The Ramsey Show - App - What Is the Best Way To Launch My Business? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 11, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the 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. My co-host today, Christy Wright, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Business Boutique, and of course, author of the book Business Boutique, and, of course, the host of the Business Boutique event as well. And we're going to be taking your calls about your life and your money, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.

Well, America, Ramsey is freaking open for business. Christy, I'm so pumped that we're back on the road. Yes. Doing events again. This is what we do. Lots of events. This is what we do. This is what we're known for.

I love doing these until I couldn't do them anymore. I know. I know. And then the first one back, you're like, oh, there it is. That's what we've been missing. Man. So we got two big event announcements today that we want to cut you guys in on. Number one, we will be in Dallas for the Entree Leadership Summit next week, May the 16th through the 19th.

Now, Entree Leadership Summit is arguably the best leadership event in America today. It is one of the top five for sure by anybody's calculation. It is a phenomenal experience, top to bottom, the way the attendees are treated, the things that we do for them, and we bring in absolutely world-class speakers. You'll be speaking. Yes. So every year, and this is one of my favorite events because of exactly what you said, the time, money, and intentionality that we put into this event is unlike anything else we do.

It's massive. I mean, even the screens are massive. Everything about it is just unbelievable. Over the top. Over the top. So, you know, Ken Coleman will be with us, a bunch of our Ramsey personalities. Dr. John Deloney is doing a session as well. Christy, me, George will be there.

Courtney will be there. I'm looking forward to doing a session as well. Christy, me, George will be there. Courtney will be there. I'm looking forward to doing a couple of sessions. And we've got just unbelievable news. We just were released by the Secret Service to be able to tell you that George W. Bush will be joining us. Yes. Oh, my gosh. That's over the top. Jocko Willink will be with us.

Man, and he's a former Navy SEAL, best-selling author, absolute incredible. John Maxwell, I mean, Papa John, right? Yeah, leadership expert. Not that Papa John, but I mean, he's the, you know. People are going to be ordering pizza now. Yeah, no, he's the top, one of the top leadership speakers of all time and writers of 80-plus best-selling books. Pastor Craig Groeschel spoke last year and back this year. Pastor of, I think, America's largest church at this point, Life.Church.TV, or Life.Church

now they call it. And Pat Lencioni back, a fan favorite of our tribe. You can never mess up with Pat. He's so good. Best-selling author. Marcus Buckingham, best-selling author of the Strength Finders series, and he'll be speaking. This is his second time to be with us.

Absolutely over-the-top lineup. I mean, Jocko, Maxwell, Groeschel, Lencioni, Buckingham. Oh, Dr. Adrienne Sternberg will be with us for the first time. She spoke here a few weeks ago at one of our devotionals and brought the house down. Yes. She's a force of nature. She is. And from the very first words out of her mouth, every single person in the room was leaning in. Yeah. Like, she had us. Yes. She's a force of nature. She is. And from the very first words out of her mouth,

every single person in the room was leaning in. Like, she had us. Yeah. She's that good. Yeah, she's really good. So the problem is, you guys, it's completely sold out. They're like, wait, why are you telling us this? It's completely sold out.

I mean, and with a waiting list to get into the room. And so there's enough people that are out there when America opens up that want to do stuff that it's, I mean, we're going to have about 2,500 folks in the auditorium, in the room with us. And absolutely incredible. But here's what we're going to allow you guys in business that want to have a three-day leadership boot camp with the best minds on the planet talking to them uh you know we're shutting down all of our leadership team here in nashville uh there's almost 200 of them in our leadership team and we're putting them in a room to watch this live stream yeah we believe in it that much yeah and we're gonna uh so we're investing heavily in that And if you want to do that with your team out there and have it live streamed in, you can do that for one price and just buy a license and you can watch it with two people or 200 people.

Whatever you want to do inside your office. And we want to make sure this information is available because this lineup, I mean, George W. Bush, Jocko, Maxwell, Groeschel, Lencioni, Buckingham, Sternberg, Ken Coleman, Christy Wright, John Deloney, me. This is a week of leadership at its best. I mean, I'll bet you, I haven't added it up, but I'll bet you it's over, I bet it's approaching 200 million book sales among that lineup. Oh, I believe it. Because these guys have sold just tens of millions of books. It's approaching 200 million book sales among that lineup. Oh, I believe it. Because these guys have sold just tens of millions of books. It's amazing. So if you want to be involved in this lineup and watch it live stream,

to register, text the word SUMMIT to 44222. Our guys will help you out with a site license for you to be able to watch with your whole team. It's not unreasonable, especially when you consider what you would have paid if you were in the room, Our guys will help you out with a site license for you to be able to watch with your whole team. It's not unreasonable, especially when you consider what you would have paid if you were in the room, especially when you consider this lineup. You really would pay this to watch one of these people. Yeah. So text SUMMIT to 44222.

And we're announcing today the launch of Business Boutique goes on sale for the fall. Yes, yes. Coming up in the fall. People have been asking me like crazy about this, Dave, and today is the big launch day. Yes, we're doing it again like we do it every single fall back here in Nashville, which is a great city for a ladies' trip, a girls' trip. Come with your friend. Come bring your spouse if you want to, but it's October 14th through the 16th,

so in the fall here in Nashville. And what's so cool about this event, Dave, and we've talked about this, we've seen it year after year, is we have amazing speakers. And people come for the amazing speakers that are experts on everything from money management, to marketing, to selling, social media, everything you need to start or grow your business, whether it's a side business, or a small business, or you've got team members, we want to give you what you need to start or grow your business, whether it's a side business or a small business or you've got team members. We want to give you what you need to win. But what's so amazing is what happens in that room goes far beyond the sessions and the information. And you've seen this,

because I know because you've attended, you've spoken at it, but you have seen there's a transformation in their level of confidence. They walk out of that room ready to charge hell with a water pistol, and they believe they can do it. And when you believe you can do it, you'll actually put that stuff into practice. Because even if you have all the best information in the world, if you're scared, you're going to stay stuck. So it's both.

It's information and inspiration. And this year we have amazing speakers. You're speaking again. I am. They always love having you there. I love it. Anthony O'Neill. Now, this Business Boutique Conference is equipping women. I am. And they always love having you there. I love it. Anthony O'Neill. Now, this Business Boutique Conference is equipping women to make money doing what they love.

That's right. So it's for women in business. Yeah. What type of business? Any type of business. Right. Small business, side business, freelance, solopreneur, doesn't matter. If you're in business at any capacity and you're a lady, especially if you're getting started or don't have a team, you're doing it all yourself, or you have a real small team, this is for you.

So Anthony O'Neill will be with us, Jasmine Starr, Nona Jones, Bianca. Oltoff. Oltoff. Okay, so tell us what they do. So now, Anthony, he's going to be speaking on money, which that's what we're known for here. You're going to be speaking on selling, which is such a pain point. Gosh, they feel so uncomfortable with sales and selling. And I love how you always teach how it's really serving, not selling.

Jasmine Starr is an expert on social media. Nona Jones, social media. Bianca, she's faith-based. And we're going to cover a lot more topics as well. Text Boutique to 33789. Tickets are on sale now. That is also going to be live streamed. So 119 in the room, 89 as a live stream.

And ladies, you need to get signed up for this quickly. It will sell out very fast. We sold it out even during COVID last fall. So text Boutique to 33789. And you can text Summit, if you're interested in the Summit, to 44222. Either one of those will get you going or both of them will get you going. This is the Ramsey Show. In an uncertain world, being a good steward of your money is more important than ever.

While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org. Christy Wright Ramsey Personality is my co-host today as we answer your questions about life and about money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Alan is with us in Lexington. Hey, guys, the phones aren't working.

Alan's with us in Lexington, Kentucky. Are you with me, Alan? Hey, there you go. Alan, are you with me? Yes, sir. Oh, good. I got it. Okay.

How can we help? All right. Dave, are you with me? Yes, sir. Oh, good. I got it. Okay. How can we help? All right. Dave, I've got a question for you. I'm 53. My wife's going to be 52 next month. Our son's going to be 12 in August. Our household income this year is going to be around $75,000 gross. I have a beneficiary IRA left from my mother in 2009.

When she passed, it's got about $338,000 in it. We have a home that's valued by our county PBA at $340,000. Wife and I are debt-free. And I was wanting to ask you about investing this money that's in this beneficiary IRA. We've got it invested the way currently that you teach, but because you can't contribute to it and you have to take an RMD from it every year, if it should be invested any other way other than what you

teach because of those stipulations. No, the contribution doesn't matter. The RMD is just aggravating and they're even worse now. If you'd gotten it in 2020 or beyond um you would have to drain it all in 10 years uh but you're running you're running on a very slim rmd uh required minimum distribution for you folks out there doesn't know what he's talking about but the

uh um yeah i i would just minimize it because every dollar you pull out of there you're going to have to turn it into 70 cents because the government's going to take their cut off the top. And so I just let that government tax money sit there and earn you money until you don't have to. Now your house is paid for, right? Right. Okay. Everything. 100%

debt free, right? Yes, sir. Yeah. Then if I owned an inherited IRAa that way um yeah thank you uh if i owned an inherited ira uh i would take them required minimum and not take it any sooner than possible because if you pull it you know you're turning if you pull a thousand dollars out you took a thousand dollars turned it $1,000 out, you took $1,000, turned it into $700 after taxes. Yeah.

And you could have used that whole, that other $300 that's government money to grow money with. Explain the RMD. Explain the required minimum distribution. How does that work? Well, it used to be at $70,500. Now it's at $72,000 that you're required to begin distributing your IRA because they want, a traditional IRA, because they want their tax money. Okay. They want to get their tax money.

On an inherited IRA, and the required minimum distribution runs out based on death. Okay. Based on an estimated age of death. So you're going to take a little bit to where by the time you would have died, you would have gotten it all out, and they would have gotten their tax money. That was the concept behind it. And so now at 53, well, nine years ago or whatever, he inherited his mom's IRA. You don't, you know, you have to begin to take it out as if it was at 53.

Oh, okay. And so it's a small little amount, progressively larger as you get older, that is the required minimum distribution. But the concept is the irs wants their money yeah and uh but we want to keep it away from them as long as we can yeah i got you that's we're going to push and leave everything in there yeah as long as you can in a traditional now if it's a roth it changes the whole equation obviously uh and if you again under the new rules if you inherited it in 2020 or later uh you're going to have to drain it. It's called the drain in 10 rule.

It's what it's nicknamed, but you have to. It's one tenth, a 10 percent a year for 10 years. And regardless if you're 22 or you're 42, you have to begin to take it out all the way down through there like that. So Victoria on Facebook says, I recently became a certified nutrition counselor and am working on my business plan and website. What's the best way to launch my business, Christy? You know, the thing that even when you say the word launch, like launch is exciting. You can do build up. You can do a big announcement.

But if you are a nutrition counselor, I say just get scrappy and start telling people. Email your family and friends. You know, one of the things that people underestimate, Dave, is just the simple steps of faith. So you can start with your contact list. You may not have a big email list. You can email everyone in your contact list and say, hey, guys, I just want to let you know I'm doing this new thing. Here's my heart behind it. Here's my why.

If this would benefit you or if you know of anyone, I would love your business. Here's how to contact me. And you just start with who you know. Start with your personal Facebook page until you get your business page up and going. You can get fancy later, but I think just those initial taking some step of action, it's going to build confidence in you and get money in the door faster. That's going to fuel that growth versus waiting until your website's perfect, waiting until you have a huge email list to launch to, you can do that. But man, I think you can make money faster if you just get going.

Yeah, get organic about it and just stick your foot out the door and go. And here's the other thing that's going to happen. What you think is going to be the thing, it'll almost never be the thing. Yes. And so you're going to adjust when you get it. When you put your ideas out in the wild and actually are out there, you know, with the animals doing your thing, you know, then you start to find out that, oh, this doesn't work the way I thought it did. Yeah.

And when Financial Peace University started, you know, I was in a room with an overhead projector and a bad suit, but it was called Life After Debt, and it was a class designed for bankruptcy to help people avoid bankruptcy so i went through the types of bankruptcy in one lesson i went through foreclosures and how to avoid them in another lesson so it was for people right on the edge or completely devastated and broke like i had been right uh but as the weird thing was we kept having none of those people show up to the class everybody that came to the class was not broke they just didn't have any money because it was all going back out the door but they weren't on the edge of bankruptcy or foreclosure right and they just wanted to learn how to handle money

they want to learn how to budget they want to learn how to invest they want to learn how to save for emergencies they want to learn how to get their kids college fund going and that kind of stuff and so after about six months i went i gotta I got to change this. Right. And I wouldn't have ever known that I had to take out the foreclosure lesson and take out the bankruptcy lesson, which is now in our counselor training. We use the same material to teach the counselors how to do it, the coaches how to do it, our financial coach training. But I wouldn't have ever known that had I not just taken that leap of faith and gotten started. That's right. And I love how you always say business is a conversation with the marketplace. Well, conversations happen two ways.

And I think sometimes we think, well, I've got to get it all right, get it all perfect, put it out there, and then the conversation's over. No, a conversation is back and forth. I use the iPhone example. iPhone, we're on 10, 11, 12, whatever it is now. They started with the iPhone 1. They put it out there. And the market says, hey, we like this, but a little more of this. Can you make the camera better?

Can you make it slimmer? And then you iterate and improve. I'll guarantee you when they watch that, they had no idea that the iPhone was going to be the camera of choice for Americans. Yes. No. That the camera was going to be the deal. Right.

And the market told them that in that conversation. But then to your point, you go back and iterate and improve and change and take out lessons and add the camera or whatever, and then you put it back out there. You get better and better. But it only happens through the conversation. And a conversation doesn't happen until you put something out there. So I say, yeah, start with what you have. Your friends, your family.

If you're in a service-based business, like you're saying, Victoria, as a nutrition counselor, then your sweet spot is referrals and word of mouth and people that you already know you like you and trust you. So I think start there. But I love that reminder that in order to have a conversation, you have to start talking and be willing to listen to the feedback. That's where your best ideas are going to come from. Well, you know, honestly, when you hear me talk about that, sometimes it's around here in a meeting and I'm saying we're having a conversation in the marketplace. The marketplace says you suck, you know and so on the other side of that we blew something up and we screwed it up and i'm like guys you know your customers all just yelled at you because the sales turned down on this they just yelled at you that this the price point is wrong that this concept is bad that this product is poorly designed even though in our best minds

in some back conference room or something and we'd had it all figured out how this was all perfect until we put it out there with the animals. And then the animals went, nope. No. Nope. You missed the mark. Nope. Nope.

And you got to be, you're going to mess up. A prototype never makes it to market ever without adjustments. Yes. And so you put the prototype in the hands of the actual user and see what they do with it. Yeah. And, you know, it takes twice as long, costs twice as much, and you're not the exception. These are the three rules of business. So get out there and do stuff.

Get out there and do stuff. And when in doubt, leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home. But do it in such a way that when it fails or portions of it fail, it doesn't break you. Right. But go ahead and start. Yeah. Go ahead and start. Yeah. Go ahead and start and be emotionally prepared for this conversation with the marketplace. That's beautiful stuff.

Good stuff, Christy. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. christy rye ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage matthew and heidi are with us hey guys, guys. How are you? Hey, Dave. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We are from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Oh, very cool. Good to have you. And how much debt have you paid off? We paid off $34,000 in 18 months.

Way to go. Great job. Nice. And your range of income during that time? We started at around $88,000, and now we're at about $120,000. Cool. What do you all do for a living? I work for a large medical device company in marketing.

Mm-hmm. And I'm a hairstylist. Cool. What kind of debt was your $34,000? It was student loans and car. Oh, wow. All right. Pretty simple.

How long have you two been married? A year and a half. Oh, so you get married and start this journey. Boom. We're getting out of debt well uh for the car she actually told me before it was 11 000 on the car and she told me before we got married i had to pay off the car before the wedding day so i did that behind i like it wow okay so wait a minute you did all this before you got married or after you got married you've been married 18 months you said you did this in 18 months. Yeah, so the car was on me.

I did that for the time being right before we got married. The student loans were once we got married, when we combined the income, we attacked my debt. Got it. Okay, very cool. Okay, so Heidi, I mean, you threw down. You're not messing around. Nope, that was a nice stipulation. I'm like, get that paid for. No car debt, no marriage. Nope, I mean, you threw down. You're not messing around. Nope, that was my stipulation.

I'm like, get that paid for. No car debt, no marriage. Nope. I love it. Wow, you're hardcore. What made you do that? It was money borrowed from his parents, and I just didn't want to have that going into our marriage and that relationship with in-laws.

I don't want anything to start off on the wrong foot, and he hadn't been paying on it. I just needed to go. Heidi, that's awesome. It's also weird. How did you learn about money? How did you become anti-debt? That's awesome and not normal at all. You're so right and so practical, but there's nothing romantic about this. We're just confused. We don't know what to do with you. I love it. Yeah, my parents actually taught FPU for quite a long time, so they taught that to me growing up forever.

They always had me sit down and do a budget as soon as I got a job, so I always knew that was not something that I wanted to have. So you're a financial peace baby then. Oh, yeah. Definitely. That explains it now. This makes a lot of sense now dating the parents are dating the daughter of coordinators oh yeah this is a different experience yeah cut out for you matthew that's uh yeah that's wow very cool very cool yeah he hadn't been paying on it this just had to go yeah it just had to go that's so great

i love it i love it so this how long into your dating relationship before you all started talking about money issues? Oh, that's a good question. I would say pretty soon. As soon as we started dating, we were open about it. At the time, I was still in high school. He was in college. So we knew whatever we wanted to do, we wanted to be able to pay off as soon as possible. So we were always very open about it.

Okay. All right. But, Matthew, you got the idea pretty quick that this was a subject that was going to be important to this woman. 100%. She looks up to you a lot, and her parents taught your class. So she's the accounting, buy-the-books person. I'm the marketing, go with the flow, love talking to people. And so that was the hardest thing for me was to stick

to the numbers look and excel and look at the numbers and do that every month yeah well you're like me you think you can out earn your stupidity yeah i tried to do that for years yeah marketing guys we're all that way i mean i love it it's great money you can go get more money right yeah you just get some more money you just need to get some more money that's all we need to do yeah way to go you guys what a great way to start your dating relationship and then your marriage as well. What was that like for your first year and a half of marriage to work as a team to attack this debt together? It was really helpful. Every single, right when the month ended, that usually it was that Sunday we went through the books and just sitting down there after church looking through everything and adding it up. And over time, through our side hustles,

from delivering food through Uber Eats, her nannying, we just started seeing the numbers go from two to three to just growing every single month that we could just continue to throw at the debt. Wow, very cool. Brings you together as a team. You know, anytime, but especially early in marriage when you're trying to merge your lives,

you've got different values, beliefs, like what a cool thing to attack together. Dumb question, but you ever go back into debt? No. Not a chance. Not a chance. Way to go, you guys. Very cool. Okay, now, since you grew up with this, in the case of Heidi and Matthew, you know, you've proven now in 18 months that as a brand new married couple, you can knock this debt out. Tell people what the secret to getting out of debt is. I would say the main thing is don't make excuses for not being able to make more money. We picked up side hustles that we didn't think were going to be super fun, but we found something that we could make more money.

And just sticking to it and just grinding. Yeah. Yeah. that we can make more money and just sticking to it and just grinding. Yeah. And I would say just working your butt off. I work, you know, normal 40 hours a week salary. Working from home during COVID was almost a blessing to be able to do Uber Eats, the food deliveries, till 10, 11 o'clock. You got out of the house. I know.

Yeah. It was the best part. And just being able to do that and grind and tell your friends nope can't hang out tonight i'm delivering food and it was always a good conversation starter but it just showed the dedication and everyone could start start to see the example that we were setting and working with one of my friends i was actually able to help him push him to help pay off his car debt all All right. That's awesome. It gets perpetuated here. Yeah, it's a ripple effect.

Very cool. Yeah, hustle, grind, hard work. Yeah, there's no substitute for that. So you did several different things. What was your best paying side hustle? Uber Eats. Definitely. Oh, yeah.

Every single week. How much did you make and how much did you work? So we started in a month. In a month. How many hours a week? How many would you make and how much did you work? So we started in a month. In a month, how many hours a week? How many would you make? Weeks, honestly, it would probably be almost two to three hours a night most times, five hours on a weekend.

So 20 hours a week? Yep, and six months we made 22K. Okay. All right. Wow. Wow. Very, very good. It's like $3,000 a month.

It was very helpful. Yeah, working 20 hours a week. Yeah, that's pretty strong. That's awesome. That's more than some people make at their job. Yeah. I mean, dad gum. Good. Way to go, you guys.

You're awesome, man. This is so cool. So I'm sure mom and dad are cheering you along when this is happening, right? Yeah. Anybody tell you you were crazy? Y'all are young. Are your friends like you, were they paying off their debt

or were y'all super weird? Maybe not as extreme. They gave us a little grief, but they were always encouraging too. And everyone with the 0% student loans right now, everyone's just letting them sit, not touching them. We're like, let's just go after it,

get them out of the picture so we can save for our house and just be debt-free for the mortgage. Yeah. Wow. Good for you. You guys are so fun. Hard work, pay off my debt, start my life off right.

What a concept. There's hope, America. There are people like them out there. There's hope. How old are you guys? I am 25. I'm 23. That's amazing.

I love it. I love it. And some of you 63-year-olds need to listen to that 23- That's amazing. I love it. I love it. And some of you 63-year-olds need to listen to that 23-year-old. Oh, my God. This is awesome. Very well done. Well, we got a copy of Legacy Journey for you because there's no doubt you are going to leave a legacy. Your mom and dad already have Heidi, and you guys are setting up your own now.

It's very, very powerful. And another copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away to one of your friends. Get them moving. That's good stuff. You can pay it forward a little bit. Well done. All right. Heidi and Matthew.

Wow. From Grand Rapids, Michigan. What heroes. $34,000 paid off in 18 months. Making $88,000 to $120,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. 3, 2,

1. We're debt-free! Ha ha ha ha! I love it! Woo hoo hoo! Wow! Now Grand Rapids, Michigan might have I mean that community

I love Grand Rapids. We've been going up there and doing events for years. Yeah, we've done a ton there. Hard working. Yes. They believe in hard work. Yes. I've just never met a lazy person in Grand Rapids.

There may be one or two up there, but I've never met them. There's just something about the whole Dutch Reform movement, the whole background of that city, and the way people think there. Hard work is the answer to everything. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Yes, you can do this. No, you are not a victim. No, you are not entitled. You need to be Matthew and Heidi. You can do this. I love it. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Jared is with us in Sacramento. Hi, Jared. Welcome to the Ramsey show. Hi, Dave. Hi, Christy. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So basically, I was wondering if I get a little bit more info. I've completed step one before I have my six month emergency fund. I've been starting to invest around 15%, and I have no debt. But I also don't have a house, and I've already completed the college that I'm looking to complete. So I'm kind of looking for a next step here, if that makes any sense, because I don't necessarily think I'm going to be buying a house anytime soon.

I would pile up cash for that purpose beyond the 15%. Okay. 15% of your income into retirement, and then we're heading on to baby step six, which is pay off your house. And in your case, you're not ready to buy yet, so you're just piling up cash. How old are you? I'm 21. Good. Okay, Jared.

First of all, great job. Yeah. That's amazing. What's your degree in? Thank you. So I have an AA in communications, and I'm not necessarily looking to get my bachelor's quite yet, but I just got that finished up about a month ago.

Cool. So what are you doing, and what do you make? So I make $50,000 after tax right now, and I live off of about $1,200. So roughly I'm putting about $2,800 into savings every month. So that's exceedingly 15%. So right now I have $10,000 for an emergency fund, $20,000 liquid and $5,000 in stock. So I've kind of just been working on growing the money, but I didn't really know what to do.

Phenomenal. Well, what I would be doing is putting 15% into retirement plans plans do you have a 401k at work is that what you're using i don't uh my work doesn't have a 401k i'm just uh okay are you using a roth ira i am yeah i have done my uh for the year okay all right so you're maxing that out and then beyond that what you're saving is for a future house purchase. If you think it's going to be five years, three to five years, then you could use an index fund, just an S&P 500, no commission, no load fund, just to throw some money in.

It'll grow at whatever the market does. Since you're playing some stocks and stuff, that might be a better route than playing those stocks. And it might be a better route than just a simple savings account. But if you're going to buy fairly soon, three years or less, then I really wouldn't do that. I just pile it into a savings account. But it sounds like you're just kind of, you know, you're just a guy who lives frugally. Yeah. And doing awesome, especially for that young. The other thing, Jared, about a house purchase that is so great, if you start early, then it's less stressful and you could put more down. So you're just in a better financial position whenever you do decide to buy a house.

You've got more options. You've got more that you're putting into it. So starting now is not a bad thing. Yeah, I mean, if you do $30,000 a year for three years, you're going to be bumping up to $100,000. And if you did it for six years, you could probably pay cash for something. Yeah. And it just depends on what you want to do here. That's not a bad play at all.

Great job. Yeah. Great job. Lori is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Lori. How are you? I'm good. Thank you, Dave.

Good. How can I help? Okay. I'm 36, single mother of three, no village, completely on my own. In the past nine months, I've paid off $17,000, a little over, in debt using taxes and stimulus, you know. I relocated here from Alabama just to get out of the situation that I was in. And I'm kind of stuck now, so I'm kind of needing guidance on where to go. What do you mean you're stuck?

I have a house, but I have a mortgage. So in Alabama, I have a house. I have had it since I was 19. I purchased it when I was 23 and it has a leaky roof. The roof is only seven years old. It's due to installation error. I've had three contractors come out and say the same thing so i'm kind of like you know here i live paycheck to paycheck just like i did there

um what's the house what's the house worth about 30 i'm gonna say about 80 it's actually about to be a prey okay so here's the thing i'm trying to get it refinanced to get that house that leak fixed to get the roof done no just sell it that's my question well i don't want to sell i knew you were going to say that my child doesn't want to sell it's also my safety net if something happens here i mean i am here it's not a safety net it's got a leaking roof and it's in alabama yeah well i don't plan on staying in north carolina forever i guess i'm just keeping it because you when you go back you can buy something safe yeah it's not it's not you know that's an

illusion honey it's not a safety net it's a problem it's a headache yeah even if you go back to alabama who knows what you're going to do what's it what do you owe on it oh 49 okay well let me tell you what a safety net is. $30,000 cash in the bank and no hassles. And then in three years, five years, 10 years, 12 years, you want to go back to Alabama, go back to Alabama and do something. Then you're not going to want to go back to that house anyway, necessarily. You're going to have a different plan at that time.

Okay. I think you're holding on to something. I am. There's something in your head that you're holding on to something holding on there's something in your head that you're holding you connect that this was the first success you had after a bunch of failures buying this house was like a triumph it's all i've ever known yeah i mean but it was your it was your first big win right yeah and turning loose though it feels like you're like you're not going to be winning anymore because it was your first big win but my point is it was your first not your last and you know whether you own a home somewhere in the past is an indicator of winning but now it's not now it's

a problem it's causing you headaches you know and you do whatever you want to do kiddo but you call me and you're gonna get what i you know you're gonna get my opinion when you call here that's why we call it the ramsey show so um if if you're my little sister and you are i i would tell you it's a stupid house get rid of it and you know you don't need it it represents something emotionally that it'd be good for you to figure out how that is because you can hear it in her voice yeah and yeah even just the language of like i'm kind of stuck or here's the problems i got rid of this but i think that if you ask yourself the most basic question the the benefit and the cost what

are you getting from that house right now nothing but headaches yeah it's not doing anything for you other than this attachment you have to the past. But you could have $30,000 in your bank account, which would give you an actual cushion with options. And then in the future, you decide what you want to do then, wherever you want to be, Alabama or anywhere. And you do that at that time. Lori, the irony is your safety net leaks. You are so ready for that. I can see it.

You had a twinkle in your eye you were getting excited about that one oh your safety net leaks yeah that's a problem right there so and you know you left alabama you you told us but you didn't tell us there was crap going on there yeah yeah i had to get away from there i think she'll feel free if she sells it i think she doesn't imagine that but i think she will feel free after the fact. She has the cash in the bank, and then we're going to close the door on that headache and that season of life in a very positive way. There's a reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. You need to look forward more than you look backward.

And this is going to be good for you. You have placed emotional value of some kind on this house that it doesn't deserve, that it's not worthy of. Your secret sauce, Lori, is not this house. It's you. Put the money in your pocket and sell the stupid Alabama house. It's a stupid house and the roof leaks. Get rid of it. That's what I would do.

You can do whatever you want to do and we'll still be friends. that's what i would tell you to do so and i just did you know it is so i mean you you were raised by single mom single moms are warrior princesses man yes i mean they fight scratch claw and to finally get that accomplishment i got to buy a house. That's what I've kind of felt like that was. That's right. And I think it represents, too, this source of stability of like, I own this and I don't own something here. So that's why even the word safety nets, like it feels like that feels more stable because I own it. But it's a source of problems. You know what I mean?

Like this is a new season and it's time to reevaluate what's right for us right now. That may have been right then. But what it is now is a new season, and it's time to reevaluate what's right for us right now. That may have been right then, but what it is now is a headache. I tell people all the time, when things change, things need to change. So things changed. It's time to change. That was deep. Thank you. Stitch that on a pillow.

Stitch that and put it in a frame in the kitchen. When things change, things need to change. I mean, it's true. This is why we get the big bucks. I love it. Christy Wright, my co-host this day here on The Ramsey Show. James Childs is our producer. Kelly Daniels, our associate producer and phone screener.

I am Dave Ramsey, your host. And we will be back. Hey guys, this is James, senior producer for The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to theramseyshow.com.