The Ramsey Show - App - To Build Wealth You Have To Make Your Money BEHAVE! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

Career, Relationships, Investing, Debt As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's The Ramsey Show. Burnett is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, best-selling author of the book Paycheck to Purpose, host of the Ken Coleman Show, which is now broadcast on over 80 radio stations, XM Radio, Sirius XM Radio, as well as a very popular podcast. He talks every day about making your shovel larger by getting promoted, getting a different job, thinking differently about the income side of the equation. So we're going to talk about income side as well as outgo side here, talking about your money and your life and your career this hour.

The phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Ben is in Pittsburgh. Hey, Ben, how are you? Dave and Ken, I was calling to get your advice on a potential career change. I spent the last 10 years in public accounting. I've also earned my master's and my CPA during that time. The last two years I've spent selling real estate part- my CPA during that time. On the last two years,

I've spent selling real estate part-time and just considering making a jump full-time. In the past two years, I've obviously worked doing both and I really enjoy the real estate aspect of things. And I've also quadrupled my business from 2020 to 2021. I guess I'm just nervous about making the jump and I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on it. Yeah. Well, what are you making in accounting? Somewhere around $115. And what are you making in real estate last year? This year.

This year. Yeah, in 2021, I'll end up around $130 on a part-time basis. Yeah. I was getting ready to say that you're in a very unique situation where you've been doing it on the side for long enough that you've built not only your portfolio, but your pipeline, your actual income is there. You have nothing to be nervous about. You have officially done what I want people to do, which is try to replace six months of your income before you move forward. Right. But you've done more than that. I think

it's time, man. I'm really curious to know what you're afraid of specifically. And I'm not asking you to call you out, to embarrass you, but I really want to hear what you're afraid of based on the fact that you're making more in real estate part-time than you are in your full-time accounting job. What are you afraid of? I think in general it's just the, you know, you hear the market's hot. I don't want to, I guess, get a false sense of security. And then I guess I have trouble thinking about, like, what the worst-case scenario is. Obviously I've listened to you guys for a number of years.

I'm debt-free with the exception of a mortgage. Just obviously conservative in nature. And, like I said, just overall nervous I guess yeah so in this past year obviously doubled my income yeah what is the worst case scenario let's truly identify I think you know what it is play it out what's the worst case scenario of you switching over to full-time real estate I don't know trying to unpack that I think. So here's the deal. The worst case scenario will be far-fetched for you. The worst case scenario is you stop working. The worst case

scenario is people stop buying and selling houses. It's really far-fetched. And I'm not trying to be silly. I'm trying to help you see that you're a very conservative guy by nature. That is the insurance against some of the stuff that you're worried about because the true worst case scenario is so far-fetched, it's not even plausible. So I would tell you the time is now. Move when you want to because here's what I know. When you go into full-time real estate, you should double your income, triple your income, and not the not too distant future. Because it's hard to win in part-time real estate. I mean, to really, really win. And you figured it out.

Everybody I know that says real estate is the play, they say to really, truly win, you're going to need to go full-time. And when you will be, a little bit of desperation is good for the soul. So a certain amount of healthy respect type fear, I have a healthy respect for this is dangerous if I don't play it right. That will drive you, and you'll make $ make 200 000 your first year got it now don't don't allow that fear or that healthy respect or that healthy level of desperation to become debilitating because your anxiety gets so high that you start shutting down from it okay because there's nothing

in this math or logic or critical thinking process that you've got in front of us that says you should panic. There's nothing here. But it is always good to have a healthy respect. I'll give you an example, okay? You have a healthy respect for the accounting firm that you work for that should you decide not to come to work for five days with no explanation and they can't get a hold of you, they're probably going to fire you. Right? Yep.

So the healthy respect says, I'm going to communicate, I'm going to work, I'm going to do my part. And it's not because there's natural consequences that are negative to not carrying out and carrying playing through and that's all this is yeah that's all this is and so the difference is when you go from being an accountant to being straight commission that feels like it's a lot more risk but all we're doing here is just trading one healthy respect for another one yeah you have to make the sales calls. You have to do the stuff you've been doing.

And you've got to hustle. And you've got to grind. And you've got an extra 40 hours to do it now. And you're going to make $200 your first year. You're going to be fine. Yes. Go get it. And congratulations.

Yeah, well done. What he's done is impressive. Well played. Grace is in Boston. Hi, Grace. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. How's it going great what's up so i've been listening the past couple of days and i heard you talking about not loaning money to family and how that almost always creates a negative dynamic yes um but i started a new

business this year that's been really successful and I really want to find a way that is good to share that success with my family a little bit wonderful so what my husband and I thought of was setting up 529 accounts for our five nieces and I wanted to know if you think there's a difference between giving money and loaning money when it comes to family and if that would be okay that would be wonderful and, there's a huge difference between giving money and loaning money. And with a 529, you can set yourself as the custodian so that you're in actual control of the money on behalf of the child. Perfect.

And then eventually switch it to their parents or just keep myself as a custodian? Sure. Either way. You don't have to. But I mean, if their parents are responsible, you can set them up as you want to, but you lose control then, and it's okay if you lose control. That's what giving is about. You're supposed to lose control. Okay, cool. Okay, great. I'm glad that you approve. Yeah, the dynamic does not change unless the person starts to be entitled on the other end and you're funding negative behavior indirectly

you're giving a drunk a drink with your gift and that's not what you're talking about here that's not even in the parents not even in the in the in the scope of this discussion but but that's a time where giving is not the same as loaning but we're giving can actually be negative or you're funding negative behavior uh we don't give a drunk a drink it's not good for the drunk and we're giving can actually be negative or you're funding negative behavior uh we don't give a drunk a drink it's not good for the drunk and we're not blessing them but that's different than the drunk owes us money this is the ramsey show most people know me as the guy who did stupid with a lot of zeros on the end i made my first million dollars in my 20s the wrong way and then went bankrupt. That's when I set out to learn God's ways of handling money and I developed the Ramsey Baby

Steps. By following these steps, I became a millionaire again and this time the right way. After three decades of guiding millions of others through the plan, the evidence is undeniable. If you follow the Baby Steps, you will become a millionaire and get to live and give like no one else. And now I'm excited to share with you that I've written a new book called Baby Steps Millionaires, and it's available for pre-order right now. You'll learn how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can too. I'll walk you through how to invest, build wealth, and bust through the barriers preventing

you from becoming a millionaire. For those who are ready, it's game on. You can baby step your way to becoming a millionaire. Pre-order your copy today at RamseySolutions.com. Well, guys, it's almost time for Christmas. Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho. I love it. It's so fun.

If I'd have known you were going to do that, I'd have got you the hat. Hey, there's some of you out there missing out on the joy of the season because all you've got is stress. All you're worried about is presents and food and travel, and you don't have the money for any of it. Well, it doesn't have to be this way. You can have a plan for your money. You can have confidence. You can have financial peace. We'll show you how to do all of that in Financial Peace University, how to get out of debt, how to save money, how to become wealthy,

and how to be outrageously generous. Wouldn't it be cool to be in that place? It is cool to be in that place. In fact, the average household saves $2,700 when they're going through Financial Peace University, and they pay off $5,300 in debt in the first 90 days. That's an $8,000 change in position in 90 days. Now, Financial Peace University is a Ramsey Plus membership feature. So you want to go through Financial Peace University, you join Ramsey Plus, boom, there

you are, just like that. That's how it works. And you get, of course, every dollar, the premium version that ties to your bank. So you don't have to have stressed out Christmas. You don't have to be stressed out. You can learn how to do this. We'll show you how. Either give Financial Peace University as a

gift or sign up for it for yourself and let's make 2022 the year that you straighten yourself out. RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. That's how you'll find it. RamseySolutions.com slash FPU. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They

have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That means if you pick the wrong color, you pick the wrong blinds, you mess up measuring, they're going to replace it free. You got free samples, free shipping, new promos every month. Always use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Amanda in Dallas. She asks, I'm doing research in preparation for negotiating my salary during my annual review. If you look at the median salary of my current and past roles,

I made nearly the exact amount listed online. Does this mean it would be inappropriate for me to negotiate a new salary? If not, how then do I overcome the feeling that the act of negotiating is overstepping, especially when I'm extremely grateful for the income I currently earn? Okay, we got all the wrong words here, Amanda, and I love the question. Number one, it's not inappropriate for you to talk about salary in an annual review.

I would hope in a healthy company that that is going to be discussed in some form or fashion. Anyway, I would take the term negotiate out. I don't like negotiating. That's when I'm purchasing something or we're in a hostage crisis. I think communicating is the word. And if you've done the research on the median salary and you can show your leader with a great posture, first of all, it's not wrong. Secondly, let's work on our posture.

Hey, after they've gone through their normal annual review, told you what you can do better, you've asked questions on how you can add more value. Say, hey, I'd love to talk about income. I did a little bit of research. I'm extremely grateful to be here. And so I'm just wondering, could we talk about a growth plan that includes me adding more value, maybe assuming more responsibility and measuring that and tying a comp plan to that. Now, you don't have to do it word for word that way, but there's a spirit there, and there's also not an ask. For something, there's a request for the leader to weigh in with you and build a performance-based comp structure that would allow you to grow because you've added value to the

organization. I'd like to see you do that, but I think with that research, it makes it a whole lot less tense when you can show the median and then work with them on a plan. That's the approach that I always tell folks. Don't negotiate. Don't ask for a salary. Ask for growth opportunities that aren't just income growth, responsibility, influence, and measurables. If you're coming at this with the spirit that Ken's talking about of I'm not taking something, I'm adding something. Yes. And you smile.

Yeah. How can I become more valuable so that my income can go up that's right and smile yeah and shut up right ninety something percent of the people doing the review if they have it within their power to change your compensation and most of the time they do I'll be highly uncomfortable it's awkward on the other side of this it sure is and they're going to go wait a minute this lady's in front of me she's very valuable she does a great job she's not a twerp like the guy i just did the review for a few minutes ago uh wow i really want to do something nice for this nice person and that's how it feels on the

other side that's true and they're going to go well um um well what what what what can i do that like they're going it's going to turn right back on them they're going to feel the pressure to do something without you having putting pressure on them at all because um you know because the thing is sitting right there in front of them. It's that simple. And if you change it to the juxtaposition and you say, well, I work so-and-so, then that's the opposite of the gratitude

and the opposite of the pleasantness, and it's an entitled, arrogant thing. That's going to pretty much guarantee that not only you're not going to get the raise, your employment's probably stunted there at a minimum, maybe leaving there. No question. That approach puts them on the defensive. The approach that you and I just talked about allows them to take some ownership of the

situation. And they feel the pressure. They do. Good pressure. Good pressure. It's like, this is a good person. I want to be good to a good person. And by the way, the way we just just described that you won't believe the response

just because very few people come about compensation increases that way yeah they just come and go i did the research and i'm making the meeting i've been here eight years and you can say with a sweet spirit and say all that but with a sweet spirit but still come across the wrong way yep yep it's uh it's it's really a relational iq thing is what it comes down to rachel's with us rachel is in houston texas hi rachel how are you hi good thank you for taking my call certainly how can we help so i have a tender offer on some stock i own in a private company that I used to work for. I've gone back and forth whether I should try to sell all of the stock I own, since you advise not to own single stock. What's it worth?

It is worth $400,000. I paid $5,000 for it. You paid what for it? So I have $5,000. I paid $5,000 for it. You paid what for it? So I have $5,000. Oh, okay. I hate it when that happens. Yeah, it's a big gain. So I've debated pulling enough out to pay off my house or pulling it all out,

paying off my house, and then investing the rest. So just looking to get some advice. Now, you said a tender advice what is this this is a you you said a tendered offer so this is not a publicly traded company no no private so you did mention that and so it's very difficult to trade this stock unless you have an offer tendered yes not very liquid at all right uh who does the uh person, the founder or someone like that, own controlling interest in the company? I'm not entirely sure. I don't work there anymore.

But did it used to be? Yes. Yes. Yeah. They've done very, very well, but they're in control. Okay. So here's the thing. You've made a lot of money congratulations

thank you that's wonderful and what does it take to pay off your home um 215 okay and so if i put 185 000 or so in the middle of your kitchen table with your home already paid off and i said okay you can do anything you want to do this 185 000 one thing you could do is you could buy stock in a privately held company where the founder has controlling interest and if he loses or she loses his mind they're going to drive the thing into the ground or it could double but either way it's going to be difficult to sell it you have to wait on a tendered offer. It's not very liquid.

It's not very accessible. This is called a high-risk play. It is, yes. And so far, it's paid off beautifully. The danger of that is it makes you not realize how much risk is involved here. I would not put 20 cents in this company even though it has done very well uh because i don't like this guy he's got he's over he's got complete control behind the curtain uh and and you know it's not because he's doing something crooked i

don't mean that but he could just decide to run the thing in the dirt he could make several wrong decisions or one big wrong decision and make your fortune go away. I'm cashing out 100% for that reason. Paying off your house and moving the rest of it to mutual funds or to some other investment. This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today. He is author of the best-selling book recently, just came out, called From Paycheck to Purpose. Be sure you get one so you can move from paycheck to purpose and more paychecks too. Andrew is with us and Melissa and they are in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I see on my screen you guys are debt free. Congratulations. Thank you. Hey, thanks, Dave. We appreciate it so much. Very cool. How much have you guys paid off? Seventy seven thousand two hundred and forty eight dollars.

Way to go. And your range of how long did this take? About 17 months. $77,248. Way to go. And your range of income, how long did this take? About 17 months. Wow. Range of income during that time? We started at about $107,000 and we ended around about $152,000. Very good.

What do you all do for a living? So I am a project manager for a construction company, and Melissa is a realtor. Oh, very good. Good combo. One, two, punch. Yeah. Yeah, so what kind of debt was the $77,000? Oh, a lot of it was school debt, and then it was tax debt from being a real estate agent and not doing my taxes very well.

We had some car debt and some credit card debt too kind of normal yep yeah pretty pretty normal how long you guys been married uh we got married in october 2019 just celebrated two years oh okay so you got married and decided to attack this debt and get it cleaned up they sound like it all happened at once yeah we started taking the class four months after we got married oh you took financial peace university we did we did very good cool so right so you're newlyweds we go to the money class what was that like oh man it was uh it was it was quite eye-opening for us but i tell you what it was it uh it opened up so many doors of opportunity for us, and it really

allowed us to be able to come together as newlyweds, and we really were able to grow in our prayer life and grow in our marriage through being able to take on something that is such a stressful situation with financial, as you've mentioned on your show, with marriage, we were able to combat that together. And that brought so much more peace to our marriage and to our finances. Yeah. Wow. Very cool.

Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Well, thank you. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. We appreciate it. It's been quite the trip. I mean, getting rid of the IRS, getting rid of credit cards, this is a peaceful situation.

It absolutely is. Yes, it is. Yeah, from having to handle all that stress to forming our plan and taking everything step by step and staying faithful to the plan and faithful in our prayer and faithful to the program, that allowed us to really come through. It wasn't something that happened overnight and it was very tough, but we stayed faithful and God always continued to provide.

Wow, I love that. So this is a lot of money, $77,000, 17 months. This is getting with it. And so you said the class, you guys went in there, it was really eye-opening. I want to know what you guys did. How did you get so much momentum? How'd you pay off so much? What were some of the, did you sell some stuff? Was it making more money? I mean, what was going on? Yeah, so essentially our plan was we sat down and we strategized a plan to take half of all of Melissa's commission income. And we just put that directly towards paying off all the debt.

I had a steady income with my job as a project manager, and so everything that we made with Melissa's income, we took half of that, and we put that towards the debt, and it wasn't easy. There were multiple months where we were concerned, and we were wondering if we'd be able to pay off our mortgage payment for that month. But like I said, in staying faithful in our tithing and faithful in our prayer, we didn't miss a single payment, and God brought us through in so many incredible ways. Wow.

Wow. Very cool, guys. I mean, you did. You stepped and fetched. So again, what do you tell people the key? Somebody says, all right, I need the master class on getting out of debt. You went through Financial Peace University. You pay off $77,000 in 17 months.

This makes you experts. What do you tell them the key is to getting out of debt? Well, I think the key is to have a plan. Because if you don't have a plan, you don't have anywhere to start. So we sat down after the first couple of classes and're like okay how do we how do we get you know baby step number two get rid of all of our debt you know um so we just had to kind of shift our our mindset and our heart's desires and just make the sacrifice um you know with half of our income being just shoved over to the debt side. Yeah. Wow, guys. Way to go.

Very cool. Congratulations. You're heroes. I'm so proud of you. Well done. Who are your biggest cheerleaders outside the two of you? So when we started our financial peace class, Matt and Amy Langler were our teachers, and they've been on your show before.

They've actually visited the office, and they were key influences for us. They actually came to our real estate office and spoke to all the realtors and shared how they became millionaires through your program. All right. Yes, sir. Yeah, and that really gave us such a motivation to see their start to finish, to create our own start to finish, uh so much so it influenced us to where i'm actually now co-leading uh the fpu class at our church with matt and uh it's been great it's

been great well thank you that's very cool hearing it from the mouths of other people like they're real millionaires they did it that is some validation yeah that'll say let's do it game on man game on great this is good very, we hope to follow in their footsteps. Well, you are. There's no question. You're right on your way. I mean, you guys have, you jumped on this with both feet. You're kicking it around, making it behave.

I'm so proud of y'all. Well done. Hey, we got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. The book comes out January the 11th, but we're going to send you an advanced copy because just like you talked about, you guys are getting ready to be there. You're heading that direction. That's the next chapter in your story. So very well done.

So very well done. Also, a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to give away and maybe help somebody get started while you're teaching the class and everything. Way to go. Andrew and Melissa, Grand Rapids, Michigan, $77,000 paid off in 17 months, making $107,000 to $152,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. One, two, three. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Love it. So well done. So well done so well done man that is everything it takes to go win right there yeah and you can't help but pay it forward then you can't help say i'm gonna go over and teach a financial peace university class i'm gonna be a coordinator i'm gonna pay for somebody to go through because you realize it just takes a a little bit of effort to get somebody really going. If they got the right stuff, you can light them on fire. Oh, and that's what's so awesome about this is that, you know, it's just like anything else in life. If you have a meal at some place or you experience a new product and you really are impacted by it, you can't wait to tell others about it or share it with others.

And he's like, man, I've already signed up. I i'm coordinating and they're going to be ones that are telling stories hey we're we're baby steps millionaires and here's how we did it and some some couple that's never even heard of us is going to go baby steps millionaires what's that what's that and that's how it just keeps multiplying exactly because a testimony is powerful yeah it changes everything and it just it gives you hope yeah in a world that's gone crazy in a world that's just angry and divided and mean and nasty and trying to find some way to push something down instead of lift something up you know and you find a chance here to just be good to somebody just love them well yeah you know that's just good it's good stuff that's the way it is that's where it should be that is so very cool here's the thing

some of you are tuning in for the very first time i've been doing this 30 years and you're just now finding this and you think it's an accident it's not an accident you heard that particular call right then where they do their debt-free scream weren't from grand rapids michigan which by the way the very first debt-free scream came from grand is that right that's where the lady was from oh that's cool yeah we didn't intend for it to be a debt-free scream we just couldn't stop her right she was so fired up one of the great stories of all time yeah she called in and she's like, I paid off my dad. I paid off my dad. I paid off my dad.

I sold everything. I was having a garage sale and a guy bought the bushes out of the front of my house. I'm debt free. I'm debt free. I'm debt free. And she hung up. That was the first debt free scream. I had no control over the call.

She machine gunned me. It was just great. It was so fabulous. That's where it all started. Yeah. And the guy called in two weeks later and goes, hey, I don't want to do that. You know, so we let him. Infectious.

Just like that. It's contagious. Why not, man? Why not? Let's do it. Let's celebrate. I don't care. You know, if you do something good, somebody ought to say something.

It's a good thing. Well done. This is the Ramsey Show. show. Our scripture of the day, Psalm 2714, Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord. Samuel Johnson said, Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. Wow. Haley is with us in Springfield, Missouri.

Hi, Haley. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, so my husband and I are on baby step number two. We're about $25,000 paid off of $75,000, and we have a check for about $3,000 coming in. It's for my son, technically in our

name. He was born early. I had preeclampsia and he was in the NICU for two months. And so we have a little bit of supplemental income coming for him. But I just wanted to know if we should apply it to debt or if we should start maybe a fund for him. Well, $3,000 one time? It's actually from Social Security supplemental income from the past two years that we didn't really know about. It was often on a card that we did not know about. We just found out about it today.

Okay, so it had built up to $3,000. Yes. Okay, is there any more coming after this? No, this is it. Okay. I don't want to sound snobbish for you to hear this wrong, but

mathematically, it doesn't matter. It's $3,000. I kind of thought you might say that. Yeah. It's not $300,000. It's $300,000. We have an existential crisis here. We have to figure this out.

But with $3,000, it doesn't matter what you do with it. You've not done anything wrong. Now, here's the principle that I live by in this case and then you can apply it however you'd like okay the principle is that you are a good mom you love your child and you will be taking care of your child that's correct isn't it yes okay and since you're a good mom and you love your child and you will be taking care of your child, you are your child's best funding mechanism. And so when you pay off your debt, it makes you more able to take care of your child. So given that you're a good mom and you're going to take care of your child,

paying off your debt with it is not a selfish thing to do. It isn't like you stole it from your kid or something like that. Now, if you took the money and went and bought cocaine with it because you're not a good mom, then that'd be different, right? Right. But given that you're a good mom and the fact that you get out of debt makes you more able to take care of your child, in that case, if you got a $50,000 check and it made you debt-free, I would still tell you to pay off the debt.

Okay. Because you're going to use the fact that you're free to build wealth and take better care of your child. So your child benefits either way. So the premise, you know, somehow in our minds, the premise is it feels like we stole it from our kid or something you know what i'm saying and that's just not my point is that's not an accurate premise that's not an accurate view on how this is going to go down and so ken

i'll give you another example um child support okay child support coming from a spouse well it needs to be spent on the child no it doesn't no it doesn't because child support is never enough to take care of a child you never get enough child support to support the child ever so you're always going to spend more than the child support check coming in on the child. So just dump the child support check into your budget because the net effect is you will have spent it on your kid anyway. But this idea that somehow you have to segment it off to the side or you've been immoral and stolen money from your kid is something that runs through our heads.

It's true. It's a false narrative. Exactly. Do what's best with the exactly do what's best with the money and that's best for the child and you're going to end up having done more for the kid than this money anyway by far by far you're going to spend more than three thousand dollars on this kid by far you're going to spend more than um so it's just a it is a false narrative that the money must be set to the side in the child's name somehow,

or we've done something wrong. And we get that, I guess, from watching something like some Hollywood child actor's parents takes advantage of them or something like that. And that's where we get this concept from in our head where we see parents that have misbehaved. But in 99% of the cases, the money coming into your house for your kid is less than enough to take care of your kid. So you're going to spend more than that on them anyway, which means there was no transfer here. There was no problem in the ethics of the situation. Jamie's with us.

Jamie's in Sacramento. Hi, Jamie. How are you? Hey, Dave. It's an honor to speak with you and Ken today. I'm a big fan. Thanks. What's up? Well, real quick, I recently turned 23. I'm a graduate from UCLA, and I'm blessed enough to say that I got my dream job earlier in the year. I'm a financial advisor and, you know, the company paid for my licensing, everything got taken care of, the whole shebang. So I'm very, very blessed.

But one problem that I've run into already, some of the hurdles for my career that I've run into in my business is that, you know, because of my age and lack of life experience, you know, it's just kind of tough, you know, getting started. And I talk with clients much older than me, and, you know, I'm over here teaching them how to manage, you know, money and wealth. And, you know, it's just been a little bit tough in that respect. Do you have any tips or advice to give me? I know you started real estate at a young age, different fields, but kind of similar. Be more specific.

It sounds like you've encountered some hurdles, some challenges. Is this fact, feeling? Be specific about how this is playing out because of your youth. Right. So let's just say I'm prospecting, right, and, you know, I'm talking with, you know, somebody that I admire or that's a previous, you know, person that I've, you know, whether it be friends or family or business associate, they're a little older than me, you know, 40s, 50s. I run into a couple of these situations where I talk with them and tell them a little bit about what I do. Love to sit down and they're obviously interested, but I can

tell from the way they approach the conversation that because of my age and maybe my lack of life experience, you know. Are they strangers or people that knew you when you were a kid uh both both i run into the palm bill but mostly actually come to think of it mostly people that that i that i've known thus far my natural market around me but yeah that's why they still see you as young jamie they have a past experience um you know look i'll tell you i i got involved in politics very early of a previous life, and I was 22 working for the governor of Virginia, and I encountered some of this. And if I look back on it now, I wish I would have been able to advise myself. I think there's two dynamics.

With the people that know you, that's part of the issue. For strangers, I would take the elephant out of the room. And what I mean by that, you probably even know what that phrase means, so I'm an old guy. So I would address what you think might be a hurdle, but don't dwell on it. I would just say, hey, I know I'm a young guy, but I've trained here, this here, this here, this here. Here's our strategy. Here's our philosophy. I work for this firm. And I would lead always with the strategy, the training you have, the quality of your firm, the support, all of that. So they're not hiring a 23-year-old.

They're hiring a strategy and a reputable firm, maybe a philosophy. You know, you listen to Dave Ramsey. If I don't know if they're Ramsey people, if it's a positive thing, I'd lead with that. But address the fact that even though you're young and then drive right by it, but address the fact that you know you're young, but it doesn't have any relevance to your ability to serve them yeah um you know one of the things i would do you know i was 18 19 years old selling a house um i would go you know obviously i'm not 50 years old but i did sell 42 houses last year that's exactly the example that's perfect you know and so i i'm seem to be doing a

lot of it right and you know and if you want that kind of thing i can do that kind of thing right now you know if you just want old people i can't help you because i ain't old people yeah but i did sell 42 houses last year so what do you want to do and uh i know what i'm doing that's beautiful right you took care of their objection exactly it's the only question i've got as an old guy is if the 23 year old can do his stuff right that's the only thing i care about yeah i know i know he can fix my iphone but can he you know does he know anything else i mean you know that's the only thing i want to know and if you prove to me you know your stuff i don't really care how old you are i don't really care whether you're a man or a woman i don't really care what color you are all i care is can you

do your stuff that's all i care uh and And that's what people, most people are that way, really, by the way. But you're going to have the most trouble with old family and friends. Because it is really hard once they change your diaper in the baby lounge, baby nursery at the church. You're going to struggle. This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. I'm Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show.

If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.