The Ramsey Show - App - What Should I Do With Extra Money in My Budget? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

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Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm John Deloney, and joined with me here as a co-host is Ramsey personality, best-selling author, and host of The Table with Anthony O'Neill, Mr. Anthony O'Neill himself. We're taking your calls on life and money. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Let's go to Miguel in Las Vegas. Miguel, what's going on? Hey, John, Anthony. Thank you for taking my call. My question is about if I can afford to put in an emergency fund for my mother without asking my brother for help. He's not in the best money situation, and my mom has no insurance at all, so I have to take care of her, no income. And I can give you some numbers and see if I can do it without my daughter's help.

Okay. Before you get to that, tell me what's the situation with your mom. She has no insurance. Is she needing to move in with you? Is she struggling? Has she got health issues? She's with me. She's living with me.

Her status in this country is not quite legal yet. We've been battling it for a while and been taking care of her. And I don't know for how long this is going to be. She's 78. She's in good health condition. It's just that we tested positive for this COVID not too long ago. She lived with me. I'm sorry.

And that's when it hit me that I needed to have an emergency fund for her. Okay. Besides mine. That's wise, brother. Good for you. All right. So start going with the numbers here, and Anthony will help you her. Okay. Besides mine. That's wise, brother. Good for you. All right. So start, start going with the numbers here and Anthony will help you out. Okay. So our income, this is my wife and mine. It's about 135. I got a debt of about 60,000

on a rental property. My savings are about 185. And after putting my emergency fund together, I'll be left with $164,000. I could probably sell the rental property. It's about worth maybe $240,000. Put the money for the emergency fund, or I can pay it off. I don't know which way to go. But I also got two kids that are going to be going to college probably in the next four years. So I also got that on top. Yeah. So let me get this straight. You make $135,000 a year. You have $60,000 in a rental property and you have $185,000 in your savings, correct?

Correct. Yeah, so why will you not just pay off your rental property? I don't think you need any more money set aside for an emergency for your mom. And I want to say this in a respectful way. It sounds like what you're trying to do is just prepare. If something was to happen to your mother, which I think is wise, but if you have a hundred thousand dollars sitting here save his account that's more than enough to properly um you know

bury your mom if something was to happen um down the road but or let's just say something is going to the hospital um you you have a good nest egg uh to get your mama into the er if something was to happen even worse you You have enough money. So I wouldn't say set aside more money. I would just focus on clearing out that $60,000 in debt. And if you did that, that will put you right at about $125,000 if you paid off the rental property.

You still got a good nest egg. And then I would just go in ahead. How old are your kids? One is 16 and the other one is 14. Yeah. So what I'll do is I'll go ahead and just purchase my book off of Amazon and go to my website, anthonyneal.com and get the debt-free degree and start teaching your kids how they're going to go to school 100% debt-free. But I think you have more than a month, more than enough money in your nest egg for you,

your family, and your mother. I don't think you need any more money set aside for a nest egg for your mother. I think you need to pay off the rental property and go ahead and start stacking up some more money and get prepared for college. Does she have any, I guess with her immigration status, there is no Social Security and there's

no way to go out on exchange and get health insurance, is there? No. Definitely not. That's why I am fully responsible 100% for her. Any emergency bills, any hospital bills, any debt that is going to be towards her, it's mine. Yeah. I mean, six figures is more than enough for that, an emergency.

I would definitely say. Well, I mean, a hospital bill can be a million dollars, and at that point, it's a million dollars, right? Yeah, but, I mean, for him to save. You're not just going to have a million dollars in the checking account just in case something happens someday. Right. And so I think the thing is continue fighting the fight, you know,

on the legal side. And then six figures. I mean, there's pretty much nothing else that he could possibly do right now, right now. Yeah. And I think you're doing a great job, bro. I think right now focus on lowering your expenses, lowering your kids expenses. So that way, if something was to happen, you have you have more than enough money to go towards your mother if something was to happen. Okay, so keep the rental and just pay it off.

I mean, it's up to you. Do you like being a landlord? Yeah, if you like being a landlord, I would pay it off. You know, I always go back to what Dave says. If I had $240,000, would I go buy that house? Maybe not, but I look towards my kid's future. I have no problem whatsoever with

being a landlord. It's great and it's paying it off by itself, but I'll go ahead and pay it off. That's what I wanted to hear. I think you just paid off. If I'm in your shoes, again, this is not a Dave Ramsey opinion. It's not a John DeLonge's opinion. It's an Anthony Hill's opinion. I like what you just

said. I'm going to pay off the mortgage so I can pass that down to my kids to produce income for my kids down the road. And so that's how I personally think. I know Dave, for example, whatever rental properties, whatever properties he purchases, he doesn't sell them. He will not sell them. He's going to keep them in a family for him for his kids for his grandkids down the road uh but again if you are not happy being the landlord then yeah go get the money and and have that money sitting there uh but for me bro i'm i'm going to keep it and keep that and give it to my kids and let them decide if they want to sell it down the road i'm thinking generational wealth i'm thinking legacy um i'm thinking how do I help my kids produce income down the road. That's what I'm thinking, Miguel.

And I think this is a good opportunity for you to be in position to pass something down to your kids that is lucrative for them down the road. Tell me about your relationship with your brother. You mentioned you don't want to ask him for money. Well, he's not in the best position to be contributing. He's been struggling too and I think I'm going to push him to get to you guys a little more to your show and he's

not in a great position I have a good relation with him I just don't want to put that burden on him as well I think he won the lottery when he got Miguel as a brother because Miguel you are a guy that takes care of your family I think he won the lottery when he got Miguel as a brother.

Because, Miguel, you are a guy that takes care of your family. You're a guy that's got your financial house in order. You're a guy that's thinking about his kids. And you're a guy that's thinking about the heart and the potential shame out of your brother to the point that you even want to keep him out of that. I think he would benefit greatly from you sitting down with him and saying, Hey, listen, this is embarrassing for brothers to talk about. There's no shame here. There's no fighting here. I need to let you know that here's the decisions me and my family have made that have set us up in this way.

And now we're talking about do we sell our other house to help out mom or do we hang on to it? That's a different conversation than mom may have to go into a special living situation because we can't afford to keep her. And then you can give him the tools, send him our way. We'll get him the info that he needs. And now you're talking about changing the entire family system there, brother. That's awesome. Solid. This is The a smart move. I get questions all the time about where to start and what to do first. One of the most crucial

and affordable first steps to take is to protect your family and get term life insurance. I know it's not glamorous, but all the other steps mean a lot less if something happens to you and your family has no financial protection. Getting term life insurance needs to be a top priority. I recommend 10 to 12 times your income and lock in rates for 15 to 20 years. This gives you plenty of time to get out of debt and build wealth. I've been recommending Zander Insurance for over 20 years, and they understand and live this strategy. And will take the time to help you find the most affordable term life rates. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's not that expensive, it's not complicated,

and you need to do it now. Have you ever made a dumb decision with zeros on the end because you didn't do your research? Yeah, me too. I have. Most people make choices based on feelings or opinions, especially when buying a house. But when it comes to the real estate market, feelings aren't your friend. Facts are. So check your facts. Find out what you can actually afford. Research what's trending in

home prices. Talk to a reputable real estate agent in your area. Never buy a house without the facts. Again, text HOUSE to 33789 and get an agent who will help you make smart decisions. That's HOUSE to 33789. All right, let's go to Katie in Tampa, Florida. Katie, what's going on? Hi, you guys. Thank you so much for taking my call. You bet. So I'm 27 years old, and I have no college debt.

I just recently paid off my first home purchase. And for the last probably two or three years, I've actually been able to like max out my retirement account. So I'm kind of in this position now where I have like quite a bit of capital just kind of sitting in a savings account. And I'm not really sure like what I'm supposed to be doing with it. Um, obviously I should be investing in it.

Um, and I am, I've got probably, I've got like 70,000 in a brokerage account, but I'm just kind of like self managing right now in some mutual funds. Yeah. But then I've also got like another 60,000 that's just like sitting in savings accounts. And so, I don't know, I guess I just wanted to see what your guys' opinion was.

Should I be looking at real estate or, I don't know, like what are your guys' thoughts? Hey, Katie, I definitely want to sit here and say, man, I mean, it's not often we meet a 27-year-old that just says, hey, yeah, I paid off my house and just flies by and it says yeah then now i have this other issue over here i just want you to i just want to call this out like hey you're winning yeah you are you are thank you guys so much you are a young queen out here doing her thing i know that's probably bad grammar but it is what it is yeah you know um i do um i do sales for commission. I mean, I go hard. Yes. I love it. I love it. Well, here's the thing. I definitely want to get that $70,000 in a brokerage account actually with an actual financial advisor. down with the financial one of our financial advisors aka a smart investor pro um and so he

can literally or she can literally sit down with you and be a teacher along this journey because right now you need to be taught how to set yourself up to be a millionaire within the next 20 years and with your wisdom with your knowledge already with with your talents, with your income, you have the capability of doing it even before 20 years. So I would encourage you to get with a financial advisor who has a heart of a teacher that will sit down with you and say, okay, we're going to move this money, put this over here. We're going to put this over there. Out of $6,000 cash, you need to have six months reserve. I'm going to say, go ahead and

just stretch yourself to six months reserve of your bare minimum of your expenses. Yeah, I have that. That's separate. I didn't include that. Okay, cool. So then you keep that. So the other part of it is just sit down and see how can you properly invest it. Now, when it comes to the leftover money, if you want to get into real estate, do it. You know, that's great. One of the things that I'm looking into is land. You know, we can't make any more land. We can continue building buildings.

But I'm looking into how do I purchase land for my kids' kids? How can I purchase this lot of land or purchase, you know, a couple of acres over here and pass it down to my kids or purchase that so I can build something on it down the road and then rent that out down the road. So I think once the first step is sit down with a financial advisor, start investing into the stock market, mutual funds in a healthy, solid way, then extra money from there. Yes. Start setting aside so we can pay cash for real estate options. And I think that's a great real estate or a side business that you may want to start up. I would definitely look into Chrissy Wright and get a copy of her book, Business Boutique. Actually, I think her academy is actually opening up here soon, Katie. So I would definitely look into that if you want to start a business that can generate some more income for you on the side while you do exactly what you do on sales.

What are you selling, Katie? I do worksite benefits, specifically like life insurance and then supplemental health plans as well. Gotcha. So you must be real, real good at this. Yeah, she's selling like hotcakes, bro. So if I didn't, I mean, I've had a financial advisor in the past, and he, my sister used him. That's why I used him. But he was very young, and I kind of was just not super, like, impressed with, I guess, the performance.

Because of his age or because of his performance? Performance. Okay. Yeah, performance. I just didn't like, I don't know. Because of his age or because of his performance? Performance. Okay. Yeah, performance. I just didn't like, I don't know. I also wanted more accountability. Like, I wanted to kind of force myself to kind of learn a little bit more.

But, yeah, I do think it's a really, really good idea for me to get a financial advisor. Yeah. What's a reasonable, like, I know it goes by percentage of assets managed, is like 1% reasonable? Like is one and a half high? I don't really know. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say what's reasonable because I think it all depends on who you're talking to. You know, our financial advisors do not work for us. And so they have the right to say what they want to charge. But I would definitely say they've been through a very hard process to be a smart Vesta pro.

And so whatever they're asking for, we know that and we we agree that their percentage or their cost is worth their time. So I would definitely just say just just jump on, go over to Dave Ramsey dot com, go go to RamseySolutions.com, type in SmartVestorPro, and you will see one. And you're going to get five to six phone calls within a matter of five minutes of you filling out this application. Interview all of them, spend some time, ask a lot of questions, ask them, you know, what are their fees? Ask them like, hey hey will you be willing to teach me will you be willing to take some time with me and educate me on this process um you know and then from there you just make the best decision upon yourself but i do know um different financial advisors charge different fees but i think everyone is worth their fee you just got to feel as if if you believe that they're worth that fee. And I think she brings up a great point.

When you're talking about a financial advisor, you're talking about a counselor. You're talking about any professional that you go to. You don't owe them anything. No. Right? So if you go to a financial advisor and you hear their pitch and you hear their fee and you feel like they're selling you some sort of package because that's the package of the month that they're trying to offload because it's going to up there you smile and walk out the door yeah with your head held high yeah and if you go sit down and and with a counselor for the first time and they spend more

time talking about themselves and how smart and fancy they are and they're telling you what get up and walk out. Yeah, absolutely. Right? It doesn't surprise me at all. Katie is both brilliant and strong and she's decisive. I actually shopped around when it came to fees and I pushed the guy I landed on real hard when it came to fees. I wanted to know, are you getting paid regardless? Are you getting paid based on the quality of your advice? I had a lot of questions about fees.

And so it's going to depend on how much money you got, obviously. But it's going to depend on what you want them to do. Do you want them to set it and forget it? Do you want them to manage that? All that stuff goes into the part of that conversation. But Katie, I love your heart and say, man, I sat with somebody. They weren't great. I didn't like their performance.

And so I didn't feel comfortable with them. I left. Good for you. This is your legacy. This is your future. If you're talking about counseling, this is your mental health. This is somebody that you're giving access into your soul. Be totally comfortable with that interaction. And they should teach you, not demean you. They should inform you and walk alongside you. One of the questions I ask everybody, like, what are your goals?

What are your goals? I always tell them, what do you do for your family? What is the portfolio that you have for your family? It's like, well, you know, I don't really want to talk about it. Then I'm going to walk out the door because if you don't trust your family with it, I don't think I want it.

Right? And so the person I landed on actually sent me their family stuff. That's good. This is what my family's in right now. And I said, cool actually sent me their family stuff that's good this is what my family's in right now and I said cool

put me in that right because if you're going to trust your money and your legacy with what you know of the market and your kids legacy

that's good enough that's good I don't man they're trying to sell me some package good for you Kenny that made my heart feel good hey

hey call us HeartMesterPro good folks this is the Ramsey Show missing package. Good for you, Kenny. That made my heart feel good. Hey, call SmartVestor Pro. Good folks. This is the Ramsey Show. Triple A, 825-5225. This is the Ramsey Show. Let's go out to Louisville, Kentucky and talk to Terrence. Terrence, what's going on, my man?

Okay, thank you. What's up? Yes, how are you guys doing today? We're doing outstanding, good man. How can we help? Hey, I was trying to see, Mr. O'Neal, I read your book with my granddaughter, and she's very young.

Now, she's only 11 years old, but she's motivated to start doing things now to make money. I was trying to see if you guys could help me brainstorm on how she could start raising money now as a young person. Oh, man, that's a good question. Yeah, so she's 11 years old. We're trying to figure out how to start raising money for your granddaughter right now. Do you and your, on the parent side of things and grandparent side of things, do you all have a five 29 already opening her name? No.

Uh, and I was talking to, uh, her parents really not into that type of stuff. And, uh, I think she's going to be out there flapping unless I do it. So I was trying to see a ways that,

that I could help her do it, uh, on her own. If her parents weren't, weren't doing financial things. Yeah. So, so, uh so Terrence, you can open up a 529 in your daughter's name.

You will just need her Social Security information. You will need her name and Social Security. So if you can get access to that, you can do that. Because I have 529s, actually my parents and I have a 529 in the name of my nieces and nephews. And so you can do that now. And I will go ahead and start maxing that out as much as possible. So when she come over your house, grandpa's house, have a work around the house and tell her, hey, I'm gonna put some money inside of this account for you every time you work. So that's one thing that you should do and jump on it right now. How how's how's her education process does

she seem like she's going to be smart going into the middle school and high school year yeah yeah very very smart she was uh she was all into that about the good grades and uh applying for scholarships and those type of things so that so that's one thing i would tell her to to really do as her grandfather talk to her a lot about a grade say hey listen your grades your academics what you do in middle school in high school will determine uh what school you go to and where you go and so when she gets into middle school i will start having a conversation with her parents but hey let's get her ready because he read inside of my book that free degree uh right around the eighth grade she can get inside the Duke program and so if she can

get inside that program that's going to open up a lot of scholarships for her and so I would definitely say focus on opening up a 529 right now the number two make sure that you really have a serious but fun conversation around her grades making sure making sure that she knows middle school it starts right here baby you need all A's okay you can right here. Baby, you need all A's, okay? You can get one B here, but we need all A's so that way you can go to her school. Here's another thing that has nothing to do with money. And America, I want y'all to hear me because Terrence asks a great question. In my book, I teach people how to go from the seventh grade up into the 12th grade

on how to get into college debt-free. Everyone says, well, why start so young? Well, here's the thing, John, that I learned. One of my homegirls has a school here in Nashville. And in elementary school, she does college visits for fourth and fifth graders. And I said, well, why? And this is, Terrence, something that you should do with your granddaughter. Take her on a college visit. Now, why so so young anthony she's only 11 years old well because young people at that age they are impressionable so when they walk around this big old campus

you can take them to a community college and they're going to think that they're just in heaven like oh this is so cool and so as she grows she's gonna say my granddaddy took me to a college and granddad i want to go back there granddaddy or mom and dad i want to do this i want to go to school i want to do that why because of what her grandfather did when she was 11 years old it puts a picture of what college actually is in her head yes she sees young people walking around it starts to make sense yes so so terrence that's one thing pops i would do i would just you know tell your kids hey um i just want to take her on a college visit they may say that that makes no sense okay

cool that's why i'm not asking y'all to do it i'm gonna do it you know i'm gonna take her out there and expose her if we can expose our young people to music to hip-hop videos to the latest dances then we can expose our young people to something educational, something informational, something that will change their life, not just make them go viral on Instagram, but that can make them go viral in life. Because when she comes back, I want to go to school. Granddad, what I got to do to come here? You need to get good grades. You need to focus in class. You need to be obedient to your teacher. You need to listen to your parents. And so I gave you three things that are not really practical money-specific things for your granddaughter to do. These are three things that if you and her parents can set up and do right now, it would change the trajectory of your granddaughter's future.

Make sense, Terrence? Yes, without a doubt. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. Hey, Terrence, I'm going to throw two more on. Yeah, go ahead. Do it. Number one, I want to shout out Terrence and every grandparent, every granddad.

I'm just going to focus on granddads. The fact that you were sitting down reading books to your granddaughter. Yeah. I'll tell you what, that's legacy changing in and of itself, Terrence. That's an investment in young people with your most precious resource that you can never get back, and that's your time. And that is communicating to this 11-year-old girl

that she has value, that she is loved, she's got purpose. Granddaddy reads to her, man. Good for you. Here's the other thing. In addition to the, Anthony, I've never even thought of that,

and I love this idea of putting actual pictures into the hearts and minds of our kids. Terrence, I want you to co-raise. It sounds like you've got a lot of influence on that young lady. I want you to let her know that she is strong and that she is fierce and that her opinions matter. And that starts with sometimes when you talk to her, I want you to bend down and look her in the eye and say, hey, how did that feel?

How does that make you, did you like that? Tell me why you liked it. Tell me why you didn't. I want you to be the person, this powerful paternal influence in her life that teaches her that her inner voice is strong, that teaches her that her thoughts and opinions have value to them. They might not always be true,

but you're building these blocks so that when she shows up at whatever school, she's going to walk into every class and know, my granddad found value in me, my parents found value in me. I can do hard, hard stuff. And that doesn't come in a classroom. That comes from people who love you, who pour into you, who aren't just throwing advice at you all day who aren't just saying do this to it saying hey tell me about this because i'm training somebody how to think how to how to own themselves right

good for you terrence admit that that may be my favorite call today so far man it is man and i want to say this again america i want y'all to hear me clearly this This is Anthony O'Neill saying this. I get so frustrated, bro, when I get on Instagram, when I get on Facebook and I see parents celebrating that their daughter knows the latest hip hop song, celebrating their daughter or their son knows the latest dance that's out there. And then they want to call me and say, how do i educate my kids on this and that it's the same thing that you're doing you know you're teaching them you're allowing them to learn this no stop that get them off of instagram get them off of facebook get them off of youtube tell them to sit down in front of a computer screen and learn and look at colleges learn and look at how to budget since my little

nephew theo he was our first my first nephew since he could walk and talk every time he got around myself every time he got around his parents with me we talked about money christmas last year i was the first time i sat down and explained to them hey this is why your uncle put twelve hundred dollars inside of your 529 each one of y'all's 529 because i want you to go off to college well what's a 529 uncle anthony game on now they don't understand anything i'm saying but they're asking the question well what is a 529 uncle anthony i have the conversation and as they get older now they're starting to process things because why? When they were a little kid, we started teaching them things ahead of their time.

No five-year-old should know some hip-hop dance like that, doing it better than a 30-year-old person. But when a five-year-old moves and mom lights up and picks up the camera, then the kid gets the dopamine hit that says, that's what my value is. Exactly. Now, if they sit down and have to listen to another boring lecture from Uncle Anthony, what they're going to remember is, wait a minute. To change futures, you plan way in advance. Come on, man. You plan way in advance.

And you have conversations with people that don't even want to hear. Come on, man. My nephews and nieces know the difference between the asset and liability. They know the difference between a credit card and a debit card. And half of y'all older people don't even know what the difference is. Our federal government does not know the difference between asset and liability. They know the difference between a credit card and a debit card, and half of y'all older people don't even know what the difference is. Our federal government does not know the difference between asset and liability. Yeah, absolutely right. Listen, everything you do,

your kids are watching. Your kids are learning. Tell them that education's important. Tell them that their time is important. It is our responsibility to train them up in the way that they should go. Start training them the right way, America. And turn off TikTok.

This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 This is the Ramsey Show. We're taking your calls on life and money. Let's go to Jarrett in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jarrett, what's going on, man? Hey, how you doing, man? We're doing great. How can we help?

So, I'm 19 and I have... Actually, I have $ twelve thousand dollars and no debt and also i'll be getting a tax return plus those stimulus checks because i didn't receive the first ones and then i was just wondering i can't decide whether i should put it towards investing or set it aside for a business. And I also still have to follow baby step three, but I've been working two jobs for six months and plus I pick up five jobs when I can and I've sold all my junk. So I've been in full gazelle mode. Okay.

Jared, what are you doing with your life, man? So you're 19 years old, got some good savings, You have no debt, but you're working two jobs. Like what's the end goal? Like are you trying to land a career? Are you doing something right now to see what you want to do so you can go into college? Like talk to me 10 years down the road. Where do you see yourself? What are you doing 10 years from now um well i would say i'd like to just um

perfection what i'm doing right now i'm remodeling bathrooms oh okay and um awesome i'd like to yeah i'd like to take that under my belt for myself just to even if i don't make a career it's like a plan b thing so i'd like to be an entrepreneur but if it doesn't make a career, it's like a plan B thing. So I'd like to be an entrepreneur. But if it doesn't work out for me, that with being an entrepreneur. When you say entrepreneur, now when you say entrepreneur, bro, what do you mean? Like doing what you're doing now, but doing it as an entrepreneur, like you have your own remodeling business? No, I'd like to have, i have plenty of different ideas for businesses like i'd like just for a small example i'd like to have like a t-shirt company or um just uh i've

thought of um like doing like hydro dipping i'm not sure if you know what that is okay yeah i do know hydro dipping with wheels and cars and stuff like that right yeah I know all about that trust me you're talking my language and I think that's I think everything that you've said is great here's my question I can tell you what to do with your money

right now but when I specifically talk to young people like yourself I want to tell you what to do with your money that will set you up to do what you want to do tomorrow, a.k.a. the future. So that's what that's what I'm trying to hear from you. And I'm not really hearing from hearing from you what you really want to do. So here's the very first advice I want to give you is I want you to sit down. OK, and I want you to go to Ken Coleman.com.

Go to the Ken Coleman show.com. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Go there. I want you to listen to Ken Coleman. He's going to help you really identify what do you want to do? If you want to be an entrepreneur, that's great. Sounds like you already doing stuff in the, in the remodeling business.

That's phenomenal. I love that. If you want to get into redoing cars and wrapping cars and hydro dipping cars and wheels and stuff like that, that's great money. I just had someone paint my wheels and do that. It was great money over there. That's cool. Let's identify where do you want to go? So what you can do right now from a practical standpoint, because it sounds like you are not going to college, you may have to go to trade school depending on what you do.

Let's say if you do the remodeling things, I would want you to pick up some trade, get some education there, but it's not going to be a lot of money. So I will go ahead and invest this money right now into a Roth IRA. That's what I would do. Go ahead and finish your baby step three. Like you said, get your three months of an emergency fund. And because you're really not really securing your job just yet, I will go ahead and get six months. So that way you have a good, solid savings account and then take the stimulus check.

Going ahead, jump on a phone with a smart best of pro. Tell them, hey, I got about a couple of grand. I want to invest into a Roth IRA. Go ahead and open that up and start putting money into that as early as you possibly can. But the key thing I think for you is not really what you're doing with your money now, John. I think he really needs to define where is he going in the future because it sounds like he's just out there just trying a bunch of things with no solid game plan. And the challenge with somebody like him who's good at something is that you may be really good at remodeling bathrooms. You may not be great at running a remodeling business without some new tools, without a lot of wisdom and a lot of failures and skinned knees. And so I love what you're talking about. Man, really map out.

What do you want to do and how do you want to do it? That's excellent, man. All right, let's go to Michelle in Eugene, Oregon. Michelle, what's going on? Hey there. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. You bet. Thanks for calling. What's up? Yeah, I'm so happy to be here. So I'm 54 years old and have spent, oh, the last five years making really bad decisions. Lost a job where I was making almost $100,000 a year. Spent about two

years looking for a job. Unfortunately, I thought it was a good idea to use my retirement to get me through. So now I'm looking at COVID. I lost my job last year, finally got a new one, but I am making almost half of what I was previously. So you're making about $50,000 right now, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And so that hurts.

By the time I pay off all the bills every month, I have a couple hundred in my pocket for necessities. Okay. I have about $5,000 in savings. Okay. And I got $42,000 in credit card debt. $42,000 in credit card debt? I know.

I told you. I made some mistakes. Okay. I have $60,000 in student loans. $50,000. Okay. $60,000. $60,000.

Okay. Yeah. And that I shouldn't have had because when I was working, my employer paid for my education. Okay. And my son was starting college at the same time. Okay. So I didn't want him to be in debt. Okay.

And I assumed that I was going to forever be making this much money and could afford to take out the loans. What other debt do you have? Do you have any car loans? No. No, just my home. Just your home. Okay, cool. Take out the loans. What other debt do you have? Do you have any car loans? No. No, just my home. Just your home. Okay, cool. So right now you're in $102,000 in consumer debt plus another $100,000 plus in your mortgage, right?

Yeah. Okay. And you're making $50,000 a year. Yeah. Okay. We have a shovel problem. I do. I have a shovel problem. We have an income problem. Okay. We have a shovel problem. I do. We have an income problem. Okay. What you have to do right now, Michelle, um i want to say figure out how right now how to get

two jobs to get your your your income up uh but then i also want to tell you hey you need to check out our career expert because we need to get your income back up to a hundred thousand dollars so this way you can attack your credit card debt followed by your student loans um and and uh real quickly because we're about to come to the end of the show um are you supporting your son financially in any way right now yeah okay cool great so right now here's your thing michelle what you need to be focusing on is number one in the meantime go ahead and get you a uh part-time job that you could do inside to get your income up all of that money from your part-time job that you could do inside to get your income up all of that money from your part-time job you don't have time to be eating out you don't have

time to be taking your son out nowhere nice you need to be focusing right now on how to get out of debt and pause all investing okay i want you to pause your investing i know you're saying hey i'm i'm 50 something years old i need to No, we need to invest into you getting out of debt. That's right. Okay? That's the main thing. So that's my main thing. Well, and here's the other thing, Michelle.

You started this call talking about all the mistakes you made. Yeah. You spoke throughout the call as you were rattling off a rap sheet why you have a life sentence. And listen, you cannot continue to drag your past around with you and expect to get anywhere down the road very far. So as of today, you have announced, you have called in and confessed to America, to millions.

You did stupid stuff. Congratulations, you're going to have to get in line. We all have. We've done stupid stuff in relationships. We've done stupid stuff with our money. We've done stupid stuff at jobs. You're going to have to get in line. We all have. We've done stupid stuff in relationships. We've done stupid stuff with our money. We've done stupid stuff at jobs. All of us have. Every listener on this show has done stupid stuff. You're not by yourself on this,

Michelle. You're going to have to put that crap down and then be about moving forward. I don't want you to talk about your mistakes anymore. I don't want you to revel in them and roll around and collect them because that's called shame. Move on with them. Put them down and go be about solving this problem with another job and another job and make this thing go.

This is The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell your story.