The Ramsey Show - App - You Can Make Good Money AND Do Work You Love (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: Doing work you love AND making good money, Quitting a job that's paying worker's comp, When to go to flight school, When to buy a house and how much house to buy, Avoiding squandering an inheritance. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET 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

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🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Bots Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Campbell, joined this hour by my good friend, Mr. Ken Coleman, and we are excited to take your calls at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life, your money, your work, how it all connects. And Ken is especially excited to take those work calls, especially passionate about those, because too many people in America, Ken, are frustrated with their careers, frustrated with their incomes, and you give them hope every single day. Well, that's right. You know, you're not limited. You are not limited to a good job, to an average job. You're not limited financially. You still live in the greatest economic engine the world has ever produced. And so we want to encourage you and equip you to get there. You can make a change if you're in the baby steps. You can. It's possible. So when we're together,

it's always fun because we can talk about money and work. And as Dave has said for decades, your income is your greatest wealth building tool. So you want to increase your income. You got questions around that. I'm your guy. And it's always good to be with you. We're fresh off of the plane. That's right. Incredible crowd last night in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Building Wealth Live. We were there.

We just got in. Came straight from the airport here because we're the hardest working men in show business. That's right. Take that, Dr. John. That's just how it is. There it is. We had a good time. About 5,000 of them out there.

And the people in Minnesota are just salt of the earth. Very nice people. The kindest, warmest people. Well, they're happy to be inside. Let's be honest. 000 of them out there and the people in minnesota are just salt of the earth very nice warmest people well they're happy to be inside let's be honest it's cold out there i mean it was 60 degrees uh uh the the day before and it got down into the 40s and then we woke up this morning walked outside to get in the car 28 degrees no thanks happy to be back here in tennessee yeah taking your calls. All right, let's get to the line. Sebastian kicks us off in Chicago. Sebastian, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you doing today? We're doing great. How can we help? Yeah, so I've been kind of floundering around trying to figure out what to do with my life,

and I think I've boiled it down to a fundamental question. Do I do something for a cause that I can get behind, but I don't really enjoy the daily work of, or do I do something that I enjoy the work of, you know, daily, but I would have difficulty getting behind the purpose of, and I'm generally a purpose driven person. So I kind of, I think I would struggle with doing just a job I merely enjoy, but wouldn't really be able to get behind. And then the last few days, I have kind of like maybe narrowed it down to something that I can get behind both. But I've also like changed my mind a lot.

So I don't know if that's certain. Yeah. Well, if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's you are uncertain, my friend. Oh, thank you. Yeah. That's okay. It's okay. We're going to help you with that.

So I want to know this idea where you say you could do both because that's okay. It's okay. We're going to help you with that. So I want to know this idea where you say you could do both because that's what I teach. And you've created a false choice. Do something that the work itself I enjoy, but the results of the work don't connect to my values or do something where the values, the results of the work connect, but I don't enjoy the work. That's a false choice. I actually teach that we as humans are on purpose doing what we were created to do when we use what we do best to do work we love to produce results that matter to us. So what's this third idea, this idea you've been kicking around where you think you can do both? Do the work you love and connect to the results. What is it? Yeah, it'd be like a university professor of government philosophy and economics. Okay, tell us why that would be work that you love. Focus on the work itself. Okay, like the daily in and out. Yeah. What about that job as being a professor of government would be work that you love?

First of all, I love teaching people things. It's something I'm passionate about. I'm also phenomenal at studying. That's what I did throughout my own university career. So I'd also have the opportunity to study myself and then teach others and engage them in a way that would really challenge them to think. Like I could go and teach something like math, which is probably what I enjoy the most, but it's not something that I could really like get behind. But something with government and economics, you have the opportunity to shape young minds

and challenge others to think about the way that society is constructed. Think about the way that society is constructed. Think about the way that governments are set up. And ask the question, is what we're doing the best way for the people? And that's especially because I've seen and I've been to other countries where it's just a mess. Okay, so you answered my next question, which is what results, what are the values that that position would allow you to connect with, and you just went ahead and answered that. So if you look at what I just said to you, when you use what you do best to do work you love

to produce results that matter to you, you're on fire, you're on purpose, and you experience extreme fulfillment. And so those three elements are talent, passion, and mission. I'm using my talent to perform my passion to accomplish my mission. Does that make sense to you? Using my talent to perform my passion to accomplish my mission. It's a yes or no question. I'm going to say it again.

It's as simple as it gets, my young friend who wants to teach. If I use my talent to perform my passion to accomplish my mission, does that make sense to you? That makes sense. All right, then. Does the college professor of government and economics allow you to do that, yes or no? And this is something that is like, I think so. You're so close. What do you mean you think so?

What do you mean you think so? No, no, no. Now, here's where the problem comes in. You're thinking instead of feeling. I'm not saying that's the only job for you where you can do that. But if we look at college professor of government economics, we have to run it through that grid. It doesn't mean it's the only job for you, but it allows you to go, could I do that? Well, would I enjoy it?

And would it produce results that matter to me? What's the answer? Yes or no? I guess it's the best thing that I've come across so far. You know, the answer is yes or no. Would that job allow you to fulfill? I'm not saying you got to choose it. I'm saying, would it meet the requirement? yes or no. Would that job allow you to fulfill? I'm not saying you got to choose it. I'm saying, would it meet the requirement?

Yes or no? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. Just say yes for a second. Then I'm going to lead you further. Yes or no? Sure. Yes.

All right. Now, what we have to do is we say, okay, that one seems to check all the boxes, but I'm going to go do the work of clarifying and verifying. And here's what that means. You need to actually spend some time with a college professor. Coffee, lunch, talk to them, learn everything about the ins and outs of that job. The good, the bad, George, the ugly. And when you do that, Sebastian, that will then allow you to go ding, ding, ding, or does that make sense? Yes or no? That makes sense. All right.

See, now we're not so locked up, right? Yeah. You don't have to get off this phone call and choose college professor, but I gave you a process by which you can know with tremendous clarity and confidence that this is what I want to do. That's been your jam. You've been all stuck on uncertainty, and I just gave you a process. So go spend time with college professors. And if it's a no, then we keep using that purpose statement plan. Let's give him, by the way, the get clear assessment. Hang on the line, Sebastian. We're going to give you a tool. Let's give him, by the way, the Get Clear assessment. Hang on the line, Sebastian. We're going to give you a tool. It's going to give you a great high-level job description. It's called the Get Clear assessment. More of your calls coming up. 888-825-5225.

This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Ken Coleman this hour, and we are here for you, America. Give us a call at 888-825-5225. Fallon joins us up next in Fresno, California. Fallon, welcome to the show. How are you doing? I'm great. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, what's going on? So I am currently on workers' pump. I'm a surgical assistant and I got hurt. Before I got hurt, I was looking for another job. It is just, I love what I do, but the culture, the environment, I'm just, I wasn't very happy there. I have gone on an interview and actually have an opportunity to take a position,

but I'm still on workers' comp. So do I put in my two-week notice? Do I get off? I don't know what to do now. Well, are there any terms that say you can't put in your two weeks while you're on workers' comp? No, there's nothing like that. They put me on light duty, but the light duty that I have just coincides with working as a surgical assistant, but it doesn't coincide with this new job that I applied for and got the offer for. So what's the start date of the new job? I didn't tell them the new job that I'm on disability. And I just said, you know, can I get at least give them a two week? So I have two weeks to kind of figure this out and I want to go out respectfully. I don't

are you able to burn any bridges? No, I get it. Are you able to start this new job in two weeks or are you still disabled? No, I'm fine. I can. Well, this is a non-issue. Something and pop my shoulder out. Well, then you shouldn't be taking workers' comp if you're fine, and you should resign, and you should resign well. So you should put your two weeks in. I'm not even sure I understand really the heart of your question, if I've got the details right. Are you worried you're going to lose the workers' comp by taking the new job?

No, I'm worried because I had a doctor's appointment today. I tried to get off workers' comp, and they said give it another week. So I'm trying. I've been trying to get off, and they keep telling me, well, you know, you can't grasp or grip anything. I'm like, but I can. Who's they? Who's the doctors?

The doctor, the workers' comp doctor. Mind you, the same doctor hasn't looked at me in the eye the past four weeks I've been in there. Okay. So, all right. Thank you for the same doctor hasn't looked at me in the eye the past four weeks I've been in there. Okay. So, all right. Thank you for sharing that. So, this is very simple. Fallon, you're in charge.

You go in today. Today's Friday. I'd give my two weeks today. They'll decide on the workers' comp. It's not up to you. But you don't need workers' comp. If the workers' comp doctor is not looking you in the eye and whatever nonsense is going on there none of that's relevant to what you should do you're ready to

start this new job in two weeks yes or no yes yes is there an underlying fear of taking this new job and putting your two weeks honestly i think it's more of a like internal like i haven't told anybody i'm looking for a job and i've been using so is it guilt on workers comp i've been using yeah kind of why i i mean what are you guilty of tell me tell me something that you've done wrong i mean i even asked for when i was working i asked for a day off so that I could go have an interview with another job. Like, I just feel bad. Okay. I just feel like it's not, I'm not having the integrity that I do have, but I hate the position I'm in right now.

Did you do something, did you do something ethically or morally wrong when you asked for the day off? Was it a paid day off, paid vacation? Yeah, I did a PTO. Was it part of your package? Yes. Yeah. Did you do anything morally or ethically or legally wrong? No.

All right then. The right thing to do is to quit with honor today and be kind and say, hey, here's the deal. I found another job that's just much better for me and appreciate this opportunity. And I'm giving you my two weeks notice. You're a good person, but you're worried about something you shouldn't worry about. Okay. And Fallon, there is more integrity in you leaving well than in you staying at a place where your heart is left. Right. And your body needs to go with it now. And so I know it hurts. It's like a breakup when you leave a job. There's people that you care about there. They've treated you well for

the most part, it sounds like. And so the guilt is coming from the sense of I owe them something because they gave me a job. Correct? Yeah, that's exactly it. Right, so what I'm telling you is, you've done nothing wrong. That's why I walked you through those questions. You just said you've done nothing wrong. So therefore, a person who has done nothing wrong should not be guilty. What's really happening is you're worried

about what they're going to say about you or think about you, but you've got to choose your future and your life and not worry about what people are going to say about you. Am I right? Yeah, that's true. I know. And as a fellow people pleaser, it is easier said than done.

Yeah, it is. I'm a people pleaser too, but I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to choose a better life as opposed to worry about giving everybody the greatest impression. Well, I'll tell you what it turns into, Ken. It turns into resentment when it sits too long. Yeah, resign today. Okay. Yeah. That's what I'm doing then. That's resign instead of resent. Yeah. See? Happy to help out. You can hear the relief on her.

Oh, we just, the weight on her shoulders, Ken. It was a lot. Yeah. She's a good person, and I get that. Absolutely. All right. Let's go on to Atlanta, Georgia. Brayden joins us there. Brayden, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you doing? Doing great. How can we help today? Yes, sir. So I'm 20 years old.

I'm looking to enroll in flight school, and the flight school that I'm looking at is going to be $65,000. And I'm curious if it would be better to take out a loan right now and go ahead and do it or to get a job and try to save up over three or four years to save the money and then pay it off and then go to the flight school then? I think you know the answer, Brayden, don't you? What does your heart say to do? Do it now. And what does your mind say to do?

Are they saying different things? Is that where this tension's coming from? Yes, in a way. What are you doing right now? Like, in my life? Yeah. I have a part-time job at my church, and then I do DoorDash on the side. Okay.

Yeah. But have you always had this dream of flying? For the past couple years. Awesome. Well, you called into our show, and we'll give you our opinion, and that is to wait and cash flow it, because when you go to flight school and take loans out to do it, it's going to be a burden that's going to hold you back. It's going to hold you down.

Okay. But when you do it with cash, number one, I think it's going to accelerate the dream because you really want this, which means you're willing to do whatever it takes to cash flow. If we say, hey, debt is off the table and the only way you can fly is if you pay cash for this flight school, would you be able to do it faster than three or four years? It's $65,000. so i don't know maybe i think yes the answer is yes if you are willing to wait and to put this out there say i'm going to cash flow it you watch your intensity increase you go get yourself a really good full-time job that's making way more money than

you're making at your church and doordash and all of a sudden we accelerate this plan. The more you want it, the faster you'll go get it. This is a fact. Okay. So you're working part-time at the church. Could you get a different full-time job that pays more? Yes, probably. Okay. And so that would be my next step is how do we increase income

so that this isn't a four-year journey and instead it's a two-year journey. And by the way, I'm still getting experience along the way and maybe I can start the program once I know I can cash flow the remainder of it yeah and I and I've got another suggestion I'd get a different full-time job that makes way more I don't even care if it's related to anything you love in fact even if you hate it a little bit it's probably good because it'll make you even more fired up to get out of that but I also recommend that you have a part-time job working in a private airport or at the airport. Get in the industry. It's the proximity principle.

I wrote an entire book on this. I'm going to give it to you as my gift today. So we'll put you on hold here in a second and give you that book. You need to be in that world creating connections which will lead to opportunities so that when you finally get that final qualification, you should have a gig waiting on you. Man, we are pumped for you, Brayden. Hang on the line. We're going to get you the proximity principle. We'll send that over to you and wish you the best. But I'm telling you, man, you talk to anyone who has taken out student loans for the dream and the dream starts to fizzle because now they have to pay someone at the end of every month, regardless of whether they finish the program or not.

And it really taints this dream that you once had of flying. And when you do it with cash, man, you're going to rest easy, and you're going to be flying high, all puns intended. Thanks for the call. This is The Ramsey Show. Are you sick of planned obsolescence? You know, when companies make products crappy so you have to buy more of their crappy products? Well, me too.

And it's why I love companies like Grip6. Grip6 is all about quality products meant to last forever. That's why their comfortable, bulk-free belts, slimline wallets, and lightweight wool socks all come with a lifetime warranty and simple returns and exchanges. So check them out at Grip6.com today and get up to 20% off with the promo The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined this hour by the host of The Ken Coleman Show. You guessed it. Ken Coleman himself is here with us.

We're taking your questions about life, money, work, the pursuit of happiness, the American dream, you name it. Yes. Ken, I love that. Well, you just mentioned the American dream, and I think we need to point out that that dream is still intact because of our men and women who have served us and protect that freedom to pursue happiness. And here it is Veterans Day. So I just, I don't know. When you said that, I thought, well, let's just thank those men and women who have served us,

because that is a huge sacrifice. So thank you all. Yes. We are so blessed by our servicemen and women out there sacrificing for our country every day. And one of them is in the booth with us, our very own Austin on the phones. That's right. All the phone screening today is that veteran himself. You know what? I'm very grateful. I'm going to salute him through the glass.

I don't know if that's the proper angle. Thank you, Austin. But there it is. Thank you, sir. All right. Let's get back to the phones. Carter joins us in Richmond, Virginia up next. Carter, welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks for having me. How are you guys? We're doing great. What's going on with you? So I'm 19. I graduated high school last year. I'm not planning to go to college, and this year I'll plan to make about $40,000 with my job I'm in right now. I'll make about $30,000 doing contracting and about $10,000 on a side hustle. Do you mind, Carter? I just want to brag on you because that's really good money for a 19-year-old.

What kind of contracting are you doing? We do house remodels, additions, things like that. Great. So you went straight out of high school into that, huh? Pretty much, yep. You enjoy it? Oh, I do. Yeah, it's great.

Yeah. You're going to make a lot of money, aren't you? Yeah, we do. All right. Sorry, I selfishly took over the call there. No, that's great. I'm sending a little subtle message to parents across America there. Go ahead, sir, with your question. I'm just wondering, with that experience and getting there,

I would really like to buy and flip a house and have it for myself here. But I'm just wondering, is it too soon for me to be able to buy? Am I going to be able to get approved for a loan, or do I need to wait? So how long? I'm trying to get married in probably about three years or so, two, three years. So I'm not sure if I should wait until after that to buy a house, but I'd love to buy a house and be able to fix it up and then be able to get married and move into it.

Well, I love your drive. I love that you have these kinds of goals at 19 years old, and I think you're going to get there. So how much money do you have currently saved? Really not much. I just had to buy a car with cash, so that kind of took away the savings I had for that. So I'm just now kind of starting to get back and trying to save a lot for that. How much? I'm from Virginia and I lived in Richmond for a year, so I'm just now kind of starting to get back and trying to save a lot for that. How much? I'm from Virginia, and I lived in Richmond for a year, so I'm just curious how big of a house and how much are you thinking? I'm not big, probably $1,000 to $2,000 at the very most.

In the area I'm at, there are plenty for sale right now around that for about $200,000 to $300,000 in a great area. I live with my parents right now, and I'm looking kind of in the area where we're at. And yeah, so probably about $200,000, about, I don't know, 1,200 square feet. Yeah. Well, I think you're onto something here, having much more focused goals. And that's what we teach when it comes to goal setting, is we want it to be specific, measurable, in writing yours. And you're doing that by saying, three years from now,

I want to purchase a $250,000 house. How much do I need to be saving to be able to put down to qualify for the loan? And we have very specific parameters that I think there's a lot of wisdom to it. And that is don't do anything but a 15-year fixed rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. And what's great is that helps dictate how much down payment you need to have. So for some people, that might be 50%. For some, it might be 20%. For some, it might be 10%. But I think a guy as young as you who's already so successful,

I would aim for 20% on a $200,000 house at least, and your income is going to go up over the next three years. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. I think the cap is with my current employers about 50,000 a year. What's the cap about? 25,000. He just, my boss told me that with the work and stuff, I can't make more than $25 an hour. Interesting. Okay. Well, I mean, that may be true. I mean, you know, he gets to decide that.

That's the free market. But you're not capped. You may be capped in that job, but you are not capped, my friend. You know that. Yeah. So I... Yeah, so that's why I'm trying to pick up these side hustles here, doing handyman and other things to be able to make up that extra, you know, 10%, 20% a year. That's great. You keep that up for another three years. I would wait until

you're married if that's on the horizon in the next three years, because you need that time to save up anyways. Okay. And so I would jump on a ramsaysolutions.com. You can use our mortgage calculator and that will help dictate exactly what your down payment goal is. So you have something to aim for over the next three years. And that will also fuel you what your down payment goal is so you have something to aim for over the next three years. And that will also fuel you in your side jobs and your work you're doing every day. And, you know, with putting a ring on it and getting married, what an exciting time for you. Yeah. You feel good about this, Carter?

I think so. I think so. And one other clarifying question. If I need to have, you're saying 20% down of the total house or 20% of my income? That would be of the purchase price of the home. Okay. Of your income, it would be 25% of your take-home pay. So after you pay Uncle Sam, whatever's left of that, 25% should be allocated to that mortgage payment at the most. And so if that payment is looking like 35%, 40%, you don't have enough margin to do other things like invest and save up for a car and have fun and go on vacations. And let's not forget, Carter, you want to fix this thing up.

So you're going to buy something that's got more value once you put your blood, sweat, and tears into the house. So George is absolutely right. Waiting longer is okay because you're always going to be able to get something like that, number one. Number two, you're not married yet. That's off in the distance. And you can save up easily the $40,000 on a $200,000. That gives you your 20%.

You need to save up more, in my opinion, because that gives you the cash that you need to come in and fix it up. And you knowing what the prices are of materials, you doing a lot of the work yourself, or you've probably got some buddies who are tradesmen who may be specialists. They come in. I mean, I know how this works. So you need some extra cash

to get the house where you want it so that when your new wife comes in, you carry her across the threshold. He probably doesn't even know what that is. Threshold. You know, it's a much better house. So patience is the play here, you know? Yeah.

And with the current market, though, that things are kind of not stale, I guess, yet. But you don't think I should go now, but I should wait a while. No, you don't have the money now. George just walked you through that. And never try to time the market, because truthfully, we don't know what it's going to do, and so I'd much rather have this piece under my control

and go, when I can financially afford this to where it's a blessing and not a curse, that's when I'm ready to buy a house, regardless of what the market is doing. And that's a very freeing feeling, because you're not stressed thinking about what's going to happen with the market six months from now. What if I got a bad deal because six months later it went down?

I could have got a better deal. Man, with your skill set, you're going to find a deal on a fixer-upper that people passed on, and you're going to turn that thing into a beaut in no time. Oh, look at that. I love it, George. I love when you go all northern on us. That's a beaut.

It's a beaut, Clark. And bada-bing, bada-boom, he's got a house in no time. Bada-boom. But, Carter, I love when you go all northern on us. That's a beaut. That's a beaut, Clark. And bada-bing, bada-boom. He's got a house in no time. Bada-bing, bada-boom. But, Carter, I love the energy. Ken, I love young people who have this level of maturity and drive. I was trying to stay out of the way and let you help the young man,

but I just want to brag on him and, again, paint another picture for American parents and kids. For 40 or 50 years, we've been shoved a marketing message from culture coming from the federal and state governments and higher ed has been shoving a message down our throats that college is the only way to success. And you got kids like Carter who doesn't want to darken the door of college. He doesn't need to go to college. And thankfully, he didn't go to college. What did he do? He went to work. And he's good at it. And he's 19. And he's calling us. He just paid cash for a car. And I would say the majority of his 19-year-old friends in that Richmond, Virginia area have gone to school. And they're borrowing money to get a degree they can't use and don't want to use. But here's an alternative. A tradesman at 19.

I'm tired of people looking down their nose at the trades and parents being embarrassed to say, my kid didn't go to college. He went to work. And that's a good thing. I love this story. Let's skip the name brand school to get the philosophy degree so that parents can feel good about themselves.

And yet the kid has no job opportunity at the end of that. They're strapped with student loan debts and going, wait, you guys screwed me over. You lied. And we've got to stop this, and it starts with the parents. You're so right, Ken. More of your calls coming up on The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Well, folks, it is Veterans Day, and today we want to celebrate and honor all of you who have served in our military. So get this. If you're listening today and you're a veteran, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your service and for your sacrifice.

And on Monday, we announced we are giving away Financial Peace University for free to 1,000 veterans. But so many of you reached out that we decided to do it again today. So here's the deal. If you are a veteran, just go to ramseysolutions.com slash veterans. You'll fill out one simple form and our team will reach out to you and help you get set up with Financial Peace University for free. Reminder, we're doing this just for today on Veterans Day for up to 1,000 veterans right now. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash veterans and get Financial Peace University for free. And again, from all of us, from Ken Coleman and I, from the entire Ramsey Solutions team, thank you so much for serving our country.

By the way, more good news for veterans. I just saw this today. We're now seeing a trend with companies are reaching out to veterans and aggressively looking to hire veterans oh i love that because veterans don't mind coming into the office as much and dealing with more stressful situations where you have a lot of people that have left the workplace to kind of go work from home and so they're finding that veterans are filling that hole. And there still is a large gap in the American job economy right now, where unemployment is still low, about 3.8%, which is almost historically low, and just a little bit less

than a job and a half available for every person who's unemployed wow so still a big need to fill jobs even with inflation being high so it's good to see veterans who have so much to offer when they leave the military but many times feel as though that they don't have as much to offer because they've only worked in the military and of course that couldn't be their experience is so valuable so incredible and you did a whole segment on this was it on fox ken we did an entire hour last year uh on fox business called from military to marketplace and so i do want to point out to reach out to the ken coleman show listen call me if you are a veteran and you feel or you're going to be retiring from the military soon and you feel like what do i do now please call the show i i. I will clear the decks to talk with you and help you see how your skills and experience can be

transferable to the marketplace. I love it. And by the way, if you know a veteran who would love to get Financial Peace University for free, tell them about this. Tell them to go to ramsaysolutions.com slash veterans today. And we're giving that to 1000 people. Awesome. All right, let's go to the phones. Anne joins us in Knoxville, Tennessee. Anne, welcome to the show. Thank you. It's an honor and a pleasure to speak with you guys.

I appreciate you taking my call. Oh, we feel the same way. How can we help today? Yes, I am really scared poopless, if I may say, because growing up, my parents had a lot of money from the wrong reasons. And my mom had passed away December of last year. Between life insurance and the money cash she had in the bank was about $430,000.

So we bought a decent-sized home, paid off all our debts, and we had our three to six month emergency fund. I am now putting my mom's house up for sale. And we were expecting to get an offer tonight. We have a high for $887,000. But here comes in my question. I save, but sometimes I do go on a spending spree. My husband is a spender. He's a disabled combat veteran, and I have a severely special needs daughter. And how do I just keep that money and to grow it and not want to have a touch it. Well, I appreciate the self-awareness that you have to even go, listen, I have a spending problem and I want to be a good steward of what was entrusted to me. And so that is truly the first step is just wanting that. And most people in your boat, they just go, well, I'm just going to spend it and I'm going to have nothing to show for it. And the legacy that was left to me is now gone. And so there's a lot of things you can do with this that will kind of force you to not spend it all.

And one of those is to put it somewhere where you can't see it and you can't touch it. So have you worked with a team around this money? Do you have a good tax advisor, a good insurance agent, a good investment professional, a good tax attorney? I don't have any of that. I have a good rabbi who chooses your products. the elder at our synagogue uses your services. But we were waiting until we get the money. And I'm just worried if I wait, I'm already going to come up with and just like, hold on, I want to put the brakes on and freeze. So I talked to a couple of trust people, but I just don't know what way is the right way because I don't want to get into the wrong, I don't want to get scammed out of something because this is a lot of money at stake and this can definitely change my children's lives, especially my daughter who may never be able to move out on her own. Absolutely. Well, and people will come

out of the woodwork when they find out you got a big lump of cash. And so that is why you need to be extra intentional about protecting this. And at ramsaysolutions.com, you can click on Ramsey Recommends and we have pros in all of these categories that can walk with you, that have the heart of a teacher, that we vet, that you can trust to help you make the right decisions. And by the way, they don't make any decisions for you. If anyone tries to make a decision for you, they don't have your best interest at heart. And so that is red flag number one. So get a good tax pro in your corner, get a good investing pro in your corner, and get a good insurance agent in your corner. And that is going to help you all this. Are you working with a good real estate agent on the sale of the house?

I believe I am. They do luxury homes, and they're Fathom Realty. Okay. I don't know if you were doing, like, for sale by owner to try to, you know, cut some corners. No, no, no, no, no. But as long as you're working with a pro that you trust. Okay.

So on the other side of this coin, you're saying, hey, I want to give a bunch of it. I want to spend. There's only three things you can do with money. You can give it, you can save it, and you can spend it. And I encourage you to do all of those things in ratios with this money. So that's what I think your homework is to do is to sit down and go, what are the ratios here? Do we want to give 10% of this? You said you don't have any debt now, including the house? No. Well, we have a small land debt, but we're actually selling that, but that's only like $26 a month. Okay. Yeah. I just want to jump in here to say, I appreciate that you've got this fear, but that is coming from a

place of a mindset to where you feel like you might be foolish with this as opposed to going, I'm not going to be foolish with this. And I don't believe you. I know, I know, I know. But that's not who you are. That's not who you are. And that's what I'm getting at. I want to challenge you to say, wait a second, I get a fresh start here. This is what I did in the past. And I've learned from that because you certainly have. And now it's about going, I'm going to be intentional. Before I was emotional with money. Now I'm going to be intentional with money. And now it's about going, I'm going to be intentional. Before I was emotional with money. Now I'm going to be intentional with money. And I think it's replacing, not just the word, but replacing the mindset to go, not anymore. I have been blessed. This is an opportunity.

And so I'm going to be very disciplined, very intentional to do what George has said here, to get all of your ducks in a row and then investing wisely, but also saying, this is how this is going to change our life. This money is going to change our life for the better. And we're going to plan every dollar of it. Exactly. And you mentioned that you were of the Jewish faith and there's a lot that that has to say about money and your rabbi can walk you through what that looks like, but there's still that element of, I'm a steward of this money. It was entrusted to me. I want to make the most of it. And what that means is having a long-term mindset. So it's not, what are we

going to do with this money in the next year? It's what is this going to do for us 20 years from now? I want to leave an inheritance to my grandchildren's grandchildren. That's a very different mindset. And then you make different decisions when you use that as a filter. And so when you invest this money, let's say you put a big chunk in a taxable brokerage account outside of retirement and just let it grow. Well, hopefully that says, I'm not touching that money. I want to let that money grow. Then you take a certain portion, you say, all right, we're going to spend this much. We're going to go on one really fun trip as a legacy to mom who left this to us. And that's going to be our spending money. And then the rest, we're going to go, you know, we're going to give 10% and we're going to upgrade

the car. And you start to do these reasonable things over a slow, longer period of time with a lot of trustworthy pros in your corner. And then you look up 20 years from now and that money grew and you feel really good about the intentionality you had with it. Okay. Now, the other question I have is, and I don't know how to put it out there, but just one in my head and you have to hear me. My husband this morning had been on the call and he also found out that his last day of work is going to be the day before Thanksgiving. Okay. Do I, if the actual sale of the house goes through

and they actually do the cash offer, do I put an additional couple months aside since we already know who's going to be getting laid off? Absolutely. Put a chunk of money aside to get you through that period and then let's get them back to work if that's the plan ASAP. But that's the wise thing to do. Thanks so much for the call.

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