The Ramsey Show - App - What’s My Best Next Step? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life, in your money, in your work, and in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the number for you to call in. We're here for you. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me. 888-825-5225.

All right, up first, going back to my stomping grounds. Okay. The 757, folks. Love Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach area is where Raven joins us. Raven, how can we help? Hello. Hi. Thank you for taking my call.

You bet. What's going on, Raven? All right. So I've been on our debt-free journey since December 2022. We started with about $70K in debt. Now we have $41,000 in debt, which includes a $38,000 car and $3,000 in student loans. However, we are outgrowing our house. So we started looking at houses just to just to prepare to look for the future we found a great location that's about 30 minutes closer to my husband's job

and next thing you know we've picked a lot and put the earnest money down next thing you know look at that just happened you guys had no control over that. Isn't that crazy? None. Girl, okay. We'll work it on it. So I know there's a but or there's a problem somewhere. So tell me what's... There's a but. Tell me what happened. Well, immediately. Immediately, we started crunching the numbers because I'm the one that got us started on

this journey and found Dave. But as of today, we owe $155,000 on our current home. Okay. We could sell it for at least $330,000, which would be a profit of about $160,000 after paying the realtor. Okay. And we have $50,000 in savings. So the new home costs $700,000. Wow.

We're building a new house. Yeah. We're building a new house. Yeah, we're building a new house. I won't be ready until July. Where? What area? Greenbrier, Hickory area. I know that area. Yeah, you upgraded.

You upgraded, didn't you? Big time. Yes, we're very excited. Great schools, great location, everything. So you're still in the current house you haven't sold it but when you do you'll take 160k from that right in equity yeah and then you're going to put that with 150 so that's you know almost 300 a little over 300 and you're going to take that to put on this new property which is a 700 000 property did i get $700,000 property. Did I get that right? Almost. So we owe $150,000 on the current home. So

and if we sell it for $320,000, we would profit $160,000 plus the $50,000. Oh, $50,000. Okay. I thought you said $150,000. So they're really only going to have about $210,000 is what you would have, correct? Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So you're putting $210,000 down on a house that costs $700,000? Just about. So we figured we would use some of that to finish paying off the car and to obviously put down 20% for the down payment, save three months of expenses,

which is about $20,000 to $25,000 with the new house mortgage. And I think we should be free and clear, but I just wanted to get you guys' input. Okay. I'm going to get out my calculator real quick. While you do that, are you in a contract? I mean, you can't get out of this, or do we have any wiggle room? We probably could, but I'm sure we would lose some money so what did you specifically call us for what do you want jade to weigh in on here what's going on i just did so the plan was to

pay off the car the student loan before we bought a house but you know uh yeah we did that a little early so i just wanted to get some reassurance that we're still kind of on the right track. Okay, so if we look at the numbers, okay, so you've got the $210,000 and you want to pay off the $41,000 in debt with that, right? So that leaves you with $169,000. Well, if we pay it off, then it would be around July. So by then we would probably only owe about $38,000 or less by then. Oh, okay. So it's a $10,000 difference. Okay. So then let's say that leaves you with $179,000. Fair enough. Okay. And then you want to take out how much for your three to six months 25 000 yes about 20 to 25 let's say 25 000 because you're going to be a new homeowner okay so that drops you

back down what you need you need to be putting you said you want to put 20 000 down on this house so what is that about 140 000 that you need to put down yes okay so that puts you I mean you're right up against it but that puts you right there um yeah I mean what's what's the question what what's your concern are you worried that you what are you worried about because there's a sense of worry there yeah because I you know I think we'll be okay We've got a couple of raises coming in and starting the new year. We don't really know exactly how much that would be, but that would be about maybe $1,000 more a month. Then get after it.

Here's the deal, Ava. What she's worried about, I'm sensing your worry. Your worry is not what you're going to do with this equity and paying off the debt. What you're worried about is the percentage of your monthly income that this mortgage is going to be. So that's what we need to be talking about. What's the mortgage going to be? What's the mortgage going to be? It's looking about $4,800 depending on the interest rate.

$4,800 a month? Yeah. Okay. And how much do you bring home every single month after taxes? Not after investing and everything like that just after taxes after taxes i bring home 28 my husband brings home about 64 that's before our raises that are coming up january okay so you're bringing home $9,200 a month and you're basically at half. That's too much. That's why you're, that's why you're feeling crazy. This has nothing to do with you selling the house and paying off the debt and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. What you're

worried about is you're, you guys are buying a house that's going to be 50% of your take-home pay every month. And you, I'm just letting you know, you're going to feel that. And even adding $1,000 to it, that helps, but you need to be getting this thing down to 25%. And y'all got to do it fast because nothing will make a blessing feel like a burden quicker than not being able to afford it.

And I would absolutely hate that for you guys. Okay. quicker than not being able to afford it. And I would absolutely hate that for you guys. So really, I think what this call is about, Ken, let's turn a corner. How can they get their income up? Well, I actually, I don't know. I don't know their situation. We got about a minute here. So what professions are you guys in? Give me the really quick answer. I'm in contracting with the government and my husband just got promoted to Master Chief in the Navy. Yeah. So your incomes in those things are limited. So now you're talking about side hustles and I don't think the side hustles is going to make the difference. I think there's too much house and I'd walk away from the house. That's the truth. You guys are both in government jobs. So the only way you're making extra money is going to be, and you have limited time and that's not going to make up the difference,

Jade, to get enough income in to get it to the 25%. So I hate to tell you this, but it's too much house. I wish I had another answer, but going and making more money is not the answer to this. You guys are going to be house poor. New house means new furniture, new problems, decorating, all the things. You could put more down on the house and just pay off your debt the old-fashioned way. That's your only other option. But even then, I don't know if it makes that much of a difference. So, I mean, run those numbers. I mean, she gave you the ratio, so I'd be patient. This is The Ramsey Show.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jake Warshaw joins me. We're taking your questions about your money, about your work. Professional advancement means financial advancement. Can I do that while I'm in the baby steps? Want to start that side hustle this next year? We'll take any of those questions.

888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Marissa is up in Houston, Texas. Marissa, how can we help? Yes, hi. Well, thank you so much for taking my call. And first, I guess I just needed some advice on what to do. I currently am 30 years old, and I'm thinking of changing my career. I'm going back to school.

To what? To nursing. And what are you doing now? I'm a pharmacy tech. Okay. All right, keep going So yeah I'm thinking of going back to school But I'm kind of

In between picking An accelerator program Which will cost me about $70,000 Or Hold on I'm sorry Did you say $70,000 or $7,000? $7,000 $70,000 or $7,000? $7,000.

$70,000. Yes. For what? For a bachelor's in nursing. Okay, gotcha. It's a one-year program, so I think that's why it's so much. Wow. So I'm in between.

So going for that program or going on to an associate's degree in nursing, which will be two years, and that comes out to be about $10,000. But I would still have to go back to school another year. That's probably about another $30,000 for a bachelor's. That's a big difference. Okay, so if I'm hearing you right, $10,000 for the associates, then another, did you say $30,000? It could range from $15,. 15 to 30. Yeah,

depending on what program I get accepted to for the bachelor's. Having my associates, I could, you know, do one, I could get into a bachelor's nursing program, and that will be another year. So, total will be like three years for the longer route can i ask a quick question so the 15 to 30 000 for the bachelors what denotes that can you just apply to programs that are cheaper or like you know so okay so the um let's see the associates um uh you know you have to take certain um credit. That's basically all the requirements. You have to take certain classes. And then for the one year, the $30K, you have to have an associate's already in nursing. Right, but you said the range was between $15,000 and $30K,

and I was trying to understand what denotes that range. Depending on school. Some schools are cheaper than others, but I've looked around and depending on who accepts me, it can be from the cheapest I've looked, it's $15,000. So you'll just apply to the cheapest ones? Right. Always. Because Marissa, no patient will ever ask you how much you paid to go to nursing school. Yeah, we're not even applying for the $30,000 ones. So don't even think about that. So you've laid this out for us. The $70,000 bachelor's one-year program, to me, makes no sense at all because I'm guessing you cannot afford anything close to that.

Is that true? Right, yeah. What can you afford right now? How much money do you have to be able to put towards school? So currently, I have about $14,000 cash. Do you have to be able to put towards school? So currently I have about $14,000 cash. Do you have any debt? No, no debt. Or like small credit card debt, like $2,000 maybe.

But that's debt, sweetheart. Marissa, that's debt. Yes, but I can pay it off. It doesn't have any, it's not accumulating any interest. It doesn't matter. It's still debt. What other debt do you have? That's about it, really. I don't have any, it's not accumulating any interest. It doesn't matter. It's still debt. What other debt do you have? Okay.

That's about it, really. I don't have any student loans. Car payment? No car payments, no. All right, so you only have debt of $2,000 on a credit card, and you have $14,000 in savings, or is that in your checking? That's in my checking. Any savings? Well, that's all I have. Oh, okay, gotcha. Her savings is in her checking. Any savings? Well, that's all I have.

Oh, okay. Her savings is in her checking account. Well, here's the deal. I certainly would cash flow the two-year associate's program because my question is, once you get that associate, are you able to do any kind of nursing at all or no? Yeah, I can. I believe once I get into the program, or once I receive my associates, I can work in a hospital for about a year. Within that year, they do require you to get your bachelor's. How much money are you making right now as a pharmacy tech? Right now, that pays about 40K and gross is about 55 all right any opportunity for overtime um not well yes i take it

as um as much as i can i also work part-time at uh for right now my my full-time job is at the hospital and i work part-time at like a retail pharmacy okay so what are you bringing in total so full-time plus part-time is it the 55 or is it more than that? I don't know, maybe about 60. Okay. Because I work, like, you know, on the weekends. But another thing, too, is, like I said, I'm 30. I'm not married.

I don't have any kids. But, like, I'm with my partner right now. We want to kind of settle down. And he's not forcing me to go to school. He says, I guess combined we would be good. But I guess the nursing school is just for me to increase my income. But my question is, should I, well, I guess like y'all said, I should just go in and do the associate's degree.

No, go ahead. Ask your question. Even though it'll take longer? Well, it's just go in and do the associate's degree. No, go ahead. Ask your question. Even though it'll take longer? Well, it's just because I guess in the next three or four years, I would like to have kids and buy a house and all of that. So I guess that's fine in between those two. Like if I should do the faster route, pay a little bit more. You can't afford the faster route.

You can't. That's got to be off the table because you don't have $70,000. You don't even the faster route. You can't. That's got to be off the table because you don't have $70,000. You don't even make that in a year. And I don't say that to be negative. I'm just saying you need $70,000 in one year and you make $60,000. And if you do that and you take a loan out for that, Marissa, guess what? It's going to put everything else you dream of that you just mentioned, the home, the kids, it puts all that in jeopardy. This is not necessary. With the income you have, the fact that you are single, you've got some extra time, the boyfriend's supportive. I mean, I would cashflow the 10K for the two-year program,

get you in the building. I wrote an entire book called The Proximity Principle, which says, I got to get around people that are doing what I want to do. And if that gets you in and I cashflow and I'm in nursing, then the angle I'm going for, Marissa, is I'm looking for a hospital or a program or a clinic or something that says I'm willing to pay a good chunk of Marissa's tuition. And let me just add, this is just all I'm saying. I'm not saying this is the case, but there is something to be said for a lot of people think how many times do people call in and say, I got a whole degree in this field. I started working and I hate it. Well, that's another thing. That's a very good point. Have you hung out with nurses? So when she does that $10,000,

she's going to be able to hang out with these people and see that she really like it. I agree with you so much. I wouldn't, I wouldn't spend spend the 10 000 until you spend time with nurses have you spent time with nurses like really awesome the good the bad the ugly yeah i mean i know what the work is um my best friend's a nurse she's been a nurse for five years um so i know what it is i know nurses too um it's tough and it's tough it is tough and i say that specifically because nursing is one of those fields that it's like you've got to be wired for this so shelling out seventy thousand dollars a year and speeding through a program getting into it and being like oh wait this is for the birds you'll feel terrible at least with the the 10-year you know the uh two-year plan

getting the associates and then doing the year bachelors she gets to test it it, but I hear you can. Testing it before then would be good too. Well, I think she has. I think you meet that. You know what it is and you know what you want to do. So we're saying you're going to walk through this, not run. And we're going to walk through at the speed of cash. Cash, cash, cash. You're going to be in. You're going to be a nurse. I really want you shaking the tree talking to everybody about what kind of programs you know will hospitals listen there's a huge need for nurses right now i talk about this every day i want you to see what's out there as relates to somebody paying your tuition because they need new talent they need new people in the building

and you represent that so no debt debt on this, no loan. It's not worth it and it's not needed. It'd be one thing if it were like, there's no other way. Trust me, there's always another way besides taking out a loan. So really appreciate the call, Marissa. You don't understand how big of a deal it is to be a new nursing candidate. They are hemorrhaging people. They need people. You might be surprised, Jade, how many hospitals, organizations will say, you know what, we'll help you with your tuition. And that way you have no debt and you jump right in. So thanks for the call. All right. Don't go anywhere. More of your calls coming up. This

is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You have joined The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You have joined the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw joins me. And Jade's a little fired up as we went into our commercial break. She had about 30 seconds more that she said she needed to add. Listen, if you

call in the show, you need to know how much money you make. Listen. Or she will hang up on you. I think just in life, not if you call in the show, you need to know how much money you make. Listen. Or she will hang up on you. I think just in life, not if you call in the show as a person. In life. That's right, James. In life,

you need to know how much money you make. We talk about budgeting. We talk about FPU. We talk about the baby steps. The number one thing, you cannot do any of that if you don't know how much money you make. And I mean to the penny.

You need to know every time when I get a check, this is the amount. Now, if you're self-employed or you have a fluctuating income, it's a little different. But you need to have a clear picture of what you think it probably will be based on, you know, what you've been doing. But you need to know how much you make. Guys, I say it all the time. Your income is expensive. OK, I say it all the time. Your income is expensive. Okay. The money you make is expensive. Jade, what do you mean by that? I mean, you spend

your time. You spend your energy. You spend your sleep. Some of you spend your sanity. Your income is expensive. It costs you. All right. Handle it with care. Understand what it actually is so that you can make it work for you. That's it. Your homework for tonight is to look at your pay stub and memorize it. All right. That's it. I can hear the audience. I can hear the audience in my head. Yes, Ms. Jade. Yes, Mama Jade. I love it. Sorry. A couple of things here real quick. Coming off of that mini rant, my colleague here, look at that. Look at her. She looks like a million dollars right there. I look nice right there. Money's not a math problem. Like a nice person. A fun little short book here that she has written, The Real Reason

You're Broken, What to Do About It. Really, really good stuff. This is now, is it available? Actually now, where pre-order is gone, it's now go get it today. Listen, if you order it from ramseysolutions.com, we will send it right to Listen, if you order it from ramseysolutions.com, we will send it right to you. If you order it on Amazon, A, you're paying more money for it and you have to wait till January 2nd to get it. So go to ramseysolutions.com and get it.

Get the book. It's really great. By the way, you music lovers will love that her chapters are titled, they're all song. I just picked up on that. Did you just get that? Okay.

I love it. Do you recognize the songs? Yeah, absolutely. Are you kidding me? Hey, now you're an all-star. Don't make me sing it. My favorite is chapter four. Sledgehammer. Oh, we harmonized there. Wow. That was incredible. It's true. We did not rehearse that. It was great. She's very talented. And then speaking of fun books for the family, I'm glad for what I have. Rachel Cruz's first. Where's our camera? Sorry, guys. I feel like David Letterman used to do this all the time I was growing up. There it is. I'm glad for what I have. Rachel Cruz's children's book. It's all about contentment.

And then our good buddy, George Camel. We've got another money book out here. Look at George, Breaking Free from Broke. Great book. All of those books, ramsaysolutions.com slash store. These are great gifts for you to give yourself and to others. So go get them at ramsaysolutions.com slash store. All right. To Los Angeles we go. Amelia's there. Amelia, how can we help? Hi there.

I just wanted to ask today about budgeting. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's going on? I used to live in an area with really low cost of living. And so since moving out here, I'm just finding that it's really hard to kind of save and put money into an emergency fund. I feel like on months where there's no emergencies and where we make the amount of money we're expecting to make that we do great on our budget. And then I feel like half of the months were just barely kind of scraping by and having to pull out of that emergency fund.

So I would just love some advice on how to kind of budget in an area where it's a really high cost of living. Yeah. I mean, on the one hand, I'm just going to say budgeting is budgeting, whether you're in a low cost of living or high cost of living. The whole point of a budget is you're simply planning your money before the month begins. So kind of take the high, if the cost of living is an issue, that means you have an income issue, not necessarily a budgeting issue. So let's start with that framework. So how much money do you guys make per month? Total, me and my husband end up bringing in like $7,500 a month. Okay, good. And then he's a student, so he also gets just random payouts for scholarships.

Okay. So I would say like three times a year we get like $5,000, about $5,000. And is that just refunds from the scholarship money? You know, it's just a little different each time. So the school that he's at, he has a TA ship and so he gets paid like a monthly fee or not like whatever salary for nine months of the year. Okay. And then he has some scholarships that are set and then some that the school, it's almost like surprise scholarships. And I don't really know why there's a letter he signed at the beginning of the

year, but we always end up getting a little more than what's on the letter. We don't really know where it's coming from. Okay. But does the money go into your budget or does it need to be going towards school? That is on top of what we pay for the school. So the $5,000 is what we get after paying. Okay, so it's just a credit back to you. Okay, and how often did you say? Every quarter? Every couple months? That's right. Every, I would say three times a year. So three times a year and it's anywhere between three to five thousand. So let's just keep that on hold in our minds right now. I'm not going to add it to the budget just yet. OK, so seven thousand five hundred a month. So if you haven't downloaded EveryDollar, which is our budgeting app here, that's your homework for getting off the phone today. Do you already have it or no? I have the yeah, I have the phone today. Do you already have it or no? I have the, yeah, I have the free version.

Okay. I want you to go to ramseysolutions.com and I want you to buy the book. Money's not a math problem. It's $10. But when you buy it for $10, you will get three months of every dollar premium for free. So that's kind of a backdoor way to get every dollar premium for free for a lot cheaper. OK, that's the homework, because on premium, this is what you need. Premium features has something called paycheck planning. So basically what you do when you first do your budget, right, you just go through and you assign every single dollar right until it says you've got an every dollar budget in green, right?

OK, so that's what you do first. You're just assigning every single dollar. And once you've assigned every dollar with a category, like this is for gas, this is for the mortgage, this is for groceries, it wants you to use every single dollar. And when you've used every dollar, it'll say up there in green, you've done an every dollar budget. Woohoo. Now that's step one. And a lot of people stop right there and they're like, all right, I did my budget winning. And then they wonder, oh my gosh, why am I still overdrawing? Oh, my gosh, why do I still not have any money?

It's because they've left out a very crucial step. And I want everybody listening to remember this. You have got to plan your paychecks. Some people call it cash flow planning. And in every dollar premium, it allows you to do that. And all that is, Amelia, is you're going in there and you're saying, okay, I've given every dollar an assignment. I've told my money what to do. Now I have to tell it when to do it. I've got to set the dates because here's the thing. You don't necessarily, you might get paid on the first, but you don't know, do I have the money to pay the rent,

the mortgage, the car payment, the dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. If you don't know, you have to plan it out. Otherwise you are going to be overdrawing even though you've made a budget. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. Can I jump in with a quick question? Come on, Kim. Amelia, I'm curious.

Are you guys double income? So, yes, for nine months of the year, he's making about $4,000. I'm making anywhere from $3,500 to $4,000. What industry are you guys in? I'm a teacher and then he's a TA at a university right now. The reason I'm asking this is I'm just curious, what does upward mobility look like for you guys financially over the next 24 months? So think two years. Yeah. Well, to be honest, the next step that we're kind of hoping to take, he is about to graduate. So we have about six months of our current situation where we are trying to kind of save while we're making more money so that when we move to a new location, we can kind of have that emergency fund and then have our down payment for a house.

Same area though, Los Angeles? We're moving away, yeah. But here's my question though. I appreciate that. and then have our down payment for a house. Same area, though? Los Angeles? We're moving away, yeah. But here's my question, though. I appreciate that. Jade gave you great budgeting advice, but I'm just curious what the income increase potential looks like over the next two years. Because I've got a suggestion, but I'm curious what that looks like.

Are you guys going to see some raises? Or are they minimal? I've got about 40 seconds. Tell me real quick. Minimal to pay decreases, probably. Yikes. Yeah. I had a feeling.

And so, you know, I could say, you guys need to be making some side hustle income. But the point is, is then you're just, you never are. Yeah, you're a rat in a wheel. So I just feel like we got to make better decisions where we live. Man. Can I just say that?

Yes, Ken. By the way, everything Jade said is spot on, and you can win with what— and you guys have had months where you should be winning with good budget, so she'll help you. But I also got to go, it shouldn't be that difficult. Maybe we should teach somewhere else. That's right. Just a thought.

This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Our scripture of the day comes from Proverbs 18.15. An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Our quote from Abraham Lincoln.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. Alright. Shots fired. Abe, dropping the wisdom. Of course, there's so many quotes out there from Abraham Lincoln. By the way, hold on. You just said shots fired. He was salty

in that quote. Too soon. Too soon. Too soon. He died by an assassin in for that's what i was just yes pardon the pun yeah he got shot in the back of the head jade listen i was about to say he was giving someone the smoke on that but that's probably that's the same thing i love that you were shots fired it took me a second it was like a delayed reaction for me, too. It wasn't on purpose. We apologize, Abe. Moment of silence.

Okay. All right. To John, we go in Detroit, Michigan. John, how can we help? How's it going? So the company that I work for is a union company, and I'm a part of the union as an employee. We're negotiating our contract right now, and things aren't going great, so there's the possibility that we may be going on strike. I'm on baby step two, and I know based on what I've heard from you guys

that maybe I should pause the baby steps and start saving cash for the possibility that I can't work, but I kind of don't want to do that. I want to keep the snowball rolling. Which tells me you've thought through this. So is there any kind of a stipend? I know I'm not super familiar on unions, but I know that many unions will have a fund for these type of labor negotiations. And so my question is, do you have that? What would that be financially? How much of that? I'm struggling. How much of a percentage of that would it be your normal pay?

Is that a pay cut? Walk us through that. Yeah, it's a huge pay cut. It'd be a very small amount of money, just a few hundred dollars a week for gas and groceries. So when you said, I don't want to pause the baby steps, I want to keep going, do you have a plan? Sounds like you do. Yeah, so what I was thinking was I was going to bump my credit card up from its current position and pay on that, and then worst case scenario, I do go on strike, I would have the liquid funds in the credit card if I know what did you really think no way no way John okay you're playing games let's let's talk about what we really could do because I I feel I feel what you're thinking

like I'm not gonna lie I get what you're thinking and like on some scale somewhere else it makes sense but on the Ramsey scale, it's bananas. So let's pull it back. My question for you would be, of course, I get it. You like you want to keep the baby step, you know, baby step to snowball rolling. You don't want to lose momentum. If you do go on strike, are you allowed to work another job or do you can you not do anything? I could work another job.

I would not get that stipend pay unless I'm Yeah, but the stipend pay is not. How much do you make? What's your take home? Our household income is around $58,000. What's yours then? $35,000. $36,000 of that is mine. And that's what I budget. I budget on the low end. We're kind of on the irregular income side. I'm on track to make $120,000 this year in the household. And what kind of work do you do that you would be possibly going on strike for? It's manufacturing and distribution. Okay.

Mike, what I would do if I were you is I would start researching other jobs that I could pivot to to make up, I mean, to make $36,000 a year. It's three grand a month. Yeah, that's three. I mean, you could get a, you could literally get a management position at Chick-fil-A and make that. Well, I agree with Jade here. I think your play here is to get aggressive.

Do you have an idea of the timeline as to when this strike would happen? No, I'm not certain. We're not meeting with the company again for another month. Yeah. I, without saying anything, I pay attention to stuff every day. I know what you're talking about. So this thing could, the can could get kicked down the road even a little further that it's going to be a month before they even start talking again. So I think you have, I think realistically, John, tell me if I'm wrong, I don't mind being wrong that you've got about 90

days, at least before anything were to happen in this scenario. Is that fair? Yeah. That's why I don't want to pause the baby steps. Nobody's telling you to. We're not talking about pausing the baby steps. We're talking about what do we do financially so that you can keep going in the midst of this strike? Because I think that's the issue. You could keep going on the baby steps if we have an income plan. So I think there's two things to look at. I'll pivot quickly from this. I would be asking myself, if I were in your shoes, how can I make three grand a month using my skill and experience in the Detroit area so that I can start doing that now and

I'm stacking that up? The second question I would be asking is, since it sounds like you budget really well, could you make it through a two or three month strike on your wife's income only? What's the answer to that? No. All right then. So now we know we got to focus on step one. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's all about having a income plan. But if he doesn't, should he pause the baby steps? I think he should. But why wouldn't he wouldn't he that's my thing like i don't think that not working for two months is an option i agree three months is an option i agree but i'm saying what i'm doing is i'm giving a full look at this thing so if he can't find the work i mean if he goes on strike then then we would tell him to do that i'm just saying fundamentally when we tell people to pause baby steps is a true emergency situation where you've got to just take care of business.

I mean, he's got- I don't think he's going to have to rely on that. You said he's got 90 days. So- I think so. I would say that if we're two months in and there's still not a plan of like what you're going to pivot to, then maybe stop and pile up some cash. But I don't want that to be an excuse. I don't want there to be any excuses

to not find this income. Does that make sense? So I don't want you moving the credit card in your debt snowball. Don't do that because that's going to tempt you. You've already been tempted to have that as your fallback plan. And I just want you to erase that.

You need to pull a straight up like Men in Black and just clear that from your memory of ever thinking. I like that reference. Of ever thinking. You know what I'm saying? I don't even want you thinking that the credit card could possibly be an option, John. Do you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, my only thought was that would be a liquid place that I could continue to pile money. Think about what you're saying. You've got to stop saying liquid. Think about what you're saying. Think about this now. You're so intent on wanting to keep moving forward in your debt snowball. If you're wanting to go forward, you cannot solve a problem while simultaneously creating it.

You can't get out of debt while still having debt as an option to lean back on. You'll never go forward. So keep the intensity on wanting to keep the debt snowball going. And the only way to do that is to say debt is not an option. And let me tell you something, John, when you do that, you will get so creative and you will start having ideas come out of the wazoo because you don't have a choice. Necessity is the mother of invention. And when you that's why i said it might be that that thought because when you do that okay i have no choice i have to provide for my family you will go out because i can tell you're a hard worker you will go out and do whatever it takes to bring money in for your family when you take the debt off the

table john what is your skill set uh equipment uh service i'm a service technician so mechanical work yeah yep my man okay I'm asking you straight up is there not a lot of stuff that needs fixing that you can fix in the greater Detroit area yeah there is it's just finding who wants me to go fix it John everybody sounds like there's some really nice money to be made. And what if, John, what if we start today, tonight, contacting people, putting the word out? What if, John, you make an additional three grand a month over the next three months and the strike doesn't happen? I like it. John, are you with me? I am. Yeah. You remember the old phrase? You sound like a guy who understands all these old phrases that they all make fun of me for saying on the show.

Remember the old take the bull by the horns? You know that phrase? Yeah, yeah. Come on, John. Grab that bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. I know that's right. Get after it. This strike should not be a blip on your radar screen

if you approach it that way. Do you agree with me? Hopefully it never happens. Hopefully it never happens. That's right. Who cares if it does? We got a plan. Jade and I just came up with a plan that doesn't matter if it happens or not.

And we're really excited about it. Well, I'm fired up. Let me tell you why I'm fired up. Because most of these strikes never last very long at all. It's too expensive. Yeah. So they'll happen, but they don't go very long. And if he has a plan for this, he ends up coming out on the positive side with cash.

True that. Which means we dump all of that right into the baby steps and we move on. John, thanks for the call. Jade Warshaw, thank you. Great show. Thanks for harmonizing with me. I've got to call my mom. She's going to be so proud.

James Childs, our fearless leader. Thank you, sir. This is The Ramsey Show.