The Ramsey Show - App - The 3-Step Process to Overcoming Fear (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 26, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where your life and your money take center stage. I am Chris Hogan, and I'm joined in studio with my co-host today, Mr. Ken Coleman. And we are excited to talk to you, America, about your questions about money, life, and even career. I've got the career coach in here with me, and we are going to dive in and take your questions. So call us. We'd love to hear from you. That number to call is 888-825-5225.

Again, that's 888-825-5225. Mr. Coleman, how are you? I am living the dream. How are you? I'm good. Are you awake? I am living the dream. How are you? I'm good. Are you awake? I am awake. We just finished two hours of the Ken Coleman show and I did the 20-foot walk over here to the Dave Ramsey studio.

It's always fun to be with you. The question is, how's your energy after the big event last night, the What Now? What next? What Now? It was What Now? Oh, geez. I can't even get the title right. Well, it's okay. I'm here to rescue you. Thank you very much. Listen, the What Now? It was What Now. Oh, jeez. I can't even get the title right. Well, it's okay. I'm here to rescue you. Thank you very much. Listen, the What Now event, we did it here last night, and we had a great audience live. I saw the picture. I watched a little bit. It was fantastic.

It was done by Dave, Rachel, and myself, and we were giving people the information they needed to be able to move forward now, Ken, despite all the pandemic stuff, all the things that are going on, and we unveiled something that's available for people, and that's called Ramsey Plus. Very exciting. Now, we know people have gone through some tough times here recently, and many of you are hurting right now. You may be jobless.

You might be broke, or you might be struggling to put food on the table. John Maxwell says, change is inevitable, but growth is optional. And if you said that to yourself, and you've said never again during this COVID shutdown, you've already taken the first step toward winning with money. You've chosen to grow as a result of this season. And so we are launching something new, and it is huge. Something that will change the trajectory of your life, and it's called Ramsey Plus. This is the all-access membership that gives you our best financial products.

You can learn through all nine lessons of Financial Peace University, our proven plan to win with money. You can budget with premium features of every dollar and also connect and sync with every dollar sync, as well as track your progress with the new Baby Steps app. So you can start your free Ramsey Plus trial right now. Set yourself up so never again do you have to walk through a crisis without confidence. And listen, you are going to be okay. You can do this. To get your free trial of Ramsey Plus, go to DaveRamsey.com slash never again. That's DaveRamsey.com slash never again. And I'm going to tell you, Ken, the feedback from the people last night was phenomenal. You yourself had an event not long ago.

Yeah, we had the Get Hired digital event that was live streamed from the very same stage. And a great, great crowd from 13 countries joining Americans. And this is a time where we've not seen in modern history. We had two massive swings, Chris, in the job market. In February of this year, which seems like a long time ago, we had the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the United States, 3.5% unemployment. And now we're in the teens, right? And we're seeing close to 35,

somewhere between 35, 40 million people out of work. And so we did the Get Hired event, which we've now turned into a Get Hired product. It's 11-part video series folks can get for only 20 bucks at KenColeman.com. But we're trying to help people in the most competitive job market that we've ever seen. And just give you a snapshot of what I mean. So let's just say that the number's 30 million, just to make the math really easy. So 30 million people that submit, let's say, five resumes. That's 150 million resumes. That's really low. It's more like 10 to 20.

Right. So we're talking about 300 million to 600 million resumes that are flooding the marketplace. Wow. We know that employers spend 7.4 seconds scanning a resume on average. So that's the reality that you're facing, folks. So that's why we did the Get Hired event. Now it's the Get Hired digital course, 11-part video series, taught by me. We've got a workbook.

And the idea is to give you the competitive advantage so that you can stand out in this very, very interesting, to say the least, and difficult job market. Well, I know it is very much on people's minds right now. And even for those that have put their head in the sand and said, I'm getting this extra unemployment check through the end of July. I'll just wait till then. And I'm going to tell you something, Ken, you and I know that's not the time to start when everyone else starts. No, you've got to get a jumpstart. You really do. And let's just think about this. If you're sitting home right now going, well, listen, I can collect more next month than I would if I went to work. That job that has asked you to come back and you said, I'm not going back because I can make more because the government has

disincentivized me to actually go back to work, that job may not be available for you. So I would not play that game. I would not assume that Congress is going to extend that federal unemployment insurance benefit beyond the end of July. And so now is the time to get after it. And, of course, you and Dave and Rachel talked about this last night. Never again. You talked about it from the financial standpoint.

But let's remember, folks, it is your job, your career, which gives you the money that you need to live like no one else. And so we've got to understand right now that these are really topsy-turvy times. And the person who sits back and waits is in trouble. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. We know without a shadow of a doubt our government has taught us they can't count. Right.

Okay. And so the last thing we want to do is to count on them. And so one of the things we talked about, Dave hit on it. We talked about never again. That's the mantra. That's the mindset that we all get a chance to learn from these things that have happened. And if you don't grow from things, you get to repeat them. And so I want people to learn things, you get to repeat them.

And so I want people to learn from that, get serious about it. Again, as I told you, Ramsey Plus is an opportunity for you to let the rubber meet the road. And again, all you have to do is go to DaveRamsey.com slash never again. And we've got an opportunity to be able to grow forward and learn.

Okay, listen, we are here to take your calls. That's what we're going to do coming up soon. Call us. Kelly's ready to take your call your call also you can find us on social media uh can tell people where do they find you yeah at ken coleman uh on instagram and of course uh we're out there on twitter i don't know if many people are anymore you know but instagram and facebook just listen twitter is still twitting well kind of going of. It's still going? Yeah, it's dangerous out there. You've got to have a helmet on if you get out there on Twitter. It can get nasty. KenColeman.com is the website for a bunch of free resources. We've got our Get Hired Guides, the Resume Guide, the How to Win the Interview Guide,

and the Touchpoint Timeline, how to follow up. So we've got some great free stuff. And I've got to tell you, Chris, we've also got a really cool quiz, Should I Quit My Job? It takes you about two minutes to answer, and you're going to get a report, one of four categories. And it's that nudge that a lot of people need. Because you know, there are a lot of people, we have some new data, 74% of people know that they can leave a job they do not love, but they don't do it anyway. And the reason? We're afraid of of change we would rather be miserable

than deal with being uncomfortable see because change is always uncomfortable yes whether it's a good change or bad change but we well it's the misery that we know that we're like i'll stay here i'll wallow in this pit of misery because at least i know what it's going to be like that's right well and the reality is is we've got to make some changes. Nothing changes until something changes. And so we've got that opportunity. You have the opportunity, America, to call in, talk to Ken about your career questions, call me about your money questions. We are here for you. Again, that number to call is 888-825-5225. We'll be right back. is the dave ramsey show Business leaders now more than ever, we need people with the right skills to support our communities, especially the frontline workers who provide resources and care for those

most in need. To help, LinkedIn is offering free job posts for healthcare and essential service organizations that need to quickly fill critical roles with the people who help us all. If you are hiring for one of these organizations, free job posts on LinkedIn can help you quickly find the right people for your frontline. LinkedIn jobs can help by screening candidates for skills and experience you're looking for and putting your job post in front of qualified people who have what you're looking for so you can find the right person to quickly fill critical roles. To post a health care or essential service job for free, or if you're in another industry and have hiring needs, visit linkedin.com slash Ramsey. LinkedIn.com slash Ramsey.

Terms and conditions apply. Hello, everyone. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris H hogan and co-hosting with me this hour is ken colvin we have got some fantastic folks out in the lobby uh getting a chance to meet some people and talking with them and i tell you i get excited ken i'm glad to see people back in the lobby yeah it's great one one nice lady said uh do you do hugs and we said if you're fine with a hug, I'm fine with a hug, and we did a hug. I didn't think she really wanted to hug you, but I think she just

had pity. She might have wanted to hug me just to hug you. I'm huggable. Yeah, she tried it with me, because you're intimidating with the big voice. I am not intimidating. She's not about to ask you for a hug. Okay, Coleman, I'm done with you. Alright, listen, America, we're going back to the phones. We've got Catherine on the line. Catherine, how can ken and i help you today hi um so i am just calling because

my husband is turning 30 soon um he's been working in the um logging industry for the past like eight years okay um and he's um looking at switching switching to going to school to become an electrician and doing the trades. Just because he's had a lot of injuries in the field he's in and the hours have been getting really wonky and kind of an unstable income where he's at. Right. So the other thing is we're expecting a baby in July. Okay, congratulations. Thank you. That kind of does another side in it, too, because he's also looking at potentially just staying at home because his income has become so variable with the virus.

Okay. What is your household income right now? So our household income with him working in my current job is about $56,000. Okay. And how much of that $56,000 is his income? About $25,000. Okay. All right.

So you all are thinking through all the options right now. So, Catherine, you're intending once you have the baby, you're going to go back to work. Yes. Yep. Yep. I work as a teacher. Okay. Um, and I actually just got a, I actually just got a promotion, um, the end of the school

year. So I'll be making, um, about $15,000 more than I was previously. Okay. So my income is going to be going up to 43,000. Okay. So what's your question for Ken and I? So I just wasn't sure how, if this was a good time for him to be exploring a career change or not. We're also in like baby step two.

So I just wasn't sure if it was a wise choice for him to stay at home or not. I guess I just don't know if it's a smart choice to switch careers. Well, first of all, it is. You just laid out the reason for it. He's had some health issues. He had some injuries. The work is up and down. It seems like, to me, he wants to do this.

That's why he's looked into being an electrician. And I think what you all are facing as well, if he comes home and I've got the raise, it's really not that big of a wash and he can be home with the baby. Is that what I'm hearing when you say he comes home or pursues being an electrician? Yeah, because basically he would make money as an apprentice electrician, but it would pretty much cover the cost of his schooling and the cost of daycare. So he wouldn't be making any money. So he like, he wouldn't be, like, making any money.

So he would, like, pay for himself to go to school, basically. Exactly. But what's on the other side of that? And I'm assuming you all have run those numbers, too, of what an electrician can make per hour in your area. And so what does that number look like? What would his first year look like if he's gainfully employed as an electrician? Right. So his apprenticeship, he'd make gainfully employed as an electrician? Right.

So his apprenticeship, he'd make like $13 an hour. Right. But that would go up over the four years. And once he had his journeyman license, he'd be making closer to $30 an hour. Okay. Right. So you have to run those numbers, and we're looking long-term here. Because if long-term he wants to stay at home and be a stay-at-home dad, then that's his decision.

But if he wants to work and he wants to be an electrician, you can do this. I mean, he can get through this, and this will be a sacrifice, a short-term sacrifice that you all can make. But I'm telling you, being an electrician and being in that particular trade, that is a great long-term prospect. It is. Catherine, is this your all's first kid? Yes, it is. Okay, so you guys are entering parenthood, and you got some career. I've got to tell you, Catherine, you sound excited about him going for this electrician

career change. Yeah. Yeah, I think it'd be really good for him. The injuries in the past have been pretty scary and stuff like that. I never know when like the phone call is going to be like an actual like something really crazy and not just you know something so what are you afraid of smaller what are you what are you two collectively afraid of because that's ultimately why you called you wanted to get our opinion on should he make the move we think it's

a yes but let's address the fact that there's some real concerns here what are you afraid of let's name it specifically yeah so i think that we're just afraid of um just because the economy has been so wonky lately um we're just afraid that like you know construction and the industry that you're looking into going into is going to see like a significant decline um and then being an apprentice too like it's kind of funky because like you know you can't really do very much so like the employer is almost kind of doing you a favor by hiring you as their apprentice so if you were afraid that wherever he is like if they can't afford to pay their you know if they come under financial hardship if they can't afford to pay their

other guys they're probably they would cut him first because he can't make them money necessarily. Okay, good. Of course I do. And that's a legitimate fear. But let's just play this out. What would happen? If he got let go, what would he do? He would go get a job.

He'd go do something. This is not destruction. You're not going to be homeless. You're not going to starve. So it's okay. He needs to pursue this. And I will tell you something. Home improvement stores skyrocketed during COVID.

Construction, those trades, they were working. So I think this trade is so valuable and it gives him such a great future. I understand your fear, but what I'm trying to tell you is there's no monster in the closet. You all need to think this through, run the numbers on it, think about it long-term, not short-term, because this is a long-term decision. And, yes, you're going to have to sacrifice a little in the short-term, but it's going to be worth it.

Yeah. Catherine, how does your husband feel about the idea? I think he feels very optimistic about it. He kind of thought about going back to doing this right before COVID kind of hit our state. And he was really positive about it then. And then kind of the virus happened and then his hours got cut. And so then he kind of became more unsure of what to do. So he was actually the one that suggested him being a stay-at-home dad.

And I'm feeling like that's more because he feels like he's nervous about, for the reasons I said, he's nervous about going and switching careers right now. Oh, absolutely he is. But I'm going to tell you this. I love the fact that you all have been upfront and honest and talking to each other. And I can tell you, your husband is going to feed off of your encouragement and your confidence. And so as Ken was just showing you, you all talking through the worst case scenario, if he did the apprenticeship and that didn't work, then what's the backup plan? Then what's the one after it? And what are you each willing to do for the sake of your family? And so I like that you guys are talking about this. I would encourage you to continue to have those conversations.

Let's map it out. Be clear and have that grassroots thing of we're going to do whatever it takes for the sake of the family. And Ken, you know, talking about making a career change, that is nerve wracking. Yeah. We just, we were talking about that before, that there's the fear of the unknown. But the best way to have some knowns, right, is to understand you don't jump from one thing to the next. You have a game plan,

and you make sure you've got a support staff around you. There's a three-step process to overcoming fear, and I'll just give it to everybody because it's really helpful when we take on change, which has the fear of the unknown. So what we want to do is what we walk Catherine through. We want to look at what is the actual fear. Let's write it down. So what we want to do is what we walk Catherine through. We want to look at what is the actual fear. Let's write it down. So I really recommend, we know from psychology studies, Chris, that when you write the fear down specifically, it helps you get it out and look at it. So let's name the fear. I'm afraid that we're going to starve or be homeless. All right. So let's deconstruct that as step two. Put it on trial. Is that true? Fear is a liar.

Let's prove that it's a liar. And once we've seen what the lie is, now we know what the truth is. And so that's the third step. We focus on the truth. And the focus is, hey, this is a great plan for our future. My husband can do very well financially for us and maybe even own his own electrician firm one day and provide jobs for others. Name the fear. Deconstruct it. Focus on the truth. I like that. Put fear on trial.

Ooh, that's strong right there. All right, Catherine, thank you so much for calling in. You and your husband continue to communicate, get on the same page, support each other, and know that the future is bright. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Folks, I love telling you about well-made, well-thought-out products. Today, I'm talking about Grip6 belts. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly modern minimalist belt made of high quality materials with no holes,

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Because we got some peeps standing out on the debt-free screen stage, and they're not just standing there to stand there, they're here to do some business. So welcome, you guys. We've got Kyle and Danielle from Jacksonville, Florida. How are you? Great. How are you guys? Doing fantastic.

You all are radiant. You're smiling. Your husband looks nervous, but Daniel, you're smiling. I'm hoping I don't have to paramedic. So what line of work are you all in? We are both firefighters. Yes. Both of you are firefighters. Do you work together? We did. You did? Yes. Okay. What happened? Where do you, what happened with COVID-19? Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. We started, I was already at my station, and he was the rookie. Okay.

So we got to know each other, and then about a year later, we're married. Fantastic. So newlyweds. Yes. Newlyweds. So wait a second. Am I reading in between the lines here that maybe you hazed him a little bit, and then you started dating him?

Is that how that went? I can neither confirm nor deny that. Oh, so take that, Mr. Coleman. Yeah, I like that. Very good. So tell us, how much debt did you all pay off? So we have paid off a total of $51,723 in the course of 18 months. Wow, 18 months.

Yes. What on earth did you all give up during that time? You said life. Seriously, I mean, you all cut back everything? We cut back everything. We did our monthly budget. We get paid every two weeks. We sat down every two weeks.

We went over it. We went over our goals. If there was a special event I could sign up for, I signed up for it. He signed up for overtime. The kids knew. We were on beans and rice. We were on beans and rice. You were on beans and rice. What was your starting income, and then what are you at now?

So we both started at minimum firefighter pay, which was around $38,000. And the course of the time, I finished medic. With overtime, we grossed $110,000 together last year. Whoa. And we are on course to at least make more than that this year. Fantastic. Very good. So you went from $76,000 make more than that this year. Fantastic. Very good. So you went from $76,000 to about $110,000.

Yes. Okay, so tell me this. Whose idea was it to get serious about getting out of debt? It's definitely hers. Okay, smart play. Yeah, she was already on the Dave Ramsey plan before me. Before you. So I'm sensing you got your arms crossed.

You were probably a little reluctant. Right. Were you reluctant to the process? No, not really. She did a phenomenal job with just kind of easing it in there. She didn't force it. She didn't lay out all this structure in front of me. She just kind of put the idea out there, left it there and let me do my own thing. I mean, I've listened to Dave for seven years and I knew, you know, he always talks about there's those four things that, you know, people either agree or don't agree on, marriage, kids, religion. That's right.

So when we started dating and I knew there was something about him, I knew it. But I was like, hey, listen, you know, people have got some stuff. Mine's finances. If you cannot get on board, I'm not going to debt for you. And I was like, please, please say yes, please say yes. And he's like, show me the way. And I was like, oh, thank god I don't have to dump him so tell us what kind of debts did you all pay off we paid off we had a small one for AT&T paid off his credit card we paid off his truck which was the biggest loan we had okay and we cash flowed our wedding and honeymoon. And then today, this morning, we paid off his credit card.

Oh. Student loan. I'm sorry. Student loan. How big was that student loan? Almost $11,000. $11,000. Paid it off this morning?

Yes. Now, was that on purpose? Did you wait? Or was today the day? How did that work to where today you're doing your debt-free screen, but this morning you paid off the very last one? So I had to come to him for the last month i've been working the covid site a lot and we missed we didn't do our

budgets this month and i said i need you to trust me i knew we were coming up on our one-year wedding anniversary i haven't been home that much i really wanted to make this special and i knew i just knew that i could make it happen with the overtime and that if I played my cards right, I could plan this trip and we could be in Nashville today and do our debt-free scream. I didn't know we would be here doing this part. I knew we were going to do a debt-free scream somewhere in this building, maybe outside. That's so part of the auditory tattoo. I said, baby, please just trust me this one month. And he said, I give the budget to you for this one month.

And I said, we're going to Nashville. That's amazing. You made it happen. I made it happen. Kyle, how big was this truck payment you had? You know, only $450 a month. Did you say only? Yeah.

Don't make me come through that glass. Well, I say it like that because I was one of those people that you're like, it's only $450. I mean, I can afford it. It's not that big a deal. That's exactly right. As you all sit there, Kyle, what did you learn about your wife throughout this process? How patient she is. I definitely had my growing pains with everything.

So it's a big mental change to go from, oh, it's okay, you finance things. You finance a phone to this whole new way of life. New way of life. Danielle, what did you find out about Kyle? Just how understanding he can be. Because we had moments. We had those budget fights that we hear on the radio all the time. We had those moments of, no, I deserve this.

I'm tired. I'm so tired of this. And he would be right there saying, it's okay. I feel the same way. What can I do to help you over this moment? Because in the next month, I'd be right there. What can I do to help you over yours? Ken, I don't know about you, but that sounds like a team to me, brother. Well, it's so fun to see the relief. What a surprise today must have been. What did it feel like? I mean, you guys have been working so hard. And when

you made that last payment this morning, what was it like the moment after you realized payment went through? What did it feel like? I felt taller. It's just that weight. Because that student loan has been following me around since 2009. Yeah, had some fur on it, didn't it? Oh, yeah. It's got its own room.

Kyle, let me ask you this. There are other spouses out there that might be reluctant, right, when you hear some new information, might be reluctant to try this thing. You are someone that was somewhat reluctant initially, but you got them on board, and now you're at this place. What would you tell that person that might be reluctant out there to give this stuff a try? Look at the bigger picture of that long game. You're taking short-term satisfaction and giving up so much more. We talk about it all the time.

I think the most dangerous words are, I deserve this. Especially in our line of work, you see people that go and buy $70,000 vehicles and boats and things like that, and they're like, I deserve this. I think we deserve so much more than that. Ain't that the truth, brother? I was doing a media interview yesterday, and they said, hey, we're getting back to normal. I said, we don't need to get back to normal. We need to get back to better, right?

And that's exactly what you all have done. Well, I am so proud of you all. Kyle and Danielle paid off $51,723 in debt over an 18-month period of time, making between $76,000 and $110,000. All right, y'all. It's game time. You ready to do it,000. All right, y'all. It's game time. You ready to do it? Yes.

All right. Let's see. Kyle and Danielle, let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! That's right. Congratulations. Yes.

See, it's rare that we get people in to do the debt-free scream on the day that they become debt-free. And so I'm proud of you guys. And she is holding up the sign and is smiling from ear to ear as they should. Very proud. She's not just smiling. She's crying. Yeah. Those are some good tears there.

That's the wait. The moment has happened. They've crossed the finish line they worked so hard chris they sacrificed so much they worked together they doubted they believed they doubted they believed and then here they are today what a wonderful journey what an inspiration you two are thank you for coming and sharing your story there's people right now that are listening uh they're going to make a decision to step into freedom because of you two. So that's really fun. No, it really and truly is.

And you heard them describe what each learned from each other. Understanding and patience. And so if you're out there right now and you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, I want you to know that you can have that moment as well. Hearing Kyle and Danielle's debt-free scream, paying off $51,000 in debt, doesn't happen by accident. It happens by choice. And we all can get there. And Ken, I know I've done my share of financial stupid. Have you? Oh, yeah. My goodness. Thankfully, we did all of our stupid long before I knew Dave. And then we kind of got to meet Dave when Stacey

worked here years and years ago. And we thought, well, this FPU thing is pretty cool. And we did it. And, of course, we've taught the class. And then getting to be part of this family for six going on seven years has just been so fun. But, you know, you said something that's key. I love that the two words they use to describe each other. It's a great lesson for all of us.

Patience, understanding. You better understand. If you want to get debt free, if you want to get anywhere in your life, you better understand it's going to take patience. You got to get up and persevere every day. Chop wood, and then that time is coming. And this couple, boy, their time has come, and they look real good. Yeah, they do. We got to get out here and take a picture with them. Listen, if you're out there and you're ready for it to be your moment, go to DaveRamsey.com slash never again. It's time for you to get

started and we're here to help. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Folks, save cash by fixing your major appliances yourself. Get your parts from my friends at Appliance Parts Pros. We just heard from a listener who said he saved his family at least $500 by getting his parts and expert advice to fix his leaky fridge and dishwasher from Appliance Parts Pros. These guys carry over 2 million appliance and outdoor power equipment parts and offer easy returns. Order your parts today at AppliancePartsPros.com. Hello, everyone.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. If you are just tuning in, we just did a debt-free scream. We had Kyle and Danielle live on the debt-free scream stage, and we had a blast. It's phenomenal. And we've got some amazing people out in the lobby. We've got people from Colorado, just met that family, from California. We've got Arkansas. We've got, I mean, just from all over. So if you are ever near us, if you're in Nashville, come on south to Franklin.

Come visit us live. You can see the show live. You can go over to Baker Street Cafe. Miss Melissa over there will take care of you with cookies and coffees and all kinds of stuff that Ken and I have baked for you. Yes. And you will enjoy it. No, we did not make it, I assure you. We didn't.

But we'd love to see you. We'd love to see you and come around and tour the new building. It's hard to believe, Ken, that we are coming up on a year in this new facility. Yeah, it's so beautiful and fun. And it's really been designed for you to enjoy the experience. And you can watch the show. And of course, all those free goodies over there. When you walk in, you get hit by a force field of unbelievable baked good smell and they've got the hot beverages the cold beverages and uh it's great to see people back in the building it is you know we got a good crowd in here today and uh it's fun we just met two lovely ladies from california and you said what are you doing here and she said well we're

here to see our parents and escape and escape so if So if you need to escape to Tennessee, come on. We'd love to have you. We may go back with them when they go to Cali because the sun is always shining out there. Yeah, she's saying no. She's like, no. Okay. I don't know if she's saying don't come back or don't come with us. Or we're not welcome.

Yeah, I don't think we're welcome, Ken. Oh. I feel judged. Oh, yeah, no. No, I don't want that. Never mind. Okay. All right.

Here, we're going back to the phone lines. If you are out there and you've got a question, call us. The number to call is 888-825 mind. Okay. All right. Here, we're going back to the phone lines. If you are out there and you've got a question, call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. All right. Lisa is on the line with us, calling from New Jersey. Lisa, how can we help you? Oh, hello, gentlemen. Thank you so much for taking my call.

I need some help. I found Dave and team in November by attending Financial Peace Live at my church. I'm so glad that I went because I still have no clue what to do with my money. I wasn't budgeting. I was on my fourth car fleece. Oh, it was awful. I realized, and that was in June last year, and I said, oh, my gosh, if I found Dave a few months ago, I had had $16,000 I could have bought a new used car. So at present, I'm ready to pay off my call on July 1st and a few days from now, thank goodness.

And I will be able to finish my baby step three by mid-July, which is next month. So thank the Lord for that. With that said, I'm 49, going to be 50 in October. I'll be starting with 15% into the retirement. My employer does offer a 401k and I think a 401 IRA, not like a regular Roth IRA. A 401k Roth. Yes, ma'am. Yes.

Okay. And that's really awesome. That's what I'm supposed to do, right? And then this is the thing. I had refinanced my mortgage around six months ago to a 10-year mortgage, and my plan is to have the mortgage paid off by December 2013. With all of that said, do you think that I could get to my target retirement number? I put my numbers in your RIQ. And when I saw it, I said, oh my gosh, because I need like almost a double.

Right. I said, oh, my gosh, because I need like almost a double. It would be like me putting 30% in. But I'm hoping that if I pay my house off in three years, then the money that I would have with the mortgage, I could add to it. Okay, Lisa, Lisa. Okay, do me a favor, honey. Take a deep breath. There you go. Because I hear it. I know you are.

I know you are. But I want you to just take a deep breath. A couple things. I love the fact that you're going to pay off the car off was because of this whole COVID mess. It would have taken me some time to get the title, so I figured I'll just wait until everything comes. And I just had the money sitting there. Okay, gotcha. So what is your household income? $72,000. All right, $72,000. And as of right now, you have nothing saved for retirement? I have $200,000 in my 401k.

Okay, so you do have $200,000. You're about to pay off the car. Once you pay off this fleece, you don't have any other debt outside of your home. That is correct. Okay, and you're saying the home is going to be paid off in three years. Lord willing, that's the plan. Okay, how much do you owe on the home? I owe around $78,000. Okay, $'s the plan. Okay, how much do you owe on the home? I owe around $78,000.

Okay, $78,000. And how much are you paying on it each month? Oh, gosh. I pay my own taxes. I don't have that. Just a ballpark. Maybe around $1,200. Okay.

Or $100. Okay. So here's the reality. You have $200,000 put away. You're wanting to know, is it too late? No. If you've got breath in your lungs, it is never too late for you to make some adjustments and to be more intentional about what it is you're doing. However, as I talk about in my book, Retire Inspired, we've got to not only do the offense, we've got to do the defense.

And the offensive side is investing and being intentional. The defensive side is stupid. We have to avoid stupid. We have to avoid stupid. We have to avoid the car leases, the car payments. And that is going up on a car lot, going looking, because I have, Lisa, went looking about 15 years ago, and I looked, and I brought home a payment like it was a puppy. And so what we have to do is be smart and be intentional, and don't put yourself in situations where financially you're tempted. And so you being intentional, I want you to get connected with a smart investor pro to look at how you're investing. Be intentional and understand what it is you're doing.

Young lady, you're about to pay off your car, which is awesome. You're going to have a fully funded emergency fund. You're going to do the 15% and you're going to pay extra towards your house. You're right. Once that home is paid off, you've freed up $1,200 extra dollars that you can still invest. So you have time. But again, it's offense as

well as defense. And Ken, I know you run across this in the career space of people feeling like it's maybe too late. And I just want people to know if you've got breath in your lungs, you can do some stuff. Yeah, you know, we think of time lost as something that we can't ever make good on. So the idea is, okay, she's looking at the fact she's 49, almost 50,

and she's looking at, I could have done so much more had I started investing or not had debt. And that's the wrong narrative. What she's got to focus on is, wait a second, I've got the $200,000. I've got to pay off my house. That's an option. We're not saying that she's going to use that, but that's an option. She got the $200,000. I've got to pay off my house. That's an option. We're not saying that she's going to use that, but that's an option. She has a lot more options than she ever had before. Yes, she does.

That additional $1,200 a month, how that stacks up over the next 15 years. Just that number alone in addition to everything else she's doing. And so now she has to go, okay, what do I have to do to make the most of the remaining time I have? That becomes the narrative. And you'd be surprised about what you can do. But the fact is, she has made up for past mistakes because of what she's doing now. Yeah. So we can't play this game of, oh, I should have done it sooner.

No. I'm doing it now. It's changing my life now. And as a result, it's changed my future. And so I'm going to rest in that. I'm going to get excited about that. So it's the wrong question. You know, is it too late?

No, it is important for us to identify what we need to do, but also what we can't do. And you don't want to do anything that's going to set you back. We want to do everything to go forward. She's done that. She really has. All right. We got Arnold on the line. Arnold's calling us from Ohio.

Arnold, what can Ken and I do for you, my friend? Hey, so thank you, Gabriel. Thank you very much, guys, for taking the line. Arnold's calling us from Ohio. Arnold, what can Ken and I do for you, my friend? Hey, so thank you very much, guys, for taking the call. So I am actually looking, not looking into it, but I've already taken the first few steps in starting my own business. Just a 22-year-old who saved up some money, and I don't really have much debt besides some of the merchandise that I bought on a credit card, which I can pay off. It's not a big deal.

But I have a full-time job right now, and I was wanting to know as far as, like, you know, would it be smart to just have the business as kind of like a side business to start off with, and then if it grows too much, to go into it full-time and quit my day job, or just to kind of go all in and focus on the business? What kind of money is the – excuse me, what kind of business is your side hustle? So I am starting a lawn care business.

I already got the actual paperwork from the state and got an EIN number. How much money are you making? Right now I actually just got a raise, so gross. I just did the calculation. It was about $40,000 a year. That's in your day job, correct? Correct. All right, so here's the deal.

This is a really simple process. You want to keep going on the lawn care business and you want to get to a point where you're at least making, I want to say 80 to 90% of what you're making in your day job before you would go over to this side hustle or the dream job. And the other thing is you said, ah, it's a small amount of debt. I can pay it off. You're kind of acting like, well, it's just over there. Let me tell you what step one is. Pay it off now. Yeah.

And so, Chris, I want him to build up that lawn care business to where he has six months of his $40,000 a year salary in the bank before he jumps. Plus, that job generating what he needs to live. No, you're absolutely right. And listen to me, Arnold. Don't let that little debt just hang around. And especially in the lawn care business where you can do purchases on the stupid level, like a $12,000, $14,000 lawnmower. You better get some scissors or something and cut that grass. Don't take on that debt. Pay cash for it, my friend. You got to stay allergic to it. All right, listen, I want to thank producer Zach Bennett.

I want to thank associate producer Kelly Daniel for taking the time to screen these calls for us and keep Coleman and I in line. I want to thank all of you for listening. And Ken, thank you for hanging out with me this hour, brother. Thanks, Chris. Always fun. 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 a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.