The Ramsey Show - App - They Paid Off $297,000 in 19 Months! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 6, 2020

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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. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show, best-selling author, is my co-host today. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Tom starts off this hour in Huntington, West Virginia. Hey, Tom, how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Sure. So I am blessed beyond belief. I have a job that I love. And as part of this job, I have to travel between eight and 10 times a year. My company is very big and

they have very specific travel requirements. And that means that I have to use the hotels that they specify and the car companies they specify. And some of those require that I have a credit card in order to make reservations. My wife and I have followed you for a long time, and some of those require that I have a credit card in order to make reservations. My wife and I have followed you for a long time, and I don't like the idea of having a credit card. Is there any option that I have here? Probably not. Okay, I've kept a credit card. The debit card will work for dollar car rental, but it won't work at most of the others without a big hassle. I'm a little bit surprised that if they require one certain rental car company that they don't. I mean, every hotel just about take a debit card now.

So that's not an issue. But the rental car companies, many of them don't. And so I'm surprised they don't have a corporate uh contract with them we have a corporate contract with hertz and with dollar dollar is owned by hertz and so when our people travel they just put it on our corporate account they don't run their own cards and stuff or their own or cash or anything when they're checking in yeah so who do they require you who do they require you rent with uh it's mostly avis and we have to pay for it ourselves and then we have to submit reimbursements after and avis will

not take a debit card no they won't you're right yeah they're complete twerps about it um so the other i mean the other thing i would do is I mean, you can continue to mess with this, whatever you want, but you're not going to get Avis to take a debit card. I mean, I would ask your supervisor why we don't have an Avis corporate account that I can't just sign for and go in and just bill directly to the company. It's a reimbursement anyway. Why do they make you put it on your personal stuff? If they're big, why do they need to borrow money from you?

Sure. And, you know, I would just push back a little bit. I mean, you don't have to be belligerent about it or something. The other thing you could ask for is just ask for a company credit card. If you're asking me to travel and you're asking me to use specific things that require a credit card, I don't have any credit cards. So you need to furnish me a company credit card okay i mean you can ask for some stuff like that that would solve it i don't know you know depending on how bureaucratic and

they may just look at you with their eyes crossed and go no you know and then you may just have to run a credit card for one thing the danger is is you're walking around with with you know this thing in your pocket that can really cause harm to you and so you've just got to be uber uber careful with it i mean you're carrying around a vial of uh nuclear substance you know you just got to be real real real gentle with it and you know keep it only keep it wrapped in padding and only use it when it's you know when it's necessary and this kind of thing and not just go oh well you know we're out to eat and i do have that that card back there no no no no these are only reimbursable expenses and you just got to be super super careful but i would push back against it and you love your job so i'm not asking you going to quit your job or be belligerent about it or

something so i mean you know what he's also disciplined enough the very fact that he called and he wants to talk through that um you're not violating you know some you know unbelievable dave ramsey clause i mean you've heard from the man himself well i guess you're right if it's if he has to have it but i mean if he's only using it for that he doesn't have any choice but i like the idea of asking for the company credit card. The problem is a lot of companies, they can't think outside the box like that. Somebody wrote a policy at some point, and they're like, they can't get outside of that. Well, I mean, isn't it interesting if you think about this?

Here's what corporate America does to people like this. They ask you, their employee, to borrow $ thousand dollars for them for lodging and rental car and client entertainment you're at you the employee who makes a one one jillionth of what the ceo makes are supposed to finance this company's behaviors, this company's requirements for them, and then ask for your money back. This is the crap that corporate America pulls and gets away with. I mean, when you really put that in perspective, it's absolutely asinine.

It's ridiculous. But, you know, you don't have to get mad about it and quit you just gotta but you just kind of have to go things i think about you know yeah like i was telling rachel the other day she's making fun of me about these electric cars so what did you say about electric cars i was in the i was in a meeting for we're building another building and i was in the meeting with the architects and they go okay we got to have these electric plugs out front for these electric cars i said why is it a is it code is it code i could hear you now and they said no it's not code but everybody does it and i said well that's a good reason i'm not doing it yeah so and we've got the electric plugs out front of this building right

we're putting them out front of the next building too okay and so the team members and winston's like we need more plugs because people can't because not enough people can plug their little electric car in out there. And so we need more plugs. And I said, so why is it? How did it happen in our culture to where I buy some employees fuel for their cars as the owner of the building, but I don't buy fuel for the other employees? So I'm thinking we need to put in a gas tank out there. And Kelly thinks we need one. She wants free gas.

Well, I don't understand why some Ramsey solutions get free electric. I don't get free gas. It's energyism. It's energyism. You know what? James, I would like to talk about getting a gas card. I am discriminating against some employees and not others. Me.

I'd have never gotten a Ramsey gas card. Right there. There's not, because there's not one. That's why you don't have one. Well, I would file a grievance with HR, but you'd punch me on the air and then everything would go bad. It would just be bad. It would be ugly.

I would mess with you in front of millions of people. You make a good point. Now, Rachel didn't like that. No, but Rachel. She didn't like that. Because she'd argue with the post. That's fair. That's also accurate. Interesting. We just like that. Because she'd argue with the post. That's fair. That's also accurate.

So, I mean, isn't it interesting? We just did that, and nobody thought anything about it. I am buying fuel for some people's cars, and I'm not buying fuel for others. You are. So it's the same crap. Why is it corporate America gets away with this crap, and they get people to charge $4,000 worth of stuff they're doing on behalf of the business. It's a business expense.

The business ought to bear the expense. I have an answer. Now, it's going to sound simplistic, but you've got to really get the gist of this. The reason corporate America does that is because enough people don't go, why do we do that? And I don't believe in credit. It's bad. And I've gotten out of debt, and I cut my credit cards up.

I'm a good employee. Are you open to the concept that you get me a corporate credit card? It's the same thing. It's still a transaction. Why are we adding an extra step? Because that's what they're doing. And challenge the process,

as Dave said, in a respectful way. You don't raise a bunch of cane, but you've got to start asking questions. Five times in my coaching career, I've had people come home and file the expense report in the company when they chapter 11 and they end up bearing the burden of that debt for that company that's a big risk this is the dave ramsey show folks i love telling you about well-made well-thought-out products today i'm talking about grip six belts i don't know about you but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right,

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Grip 6 is determined to help build and modernize American manufacturing. To learn more and get this month's Dave Ramsey special, visit GRIP6.com. That's GRIP6.com. well this is weird ken coleman by the way that's not weird but ken coleman is my my co-host today here on the rmz personality this is weird. August is National Make-A-Will Month. Who knew? That's so positive and delightful. Who cared? Apparently we did. Well, you do need a will, and I guess you need a month to

remind you. If you can have Dollar Day, you can have Will Month. National You're Going to Die Make-A- Plan Month. Well, you need to do that. That's true. All of that is true. it's just weird uh okay it's a thing i'm going to challenge those of you that don't have a will that's current to get your will because this is apparently the best month to do it that's an easy way to start with our

preparation checklist it's a free guide that'll help you think through the big seven things that you need to consider like guardians beneficiaries what happens with the little things you haven't thought of like even your social media accounts okay is that is that a thing i need to worry about that's the things huh i don't worry about it while i'm alive so i guess i'm not worried about it when i'm dead but anyway all right so you do need to do well for sure i am worried about that when I'm dead. But anyway, all right. So you do need to do a will for sure. I am worried about that. And this free checklist is a good way to help you get going. So once you've got your plan, you can drop it into an online will in about 10 minutes. And it does cause you to think about important things.

Everyone should have a will. 78% of Americans die without a will. That's stupid. You need a will. And August is National Make a Will Month, so here we go. Text the word will to 33 789 that's will 233 789 julia is in maryland hi julia how are you hi good thank you for taking my call sure what's up so um i have 503 000 in debt right now outside of a mortgage.

Good Lord, on what? $330,000 of that is for my student loans, $40,000 is from his, and then we've got just around $90,000 in credit cards and personal loans. We were actually just living in our garage last summer trying to get our house ready to move into. We've been trying to minimize our costs to pay things down, but it hasn't really been a good situation. So are you a doctor or a lawyer?

I am a nurse anesthetist. Okay, so what do you make? What's your household income? I bring home about $11,400 a month. You're not working much. That's full-time. That's net. Net of what?

You should be making twice that. So I make $200,000 a year. Yeah. Are you just starting? So I started in May. I had a premature baby, and I was home for a while, and now my husband is staying home with the kids. Okay, so you have a new career in this.

Okay, it'll take you a little while, but you should get up around should get up around 300 and you have way too much coming out of your check 80,000 dollars is coming out of your check a year yeah i i get paid every other week and i get 5700 each pay i know it's wrong you don't have 80,000 in taxes on 200K. Your withholding is screwed up. Oh, okay. Bad. Okay. Are you putting a bunch of money in 401Ks, or have you bought a bunch of crap down at the office that's coming out of your check? Nothing.

No, just my health insurance comes out. Just my health insurance is the only thing that comes out each um each i have nothing 401ks i have no because we're we're on baby tip number two trying to work on paying this off yeah how old are you two 32 and my husband's 34 okay well you have a wonderful career field and the ability to make a lot of money and you have uh made a huge mess with your finances and so you're going to really spend the next several years cleaning up that mess with this wonderful career bad news is you were in a deep hole good news is you got a pretty good shovel so my plan is that we were going to put 6,500 a month for debt is what we have been working on well that's not enough that's only seventy

thousand dollars you're going to be in debt 15 years doing that you need to put 200 a year on your debt and go make 300 there are actually not as many jobs at that price i think um this is actually one of the better paying positions that you can find. Okay. You're brand new at this. That's just not true. I've been a CNA for three years. Okay. Okay. I mean, I've worked with people doing what I do for 30 years.

Nurse anesthetists kill it. I mean, you can kill it with that. I mean, and you have spent serious bank. You're going to need to really crank up your hours. You're recovering from a pregnancy that was premature. There's a lot of emotion in that. You've graduated. There's a lot of emotion in that.

Your family's been in it a lot of people. There's a lot of emotion in that. And you're looking at this pile of mess that you've done in unbelievable student loan debt and unbelievable credit card debt. And you guys are going to have to really sacrifice. You're going to have to get on beans and rice, and you're going to have to get your income way up and your expenses way down and get very, very, very, very, very organized. If you do all of that and you go bananas, it's going to take you three years.

You have three years of hell in front of you to clean this mess up, or you have no life for the next 15 years. One of the things she brought up, Dave, is that her husband has come home. So I'm presuming that he's not working because he's there helping out with the baby and stuff like that. He's got a premature baby. Yeah, and that's tough. But in this situation, my mind, I want to know if this is what you would have said, but my mind goes to, look, he needs to get back to work,

and we've got to come up with another plan for somebody else to be there, maybe a family member, a grandmother who we know from church or the community that's a very solid lady that we trust the babies with. That's one of the big ways they can get their income up, yes or no? Depending on what his career is and what the depth of care for the premature child is. But I don't know whether they're dealing with developmental things or whatever there, depending on what they've gotten into. But you've got to take care of the baby for sure.

But if the baby is functional and doing okay, then yeah, and your husband can make some money. If he can make $100 and you can up your income to where it ought to be, you guys can clean this mess up fast. But this is a mess, and it is not going to go away until you stand up above it and start smacking it really really hard and uh you should not be coming home with eleven thousand dollars a month on a two hundred thousand dollar income that's a hundred and twenty six thousand dollars a year 127 000 a year and that means you got 80 000 almost coming out of your check that just doesn't work there's something wrong with that. And we need to get your income up.

So you need to check on your withholding. Make sure you're bringing home the right amount. Get with a tax person. Get home with as much money as you can get home with. Increase your income. He increases his income. We cut down all expenses to nothing. We sell so much stuff the kids think they're next.

And you're going to have to really, really lean into this. We'll put you into ramsey plus for a year i'll pay for it and that'll give you the support team around you and some coaches around you as well as going through financial peace university and getting on the every dollar budget because you're going to need all the help you guys can get this is doable but only if you own it and tear into it. It's very, very doable. Hold on. Kelly will pick up, and we'll get you guys signed up for Ramsey Plus and put you into Financial Peace University in the process. So, Ken, even extremely lucrative careers do not justify ridiculous student loan debt.

No. Because when she started this process, her mind was binary. And here's how most people think. They think, I can go $330,000 in debt because I'm going to be making $200,000 to $300,000 a year. And that justifies that. Oh, didn't take into consideration that we might have a premature child didn't take into consideration that a baby might need this we didn't take you know let me tell you what's going to happen you don't know what's going to happen that's what's going to happen yeah so when you

run these little linear binary things you people out there and you're saying oh you're you know it's 250 000 to go get med school. It always works out. It don't always work out because nothing ever works out the way it's supposed to. That's right. And here's what's happened. The agony of waiting is always better, Dave, than the agony of suffering. We don't like to wait. We want it now.

But she would have been better off waiting, saving, cash flowing her way through it. And when you step into that work, you're making great money, and you're not miserable and suffering through unbelievable debt. Yeah, this is a mess. That's our hearts. I'm so sorry for them. This is The Dave Ramsey personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show, is my co-host today here on The Dave Ramsey Show. On the dead-free stage

right here in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. Diego and Gina are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Hey Dave. We're great. How are you? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do y'all live? We're from Fort Lauderdale. Oh cool, welcome. And here to do a debt-free scream that's right how much have you paid off we paid off 297 000 and how long did this take 19 months what oh yeah 19 months gazelle gazelle intense all the way what was the range of your income during this time uh well uh we started the process at uh 300 000 um recently we just switched off so we can really disclose the now amount however Well, we started the process at $300,000. Recently, we just switched jobs, so we couldn't really disclose the now amount. However, what you said is true.

We focused, and we were able to increase it at a good amount since then. Ah. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a lawyer at a big firm. Mm-hmm. And Diego works in healthcare management. Okay. At a hospital. All right.

Very, very good. Good for you guys. Okay. So we started at $300, making north of $300. So you cash flowed this $297 in 19 months? You didn't sell something big? We had a very small little safety net savings that Gina held on to really tight. But that's all we put down and everything else was

rice and beans basically and really, really focused. So $297,000, that had to be law school. Yep. It was primarily law school loans. And then we had two car notes, which were relatively small compared to our law school loans. The majority of it was loans that I really thought I would have for the rest of my life. I can't get over the fact that God lines up for you guys to be on doing the debt-free screen right after we took that other call with the lady with a half a million dollars of student loan debt. And you guys have $300,000 and you knock it out in 19 months and all you did was jack your incomes. Just exactly what I told her to do, right?

Yeah. We jacked our incomes and we lived on nothing yeah honestly i mean absolutely nothing we lived on absolutely to the point that the health care executives around diego and the lawyers around you thought you were freaks completely crazy sounds about right yeah yeah we said no a lot of times yeah and i don't care what you think i'm getting rid of this mess that's's right. What got you this fired up? Do you want to take that? Yeah. Well, Dave, we actually have heard about you in the past. One of my good friends, Justin, introduced me to you. I actually did a class with him. And I told my fiance at the time, hey, this is great. Here's an Excel sheet to prove it. Then we got married and we talked through it and we went on a vacation.

You know, we didn't take any of that. So at least like your wisdom was in the back of my mind. Didn't lease anything. But we were saving for vacations. But every vacation we took was pretty good, but it was kind of on a budget. On a very small budget. Yeah. So we were doing pretty good things and not having the one thing that we wanted because we had loans and we had debt. So we had to always scale it back a little bit.

We went to vacation in Portugal and we got a pretty nice Airbnb. And when we did... In Portugal. In Portugal. This is no budget deal. You're in freakingugal yeah we got a really good deal on flights to portugal it was like an off season yeah yeah but you know we saw it and you know she's very convincing as i can tell yeah and after we did that the week we showed

up to this airbnb the cheapest was in december so it was was ice cold there was this barking dog there was no heat in the Airbnb there was graffiti on the walls and we were like what are we doing Gina we're always going to have a pretty good something or you're always going to scale back what you really want to do because you owe money

because you have this loan so we said a decent trip we came back and I'm driving to work and I got the phone call. She calls me up and says, you know, I've been doing some math and I think that if we really, really focus, we can pay this off in like two years. I'm like, sounds great. As soon as I get home, like let's talk through it. I thank God. I thanked Uncle Dave. Finally, it's coming together. I showed up. I had Excel sheet, but I had it all written out. This is how much we're making. We scale it back. We didn't have anything else except for these loans,

basically. I said, if we do one focus, two, let's actually come up with, like, a really good written budget. And three, combine our incomes. Now we're going to be in the same boat, rowing in the same direction. But if you're willing to do this, so am I. And I actually told her, I think we could probably do it in, like, 20 to 22 months. 19 months later, ding, ding. It was game on. Yeah, actually, it was 18 and a half months, and that was like. Well, you two are both.

I mean, you're like a power couple. You're both high-performance engines, and you were just not aimed at it. And when you combined your power, and then you aimed at it, boom. I mean, you did sacrifice. But, I mean, you also created some dadgum huge income during that time. Well, that was it. That was it. We're like, okay, we have a big hole.

We need a bigger shovel. And little by little, working together, like, things lined up. And working a lot. And working a lot. A lot. A lot. Yeah. Yeah.

This is how you get out of a big hole like this. And you guys, you're inspiring. That's very well done, heroes. Very, very well done. What was the toughest part for you? I mean, I think this is a lot tough for a lot of people, but just like saying no and missing out on, you know, experiences with friends and saying no to going out to eat and things like that. But just practically for me, I love to cook and I felt like our grocery budget and the way we shop for groceries in general

changed so much like I said we scaled it back to like nothing and so everything was like frozen foods oh gross and so every week we'd go to the grocery store and it would be like straight to the frozen foods aisle and we'd have this like fish we would always buy this ma this frozen mahi from trader joe's i love it and i told diego i said once we get out i will never eat that crap again i'm like we could never eat that frozen mahi from trader joe's i love it but that mahi got us out of debt so for me that was just tough just you know and now that you're done does it not seem like i mean when you're in the middle of it seems like it takes forever and now that you're looking back it's 19 months ago that was an eye blink yeah it was exactly it wasn't that long or that many nose when you really look at it but it

feels like it's just like oh you have to do a little whining while you're doing it you know absolutely wouldn't be the same without some whining yeah the same thing like like a year from now you're gonna wish you started already. So we just decided to rip off the bandage. And really, I think it was just short-term sacrifice gave us a lifetime of rewards later. Ooh, good line. Yeah, that's good. Was it worth it?

A hundred percent. Oh, absolutely. All that suffering. You're telling me right now that it was absolutely, without a doubt, worth it. Frozen mahi. It was absolutely without a doubt frozen mahi it was it was absolutely worth it you know when like our both of our grandparents were in the war and when we think back on like okay well we were suffering we gave up a lot but like did we really suffer

compared to you know what our grandparents went through no no we just gave up you know luxuries that um that we really didn't have to have. And it was fine. We survived. We actually made it fun. I hate to say cliche, but it really brought us together. Not every month. Every week on Saturday, we would sit down and go through our budget.

We went to a grocery store like, all right, this is how much we have. Frozen mahi. Yeah, and you come up with a little plan, and you make it work. Absolutely worth it. Before you do your scream, you're about ready to go down the runway here. What was the first meal you celebrated with? I got to know. After you got out.

You had to celebrate with a good meal. Yeah. Yeah, well, we went to that restaurant in Miami, and we had some kind of exotic fish. Oh, more fish. More fish. But this one's exotic fish. I don't remember. More fish. More fish. But this one's exotic. It was not mahi.

It's not frozen mahi. I'm just saying. Right, right, right. My broke people food was tuna fish. I smell tuna fish now and my net worth goes down. I can't stand tuna fish.

I used to eat those old soggy tuna fish sandwiches out of the refrigerator at lunch. I hate tuna fish. It reminds me of being broke. Well, way to go, you guys. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you.

Everyday Millionaires. You are on your way there very quickly at this rate. Very well done. Diego and Gina, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. $297,000 paid off in 19 months, making $302,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream three two one this is how it's done you gotta love it man just after that other call

almost very close numbers this is is the Dave Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author and host of the ever popular Ken Coleman show, where he talks about careers and talks about getting a job and talks about finding your purpose all of those things every day is joining me today as my co-host here on the dave ramsey show open phones at 888-825-5225 you can find ken's show on sirius xm on 50 plus radio stations around america and of course uh on youtube well, and a podcast. So we put these shows out where you can find them and you can get the help that you need. Adrian is with us in San Diego. Hi, Adrian.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you so much. I'm a new listener, so I just want to say that what you guys are doing there is just amazing, so thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate you listening. How can we help? So, uh, so I met, uh, three years ago, I decided to buy a townhouse as a, as an investment strategy. And, you know, now after listening to you guys,

uh, I just don't think it was a very wise decision. So, uh, so, uh, the, right now I am $400,000 in debt and so I'm renting the property. But after paying the mortgage and the homeowners association and taxes, I end up paying $350 a month out of my pocket. And something that is coming up is that I'm getting engaged soon and uh you know i would like to buy a home uh with my future wife and that's something that we talk about so um you know so my question is uh how should i handle this should i just go very you know uh intense in paying the the mortgage or or should i just just save for the home on the side? How about selling it? Well, I don't

kind of want to sell it. You should. I should sell it or keep it? You should sell it. It loses money. It loses money, okay. You're writing a check to own it. Okay.

Most investments that I have pay me. Yes. That's what they're supposed to do. Yeah. Yeah. Will it sell for enough to pay off the mortgage and put some money in your pocket to help you start your life with this new lady? It should. Good.

This is baggage you don't need. I don't think you're going to do it, uh you're a new listener i appreciate it uh it may take you a little time to think about it but i love real estate i can't stand real estate that doesn't cash flow what's the psychology going on because he's not the only person that's in a situation like this he's a new lister but when you said sell it you could hear it was just like huh he didn't know that was coming at him i knew you were going to say it but what is the human condition there where we go whoa whoa whoa i'm selling it day why in the world would i sell why is that such a uh unnatural conclusion for him and others like him well because he's deeply invested in right

the the idea emotionally invested in the idea of owning this rental property. And that is eventually going to be a great investment. Someday it's going to come back because all real estate turns out. Well, all real estate doesn't turn out. Real estate that doesn't cash flow doesn't turn out. And, you know, what it does, it puts a pinch on you rather than be a blessing to you. And so, you know, when you got no equity, and he has virtually no equity in this property. I mean, he got a little bit, so he'll get out of it whole.

But, you know, he doesn't have a 50% equity position. It's not going to cash flow. And so it doesn't make sense. But what he was taught and what a whole bunch of people believe, the same crap I was taught in the real estate business, is that if you buy this, the renters are going to pay it off over 30 years. Well, the renters aren't paying it off. You're paying it. You're paying $350. If they don't pay, you're paying a bunch more. If something breaks, you're paying a bunch more. This thing is a drain on you for 30 years before it becomes a blessing. This is not a good investment. It's not the, it's not a quality investment. It's not a quality investment.

It's a liability more than it is an asset. And so that's what we get into when we buy rental properties with almost nothing down because they always pinch you. But people have this mindset of, oh, it's all going to work out. It's all going to work out. It's all going to work out. And I'm just saying, dude, if you were marrying my daughter, I would say sell sell it if you were my son getting ready to get married i would say sell it and i own a whole bunch of real estate and i want you to own a whole bunch of real estate someday this real estate owns you katie is with us in roanoke virginia hi katie how are you i'm doing well

thank you how are you better than i deserve how can thank you. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can Ken and I help? Oh, I'm so glad to be talking with you both. I wanted to ask if I should quit my very stable job that I've been with for over 10 years to pursue a job that is closer to my passion that will actually help lead me to what I feel is my calling. It's the job I'm in right now I feel is sucking the lifeblood out of me and this pandemic has given me the opportunity to really evaluate what's important in life. Why would you not? Well, fear. I know I've listened to Ken, and I've read all of your books, Dave,

and I've read Ken's book. I've read Chris's book. Okay, let me show for a long time. I'm going to let Ken take this because this is an area, but I'm curious about two things. If you made the job if you if you got the job dream job do you make more money or less money than you make now there's a potential for a great deal more money okay so it's more money there's more money and could you not interview and take that job and just simply leave the job you're in and go make more money

and you're in a better job making more money, and there was no gap between, what keeps you from doing that? I'm going from a salaried position to a 100% commission job. So there's a big dose of fear. I got you. Now I understand. Okay. And if I heard you correctly, Katie, this is not the dream job, but this is getting you on the path to the

dream job, this other opportunity, correct? Yeah. Yes. This puts me closer to the people, which is one of the things that you say is very important. This puts me closer to the people I need to be near in order to be into the dream job I want to be, and that's a financial coach master trainer, which I've been doing on the side for friends and family for a long time. But that's something that I really felt in my heart was a calling. But this job is 100% salary, and I have a family of six. So, yes, that's a very large. Okay, so let's break that down.

All right, so there's a healthy dose of fear here. And so fear can be good. It lies to us a lot. But this is a situation where you've got to be cautious. Are you double income? Right now, yes, we are. All right, so how much of your salary is of the total what's the total income and how much of it is yours pay total income is 101 000 and of that income

I'm 37 okay and what has this job been offered to you the straight commission job I have been through one interview and I have my second interview on Monday. Okay. All right. So first of all, this hasn't been offered. So you don't have a heavy decision yet. But to begin to think about this is the right move. So here's what you need to be thinking about.

So what would we need to do financially to allow for whatever the ramp up time is? And my question is, are you far enough along in the interview process to know how long they are projecting, this new company, that you would start bringing in income? They know what they're doing. So presumably, and you need to ask, okay, let's say that you offer me the position, and I get in, and I do everything, and I'm successful. How long does it take for a successful person in this position to start making the income that you're telling me I can make? You need to know that.

What are you interviewing for? What kind of position? It's a position with an insurance and brokerage company. They've been around for over 125 years. That doesn't mean anything. They weren't around 125 years, and I've checked them out thoroughly. That doesn't mean anything. They weren't around 125 years in their current condition.

Yeah. The other thing I was going to tell her is do your homework on this, and if it's not a good financial move, you need to back off and say, this is not the only way to the dream job. Dave, I know this about mountaintops. There's a lot of ways up the mountain, and she needs to be okay walking away from this if this is a bad financial situation for her and her family no need to take the risk there's another way uh if this is uh katie if this is glorified life insurance sales walk yeah i didn't even pick up on that walk away it's a bad product yeah it's a bad product and they're gonna um it is not going to pay out anytime soon uh and. And the failure rate is huge. There's another way up the mountain. Yes.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes or head to DaveRamsey.com. Thanks for listening.