The Ramsey Show - App - We Moved and I Regret It (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Dr. John Delony & George Kamel discuss: Regretting a cross-country move, Renting out your house while traveling, Saving vs. investing increased income. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods moving and storage studios, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Campbell, your host, joined today by Dr. John Deloney, and we are happy to take your call this hour. We're pumped. We're pumped, America. Let's do this. 5-2-2-5. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kayla's kicking us off in Billings, Montana. Kayla, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you guys? We're so great. How can we help today?

Good, thank you. So my question is, my husband and I moved across the country recently, and I am unhappy here. And I'm just wondering, at what point do you put forth mental health and caring for that versus finances and putting yourself in a bind or losing money on our house. Often when you back yourself into a corner and give yourself one of two cryptic options, there's something else going on. Tell me what else is going on here. Okay. So, oh gosh, I don't know. I'm just very depressed where we live now. What is it about this environment, this world? Are you missing your friends from your old place, your old community? Are you not plugging in? Did you have a bad experience? What is it about this environment this world are you missing your friends from your old place your old community you're not plugging in did you have a bad experience what is it yeah a couple couple of things um we are very far from our family um it kind of feels isolating um and the weather here is a little rougher than i prefer like winters are very long and seasonal depression I feel like is a real thing.

It's a super real thing. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's just hard and just not as much to do or the things that I enjoy doing. We had a home before and so I miss that home and that area and that climate and people coming to visit us and we have a house now but nobody comes to visit because we're very far away um or if they do it's very rare and so why'd you guys move just like that why'd you move why um he works he's a truck driver he works for FedEx and if we transferred he the pay was a lot higher so he

went from being a city driver um in Tennessee and then we transferred out west the pay was a lot higher. So he went from being a city driver in Tennessee, and then we transferred out west where he was a road driver. And they get paid quite a bit more. So we could always transfer back, but they aren't hiring at the moment for road or city. So I'm just here trying to figure out what to do. How long have you lived there um we've been here a year but we've been out west two years okay um

I had a very similar experience when I moved from Texas where I had my community my friends and my family and to Tennessee to Nashville into what was a great job as it was a much it's a much more significant paying job it was an incredible group of people I got to work with but I was lonely I was missing people and I like doing these things and I wasn't able to do those things here because now I'm in the city. It kind of reversed of what you experienced. And ultimately my wife and I had to sit down and say, okay, we're going to go all in on making this our home. And it was a completely different identity shift. And she actually went way faster than I did. She went and made friends, got connected, started going to coffee with people. And that not her nature it's not my nature and

um i had to i've told some stories on air about inviting people to my house and be like so this is super weird but will you be my friend um we go hang out and when someone would invite me that i didn't know that well to watch the fights i said yes every time and i've come like i'm I'm my, our family goal now a year, a few years after that time is this is it. Like my, my goal and hope in life is to die in Tennessee. Okay. This became my home, but it took some high intentionality in our part. So here's my challenge to you. Number one, don't frame this as money or mental health.

That's not a fair framing of this. It's not, Hey, you want to be rich and crazy and depressed. That's not a fair framing of this. It's not, hey, you want to be rich and crazy and depressed? That's not really what's happening here. What's happening here is, hey, we made a decision together that this is going to be a significant increase in pay for us. We're going to be able to change some things of our lives that we thought was going to be great. And maybe we missed the mark and that's okay. We tried it out. Two years, three years, cool. Let's get back on the transfer list and see when when that happens until then we are not going to voluntarily choose misery. I'm not going to choose to be miserable waiting for this thing that may or may not happen

in two months, five months, two years, 10 years. Choose the things that are going to make you joyful in the meantime. That may mean that we need to add to our budget plane tickets because we thought we could see family once a year. I want to see them three. And that's just going to make you joyful in the meantime. That may mean that we need to add to our budget plane tickets because we thought we could see family once a year. I want to see them three. And that's just going to be a thing that we're going to do. That's a little bit different. I am not big on going to coffee with the gals. I'm going to coffee with the gals. I'm going to make that a part of my life. You see what I'm saying? Go all in where you are. And if you go all in where you are and you come back and you say, Hey, I want to go back to Tennessee and you end up back to Tennessee and Kentucky and North Carolina, whatever. Nobody failed anything.

Nobody lost anything. We thought this was going to be the right thing for us. What I found was, oh, man, I just missed my family and friends. And that's a completely normal thing. You're supposed to be sad when you miss your family and friends. And now my new life adventure was finding new people to do life with. And I have. See what I'm saying? I see. Yeah. I see more of the effort. Well, it's not, no, see there you

like, okay, I'm just not doing enough. No, no, no, not like that. Not like that. Here's what I'm saying. Um, it's, it's completely normal to feel how you feel right now. Okay? And moving forward, you have a choice. Do I want to continue this? Do I want to continue just to be here and be sad? Or do I want to do something differently? Not do more, do I want to do something different?

And what you're doing right now is, you've been, I mean, you've been healing, right? You made a big, major move. Now we're healing. Now we're going to figure out something that's new. And let's set a time limit with my husband when he's home. Let's say, let's put a pin on the calendar at six months. Let's just check back in with each other at six months and see how we're doing. And I'm going to go all in. You go all in. We're going to make

this thing work. We're going to choose to have fun out here, even though I'm not really a hiker or a, I don't fly fish. I don't know what you do in Montana. Um, but normally I wanted to, I'm more of a pedal tavern gal there in downtown Nashville and there's no pedal taverns out here. And I don't know, I'm losing, right. I'm, I'm being, I'm being rude, but, um, decide to go all in there and then put something on the calendar and it gives you some peace, right? This isn't a forever thing and this isn't a cast into the ocean. And if you are struggling, if you are feeling depression in a way that i don't want to get out of bed i don't like anybody um the the i've just i don't have joy please call somebody okay

yeah please go visit a counselor okay and yes seasonal depression is very very very real very real um there's all kinds of lights you can get. There's all kinds of interventions you can do with lighting on your house and activities you can do to help with the lights. That is a very real thing. And winter is coming, right? So be ready for that as it heads your way. Yeah, that's huge. Yeah. When I moved to Nashville, John, from Mobile, which I had moved from Boston, you just reset and I had to go, all right, I'm going to get plugged into my local church. I made some great friends there. I started here at Ramsey Solutions.

I knew no one. And now there's some of my best friends here, some of my best community via the church and work. And I love it. And I can't ever imagine going back to Boston. But that takes a lot of time and intentionality. And that's all we're asking for. And some awkwardness and some failure. It's a part of it. And you're a king of awkwardness. I am king of awkwardness. John has's all we're asking for. And some awkwardness and some failure. It's a part of it.

And you're a king of awkwardness. I am king of awkwardness. John has mastered it. I love it. More of The Ramsey Show coming up. so you know those moments when you're sitting right next to someone but you feel a thousand miles away from them feels like a personal attack, John. It kind of does. But it's also true.

Some of you are feeling that way right now, like George. Folks, we've got to put our stupid phones down. We've substituted deep and meaningful conversations for binge-watching Netflix and scrolling social media. You deserve better relationships, and that means having better conversations. And that's why I created questions for humans these are conversation starters that will help you unplug from your screens and actually connect and have fun with the people you care about and here's the thing I wish it wasn't the

case it is and this is the case in my house too I have let the skill of just having fun conversations atrophy because I haven't had to do it for a decade now because I just have a phone and we can text and we can just send emojis and call it good and our bodies are falling apart. We launched the first edition of these cards a few months ago and they've been flying off the shelves ever since.

The first press sold out, second press sold out, third press sold out and people have been asking for more and more topics. And so we got the hint and we've got new decks in and we've got new sets of conversation cards. We've added girls night, which I know a lot about girls nights, guys night, dating parents and teens workplace addition to the lineup. And we also have education ones now that are going to be for elementary school, middle school and high school students for uses in classrooms and in homes. All of them will get you spending time laughing together,

learning something unexpected, and building deeper and stronger relationships. One of the most common questions I hear, George, from parents is, I don't know how to talk to my teenager. I don't know how to talk to my middle schooler. I ask my fifth grader, hey, how was school? And they say, fine. It was fine. And they go upstairs. They go upstairs, right?

Or they just look at their phone or they just stare off into space out the window. These cards are designed to help you reconnect. So pick up one, two, or all of our new questions for humans, conversation starters, and start having fun together. And you can find all of them at RamseySolutions.com. Can I pitch a new idea?

I'm all ears. It's a podcast. You, Dave Ramsey, Ken Coleman, and myself, we play Girls' Night, questions for humans. I think if Dave ever says, I'm through with the show, he's not one to go off gently into that quiet night. He's going to want to just go ahead and cancel all the way out. So I think he'd have 30 minutes of just telling his deepest, truest thoughts, and then we would play that. And I think we could officially wrap the show up. I'm in. Call the slumber party.

By the way, for Girls' Night, we did go get some extraordinary, brilliant women. Which we have plenty of right here in this building. Yes, and they are the ones that helped direct those questions, because I am absolutely unqualified. All right, let's go to Kelly in Los Angeles, in LA. What's up, Kelly? Hey, guys. How are you? Good. How are you?

Good. Thanks. So my question is, I live in LA. I run my business remotely, and I own a house out right here. No payments on it besides property taxes and insurance and everything. And I'm very sick of the US. I'm going to go travel for a year. And I'm trying to figure out if it's in my best interest to rent the house out and live off the income from that

while I'm gone or sell it while the market's still pretty high right now here and put that money in some kind of ETF or index and live off that instead. Incredible. Well, can I ask you, how do you have a paid for home in Los Angeles? That sounds like a pipe dream. I bought it off a family member a couple of years ago and they've had it for forever. So I got a really good deal on it. Awesome. Way to go. So what's the house worth? It's probably about 1.8, 1.9. Oh, so it's a two bedroom, one bath. I'm just kidding. That's in the bad part of LA. That's incredible. So you have a paid for $1.9 million property that you could sell?

I do, yeah. Or you could rent it for how much? Probably about like after property manager and everything, I'd probably be making profit like $4,500 a month. Okay. So here's how I kind of look at it, and Deloney can jump in. So you'd make $50,000 while you travel, and they deal with all the hassle, or you cash out today and take $2,000,000.

I don't know. I'm just looking at it just based on math. I don't know. So hard. You could park the $2,000,000 in an online savings account and probably make close to $50,000. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, I'm scared that like, I'm worried that property values are just going to go up and I'll get priced out of the market and not be able to come back if I want to. You're going to be okay regardless. You have a paid for home in LA.

You're going to have $2 million. Also, the population in California is going down for the first time in history. So I'm not saying that the prices are going to go down, the values are going to go down, but I don't know that they're going to appreciate wildly in 12 months. And Kelly, I don't know if we mentioned this, you'll have $2 million in a checking account. I'm doing the napkin math for her, John. What's the chances that you're going to move back to LA? Here's the other thing.

When somebody gets to a place where they're like this, and I'm being serious now, when they get to a place where relationally I'm done, and so this isn't a boyfriend you're walking away from for a year. This is America. I'm done with the US. I've got to get out of here. I'm going to go wherever. And so this isn't a boyfriend you're walking away from for a year. This is America, right? I'm done with the U.S. I've got to get out of here.

I'm going to go wherever. You don't know where the winds take you when you open up the sails out on the open sea. Okay? What I would hate for you to do is to get somewhere and say, actually, I want to relocate here for a while. Make this a couple of years. Make this three or four years, and you've still got this property. It's much better to hit the road, to be out there and say, ah, I'm free,

and I've got a $2 million safety net and a money market account somewhere. And, man, that's a totally different proposition for me. So if you're my friend or you're my sister, I would say, dude, sell your house, be untethered, have the world's greatest fallback plan, and the chances of you moving back to L.A., who knows what's going to happen in a year with you and your adventures, right? Yeah, no, you're totally right.

Kelly, I just did the math here. Even with the 1.5% interest rate on that high-yield savings account, you'd be making about $30,000 a year if you parked 1.9 million in there versus getting 50. But who knows if the HVAC goes out and needs repairs and you're dealing with that while you're traveling and eat prey loving. I don't know what you're about to do across the globe, but I just don't want to deal with that on this adventure as kind of being a landlord, even deal with property management. They're handling a lot of that, but it sounds like your heart's not in this property anymore anyways. Yeah, that's probably true. I mean, I've been fighting it, but... So you're not going to be that excited to even come back to it a year

from now. You're probably going to be a different Kelly after this experience. You might be a Texas Kelly. You might be a Florida Kelly. You might be a New York Kelly. Who knows? There's something magical about being untethered and having $2 million in the bank. I don't know. I was trying to picture that in my head, and it's a great picture. Yeah. It's a fun picture.

I think I've made the decision. I don't know that Kelly has, but I've made it in my heart. I'm excited to travel. That may be, this may be, James, you were asking us the other day to remember some of our favorite calls. This is going to be one of them. Do I want to have kind of an anchor connected to a chain around my ankle

and make about $50,000? Or. I just want to be in the south of France and be like, yeah, we're going to do two appetizers. Make that two. I want the avocado toast because I have $2 million in my checking account. You can afford avocado toast. That's right. One of the only people.

Yes. And then you throw in the gluten-free bread upcharge. Are you kidding me? But you know what? I've got $2 million. I like this plan. Gluten-free me i'm all in and i also like the idea of getting out of california going to see some stuff and then making some and guess what if you want to live in california again you have two million dollars to go get you a place in california hey to everybody listening

though and all in george and i are poking some fun i think mostly because we're both kind of jealous um 100 uh this is why we do this this is why you work so hard to be debt free this is why you grind it and you get through the baby steps this is why you save money this is why you pay your house off because then you have these moments in life when we've talked to people today george that husband just announced i'm leaving i'm out of here. Or you get so frazzled and frustrated with work, with the news cycle, with whatever. And you say, you know what? I'm going to France. I went to Australia for a year. Like wherever you happen to find yourself. This is why we do this. This is called freedom. And this is called peace. Margin and bandwidth and options and meaning. It's all lumped in there. Peace. Yes. yes hey george i do want

you to know that two million two million dollars is not enough to cover the shame of eating gluten free avocado toast james roasting me in the comment section of real life wow សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. And it is that time of day when we get to celebrate someone on the debt-free stage. And that person is Debbie. How are you, Debbie? How are you? Doing fantastic. Welcome, welcome. So you paid off some debt, didn't you? I did, a little bit.

Where are you from? Shakur, Pennsylvania. Near Pittsburgh? North Pittsburgh, yeah. Okay, awesome. How much debt did you pay off? I paid off $98,107. Whoa! How long did that take?

38 months. All right. And your range of income during that time? It started at $65,000 and it ended at $177,000. Whoa. Okay. What do you do for a living? I'm a nurse. Is that all nursing?

Is that travel nursing? Nope. Wow. Fantastic. Nurses have had a boring last three years or so, huh? Yep. Oh, my goodness. That's quite the jump.

So was that jump over overtime or what happened? Promotions? I work at a hospital and then I picked up at visiting nurses. So I worked all the time. I was never home. My kids never saw me. I worked doubles all my days off all the time.

Are you a single mom? I am. Yeah. Wow. You're a rock star. You're actually a hero in a t-shirt actually. Without a cape.? I am. Yeah. Wow. You're a rock star. You're actually a hero in a t-shirt actually without a cape. That's incredible. Thanks. Wow. Okay. So what type of debt was the $98,000? It was my car. It was credit cards. I had co-signed a student loan. I charged everything.

I charged my bed. It was everything. Wow. So what got you to that point where you were just charging everything and going, like, were you in la-la land? Or did you feel like, well, this is what you're supposed to do? Well, I thought I could juggle everything. I was pretty good at juggling all my credit cards. And then I bought a house I couldn't afford. And then two weeks after we moved in, Murphy moved in and stayed for about six months and $30,000. I was totally broken totally i had uh done financial peace and failed it before so then uh my daughter who's here with me today she said why don't you just try again what you know you don't have

anything to lose you're already in the hole so i said okay i love that encouragement you're already at rock bottom it can't get worse mom I can't go any lower so hand me a shovel and hold my beer I can dig deeper right well done so you went through it again I did I cut up I cut up all my credit cards and that day I applied for the visiting nurse job wow and that was 38 months ago yeah just about yeah that's incredible so how'd you hear about us in the first place? I had Googled how to pay off debt because I thought I was going to be smart and pay it off and still juggle my credit cards, which is ridiculous. After you look back, you really can't do that.

You have to go all in or you're not going to make it. It's like having a fire extinguisher in one hand and a flamethrower in the other. Exactly. And you go, yeah, we put out a fire over here. I thought I could do it, but I didn't. I't failed how long have you been doing this all by yourself uh how long have i been uh seven seven years seven years okay so when i look at your story um one word that comes up a lot is a lot of loss right a lot like we lost this and we lost the we got a house and we lost our sanity and we lost our money and then murphy moved in and then i don't want us to forget like we could

ever forget that when you started this journey 36 three years ago the world was literally on fire right and so what happened like that's an extreme testament to your character and strength that you chose to stand up in the midst of all that chaos. How'd you do that? I got really scared with the COVID. In the hospital, it's a different world. And, you know, people outside, we were told when we started COVID that pack a bag because you may not leave. So I was frightened that I was gonna leave my kids with all that debt and I thought I did that myself and I'm gonna leave it

to my kids so from then on they're my why wow that's why I did it I just I I need you to hear me say just person to person parent to parent what you've done is amazing well thank you and yes you've been really open about some of the knuckleheaded things you've done with money and whatever. What you have done here is brave and courageous and inspiring. And you sacrificed a couple of years of being around your kids to change their life forever and to change your life forever. And I just need you to know just person to person i'm this is inspiring and

it's amazing thank you i'm proud of you it's awesome so inspire someone else out there who's got a hundred thousand dollars of debt what do you say the key to getting out of debt is um you have to have a big enough why or you're just not going to do it this is so hard it is not for the faint of heart it was so hard i cried a lot going to work. I'd call my daughter because she's a nurse as well and she heard a lot from me. She just keep going, keep going, you'll get there.

Was she your biggest cheerleader? Yeah, all my kids helped out. They took care of the home so I didn't have to. I didn't cook, I didn't get groceries, I did nothing because they took care of everything.

Well, you raised some great kids who are self-sustaining. I did. That's a big part of it. Self-sustaining. Yeah. Is that a word? No, but it's cool though. I feelustaining. I did. That's a big part of it. Self-sustaining. Yeah. Is that a word? No, but it's cool, though.

I feel like I could Google that. It's a word. It is self-sustaining. Wow. That's pretty incredible. And I'm older, so it's like, could I do it? Because I was 52 when I started, and I'm like, wow. I watch all the debt-free scrims, and they're like, oh, these are young couples, and here I am, an older mother.

So it was a personal challenge to yourself going, is it too late for me? No, it's not. So is that what you'd say to someone else who's in their 40s or 50s or 60s? It's not too late. Nope. Yeah, the real question you have to ask yourself when you're 52 is, I'm going to be 55 either way.

Do I want to be debt-free or do I want to have debt? That's the question, right? Exactly. Are you still working this second job or have you let it go? No, I still work it, but I work it because I want to, not because I have to. That's different. Yep. That's incredible. So how does it feel? Oh, it feels great. It feels great. You seem light, airy. You could just float away at any moment. I'm very excited. Have you had some of these moments where the check's cash and you have no bills? Yeah.

I paid it off in, what was it, February, March. Okay. March 3rd. Yeah, March 3rd. Fantastic. We're so proud of you.

We've got some parting gifts for you. We've got Baby Steps Millionaires, Dave's number one bestselling book. That's the next chapter in your story as you've changed your family tree and step into Baby Steps Millionaire status. And, of course, a copy of Financial Peace University, the newest edition. You can gift that to maybe one of your nurse friends who's going, you did what now?

In 30? How? Show me the way. You can hand that to them as well as a copy of the Total Money Makeover to kickstart someone else's journey. So proud. You brought the kids with you? I brought my older daughter, Allison, and my young son, Emerson, and this is my son-in-law.

I love it. Well, you want to bring them up on stage? Are they screaming with you? I don't think. Okay, they're hanging out. They're like, I didn't know that I wanted to be a part of this. Hey, y'all had to take care of the house. You need to get up there and scream with them.

Yeah, you guys were a part of this. I have to add, my son-in-law is awesome. Anytime anything would break, he's like, no, you're not paying for it. He was over before I even put the phone down. So, kudos to him. Very impressive. You look like you have some incredible people in your corner. Yes, I do. That's awesome. Well, let's get to it.

The moment we've all been waiting for. It's Debbie and Allison and Emerson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. $98,107 paid off in 38 months, making $65,000 all the way to $177,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Woo! That's the opposite of a Debbie Downer, John. Right there. That's my dad joke for the day. Thank you for using my line again. That is fantastic.

I love these stories, John. It really is inspiring. Never gets old. And I just love the fact that you can decide at any age, and I love what you said. You're going to be 55 anyways. Do you want to be debt-free at 55, or do you want to keep living how you've been

living yeah my wife had a few friends they were 35 and they were all hanging out talking and they said man we always wished we'd gone to med school so dumb we should go to med school but now it's too old and it would be seven years of going to school and going through rotation and my wife because she's very very wise she said that's not that's not what you should be asking yourself what you should be asking yourself is you're gonna be 42 either way do you want to be a doctor when you're 42 or not a doctor when you're 42 and they were like oh well played right and your mom has an inspiring story of that too yeah it's very similar i i um i just have people in my life my mom my dad people who have made some major changes past ages when people think you can change. And Debbie's a perfect

example. As if there's a certain day where it's like, alright, it's too late. This is it. You're always going to have back pain. You're always just going to couple. Y'all been married so long. You're always just going to argue. It's just going to be that way. You know what? Single mom, you just can't do it. You're always going to struggle with money. You can't do it.

Hey, you're already working a full-time job. Don't work too hard. You can't do it. Hey, you're already working a full-time job. Now, don't work too hard. You have to do this with the kids. Debbie's one of those curvebusters, man, that just says, yeah, I'm going to throw all the rules out the window. I'm going to get this thing done. For 38 months, she said, I'm going to pay a price for a time. But then the next

30 years of her life, woo! Freedom, baby. That's what it's all about. This is The Ramsey Show. Today's scripture of the day is Ephesians 4.2. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. That's good stuff. The great and mighty Will Ferrell says, Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow internet to see who they really are.

Oh, that's a good one. That's fantastic. Truer words have never been spoken. Exactly. I think part of marriage counseling should just be sitting in front of a dial-up connection. Speaking of that Ephesians Bible verse about humility, Will Ferrell's family does not think he's funny. Oh, man.

I mean, if that's not humbling, I don't know what is. Did I tell you about the argument I got with my son the other day? No. We were going back and forth about something that morphed into, Dad, you're not famous. And I was like, I'm for sure famous. And he said that you're not famous. And I was like, I'm for sure famous. And he said, Dad, you're not. And he was 100% right.

But I found myself arguing with a 12-year-old, which is always a disaster. And I then was trying to bring in my old career. And I was like, hey, I was the chief student affairs officer at a billion-dollar university. I was huge. And he goes, Dad, you're just a YouTuber, man. Oh, sick burn.

But do you drive a Dodge Stratus? But do I drive a Dodge Stratus? Bringing it back full circle with Will Ferrell. Oh, that's good. I drive a Dodge. I love it, man. All right, let's go to Charlie in Atlanta. What's up, Charlie?

How are you doing? We're rocking on to the break of dawn, my brother. What's up? Awesome. So, yeah, me and my girlfriend, I'm 20. My girlfriend's 18. Over the past two and a half months, our social media accounts have gained a little over 3 million followers. We made $20,000 the first month, $28,000 the second month. And our managers and other content creators are saying that over the

next 12 months, we should be expected to make around $30,000 to $50,000 each month. My question is, what to do with this new blessing and this new money? What's in your social media account? It's basically just me and my girlfriend make vlogs and stuff like that. Wow. Me and John will do that, and it will get $0. Good for you, man. We make a grand total of $0 from all our that. Wow. I mean, me and John will do that and it will get zero dollars. So good for you, man. We make a grand total of zero dollars from all our effort. Okay. So hold on. What makes your videos special? We incorporate faith into everything. So, you know, I don't,

I mean, we take pride in our videos and we like to share the gospel and put that first. So I'm assuming that other than just being funny, I guess. Wow. Way to go, man. All right. So before George gets you into what you're going to do with this money, let me caution you, okay? All righty. The Internet's world and the management world, it is all about optimism.

You're probably going to make this much, dude. You're probably going to... There's a reality to it all, okay? And there's an ebb and flow to it. I had something spin up the other day on TikTok that I didn't even know how to log into TikTok. And it got millions of views and then my Instagram got followers.

And then a couple of days later, I was back to regular old... Just a YouTuber. Just being a YouTuber, right? So this thing goes in waves and it goes up and down. Hang on to your hats. Don't start living above your means. I think by the end of this month, you're going to be making,

make sure you've got money in the bank before you do anything. Is that cool? Right, right, for sure. Yeah, we've seen social media come and go, and every Vine star is now going, oh my gosh, that was my livelihood, and it's gone. And YouTube changed their policy on monetization, and now I lost my career.

And Instagram changed their algorithm, and now no one's seeing my content, and I'm making $3,000 a month. And so you can use this money very wisely to retire early if you want to, or you can increase your lifestyle and it can be gone and all of a sudden you're back to square one. It sounds like you want to do the first one. You want to use this wisely. For sure. And you're super young, man. You have

your whole life ahead of you. So do you have any debt? I hope not at this age. No, I'm actually still in college. So I don't have any debt. I don't have a house. I have no payments at all. And your cash flow in college is paid for? Right. Yes. Everything's paid for. I've been blessed.

My parents put money away. How much money do you have in the bank? Right now, we have about $30,000. Okay. You keep saying we. Are you saying you and your girlfriend have the same bank account? Yes. So we technically have an LLC together. Good. It's like a business account, essentially.

Right. So everything is essentially in a business account. We haven't taken any cut at all. Have y'all sat with an attorney to write up drawdowns? How are you going to pay yourself? Okay. So y'all have a salary every month now? We actually just met with them this morning. So we are working towards that now. So is it going to be a percentage basis of the total gross of what you're making or the net of what you're making? Right. Okay. Awesome. Are you working with an investment professional yet? We are not. Okay. Well, outside of having your emergency fund, you have no debt.

I want you to graduate from college and make that a priority because we don't know what the future holds. We don't know what three years from now looks like. And if that's cash flow, do you have an emergency fund? Then we can begin investing 15% of our income and the rest I would save up and try to pay cash for a house. With this kind of income, that's going to just catapult you in your financial journey to have a paid for house in your early 20s. Gotcha. And I would get something reasonable. And same with a car. You have a decent car right now? I got it. I mean, it's brand new. I got it for my third year in college and my parents bought me

a new truck before I went to college. And they paid for it as a gift? Yeah. Yes. Mighty kind of them. So you're good in that department, which means you don't have a lot of expenses, I imagine. Right. No expenses other than food.

Cherish it while that exists, because adulthood will come for you soon. And you'll be like, I got to pay for my health insurance now? Oh my gosh. And so the more money you have, the more of a financial foundation you have. And so I would live on way less than you make. Continue living how you've been living as a broke college kid,

and you're going to be just fine. And you can go on RamseySolutions.com and start to build your board of directors, so to speak. Get an investment professional. Get a tax professional because you're probably going to have a huge tax hit. Tax is going to be the one to get first. And you've got to be setting money aside for that. So work with a great tax professional. You're probably going to work a huge tax hit. Tax is going to be the one to get first. And you've got to be setting money aside for that. So work with a great tax professional.

You're probably going to work with a great real estate professional. We have all of that. Insurance professionals. So go to RamseySolutions.com, click on Trusted Pros, and start to interview these people in your area and assemble this dream team of how are we going to use this money wisely? How are we going to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with this amazing platform?

Right. Awesome. Is that cool? I'm going to give you one more piece of wisdom. Okay, Charlie? For sure. It could happen. Y'all break up. Right. Yeah. And so within the next couple months, we'll be engaged. And you could could still break up and here's what i'm telling you that i want y'all to have the hard conversations y'all are business partners now i'm really glad to hear y'all getting llc that was the note i'd written here is y'all are now in a hot at a business making a lot of money as a 20 year old and 18 year old who are dating right and that's a lot of feelings and a lot of emotions and a lot of supercharged stuff and a lucrative business. And that is just a recipe for a bonfire. Okay.

So have the hard conversations. Are we going to keep doing this? If when, how are we going to do this when we get in a fight? How are we going to do this when we are trying to get married to, how are we going to do like have those conversations and don't get married because you have a cool business when you're 20.

Get married because she's the right person for you long term. Is that fair? Fair. Cool. Well, congratulations, man. Way to go, dude. That's awesome.

Pretty impressive. I know. Got way more Instagram followers than we do, George. I guess it's time for us to start our influencer Instagram now, John. Just me and you vlogging on the road. Maybe you could teach me how to do, like, you know, the man stuff I never learned.

You know, like we go hunting. You show me how to mow lawns, change tires. I think that would be a huge hit. Check oil. Just kidding. I don't have that. Joke's on you. Oh, yeah.

Got rid of that. One less thing. Battery-powered car. One more check on the man card there. You don't need to worry about that. You're welcome, John. And then I'll teach you how to... What's something you're not good at?

You're good at everything. I'm pretty good. You could teach me how to... Your hair, the time you... It's perfect. That's not a talent. I was hoping for something way better than your hair, but I appreciate that.

You could teach me all of your fast food hacks. That's true. But we went to Chick-fil-A the other day together in the drive-thru. It took 111 minutes. Can I tell you John's order before we go to break here?

14,000 chicken tenders for protein. That's it. That's all he ordered. And George... And I got a kid's meal. You did. That's how I keep my childlike physique, John.

Hey, I would like to thank all the guys in the booth for keeping us going. I'd like to thank you, George. Good show today. Fun times. And I'd like to thank everybody listening. Listen, have a good weekend. Be kind to one another. Find ways you can have joy in your life.

And if it's time to make the decision to make everything different, we're here for you. We'll be back soon on The Ramsey Show. Dave here. We just launched a brand new audience survey for The Ramsey Show, and we'd love your feedback. You could be entered to win a $500 Visa gift card. No purchase necessary. Take the survey at ramsesolutions.com slash survey.