The Ramsey Show - App - The Ramsey Show Reacts to Terrible TikTok Advice (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: Terrible real estate investing advice from TikTok personalities, How to help your your son find a meaningful job, Feeling stuck in your financial situation, Should you sell the house in this crazy market? Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money, your work, your purpose, your career, your toxic boss. We are here for you. I'm George Campbell, joined today by Ramsey personality, Ted Coleman. The phone lines are open, 888-825-5225 is the number to call. That's 888-825-5225. Wayne kicks off this hour in Kansas City. Wayne, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely, how can we help? So I've got a 21-year, going on 22-year-old son who I've been estranged with for about the past seven or more years. We've recently reconnected and are redeveloping our relationship. Good. But he has graduated from high school. He tried college for about a year and a half and decided that it wasn't for him. But in the midst of all that, he was battling a mental health issue, which has now been addressed. And he's on the path to recovery with, you know, all the proper, you know, medical support.

But he has never had a job. He doesn't have any money and he just is, feels stuck and hopeless about moving on with his life. And I want to be able to help him the best I can. And I, I've heard of your books, the proximity principle and the paycheck to purpose purpose. Yeah. And I didn't know if, I didn't know if either one of those would be good or if there's some other resource that I could help him or get him connected with. Yeah, well, here's what we're going to do today. I'm going to give you the From Paycheck to Purpose book,

and I'm also going to give you the Get Clear Career Assessment, which is a 20-minute online assessment that will really help him because he can answer questions. He doesn't have to think. He just answers questions, and it's will really help him because he can answer questions. He doesn't have to think. He just answers questions and it's going to help him. It'll also give you a conversation to have with him. Once he gets his results on talent, passion, and mission and begins to see the purpose statement and whether it's 100% accurate or not, because he's not a whole, you know, he

doesn't have a whole bunch of experience. It doesn't matter. It's a great conversation point but um okay but i'm just curious uh because you've been out of his life for a while now you're back in would you be able to confidently tell me what you think his top talents are not super specific i don't want to put you on on the spot as much as i yeah i this is where we want to start with him and i'll unpack in a second what would you say that he has the most to offer the world at work from a talent standpoint well um he has actually um specifically told me at one point that he would like to be a movie script editor that's very specific he loves movies good um he's also very you know like most of today's generation is very heavily into online gaming um and you know and he's also mentioned something about wanting to work in a comic book

store or something along those lines just to get started i'm not talking about for lifelong no i understand okay so so i want to go back to the question and i want you to tell me i want you to tell me what you think he's really good at but but i want to pause because in those in the answers you gave me that's actually what we need to start with he just needs a job to get him out of this rut that he's in. So, for instance, if he could get a job at a comic book store and he's only making $12 an hour, good heavens. In today's environment, he's probably going to start at $15 for all I know. But that's good because now he's working and he is making money.

And coach him along with how to, you know, like, by the way, we'll give you any financial resources today that will help him, and teach him about money, and he gets a little mojo. He's no longer stuck because he's actually working and he's making money and he just happens to be working maybe in not the most exciting job in the world, but he's in an area that he's interested in. So that's the first thing. Okay, but I want to go back to what do you think his top talents are if you were to tell me people skills or some type of technical hard skill what would you say he's best at doing i would say at this

point from what i know it's mostly technical on the technical side okay great he's he knows me he is on top of the latest and greatest technology i mean he's blowing me out of technical side okay great he's he knows me he is on top of the latest and greatest technology i mean he's blowing me out of the water okay great with the stuff he taught with the stuff he talks to me about okay you know he knows every everything about all the latest phones and games and sure um online uh yeah is he is he verbally gifted Has he always done well in verbal type classes like maybe English or reading comprehension? Does he have strong verbal skills? Yes, he does. 21, and I actually love when a 21-year-old or somebody young can give you something very specific. It doesn't mean that's where they're going to end up, but it is a really clear clue. And so, Dad, listen to me.

You just told me he's verbally gifted, and he told you he wants to be a movie script editor. It's super specific, but what he's saying is, I want to work with words. I'm intrigued by stories and narratives and words because see a person who's an editor whether it be film editing audio editing or copy editing is a detailed person by nature is that is that lining up with what you know about your son oh huge oh there we go he's very detail oriented he notices details. And not only does your son notice details, it makes him happy when they're in order, right?

When things are in order the way they're supposed to be. Absolutely. Okay, so here's the deal. We want to steer him into those conversations. Hey, son. Okay. I love the idea about the movie script editing. What are some other, like, editing detail-oriented things around storytelling and things of that nature?

And get him, just have fun conversations because you've been out of his life for seven years. This is good dad-son stuff, but it's got a deeper purpose to it. Don't try to help him figure it all out. Just say, that's really great. There's a clue here. You're good at that stuff. I was talking to your mom, and I was talking to your old English teacher and begin to show him evidence that there is a pattern of talents in his life. Okay. Now the get clear career assessment we're going to give you,

it's also going to pull a lot of this out. But what I want you to do is help him and encourage him just to get a decent hourly job or maybe two part-time jobs in areas of interest for him. It could be at the bottom rung of the ladder, Dad. It doesn't matter because we need to get this kid some momentum right now as he begins to discover more about what he could do, where he could do it, and how he gets there. And the book, From Paycheck to Purpose, is going to explain the entire path and will give you the assessment as well, the Get Clear Career Assessment. I'm pumped for him.

And another thing he could do is even in Kansas City, I'd go, hey, what high school film classes, college film classes, maybe I could jump in and volunteer and start to get my feet wet. Love that idea. Editing some of these movie scripts at a low level to get some experience. Love that idea. There's a lot of things you can do practically, and I love him jumping in this. And I love a dad who just wants to encourage a son like that. We need more dads like that.

Yeah, you know, this isn't just for Wayne. This is for other parents. When your kid or somebody in your life, just a friend or family, tells you they're stuck, push back gently on that. They're not stuck. They're scared. I can tell you this. It's one of two things. They're scared of something happening or they doubt that something can happen.

Fear and doubt. That's what makes them feel stuck. Get to the source of that. How do we alleviate the doubt or alleviate the fear? And now we're unstuck. Those are the enemies of impact. Hang on the line, Wayne. We're going to get you those resources.

Thanks for the call, Wayne. This is The important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, joined today by Ken Coleman.

Listen, guys, we all know time is important. It's more precious than money, shiny toys, or winning certificates at work. And like spending money from an account, when you don't know how much is in it, we never know how much time we have. So if you could do one thing that would make the time you have even more worthwhile, wouldn't you do it? Sure you would. We get that, and we want you to have

everything you need to be well. That's why we're partnering with BetterHelp to give you a month of free one-on-one weekly therapy when you pre-order a copy of Dr. John Deloney's book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future. Who does that? That's incredible. You're never too old or too young to improve your health and make your relationship stronger, And your free month of one-on-one weekly therapy will help you get the tools that you need to change your future. Because you'll get matched up with a therapist based on your specific needs. This is a life-changing combo. Dr. John's book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, it'll make you laugh, maybe even cry, and it will challenge you for sure.

When you take the steps that Dr. D outlines and take advantage of the free therapy, you will also be transformed. This is an incredible deal. Get your free therapy sessions by pre-ordering Own Your Past, Change Your Future for only 20 bucks at ramseysolutions.com today. Good stuff. Adam joins us up next in Minneapolis. Adam, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, George and Ken. How are you guys doing? Great. How can we help? Just curious. I have a Roth option in my 401k at my job, which I'm currently putting 8% in. That gives me the full match that they'll provide.

Within it, though, I can pick the funds and things that I want to choose, and I'm just curious if I can use that vehicle for my full 15% or if I should take the other seven and use an ELP and put into a Roth or whatever. That's a great question, Adam. So you're saying you've got the Roth, you're doing the 8% match and you're going, hey, what do I do with the other seven? Correct. We've already got the Roth, and so it comes down to do we have good options to invest in in these funds? Do we have good performing funds with a great track record that would be good for your future? And so it sounds like you have that. Correct. Yeah, then I keep it simple, Ken.

I like to just go all 15%. It's on autopilot. I never even see my paycheck, and then one day we just become millionaires. And let's point out here maybe for new listeners or new viewers, that that's your 15%. That's not including the match. That's right. You're doing 15% of your check, and then whatever Ramsey Solutions matches is in addition to that. That's right.

So he's got 8%, but he's already putting in 8% to get that match. So we're going to do an additional 7%. Right. Fantastic, Adam. Way to go, man. Thank you, guys. Absolutely. All right. We're moving on do an additional seven. Right. Fantastic, Adam. Way to go, man. Thank you, guys. Absolutely. All right, we're moving on to Dayton, Ohio.

Sierra joins us there. How are you? Hi, guys. Hey. Thank you for taking my call. You bet. So I'm at the crossroads right now in my life, especially financially. I just don't know my next step.

Hey, Sierra. Sierra, could you adjust your phone a little bit? You sound like you're in a tunnel. I apologize. Is that better? A little bit. Let's try it. Let's just keep it as close to your mouth as possible. Go ahead. Okay. Like I was saying,

I'm just at a crossroads right now in my life, especially financially. I don't know my next step, and I'm just hoping for help from you guys on where or how, you know, how do I go from here and succeed? Okay, so what's going on? Tell us about the situation. Okay, so the situation is I was homeless prior to April of last year. I moved into a two-bedroom apartment, small, and was fairly sufficing up until around November or December where funds were getting low. I wasn't able to work as much. I've got some medical issues going on. And then my availability, when I could work was only part time, and I was working through a temp agency. I left the temp agency to go help a friend who has a business doing tax preparation, and told them, you know, I needed, you know, my situation, you know, what my bills were, and they led me to believe that they could help.

Well, I got into that job, and it just wasn't covering any of my bills. My lease is up in April, and I'm not employed right now. I have zero money coming in. I have about $9,000 in savings. My debt is $200 on a credit card, and the rest is about $3,300 in student loans. I'm in school currently for business online. I have two children in home. They're ages three and five.

And, you know, at April, once my lease is up, I don't know what to do. I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have anything lined up. I have no income coming in, and I'm just overrun. I'm so sorry, Sierra. So you said the kids, where are they? and I'm just overwhelmed. I'm so sorry, Sierra. So you said the kids, where are they? My two children in the home, they're three and five.

Okay, so they're with you. Yes. Okay. Well, are you cash-flowing school right now? Are you going to debt? I'm sorry? Are you cash-flowing the school? I have loans and financial aid. Okay.

So the loans, the $3,300 you mentioned, that's it right now? Yes. And you're able to cash flow the rest of it? Or are you going to have to go further into debt? I mean, I'll accumulate more loan as I continue in school. I'm not done until the end of next year. What are you trying to, what kind of degree are you trying to get? Or more importantly, where do you think that degree is going to take you?

What's the aim? So it's a degree in business. To do what? Well, I haven't decided. Uh-huh. This is more like the fundamentals, skill-based type. You know, it's just associates right now. Okay.

So, Sierra, George is going to give you some very tactical financial advice, but I want to drop this in really quick, hand it back to George. Okay? Mm-hmm. You need to get a job. This is the hottest job market in the history of our country i'm not trying to make it sound just effortless but i am telling you you need a job and that and i understand you got two little ones at home but you're going to have to figure that out because you need some income coming in the door. And I would pause the school stuff, too, because you've got to get your financial house in order.

The school will always be there if we even need it. George, take it over from here. She needs a job. I want to make sure we have aim for what this degree is going to do before we just get one to get one. That's unimportant right now. So, Sarah, on the financial side, here's what I want you to do. I know you've got $9,000 to your name, but I want you to pay off the credit card and the student loan today. That's about $3,500 total? Mm-hmm. Okay,

so that's going to leave you with $4,500 to your name. So you've got your starter emergency fund. I don't know what three to six months of expenses looks like for you, but that would be the next goal because what that's going to give you is some financial peace. It's going to give you a stable foundation so that when you do have income coming in, it's not going back out to lenders. And if you do have a job loss, you're going to be okay for a few months while you find a new one. Does that make sense? Cool. Does it scare you to lose some of that $9,000 right now, it does. You know, when I had income coming in, not so much. Yeah.

Well, you're going to get that real soon because, like Ken said, you're going to go get a job this week, and those payments are going to get freed up. And so you're going to have actually more cash flow coming in when you do have a job because none of it is going to lenders anymore. Sierra, let me just encourage you on something very practical. Walmart is offering just an hourly position. They're offering tuition. I mean, you shouldn't have to pay for that tuition. If you want to go work at Walmart, go work at Walmart right now. There's no shame in that. You've got to go get some income.

Hang on the line. I want to give her From Paycheck to Purpose. Read the book when you have a little bit of the line. I want to give her From Paycheck to Purpose. Read the book when you have a little bit of spare time. I want that big picture. George, what else do we want to give her on the financial stuff? I'm going to send you a copy of the Total Money Makeover as well to go along with that to help you on the financial side. But Sierra, you could do this. You've gotten beaten down and we want to give you some hope that it doesn't have to stay this way and you don't have to stay in the cycle. You can get out of this. There is a lot of hope for you.

We're cheering you on. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ramsey personality George Campbell, joined today by Ken Coleman. You know, Ken, I'm a millennial, and therefore I'm on like every social media platform there is out there. Not only are you not on it, George, but there are times like earlier today I needed to ask you a question. I wanted to do something fun on the old Instagram. It was tech support. Wasn't sure how to do it. Who do I go to?

George Campbell. It made me feel young, and it made you look old, so I'm a big fan of that. Yeah. Well, I embrace it. So one of these platforms, everyone's heard about it, is TikTok. It's very polarizing. People have a lot of feelings about it, but I'll tell you there's some- Is that right? Yeah. There's some great entertaining content, some great content creators, the same people who make- I've done some things on the TikTok. Yeah. They're great. By the way, I like to call it the TikTok just to irritate. That makes you seem even older. Well, that's the whole point.

It's kind of a built-in joke. Drives my kids nuts. I can imagine. It's driving me nuts. You know what else I say? The Google. Oh, boy. Drives my kids nuts.

Hey, they ask me a question and I literally go, I don't know, look it up on the Google. You're one step closer to John Deloney calling it the internets. We get it, guys. It's funny to us.

We get it. John and I are in our 40s. Leave us alone. As long as you guys are with us. All right, so anyway, the TikTok. So here's the deal. I get it, guys. It's funny to us. We get it. John and I are in our 40s. Leave us alone. As long as you guys are with us. All right. So anyway, the TikTok. So here's the deal. I get a lot of financial type videos because of the things I engage with and see.

Yeah. You're an expert and you're relevant. Yes. And a lot of this advice, I'm going to say 99% is just abhorrent financial advice. I can't even imagine what's out there. It's a blood boil and it's encouraging a lot of young people to do a lot of stupid things. Oh, sure.

And I can see the future where they're hopefully calling into our show, asking for help because they did a dumb thing. So I want to play a video and get your reaction and see what you think about this. So we're going to play a TikTok. We're going to go picture in picture here. This is very exciting. You ready?

Very exciting. Roll that beautiful bean footage. Here we go. This is the number one real estate investing strategy that I use to become a millionaire. Oh, that's a little over the top. It's called the BRRRR method. Oh, jeez. Buy a property for a good price or below market value that preferably needs some TLC.

R, renovate or repair the property so that you can make it attractive to future tenants who pay the rent. R, rent out the property to a tenant with good credit. Oh, boy. R, refine. Oh, boy. Once you have revenue coming into your property and you build some equity, you go back to the bank and get a cash refund. Nothing could go wrong.

R, repeat this process again with the money the bank gave you and buy another revenue property. Of course. It's very simple. For more real estate facts and tips, follow me on TikTok and Instagram. Okay. Wow. So first of all, there was already a little too much pep in that interview and that whole thing. A lot of pep in the stuff.

But then she went, TikTok, at the end, and I completely forgot everything she said before that. Well, she's got a future as an actress if the real estate thing doesn't work out. A lot of acting going on there. The real estate thing is not going to work out for her, George. This is an old playbook. This is old school brought to a new school platform. Here's what it's doing. The young kids out there, kids in their 20s and their 30s, my age, they're going,

this is my path because I am saddled with student loan debt. I'm living off credit cards. I've got a car payment. I need a way to make a lot of money fast. Go into debt now, even more debt, and then sell it. Oh, no, rent it to a renter

and then repeat the process. It's a foolproof plan. She basically said, go into debt, have somebody rent it, and then repeat the process, go into more debt. It reminds me of a young Dave Ramsey

pre-bankruptcy. See, this is my point. This is what Dave did before the TikTok. Oh, boy. Can you imagine Dave doing that video 35, 40... With hair? Some years ago. bankruptcy see this is my point this is what dave did before the tiktok oh boy imagine dave doing that video 35 40 with hair some years ago sorry you just visualized it didn't you with a fake leather jacket and a big chain maybe dave doing that like all those years ago with a pinto behind

him yeah here's the deal what's the danger in that george now we're having fun yeah she's a little peppy well but that's the thing these kids do this by we're having fun yeah she's a little peppy well but that's the thing these kids do this by the way real quick thing she was i don't know how old she was but it's at some point there's types of tiktoks you shouldn't do like there's types of clothes i shouldn't wear as a 47 year old man yeah i agree it's the same thing well i digress we'll talk about the advice here so our plan as you know if you've listened to the show for 10 seconds, is to become debt-free and stay debt-free because we have found, based on lots of in-depth research with our millionaire study, based on 10 million people following our plan, that the best path to financial success, to building wealth, is to become debt-free and stay debt-free, including your mortgage. So what this advice is saying, which is diametrically opposed, in case you're wondering, is saying that you need to maximize every possible dollar of bank debt you can get access to. So here's the idea.

Leverage debt out your eyeballs to have maximum cash flow and hope that everything works out perfectly on paper. Yeah. And then you will, in a matter of years, have a private jet that you can pose next to because of the Instagram influencers you follow, and they're driving this drivel into people's heads. Okay, let's talk about real practically what could go wrong.

What could go wrong? No, no, seriously. I'm going to tee you up. You're the financial expert, right? Sure. So you buy the first house like Pepe told us to, okay? And right now it's the top of the market, certainly in the United States. Yeah.

You're going to put as little down as possible if you're following the strategy. Little down as possible. Everybody stay with me. And let me tell you the facts. We've had a moratorium on evictions, rentals, right? We've had a moratorium on bankruptcies or foreclosures trump and biden continuing this that's going to lift here pretty soon yeah and we're going to see a lot of bad stuff hitting the streets and it's going to create more supply which what happens george when we have more supply

and less demand bad things housing prices go down now you bought a house at the top i'm just talking now worth a lot less it It's worth a lot less. And you still have that giant mortgage. And yet you still have the mortgage, and you still got to pay for it. And you're hoping. You're hoping that you can get a good, solid tenant who's going to pay on time, every time. But you may have to drop the rent because you can't charge what the rent was at the top of the market. Which hurts your profits because you're stuck paying this giant mortgage payment because you had nothing down on this property.

Yeah. Then what continues to happen, George? Then there's property taxes. There's insurance. There's all the maintenance. What happens if you can't pay that, George? Well, foreclosure could happen. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So now you go back to Instagram. And you multiply this out. What do you do? What has she got for you on TikTok after that happens to you? Well, they never talk about that part. They don't talk about when it goes wrong. Oh. It's all the promises of what could be and all the money you could make and the cash flow that could happen.

Could, could, could, could, could. I think we've made our point. We'll take real estate advice from the TikTok. I think we're going to see a whole new generation of the young Dave Ramseys who are filing for bankruptcy and going, well, that was a bad move. I was leveraged with 10 properties and a million dollars in debt. And I've seen these TikToks, people bragging that they're $15 million in debt. Oh, yeah. By the way, can I point out something else on all these platforms, whether it be Facebook, Insta, TikTok, anytime you see one of these, here's how you get really stinking

rich videos. They always play the the part the giant fur standing next to a private jet real estate guru they're enticing people into a trap and it is all about stuff every one of those videos by the way i'm going to step on some toes here i don't care because every one of those influencers that do this they are selling an unbelievably extravagant lifestyle. Yep. They're not selling purpose. They're not selling financial peace. They're not selling significant contribution to your fellow man. They're not. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

What they're selling you is risk. It's all lifestyles of the rich and famous. Caviar. All that crap. It's a trap. It's a trap. Every. It's a trap. It's a trap. Every time it's a trap. They're leveraged out of their eyeballs,

and they manage to somehow dodge the bullet, and they're trying to recreate it, and they're getting rich, not off of their real estate strategies. They're getting rich off of their courses. That tell you how to do it like they did. Oh, there I've gone a day. Oh, man.

I stepped in it. You riled up, Ken. I stepped in it there a little bit. I'm not mentioning names. Here's the problem. They're all over. You see a video like that, and you're a 20-something-year-old who's strapped with debt, who doesn't have a great income, who's not doing something they love. It looks like the fast lane, baby.

And they go, absolutely, I'm going to do this. Yeah, sure. And they get starry-eyed. They only see the upside, and they're delusional about the downside. By the way, there's no hard work in that. It's just go down and get a loan, and then play out this seven-step process that Johnny Rich Boy told me on Instagram. And do a bunch of cash-out refis to stay in debt for the rest of your life. It's a giant motivational trap.

Don't do this, guys. Please, please, please. If you see financial advice on TikTok that sounds too good to be true. It is. It's a trap. And if you follow the trends, you will fall for the traps. That's what I say, Ken. George, you said it well. Thank you. Say it again. If you follow the trends, you will fall for the traps. And that goes with crypto and NFTs and zero down real estate. You name it. There's always a new trend out there. That's the newest

get rich quick scheme. And I'll tell you, read through Proverbs. I don't care if you're a person of faith or not. Read through Proverbs. I don't care if you're a person of faith or not. Read through Proverbs. It speaks against all these Get Rich Quick Schemes that we're seeing today, Ken. By the way, have you noticed all the Get Rich advice on social and all the VHS tapes years, years gone by? I'll tell you what that is on a commercial break. Thank you. You know, it's never free.

What? You always got to pay for the course. Ooh, there it is. I tell you how to get rich, but you got to pay for the course. $29.99. Do it the slow way. That's the best way to get rich and stay rich. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined today by Ken Coleman. Our scripture of the day comes from Ecclesiastes 5, verses 4 and 5.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. That's integrity. That's good stuff. Phillips Brooks said, character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones. That's good. Both all about integrity there. All right, let's head to the phone lines. Josh joins us next in West Palm Beach. Josh, how you doing? I'm doing great, guys. How are you?

Wonderful. How can Ken and I help? Yeah, well, I've got a bit of a pickle here. So my wife, Sweet Fiona, and I bought our first house down here in Jupiter, Florida, two years ago, right before Florida exploded real estate-wise. So we've got a good deal in the house. We've got some debt. We both have student loans. We've got a couple cars, things like that. And now we're trying to get serious about following the baby steps. So we're on baby step two.

I've got an opportunity. I mean, I guess everybody here does. But I've got an opportunity to sell our home and make a pile of money on it, up to $200,000 takeaway profit, which would get us out of debt. But, of course, it would put us in a situation where we'd have to rent. The rent's really high here. We may end up having to move to another state. I don't know.

I'm ready to make a radical move, but I just want to get some advice and make a sound decision. Sure. Well, I'll tell you up front, just blank statement saying, hey, sell the house. I'm not going to say that. I know that we're at the top of the market right now, and it feels like a good idea, but it could put you in a lurch.

So let's get some numbers here and walk through this process. What's your household income? About $90,000. Okay. And how much debt? Between the two of us, just under $200,000. Wow. And how much is on the car loans each? $30,000 and $7,000. All right. And what's the car worth? That $30,000 loan, what's that car actually worth right now? Right about $30,000. Okay. And what about the $7,000 car? I'm guessing about that. It's probably worth about $9,000 or $10,000. Okay. So here's my thinking. Before we go selling the house, what if we went and sold these cars and got something that can get us around for now to get this debt number lower?

Okay. And then with this income, can you guys work overtime? Can you work extra jobs? Can you sell stuff? Yeah, I've actually just picked up a second job that's commission-based. I just really don't know what it's going to bring in. So I've already kind of gotten started with that. The other thing is, and I know you guys hate this, but about $110,000 of the student loans,

I'm a high school assistant principal, and I'm on track to have the public student loan forgiveness. I think I'm about two and a half years away from that, assuming it still exists and everything. So I don't know how much hope I should put in that as well. I have very little hope. I mean, if you're two years out and you want to ride it out, because this is a large number, right? How much would be forgiven? $110,000.

Yeah, I mean, that's a big chunk. But I just don't know that I'd go sell on the house. Now, you do have $200,000 versus a $90,000 income. This is going to be a journey for you guys because you can't put more than what 30 grand a year right now based on your income towards the debt right yeah so the 200 does not include your your mortgage debt correct no it does not yeah so most of it is your student loan because we got 110 on that then you got 30 on the car so we're already 140 so man i tell you george is right i i gotta tell you i'd sell that car because right now used cars are at the top of their market too this is

not going to last so i i would cash out that car now that's 30 grand dude one swoop and that gives you some momentum yeah i mean based on the numbers i'm seeing if you wanted to sell the house because that would be a clean you'd be out of debt completely, right? If you sold the house today, you got $200,000. But there's a lot of headaches that come with that, closing costs. Like you said, you're going to have to go rent somewhere. I'm guessing that's way more than your mortgage right now, right? Yeah, it's a bit more, yes.

And so that part worries me. I'd be crunching some numbers because here's my parameters. Here's what's going on in my head. If I can get rid of this debt in two years, I'm not selling the house, even three years. If I can get rid of all this debt in three years by hustling, getting my income up, selling the car, selling everything I can, that makes me feel a lot better about it. But if you're saying, hey, it's going to be a five-year journey to get rid of this debt, then I may go, yeah, we're selling the house and it stinks and it's going to hurt. I want to pay way more in rent, but we're going to set ourselves up for

a better future. When you mentioned the out-of-state option, it's going to hurt. We're going to pay way more in rent, but we're going to set ourselves up for a better future. When you mentioned the out-of-state option, it's when you were laying out, well, if we sell the house, we may have to move out of state. Is that something that you were already kicking around and open to, or is that one of those, if we sell the house, this becomes one of the options? Was it first or later?

Well, you definitely read me there. So we just look around at what happened in Florida. We love it in Florida. We're transplaced. We moved here from Virginia because we love it here. But it's just going absolutely insane here with the house prices and the rent prices and stuff. And we just kind of think, like, if we sold the house, you know, we'd get the big financial win. But then if we have to go turn around and pay, you know, $3,500 a month in rent, then it kind of just defeats the purpose of it. So it would be almost like, because I work in public education

and I have inner-city experience, I can basically go get the same job I have here or anywhere else. So it's kind of just a thought, well, why don't I just go move somewhere where my money goes further or I can actually afford to live. It's a nice thought. I don't want to uproot my family necessarily. We did just have our first child 15 months ago. Don't do it.

Little River, my little dude. That's awesome. Congratulations. Don our first child 15 months ago. Don't do it. Little River. Hey, that's awesome. Congratulations. Don't do it. Thank you. Don't do it. Here's why. Even in Virginia, you'd have to go to some really rural areas of Virginia for it to make

sense anyway. Any kind of metropolitan area in Virginia, it's not like the housing prices are that much different. And to strap yourself because of rent. Look, you guys can do this. I'd rather see you hustle, maybe upgrade your gig, you know, and you both just get after it. I wouldn't sell the house now. Yeah, I'm going to be on a strict monthly budget. I'm going to decrease every expense, do an audit, and try to squeeze as much as you can out of that income. And on top of that,

I want you to get a bigger shovel so that this isn't a five-year journey. That's just too much of a slog. But we're rooting for you, man. Good luck, whatever route you choose. All right, let's take one more. Adam joins us in New York City. Adam, welcome to the show. Hi, George. Hi, Ken. How are you doing? We're having a blast. What's up? I have two questions. One, which is probably very common for your show, and the second one I'm not quite sure how to deal with. So I want to just dump my job, the job I'm working for. I know the people for like 15 years. They are pretty much like friends.

And I don't know how to deal with the guilt, but I am completely burned out. I don't see my future in the company I'm working for. Okay, all right. So let me address the first one because we have just about two minutes, so we've got to move quickly. Are you doing anything wrong? Are you doing anything illegal? So are you doing anything unethical?

No, no, no. Absolutely no. I know. I know it was a setup. Hold on, Adam, listen. It was a setup question. You're not doing anything illegal, nor are you doing anything unethical, so stop feeling guilt.

They're going to survive without you. And if they can't survive without you, they wouldn't survive with you. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes. So stop it. You're a good dude. You're burned out. You know it's time to move on.

Move on and don't look back. What's the next question? So the next question is basically I have some options. So I have some options with the work. I have something just coming up. And because, as I said, like I know those folks for 15 years, we're working for 15 years together. They are my friends. I just really don't know how to quit.

That's the thing. You don't know how to quit? How to have that conversation? So the first question was guilt, and I answered that one. The second question is how to actually do it? Oh, this is great. No, I know that. Talk to them and put the paperwork. No, I get it. I get the question. Here's the answer. Quit how you would want someone to quit you okay how would you want somebody to quit you adam uh so i wouldn't basically because if i if i run my own business i would just try to keep the people and i know but okay or would you do it with kindness and

respect yeah you leave well leave well yes whatever leave well means to you do it with kindness and respect? Yeah, leave well. Leave well. Whatever leave well means to you, do that. Be classy. Don't burn the bridge. Just leave the way you would want someone to leave you is the point, and then you don't have to worry about it. You're going to upset them a little bit. They're going to be disappointed, sure. But that's not up to you.

What you're responsible for is how you treat them. Be thankful for the opportunity. Be gracious in how you offer to help transition. And be classy. As a fellow people pleaser, I relate. I get it. 100% understand that. We don't need to overthink it.

Good luck, Adam. Thanks for your call. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. My thanks to my co-host, Ken Coleman, all the folks in the booth, Kelly, Ben, James, Zach, Nathan, the whole gang in there keeping the show running, and you, America. We'll be back with you before you know it. Until then, remember to spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks. Ken Coleman here.

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