The Ramsey Show - App - What Should I Do With an Upcoming Settlement? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money, your work, your relationships. We're talking life. It all plays together. I am Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague john deloney and we are taking you through this hour of the ramsey show 888-825-5225 is the phone number it's a free call 888-825-5225 and john we've got a full lobby here at ramsey solutions some

fantastic people out there we got some debt-free screams coming up. We've got a teacher interview coming up. We've got people calling to get clarity coming up. And it's always fun to be with you, my friend. Thanks, man. You too. Looking forward to it, and it's good to see everyone out there. Yeah, yeah.

Great, great group. By the way, great reminder, we are open. If you want to come to Nashville and the area and come a little south here in Franklin, check us out, RamseySolutions.com. Let us know you're coming. We've got free baked goods, coffee. You've got your iced coffees. You've got your, I don't know.

Do they have any juice over there? Yes. They got the juice? Yes, they got it. I got the juice. Do you? But that's because I'm passionate about what I do. That's what we say on the Ken Coleman Show.

When you're living on purpose and working on purpose, you got the juice. It's not just a J-O-B, John. In the health and wellness industry, the juice is steroids. So it's cool, man. Well, I think anybody that's watching on YouTube right now can take a quick gander at me and quickly surmise that I'm not on that kind of juice. Disagree. I mean, I don't think I'm going to shock anybody with that statement. If you hang on until hour three today, good folks,

Ken and I are going to do some push-ups. That's right. You know, this desk is big enough for me to get on that end, and I'm short, and I don't think hit you. If we go head-to-head during the commercial break, maybe we'll get that. Kelly's not sure. The desk is long enough, but my self-esteem is not quite that long.

Yeah, I couldn't do it. I could do that. Could you? Yeah, I have no problem knocking out some push-ups. All right. But we're not going to do that. We'll save that for the next segment. All right, 888-825-5225.

We're going to have a blast today. You know why? Because we're going to be diving in with you, whether it's talking about your relationships, toxicity at work, am I doing what I love, how do I make more money, what do I do with my budget, how do I get out of debt. This is all going somewhere that really, really matters, and that's why this is going to be fun.

Let's go to Tallahassee, Florida to start it off. Chris joins us there. Chris, you're on the Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. How's it going? Appreciate you having me. We're having a blast. What's up?

Hey, quick question for you guys. How's it going? Appreciate you having me. We're having a blast. What's up? Hey, quick question for you guys. So I'm going through baby steps. We're on the latter end of that. So I've got a structured settlement payment coming up this February. And I've got $50,000 coming in and looking to see if I need to just max out the Roth IRA that year and then put the rest in. I've got a son. Put into his 529, kind of max that out, and then put the rest into, I got a son, put into his 529,

kind of max that out, and then put the rest towards the house? Or how would you guys kind of split that up? Sounds like you're following the baby steps. Is that true? Yep, doing well. What baby step are you on? This is going into four and five, kind of a hybrid there. So we've got about, with the employer match, got about 12% going into the retirement. What's the settlement from?

So I had a motorcycle accident about 10 years ago now. So we got a payment this February, and then I got a couple others in five-year batches until I'm 40. Okay. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know the baby steps, and so I think your question is spot on, but that's what you do. You take this settlement, and you plug it into the baby steps.

Okay. Yeah. Would you suggest going more towards the house early on and kind of just the 529 is rolling and will be primed up and paid up by the time I send those to college? Would you suggest putting more towards the house? How much?

Well, let's play the numbers out. Do you mind telling us how much the settlement is? $50,000. $50,000 coming on this wave, and I've got $100,000 on the latter two. Okay, so $150,000 total. Correct. No, $250,000. Oh, okay.

All right, so $250,000. So how much would you need to put into the $529? I understand it's rolling, but what's the difference right now? How much of that would get him to that number that you want for the college fund? So it's probably going to be about $45. We'll just pay it up and kind of get that flat baseline. And then obviously, the quicker you get it paid up, it can accrue tax-free interest.

Yeah. How much do you owe on your house? $128 on it right now. Yeah. I would finish out the college fund because that's going to accrue. Now you've knocked that step out completely, and so the money you were putting into that, now we start putting that towards the house,

and then the rest of the money. So it's the same idea as the debt-free snowball here. And so you just take that money, finish out the college fund step that's there, now it's fully funded and it's going, and now we take those funds and we knock out as much of the house as you can. With the understanding that no matter what your employment status is, in five years you're going to get a $100,000 check. Correct. And the idea with all these steps is obviously

to avoid having any type of fallback or anything like that. You really are running as fast as you can towards paying your house off knowing that regardless of where you are in five years, that's going to be what pays your house off. I would front load those. Front load your

accounts on the front end here because you've got a five year. You're going to be completely debt-free, completely paid up on your 529. You're going to be where you need to be in five years regardless. Yeah. So, man, yeah, the earlier you can get that stuff accruing interest. Yeah, so just knock it. The answer is knock out four and five. Yeah.

So knock them out and follow them, and you're going to be fine. You've got a backup plan. I mean, just think about that. Just the money he's going to put into his house. If you're feeling a hard time, You've got a backup plan. I mean, just think about that. Just the money he's going to put into his house. If you're feeling a hard time, you sell the house. There's so much equity in it. And then you're debt-free on six anyway. So, yeah, just follow it out.

Don't overthink it. And I think to speak to that, what's the psychology there of a guy who, again, he's just like me. He's just like everybody else. He's walking this stuff out. He's in great financial shape. This settlement is only going to make it better, but yet there's still fear. Should I spend this money? We struggle so much with just how little we control in the world and how simple life is when we just play it out.

If we can just put our head in the mind of the tortoise and just take little steps one after the other. And so, yeah, it's $50,000. Come on, I'll do it. Just follow the plan, man. And it feels like we're not doing enough. It feels like, well, I've got to be doing more. Just keep following that plan. And Ken, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to short circuit it.

Hey, I'll just do double the workouts today, and that will get me double the InShape tomorrow. It just makes me so sore you can't move, right? Yeah. So I'm not the licensed psychologist. I don't double the in shape tomorrow. It just makes me so sore you can't move, right? Yeah. So I'm not the licensed psychologist. I don't have the training you do. But when I'm talking to people like this on the Ken Coleman Show and we get a question like this, I'm going to go, okay, let's just lay this out.

What's the fear? Name the thing you're afraid of. Well, if I lose my job, I think that's important. Would you agree with that? Always. So it's really, you know, I'm not going to make Chris do that because Chris is in great shape. But it's almost, you know, I'm not going to make Chris do that because Chris is in great shape. But it's almost like, Chris, and if anybody's like Chris, what are you really scared of?

Let's name that. The way I say it is write it down. I love that. And then demand evidence from it. Yeah. Are you seriously the worst mom in the world? Oh, we said this. Yeah.

Are you? Put it on the witness stand. Yep. You're not. Right? Are you really too overweight for someone to love you? No. You're not.

I love that. Are you seriously going to be broken five years by falling baby steps? Yeah. No, you're not. Yeah. Most of the time, if you demand evidence from your fears, you realize you've been lying to yourself. Why?

Right? And then accept the truth and focus on the truth. Hey, I got this. We're going to do this. Take a deep breath and keep on moving. Let me tell you what we're going to do. We're going to keep on broadcasting life-changing radio. Don't move.

This is The Ramsey Show. Have you ever wondered how to save more money or pay off debt faster? What about the right way to invest? Listen, I've been there there asking the same questions with no idea where to turn for answers. But here's the good news. You don't have to keep searching for answers. Ramsey Plus will guide you every step of the way so you always know what to do with money next. Ramsey Plus is our step-by-step plan that shows you how to get consistent small wins with money and even some big ones so you can see exactly how you're making progress. Then we can help you turn all those wins into better habits that last.

You can be confident you're doing the right thing with money. And that means no more payments, cash in the bank for emergencies and a plan for your future get started today with a free trial of ramsey plus at ramseysolutions.com that's ramseysolutions.com welcome back america you've joined the conversation here on the ramsey show i'm ken coleman joined Welcome back, America. You have joined the conversation here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman joined by my colleague, John Deloney. We're taking your questions about your life, your work, your relationships, and we are here for you.

I just feel like somebody needs to call today. You're going, I've thought about it before. I think today's the day. Well, let's go. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Well, it's April, John, and you know around here that's a big, big month for Ramsey Solutions because it's National Financial Literacy Month.

And with all of our involvement with Ramsey Ed, Ramsey Education Solutions in America's schools, we do our teacher appreciation giveaway. It's sponsored by Mint Mobile, the affordable premium wireless provider. And because of the dedicated teachers across the country, our Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum is teaching students how to save, avoid debt, and pay cash for things like cars and college. It's changing family trees, helping kids not maybe make the mistakes that their parents and grandparents made. And we love these testimonies.

So teachers, anybody listening, if you are a teacher, we want you to enter today for a chance to win some awesome prizes like $5,000 in cash. You can use that however you like. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash teacher. That's ramseysolutions.com slash teacher. And you've got to enter by April the 30th. If you're not a teacher, share this with a teacher in your life. One of the things we love to do here on the Ramsey Show is highlight the unbelievable impact that the teachers who engage with us and teach foundations and personal finance in their school and the impact they make.

We are going to go to Amanda, who joins us on the line. She is at Temple High School in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Amanda, you're on the Ramsey Show. Hi, guys. Thanks for talking with me today. What's up? You bet. Hey, whereabouts in the Atlanta area is Temple High School?

Well, we're not really in Atlanta. It's Temple, Georgia, but we're really close. We're about, if you go I-20 West, we're about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. I got you. All right. Very good.

And this is a public school. I'm looking here with 627 kids enrolled, and you've been a teacher for how many years? This is my 14th year. Wow. And how long have you been teaching foundations in personal finance? Eight. Wow. And how long have you been teaching foundations in personal finance? Eight. Wow. So how did you come across Dave Ramsey or our curriculum?

Yeah, so I'm kind of a lifer. I'm kind of a fangirl for Dave. And John, it's good to talk to you because I had the pleasure of talking with you last week on your show. It hasn't aired yet, but I'm excited to hear that back. Yeah, it's great to talk to you. I first went through FPU as a college kid, and then my husband and I took it again. In fact, we missed our very first week of class on our honeymoon.

So the second we got married, we went through it again. And I've led nine FPU classes, I think, now through the church, and it's just so exciting to bring this content to the high school kids. So fun. So when you first brought it to the school, what was that like getting it started? Take us to the early days, eight years ago, of beginning this process of teaching this. Yeah, well, I kind of get to start over again. This is my first year at Temple, so I brought it with me when I came over and it's been so exciting to

share this with these kids because we had financial literacy here, but it wasn't the Ramsey content. And just the content just makes it so relatable and easy to grasp ideas that are so counter-cultural to what they're being told. You know, I've had tons of parents react in lots of different ways. Some are excited and they're emailing me You know, I've had tons of parents react in lots of different ways. Some are excited and they're emailing me saying, hey, send me your tax information stuff because I'm about to do my taxes and I want to make sure I'm doing it right. Or, you know, send me the chapter you taught on budgeting. Like, can I talk to you about that?

But then I've also had parents at a previous system that said, I don't know what you're teaching my kid, but I don't want them to be in your cult. I mean, it's kind of, you know, it's very different, you know, having to approach the kids with these ideas and knowing that they're so different than what they're hearing at home. Yeah, that's fantastic. So paint us a picture of the last year or two for the average teacher. There was a forced giggle if I've ever heard one. Utter chaos, to be honest. I have several friends that have left the industry, and I have several that, you know, myself included, where I feel like

I'm in my sweet spot even more now than I was before, you know, to use Ken's language. So it's weird. It's hard. It's challenging. We have, I teach business and financial. So, you know, there are things that COVID has affected positively for our young people as far as the way they approach the workforce, the doors that are now open with, you know, virtual working and working from home and this and that, that I kind of have a new curriculum to teach, you know, how to do business and finance in this new world. You know, when the banks are closed, well, how do you do online banking? You know, things like that. So it's challenging, but it's forced us to be creative. Sounds like you are a teacher who's been in the business.

I used to teach as well at a public high school. And, man, after one year, it's easy just to say, okay, I've already got that lesson done, and I'm going to coast. And it sounds like you are a teacher who's so invested in the changed outcomes in your students' lives that you are somebody who's constantly revising, constantly trying to find new things, constantly challenging yourself. And that's exhausting and frustrating and annoying, but it's the rich part of the gig too. Absolutely, for sure. I'm so glad. You make me happy that my kids are in the community in a public school

because there's teachers like you, millions of you, everywhere across the country doing extraordinary work. So I'm so grateful for you. You are joining our conversation with Amanda Wilson, who is a teacher at Temple High School in Temple, Georgia. And she teaches our Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum. And we are honoring her for Financial Literacy Month. to a story that pops up top of your heart about a kid or maybe multiple kids that got this stuff and did something really cool with it, or you saw the change really stick, and as a result, some great results?

Yeah, well, this is the first year I've been with this group of students. So the longevity stories, I don't really have a lot of those, but what I am starting to see because I'm still in the same community as the school I came from, is that now I've kind of started a side hustle ministry on, I mean, I'm not charging for it, but my previous financial babies would come back and they're like, okay, I just graduated nursing school and I got a $35,000 bonus. What do I do now? You know, they'll call me and say, Hey, can I get you coffee? Can we talk about my budget or can I, how do I do this? And so it's kind of started a little ministry counseling thing. Once a student, always a student. And so they know that there's always a safe place

for them to come back and ask questions and, and get advice and things like that. And that's what's so powerful is that I'm, I'm teaching this to adults. I'm living this in my family. We're on baby step six. In fact, yesterday, my husband and I paid cash for our Dave car, a new car. Yes. Tell us about it. What kind of car? Come on. We've got to brag a little bit.

You earned it. Well, it's modest. It's a 2017 Ford Explorer, but it's got all the bells and so many whistles that I'm so excited. And it's yours. It's not a bank's. And it's mine. We wrote a check and walked off the lot. It was so good. That's fantastic. Boy, it drives better, doesn't it, Amanda? Oh my gosh. I didn't know how bad

my own car was. I thought it was okay until I got in a new one. You know what? Here's the thing, though. It was okay. You made it work. That's what I want people to hear. You made it work. And it is okay. And yet now you're in a place where you earned it. Amanda, let me just say on behalf of John and our entire Ramsey Solutions team,

we're proud to be associated with men and women like you who are giving of yourself beyond the classroom. You are truly leaving a legacy. So thank you for joining us on the call. Thank you for what you do. Well, it's my pleasure, and thank you for joining us on the call. Thank you for what you do. Well, it's my pleasure. And thank you for all the great content. I look forward to seeing you guys at Summit virtually.

Hey, come on. All right. That's going to be a lot of fun. Well, John, I mean, that's what it's about. Yeah. Let's not forget that we did some study here at Ramsey Solutions. And the third largest group of net worth millionaires in the United States are teachers. And after having been a teacher, and my wife's been a teacher for years, they don't make

billionaire money, they make millionaire decisions. Great statement. Every single day. Great statement. Love that. All right. John Deloney, Ken Coleman here with you on the Ramsey Show. Don't move, because I'm looking out in the lobby and I see ourselves.

A great couple who's going to be doing a debt-free screen. Don't move. Coming right back. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, America. Thrilled to have you with us as we talk about your life, your work, money, relationships, and how to live to the fullest. Live like no one else so that you can give like no one else. Dr. John Deloney joins me. I'm Ken Coleman. We're Ramsey Personalities.

We both have our own shows, The Ken Coleman Show and The Dr. John Deloney Show, on the Ramsey Network. And we're taking you through this hour. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions World Headquarters are Jacob and Heather. Welcome. Hello, Ken. Hey, Dr. John. What's up?

Where are you guys from? St. Louis, Missouri. All right. All right. And you're here because you're debt-free. We're debt-free. That's fun. So let's learn how much you paid off. you're debt free. That's fun. So let's learn how much you paid off.

Tell us the number. We paid off $155,900. Wow. And how long did it take you to do that? Four years and one month. Four years and one month. So y'all ground it down, huh? Yes, we did.

I love the specificity always of these stories. When you go five years, it is just every month counts, right? That's exactly right. It is. And range of income? So we started around $100,000, and then we're at about $125,000 now. Oh, nice.

What did you do to bump it up? Job changes. And a lot of overtime. Yeah. A lot. What do you both do? I'm a nurse. And I'm a letter carrier for the post office nice

so you you you were racking some overtime as well for the usps yes i was okay how crazy was it during uh during the covid um parcel wise it was really crazy but other than that it wasn't other than all right good now what type of debt are we talking about? We paid off our mortgage. What? That was the only debt you had? That was the only debt we had. Wow. Okay, so what happened? So here we go.

Let's see. Four years, one month ago, you guys go on this journey. How did this come about? We got married, and what every married couple does is they go and buy a house. It was an impulse buy. It was the first thing I've ever impulse bought and I immediately felt terrible about it. It was a house? It was a house.

Wow, I impulse buy like Dorito tacos, not a home. That's really impressive. So we knew that we needed to get things together. How long have you been married? Four years. So you got married bought a house and then looked at his time went oh no yeah wow so were you familiar with dave

ramsey ramsey solutions i mean where did this guilt come from within moments of walking inside the home um so when i was little my aunt had a total money makeover book at her house but i don't they never really followed so i kind of knew the name, but other than that... He started listening right after we bought the house, actually, and he started talking to me about the principles, which made sense. I was always raised, if you don't have cash, you don't buy it. And so, I mean, to us, that made sense. And you were already there yourself.

You were like, I don't like this $155,000. Okay, yeah, interesting. So what was the decision like to actually get after this? So I know you made this decision, okay, we're going to do this. Then how did it begin to change things? What did you start doing? It was pretty slow to start because actually of me. I had just cash flowed my second degree and i was making

decent money for the first time in a while and i wanted to spend it i get that yeah so i i was a little slow to get on board but i thought i'd be a good wife and if you wanted to do this we could put a little bit of money each month and then then we bought a hot tub yeah well we bought a hot tub um and then but you paid cash but we paid cash for the hot tub. We bought a hot tub. But you paid cash for it. We paid cash for the hot tub. I don't want to totally beat yourself up over that. If you get a nursing degree, you get a hot tub. That's a new day.

That's baby step 4.3. Why not? Okay. All right. All right. So, I mean, from there, we had PMI. And once we paid off that PMI, I really got on board. And we actually ended up putting

my entire income towards that from that point forward. Wow, yeah, because I was going to say, this is a tremendous amount here. I mean, this is getting with it. I mean, was it rice and beans, beans and rice? Did you go that far? Pretty much. We actually like rice and beans. Yeah, and we canceled, we didn't have TV or

just, but you had a hot tub. We did. We sold everything that wasn't nailed down except for the hot i'm gonna tell you this john if i've got a hot tub i'm gonna be okay with no tv and rice and beans because i can at least eat my rice and beans in the hot in the hot tub and then y'all had to do weird married things like just talk to one another and go for walks and hikes and hang out in the hot tub i mean because weren't just going to sit there and scroll mindlessly through some streaming service, right? Right. So my guess is four years later, after putting in all that sweat equity and tear equity, your marriage is better too.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've definitely come a long way. So talk to other couples. What's the key, no matter what their story is, what's the key to getting on board together and sticking with it? I think you have to have a common goal.

And if you have a common goal and it's worth sacrificing for, you can do it. If you believe you can do it and you have that common goal. How old are you two? 30. 30. So now what? You owe nobody anything. And the mail's not going to stop coming and people are going to stop going to hospitals.

And so what's next? We'd like to start working towards self-employment eventually. Right now we're just going to start saving. Just save? This is what I want to hear, because this is what I do. I try to help people achieve their dreams, get promoted, get that dream job, and work like no one else. I want to know, what's the dream there? Working for yourself. Can you share that? You got at least a fuzzy version of that dream? Owning, I think, mainly real estate.

Well, now you're set up. That's stacking money. Okay, good. That's fantastic. Talk to us about your support system along the way. When a couple decides to do this and live really differently and take one person's entire income and put it towards debt, that's a little strange. Who is your support system? Really? Just each other. No one really knew we were on this journey. Really? What do you think about that, Doc?

I think these two are gangsters is what I think. It's the quiet ones ones it's the mail carrier that's walking around with the paid off house right or it's the nurse who smiles a little bit more because she's got a little less stress in her life that's incredible you two yeah incredible is right wow unbelievable parents are on board your friends just kind of laugh and make fun of you yeah they would pretty much just say, why would you want to do that? Yeah. Interesting.

So tell us about a hard, I mean, the last year has been rough on nurses. Really rough. Yeah. Everybody gets off a shift and they're all going to just what the closest margarita shop there is. And you say,

I'm going home. Exactly. To sit in my hot tub. And that was the goal. Have yet another burrito. What And you say, I'm going home. Exactly. To sit in my hot tub and have yet another burrito. What do you say? I mean, I always encourage people to do it. And I think people don't really understand the value, which is surprising to me. But I think it's worth it.

Yes. It absolutely is. Because you two are free. We're free. Yes. Four years in, you're free. Incredible. And now moving steadily towards dreaming and making those dreams a reality.

So good. So good. What a great story. All right. You guys ready? You've been warming up? I'm ready. You look ready.

Get the hands held. There we go. Look at that couple. Folks, it is Jacob and Heather from St. Louis, Missouri. They paid off $155,900 in four years and one month, making $100K to $125,000. Jacob and Heather, take it away. Let's hear your debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Yes, there it is. And they are. Look at that. Look at that young couple. That's the finish line. And that's what we love about the debt-free scream. It's the finish line, yet it's the starting line.

A whole new race. Right. A whole new race. And they can walk. They can run. They can just head off into the finish line, yet it's the starting line. It's a whole new race. Right. Whole new race. And they can walk, they can run, they can just head off into the woods. They can do it

however they want. They can hop off the trail, lay under a tree for a couple days. I don't want to blow by this because I have a tendency to do this. I see somebody

who makes an impulse purchase. Again, not everyone impulse buys a house. They did. To this debt-free screen, there's digital confetti falling behind them. Right.

All that. In between is four years of monthly grinding, annoyances, frustrations, squeezing the last little bit of lotion out of the tube because we don't have it in the budget to go get some more. And you're thinking, I make so much money. Why do I have to do this? But you keep going and keep going and keep going. So, so worth it.

Take a little step and a little step and a little step. In four years you're going to look up. You're going to be there. Do what you have to do, John, so that you can do what you want to do. And this applies to money as well. That's why the baby steps work. So great. What a great young couple. Alright, John and I are going to go out and high-five

them, congratulate them, and then we're coming right back. This is The Ramsey Show continues. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by Dr. John Deloney as we take your calls. We are Ramsey Personalities and a part of the Ramsey Network, Dr. John Deloney Show. Fabulous show. we are rams personalities and a part of the ramsey network dr john deloney show a fabulous show new episodes every monday wednesday and friday on youtube and you can get them anywhere you listen to podcasts and the ken coleman show syndicated on 70 plus stations around the country sirius xm

and on youtube monday through friday as well just search search the Ken Coleman Show on YouTube and wherever podcasts are available. And so, John, John, you focus on mental, emotional health. It's relationship health. I mean, just all across the board. Pretty much everything. Pretty much everything. And I'm focused on helping people

do what they were created to do. Simply put, we believe that you were created to work. Now, that sounds gross for some of you. When I say created to contribute, that starts to hit a nerve. Everybody wants to make a difference, John. And it turns out that some of the stuff you cover and some of the stuff I cover interconnects a good bit with toxicity in the workplace. So if you're in a situation going, I need my job, I'm walking the baby steps, but I don't know if I can hang on any longer. Give us a shout. Give us a shout. Oh, I'd love that.

And I want to ask you something, Ken. So I was reading something a few weeks ago, and this author, she's brilliant. She was talking about, and tell me if you see this on your show, what we used to as a society, we used to have our small little village. And the small little village gave us our central values. It gave us the cultural norms, what was cool, what's not cool. Here's how we talk. And then it shifted to,

on a larger scale, our religious communities said, here's our general set of values. Here's how we talk to one another, whatever. And now we're in this completely decentralized universe, and we are trying to get cultural and collective values from our workplace and so we

are all going to work and trying to find this sense of purpose and the sense of value in the sense of what should i be dressing and how do we all talk together and every business has a different culture in every place and so it's just decentralizing everything but it goes back to this idea and i hadn't thought of it in my head we are putting a lot into this idea of work we're getting a lot of value purpose meaning this isn't just about earning the check anymore making sure that we got food on the table this is about answering questions like who am i and what's my role here right yeah that's new and different it feels like no i don't think it is don't think't think so? No. Genesis chapter 2 makes

it pretty clear that we were created to work. That work is something that we do. And so I think that men and women throughout history have longed to make a difference in their world. And I think purpose comes down to two areas in our life, relationally and professionally.

You cover relationship. I cover the professional side of things. And what I mean by that is that your identity and your value as a human being has nothing to do with the size of your salary. Or the notoriety

attached to your work. But as it relates to significance and contributing to the world, it matters deeply. and so when you spend you know there's a reason why torture the the the evil nazis that the torture was to have prisoners move one pile of rocks from one side of the prison camp to the other just futility huh yeah that's that's that is not a physical torture there even though that's hard work of rocks from one side of the prison camp to the other. Just futility, huh? Yeah. That is not a physical torture there, even though that's hard work.

That was an emotional. Psychological. Psychological torture. There's no meaning in what I'm doing. And so if you spend your whole life, 35, 40 years doing a job that you don't have any passion for, you don't love the work itself, and the work itself doesn't create a result that you connect to, then that's the issue.

So in what she's saying, if she's saying, look, we're putting too much into our title. Not too much, just that don't undersell how important work is. Don't undersell how important cultural fit, don't undersell how important. We're putting't undersell how important cultural fit. Don't undersell how important. We're putting a lot in there.

Well, the reason is because we long to make a difference. And so the Ramsey Solutions worldview of work is that you were created to work. You don't work to live. The secular worldview of work, just the general worldview of work, is that I I just work to get a paycheck to be able to cover the basics. And if I'm fortunate enough to make more than that, and I can have some toys and make some additional memories, awesome. But it's not a utilitarian function. That's not the cause of work.

So is it, I never thought of this question, is it my responsibility to bring meaning to my job or vice versa? For instance, if someone is listening to this and they are the assistant director of the mail room and the large office complex where they work, they don't make a huge salary. But without them, this business does not operate. Is it their responsibility to find the meaning in what they're doing? Well, it's not a responsibility. It's a reality. Okay.

Any job, everybody that I'm looking at on our team, everybody in here, their job does matter. Well, yeah, we could just run our mouths all day. Nobody's going to. Exactly. We're nothing without them. The question is, does the job matter deeply to them? And so that's your responsibility. So you need to understand the reality is that a job does matter.

Somebody needs to do it if you're doing it. But it's okay that it's not your ultimate dream job. Right now it's where you are and you're working your way up. Maybe you're getting out of debt, whatever your situation. But ultimately what we're teaching is and what I believe is you need to be in a job that matters deeply to you. Not all the work matters, but does it matter deeply to you? That's why we talk about talent, passion, and mission coming together. So let's put it this way.

If a human being spends their whole work career just doing something they're good at, they'll be successful. They'll deliver results and get paid and probably get promoted. If they do something they're good at, that's talent, and something they love to do, just the work itself, there'll be some deep satisfaction. But if they do something they're good at, that's talent, and they do something they love, that's passion, and then that work that they're doing also creates results that fills their heart. They go, that matters really deeply to me. I like producing these results. There's a personal connection to these results.

That's mission. Now we're talking about significance. And a person, they begin to see the significance of their contribution to the world. It has nothing to do with success or satisfaction or even can you have a mission that is can go from job to job sure once you land there once you know your purpose of mission yeah that's what i teach you stay in your sweet spot the rest of your life yeah but you're still moving up yeah and and that and by the way that that kind of helps some folks the dream job's not just one thing by the way it's not just one career.

It's who you're going to be wherever you go. It's are you using your talent to perform work that you love, passion, to produce results that matter deeply to you, mission. So I could see a person go from, and I get this call all the time at the Ken Coleman Show. We could get somebody, a teacher that goes, hey, I want to move out of being an elementary teacher, and I want to go into corporate training. Let's just break that down. So if you're talented as a teacher,

what are the talents you got to have? Does that cross over to being a trainer? Yes. The work you love as a teacher, is that work also something that you love as a trainer? Yes, that's instruction. They love instruction. The research, the instructing, the guiding, if you will. And then what are the results that matter to you?

Well, if it's teaching and educating a child or just mentoring a child or giving a child a bump, yeah, but if you're doing that in the corporate world, same thing. So it's like a litmus test of, hey, as long as I'm doing this type of work, I know that I'm doing what I was created to do, and therefore... You can do that anywhere. Anywhere, and it's not about money. You'll make money, and you'll have enough money, which is why, again, teachers are the third largest group of net worth millionaires. Why?

Well, because they've gone to significance, and satisfaction and success have come along with it because they had altered their lifestyle. To fit their mission. To fit the mission. You just broke it all down i didn't i mean look at me learning no well you just interviewed me so but that's the deal there yeah so here's the deal let's talk about where you come into this we get calls when you come on my show and some of the calls we could take today folks if you feel like you're in a toxic workplace you're going i need my job to get out of the baby steps i need the shovel i need the big shovel I'll talk big shovel with you, but we could talk about that. What's that

look like? One of the things we fall into all the time, we get these calls. I'm doing something I love, but I can't stand the place I'm doing it. And we say it's doing the right thing in the wrong place. You can be in that sweet spot that we just had fun talking about and be in a toxic work environment, an abusive environment, coworkers, maybe a about and be in a toxic work environment an abusive environment co-workers maybe a leader who's just a toxic leader and you can hate going in every single day you want to talk about confusion yeah that's confusion absolutely and there's no need so let's help you get clear we'll take those calls take your money calls john ben fun hour our producer ben hill our associate producer kelly daniel thank you most of let's thank you, America, because you're why we do the show.

This is The Ramsey Show. 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.