The Ramsey Show - App - Small Tweaks Can Lead to Big Gains (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 14, 2020

Career, Debt, Business, Relationships, Home Selling, Retirement Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where we hang out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, and co-hosting with me this hour is Christy Wright, and we are looking forward to engaging with you, talking to you about what's on your mind. So, we've got people out there live. It's so good to see real people looking good and smiling. And Christy, I'm excited to be in here with you. Are you awake and ready?

I'm ready. I love getting to answer questions with you because we get feisty, and the combination is sometimes intense. You're intense. I'm intense. You put us together. This is going to be a good hour. Well, to ask you if you're awake is ridiculous because you're always ready to go and excited.

So listen, America, we want you to call us, 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Listen, I have to go down and double check the number because I get in the habit of doing my show, and I know you get in the habit of doing yours where you're giving people an opportunity to be able to call in. So, 888-825-5225 or find us on social media. Now, Christy, you without a doubt are a social media guru. You are all over the Instagram. I love Instagram.

It's so fun. It's so easy. You do. You are much more video than me, but you have a lot of fun. How can people find you? At Christy B. Wright. Okay. Christy B. Wright. That's have a lot of fun. How can people find you? At Christy B. Wright. Okay. Christy B. Wright.

That's it. Okay, good. Follow her. You can follow me at ChrisHogan360. And of course, you can follow the Ramsey Show at Ramsey Show. So we're excited. We've got a lot of things going on. I want you to send in your social questions.

If you've got a question and it's dealing with kind of life or dealing with direction uh dealing with business or money find us on social media send in your questions we do have some people have already sent them in and we're going to get to the phones and take your call so let's do this we're going to go to jamie is in phoenix arizona jamie how can christy and i help you hi guys thanks so much for taking my call. Right now, I currently work as a brand ambassador. I make about $51,000 a year. I just graduated college. But I got offered a job in my dream field in Northern California,

but I would be set to a two-year contract making only about $27,000 a year. I'm wondering if it's worth the pay cut, and if it's just worth it to follow my dream. Oh, so your primary job right now, Jamie, is paying you how much? $51,000 salaried. Okay, $51,000, and this dream job, as you describe it, would only be paying you around $27,000. Is that correct? Yeah, $27,000 in the first year, and the second year would raise up to about $29,000 to $30,000.

Okay. What's the dream job? Did I miss that? Did you hear that? No, no, she hadn't told us yet. What's that? The dream job would be to be in the broadcast field, so I would be an anchor. Oh, cool. Okay. All right, let me ask you this, Jamie, as we're kind of talking some of these numbers, and I know Chris is going to ask about this as well. Have you looked at the cost of living? Because California is no joke from what I hear. I haven't lived there, Jamie, as we're kind of talking some of these numbers, and I know Chris is going to ask about this as well. Have you looked at the cost of living? Because California is no joke, from what I hear. I haven't lived there, Jamie, but that's what I hear. In addition to the salary cut, we need to look at the cost of living as well. Definitely, yeah. It's pretty pricey. I would definitely have to get a second job. Gotcha. Jamie, is that opportunity, I notice you're in Phoenix, is there an opportunity for you to do that or approach that in the Phoenix area? Yeah. There is, but then you

actually start off in a smaller market, so I probably wouldn't get any earlier time. And I've done a lot of internships here, but usually you have to move in order to kind of climb up the ladder. Okay, all right. Keep your mouth up by the phone, young lady, so we can make sure we hear you. So tell me this. What baby step are you on? I'm on baby step two. So I have $30,000 in savings right now, a little over $30,000,

but I do have student loan debt, and I'm just trying to actively pay off the debt right now. All right. So you got $30,000 in student loan debt, you said, correct? In savings. Savings. Oh, in savings. What kind of debt do you have?

So $4,000 left on a stupid card. How much? $4,000. $4,000. Okay. And then I have about $ 37,000 in student loans. Gotcha. All right.

So you are, this new job that they gave you an opportunity, when do you have to let them know by? In a week. Wow. What's your gut tell you? Oh, God. My gut probably tells me I've been with close people nearby and they tell me just to wait. But they don't understand that you have to kind of pay your dues

at first. My gut is telling me to wait and maybe see if something can close your closer near to home. Listen, well, no, that's called wisdom, young lady. You are able to step and look at this in a much different way. So many people would look at this with their heart that they would say, Chris, this is the only opportunity. If I don't take this, it's never going to happen. And you and I know better.

You and I know that you've got to put yourself in a position to not only get there and be able to do the job. But as Christy mentioned, California, they charge for air out there like you. You have to pay to breathe. And I'm going to tell you, I like the idea of you pausing, getting a more intentional about this debt and putting yourself in a position to be able to grab that next opportunity. What's your thought? Yeah, here's the thing. The idea of the dream job sounds like a dream right now. It will literally become a nightmare when you cannot make your bills and you resent your boss,

you're mad at yourself for taking the opportunity. But just like we said, it's not the only opportunity. Here's what I was thinking. People always tend to think in either or, it's this or that. I like the combination. So I like her staying in Phoenix, working on the debt,

still doing the brand ambassador thing, but doing maybe an internship or starting to like kind of shadow at the local news station to see what's a day like. Could I could I do some field work? How does someone get some opportunity and exposure there? Maybe as you work your way into that field, your brand ambassador thing, maybe they have an option for a part time gig where you can supplement your income still doing that while doing some journalist work. And it becomes this piecing it together thing in the interim while you figure out what you want to do versus this terrifying leap and not making any money. No, you're absolutely right.

Because the last thing you want to do is get out there and be miserable, right? And you can't provide for yourself. That's going to end up being an irritation. So Jamie, again, I get more intentional. You've got $30,000 in the bank. What that means is that, guess what? Smallest to biggest car is getting paid off today, right? You've got that. You need to pay that off. Then you can go down. Let's see. That's $30,000 in the bank. It's going to leave you with $26,000. You need to keep $1,000 in your emergency fund. You got $25,000 going toward that student loan debt. It's going to leave you with $26,000. You need to keep $1,000 in your emergency fund. You've got $25,000 going toward that student loan debt.

It's going to leave you with $12,000. That's the bottom line. Now, I know I did some quick math, but we need to quickly put you in a position to be able to grab the next opportunity that comes your way. You are going to be fine. Keep your mind focused. Start to reach out and be active in your connecting with people. As Christy said, you've got an opportunity to do some stuff right in the market that you're in. Gain some experience, what's going to put you out there, and then keep your eyes open. But stay allergic to debt because debt withholds. It withholds your

peace, it withholds your mindset, and it also can prevent you from grabbing opportunities. That's a big deal. Stay on the line, Jamie. We're going to send you a copy of Ken's book, Proximity Principle. I love giving other people stuff, Jamie. We're going to send you a copy of Ken's book, Proximity Principle. I love giving other people stuff away. So we're going to send that to you so you can learn how to connect with some other people. All right, listen, stay tuned. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. You've got Christy Wright, Chris Hogan.

We're feisty and we ain't finished, people. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much and the cheap knockoffs are ugly and really don't protect your eyes. Discovering Shady Rays is a game changer.

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Listen, if you have been wrestling with a money question, relationship situation, business thought, this is the time to call us. 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or find us at Ramsey Show. We'd love to be able to hear from you. Now, speaking of which, we got a social question in from Angel. Angel says, Christy, I want to start a business, but the one I want to start has about a $5,000 startup cost. I don't have this, but I have excellent credit,

and I can get a personal loan from the bank. But I know how you feel about debt. What suggestions do you have for me? I really want to do this. Yes. Okay, so I get this question a lot, and Hogan, here's the thing. People have an idea in their head that business debt is different from personal debt. It's not different.

It's all debt. It's all a bad idea, and it's all yours that you have to pay at the end of the day. So here's the thing. A lot of times we dream these big dreams. Like I've got this Cadillac version of my business in my head, and that's what I want to go for. What I encourage people to do is say, hey, that's awesome for a vision for the future. Let's back out of that and figure out what's the Honda Accord. What's the used car version?

What's the baby version, the low-hanging fruit, the quick win that you can start with and cash flow with cash that you have. And then what happens is, and you've seen this a ton through business coaching, Chris, but what happens is you're learning about what the market wants. Business is a conversation with the marketplace. So as you put out your 1.0 version of your idea, your product or service, you're going to get feedback from people. Hey, we love this or we don't love this. You're validating your idea. You're learning a lot about what you need to do more and less of. And then as the cash comes in, the business grows and you can put out the 2.0 version,

3.0 version. Eventually one day you're at the Cadillac version, but we're not going to launch with that. Whether your Cadillac version is $5,000 or $500,000, we're not going to take out debt to get there. We're going to start small and grow slow. We're going to learn a lot along the way and own it every step of the way. And it's going to keep our risks down and we're going to have a lot more fun in the process.

See, I like that. And really also what it does, Christy, is it also helps to find out for people to find out how serious they are about it. Like, what are you willing to sacrifice? Like, you know, you're going to have to give up sleep. You're going to have to sell some stuff. You're going to have less time with kids and less time with X, Y, and Z. But those are all things to find out if you're seriously committed. Yeah. And there's a difference between being interested versus being committed. That's a good one.

I love how Seth Godin says, if you wait until you have success to commit, you'll have neither. And so you need to commit if you're going to have success. And sometimes that commitment is doing a Google search and setting aside some savings and doing some of the grunt work that's not impressive and not exciting to get to the place that you want to be. I always use the example of the iPhone. We're on the iPhone 11 now, I guess. They started with the iPhone 1. And then two, each iteration has improved and changed based on consumer feedback. And it's no different for your business, even if it's a different industry. So just start small, grow slow, and you can avoid that debt. That's fantastic.

So Angel, there you have it. You've got that question. You definitely can get started. It's all a matter of taking the steps and doing it the right way. That's fantastic. All right, we're going to get to the phone. But before I do, I know people right now are finding themselves getting to the end of the month and having no idea where all their money has gone. And that's frustrating, and it's irritating, and it can start to impact all kinds of areas of your life. And as soon as money comes in, it's going right back out.

So I think it's time to take control. You want to be the one that tells your money where to go and when it's allowed to leave. You can be in that kind of control. What you have to do is get intentional and get on a budget. And I'm talking about every dollar. Every dollar will give you an opportunity to have more control than you ever thought possible. Listen to me. Money will obey better than children. Did you know that? Money will sit down. It can't go do anything until you give it permission. But what we have to do is take control. So the best way to do this is with Ramsey Plus. You've got a membership that gives you an opportunity to get plugged in with our best

money products, including the premium version of Financial Peace University, also the budgeting app EveryDollar, and you're going to be able to budget, track, and be able to engage more than ever. So you can give all of this a free trial by going to Ramsey Plus today by, again, never having to wonder where your money is going. All you have to do is this. Get ready to text this word. Text the word BEGIN to 33789. Again, text the word BEGIN to 337-889, and you can start your Ramsey Plus trial today. Do it, people. It's a great opportunity to get connected in community, but also it gives you access to coaches, and I'll talk a little bit more about that. Right now, we're going to get to the phone. We've got Vivian on the line. Vivian, how are you? I am so good. Chris and

Christy, how are you both doing today? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? Sure. So I am so close to finishing Baby Step 2. I have read Total Money Makeover last summer. I have paid off $14,000 in debt over the last 12 months, and I have $3,500 left on my student loan.

That actually feels really good to say. That is fantastic. Yeah, so once I pay off the rest of that $3,500 left on my student loan. That actually feels really good to say. That is fantastic. Yeah, so once I pay off the rest of that $3,500, I will be debt-free except for my mortgage. And my question is, I'm planning on moving in. I currently live in the house that I own right now. I'm planning on moving in with my boyfriend at the end of the year. My question is, do I rent out the house and then use that rental income profit to fully fund my emergency fund and then after that, pay down the mortgage? Or do I just sell the house? I don't really have

too much experience with real estate investments. I've been renting out a room in the house to try and pay off this serious amount of debt. But yeah, I'm just a little lost on what to do. How long have you and your boyfriend been dating? Since early this year. Oh, since early this year. And so when's the wedding? Well, we haven't talked about that yet. Oh.

But you've talked about moving in? I feel confident in that decision. I would really like to just figure out what to do with the home. Yeah. Well, my concern is that we're doing some stuff backwards, Vivian. Okay? Now, listen to me. First and foremost, let's say a hypothetical, and you go, hey, you know what?

I'm going to do this the right way. And we're going to get engaged and get married and say you guys are getting married. This is a scenario in which I can give you help. Then from there, what I would do is start to look at this home and say, am I in a position to be a landlord? Meaning if people come in and rent and they don't pay, do you have the money to make the payment on the mortgage? That's the reality. So push come to shove. I'm selling the home, but again, I'm not going to give up my home to go be with someone that I don't know is going to stay with me or not. So that's why I'm saying I'm encouraging you to not make a financial joint decision when

there's not a joint right now, right? There's not a we, there's a pronoun problem. There's a you and there's a he. So you want to make decisions that are in the best interest of you with where you are in life and where you can be later. And I say that, Christy, because I've seen people that have entered into agreements with people they're not married to and they get sideways or you change and now you've got a business relationship with someone that you're no longer connected to at the heart. That leads to headache. Yeah. And especially the thought of, like you said,

I like to forecast and play out several different scenarios to see how they could potentially play out. I'm an optimist, Chris. So like in any situation, I'm like, it's going to be great. It's totally going to be fine. Me and my husband have very interesting discussions about that because he's like, you know, he's like, let's be practical. And I'm like, oh, it's fine. But let's say that it's not fine. Let's say that, you know, Vivian sells her house and then moves in with the boyfriend and then they break up. And then on top of the heartbreak of the breakup and having to move out, she also doesn't have somewhere to live where she was a homeowner before that point. And so it just really compounds the stress.

So I really do. I like your advice of looking at different hypothetical situations, seeing how that would play out, and then saying, okay, I'm going to make the best decision I can today for me because I'm a me and this is what I want to do based on what's best for me. So I like that. That's good. Vivian, as you hear that again, just thinking through, uh, and planning out. And again, I like what Christie's saying. You don't want to have the mindset of best case scenario.

You want to have the mindset of what's realistic, right? And so I would tell you to hold on to your home as you're walking through and getting yourself through the baby steps. If this relationship does get serious and it does have a ring and you got to start to plan, again, I wouldn't combine finances until you're married and then you can start to make those joint decisions.

But it's important, you know? And I want people to look. Everybody, like you said, can assume the best. But you know what happens when you know, and I want people to look, everybody, like you said, can assume the best, but you know what happens when you assume, right? If you don't Google it, somebody will tell you the bottom line is, is you want to be clear and you want to make two year decisions. Here's what I mean by that. I want to make a decision today that I look back on in two years and I'm glad that I made it. That requires us to have some forethought and some awareness, get some guidance. Be smart,

people. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback. But thanks to Christian Healthcare Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the longest-serving health cost-sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau-accredited charity.

It's Christians helping other Christians, and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, and I've joined in studio this hour with Christy Wright, and I was just

talking to Christy about her show, The Christy Wright Show, and I wanted to know, Christy, what is your show about? Is it just for women? Talk to me. You've got all kinds of questions. This is what's been fun. So, you know this. I have helped women for years on starting a business. I love helping

them start businesses out of something that they love, and what I've learned along the way is that what they want more than a business that they love is they want a life that they love. And so we've really expanded. It's not so much pivoting as expanding. And now I'm just helping them in other areas of their life because what I noticed over the last couple of years, Chris, is women would listen to the podcast, come to the business boutique conference, buy my book, et cetera. And I would say, well, what kind of business are you working on? You know, what's your idea? I said, oh, I don't have a business. You just help me with my goals or you help me push past my fear or you help me, you know, chase my career dream or whatever that thing is. And so we thought, hey, let's, let's listen to the market. Like we say, and we're

going to start to help people in more areas than just business. So we really started with the first five episodes in June, being focused on helping women build confidence from the inside out, focusing on their spirit, their mind, their body, their relationships, and their resources. And now we're just kind of doing deep dives on those topics. We're talking about how to have more time, how to have more energy. What is life balance? Is it possible?

So just real practical day-to-day things that we struggle with. And it's not just for women, even though mostly women watch and listen um it's things we all struggle with you know in the cult the busy culture that we're all in trying to make it some so how do they find the show yeah so it's on youtube the grissy wright show it's a weekly show now which is really fun and then also of course you can listen to the audio on podcasts wherever you listen to podcasts and so it's been really fun to do that just a couple questions here because you said it's not just for for women has rachel cruz been on the show with you y'all i'm in trouble commercial right no we didn't no no no excuse me okay focus look at me has rachel cruz been on the show yes has chris hogan been on the show now listen you were on recently on the business boutique podcast

we just need to bring you back. We need to bring you back. I can't even look at you right now. No, listen, Christy has energy. And I'm going to tell you right now, male or female jumping in and being able to hear from this young lady who has a fire in her spirit and a love for people and a desire to help you push past whatever's standing in your way, I highly encourage you to get engaged with it and listen to the content. And not just listen, but apply it. And I'm proud of you, and I'm excited for the direction you're going. I know you're going to make an impact.

You're so kind, Chris. I really do. You're so kind to me. I really and truly do. Thank you. All right, listen, everybody. I've got a show as well. You can plug in.

It's the Chris Hogan Show. We take callers. You can find out more about that at my website. Oh, tell them the episode that I was on. Wait, wait, wait. a show as well you can plug in it's chris hogan uh the chris hogan show we take callers uh you can find out more about that at my website oh tell them the episode that i was on wait wait wait a wait a minute hold on christy i'm sorry he's gonna mute my mic now i'm over here in the big chair leave me alone all right listen we want your calls out there call us triple eight eight two five five two two five again that's eight eight eight two five25-5225 i don't know why i can't learn to stop when i'm ahead messing with this fireball over here all right mark what rescue me my friend

what can christy and i do for you hey mr hogan thank you for taking my call hey i just retired yesterday after a 30-year career. All right! Congratulations. Well, thank you so much. And I am better than I deserve, I promise you. Yeah, I know, brother. I just want to run some numbers by you and just confirm what I feel that we're confident. We're on baby step

six. Okay. We're debt-free except for our home. Okay. We owe $69,000 on that, and we probably have $150,000 equity in it. Okay. I have a 401K that has $535,000 in it. Mm-hmm. I have an IRA that has $240,000 in it.

Mm-hmm. I will receive an annual pension of just over $54,500 a year. And my wife's 401, current 401 has over $615,000 in it. And she will continue to work for another, probably another four years. And her annual salary is over $70,000. Okay. And she's going to continue to work how much longer? Probably three and a half to four years. Okay.

Mark, what's your net worth, ballpark? Just give me a rough number. Based on what? 1.1 million? You're actually more than that, my friend. You are everyday millionaires. Yes, sir, you are.

And without a shadow of a doubt, only owing $69,000 left on your mortgage, you all zeroing in on that and being very intentional, you're going to be more than okay. You're going to thrive, my friend. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Great job. Great job. I wasn't worried. I just needed some confirmation. No, buddy, listen to me. I understand, and I want you to do something. I want you to still connect with a SmartVestor Pro, just you and your wife together, to go in and sit down and have them look over things to figure out,

are there some minor tweaks? Because small tweaks can lead to big gains. You just need to have the right kind of eyes. Mark, I need to know, too, my friend, because I've got a lady over here that's going to ask you here. What are you going to do now that you've retired? I've been asked that question several times, and my response is whatever I want. There you go. There you go.

That's a good answer. I'm proud of you, my friend. And congratulations on being everyday millionaires and sacrificing. You know, Christy, I tell people, you know, you want to when you retire, you don't want to leave to go do nothing. Right. I think it's important to retire and go towards something. And that might be more mission trips, more giving, more hanging out. But you need to have a plan. Yeah. And I think one of the cool things is once you've passed that

major milestone in your life, you have a blank slate. You have so many options that you can look at your life and look at this next season and this next chapter with a fresh perspective that you didn't have before because you were finishing that season. And now you can go, hey, do I want to work at a coffee shop? Do I want to move to the beach? What does that look like? But I love that because you're going to want to get into something, and that's going to be fun to think about what all options you have. No, and you definitely have options, and options are a good thing.

Again, you all, I want you to send your questions in to us, at Ramsey Show. You can hunt down Christy on social media, at Christy B. Wright. And you can find her on YouTube, at Christy B. Wright. And you can find her on YouTube at Christy Wright. You can find me at Chris Hogan 360. Here, I got a question in social media for me. We'll both chime in on this. It's from Aiden from YouTube.

He goes, do you consider being on a contract with your cell phone company a form of debt? We basically owe them our business for two years. I don't like being locked into their contract. Okay, Aiden, so you're on with the cell phone company. You've got an agreement, right? And so you have a service provider. The same thing would be like with a cable bill, right? You've got a cable provider. So necessarily looking at this, no, I'm not counting that as quote unquote a debt. It's a service contract that you have. Now, if you finance your phone and you're making a payment of $13 a month for the next 17 years, then yes, I would call that a form of debt. But you can move

your service provider to another provider at any point in time. So yeah, buddy, don't be too concerned about that. Uh, be more focused on, Hey, what are my options as I move forward? I'm curious about this though. And I'm, and I'm really asking you this Hogan, because I've heard that the, the way some cell phone companies are set up now with the phones that they forced you to finance it, that you can't buy like an iPhone, for example, outright, whatever it costs, a thousand dollars,, whatever, that you actually, they put you on a payment plan for the phone. So I'm curious about that because I would want to look into that because I've heard they've been kind of changing the way they do that.

Well, that's how they get you with these introductory offers of you coming over with no money down or they'll get you out of your existing contract to come to them. Yeah, I'm not financing a phone. I mean, you get into that situation, then yes, you do have a debt because you have an item that you're making a payment for. So yeah, I would encourage you to avoid that like the plague. You're not going to finance a phone. Here's the thing.

People don't know how to count. Like the interest rates that go into that where they have you at 14%, 15%, 17%, and it's ridiculous. So, yeah, no. I'd go back to a flip phone before I did that. Chris, you don't even know what a flip phone is. I do. I had one.

I had a pink razor. You're a millennial. I had a pink razor. Did you really? Yes, I did. And it flipped. Did it flip up? It flipped.

Okay. All right. Well, maybe you do know. All right, you all. Stay tuned. Christy and I are coming back. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show.

I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me this hour is Christy Wright. And I need to give a shout-out to The Ramsey Show YouTube group. This group is on fire. They do a fantastic job. If you're not joined in and not following the Ramsey Show on YouTube, you should get over there. There is a great group of people on here that have feisty conversations. They were getting on me about the cell phone situation.

But again, it's all a matter of being plugged in. That's what we're about. And we found that life is not meant to be done alone. And so if you find yourself alone, there's so many groups you can plug into, whether it's Ramsey Plus, where you have an opportunity to be in the community. There's a Ramsey Baby Step community that you can plug in. And I have an Everyday Millionaire Facebook group that you can plug into. And Christy has a Business Boutique community that you can plug into.

So there's always groups and ways you can feel connected, even during this COVID situation where people are feeling more isolated right now more than ever. And we've got to be intentional about our connection these days. Yeah, I think it's one of those things, too, where you can feel stuck. And because it's familiar, you just stay stuck. You're like, well, this is just as good as it gets. This is how it's always going to be. Well, I just live with these problems. I accept these problems.

I deal with these problems. But there's things that you can do, whether it's joining Ramsey Plus, joining one of these Facebook groups, reading Total Money Makeover, listening to your show. That one small thing can make a huge impact. It can truly change the trajectory of your life. And then you look back and go, why didn't I do that sooner? Today can be the day. Today can be the day that you do something that literally changes your life don't just listen in the car listen on the treadmill listen on a run outside

actually do something about what you're hearing it's what you do that it's going to count i tell people this all the time because i'm like it's not the thought that counts who made that up it's not no one brags about what their husband thought to buy them. It's what they actually do. It's what you actually do that counts. So don't just listen. Do something about it. Here's why Christy gets fired up even more.

There are beautiful people out there in the audience that are watching us. And the ladies are all nodding their head. Yes. Giving her confirmation. So she's getting more feisty. You are correct. It's not just the thought. You have to act on it.

That's right. Okay. It's not the thought that counts. It's what you actually do that counts. All right. You take a sip of water or whatever you got over in that cup. We're going to the phone lines now. CeCe's on the line here.

Let's see here. CeCe, tell us. What's your question? Hi. Hi, Chris. Hi's see here. CC, tell us what's your question. Hi. Hi, Chris. Hi, Christy. Thank you so much for taking my call. Hi, sir.

So I'm currently working in an income position. It's about to end in about a month. So I got about three more paychecks to go. And I want to know, should I take my savings and invest it in starting trading the Forex exchange market? Ooh, okay, to start trading in what again? In the Forex exchange market. Okay. The exchange in currencies.

Yes. Okay, so why are you interested in this as a possible career? Well, one of my friends who, I mean, he knows how to make money. Like, he just makes money anywhere. He started trading, and he's been posting, like, his stats. He can make, like, $1,000 a week. And I've just been really, like, inspired by watching him growing, and I want to know if I should take that as a possible opportunity to make, you know, additional income because my job that I have now is, you know, going to end soon.

Okay, gotcha. So this training that you would pay for, how much is the training? It's $235 to start training and $50 approximately to start investing in your live account. Okay. And are you paying a company or are you paying your friend? I'm paying the company. The company is, yeah, I am Academy. Okay, gotcha.

So, all right, tell me this. Where are you on the baby steps, Cece? So I was on two, but then i got set back so i'm currently on one again okay all right and what is your household income right now on this job right now it's about 35 okay and so what this trading thing what what are you excited about with it just having another stream of income, honestly. I live paycheck to paycheck. To be able to make money while I'm asleep, that's awesome to me.

I'm young, so I'm thinking, why not now? Cece, how old are you? I'm 22. Girl, listen to me. All right, listen here. First of all, this trading thing, it is a, how would I call it, a mirage. You'll have people that will brag about how much money they're making and how well it's going. What they don't talk about are the losses.

I would tell you this. If you're interested in the financial world, there are many other avenues for you to go that aren't going to cost you money, but you can make money. Does that make sense? And so what I would do is I'm hesitant of this because it sounds like a get rich quick scheme. Yes, it does. It really does. And those things are on late at night. And it sounds easy because it's just 200 and something dollars initially, and then $50 of this and that. The next thing you know, I've worked with people that have tried it. They're $1,500 to $2,000 in and within a couple of months. I don't like the sound of it, okay?

I like the idea of you as a young lady being intentional and on a career path of moving forward. So I would want you to do this. And, Christy, I want you to chime in. I'd much rather you dust off your resume and start to reach out to people that you know and let them know that, hey, I am looking for a career or a job change. This is what I'm looking for. Push it out there. You need something with some stability so you can start to move forward and attack this debt.

Yeah, I don't know enough about this company or this opportunity to be able to speak to the details, but I'll tell you everything in me is just going off red flags like everything in what you said to me cc is like no no no if it sounds too good to be true it's because it is and most of the people i know that are making really good money and investments aren't posting about it on facebook i'm just gonna leave it at that like if you're in a legit financial industry you're probably not bragging about it in facebook posts each week. So I don't know the company, so I can't say definitely this. But I'm telling you, everything in me feels – my gut is this doesn't feel right.

I would totally your advice, all that advice. And it also can sound like one of those pyramid schemes where you've got to bring people in. And as you do, you grow. And I'll tell you, those things, I want you to get your teeth in a career that's going to have a trajectory for you. Um, and again, you're young, you've got opportunity. What you want to do is start to plug in, build your networks, build your mentors, uh, and really start to look at something that's got a path for you. But if it's a get rich quick, I'm going to tell you right now, there's red flags. I agree with you, Christy. Uh, those

things lead to headache and heartache. You don't want it. You don't want it. Okay, let's get here. We got Dave on the line out of Wisconsin. Dave, how are you? Hey, I'm doing great. I'm enjoying the show. Well, thank you, sir. How can we help you? Yeah, I'm 33.

I make $80,000 a year. I have $130,000 in student loans. In my retirement plan right now, I have $85,000 on a 401k, but I also have this $25,000 in an employee stock purchase plan. And I'm wondering if now is a good time to take the employee stock money and put it towards my student loans. Oh, okay. Yeah. Now, with it, it's all a matter of going to be a matter of obviously the price, right, of that, of when it vested. Is it all vested, meaning it's all yours right now?

Not yet. About half of it is mine. Okay. Okay. With it, what I would do is reach out to one of our endorsed local provider tax professionals so they can run the numbers on, hey, when you were gifted this and the value of it, if you were to sell, this is what would be counted as income. So that would impact your taxes. So that's the big thing in my mind. It's just a matter of are you ready for that and can you afford that tax hit?

But I like the idea of taking any kind of non-retirement investing and using it toward debt. So, yes, I definitely would go that route and attack that, again, because it's non-retirement. Now, if this was in the form of an IRA or 401K, 403B or something like that, then absolutely not. I'm going to tell you don't touch that. But employee stock, without a doubt, you can totally do that and throw it toward the debt. What I would do, again, meet with the tax EOP, find out what that's going to be, understand how much money is coming to you. And the day that that money hits your account, I want you to then immediately write a check toward the student loan. Don't let it hang out there because if it does,

it's going to crawl off and go somewhere else. To malls and restaurants and things of that nature. Alright, listen. I had fun with you. This is so great. They need to let us do this more often. All the time. Specifically on Fridays. We're extra feisty on Fridays. We are fantastic in here. Well, I want to thank Christy Wright for taking the time to

join me. I want to thank all of you all for tuning in. This has been the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is Kelly, associate producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 16 million people listen to The Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find the station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.