The Ramsey Show - App - Unstoppable! Don't Miss This Inspiring Debt-Free Scream! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Samantha starts off this hour in Wyoming. Hi, Samantha. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. It's quite an honor to speak with you. You too. What's up? Well, I got a question for you,

sir, regarding business ownership and how to go about it. I have been involved with the equestrian world for quite a while, most of my life, and I am looking at possibly purchasing a property that's already income producing. The property grosses about $13,000 a month and their net profit is about eight grand. It's for sale, including the house and everything that's on it, for about $1,089,000. And I want to buy it.

I think it's going to put me in a position to do a nonprofit outreach that I've had a passion for for a long time for underprivileged children. And so that's kind of my end goal. But right now I am sitting at about $130,000 income right now. And I'm a new listener to you. So I've kind of only really known much about you for about a week, been researching and listening and diving into what you teach. And in that week, I've put away $500, which is good.

I have $3,550 in good standing credit card debt and about $40,000 in poor, bad debt on my credit report and my husband's credit report. So my question for you is how do I go about doing this? Do I need to be completely debt-free personally? Do I need to seek out angel investors? Like what's your input on this? Well, I, number one, as you know, if you're around me for 20 seconds i tend to walk away from and away from the direction of debt uh from a business perspective we've grown our business

from a card table in our living room to where it is today over 25 years almost 30 years now and um so had i So had I gone from zero to a million dollars in 20 seconds, in the early stages of my business, we would have failed. And the reason we would have failed is twofold. One is we wouldn't have made enough to pay the payments on the million dollars. And two is that there's three things in business that are always there number one everything costs twice as much as you think it's going to everything takes twice as long as you think it's going to and number three you're not the exception right and um so i what what i'm saying is is i think you're going to have an equestrian business,

and I think you're going to have an offshoot from that that is a nonprofit, helping people utilizing horses. And I think that is your future. The number of wrong turns you make between now and then is going to amaze you. And you're still not going to fail, because really what success is, is it's not a straight line. It's a series of trips around the barn until you find which door is open. Right? Sure.

And so it just never turns out like you think it's going to. Sometimes it turns out a lot better. But mean like when we started this i had no idea all the different things we would be doing and all the different things we would have tried that didn't work and yet we are still doing what we set out to do which is help people with their money you follow me and so the big picture part of what you're going to do i think is your future i think that's your destiny i think you've tied into that what i don't want going to do, I think, is your future. I think that's your destiny. I think you've tied into that. What I don't want you to do is jump headlong into something that's – if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't buy that farm. I would rent a farm.

I would rent some stables, and I would start my equestrian business. Or I'd work out a deal with that guy that's got that farm to run his for him for a while, maybe with an option to purchase it later, after you have learned all the lessons that you don't know you're going to learn yet. Right. I don't want you to learn those while trying to pay payments on a million dollars. You'll go broke. So the number one reason businesses fail is things change, and if you can't change with them because you're saddled with debt up around your eyeballs, which is what you're describing to me, a lot of debt on something that only makes $100,000 a year,

you know, there's no possible way. And besides that, the third piece of this is this. You have to separate the business and the land. The land and the house have a value as a piece of real estate. Then the business has a value because it generates $8,000 a month net. But that business could be renting stables from that landowner. Well, that's what the business is. The main part of the

money he's making right now is off of um boarding horses no no no i'm talking about the business of boarding horses is a business right and you you could you could be a person who rented that entire place from him and you could make eight thousand dollars a month off of that by duplicating the business that he's operating on there. The business is separate from the real estate. I've got a $20 million building I'm sitting in right now. This building that I'm sitting in doing the studio is worth about $20 million paid for. The building is worth $20 million whether I've got a business in it or not. The business makes money.

The business has a value, and the building has a value. They're separate. I could operate the business in another building, which we will be doing. We will be moving. And then this building will be rented. Okay? But the building, the real estate has a value. You don't combine those two values when you're analyzing these things.

You separate them. And that also allows you to think, hey, I might just go rent some property somewhere with a stable on it and start my own thing as a tenant and get my business up and going. That's a way to baby step without being a million dollars in debt. That's what I'm saying. And that's the way I would lead into this. It's good when you start a business not to buy real estate. It's good when you start a business to rent your real estate because you don't know what your business is going to look like three years from now.

It's not going to look like you think it's going to look. That's the only thing I'm sure of. But I do think you're going to do all of this. It's going to be harder than you thought. It's going to be harder than you thought. It's going to take longer than you thought. You're not the exception. And it's going to look different than you thought it was going to look. But you're going to do it.

And don't get the yoke around your neck of a million dollars worth of debt because you wanted to own a ranch simply to run horsies on. No, go run horsies as a rental. And then make your money on that because that's where your heart is. Your heart's not in being a ranch owner. Someday that's part of the picture. But your heart is in the equestrian world, for profit and not for profit. And that's what I would explore if I were you.

You do what you want, but you called and asked me, so that's what you always get is my opinion. I'm an expert on my opinion. This is the Dave budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees and we never turn off your data. No contracts, no hidden fees. And if you're thinking our low cost means less coverage, think again. Our voice and data service covers 99% of Americans.

And our 4G LTE network provides the fastest internet speeds like more expensive carriers. We operate on the largest GSM network in the U.S. to ensure you receive reliable coverage virtually anytime, anywhere. Plus, you can keep your same phone and number and add multiple lines to save more. We're so confident you'll love Pure Talk USA that we invite you to try our service risk-free. Visit puretalkusa.com or call 844-862-3677. Enter promo code SAVEDAVE and receive 50% off your first month. That's puretalkusa.com. Juan is with us in Madison, Wisconsin. Hey, Juan.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. It is an honor to speak with you. You too. How can I help? Okay. So I'm currently on Baby Step 3, and I'm close to finishing it. I think I need about one more month, and I'll be done with Baby Step 3.

Good for you. So then my question then has to do with Baby Step 4. So I work for the university, and part of that involves that we put in a little bit towards retirement on their pension system, which ends up being an annuity later on in the future, and it's employer match, and I'm doing that. So you have a mandatory withdrawal from your check going into pension? That's right.

What percentage of your income? Six percent. Okay. I always count that about half towards your 15 percent because, A, it is your money. You're putting it in, and it's mandatory. But, B, you don't have any control over it. Right. And so I don't count it as the full six.

I count it about three. You can do whatever you want. If you counted five of the six, then you'd put in ten. If you counted three of the six, then you'd put in 12 if you counted three of the six then you'd put in 12 okay perfect okay so that makes sense so then my next question then comes with say the possibility that i end up moving to another job and i leave this job right um so now i the basically the only two options that i can tell that i have are either take a separation benefit, which is basically the money that I put in, or do I let it stay with the pension system with the employer match

and then start taking it once I'm on the age, retirement age that they have. If you leave the university, they don't give you any of the money that they put in. That's right. You're not vested at all at any point. So the way that they define vesting is you need to have two things. You have worked for the retirement system for at least five years, which I think I already have. And then you have to be, I think it's 59 years old.

But then if I leave, say, and I already have the five years, the only option that I have then is what they call the separation benefit. Which is just the money you put in with no return on it. That's right. Wow, that sucks. I agree. That's why I'm wondering what you would do. The longer you're there, the more likely I would be to leave it there.

The closer to 59 that you are, the more likely I would be to leave that portion there. As young as you are today, I would just take my money and roll it to an IRA and the separation benefit. You can do that without any taxes on it. Okay. But because the further you're into it and the closer you are to 59, the more valuable the portion that they've put in is. A, they put in more money. B, it's closer to the time you're going to get it, and it makes it worth letting your money sit there being tied up without any control over it.

Right. Then what would you consider then the age sort of guideline? Because right now I'm currently 30. And what would you consider the age guideline of leave it, take it? I'm just sticking a wet finger in the air, but roughly 45. Okay. That makes sense. Something like that.

Let's get on out there. Because that means that 15 more years they've been putting money in there. There's a pile of their money with your name on it. True that. And you'd ride that out, plus 45, your 14 years from 59. You know, we'll let that ride a little bit. But if you leave within the next five years, I'd probably just take it. Wonderful.

That makes sense. Thank you so much. Thank you for the call, man. We appreciate you joining us. Rebecca's with us in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Rebecca, what's up? Hi, Dave. I'm so excited to speak with you. You have changed

our lives. I did not. You did. That's awesome. So we are debt-free, and I'm just finishing up step three, or baby step three. I did a lot of research on where to put our $15,000. I called banks, credit union, and my personal finance advisor. My findings was that my personal finance advisor's company offered the best rate at 1.57,

so I opened that account with $10,000 and plan on finishing up this week. So I happened to ask if this account is FDIC insured. He said that the money market is not FDIC insured, but is invested in very short-term and safe securities. He also said that if I want an insured bank deposit, the rate is 0.4%. Would you stay in the account that I have started or move it to an fdic insured account well number one i'm not chasing returns with my emergency fund the different the difference in this discussion what you make on either one is not the issue the fact that you have the emergency

fund and have it accessible is your issue okay so because your emergency fund is insurance, it's not an investment. It doesn't make you any money. I mean,.5 or 1.5, who gives a rip? Both suck. Right, right. You know, it's just not any money. You're not going to get rich on that account. You're going to get rich on the other accounts that you don't have to touch

because that account's there to cover them in case of an emergency. You don't have to jump out of your 401K to fix a car transmission. That's what makes you rich later on not this account so i don't i don't really spend a lot of time i mean i'd like to make what you're making you know i try to get mine up in that you know 1.5 to 2 range because i'm when i'm sitting on cash but you know uh and as far as i i don't uh who's the money market with what's the company name edward jones oh you don't, who's the money market with? What's the company name? Edward Jones.

Oh, you don't have any trouble with that. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's a major company money market account. There's never been one fail, ever. Okay. Okay. So could they, hypothetically?

Yeah, but, I mean, they would have had to really screw up their whole company for their money market to fail and be worth zero because it's all sitting in liquid investments so i don't think anything about putting half a million dollars in a money market account that's not fdic it doesn't bother me a bit with a major name brand that i know you know vanguard and edward jones or raymond james a fidelity you know you start the you know american funds these kinds of are big name mutual fund companies their money markets are as safe as a stinking fdic if five of those money markets crash the fdic is probably going to fold because i mean the economy has gotten like the

worst ever in the history of the united states if five of those big ones went down so that that's how stable they are and how tied into the fabric of our economy they are that thread gets pulled there's bigger problems out there so i wouldn't worry about the fdic part if you like the return and you trust your guy and you understand what you're getting into i mean that's a that's a major brokerage house and um it's not one i do business with but they but they um there would be nothing to fear with their particular money market account safety, I wouldn't think. I wouldn't hesitate to put my $15,000 in there as far as safety goes.

But again, back to that original part, we don't chase returns with the emergency fund. The emergency fund, if it just sits there in a cigar box in your underwear drawer, that's not the end of the world because it's not there for the money that it makes. It's there for protecting you when life comes at you. So go make a little money on it if you want. That's okay. It's not a bad thing.

It's just, you know, let's make the accessibility of it is the big thing, not the returns. So the liquidity. Hey, thanks for calling in. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. Free samples, free shipping, new promos. Use the promo code Ramsey at Blinds.com.

Jess is in Virginia. Should we tithe on the net profit from the sale of our personal residence? Thank you. It's completely up to you. The scripture says to tithe on your net increase. Deuteronomy 28. Net increase, which would be net profit on something that you bought and resold. You can do that on your personal residence.

Some people take the view, almost like an old capital gains law from years ago, that I'm going to roll the profit into my next personal residence, and so I didn't really pocket the profit like you would on, say, an investment, and so they don't tithe on it. And I'm not mad at you about that. I can promise you God is not mad at you about tithing. When I'm not sure about giving, I always give. When in doubt, I overgive.

When in doubt, I overtip. When in doubt, I live my life with a sense of abundance and generosity. And it's worked out really well for me. I think that's scriptural. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. One question I get asked all the time is, do I need life insurance? Listen, the whole point of life insurance is to replace your income for someone who counts on you. So if you have a spouse or you have kids, yes, you need term life insurance. It's the only way to protect them until you're out of debt and have built up your wealth.

You're only digging a deeper hole if you waste money on cash value plans since it robs you of the ability to make real progress. And that's why I send you to Zander Insurance, and I have for 20 years. That's where I get all my insurance, and they only offer the plans I recommend. It is not expensive. It's not complicated. And Zander will be there as your guide every step of the way. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

You need to get this taken care of. I can give you the advice and I can tell you where to go, but it's really up to you to take that important step to get your family, Stephen's with us. Hey, Stephen, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. How's it going, Dave? Better than I deserve, man. Where do you live? Austin, Texas. Cool. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way up here to do a debt-free yes sir very cool and so how much have you paid off 75 000 in four years 75 000

in four years and your range of income during that time uh starting at 20 and about 100 now wow nice jump what do you do for a living a full-time personal trainer. Okay, cool. And what kind of debt was the $75,000? Oh, man. Student loans mainly. Engagement ring, oral surgery, credit card, motorcycle. Wow. Cool. An engagement ring you borrowed on, but she's not here.

When are you getting married? Married and divorced within three months. Oh! Yeah. Ouch. Sorry I brought it up. Ouch. Sorry. I brought it up. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you said engagement ring. You opened the door. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. So what kind of, so I would say motorcycle engagement ring.

What else? Student loans. Student loans. Okay. What else? Oral surgery. Oral surgery. Okay.

Wow. Yeah. A little bit of everything here okay cool and four years from 20,000 to 100,000 so tell me your story tell me what happened uh four years ago um summer of 2014 i was uh staying with my buddy sledge who's uh my small group leader and a big cheerleader during the process um he showed me a youtube video of you live in Dallas many years ago, doing the whole baby steps outline. And I'll never forget when you were talking about how Bible says to deliver yourself from the hand of the hunter and the imagery of the cheetah.

And I just remember you screaming the top of your lungs to run as fast as you can because the thing wants to eat you. And I just got super emotional, and it was the first time I felt no one's ever told me how serious this was and that I could do it. And it was the first time I felt hope. Cool. Very cool. So that got you in gear. You decided to get out of debt.

Then tell me what happened. Well, my income was super tiny. I was in college. I was just starting to do personal training. And I just, you know, I clogged along. I got rid of some small ones first, got out of the collections process. And then I feel like it wasn't too long. I was up to my student loans, which is the big pile.

And three years ago, as of this past Friday, I was on my way home on my motorcycle. And I was T-boned by a drunk driver on my motorcycle. And I lost my right foot, and it was kind of time to really refocus and take a harder look at my life, and just got really serious. Wow. So there's a period of this four years when you didn't pay off any debt because you were convalescing. You were getting used to the prosthetic leg. You're grieving. You're rehabbing your mind and your body, right? Yeah.

I mean, I— How long were you down? Maybe a year? No. I was walking in two months, and I've been a power lifter for 15 years, and that was a big goal is to get back into the gym. And four months after I lost my foot, I was dead lifting over 400 pounds again. Whoa! I've been a powerlifter for 15 years, and that was a big goal, to get back into the gym. Four months after I lost my foot, I was deadlifting over 400 pounds again. Whoa!

Yeah, it was just like, how close can I get to those numbers I used to hit? About a year after that, I was deadlifting 500 and competing in strongman competitions against non-amputees and placing and going to nationals and just uh yeah i was just like i was just on fire about like how much i could accomplish with a missing limb you know wow that's rowdy that's rowdy man good for you thank you good for you so it makes the story extra poignant yeah it's cool to win a strongman competition it's really cool to win it against non-amputees, right? Yeah, that was wild. I knew I was pretty strong going into it, but it was surreal.

It was like, yeah. The quote that's meant a lot to me through this is by Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi death camps and says, you can take everything from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms, to choose your attitude in any given circumstance. Search for meaning. That's a good book. Yeah.

That's a good book. Oh, wow. Very good. Cool. Okay. So, man, that's inspiring. What an amazing story. After the accident, how long was your pity party?

It was intermittent. But, I mean, maybe a few months of, you know, the worst part was going from fairly busy to I'm staying at my mom's, can't go anywhere in the day. My driving foot's gone, so I'm just like, I can't go anywhere. Some friends taxi me around, good friends of mine help me get around. But for the most part, I had all this downtime to think about it. I was still in a lot of pain. The drugs were awful. And there was a lot of time to think about things.

And I juggled time between reading good books and, you know. So how long did you take off on your get-out-of-debt thing? Because obviously, accident, you push pause, and you focus on recovery from the accident. And then at some point, you pushed play again on your get-out-of-debt. So what was the gap? So I had this small, so the guy was uninsured, but I had this small uninsured motorist tack on to my motorcycle insurance. And that gave me about $18,000 to, like, it was a little more than that, but I used some of it to pay for medical stuff. And then there was $18,000 left over where I was like, huh, you know, hopefully student loans. And so I just, I threw out all that at it. So really it was,

as soon as I got that check, you know, game on, I threw that right on there. And then, um, the people at the gym I worked at, um, were training my clients while I was down and I was still being paid. Wow. Yeah. And they, they did a powerlifting meet fundraiser and handed me a, an envelope full of cash. And, and so it didn't really stop much, you know, that, that really actually increased it a bit just for that insurance check and the money they gave me and a GoFundMe that my mom set up. And, uh, and so it, you know, probably about $20,000 accelerated it. And then business picked up, you you know between then and now business has picked up massively and so it i mean that's really when it accelerated wow you got a great

story to tell to take on clients yes sir it's uh it's uh get having a testimony is a wonderful thing getting one's a pain in the butt yeah yeah yeah so well done man very well done you have you're an overcomer without a. So we know where the motorcycle went. It got sold for insurance. It was totaled, I'm sure. A little bit. And the guy had no insurance, huh? Yeah, it was a hit and run.

Oh, you don't even know where he is, huh? Well, I do. They caught him, and last year I testified against him, and he's gone to prison for eight years. Wow. Yeah. Ouch. Ouch. Well, they get him off the road. Yes, my gosh unbelievable wow so what do you tell people with this journey this epic saga you have been on what

is the secret for getting out of that you have to want to dave i mean you have to want a bad um you have to be disgustedusted with yourself and with the situation and taking ownership of you put yourself here, disgusted with it, and it became an obsession. It's like nothing is going to stop me. I'm getting out of debt, and I was just so ready for the weight to be lifted off. The closer I got to the finish line, I was like, how much can I cut back and put any extra business I get on top of the debt?

And, I mean, you know, as a trainer, I deal with people. Like, I want people so badly to want their goals and to reach them. But like you say all the time, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. And I can want it for them, and I can give them all the tools. And unfortunately, sometimes they don't want it as bad as I want it for them. And it's like, I'm sure you talk to people who do the same thing. They have to want it bad enough to decide, I'm doing this. Yeah, I don't talk long to them. Yeah.

Yeah. Well done, man. Thanks, Dave. Steve in Austin, Texas. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's Everyday Millionaire's book for you. You're on the way to being that. What a great story. Count it down.

Let's hear your debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Woo-hoo! Yeah! Love it, love it, love it. Man. And you've got an excuse that's, uh, what?

Yeah, really. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America. Jason is with us in Connecticut. Hi, Jason. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? It's an honor to speak with you. You too. How can I help? I recently inherited a 25% state share in a family farm. My father passed away in March. I need some advice as to what to do with it. Okay. 75% state share in a family farm. My father passed away in March. I need some advice as to what to do with it.

Okay. Who's running the farm? Well, so we call it a farm. It's simply a 20-acre piece of farmland. My father was the only one that actually farmed it. He was a 50% shareholder in the farm. He was the second and third generation owner of the farm, along with his brother, my uncle. And now my father's deceased, and he left his 50% share to my brother and myself, 25-25. Gotcha.

What's it worth? It's worth around $240 is what the probate is at for that. Okay. And so, um, where is the farm? The farm is in, uh, in a little town, um, east of Hartford, um, called Pollen. Okay. Not super far from you, though. I mean, not the other side of the United States or something.

Okay. No, it's, no, it's. No, it's a 25-mile travel for me. What will the farm be used for now that your father has passed? Well, I'm carrying on his legacy right now. My

father raised poultry, so right now I'm carrying on his legacy raising poultry. It's a very small family business, and it's really not income producing. And so why is that his legacy? It's more like a memory. Yeah. I mean, it's what he was about.

It's what he did. He was an electrician for years, and he retired to work the farm and that i mean i have not retired i'm you know on baby step two and i understand i have a family and and you know young children and a wife and understand and now you're playing and now you're playing with chickens too yeah i got it now i'm playing with chickens but my my struggle is um is more of a family issue um and my my brother and i have never gotten along he's been in and out of jail for years um with drug and alcohol issues but me and i have never seen eye to eye he's a very controlling person and um we've just never never gotten along so and he's currently in jail serving a 23 month sentence he's got like 12 more months to go on this sentence,

and I just don't even know why I'm asking. Does your uncle want the farm? He does, but he doesn't really do anything with it. No, does he want to buy it from you and your brother? Well, I don't know. I haven't asked him. Personally, i don't feel that he can afford it but i mean i guess i really am not that person to make that decision you can do whatever you want to do um this is all still fairly fresh and you're trying to work through the separation

between who your dad was and what this piece of ground represents emotionally. Yeah. But you are a minority holder in a piece of ground. You have no power. You have no control over this situation. Right. This is not going to end well. That's kind of my feeling, and I feel like if I sold it today, I could be out of debt tomorrow. Yep.

And I think that's probably a better legacy from your dad than you raising chickens at no profit and arguing with your control freak brother and your uncle who has no money. Yeah. I left criminal out of the adjective on your brother. You put that in there. But anyway, so if I'm in your shoes, I'm going to talk to the two of them about putting it on the market, selling it, and everybody taking their cash and going their merry way. Yeah. That's a pretty cold, heartless, non-emotional statement is how that feels when I said it out loud.

But at the end of the day, this land does not represent your dad's legacy, and the chicken farm does not represent your dad's legacy. Your dad's character and who he was as a man is his legacy. And when the Bible says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, it does mean goods and money and wealth, but it also means the

character and the work ethic and the man that your dad was. And him having a piece of that land going towards you and your family's future would make him smile from heaven, I think. Yeah, I agree. And so I'm thinking, I work through these things fairly quickly in my emotions because I've done them so many times. And it's not my dad.

It's your dad. So it's a different thing. But I think if you spend some time praying this through, thinking this through, talking this through with your spouse, maybe with your pastor for wisdom, I think you're going to say, the future is what we need to be aiming at, not the past. Yeah. Which tells me, I'm putting this thing on the market with the other two's permission, getting it sold and handing them a check

after we get their signatures. I'm sure your brother and your uncle would like, if your uncle wants to buy you two out, that's fine. We know your brother's not buying anybody out. Not with legal money anyway. So, unless he's got some drug stash or something but i'm kidding i'm being sarcastic but that was mean but anyway the uh i think your uncle might

be a player but i doubt he is from based on what you said so i think everybody would like to have their money and go on uh the only thing is it's fifth generation, but my family sold my granny's place when she passed, and I'm not upset about it. I understand. It was fifth-generation ground, fourth-generation ground. But my grandpa had already subdivided most of it and sold it off in a subdivision before he died. So, you know, that's just part of how things go. Stuff comes and stuff goes, land included.

But we do get pretty emotional about our dirt, we Americans. And, well, other countries do too. Generational family, ranches, farms, whatever, places, those things, they mean a lot to us personally. And I'm no different, but you just have to look at the situation and go, five years from now, how's this going to be a blessing? And the answer is it's not. James is in Houston. Hi, James.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I am currently on paid suspension from my job. I've been working there about three years. I got into an argument with one of my superiors. I used a word I wish I wouldn't have used,

so that's really the reason why I'm on suspension. But there had been things going on before that happened that led up to that that I'd been keeping to myself. Basically, I don't respect the people who I work for, but it's a really good job and I like to work. So I just wanted your opinion on whether I should go back there or if they even let me back or try to find a new place to work. My family's been telling me that, you know,

you're going to have bosses your whole life that you don't like, so you just got to work through it. How old are you? 24. Okay. No, you should not go back there, but most importantly is not those people or what's wrong with them. Most importantly is the man in your mirror. He's going to have a lot more to say about your future success

than some guy who is or isn't a jerk at the workplace. What were you making? About $45. Okay. Doing what? It's in an industrial bakery. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, you're not afraid of work, but you've got to learn to control the guy in your mirror and his mouth because he gets you in trouble, right? Right.

And all of us have gone through that growing up, and sometimes we grow up at 24, sometimes we grow up at 54. Sometimes it's 14 14 but most of the time it's later than that so uh i think you gotta say what was my part in this uh let's pretend that everybody over there's a jerk incompetent and doesn't deserve your respect okay let's just pretend that for a second how you react to that says more about you than it does them. That make sense? Right. Yeah. And that's my concern. If I'm you,

you got to work on that part. And that means getting in a good church with maybe a guy's group, getting a good Bible study and learning to control your temper because that's what controls your tongue. I've dealt with that myself as a younger man, so I can relate. And now I use, now I use my mouth for fun, but it wasn't always so, my brother. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for the show. You know, you can listen or watch anywhere with the Dave Ramsey Show app on your smartphone. Catch the full show or watch the highlights and check out Dave's upcoming guests. Head to the App Store and download it today.