The Ramsey Show - App - Suffering From a Lack of Discipline (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 19, 2019

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Music Music 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Matt in Georgia.

Hi, Matt. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hey, what's up? Basically, my question has to do with pausing maybe step two to be able to cash flow a business purchase. A little bit more detail. I work in the film industry. I'm a lighting programmer, which basically means I use a special computer called dimmer board to control the lights on set.

I just got finished with a season of a show that went for 18 weeks. And one of the nice things about this job is I have the ability to rent that dimmer board to production to be able to make a little extra money. Right now, I have a guy that I work with who owns a bunch of gear. So he basically decides the gear. I, you know, get the job, and we split the rental. But I'm considering before the next season of this show,

which will be in April, if I should go out and just try to buy my own dimmer board so I get to keep all of the money instead of half of it. Well, you are blessed to talk to a guy who's bought a bunch of dimmer boards. Really? And, yeah, we do about 150 live events a year. You are blessed to talk to a guy who's bought a bunch of dimmer boards. And, yeah, we do about 150 live events a year. And so we do a lot of production here. We've got a bunch of in-house studios here. We do a lot of production here.

And I will tell you that production equipment is pretty much like the land of computers. It has a very short shelf life before it becomes obsolete. The technology changes, and yes, it does for dimmer boards too, and they still do the same basic thing, but the technology underlying sound, underlying a soundboard, underlying a microphone, underlying a computer system of any kind that is operating any production equipment, becomes obsolete as fast as computers become obsolete. And so, no, I would not buy the equipment until it becomes a very small percentage of your world. It is not a good way to make money.

By the time you buy it, and you might get all your money back in the rentals before it becomes obsolete. And that's called a break-even, which is called a hobby. And so we don't want to do things where we break even. I think you've got a really sweet deal right now using other people's equipment, and it gives you work to do. And that's exactly what I'd continue to do until you get your wealth built to the point that you want to start buying some equipment and paying cash for it but even then you've got a and we have to around here we have to run a break-even analysis on all of the equipment and there's a lot of the equipment that to this day we don't buy we use we outsource a lot of production to local

production companies and to production companies that travel with us to do these events. Because sound, lights, it's all computer-driven, and computers change every 20 seconds. As soon as you get a computer out of the box, it is starting to be obsolete very quickly. And that's true of anything tied to anything technological and hardware these days. So it needs to be a very small percentage of your world for it to make sense i would not buy it where you are right now rent ashley is in texas ashley how are you i'm holding in there how about you dave better than i deserve what's up um well i've hit my sick and tired of being sick and tired moment. My husband and I have a ton of debt, and we don't make enough to get rid of it. And I'm just about to lose my mind.

I'm just lost. What's your household income? He makes about $38,500 a year right now. That's after taxes. Mm-hmm. And you don't work? No, I'm a stay-at-home parent right now. How many babies?

Just the one, but he's almost two years old. Okay. And what does your husband do for a living? He's a salesman and driver for Bluebell. Okay. And how long has he been doing that? He's been there since the end of February, so it's still a new job. Okay. Is this a route situation where his income is going to grow? It may. I've heard that it can go up to about $50,000 a year. Again, he just started, so we are not sure where that's going to go.

Okay. And you have one child. And how much debt do you guys have? About $25,000. On what? Most of it is my student loans. My car, we have a loan for that. How much do you owe on your car? Three credits. I believe last I checked, it was about $3,900. Okay. loans um my car we have a loan for that how much do you own your car three credit

i believe last i checked it was about 3 900 okay and then credit cards as well uh three of them yes okay all right and then a hospital bill okay um well there's two or three things going on um You do make enough to get yourself out of this, but barely. You don't make much money, so that's one of the things that's going on. 38.5 take-home pay means he's making 46,000, 48,000, something like that a year, and it's a new job. Hopefully he can get the route built up, and if he's a salesman for them, then the more he sells, the more money he'll make.

And certainly good ice cream, no question about that. So the good product, in other words, that he's got, that's a nice part of the equation. But the average household income data from the federal government, the average household income is $59,000. How old are you guys? He's 26 and I'm 25. Okay. So you're young and getting started. So it would not be unusual that your household income is less than the average, right?

Right. That just means you're starting your careers and getting things going. Before you had the baby, what'd you do? We both actually worked in radio and television production. We worked for a Christian radio station in Colorado. Okay. All right.

So you didn't make much money. Barely enough. We weren't making it. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So I would say let's do two or three things uh number one the two of you sit down tonight and get the every dollar app downloaded onto your phone or into your computer and sit down and do a detailed budget for this month giving this month's income every dollar of it, an assignment. You will feel like you got a raise when you did that.

Okay? The disorganization takes 10% to 15% of your money away. So just getting organized and very intentional about every dollar, that's why we called it that, is a big deal. That's a good part of this. And that will get you started. Okay? But obviously, the bigger the shovel you have, the faster you can fill the hole in.

Agreed? Sure. I'm going to send you a copy of Christy Wright's book, Business Boutique, to inspire you to create some kind of an income from home while you're home with your baby. And I think you can do that. And if you added $10,000, it'd be great. And I'm going to say he needs an extra job. I know he's working a lot, but oh well. He needs an extra job.

And you need to think about your long-term, he needs to think about, you need to think about your long-term career goals. Where are we going to be in five or ten years making $100,000? And are we doing things that are going to take us there? Because that's where you need to be aimed. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I got a call the other day, and I thought it was worth talking about again. It was from a wife looking for life insurance for her family.

She asked why I only recommend term life insurance instead of cash value plans like Whole Life. I usually explain how you overpay for coverage, earn a horrible rate of interest, and don't get your cash value when you die. But this time, I just had her go straight to Zander.com and get a rate. And then we compared that rate to the Whole Life plan, and she immediately saw the huge savings. She realized all the things she could do with that money, like paying down debt, investing in a smarter way. That made it real for her.

It makes no sense to buy or keep a cash value plan when there are smarter, less expensive ways to protect your family. That's why I suggest that everyone go to Zander.com or call them at 800-356-4282 and get a free quote. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thank you for joining us, America. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Caitlin is with us in Ohio. Hi, Caitlin.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm calling in. I'm having to deal with a debt collector, and it's for a hospital bill that we actually never received.

The bill's actually, it's been almost a year now since we've been dealing with this collector, and it's been like two years since we've had the services done at the hospital. Okay, if you never received, wait a minute, stop. And it's been like two years since we've had the services done at the hospital. Okay. If you never received the bill, and it's a valid bill, when you found out about it through the debt collector, why did you not just pay it? We didn't ever.

Well, the debt collector told you you owed the bill. It is a bill you do owe, correct? I guess from according to the hospital, you know, at the hospital bill, we never actually received it. So that's where we're like, what do we do? Does the bill reflect a service that you were actually given? Yeah. So you do owe the money. Okay.

Don't you? Well, don't you? Yes. Yes, I would say so. so okay why haven't you paid it then well we waited a while because we tried to go through um insurance or health care coverage to get like reimbursement with how the coverage uh works to try and be reimbursed okay so it took a while i was trying to get all the hospital wouldn't give us the correct numbers, and so I had to go give them this form and then this form. Well, that's not right. So we need this code and this code, and it took too long.

And basically the provider was like, because you were kind of running around in circles and being able to get the right forms, you're out of our window to be able to reimburse you. And how much is the bill? $4,570-some. Good Lord. Yeah, it's a lot.

And that's where I'm like, okay, we did go hospital. Yes, we did. We do owe some services, and we had to go self-pay because of the way our insurance works. But that's very large for two small little visits, and it's not our normal hospital. So if I pregnancy, I had to go to a specialist. Yeah.

I would call the hospital administrative office and schedule an appointment and go sit down with them in person and negotiate this and settle it. Okay. Because when I had called them when we initially got the collection, they won't talk to you. They basically said, yeah, they're like, well, it's in collections. But we can't do anything. They can do anything. They just won't. They've made like, well, it's in collections, but we can't do anything. They can do anything.

They just won't. They've made the decision to turn it over to collections. But the point is that you did not get billed, number one. Number two, they did not submit it to insurance, as they should have. Yeah, because for whatever reason, they wouldn't accept the card. We have MediShare. So sometimes hospitals are so-so. They're supposed to be a network, but at the you know it's been two years i can't remember the reason why we decided to go with

self-pay um but that was what the insurance said do self-pay you get the bill you pay it and then like we'll reimburse you for what it was did you know you didn't do that we were planning on doing it but we never got the bill from the hospital until the collector called us and then sent us this bill. And we're like, oh, wow, what's this? Yeah, okay. Well, part of this is on you guys because you knew that there was a substantial thing that was still outstanding.

You just hadn't seen it yet. And then when it did come in, you did not handle it promptly. And so you're stuck with it now because MediShare is not going to pick it up. You're saying it's outside their range of coverage on dates now, and so you're not going to get reimbursed from them, and so your only shot nowadays is to settle the bill. You can either settle it with a collector or you can settle it with a hospital, but you'll get further if you can sit down with the hospital in person

and try to work this through. But, I mean, and the lesson to be learned from this is when you have a hospital visit, be looking for the bills. And when they don't come, call them and make sure that insurance is being handled. And you have to become an auditor, a bookkeeper, when you have a hospital stay, as if it's your job, as if it was a part-time job that paid you $4,000, which in this case, that's what you're facing. Ouch. Hard lesson to learn.

Aaron is with us in Pennsylvania. Aaron, how are you? I'm good, thanks. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I just graduated from my master's program recently, and I was really lucky not to take out any loans for it. Great.

And during this time, since I was 17, I did a lot of freelance work, which I've saved up a lot in savings, just over $300,000. Dollars? Yeah, $300,000. So from 17 to how old are you now? I'm 25. From 17 to 25, in the last seven years while you were getting your undergrad and your master's, you put $300,000 in the bank. Yeah, I went to colleges that I didn't pay tuition for, and I applied for lots of grants and scholarships to help pay for my living expenses.

Ding, ding. And I stayed with my parents. Nice job. Most of the time. So what's your master's in? I'm a classical musician, so I got it in violin performance. Wow. Good for you.

And 100% free. And so what was your freelance? You said you were doing freelance? Were you playing the violin? Yeah. I was playing the violin. I was touring around, but I was quite limited sometimes, so I would teach as well when I was younger, especially to younger students.

And I still teach today as well. So what did you make touring? I'm curious. Touring? It's really unstable. So like two years ago, I made about $50,000 in one year, and then last year was really good, was just under $100,000. But this year is less. It's like $60,000.

So it's really fluctuating. I understand. Okay. Not a bad side gig while you're going through college. Yeah, I was really lucky. Now, you keep saying that. There's no luck involved here. You've worked your butt off. You've very diligent you've been very careful you lived at home and you are obviously a world-class musician well 24 year olds don't make 50 to 100 grand unless they're really good okay so i know this i mean it's not it's not i don't i don't have to know anything about music

to figure that part out so what did you make when you were tutoring younger kids? How much did you charge? When I was 17, I charged $50 an hour. $50? Yes, $50 an hour. I love you. You're awesome. This is a great story.

So you are so successful. How can I help you? So my question is, my parents were never trained with money. They just only told me to always save and keep my costs low. But I've been listening to your show a lot, and I realized that I'm in a lot of a better situation than most people to have a lot of savings. And I haven't really invested it except for three years' worth of Roth IRA. How should I go amongst building wealth at this stage? I hear you say put it in like an index fund sometimes,

but should I put it all at once, or how should I best organize this? Okay. First thing I want you to do is to contact one of our SmartVestor pros and begin to get one of them in your corner. And just click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com and sit down with them. Now, what you're looking for is someone who you connect with who has the heart of a teacher because their job is not to do your investing. Their job is to show you some options on investing and teach you how they work,

and they'll make you some really good suggestions in this situation. But you're going to learn from them so that you don't depend on them. You don't depend on me. You depend on your brain and growing your knowledge in these areas uh so that you can start doing some investing and i yeah i'm probably going to send some of this towards some mutual funds and uh i'm going to be thinking about when you're going to buy a house someday and i'm going to use some of it for that i might even pay cash for a house oh my goodness you're in such a good position. When you're ready to buy, I mean, you're going to be in an amazing position to do that.

And so what does your future career look like over the next, say, five years? What are your plans and what do you think you'll make? Yeah, I'm hoping to keep it more stable at least around, I'm guessing around $70,000 is the median with the highs and lows for the next five years. I was thinking about buying a place, but then also I'm never there, and my parents are very open with me staying with them when I need to, and I'm hardly at home anyways. So I've been just taking that option for now

because I don't know where I want to be based anyway. Yeah, I think you can decide when you're going to put down roots a little bit before you buy. That'll be fine. You've done very well, sir. Congratulations. You've set yourself up, and you're obviously a very talented young man. Congratulations.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, one of our own. One of our own team members here. Leo Gonzalez is with us. He is one of our video producers on our creative team. Been here about, what, seven months maybe? Yeah, six, seven months, something like that. Yeah, cool. Cool.

And you moved here from where? Texas. From Texas. All right, cool. And you brought your wife, Amanda. So one of our own family members here doing their debt-free scream after only seven months. Very cool. How much have you guys paid off?

$23,164. Cool. And how long did this take? 20 months. 20 months. And your range of income during that time? You want me to give that? Well, all your coworkers are standing around, so I'm not going to make you do that.

But, I mean, you guys weren't here when you started. Right. So what did you start at? Man, probably 30, honestly. Okay. And so was Amanda working outside the home at that time? I wasn't, no. No, do you now?

No, just some side hustle stuff. Okay, so for sure we're not asking his income now. That wouldn't be fair at all. Okay. So you started at 30. So you started, and then, I don't know, a year into it or so, you end up here. Now, that's kind of surreal. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was honestly, it was actually going through

FPU that had us apply here, and I mean, it changed our lives completely. So I was like, man, might as well join the team and do the same for other people. Make some of these videos that I'm watching. Exactly. Very cool. Good.

That's neat, man. Very cool. So. That's neat, man. Very cool. So what got you guys started on the whole process 20 months ago? Yeah. So that actually starts probably a year before 20 months. It was crazy. We had a brand new baby girl, and Murphy was hitting us pretty hard. I mean, over the course of probably six months, the car was breaking down multiple times, got our tires stolen. Good Lord.

Moved four times because of terrible landlords and just crazy things. Some unexpected dental bills. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, so all of that. And, I mean, we just couldn't make it you know it was it was just hitting us so hard uh we actually even got on uh government assistance uh for a little bit wow yeah it was uh it was a rough time yeah but the video world is volatile i mean it's a

you're either making good money or you're making nothing yeah i mean and getting a job or getting a gig and keeping it is tough. It's a tough world. Yeah, for sure. You were doing video stuff back then, of course. Yeah, doing video stuff. And actually, that's what had me. So I was looking for a job, and I found one in Houston.

And, you know, got a little pay increase. And kind of our I've had it moment was, you know, I was making more money, so we were just spending, not really looking at the budget. And I remember specifically one night, we were both in the living room. And actually, I can't remember who actually bought something online, but one of us bought something online. And in the back of my mind, I was like, I need to go check our bank account. And sure enough, I went into the other room and looked at our account, and we had $2. No! Yeah, $2 in our account.

And thankfully, being in the video world, everything is crazy expensive. So I grabbed the first thing that I could. I grabbed a microphone, and I put it up on Facebook, sold it, got a couple hundred bucks immediately. And I walked back into the room, and I was like babe um we should uh we should probably do this financial peace thing i'm sick and tired of being broke yeah yeah no matter what i make it's all gone exactly exactly yeah and i was pretty much on board from the beginning i i was kind of tired of our uh budgeting talks being like oh we have a little room to spend. Oh, we better hold back.

I'm like, I don't know what that means. I want to see real numbers here. And there weren't any. No. Because there weren't any real numbers. Not until that number was zero. Well, yeah, they weren't being produced. There was no numbers being produced.

Yeah, that's great. So then you finish Financial Peace University, or you're doing Financial Peace University, and you pop online and see the job, and you think Nashville. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we, honestly, I mean, over, so I guess we started back in March, and I came here in October, I believe. But yeah, I saw the job, and I was like, man, like, I just remember our change, really. Not just financially. I mean, I think everybody going through the class,

the bank account going up, it's kind of a given. But really, I think the biggest thing was probably our marriage. I mean, we just communicated way better. I mean, it made a huge impact. And so being able to, once I saw that job, I was like, man, that sounds awesome. You know, I know what kind of impact it did in our life. And so, yeah, I want to join that team for sure. Yeah.

Work that has meaning. Work that matters. Yeah. Exactly. Very cool, man. Well, congratulations, you guys. So your friends back home ask you, how'd you do it? How'd you get out of debt?

What do you tell them the secret to getting out of that is? Communication. Being on the same team. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the biggest thing is, I mean, I know everybody, I feel like everybody that comes on this stage always says communication, but for us, I mean, that's true. We're definitely going to back that up.

And, I mean, us being on the same team, man that's yeah that's that's a huge huge thing for us yeah i'll guarantee you sharon ramsey steps on that stage she'll say communication that's that's her answer to every question that's um and regarding this stuff so well congratulations you guys very well who are your biggest cheerleaders i know once you're working here you got your leaders all around you but who are your biggest cheerleaders? I know once you're working here, you've got cheerleaders all around you, but who are your biggest cheerleaders outside your coworkers here? We've had a lot of support from family and friends, but we're particularly grateful for our good friends in Houston, James and Alyssa. They led our financial peace class and just cheer us on along the way.

We miss them a lot. Okay. Yeah, they were the ones who opened the door first time for you. Very cool. Yeah. Coordinators that teach these classes have a huge impact. Yeah, they were the ones who opened the door first time for you. Very cool. Yeah, coordinators that teach these classes have a huge impact. It's a big deal to be a coordinator. That's a big thing. And it was actually a funny thing.

So for us, I mean, just part of our story is having Maya, our daughter, just join in. I mean, she doesn't really understand what's going on. But, I mean, just having her kind of be a part of that whole journey. I mean, she even has she even paid one of our last one of our final debts. She like pushed the envelope. Pushed the envelope in. Okay, that's

cute. Alright, cool. Did you bring her today? Get her in the shot? Let's get her in the shot. Alright, how old is Maya now? She's two. Oh, cutie. Okay. Fun. She was there.

Our final payment, actually, we're talking about coordinators. We led our first class, or we just started leading our first class. Oh, cool. And our final payment was made on the first day of the class. Oh, wow. That's so neat. So, yeah. Very cool.

Well, thanks for leading again. That's pretty incredible. And we're honored to have you on our team. We're very proud of you here. Yeah. And actually, we have one more thing we can share. Maya's going to be a big sister. Oh!

Wow! Big announcement! Yeah, I thought we'd take over and announce this too, huh? All right, all right. But we've really enjoyed this journey. I think one of the biggest things for me, like getting on a budget, making those sacrifices that I just wanted to share was all those sacrifices being worth it. And we have been so blessed by the Lord and by our friends and family. We have a lot of

hand-me-downs and worn-out stuff that at one point I would have been a little frustrated that we couldn't buy it ourselves, or we were making that sacrifice to not get those things ourselves. But that mindset change of looking around, looking at our worn-out table, our old car, and finding joy in those things, saying we have been richly blessed. Amen. So that's been one of my favorite parts. Amen. Well, you've lived like no one else, and now that you've found contentment,

godliness with contentment is great gain. So, of course, you have a copy of Chris Hogan's Everyday Millionaire. It's probably already, but if you don't, you can have another one. So it's all good. And we're proud of y'all. Congratulations. Alright, Maya, Amanda, and Leo right here from our team. $23,000 paid off in 20 months.

He's been on our team for seven of those. And congratulations, guys. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream! 3, 2, 1 We're debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Way to go, you guys. Absolutely awesomeness. Wow.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day first peter 4 10 as each has received a, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. My friend Simon Sinek says, a team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other. Woo! There we go. That's Simon. Love it. Wanda is with us in Missouri.

Hey, Wanda. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thank you to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thank you so much for your ministry and how many people you help. Thank you. I love that debt-free stream. I love it. Yeah, that was a good one. With a baby announcement mixed in. Yeah, it was. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah. How can I help today? Well, I'm walking with my brother and sister on their financial walk and it is a disorganized disaster, and it turns out that my sister-in-law is diagnosed bipolar.

And my understanding is that there are people who really cannot have access to money, people who have problems with gambling or addictions or mental health problems. Agreed. So I have no idea, I have no idea how to tell them to limit her access because she's very flexible, very resourceful. She's very maternal. She's a wonderful person. But she's an expert at robbing Peter to pay Paul. I don't know how to even begin to tell them to limit her access. How does she not get access to the money?

Okay, so this is your husband's brother and his wife. No, I'm sorry. It's my brother and his wife. Oh, okay. Well, talk to your brother. It's my brother and his wife. What? Talk to your brother.

And tell him what? I mean, if she wants to your brother. And tell him what? I mean, if she wants to do it. Well, listen, if she has to, part of her process of walking out a bipolar diagnosis is continued coaching and counseling, potentially some pharmaceuticals, depending on what the cause is. And sometimes this is chemical, sometimes it's not. And an agreement that until she reaches a level of healing or a level of management that is reasonable, that she's not capable of handling money.

And she's not going to go around him and in secret destroy their lives. Okay? And that's a part of her mental health plan. So if she agrees to this and gets to a low point and does things anyway, what does that mean? Well, it means that, number one, he needs to be watching with her. But if she's doing regular counseling and is working a plan to deal with her bipolar situation, the likelihood of that goes way down.

She's off of all the bank accounts. I mean, she would have to go out and lie and cover up and do that. It can be done. I mean, when people are either manic or depressive, they go off the ranch sometimes. But your likelihood, if you're with a mental health professional and you're actually walking through a system here that is not simply maintenance, but is a process leading towards healing or better management of this, then the likelihood of her going off the ranch is there. When people are not looking and we're not dealing with this and they're not taking their meds

or they're not going and seeing their counselor and they're not walking through this, that's when they go off the ranch. It's not when they're seeing their therapist every week and they're on their meds, if meds are applicable, and they're in communication tight with their spouse and that kind of stuff. It's when everybody's, you know, when they're just cut loose and they're adrift is when this stuff happens. But when they're working a system and a plan, most people can walk through that.

Believe me, we've worked with, I'm not a mental health professional okay the only reason i know anything about this is i've worked with bipolar for 30 years because almost all bipolar have financial trouble yeah you know because of the obvious and but the what I want to give you is that there's great hope. Because I have seen people time after time after time, when they apply themselves to dealing with the issue at hand, this diagnosis, and they take the steps and they put the guardrails in place in their life, they can move on, not only receive complete healing in some cases, but at least get to a managed level to where they don't destroy themselves

and everybody around them. Okay. If she's not going to engage in that, then she's not trying to get better, then he has a different set of issues that are not money issues. Okay. different set of issues that are not money issues okay then he's dealing with an alcoholic that won't quit drinking and refuses to get help essentially yeah and that's a different that's a different set of decisions is how long you tolerate that without you going crazy um because one thing's for sure crazy if you if you deal with crazy long enough, it'll make you crazy. You know, it just does.

And that's why people stay in toxic marriage situations where someone's abusing them. They turn out to have mental illness as well from the scars of the situation. So, you know, if he's dealing with it proactively, she's dealing with it proactively she's dealing with it proactively i feel really hopeful about their future but she does not need to have her name on anything financially until she gets this to a management level a managed level with some track record of a couple of years because she can't it adds not only to the probability of a problem but it adds to the stress which causes her to activate if you take the responsibility off of her it gives her a better situation in which she can heal does that make sense yeah it does it's good for her it's not just like punishment like you're

not worthy to handle money thing it's like this is good for you this gives you a better environment a cocoon to heal in we're walking together we're walking a plan we're on our meds we're doing our therapy again if meds i'm not prescribing meds i'm not a mental health professional i know there's a lot of garbage okay but but you know you're doing the stuff man of what it takes to get better you have to do the stuff of what it takes to get better and everybody has to hold you accountable to do the stuff of what it takes to get better and everybody has to hold you accountable to do the stuff of what it takes to get better and then amazingly you will get better most of the time there's a very high success rate with this when everybody does what they're supposed to do so um good luck with that i hope that uh i hope he can get your brother and her to hear this in a loving voice and a kind voice and help them through it.

Because I've had a lot of really good stories on this. There's plenty of bad ones. But when people decide to address it, there's good results. All right. Matt is in New York. Hey, Matt, how are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing good.

How are you? Better than I deserve. I'm a little short on time. Go straight to the chase. Will do. I own a heating and air conditioning company, and there might possibly be an opportunity for me to sell the business. I currently cash out about $150K a year just for myself. I do have a couple of guys that work for me, and I have a mortgage left on my house of about $281.

Our house is worth about $550. I bought really low at a really good time. What would the business sell for? I would hope that if it sold, it would sell for that I would maybe walk out with about $300, enabling me to pay off the mortgage. Yeah, you'd want to get more than that. Take out what it costs to pay a manager out of your $150, and then, well, yeah, that's probably about right, I guess, $300, somewhere around there, $300, $400, maybe $500, but somewhere in there.

It's not worth more than $500, though. So why would you sell it? What would you do after you sold it well potentially there's two options one i would sell it and just pay off the mortgage and then go about doing something else well i want to know what i would want to know what you were going to do don't run from something run to something i would most likely stay in my industry and probably take a union gig at a top-paying position. Why would you do that versus what you got now? What you got now sounds pretty good.

It's great. What I have now is great. Just grow your business. Run your business and keep it. Run your business, grow your business, control your destiny. Don't take a union gig and coast. Run your business, grow your business. Go make $300,000 a year.

And you get your mortgage paid off pretty quick doing that. Unless there's some other reason to sell this, I don't hear it. I think you stay there. There's a great book out called Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. Highly recommend you read it before you make this decision. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and 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 Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to National and tell Dave your story.