The Ramsey Show - App - What Should I Do With My Savings? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 28, 2022

Ken Coleman & George Kamel discuss: When should I quit my job to go full time with my side hustle? Moving in with parents to save money, Building a dream home, Putting savings toward debt or holding onto them, When to build back up the emergency fund after using it, Using a credit card for work expenses. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money, your relationships, your work, your dreams. I'm Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, and joined by fellow Ramsey personality, George Camel. Coleman and Camel with you this hour. Never thought about it like that.

Yeah, I like the alliteration. It sounds good, feels good. George is here to answer all your money questions, and I'll dive in on that and work questions. We've said for decades that your income is your greatest wealth-building tool, and I'll dive in on that and work questions. We've said for decades that your income is your greatest wealth building tool and I specialize as a Ramsey personality helping you make more money and experience more meaning. So income and impact. So we team up together. We always have fun together. We've been known as the most fun you can have on radio. Is that right? And I do know that we got a review James shared shared with us last time, that one listener compared us to a root beer float. That the ice cream is good on

its own, the root beer good on its own. When you put them together, it's even better. And so we've argued behind the scenes as to which one of us is the root beer and which one of us is the vanilla ice cream. In my heart, I want to be the root beer. I want to be a little spicy. George, we don't get to decide. Only the listener and the viewer decides that. But let's get to it, shall we? Are you ready to go? I'm ready. All right, Jonathan is up first in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jonathan, how can we help today?

Hi, guys. Thanks for having me. You bet. What's up? So a little background. I'm a medical provider. I work in urgent care. So obviously I went and did the college thing.

And during that process, accumulated a lot of student debt. The total damage was $320,000. Whoa. Yeah. Was this like MD? What was this? What'd you end up with? Actually, PA. Wow. Do you still have the debt? So over the past year, I've knocked it down to $92,000. Nice work.

Yeah, part of that is kind of the question. I've had this side gig, this side business for years and years. I actually went through college teaching anatomy on the side. And so we had this little side anatomy lab that I was working at while in school and it kind of just put it along and kind of did its thing for a while. I mean, it was somewhat profitable, but we decided to go onto social media. I think at the end of 2019, beginning of 2020, created a YouTube channel and it just went nuts after that. And so what's happened is, is I, you know, technically I'm on baby step two still here, but this is taking more and more and more of my time to the point where I've gone down to about 20 hours a week, um, as in my medical provider job

in the urgent care. And there's this constant pull to just say, you know what, I need to go off of the, uh, and go full bore into this side gig. I think there's just a lot of fear on my end as far as being a little... Sure. How much? All right, I'll tell you what we're going to do. George and I are going to walk you through some facts instead of focusing on your fear, all right? So how much money are you making off the YouTube channel?

Oh, geez. So that one's a little challenging, I think, because that's part of the fear. Why? Why is it challenging? I mean, you can look and see what you're making. What's your worst month? What's your best month? And what's the average?

I think the average, because I have a business partner, and obviously we have employees and things like that. But my taxes for last year were, I think, about close to $300,000. Wow. That's what you made. Is that what you personally made? Yeah. Off of this YouTube business?

Well, that was with my medical provider job. I know, but I didn't ask you that. I want to know how much you were making. What are you paying yourself off of this youtube channel um well probably around that two to three hundred a year um based on uh a little bit comes out and just mostly draws i don't take much of a salary every month it can't we kind of decide me and my business partner at the end of like each quarter or the end of each year um okay so i'm still more this year than me have. Okay.

I'm still confused. So, what are you making as a PA right now? What are you making? So, the PA, I make about $80,000 just because I'm doing the 20 hours a week. Okay. And so, now you're on track to make $200,000 or $300,000, give or take, $100,000 on YouTube. Okay. So, you're clearly making more on YouTube. Okay. So you're clearly making more on YouTube. You are paying

yourself more from your YouTube channel, a good bit more than you are as a PA. True? True. Well, so how much money have you, so, so I, you can make the move now, you know, or you can say, I'm going to stay in the PA job. I'm going to continue to build the YouTube channel and grow it. Clearly, the thing has taken off. And that's a serious amount of cash, man. And kudos to you. So it's really your call here. We want you to pay off the debt.

So maybe you stay in the PA position and keep double earning there until you knock out the debt and get through baby step three and get the emergency fund in full of you know three or six months and then make the move uh but you can make a case george that he could do it now you know because you can always go back to being a pa if for some reason you start sucking uh with all the youtube videos uh youtube changes its algorithm and all of a sudden you're making half of that but even then you're still making still making $150,000 a year from YouTube alone. And so once this debt is knocked out, your expenses are way down. You've been living on less than you make, clearly, to get this debt knocked out. So I like the plan because you said the fear is coming into play of sticking with the PA job at 20 hours a week,

knocking out the debt, getting a fully funded emergency fund of six months. And then it's not a leap. You're just taking a soft little step off the dock there onto the boat yeah okay how's that feel um it feels pretty good i mean uh i think my biggest issue was is like i think i'm like there's growth that can happen in the youtube channel because we're going into other obviously social media platforms and things like that and so there's this the battle is always just should i i can do this faster if i have 20 more hours that i can just dump into you know the

the job but it's it's an irrational fear i understand that it's like people in my life have said you know you can always go back to being a pa that's what i just said i literally just said that so i don't think this is risky either way. We told you the safe plan. George and I agree on the safer play. Can I ask, and I don't want this to be a big endorsement, so if you turn it into one, I'll cut you off, but I'm just curious. Are you teaching about anatomy on YouTube? Is that what I'm hearing?

Yeah, you know, so we started our own private cadaver lab because, you know, that's a normal thing to do. Oh, my gosh. So you are working on cadavers on YouTube and teaching anatomy? So, like, people are watching you guys do this? That's what the deal is? Yeah, so, like, we'll do a video on, like, the heart and how the heart works. And we'll show an actual heart.

And obviously we use graphics and pictures and stuff like that. It's kind of like a channel to help anybody learn more about their body. Wow, that is fantastic stuff. Very cool. Definitely not want to have a snack while you're watching that. No, I was just going to say. I wouldn't. Well, there's riches in the niches, Ken, and so if you ever think, you know.

What? Yeah, you never heard that before? Say that again, please. There's riches in the niches. Riches in the niches. I'm going to zoom into this weird little slice of the internet, making a YouTube channel about anatomy, and he's making way more than he does in his full-time job.

Wow. Pretty cool. Well, I tell you, George, this is more evidence that higher education and education as we know it is in big trouble. People are going to youtube to learn this stuff i mean it's and it's more interesting it is more jonathan's teaching it instead of your professor oh by the way it's free there's an interesting concept wow all right george campbell kid coleman together this is the ramsey show don't move we'll be right back Thank you. welcome back to the Ramsey show I'm Ken Coleman joined by my colleague George Camel we're here

for you this hour it's a free phone call if you want to jump in 888-825-52 jump in. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. George, I know you know this, but it's still pretty impressive. The Ramsey Show has been around for 30 years. We just recently celebrated our 30th anniversary, and we recorded a video panel with all of us knuckleheads, the co-hosts that hang out with Dave. It's like Dave and the Ramseys, if we were a group. Family band. All of us.

We take it on the road. And so all of us, George, myself, John Deloney, Christina, and Rachel, we all got together with Dave and had a fun little sit-down conversation. They caught it with 75 cameras. It was that many. It felt like a press conference. Man, it was hot underneath all those lights. Aggressive amount of cameras. Aggressive amount of cameras.

But it turned out beautifully. Producer James produced it. James Childs, our loving producer. He's such a great guy. He produced it, did a lot of work. And there are four special episodes on YouTube filled with stories from three decades. And you can check it out now on our Ramsey Show YouTube page.

So watch the 30th anniversary panel. It hit last week, and go check it out. If you don't like it, your money back, guaranteed. Yeah. It's free. If you say something negative in the comments, rest assured of two things. I will read it. George will read it, and I won't. That's fine. George has of two things. I will read it. George will read it and I won't.

George has deep neurosis. I love it. It fuels me, Ken. He loves to read negative things about himself. No, that's not it. I don't know why that is. That's not it at all. Because I think you're great, George. I enjoy, it's like an exercise in wit to respond with something cheeky. That's what the internet

was made for. This is what you're telling people now. This is why you go into the drudgery and the dregs of society, otherwise known as the comment section. The only people hanging out in the comment section are people that are gassy and unhappy. Gassy. Yeah, it's got

to be gas. It has to be. Andrew's up next in Syracuse. Save us, Andrew. Yes, Andrew is there in Syracuse, New York. Andrew, how can we help? Well, hi, Ken. Hi, George. I was just in the studio yesterday, and I appreciate you taking my phone call. Fantastic.

How can we help? Yeah, so I'm 25 years old. I'm currently on baby step number three, and I'm looking for a career change. I'm burnt out of my job. I've been applying for jobs and interviewing and also considering a career change. I'm burnt out of my job. I've been applying for jobs and interviewing and also considering a relocation. I currently rent right now. I live alone and I pay month to month. And I was thinking about moving back home with my parents just to save some money, maybe to save up my emergency fund and hopefully save enough money to make a down payment on a mortgage.

So what would this time period be? How long would that be to accomplish what you just laid out? So I could theoretically move in with my parents. I could probably pay the next month's rent and then move out in November. And then hopefully I would find a new job within six months to a year. Are you going to keep your current job? Yeah, for the time being I will. Why wait a year to find a new job?

Well, I'm currently looking for a job right now. Hopefully it wouldn't be a year. I think you're answering my question on how long you would live with mom and dad. Somewhere between six months to a year. Is that right? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. I mean, I don't have a problem with it if it helps you save money and it's for a short season.

I'm not a fan of you moving back in long term, obviously, and I don't think that's what you're saying. But I've got no problem with that. What's your rent today? My rent is about $1,200. And what's your take-home pay? I make $44,000. Okay. And so would you be paying something to mom and dad?

What's that going to look like? Well, I'm an only child. I mean, they wouldn't ask for any money that was the answer i think that's right i'm the only child like they're gonna be thrilled to have you back yeah well you talked to them about this or is this is this going to be a surprise to them um it might be a little bit of surprise but um i'm sure they wouldn't mind me moving back in with them for a short period of time. Yeah, I think as long as it's a short period of time.

You are paying a lot of rent right now comparatively to your take-home pay. That's correct. So if you are going to stay where you're at, you need to get a roommate in order to speed up your financial goals. Yes, that's right. All right. So is that the big question there, or was there another one about the work? It sounds like you don't really know what you want to do. Well, I do and I don't.

You know, I work in health care. I'm a recreation therapist. I currently work in a memory care facility, and I kind of know it's not for me. But I would like to stay in my field. I'm also a writer. I wrote a book, and I feel like it's a very important book. So what's the ladder look like for staying in therapy? Well, currently I'm applying for government jobs and hopefully getting to a VA.

Okay. And I would make a little bit more money, but not a whole lot more money. So why government and why va um just because it's uh a better job than than where i'm at right now yeah but i would think that the that you could do much better in therapy uh if i'm understanding the type of therapy that you're doing it would seem that there's a much better opportunity uh in the private sector am i right? There could be. It's different things. My job is recreation therapy, so I do sort of leisure-based therapies for people with disabilities to help improve the quality of their lives. Well, here's what I'm going to challenge you to do. I'm going

to challenge you because you said, I want to stay in my field. And I would say, yes, that's a good idea to look at therapy in general, but I would go, okay, you got recreational therapy and what are the limits there? In other words, what are the lids in that occupation? And then let's look at other types of things where there might be some additional qualification that you need to get, but would allow you to climb higher and make more money. I really want to challenge you and push you on this. Not just assume, well, I'm going gonna go work for the government you know and again i'm i'm uh it's very hard george to advance in government work it just is i mean in the with the private sector this is much greater opportunity ceiling is a lot higher over there and making 44 in health care in new york i think you can do a lot better a lot better so we're pushing you a little

bit uh andrew i want to get you in that house and it's going to take a lot longer making 44 than 84 i want the bigger shovel is how we use that term that means more income and it's fast forwarding everything so there you go well george um i don't know if you know we've got a major hurricane yes it's the only thing on the news uh hurricane ian is uh i don't know if it's made landfall. I've been doing a show. It looks like it's been picking up steam, which is not good as it's making landfall. So prayers and thoughts for everyone out there. Category 4, Category 5, coming back and forth.

I don't have the latest as we sit here today, right this moment, but it's making landfall. And, you know, a lot of bad reports saying this could happen, this could happen, and I think it's going to go south of Clearwater, Tampa. But I want to bring up a leadership issue. This is a very interesting story. The CEO of a Florida-based company by the name of, boy, I had that, Postcard Mania. Her name is Joy Gendusa, if I'm hooked on phonics. And she's getting a lot of negative media because she told her team just days ago, on Monday, prior to the hurricane coming in, she said, if you want to leave your home, and you're being told to leave your home, and you feel like you should and you have no place to go,

postcard mania is probably the safest place to be in Florida. wow it's a bold claim yeah given that florida's a big state uh she said anyway bring your pets bring your kids bring everybody obviously you feeling safe and comfortable is of the utmost importance but i honestly want to continue to deliver and i want to have a good end of the quarter she goes on on to say. Oh, boy. There's that. We got that P&L situation. She said, this thing is overhyped, and if it doesn't turn out, we'd like to continue our service to the national clients. Bring your kids to work on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. There's always more hype in the media than any storm has ever hit here.

Bring your pets if you feel the need. I doubt that you will need them. Nothing screams productivity like Asher, Aston, and Fido all hanging out at the office with you. That's not going to create any level of chaos. This is the last line from a Zoom. She says, we're not closing. We are working. She goes, we'll make it super fun for the kids.

This is a nightmare waiting to happen. Oh, this is horrible. I hope they live stream it for all of our viewing pleasure. This is bad bossery. You've got to care for people. Oh, boy. Just not good leadership at all. Well, there you go.

Stay safe out there, folks. Yeah. I didn't know postcards were that big of a deal. I know. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You have joined the conversation here on the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Campbell of Ramsey Personalities and your host this hour, 888-825-5225 is the phone number.

It's toll-free, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Memphis, Tennessee, and Brayden is there. Brayden, how can we help? Hey, how's it going? Good. How are you? I'm good. Just got a quick question for you. So me and my wife, we're 22 years old. We're in baby step seven. We don't have any debt. So we've been given a piece of land from my grandfather who left it for us. It's a hundred acres and we're wanting to build on it. Um, so I've got 20,000 in my

emergency fund, but then I've got about 50,000 set aside for, um, the build that we're wanting to do. So I talked to the real estate agent and he said, um, we would look at getting between 250 to 275,000 for the house. So my question for you is, do I take out a construction loan to build this house for $315,000, $325,000 and then pay it off and try and sell my house when it's complete? And that way we have no hassle of trying to find somewhere to move and live? Or do we go on and sell my house now, find somewhere to rent for a year while we build? What's your income? About $115,000, $120,000. Okay. That $325,000 loan sounds like a lot of loan for your take-home pay. Have you crunched the numbers on that?

Well, the reason that I would do that is because I would sell my house that I own now and put all of that money towards it. Oh, that's if you sold it. You would still have to take out a 325 loan. Exactly, yeah, and put down 50. Oh, yeah, so you're talking about you're going to have to put 500 grand into this to build this house. No, no, no, no.

I'm trying to track the numbers here. No. No, so I would get a construction loan for 3325,000, put $50,000 down cash that I have now, and which would leave me with $275,000 roughly, $250,000. And then when the house was complete and it was transferred over into a mortgage, I would sell my house that I own now and take that $250,000 and pay my house off. Oh, okay. That makes a lot more sense.

Well, when you listen, George, it does. I mean, there was a lot of numbers being thrown around. I didn't know how much the house was worth when he said $252,000. I got your back over here, Braden. Ken's tracking with you today. Now we've got him caught up. Yeah. There you go.

All right. I mean, that plan sounds good on paper if everything goes to plan. I personally would do that. I think, George, and I want to know if you poke holes in that. I like the plan because the hassle of living and paying rent for a year instead of just staying in their house, they're going to sell it. So you're saying a year from now you'd have a paid-for property? No, it's already paid for. The property itself.

Yeah, if I built the house, it would be paid for when I sold my house. That's what I'm saying. He's going to have a paid-for house in a year and 100 acres. That's a good deal. Yeah. That's a lot to manage. What else is going to go on, on this acreage here? Um, just, well, we have a lot of equipment that we inherited as well. Um, so we just like to farm and raise animals. Family farm. I love it. Yes, sir. Yeah, that's, I don't, I think you're walking into this with a lot of wisdom. Um, I don't think it's wrong to go, you know, you're in Baby Step 7. Did you guys get there on your own? I'm just impressed at 22 you have a paid-for house.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So I was homeschooled my whole life, so I started working when I was nine. So my parents made me start a house fund. And so we were able to put down a good down payment, and then we had $80,000 left, and we paid that off in seven months. Oh, yeah. That's even more evidence. You are not scared of work. Yeah, and disciplined, and very disciplined. I think this is a great move. I think this comes

down, George, if it makes sense financially, which I think it does, this is also a much more comfortable process to stay in their current home while they're building and not have to make all that. It's a double move move if you're moving to a rental what's that the only thing that worries me is is taking out this construction loan and then like which i know that it probably wouldn't happen it's just the thought of the house and market going down or something like that and then i'm stuck with the house and a 300,000 or you know 275,000 construction loan um you know it's kind of, I know it's probably not going to happen, but it's just kind of scary to think about.

Well, I don't understand why you feel you'd be stuck with it, because it sounds like, to me, this is the end. This is where you guys want to end up and be, right? Are you saying stuck with your current house? No, I just mean back in debt. Like, I just don't want to go back in debt. Yeah, but you're going to sell your house. Yes, I will, but I'm just saying, like, you know, it's a't want to go back in debt. Yeah, but you're going to sell your house. Yes, I will.

But I'm just saying, like, you know, it's a scary thing to do. And, like, what if I get stuck with my house for, like, six months because it hasn't sold, which I don't think will happen. Yeah, I get that. Because the market is extremely hot where we're at. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Blue Oval, but it's a massive Ford factory coming in about 20 minutes from my house. And so we've actually already had a $275,000 cash offer, but we're just not ready to move. So I don't think that would happen at all. I'm not as concerned about that.

We know the housing market over time, it's not going to shoot down where that current home goes from $275,000 to $200,000. Yeah, exactly. But here's the deal, my man. I mean, the answer to that fear is to go ahead and take on the inconvenience and go ahead and sell it now. Take that $275 cash offer and then go move somewhere. I mean, you've got options here.

So if that's a fear, then you have a very viable option. And now you're sitting on a pile of cash and you're adding to it while you're building. So neither one of these moves is a bad move what's your wife want to do she wants to stay in the house until we build which is what i was leaning towards i just wanted to make sure that was wasn't unwise now i think what feels unwise is because you guys are going into debt after being completely debt free but this is a temporary stop gap and soon when you get into this new house, it's going to be paid for as soon as you sell it.

So it's a good plan. Happy wife, happy life. That's Ken's mantra. Not mine. It's just good wisdom. All right, Amelia's up next in Buffalo, New York. Amelia, how can we help? Hi, can you guys hear me okay?

Loud and clear. Thank you so much for taking my call. You bet. What's up? So I recently refinanced my student loans with Splash and I have $50,000 in debt and $20,000 saved. And I don't want to be Dave Ramsey-ish, but I have a lot of work and life situations going on that I just want to talk through before I put all that savings on my debt. Okay, go for it.

How can we help? What do we consider? So I currently work in cybersecurity. I'm fresh out of school and that my annual income is $85,000. I recently found out, however, that this job that I got 10 months ago, the company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And so I have been applying online to other jobs, and I actually do have a standing offer that quick, if I should hold on to the savings and wait until I'm in a new job, or just go ahead and move that savings and actually pay off the debt. What other expenses do you have coming up, other than this kind of job scare that's happening? Yeah, so on top of that, my fiance and I have been filing for his visa.

He actually is from South Africa and we're waiting for him to get here and arrive. So we have a wedding coming up to plan for. And then on top of that, I don't have any other debt. Like my car is a year car I've had throughout college and I think it's going to die in like six to 12 months. So with all those changes, I'm like, would it be better to take the cash and just park it in like a high yield savings account and not, you know, keep paying the loan off with cashflow, cashfilling it, but don't, you know, use all of that savings. Yeah. I think it's wise to stock up some cash right now because you have a lot of change coming up.

The job is number one, the wedding's number two, the car's number three. And so I think these dollars have a priority right now and that's to get you through this storm. And once that's over, I just don't want you getting comfortable. And so don't go buy a $30,000 car. We're going to buy a reasonable used car to get us through.

We're going to do a reasonable wedding and see if family can help pay for that so it's not all on you. We're going to make sure we have a stable income. And then once that's all settled, we throw it at the debt and get really gazelle intense. Yeah. Does that feel good, Ken? It feels right. Great advice. Amelia, you got this.

You got a great head on your shoulders. You're thinking through this the right way. Congratulations. Take that new job. Get out of that dumpster fire. I'm jumping off a Titanic while it's sinking. That's right. Let's get off of that boat. You've got this. Thank you so much for the call. All right, folks. We've got to take a quick break, but the great news is we'll be right back. Don't move. Thank you. welcome back to the Ramsey show I'm Ken Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Campbell. We are here for you, The Shallow America. We're taking your questions on money.

And how about your work as well? In a toxic environment, I feel like you're being overlooked, rejected. You want to move up, make more money, side hustle income. George and I are here to help on that. By the way, George is obviously a resident money expert on the show today, but he's also very entrepreneurial. I love a side hustle. Yeah, you are very entrepreneurial. Great idea. So we'll team up today on any kind of work questions and money questions as well. I've done them all, Ken. I did Uber,

I did Lyft, I've built websites, you name it. Flip stuff online, it's great. Which do you like the most of all your side hustles? Uber and Lyft were not my favorite. I didn't think so. You like flipping stuff? That's fun to me. Give me an example of what you would flip. You go to Goodwill and you look at things on the shelves and you go, that electronic, let me see what that's sold for on eBay. And you go, I could buy it for two bucks. It's selling on eBay for 25 bucks. So even after fees and shipping, you're still going to make 20 bucks make 20 bucks you go all right it's a good deal i like that so it's all about margin yeah that's you need a you need a uh a thrift channel there's enough guys on the internet oh they're doing that in their mom's basement doing that yeah see i don't know we're busy over

here i don't know these things i don't spend a lot of time on the tube you know well when you call the tube it definitely tells me you don't watch youtube no one calls it that i do and i also call tiktok the talk it's a thing you would crush it in a nursing home i i do it to irritate my teenagers and it works 100 i love it so there you go all right let's get to the phones cheetah joins us in orlando florida cheetah how can we help hey um so i'm just basically wondering because i was in baby step two so i don't know if i'm in baby step one again because you know everything with the hurricane i had to um spend some of the money because i don't get paid until friday so i'm wondering does that put me back in baby step one okay walk us through what you're talking about you're you're

going as fast as the cheetah right now so walk us through what's happening. I try to be quick. So you spent money because of the hurricane? Yeah, because I didn't get paid yet. So, you know, I was working on paying off my credit card, so I paid off three out of my eight credit cards. But then I didn't have money because of, you know, paying off my credit cards. And so I had to dip into my emergency funds to buy, like, water, extra dog food. Okay, you have some supplies. Yeah.

Okay, so how much money do you have in the bank? $500. Okay, so we're going to pause. In the emergency funds. Let's pause Baby Step 2. You're currently temporarily back in Baby Step 1 for probably a few days until you get paid until we restock this thing to a thousand. Then we're back at it crushing the debt.

Okay. Cool. So, yeah, I don't want you to have any fear here. Are you going to be safe from the storm? Have you been tracking it? Oh, yeah, I've been tracking it. It's Florida. Okay. So I would, how quickly can you get another 500 bucks? Tomorrow.

There it is. Great. And you've already bought the extra dog food, so if you don't need it, make sure you change that budget too. So not only are you replenishing your emergency fund, you've got that extra stuff that you may not need. That's true. Good point. And you're going to use this all regardless? Is there anything that you would return if, let's say, the storm passes, I didn't end up needing this thing? Just like these little things of propane that were only like $10.

Okay. Just wanted to see if there was any room for you to go, you know what, I could get another $200 back returning these items I didn't use. No, yeah. I made sure just to buy exactly what I would need to only buy what I would use. Good. Fantastic. Yeah, we would call that a literal storm mode,

which in this case is a storm, where you'd pause the baby steps, let's save up some cash to get through this, and then we're back at it. So you're doing the right thing. Yeah, good stuff. Thank you for the call, Cheetah. All right, next is Daniel in Phoenix.

Daniel, how can we help? Hi there. Thanks for taking the call. You bet. I had a question about credit cards. So first of all, my wife and I got on the baby steps, kind of dragged our feet, did it our own way. But when we got on the baby steps, we paid off the debt pretty quick.

So we're pretty much debt free. We rent, but like I said, debt free. The one question I would have about credit card usage, though, is for my employer, I routinely need to make purchases, and then I turn in the expense report and get it reimbursed. So I'm the agriculture director at a small private school. A lot of the stuff's just odds and ends, plumbing parts. I could do that with my debit card, but occasionally I do need to do some larger purchases, and we just don't have enough really saved up to do that right now.

So what would be your thoughts on the credit card usage in that kind of situation? I would have the school. Or what would be another plan of attack? I would have the school. He has poor planning on their part. Yeah, they need to pick that stuff up. And if they want to do it by credit, they need to give you a credit card of theirs. You don't need to be carrying a personal credit card for this.

It's not your responsibility. And it's a temptation to use it. Have you talked to them about the situation? Only briefly. You know, some of the administrators and people do have credit cards, but the limit's fairly low because they're usually just doing things like buying lunch for the students on outings and things. Is this a specific store that you're buying from? I mean, I got in with the Home Depot rewards program.

Yeah, what they can do is set up a corporate account with Home Depot, and that bills directly to the school. Now, the other thing is, you know, I'm buying, like, greenhouses and things of that nature. You know, it's like a $5,000, $6,000 purchase. This is a legitimate— Yeah, but it doesn't matter. Some of them will invoice us. It doesn't matter. You keep coming up with reasons why you need this credit card. And I'm telling you it's the school.

If they're reimbursing you then this is this is silly for you to have to carry this personally have you thought about the risk yeah that's one of the reasons like what happens if you buy a five thousand dollar greenhouse and god forbid something awful happen and the school you know some you know something crazy happens and then you're stuck yeah that's true yeah i know yeah what we do here at ramsey is if you are in that kind of senior leadership you would be issued a company debit card that you would use for those purchases it wouldn't be expected for ken to take that out of his checking account and then get hopefully get reimbursed later that's just bad bad business. So I'd have a conversation

with them and say, listen, I'm not comfortable with this. I don't have the money to make these big purchases and I don't want to go into debt for this. So we have to figure out another solution. And either they make a corporate account, the bill's straight to them, they issue you a debit card, or they give you the petty cash to go purchase it in cash. So there's options. Okay. Got it? I'll just probably sit down with my business manager and talk about those options then. Yes. And again, you lead with the fact that you don't feel comfortable assuming personal risk. That's your language. But can I be honest with you, Daniel? I don't think that you are leaning towards doing this. I think this makes mental sense to you, but you're like, okay.

Can you be honest with us? Are you benefiting from the rewards if you buy this $5,000 greenhouse? I do. Yes, that's true, but I realize how minimal that is. At 1% cash back. Yeah. Well, I hope you take the advice. I'm not convinced you will, but it's the right thing to do for your financial future.

No, it totally makes sense. I kind of hadn't thought of it completely in the wording that you guys were using, so I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, honestly, we're not trying to use scare tactics, but this really is risky, George. Yeah, I don't like that. And these are big purchases. Oh my word. To your point, if he's having to get agricultural things, there's local supply companies that would set up some type of purchase situation with the school. The school

has a bank account. I know. They are a business. It's a private school. I don't like it. I think it's laziness on the part of the school. They're like, go do it. We'll just figure it out. We'll figure it out. Send us the receipts. Yeah, I don't like that at all. Here's the deal. Talk about the temptation factor.

Because of the points and all of the other things. You're sitting at your house one night and here comes a commercial and whoever the latest celebrity is what's in your wallet? Jennifer Garner. Is that who it is? Yeah, Capital One. There's always something there where they're telling you to get your miles, double this, reward this, reward that.

The temptation is, well, I can put it on my card. I'll get a free vacation at the end of the year. Right. And so, hey, they're asking me to buy all these supplies. I'll keep doing it. No. And if you're a business owner, please don't do that to your team. It's uncomfortable, puts them at risk, and I don't want to work for someone like that, truthfully.

Yeah, I agree. All right, good stuff there. All right, good hour, George. Fun times. Time flies when you're having fun. We should do it again sometime. Should we? There's probably another one coming up.

I think there might be another hour coming up. We'll see. We'll see what happens. Hey, thanks to the team behind the glass who helps us stay on the air. Appreciate you fellows and you, America. Thank you so much for listening. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hey, folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Get your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.