The Ramsey Show - App - Spread Your Wings and Go After Your Dream (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 11, 2019

Get Started on Your Debt-Free Journey We’ve made it even easier to get started taking control of your money.  Learn How! How Fast Can You Be Debt-Free? You don’t have to be in debt for the rest of your life! Answer 5 simple questions and our Debt Calculator will show you how quickly you could be out debt!   Get the Complete Guide to Budgeting. Budgeting is often misunderstood and overcomplicated. It doesn't have to be! We made it simple. After 90 days of budgeting with EveryDollar, 9 out of 10 users feel more confident in their financial future. Get the Complete Guide to Budgeting.   Get the Coverage You Need. How does your coverage stack up? This Coverage Checkup will show you what you need (and don’t need), which questions to ask, and where to get the best coverage.   Find the Right Financial Advisor. Finding the right financial advisor doesn't have to be complicated. Our free guide makes it easy to know what questions to ask so you can make a confident choice. Get the guide!    Listen and Watch Anytime, Anywhere.   The Dave Ramsey Show app lets you download episodes for offline playback, customize your content, and see what’s coming up!

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave 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. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. David is with us in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, David. Welcome to the show. How can I help? Hi, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm calling because I just received this year a restricted stock from the company I work for. And so every year for the next four years, it'll vest. And so I get a fourth of it every year. So this coming year, I'll get about $20,000. And so my question is, I have four credit cards that I want to pay off. And one of them is $20,000, and then the other three total to $20,000. The first one has about 15% interest.

The other three are about maybe 25% interest each. So my question is, should I go ahead and take the short-term capital gain hit and pay off the larger one and then take the other three, move it to the larger one with a balance transfer and possibly get a 0% interest for 18 months and then start knocking that one out? Or should I do long-term capital gains and wait so that I take less from that? The long-term capital gains will not apply to what the stock is worth at the time you receive it. It will only apply to what it grows. What you get when it received as an employee benefit, that's going to be ordinary income. Okay.

And so, you know, if the stock hasn't gone up in value, long-term, short-term is not going to matter. I think. You need to double-check your tax guy. I'm pretty scrummy at taxes, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on that. Either way, I'm cashing the stuff out and putting it on the debt. What's your household income? $88,000. Okay.

And have you cut up the credit cards? I have not yet. Are you on a budget? No. Okay, so here's the problem. This is not going to go away until you do those two things. You've got to be done with this because you cannot out-earn your stupidity. I tried it for years.

I couldn't do it. Yeah. couldn't do it yeah and you know so the problem is you're just you're one off in this based on only this stock you know benefit and what we need to do instead is be going okay we're going to have a written game plan by which we get this paid off oh and their stock there too not like oh the stock is going to solve your problem because the the credit card debt is not the problem. It's the symptom. The symptom of overspending and not having a plan. The symptom of impulsing. The symptom of I want something before I have the money, so I buy it anyway.

We all have that, right? You're not different. I'm not picking on you. But what I don't want to do is go, oh, yeah, use the stock and pay off the credit cards which is what i would do i'd pay off the smallest three immediately uh and when the other vests i'd go ahead and pay off other stuff but i hope by then you've gotten the other stuff paid off because another year from now yeah my my overall plan is to uh use what i get and i'll be able to pay off everything i have so um but that's next year well i'm saying over the next four years uh when i have get all this vested amount okay how much debt do you have uh it's 180,000 total

minus the the house okay and so forty thousand dollars in credit card debt, and what else? I have a personal loan and a student loan. How big is the student loan? $60,000. And what do you owe on your car? I have two cars, me and my wife. They are leased right now, but the payoff amount for one of them is $30,000 and the other one is $20,000. Okay. So $180,000 and your other one is $20,000. Okay. So $180,000 and your household income is $80,000.

Yes. It might take you four years. You've got $40,000 to throw at it. That brings it down to $140,000. Probably three years is what I'd probably rather you do. So list your debts, smallest to largest. Pay minimum payments on everything but the little ones. Stop all 401Ks.

Stop all investing. Stop all vacations. Stop all eating out. And attack the debts in the order of smallest to largest. One of the tools that you have to attack the debt is your income on a tight budget. The other tool that you have to attack the debt is your income on a tight budget. The other tool that you have to attack the debt is the stock benefits. And so you can't just, what I'm trying to do is say, let's look at this holistically in your overall situation and cut up the credit cards as you get them closed, close the accounts

as you get them paid off, and let's get this wrapped up and moving on. So yeah, that's what I would do. I would use this stock immediately on the smallest three credit cards because they're going to be your smallest three debts. Oh, by the way, you need to get rid of these lease cars. That's the most expensive way to operate a car. According to Consumer Reports, Smart Money Magazine, my calculator. So hold on.

I'll have Kelly pick up. I'm going to send you a copy of the book the total money makeover which is the book that shows you the plan that i just outlined for you in great detail kayla is with us in dallas hi kayla how are you hi mr ramsey how are you better than i deserve what's up mr ramsey okay i'm calling because i have a question about a va loan so i'm a disabled veteran i live in the state of texas and i'm 100 so in the state of texas as a 100 disabled veteran you don't have to pay property tax um i also don't have to pay PMI insurance. My income is $50,000, which is set. I'm never going to make any more than that ever.

So basically, the houses I'm looking at, they're around between $180,000 to $200,000. But I kind of want to go up a little higher. Would I be able to do that because I don't have to pay property tax or PMI, or are you still thinking 25% of your gross for your mortgage payment and 15-year mortgage? Well, the 25% on a 15-year fixed rate is so that you can win. Win being that you've got a reasonable house payment that gives you other room in your budget to do other stuff like investing and saving up and buying a car and having a life so you don't run into debt on that. Okay? And if you strain that and you turn into house poor, the house is not going to be a blessing. It's going to be a curse.

Right, right. I mean, you get to do what you want to do. You don't have to do what I say. But the only reason I put that guideline in place is to show you mathematically how you're going to win. And that's what you've got to decide from here. The other thing I'd be doing is trying to figure out with the type of disability that you're facing, what you can do to get your income up over time so that you don't have to sit and say $50,000 a year is all I'll ever make my entire life.

I think there's probably some things you can do to create some income, and I'd be looking at that. Just talking to you on the phone, it sounds like you could. Thanks for your service, and I'm proud that the state of Texas and the VA is taking care of a disabled veteran the way they are. That's good stuff. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. You know what I've learned after talking to so many people who have been victims of ID theft? They feel violated and they have a sense of fear and intrusion.

It can be overwhelming. It's scary and infuriating at the same time. People question your character. You try to figure out how it happened and you worry it's going to happen again. Then you have to deal with cleaning up the mess. Bill collectors, credit bureaus, even the police just make the nightmare worse. And trust me, ID theft is not going away. That's why I personally worked with Zander Insurance to develop an ID theft plan that provides the best protection and value.

Smart strategies to help reduce your risk so you don't feel so helpless, along with taking over all the work if you do become a victim. And without wasting your money on gimmicks or things you can easily do for yourself. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Do not wait until it's too late and you have to go through this nightmare on your own. Go to Zander.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Matt and Amanda are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? We're doing great.

Welcome. Where do you guys live? Norfolk, Virginia. Oh, cool. Well, welcome to Nashville and all the way here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Very cool. And how much have you paid off?

$79,000. Love it. How long much have you paid off? $79,000. Love it. How long did this take? It took 22 months. Good. And your range of income? Started at like $43,000 and ended just up over $100,000. Whoa! What happened? Godled Matt just started his own business cleaning windows and so he started cleaning windows and

that was a lot of windows. And that was a big part of it. We did everything. we cleaned beach houses and i babysat and there were lots of things oh very cool so you just went into gear yeah we love it so what kind of debt was the 79 000 that's our mortgage your mortgage yeah you paid off your house i'm looking at weird people i love it very cool how old are you two? 28. 30. And you have a paid-for house? Yeah, we do.

I mean, you're not millennials. You're weird millennials. I love it. That's so cool. What's the house worth? Like $150, $170. And it's yours? Yeah, it's ours.

It's yours? Yeah. Nobody else's? No. I love it. Yeah. How does that feel? It's awesome.

You don't have a payment anywhere. Yeah, no. I mean, there's an emotional and spiritual release, not to mention the math, isn't there? Right. Yep. Every month, it's like at the end of the month, you're just like, man, you know, there's nowhere the money has to go. We get to decide where it goes.

Yeah. You can be crazy generous. You can invest. You can buy stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can do whatever you want to do. Yeah.

I love it. I do. Look at you two. So what put you on this journey 22 months ago? How'd you get involved with us? Yeah. I love it. I do. Look at you two. So what put you on this journey 22 months ago? How'd you get involved with us? Yeah. So there was a small group at our church and they called me and they were like, Amanda, you know, we're thinking about doing Financial Peace University and you're good with money.

Will you moderate? And they thought I was good with money and I thought I was good with money. So I was like, yeah, I'll moderate. And then when we got there, there was a lot. So insurance and wills, but especially the verses about debt and what the Bible says. So we're Christ followers, but we hadn't really looked at what the Bible says

about saving and debt and money. And so going through Financial Peace University and seeing what the Bible says about money, it just changed everything for me. I went home on fire. Every class, I'm coming home and I'm like, Matt, we to do this. We got to change this.

My God, what happened? Yeah. Matt, were you freaking out? I mean, it was an adjustment period. Yeah. I love it. Very cool. So did you end up going to class with her or did you just listen to all of her lessons?

I stayed home and babysat and she told me everything. That's what happened. So there were a couple of months, like three months where I was kind of pulling on my own sort of you know, like he wasn't against it. He was fine with it but he wasn't helping. So you know the Bible talks about being equally yoked right? So I'm pulling hard in one

direction and he's yoked with me so he's coming but he's not like helping, you know? And so then after a couple of months he just saw the numbers we were i was keeping track of everything at the end of every month i would show him you know here's the chart here's what we did and that was just me making budget cuts and you know that wasn't extra income really and um and he saw the needle move and and he was like we could do this faster i can help and and then he did and then up goes the business then huh yeah yeah god led us to that in february so it was almost a full year after we started our debt-free journey that the

business started and that that was a big that was a big kick wow very very cool well congratulations you two proud of you well done who are your biggest cheerleaders so we have a bunch of people online um i have a blog and whatever So we have a bunch of people online. I have a blog and whatever. And so there are lots of people, strangers, who are really interested. And then there are some friends of ours. So my brother Andrew and his wife Kayla and then some friends of ours, the Collin Box, and some friends up in Canada, the Stuarts, who are on the journey with us.

And that's so important to have other people who are making the same sacrifices that you're making. If you don't know anybody who's doing it, it it can feel lonely which is why this show is so important you know because during the journey we needed to tune in and listen and be like there are other people who are making these same cuts that we're making living the same life and gonna get to the same goal yeah we're weird in the culture but we're not weird in this tribe right yep this tribe is a bunch of weirdos i love it you know it's so unusual to be your age with a paid-for house. Yeah. Do you know anybody that has a paid-for house at your age?

No. No? No. It's just awesome. Yeah. It's just amazing. Well done, you guys. Thank you.

So well done. All right, so now you're leading a financial peace class, and they find out that you're 30 years old with a paid-for house. Yeah. And they go, how did you do that? What do you tell them the key is to getting out of debt? One of the things that I think about, we had been doing it for a while,

and I heard somebody on a radio program ask for prayer to have their debt paid off by the end of the year. And I thought, well, we could pray that. There's no reason we can't. And Amanda had a goal of paying everything off by the end of the year. And I thought, well, we could pray that. There's no reason we can't. And Amanda had a goal of paying everything off by the time she was 30. And God paid it off by the end of the year. Yeah, and it was before I was 29. And we weren't, that wasn't, you know what I mean?

We weren't even tracking, even with the business, even with whatever, we weren't tracking to pay it off that fast. And Matt got it in his heart. Like, we could ask God for this. Like, God's big enough to do that. And he just knocked it right out. It was amazing. Yeah, and then I would also say the focus, the intense focus, that's part of what your baby steps do is they line it out.

Instead of like, oh, I'll put a little into retirement, a little bit into savings, a little against the mortgage, a little towards kids' college or whatever. There's a focus on each step kind of and so i think that's really important just to to narrow in and say like no we're doing this and this is where the money's going this is what we're doing um and and i think that's part of why the baby steps are just so helpful to everyone very cool very cool way to go you guys well done well done well done so what first big thing are you going to do to celebrate since you have no debt? We maxed out our retirement. We bought a van. We bought a couch. There you go.

I've gone on a couple of little trips. What were the trips? We went to South Carolina to visit some of our good friends. We went up to visit some of our family in Vermont and then here to Nashville. Cool. What kind of van did you buy? It's a Toyota Sienna. Yeah, nice.

Yeah, it's nice. Very nice. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's a Toyota Sienna. Yeah, nice. Yeah, it's a Toyota. Very nice. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you. Yeah. Thank you.

It's called Everyday Millionaires, because you will be one in a minute. It won't take long now. You're on fire. Nothing like you two. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. You're just so weird. We love it.

Well done. And you brought the kiddos with you? We did. And what are their names and ages? Charlotte is three years old, and Portia is one. Oh, how fun. Let's see what they're going to... Okay.

Cool. Come here, little friend. All right. Good stuff. All right. Good deal. All right. Matt and Amanda, Charlotte and Portia from Virginia.

$79,000 paid off in 22 months. That's their house and everything, baby. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! I love it. I love it.

That's how it's done right there. Boom. Just like that. Wow. Well, you keep hearing in these debt-free screams, Financial Peace University is what changes everything for them. For 25 years, we've taught 6 million people how to not only get out of debt and not only invest, but how you can be outrageously generous.

And, you know, the average family vacation is about $1,200, $1,400. And, you know, $4,580 for a family of four is the average. I mean, what if you saved $1,000 a summer instead of spending it? What if you got on a plan? What if you used EveryDollarPlus, the best budgeting app ever, and got access to the live streams of our events and our trusted coaches and bonus content like the Legacy Journey and Smart Money, Smart Kids? All of that's there when you get Financial Peace University.

Financial Peace University gives you the online membership as well to Financial Peace, and it gives you access to all of that no more excuses you can start changing your family tree this summer so learn more about getting in the class and how to be part of financial peace itself which is all of those extra things that come included for free. It changes everything. Just go to DaveRamsey.com or call the Ramsey Concierge Team at 888-22-PIECE. 888-227-3223. We can show you what Matt and Amanda did. Exactly. Exactly how to do it.

They're 30 years old and have a dime of debt. Not their house. Not anything. See, I don't know why you're not doing this. Now, Financial Peace University FPU. Check it out at Thank you. We'll be right back. Join me this half hour, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author, Ken Coleman. The book is The Proximity Principle, the proven strategy that will lead to the career you love. If you've got career questions, job questions, Ken is with us this half hour to answer them

for you. Phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Ken, you've had a lot of big things happen in the first six months of this year. I've got to tell you, it's been a good year. It has been. I mean, it's not been long ago like what september we launch a serious exam right seems like yesterday and but the podcast follows that and becomes a big deal we do the proximity principle book tour which you just returned from number one bestseller that's not a bad lick no and then yesterday yeah syndicated radio uh the second ramsey solutions

nationally syndicated program you know i haven't said it that way i had to kind of pause and think about that we've had the dave ramsey show for a long time and it it means a lot to be a part of the ramsey solutions banner and the network and to put another show out that uh is giving people hope but helping them in their job and their career and such a nice tie-in to money. It was a special day yesterday. It really was. It was a special staff meeting, just thinking about celebrating the wins

and just seeing how God's doing great things with our company. And we're poised to do even more amazing things that we've been able to do as a team. And I think of yesterday, Dave, and I just can't help but be so grateful for the team, the team that helps us get syndicated and get us on stations. That just doesn't happen. And you paved the way, and we've got a great team that helped you do it. Now I get to be a part of that amazing team. And it's a heavy time, a good wait.

It's a wait that we long for. It's meaningful work, and I get to do it every day. I make jokes about how it's it's a weight that we long for it's meaningful work and i get to do it every day and i make jokes about how it beats working for a living that's not true it is hard work but man it feels good to do this kind of work so yes just a truly blessed season of my life so the ken coleman show launched nationally yeah as a real radio mainstream radio show on 30 stations. And I came out of the gate yesterday. So if you're a radio station out there and you haven't signed up for the Ken Coleman Show and want to start carrying it, get in touch with our team here.

They'll be putting him, I'm sure a bunch of my affiliates will be putting you on. We're just getting started with this process. But the first show, the inaugural show for mainstream radio that's not on satellite radio it's a unique show just for mainstream uh that um was yesterday so fun stuff so fun very cool yeah good to be back here as well so the first time blake thompson and i turned on the uh the network 30 years ago it wasn't quite 30 years ago i started the network 30 years ago. It wasn't quite 30 years ago. It started the show 30 years ago, but it was probably about 26 years ago,

something like that, that we flipped the switch. The first station carrying us was Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and we started with one station. And then the next, about two weeks later, we got Russellville, Kentucky. Two small towns, obviously. And I was so amped and so wired that I was over-modulating the mic. Because I was just so excited. I was just like yelling.

And the guy from Russellville, Kentucky calls Blake and he goes, tell him to turn it down. We can't even understand him. Well, I appreciate that. I'm getting coached up by Russellville, Kentucky as my first day on a syndicated show. We had no idea what the flip we were doing was. Now, you'll remember doing this. You may not remember this comment, but that reminds me of something you said to me.

And it all ties in together. That's where you started. You know, you started here in Nashville. I started in Gainesville, Georgia, paid my way on. I was paying $250 an hour. So four Saturdays in a month. If there was a fifth Saturday, I was paying $250 every Saturday. My fourth Saturday, you did me a huge favor.

You came in on a Saturday morning right here in the studio, and they put you on down the line. And you came on, and you did two segments on the very first edition of the Ken Coleman show. Not a very good one. And it was my fourth week, and I was still so fired up. And I'll never forget, we went to commercial break, and I had interviewed you before as a part of a leadership conference. We'd known each other, yeah. Yeah, we'd known each other.

But still, you said to me, we went to break, you said, good job, Coleman, pretty good, pretty smooth. And you said, no, about six months from now your pulse will drop you remember saying that well it happened to me that's why I was so jacked too yeah and you know that's an encouragement to people that are listening right now when you start out be okay with the small beginnings and be okay with it's the worst you're ever going to be so don't get hung up on not being great because I don't know anybody that's great the first time they do something.

Yeah. When you're talking about career advice, that's what this leads into. That's exactly. Because it's like, you know, you generally, when you start something, suck. That's part of the deal, right? That's part of the deal, unless you're some prodigy. Yeah. You know?

Yeah, that's true. So be encouraged by that, you know? We've all been there. And those humble beginnings lead to great things if you're willing to stay the course. I was so country fried when I went on the air that I was like, WWTN. And that was the radio station we were on, WW. And on the air, there was nobody listening to this show.

I mean, this was when we very first went on the air. And we had a guy who had been to broadcast school who worked in the radio station and he had the voice and he was properly initiating all of his words he did not have the uh country fried accent and i'm like wwt and y'all call in now sure it's like oh man it was rough and uh so i'm on the air and while i'm on the air, and while I'm on the air, he kicks the door open and yells at me while I'm on the air. It's not W, you hick. It's W, two U's, W, and then walks off. And it goes over the microphone. It goes out over the air.

So I get home, and my wife is like, what was that? Of course. And she said, that was the funniest comedy bit i've ever heard i said when a comedy bit it was jim yelling at me it really was that put out by and you know what i've never said w again i've always said double u two u's ever since he he broke me of it uh and except when i met the w yeah then you can say w when you're dealing with the w george w right that's but uh pretty funny pretty fun can say W when you're dealing with the W, George W, right? That's right. But pretty fun.

Pretty fun stuff. Because you're not, you know, you learn. You grow, you learn, you grow, you learn. And your career evolves. And, you know, being in proximity, like your book says, the proximity principle, you get in the area where this stuff is happening, you get your foot in the door, you get started. That's right. And small beginnings.

That's how the Dave Ramsey Show started. You shared this story for years and years and years on this program about how you just walked in started doing it and because you were there another opportunity presented itself it's just about showing up sometimes just show up and keep showing up because so many people dave you know this will literally walk away because they're not overnight success that's right but opportunity is right around the corner but they'll walk away you're not gonna get discovered no it's not gonna happen boy isn't that true well that was the lesson we talked about that in the book i'm sitting on my back patio the opening chapter of the book we talk about the place where i was so many of you right

now are listening you're going i i feel as though the break's not coming. I'm wasting my time. I've lost my mind. I'm delusional, whatever it is. And I realized that I was the problem and that I was sitting around waiting for somebody to discover me. And this was when the truth hit. Nobody is sitting around thinking about how they can help you live your dream. Right now, nobody is. Now, I've put that on social and some of our audience will go, well, you are, Ken.

Okay, that's fair. Aside from me on the Ken Coleman Show. Nobody else on the planet is sitting around thinking about you. Well, not, you are for 15, you know, three minutes when they call and talk to you. That's right. But past that, you move on to the next caller, and they still got their life. That's right. And so you are going to have to take responsibility that if it is to be, it is up to me. You've got to do that.

And once you take personal responsibility, much like you have listening to Dave, to say, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, right, as Dave teaches. And you said, I'm going to take responsibility for getting out of my own mess that I created. Same thing with the career thing. If you want to get somewhere and do work that matters to you, to step into that sweet spot is a journey. It's not a quick fix. It's a journey.

But you can do it. But you are the key word there. It's up to you. Ramsey Personality, Ken Coleman, host of the newly syndicated Ken Coleman Show. Started yesterday and author of the number one bestselling book, The Proximity Principle. The proven strategy that will lead to the career you love. You want to talk to him, talk about your career? Phone number is 888-825-5225.

888-825-5225. Back with your calls. Thank you. We'll be right back. Justin is in Reno, Nevada. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Justin, your question for Ken Coleman. Hey, how are you gentlemen doing this afternoon? Good, how are you? Pretty good. I am 21 years old.

Just finished getting my master's degree in music education, getting married in the end of August. And I currently work at my church. I'm the worship leader and the office secretary, and I've been offered a job to be a full-time youth director here for about $36,000 a year. At the same time, I was offered a job down in Los Angeles to be the sound campus tech director for a much bigger church in Los Angeles for about $55,000 a year. But that comes with the stress of moving, the higher expense of living down there. So I'm a bit confused, especially at this time, right before getting married, trying to be able to take care of my new family, what decisions I need to make. Well, the first question is, what is it that you ultimately want to do?

You've got a master's in music education. Do you want to use that master's? I'm pretty heavily involved in music, but as I've been getting through my schooling, I don't really want to be in the education system. Thankfully, I was blessed. I got a full-ride scholarship, so I'm not in any debt. I didn't pay for the degree. But let's go five to seven, ten years from now. What is it that you would love to be doing in ministry? Name it. I would love to be a worship pastor. I've been looking to get into seminary classes.

So the first thing I want you to look at is which one of these two offers that you have before you. You stay in your current location, but it's a different role. But you're in youth. So you're paying your dues. I'm fine with that. But if you take this other gig in Los Angeles, you're still not necessarily in the music department.

You're kind of in the programming area. Which one of those gets you further down the road towards where you ultimately want to be? Right. I see the tech director is more involved in the music ministry. I guess that job my biggest concern is definitely being able to afford living down there moving away from my current church and family

but it is more related to what I would like to be doing long term So you have a fear of cost of living that you're not going to be able to afford to live there that's your big fear, yes or no? Yeah, mostly. Okay, well, so we need to address that. So have you actually done the real research and see, okay, where I'm going to be,

let's take a 20-, 30-minute radius, you get to choose. But where could you live in that area and serve in that church and have a good quality of life as far as a commute? And let's see what's actually out there based on a $55,000 job and your budget. You don't have any debt. You've got a wife or you're going to have a wife. She could work if you guys choose to do so. Now you've got double income.

I just think you've built this thing up to be bigger than it is, certainly without the research to verify the fear. So I would check that out. Does your wife work or your wife-to-be? She does work. She is hoping to not have to work full-time, and I kind of support that. We're trying to transition to where I can get a bigger, fuller-time career so that when we eventually have kids a few years down the road,

she could be a stay-at-home mother. I'm fine with her working full-time if there's no kids. You don't have to practice being a stay-at-hometime if there's no kids you don't have to practice being a stay-at-home mother when there's no kids right you can quit later that's right and and help and help them cause some cover some of this stuff so here's what i think i heard and you tell me if i'm wrong okay i think you like your comfort zone and i'm about to kick your butt out of it. Okay. I think you're really comfortable, and you're about to settle in there and make nothing and not go live your dream.

Dude, spread your wings. It's scary to go live your dream, but your nightmare is getting stuck in mediocrity because of a comfort zone that's right you're looking for an excuse oh the cost of living is too high so i get to stay where i'm at and that sounds like the smart decision we talk ourselves into these things all the time hey the most thrilling ride you'll ever have in your life is being a little bit scared yeah that's why we get on roller coasters you can ride the merry-go-round but it's boring as crap get on the roller coaster man double income no kids you can find a place to live in that area and do fine mama's going to work megan is in phoenix megan welcome to the dave ramsey show your question

for ken coleman hey guys thanks so much for taking my call. So I've been doing some soul searching lately. I currently work as a public school teacher in Phoenix. I absolutely love my job. I'm very satisfied with it. But of course, education right now is not the most lucrative with payment. So I'm really struggling with having a good quality of life on my income. So my question is, is it more important to be at a job where I love, where I'm not making that much money, really struggling kind of day to day, or should I really start searching for a better paying job and maybe not love it as much? Well, let's look at your financial situation. Tell us what we're dealing with. What is your debt situation? Is it double income? Give us a quick snapshot.

Sure. I'm married and my husband works together. We bring home about $65,000 to $70,000 a year. We live in the heart of Phoenix. We have about $10,000 in debt combined with some credit cards and stuff, and a little bit of that is my student loans as well. So about $10,000 in debt currently we're trying to get out of. We are renting right now, so no house payment or anything yet,

no cars, nothing like that. Okay. So let's fast forward. What is your payoff date? If everything goes as planned, when do you think you're going to pay off the $10,000? We could probably do that within 18 months, I would imagine, if we're really strict with it.

We've kind of slid off a little bit since I had my daughter a couple months ago, but 18 months if we're really rigid. Okay, and what I want you to look at here is that if that debt were gone today, would you even be asking this question about staying and teaching because the pay is not great? I would only because we're eventually wanting to get a house and saving is a challenge. Okay, so here's what it boils down to. I want you to do something that you love. It doesn't have to be this particular teaching position because ultimately there are so many ways for you. There's not just one dream job. There's multiple roles and functions that you can do within that sweet spot, which you are in as a teacher. But you can certainly look for opportunities. I think you should look for opportunities to move up financially and still use those core talents and that passion of instructing and guiding others.

Because that's essentially what you are in the classroom. That's one option. The other option is that you and your husband say, all right, we're going to see what other things we can do, and I'll stay in that role for now and look to make extra money on the side, pulling down a second job. Maybe he does that, and we can fast forward through this and then look for a plan. Once we get out of debt, what could you do to move up the ladder again within that same sweet spot where you're using those communicative talents

and and the desire to instruct and guide others to eventually move up so i think you have some options now first later the first thing you gotta do is you're gonna go back to what ken's trying to point out is your premise is false you put forth a false premise i don't make any money but i love what i do or do i do something I hate where I can make money? Answer, C, none of the above. Right. Go do something you love and make more money. Let's open a tutoring operation and make $500,000 a year with 73 tutors working for you.

And you get to meet with kids every day and help them. I don't know. I just made that up. But we don't have to assume that to do what we love, we make less. And see, Dave makes a very good point. Is that going to take you time to launch that and grow that? Yes. But that's in your sweet spot. So you don't have to go do something, the drudgery, just to get out of debt.

Yeah, or just to live a good life. That's right. 38 years I hate my life every day just so i made a little more money now that's a false premise you just don't do that that's exactly right so hey thanks for calling in we appreciate you joining us so so the push is start looking for something where you love what you're doing and you make more money that's exactly right that's the answer to your equation the book is is The Proximity Principle. The show is The Ken Coleman Show. The Ramsey personality's name is Ken Coleman,

the proven strategy that will lead you to the career you love. Congratulations, Ken, on the launch of the new show. Thanks, Dave. Appreciate it. Good stuff. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 15 million people listen to The Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen to one of over 600 radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.