The Ramsey Show - App - Whether You Think You Can or Think You Can’t, You’re Right (Hour 3)
Episode Date: November 10, 2021Relationships, Debt, Home Buying, Budgeting, Saving As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http...s://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE
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Live Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios,
it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage
has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.
I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Christy Wright, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling
author a couple times over, is my co-host today.
Her new book is a number one, Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance.
And her 2022 gold planner is on sale at RamseySolutions.com today as well.
Be sure and check us out here, the phone number, 888-825-5225.
Eric's in Phoenix.
Hi, Eric.
How are you?
How are you guys doing today?
Great.
What's up?
Hey, listen, Dave, the question that I have for you is my wife and I are very financially stable.
We are not in debt.
The only debt we have is our home.
We donate a lot of money to charities and try to be philanthropic and follow, you know, the path.
But my mom, I'm a single child from the product of a single mom.
And my stress is that, you know, she doesn't really have savings.
She still works at 78. She's an artist and they don't call them starving artists for
any other reason that they're starving. So the question that I have is, do you set money aside knowing you're going to have to help them? Do I scale back on giving to nonprofits
and my wife runs a food bank? So do we scale back on that and put money aside knowing that something
is, we'll have this in the future? And I don't know how far in the future, but at some point.
Yeah, this is hard.
I mean, this is one of those things where I like that you're asking the question, Eric,
because it shows that you want to be intentional.
And I would love to tell you that there's a formula of here's exactly how you handle
these family relationships and giving.
But that's more unique to each person, each family situation,
and even your values with you and your spouse.
One of the things that I think is good that you're thinking about in advance is, well,
let me ask you this.
Have you talked to your mom about her financial situation?
Have you talked to her about your concerns for her well-being and her ability to provide
for herself in the future?
Have you all had those conversations?
Yeah, but she's, you know, she's super proud,
independent person, and she would never ask for help. That's, it's not, it's not in her nature to do that. It's just, well, I'll just basically keep working until I die kind of thing. And
obviously, as, you know, an only child, that's not, you don't want to see that. You know what I mean? She, she deserves to, um, you know, set sail just like everybody else did or does. And there, you know,
my wife and I were in the finance world for a total of 47 years between the two of us. Um, I,
I'm very well prepared to have strong conversations and have, it's just a matter of getting your parent who you're still the child,
even I'm 53, you know, to listen to you.
It's that's, and then it becomes like more of a fight, you know,
it's really, it's, it's really weighs on me. Yeah. What's your,
what's your net worth?
Probably, but we're probably around maybe six million okay
here's what i would say if i were you i would go ahead and understand and accept
and expect that's what i meant to say expect that she's going to do what she wants to do
she's 78 she's going to do what she wants to do she's done what she's wanted to do her life
she's independent she's not going to have you tell her what to do.
You and your wife sit down and decide how much you want to contribute to taking care of her now or in the future.
And you just plan on it.
That's what I would do.
I would just, if I were you, pick a number.
And this could just be between you and your spouse and you don't even need it right now.
She's doing what she's doing.
But when the opportunity arises, when she needs it, then you're ready and prepared to take care of your single mom mother as the only child.
I can relate to you, Eric, in that sense that I feel a deep responsibility to my mom because I am an only child, and she's been by herself for decades.
And so I get that i think that that
to expect her to do anything then other than what she's done for 78 years is setting you and her up
for disappointment instead i would just decide she's going to do what she's going to do and i'm
going to decide with my spouse how much we want to contribute to taking care of her and when you
need to then you've got the money i don't know dave i don't know what the right answer is to
this that's what that's what my gut news in your situation is you're not going to have to help her enough that it's going to affect you at all.
You've done so well.
I mean, think about it.
I mean.
How much are you going to give her?
I mean, if you gave her $50,000 a year for 10 years, it doesn't change your life a bit.
Right.
You'd be fine.
I mean, you don't have to have a special fund to do that you got six
million dollars yeah well i still think of you know obviously we still have a lot of time before
we retire and yeah but we have two daughters that are getting ready to dude you got six million
dollars you're all right you're okay you're gonna be okay and you come out of the financial world
you understand that you're 53 and at 60 that's
going to be 12 million dollars yeah right and by the way she's only 85 at that point
and so you know the her life expectancy mathematically and the amount of money you
would if you set her up in fairly lavish lifestyle actually it isn't even going to show up all right
it's going to be fine now what you do need
where it is going to show up is in emotions and so you need to establish what emotions you're
going to have and your wife is going to have towards your mom and so if it happened at my
house it'd be the exact same kind of conversation it really wouldn't matter to us mathematically
we could support someone like that in that situation and
not even notice we're in a good you know we're in higher net worth than you so it wouldn't be a big
deal it's not a big deal for you you can do it now but what would matter is how sharon felt about it
that would matter a lot and that could cause a lot more trouble than the math
yeah she's my wife is far more level-headed than i i am we're i'm from back
east and i don't know how many people you know that have relationships like my mom and my
relationship i mean uh we're not italian but we might as well be as far as yeah you're you're
screaming when you're having a conversation yeah well i mean it's you know hillbillies cajuns
italians we all fight it's our love language. You know, so same thing.
I get that part.
But here's the thing.
I wouldn't worry about your mom.
I'm with Christy on that.
I don't think you're going to change her at this point.
She's setting her ways.
What I would have is a simple 10-minute conversation with your wife and say,
when we get the call and mom's going to start needing support, not if, but when.
I mean, the only way you won't get that call is if she passes away before she runs out of money.
Right?
Or energy to make money.
Otherwise, you're going to get this call.
So when we get this call, what is our annual budget for mom?
Both of you agree to that tonight over dinner.
It's a 10-minute conversation.
I think she can make it on $4,000 a month.
Okay, it's $48,000 a year.
We're going to commit to that when we get the call.
We're both okay.
We've already decided.
We're on one page.
Then mom's going to eventually wander around to the end of her art
and the end of her money, and you're going to have to feed her.
And it's not going to matter.
$48,000 a year when you've got $6 million, it's not spit.
That's the beautiful thing about walking these baby steps and becoming a millionaire.
Way to go, Nathan.
You're a hero.
You live like no one else.
Later, you can live and give like no one else.
Touchdown.
Eric.
Yes, Eric.
It wasn't Nathan.
That's all right.
I got you.
I'm right here. There you go. Here for you. Nathan, you're a hero, Eric. It wasn't Nathan. That's all right. I got you. I'm right here.
There you go.
Here for you.
Nathan, you're a hero too.
Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here.
I know this year has been crazy and a lot of you are super stressed about money.
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RamseySolutions.com and sign up for a free trial of Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show.
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Today's question comes from Cole in South Carolina.
I'm 18 years old and have an opportunity to buy a business for $85,000.
The owner wants $30,000 up front and will accept the
other $55,000 in monthly payments with little to no interest until unless I fail to pay on time.
I've saved $15,000 but I would have to get a loan for the other $15,000 to make the down payment.
Then I'd make monthly payments as I make money from the business itself. The business is seasonal
so it'd be during the summer while I'm not in college. The owner said that he makes between $20,000 and $35,000 a year
with the business. Does this sound like a good opportunity? I have so many follow-up questions.
No to the loan, obviously. No, you're not going to get a loan for this down payment for this
business, but I don't even know what this business is. I don't know what they're talking about. I don't know what the records show. What are you actually paying for? Is this
established client base and brand? Just no, Cole, no. I mean, based on what I know, no, because you'd
have to get a loan. But also, I just, I don't know. When people come, and Dave, I'm curious how you
vet this, because I hear people ask a similar question through the Business Boutique Academy.
Hey, I have an opportunity.
I have a business opportunity.
And a lot of times it's vague.
And they're just going to have to pay a bunch of money up front.
But there's not a lot of details.
That always is a red flag to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I got a bunch of red flags on this, too.
I agree with you.
Red flag number one is you're borrowing all of it, and you're going to get yourself in a pinch there.
Red flag number two is the owner makes between $20,000 and $35,000 a year with the business.
I don't think he does.
I think that's the profit, and he pays himself that.
So I don't think this business has any value.
Okay.
What do you want to bet?
Yeah, no, no, no.
I'll bet you that's what the guy makes.
Yeah, yeah.
And he wants to sell.
He doesn't own a business.
He owns his job.
Right, yep, yep.
Because if he owned a business, there's a profit after the owner is paid an operator's salary.
Yeah.
Okay?
And so if you pay, and this is summer.
So what is this?
It's a lawn care business.
Yeah.
Okay.
Guy's got a lawn care business.
He's making 30 grand on it.
And he wants to sell this 18-year-old kid his job.
And you're buying a job.
Yeah.
Which you could do on your own tomorrow for like $500 per hour. If you're going to make $30,000 a year, you could buy your own job. Yes. And you can do that for a lot less than $85,000. Yeah. Which you could do on your own tomorrow for like $500 per hour. If you're going to make $30,000 a year, you could buy your own job.
Yes.
And you can do that for a lot less than $85,000.
Yeah.
So, no.
Because I think that's what this is.
Yeah.
No, I wouldn't do it.
No, I wouldn't go in debt to do it.
No, I wouldn't buy a business that does not make a profit after the owner has paid a reasonable operator's salary.
And I'm guessing that operator's salary. Yeah.
And I'm guessing that that's what this is.
If it's lawn care, son, you could spend a whole lot less than the whole.
Take just the money you have in your pocket.
Go get a mower. And you can be in business and you'll make more than $35,000 and you won't have paid anything for it.
You know, it's so interesting.
You got to go out there and hustle up clients is all you got to do.
But that's the point.
I think it's so interesting because so many people.
Business in a box. That's what it is. I people uh business in a box that's what it is to be that's what it is they're just they feel like oh someone's gonna hand me this thing and i don't have to do anything no you're still gonna
have to do stuff but you could do that on your own and you could make a lot more money with little
to no startup costs you could start it tomorrow you could go get this clients and start your
start your own lawn care or whatever business, Cole, for virtually nothing.
And you could build this business and be making more than this guy is, most likely.
So the answer is do not do this deal.
Because I promise you some number of assumptions we're making in this are correct.
Some of them aren't, maybe.
But some of them are correct.
And I'm even going to go there.
Yes, I'm going to go there.
Ready?
Yeah, I'm ready.
You're 18.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You're 18.
Okay.
18-year-olds aren't stupid.
18-year-olds aren't a problem.
But you have zero life and business experience.
And walking out there and buying an $85,000 business with zero life and business experience and walking out there and buying an 85 000 business with zero
life and business experience means you getting ready to get your head chopped off boy that's
what's coming you're gonna get your head smacked and uh i'm sorry that sounds like ah dave doesn't
like young people dave's an old fart you know know, well, part of that's all true. But, you know, here's the thing.
Someone who has 20 years business experience sees business differently than someone who has zero business and life experience.
And that's not a slam on somebody because they're young.
That's not the point.
But the point is the younger you are on this kind of thing, by definition, the dumber you are on average.
Me too, by the way.
You're younger and you don't have the money.
So in summary, Cole, you're 18 years old, so you're young.
Number two, you don't have the money for this.
And number three, it sounds like it's a bad opportunity.
So no, no, and no.
Three times over, no.
Go get a job, son.
Go get a job.
Or start your own lawn business.
Whatever you want to do.
You're in college.
It's a summer job.
You're a hustler.
You're a grinder.
You're going to go do something good.
You're going to be fine.
But don't go $85,000 in debt to buy this guy's job.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Nathan.
There's Nathan.
There he is.
Nathan's a hero.
Nathan's in London, Ontario. Did you know you're a hero nathan i already called you hero once because i got the name wrong from the other
guy but anyway what's up man how are you i'm doing great how are you great hero what's up
um so i'm gonna be turning 22 this year and i have 21 000 saved in my savings. Way to go. I haven't invested it or done anything
with it and I'm going to be graduating community college pretty soon. Good for you. What's your
degree in? In the wintertime, electrical engineering technology. Wow. What are you
going to do after you graduate? Go on for further ed or are you going to go into the workplace?
Right away into the workplace. I'm pretty
uncertain if I want to go further ahead in education or not. So I'm just going to work
to make money to pay for university if I decide to go to it. I like you.
My question is, when should I start investing my money or start to save for a down payment for a house?
I'm just kind of pretty lost in what to do next in my life financially since I'm going to be graduating soon.
That's mainly my question.
Well, you have done a great job so far, sir.
You're way ahead of the typical guy out there your age.
You've done really smart.
Way to go.
Congratulations.
You are a hero.
See, I was right. There you go. I was a prophet that's right but uh so really cool so here's what we're going to do as soon as you step out of school let's start walking what we call our
baby steps have you ever heard christy and i talk about those yes okay so tell me what the first
thing you need to do is um get an emergency fund yeah are you you have no debt right yeah and then have no debt and then um
do you have any debt three to six no i do not have okay so you're already at baby step three
so three to six you got it right you dialed it in so we're going to set some of your 20 000 aside
as your emergency fund and then we're going to set some of it aside to start saving towards your
house and then you
can sit down with a smart investor pro or an investment advisor in your area we don't have
them in canada so you can find an investment advisor in your area that has the heart of a
teacher and you can um start your investing right maybe step four while you're saving for your house
all right any idea what kind of money you're going to be making?
It's about $78,000 a year.
I'm a pretty motivated person.
I think I have the drive to make more than that by going to university afterwards. But I'm kind of thinking about if I need a degree or not to actually make the money I'd like to.
So I'm just going to work for a year and see what I feel.
And you know what?
During that year, if you want to not do baby step four, not do retirement,
and instead pile up cash because we might want the money for a university move,
that would probably be a good idea because, honestly,
you're a better investment than a retirement account is.
And you're not sure right now.
You're not sure what you're going to do because you're young
and you're in transitional years of your life.
So, yeah, you can pile up money and then you can use it for college,
use it for university, use it for a house.
You'll have it for whatever you decide to do.
So cool.
Well done, sir.
Very well done.
This is The Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Tyson and Taryn are with us.
Hey, guys, how are you?
Great.
Good, how are you?
Better than I deserve.
Where do you guys live?
Amarillo, Texas.
Oh, welcome to Nashville.
Good to have you.
And all the way over here to do a debt-free scream, how much have you paid off?
$395,000 in six years.
Whoa, I love it. And your range of income during that six years?
I think we started at $92,000 and now up to $230,000. Cool. What do y'all do for a living?
I'm a critical care pharmacist and a professor at a school of pharmacy.
And I'm a substation electrician for a local utility there in Texas. Wow, both of you killing
it. Excellent. Excellent. So I'm guessing six years, $395,000 you paid off the house.
That's it.
Awesome.
Look at it, weird people.
Y'all are amazing.
How old are you two?
32 and 31.
With a paid for stinking house.
Yes, sir.
That's incredible.
Y'all are whack.
I love you.
You're amazing.
How much is this house worth?
We just had a realtor pull it.
It's now worth $430,000.
Amazing. Wow. And you now worth $430. Amazing.
Wow.
And you're 32 and?
31.
31.
32 and 31 years old.
Oh, my gosh.
That is so cool.
All right.
Tell me this six-year story.
What in the world?
How did you get plugged into Ramsey, and what did you do?
So I started listening to you on the AM radio when I was driving a tractor,
making $10 an hour, and saved up about $70,000.
I was actually planning on paying cash for a house.
And then I met this young lady who was in pharmacy school, which is not cheap.
Yeah, I had actually heard of you, but I hadn't really heard about the college stuff.
So I took out student loans to go to pharmacy school and that was a hundred thousand of that um so when we got married i started you know working at it while i was in
residency and then when we got married we chunked the 70 000 at it and then kept shipping away from
there so really the the rest of that was over six months and then the rest was the house so six
months you knocked out your debt yes sir and then you built your emergency fund, walked right up the baby steps.
Yes, sir.
And so you've been saving 15% while you're doing this?
Yes, sir.
All right.
Very well done.
Amazing.
So how much is in your retirement accounts?
I think right now it's over $200-ish.
Okay.
So you're going to be millionaires before you know it.
Yes, sir.
Almost there.
Yes, sir.
And you're 32 years old.
You're almost baby step millionaires already.
That's incredible.
I love these guys
that's incredible yeah very cool substation electrician and pharmacy critical care pharmacist
and professor yeah very well done i love it great great fields of work great stuff way to go you guys are so weird all right now how many people through the
last six years have told y'all how weird you are and how stupid you are and how off track you are
and you're crazy it's been about 80 of the people we know the other 20 are like what are you doing
and then they're the ones that are listening right now. Yeah. Yeah, we got made fun of a little bit during residency.
We actually used the envelope system with cash, so we got made fun of for that a little bit.
Yeah, good.
Yeah.
The people that made funny, you need to understand.
You're 32 years old with a paid-for house, and you're almost millionaires.
Shut up!
Yeah.
I love it!
Wow, pretty cool.
Wow, you guys are impressive.
Yes, sir.
And they seem so Wow. Pretty cool. Wow. You guys are impressive. Yes, sir. And they seem so calm.
I know.
So chill about the fact that they have a paid-for house and I'm almost millionaires.
Yeah.
So what do you tell people the secret is now that you've done this stuff and you paid off your house and you're rocking it?
For me, it was definitely the budget.
The envelope system was awesome and then we got plugged in with EveryDollar, and that just turned it on high drive.
If you can't find $10 extra in your budget to pay for the EveryDollar Plus, there's something wrong.
You're not using it right.
So that kicked it into high gear for us a lot.
Yeah, and I think for me, it's just knowing that you can do it no matter what your income is.
That sounds easy for us to say because we have really good incomes now. But when I started, I was making $40,000 as a resident, and I paid off a small car loan before we got married
and then started chipping away at the student loans.
And so it's really inspiring to hear all the other debt-free screams where they make less than us
and they paid off the same amount.
It just might take a little bit longer, but I think it's just kind of believing that you can do it
and having the discipline.
That's good.
Wow.
That's good. Well, the typical person, it and having the discipline. That's good. Wow. That's good.
Well, the typical person, it takes them two years to get through baby step two.
You did that in six months, and it takes them seven to eight years to pay off their home,
and you did that in five years and a half.
Absolutely amazing.
Yeah.
You guys are overachievers.
Also want to mention that we cash flowed two kids.
Our sons, Barron and Jacob, couldn't be here today, and number three is on the way. Congratulations. Also want to mention that we cash flowed two kids.
Our sons, Barron and Jacob, couldn't be here today, and number three is on the way.
Oh, congratulations.
Thank you all very much.
Very good.
Good for you guys.
Very good.
So very, very, very powerful.
So talk to someone who's getting criticized by their friends.
It's worth it.
It's 100% worth it it's 100 worth it uh being weird is is uh it's hard to do but it's the payoff is is big yeah during this five years you guys have been you've not been on beans and rice the whole
time you just for that six months right yes sir and then you've just been steady yes really it's
just being intentional and i mean we took a few trips, too.
We went to Ireland after we paid off the student loans and before we had kids.
And then we went to Disney World when we got to around $200,000 on the house.
So we've kind of done things along the way.
That's what you're supposed to do.
Yeah.
And $100,000, I think we went to New York.
So setting those milestones was really important for us as well.
Celebrating along the way.
Yes, absolutely.
Very cool.
Very cool.
All good trips.
This is a marathon.
This is a marathon this is a marathon
not a sprint so that's good once you get past that baby step three then you get go from intense to
intentional and you so those of you that are yolo and you're like i don't want to live on beans and
rice my whole life shut up your little immature whining they didn't they went to freaking ireland
okay so just just just just to put the whiners to rest out there.
You guys are awesome.
I just love you.
Absolutely fabulous.
Incredible, incredible, incredible.
Well, we got a copy of The Legacy Journey for you.
That's the next step in your process.
And we're so proud you're about to be Baby Steps Millionaires right on your way.
Just following them right along and right on schedule.
Very well done.
Copy the Total money makeover.
You can give away to one of the naysayers or to somebody who you're cheering along now.
Either one.
Whatever you need to do there.
Use it how you want.
It's for you to gift away and to pay it forward with.
Pretty incredible couple.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Rock stars.
Tyson and Taryn Amarillo, Texas.
$395,000 paid off in six years.
That's their house and everything.
32 and 31 be millionaires in about 20 more minutes.
Make it 92 to 230.
Count it down.
Let's hear a debt-free scream.
Three, two, one.
We're debt-free!
We're debt-free!
And they're going to put the Nashville out of it and not bad at all that's another milestone very good way to go you guys i gotta tell you uh if you're 52 you can do this too if you're 62 you can do
this too but it is particularly cool when someone let let's see, if they're 32, they started six years ago.
So they started at 26.
And, I mean, mathematically, they should be millionaires literally in probably 24 to 36 months.
Yeah.
That's about where they'll be.
Yeah.
And so by the time they're 35, we'll just put it at that.
And, see, this is what you can do.
Well, not in America today.
There's systemic economic problems.
That's because you're a socialist if you say stuff like that.
So there's not systemic economic problems.
There's systemic problems when people like this are heroes who overcome them.
There's systemic every kind of problem out there.
It's called the human race.
They can screw up Christmas.
But then you run along and
find a hero like this it says in spite of the challenges in spite of naysayers in spite of
someone saying i'm weird i can still do this and it turns out you believing you can is one of the
biggest factors yeah that's that's the first step and i want to connect it back to a call we had a
little while ago of of someone asking why should i pay off the home early and then we had another call of hey we want to take
care of our aging you know mother-in-law it's like when you pay off the home early when you're
completely debt free when you become a millionaire so that you can do whatever you want to you can
go to ireland you can take care of your mother you can you can give generously there is a so that to
this it's not to pay it off just to pay it off. Yes, that's wonderful.
But it frees you to do whatever you want to do the rest of your life with all of your money.
And I think people miss the why afterwards sometimes.
And think about these guys with little kids.
They got little kids.
Yes.
And money.
Yes.
Yeah.
Little kids and money.
I mean, you can do stuff with little kids.
Yeah.
Most people, when they're raising little kids, are starving to death. And the little
kids endure that part of the life. But
these people got money with little kids.
That's a different thing. I mean, that's
a Disney fast pass.
It's a different kind of experience.
A different kind of life.
This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. our scripture of the day john 10 10 the thief comes only to steal and destroy i have come that
they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Albert Einstein said, weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Oh, I have not heard that out of his mouth.
That's a good one.
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
You know, I'm doing some writing, and one of the things I was just writing about was belief.
And in that Everyday Millionaire study, we found that 97% of the 10,000 millionaires that we studied, that's all of them, okay?
It's almost 100%, said that they believed that they largely control their own destiny in today's America.
And we did the same survey with the general public, and only 61% said they believe they largely control their own destiny.
Oh, wow.
And it's a simple thing.
It's not a matter of positive thinking solves everything.
Right.
Because I do believe that if you think positively, that's a good thing,
versus thinking
negatively glass half better than i mean abundance is better than scarcity these are kinds of basic
ideas but but you can't i can't positive think myself into being in the nfl i'm 61 and i'm not
going to play in the nfl no matter how much positive thoughts i've had so that's ridiculous you can't but but i but the concept of believing that i can do something and and the old motivator
earl nightingale used to said what i can conceive and believe meaning i i understand it and and i
can see how it's going to work and therefore i believe it then i I can achieve it. I can do it. And so if you believe the lies in the political landscape
that all rich people inherit their money, which is a lie, most don't,
if you believe that, the little man can't get ahead.
If you believe that because you're a race, a certain race,
you can't overcome those obstacles of racism. Racism is real. If you believe that because you're a woman, you can't overcome those obstacles of racism racism is real if you believe
that because you're a woman you can't overcome sexism sexism is real if you believe that whatever
your thing is your barrier is is greater than your ability to overcome it therefore the you do not
have the opportunity to do it you can't do it then you've established yourself as a victim
of that ism of that barrier that lack of belief causes you to do zero towards going to win right
so 100 of the time the lack of belief causes you to not win well and it's interesting because when
i've talked about this before either in my content on building confidence or even like my fear talk at Business Boutique
and that type of thing is,
and I use the classic Henry Ford quote
of if you think you can or you can't, you're right.
But what we're really breaking this down to is
if you don't believe it's possible,
whatever it is, building wealth,
getting ahead in your career, starting your business,
if you don't believe that it's possible,
then you won't try.
And then you don't. But it's not because it you won't try. And then you don't.
But it's not because it wasn't possible.
It's because you didn't take action, which started in your beliefs.
And so I always, you know, you and I both have told the story of the four-minute mile.
The fascinating part about the four-minute mile is not that John Landy or not that Robert
Bannister, Roger Bannister broke it.
It was that six weeks later, it was broken by John Landy.
It was broken two more times that year, and it's been broken 500 times since.
High schoolers run four-minute hops.
What had never been done is now the standard because people saw that it was possible.
And so it really does come down to believing something's possible, even if you haven't seen it,
because you will begin to take action in the direction of making it happen.
You'll find a way to make it work.
You'll find ways around the obstacles.
You'll come up with creative ideas
because you believe it's possible.
If you don't, then why in the world
would you put effort and energy
into something that's impossible?
It's insane to do that.
It's insane to put effort and energy
and sacrifice for something
that's completely impossible.
That's going nowhere.
That's completely impossible. And's going nowhere. It's completely impossible.
And so that's what's evil and dangerous about these people peddling the idea
that the little man can't get ahead.
The idea that it's impossible to prosper in America today with the current
systems.
So the systems are all broken.
Why do you think that's so popular and so prevalent?
Why is that? Because it gives me an excuse to lose yeah gives me an excuse to quit
and i didn't really have the energy and the courage and the backbone and the intestinal
fortitude to get up off my assumptions and go do something and uh and and so if you want to be
a couch potato now you've got a now you've got a narrative couch potato, now you've got a narrative.
You've got an excuse.
You've got a narrative that makes it okay.
Because, well, I'm such and such, and people like me, you know, they don't win.
And the problem with your theory when you've got that narrative is there's people like you that have one.
Yeah, yeah.
That have already proven your narrative wrong.
Yeah.
Or it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It does if you, that's my point is it's not the power of positive thinking it is the power of belief
because belief says i don't know exactly how i can get there but i can see that if i save 15
percent of my income if in good growth stock mutual funds how that's going to turn into a
million dollars that's a mathematical thing i can see how that's going to happen and so i'm going to do that i can see how if i pay extra on my house
when i'm 32 i'm going to have a paid for house in amarillo texas as an electrician and substation
and my wife's a pharmacist you know i mean i can see how i'm going to be able to do that
and and when you can conceive it see it then you start taking the action. And then when all the naysayers start coming at you, you're like, you guys can't do math?
Yeah.
I mean, what's wrong with you people?
Yeah.
You can't do math?
Because you don't have some kind of false belief.
It's not some kind of puffed up dreamland Skittles and Rainbows thing.
Right.
It's based on a reality.
Right. right it's it's a based on a reality right and it's like you know the first time i ever ran five
miles without stopping i knew i could do 13 yeah and when i did nine i knew i could do a full
marathon yeah and once i did a couple of 13 halves i really knew i could do a full yes and there's
something powerful in that.
When you do something hard, you do something new, you do something you've never done before,
where the result is you surprise yourself.
And at the end of that five miles, your natural thought is, what else can I do that I'm not
aware of?
And you start dreaming bigger dreams and going for bigger goals.
And you go, well, I can do a half marathon.
Well, I can do a full marathon.
There's something so powerful in pushing yourself outside your comfort zone
where the result is you surprise yourself.
I didn't know I could do that.
What else can I do that I'm not aware of?
That experience you just described is so powerful
in moving people into doing things they never thought they could do,
becoming a millionaire, running a marathon.
Atomic habits and some of these other pieces of research that are out there um and deloney could probably chime in on this big time there's
something about our spirits our psychology our emotions our spiritual walk um even our intellect
that once it is stretched to a certain point it cannot return to the same shape that's good
because you know the second million they always say it's easy
to make second million than first why i know i can do it i've already done it that's right i mean
you know first i mean i i'd be highly disappointed if i went out to run a half marathon now if i
didn't complete it right i mean and i'm not in training for one right now i'm not gonna go do it
but i mean i i've run i don't know 20 25 of those things and and if i set out and did the training exercise if i didn't i've never not
completed one right and it wouldn't it just doesn't occur to me but the first time right
i thought i was gonna die yeah and i and i knew i was crazy about the ninth mile yeah and there's
a whole bunch of crazy people around me doing the same thing running this race you know but but then when i finished i'm like it wasn't long before
your brain starts going i think i'm gonna do this again that's right i'm gonna do this again
because you've had the success the brain craves traction and you you know you never reach the
point that you go i can't do it again right because you know because you've done it that's
what that's what builds confidence.
People think that confidence is this feeling.
It's a certain gene people are born with.
I'm like, no.
It really comes down to courage
where you act courageous.
You do it scared.
You push yourself outside the comfort zone.
You do that first half marathon.
Once you survive it, because you will,
well, then you have proof and go,
well, I can do that.
So I know I can do it again.
Your second one, you're confident
approaching that second one because you have proof you've done it before.
But it started with just trying, just putting yourself out there and being courageous.
And after a while, you're like, when I first walked on my first stage as a public speaker, I was scared out of my mind.
Now I'm confident.
It's through the experience of doing it.
It doesn't occur to you that you won't be able to do a good message.
And so belief does matter. through the experience of doing it. It doesn't occur to you that you won't be able to do a good message. Yeah. Yeah.
And so belief does matter.
Yeah.
So you can be a baby steps millionaire.
You can start from wherever you,
whatever your dysfunctional screwed up background,
whatever obstacles you've got.
I know they're there.
I know they're real.
I'm not saying they're not real.
I'm saying you can do it anyway.
So get after it.
That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books.
We'll be back with you before you know it.
In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace,
and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.
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