm here to serve my community. I want to make a difference, and I just got to keep reminding myself that because there is a whole lot of people that will tell you that you're there for a different reason. Yeah, that's incredible.

Yeah. I'm not, you know, I read the other day a guy said, I'm not responsible for the narrative of me that you have in your head. That's right. But that idea, I tell you what, you just summed up therapy. You summed up workout programs, diet programs.

Goals are a function of what you're intentional about, period. In business, you just summed it up right there. That's incredible, guys. Well done. You're not even 40. I don't know how to wrap my head around it. Yeah, it's beautiful, beautiful. Pretty exciting.

How does it feel to not have a payment in the world? It feels great. Yeah. It's still a little weird, I have to admit. I haven't really felt it yet, but I don't know. Kind of surreal? Yeah, it's very surreal. And to not even be 40,

and I think both of us secretly had a little goal to do this before we were 40. Not a secret anymore yeah it's not the secret's out you did it no i love it i can't wait till uh kyle you're gonna pull somebody over in about six months and they're gonna be like oh millionaire giving me a ticket that's what i'm talking about that's gonna happen that's gonna happen next week oh my god congratulations hard to be intimidating now that's always been hard for me oh my goodness well done you guys we got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you you should be in the book you did it exactly the way that uh is laid here. Five years they pay off their mortgage from the time they set the goal.

$750,000 paid for home at not even 40 years old. Also, a copy of Total Money Makeover, you can give that away to somebody and continue to spread the ruckus that we're causing out here in America. We're trying to stir it up, and we appreciate all you guys out there helping us do just that. Spread the word about the podcast. Spread the word about the Debt-Free Screams. Spread spread the word about dr john's number one best-selling book spread the word about the number one bestseller baby steps millionaires because i'm sitting here looking at two of them boom this stuff is real people this stuff is real i'm so proud of y'all it works yeah we we got a great story about the the total money makeover corinne came to me i was like

i'm not sure who who we're going to give the book to right and i was like don't worry god will tell us who to give it to and the next day she came to some with somebody that said hey i want to talk to you about that dave ramsey guy there it is just like that all right let's bring the girls up what are their names and ages penny is six and hattie is three all right we're gonna do our debt-free scream house and everything those two right there have had their lives changed their family tree is changed by their brave courageous mom and dad 273 000 paid off in five years making 92 to 140 house and everything baby steps millionaires before they're 40 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're done free

yeah i love it so So cool, man. As Rachel always says, there was a day I was that little girl. Yep. Man. Goes quick. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Let's pray. Our scripture of the day, Exodus 15, 13. In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

Joe DiMaggio said, A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader just by example dr john deloney ramsay personality is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225 shane is with us in cleveland ohio hi shane welcome to the ramsay show hey thank you both uh It's an honor to be speaking with you. You too. What's up? Hey, so my question is this, I guess a little context. My wife and I discovered your program two years ago, which a lot of happened in the last two years, obviously. Very thankful for that. And we are, we'll be in Baby Step 7 a year from today is our plan. And my question to you is, does it ever make sense to have more than one financial advisor in your corner? What would be the purpose? So we've been looking through the ELPs, we've been shopping around and we found some really great people in our area. And there's

just a few that we really like. And we're just curious, does it make sense to maybe give a little bit of money one and then a little bit of money to the other and see who performs better? Is that just overcomplicating things or does it make sense to do that? I try to keep things as simple as possible. Yeah. It's using the tool wrong. It's not up to them to perform. It's up to you to perform.

It's up to them to teach you and you make the decisions and if both of them are teaching you and they're giving you slightly different teaching then you're just going to be confused so i would use one but you don't want to you're not handing them the money as a test and going okay who wins the race because they're not handing them the money as a test and going, okay, who wins the race? Because they're not in the race, you are. You see the difference? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, and so, you know, I don't get two tax guys to run my, or tax people to run my tax returns and see who wins i think my tax is done right with the most possible uh money not going to the government the least money going to the government possible and um you know so that

that's the goal that is legal and moral and you know uh we just came through an audit which is the first time i've gotten that wonderful um inspection of my body parts. It's like an enema, right? Yeah, unbelievable. And it came out, you know what it came out with? Owing zero. Wow. That's how good we are. Because we're fanatics about the integrity of doing it properly.

Right, yeah. We don't lie. We don't cut corners. We don't cheat. I hate taxes. I hate that the government takes so much of my money, but I'm going to do it exactly right. So it's my job to make sure that the stuff's filed right, and I use an advisor, a professional in that corner. Yeah, I just learned to play golf. I've been learning to play golf. I'm not any good in the last three years.

And one of the best pieces of advice I got, and everybody's got a freaking opinion about golf. I've never seen a sport with as much diverse stupid stuff in it i mean my god and so but one of the the single best piece of advice i got is don't get more than one coach because they'll just they'll make you schizophrenic at your golf swing and you know make you multiple personalities with your golf swing whatever whatever the phrase is it's a metaphor here but um anyway so yeah i so i got one guy and i'm doing that one when i cease to believe that he's moving me to the next level then i'll get a different guy well and that's what i heard here is i like them i want to prove i want them

to prove themselves to me and if you don't trust the person yeah with your retirement account that's teaching you go to somebody else but the proving needs to be did i learn something and am i comfortable making these choices with my cause they showed me how to handle my money right not because i handed it to them and one of them does better than the other one or they gave me some magic dust package that was going to the financial world is full of those people. Yes. That's exactly right. That's what we're looking for. So that's a really good question, Shane.

Great question. But yeah, I use one insurance professional. I use one real estate professional, my son-in-law. I use one golf coach, one smart investor pro. That makes sense because I had sent you an email back asking if I could help you with your golf swinging. You never wrote back.

I now understand it wasn't because of me. It's because I have played golf with Happy Gilmore. You know the running swing that Gilmore has as he runs at the ball with a driver? I'm not great. This is John.

I'm not great. I play with John, and John drove a 310-yard green. On the 18th green, he drove the green, 310 yards. The rest of the day, he drove the woods with style. Hey, man. I'm not great. I don't know how many balls he started with. I know how many he ended with. Hey, I borrowed somebody not great. I don't know how many balls he started with. I know how many he ended with.

Hey, I borrowed somebody's clubs because I don't have my own. And a week later, they're like, hey, man, you owe me like 20 bucks. Yeah, you tore up my clubs. In balls. Oh, you used up their golf balls. 20 bucks? Hey, man, I sent golf balls all over America. I don't know where.

No, that was 200 bucks. 20 bucks wouldn't have bought those golf balls. I'm not great, Dave. I'm not great. I'm not great. Yeah, that's, well, you was $200. $20 wouldn't have bought those golf balls. I'm not great, Dave. I'm not great. I'm not great. Yeah, that's, well, you brought it up. You brought up coaching me, so I'm just saying.

I'm not great, but I'm not happy Gilmore. You're better than me. I was afraid we're going to have to go in the pond with that alligator and get some of those back. Oh, that's a great one. Thank you, Adam Sand sandler for the memories uh all right open phones at 888-825-5225 timothy's in washington dc hi timothy how are you hi day thank you so much for taking my call sure how can we help so i have just started a brand new job uh coincidentally, in the federal government, working for the Library of Congress in their Braille music division.

And I am very illiterate when it comes to benefits and retirement and stuff. I've heard my parents talk about it, but I never actually pursued it very deeply to learn all the ins and outs of what each thing means. I've been in touch a little bit with your SmartVestor pros, and they told me I need to get a financial cushion under my belt first before I think about investing. And so I just wanted to find out from you what your advice would be to someone who's 28 years old just starting at work

and basically starting from the bare bones bottom i have no debt at all yeah you're ahead you're way ahead brother congratulations actually people don't start from the bottom they usually start from subterranean and they have to get dig up to the bottom but yeah you're you are starting to but hey congratulations so braille music is that what you said yes sir that's so cool are you braille literate i'm assuming so very cool man are you sight impaired blind i'm sorry yes i am i'm totally blind okay wow good for you man that's a great job rock star dude that is so cool all right so the process will not be any different and so what you're saying is is that I don't even have the basic tool set.

I need a starter tool set to get going with this whole money thing. Agreed? Well, I've got financial peace. You do? I'm in the Ramsey Plus membership. Okay. Yeah, obviously the audio of all of that is very valuable to you then. Oh, yes.

And then I do have access to some of your books electronically there's a website called bookshare that has a lot of your material yep yep we tried to make sure they get it so that's good and we appreciate them carrying it so the uh good good okay so that's it i mean you're going to work the baby steps you're going to make sure you have the proper uh insurances in place and that's one of your lessons in Financial Peace University. You're going to, you know, make sure you get your emergency fund in place, which is what your Smart Investor Pro told you to do, and then you're going to start investing. And you said it's a federal government employee, right?

Yes, sir. Okay, so you've got the TSP available to you, and when you start doing that, you're going to investigate. You're probably going to want to do about 80% in c about 10 in the s and about 10 in the i that's small company and international the c is common stock it's about like an s&p 500 fund and if you put money in those for uh a couple decades you'll probably be a millionaire if you load them up that's awesome and so you'll be on your way and you're right on track you're a neat guy man that's so cool i'm glad to hear that i didn't even know that existed that the braille music that's so cool the library congress is yeah i

know it's fascinating yeah but i mean that's that's amazing very cool good show john and james and ben and everybody in the booth everybody thank you thank you thank you that puts us out of the day of the ramsey show in the books we'll be back with you before you know everybody in the booth. Everybody, thank you, thank you, thank you. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of the Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to the Ramsey Show every week?

A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.