The Ramsey Show - App - Your Boss Is Stealing From You! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

George Kamel & Ken Coleman discuss: What to do when your boss is stealing from you, Why it might not be worth moving for a new job, Whether or not you should apply for student loan forgiveness, If you should quit a job in ministry to increase income, When you should stop working for yourself and go back to work for someone else, Saving for your kids future education outside of a 4 year degree. 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 pods, moving and storage studios. This is the Ramsey Show,

where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Ramsey personality, George Campbell. Join this hour by bestselling author and host of the Ken Coleman show. You guessed it America. It's Ken Coleman himself. And we are excited to take your calls at 888-825-5225. If you want to talk about getting out of debt, getting on a budget, building wealth, paying off the house, switching jobs, getting a side hustle, we can talk about all that stuff. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Dave has said for decades that your income is your greatest

wealth-building tool, and I'm the personality that specializes in making more money but also experiencing more meaning. So increase the income, increase your impact. It is possible now more than ever. I love the alliteration there. Gosh, you're good at that. You know, I'm a preacher's kid, so I speak in alliteration. I can't help myself. It's memorable. It is. So there you go. Let's do it. All right. Let's do it.

AJ is kicking us off in San Diego. AJ, welcome to the show. Hey, George. Hey, Ken. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? So I've got a career question. I want to know how to plan for the future here. I'm very, very fortunate financially, but my concern is around the culture in my company. I work for a small investment brokerage. Not many people run heavily from the top down. And if it was just on a financial basis, I would stay here forever. I like what I do. I like building relationships and sales. But like I say, it's just kind of the culture that

has me concerned from a principal standpoint. What specifically or what are you comfortable sharing as it relates to this culture stuff that's driving you crazy, making you want to leave? It's coming from the top down. And so in this role, it's a commission-based job with preset percentages or commissions, if you will. And I think because we're a small group and just the dynamic of it, my managing broker will dip his hand into the pot. Okay, I want you to be more specific. So, AJ, you're saying you don't agree with the comp structure and you feel like your boss is stealing from you?

Yeah, the comp structure is very clear, but the comp structure is not followed. I can give you an example. That's what I'm looking for. Give me an example. Perfect. So this will happen one every four or five deals. So we did a deal just recently that closed it. The total commission on the deal was $70,000, give or take.

My comp on the deal, based on our contract, is $35,000. I end up with $20,000. So you're supposed to get 50% of any commission. Right. Yeah, but what was the reason given? Was there any reason given for why you took a $15,000 hit on a commission that is laid out clearly in your employment agreement? Yeah, the reason is the same as it always is. I'm good to you. I give you opportunity. And, you know, so I'm just not changing it. Okay, so what's your question? Because I'm ready to rip this leader of yours,

this disaster, this bad boss, this is manipulation. manipulation it's it's horrible oh i couldn't hold it in george what was your question yeah i know what it is from a psychological standpoint um the reason i'm still holding on is because at the end of the day i still do really well here and you know i wonder am i gonna i feel like i'm winning a lottery ticket as far as income, and am I going to get that somewhere else? Okay, so what do you sell? Real estate. Okay, bro. First of all, if you're good at selling real estate,

you can sell real estate for anybody, anywhere, anytime. But this is eating away at you, and it should. It is, for sure. I know, and listen, it's not going to get better i'm going to call you out on something because i'm your friend i think you're scared i think you're scared to leave because i think you don't you don't believe you can do what you're doing anywhere else i think that's pretty apparent and so i think you got some fear maybe some doubt and i think that's what's keeping you there but let me tell you something you either got some fear, maybe some doubt, and I think that's what's keeping you there.

But let me tell you something. You either overcome this fear and doubt and leave, or you're going to become so resentful, so bitter, and something bad is going to happen. As opposed to you taking control of your life and not be treated this way. That's a great point. I know. So, AJ, I only see two options here. Either you leave or you deal with it and go, hey, I'm going to set up a meeting with another leader,

bring them into it, and say, here's what's going on. I need a solution for this. Can you do that? Is there another leader that you can involve? No. It's such a small team. There's six of us, and I'm third on the team. So is that person basically the CEO? Are they running the company?

Yeah. Yeah, it's manipulation. It's over. Today was the day we decided. Now, we're going to go find another broker or another firm or whatever, and you're going to relationship yourself into this. Okay? Your head's going to be high, shoulders back,

and you're going to be bold because you know you can sell. So go. Right. Go where you're treated properly. You have not hit the lottery at all. In fact, the next job where you actually get paid your full commission, that might feel like you hit the lottery, but right now you're you're being

manipulated it's true i mean that you know the one caveat being is no a lot of business comes in and he he does you know hand it out right it doesn't matter it doesn't matter you feel like a victim right now you're like a dog that's been hit its whole life and every time every time he hits you every time you hit that dog it's like the dog going well he does feed me consistently brings a lot of food home who cares man every time that he takes from your commission that is rightfully yours based on the agreement that he made or she made with you it is absolutely manipulating you and it is destructive and you have bought the narrative you've bought the lie because you don't think you could go as this listen this is done this is done there's no more caveats and so from a career perspective

um i don't you know i almost feel like I, I like the business. I want to, I want to go off someday and do it myself. I want to be, you know, the managing broker of my own business. So do I, do I stick out until I feel ready to do that? I feel like early to start. You'll never be ready, my man. You just got to start. Would you, would you tell someone to stay in a place where they're just being abused?

No, no, don't stay, stay in a place where they're just being abused no no don't stay stay in the business but go work for somebody else and then when we make this next move here's what i want you focusing on what do i need to learn that i don't know now that will set me up and put me in a place where i could work for myself and we're going to go get that experience go get that knowledge do you understand yeah that Yeah, that's awesome. That's what I've been thinking about. Do it. Stop thinking. Awesome.

Thanks, guys. You got it, man. That lack of integrity, we're not moving past that. It's time to go. It's not going to change. This guy is who he says he is. 100%. And bold about it.

Hey, I bring a lot to you. I take care of you. I'm going to not give you your full commission this time. Oh, by the way, kiss the ring. What are we doing? No thanks, Tom Hanks. That's what I got to say to that, Ken. Hey, it's a spicy Friday.

Give us a call at 888-825-5225. This is The Ramsey Show. one of the most common pieces of advice i give folks trying to get out of debt is to sell the car. And I get it. That's easier said than done. Selling a car takes a lot of time and hassle unless you use CarWiser. CarWiser is a free service that gets you the best offers instantly from dealers around the country. And it couldn't be simpler. Just enter your vehicle's information and boom, you've got offers to choose from. So go to CarWiser.com slash Ramsey.

That's carwiser.com slash Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel. Join this hour by Ken Coleman. We are taking your calls about life, money, career, the pursuit of happiness, impact, and income. It's all here on The Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. Patty joins us up next in Austin, Texas. Patty, welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. What's going on? So we have a decision to make as a family. We are currently staying in Austin. We bought a home. We closed the home last year in November. So we have been staying in this house since March of this year. My wife got a new job offer in California and we were wondering if moving to California, does it make sense based on the salary hike that she's getting? And if yes, then what do we need to do with this house? We don't want to sell it. So does renting this house make sense? Okay. So excitement level on a scale of one to 10, 1 being no excitement, 10 being throwing a party.

How excited is your wife, and then how excited are you about the potential of moving to California for this job? I think my wife is pretty excited, not because it's California, just because of the role that she's getting. She likes the company and everything, and I think it's going to be a good growth prospect for her going forward. Okay. So in that sense, she's pretty excited. And I'm also very supportive of her because in my job I can work from anywhere. Yeah. So just financially does it make sense?

That's the question. Well, so on the financial piece, break it down for George and I. So what's the cost of living increase from her standpoint? Is she getting a nice bump in salary? Right. So I'll walk you through our current situation and the situation in California. So all in gross income. So right now, I make $140,000. She makes 125,000 base. Each of us in total are making close to 29,000 in bonuses each year. So total income, you can say 294,000 right now in Texas.

When we move to California, I'm assuming my salary is going to stay the same. That's the worst scenariocase scenario, right? So I'll be making same $140,000 base, but she is getting $195,000 in California. Plus, bonus structure will remain the same, but because her base is increasing, so the bonus would be around $33,500. So total would be $368,000. Plus, she's also getting stocks, and yearly the stock listing is close to $100,000. So we're talking about a $70K bump in income, and so then it comes down to the math of we know the taxes are going to be higher, the cost of living is going to be higher in California.

Does that equate to under $70,000? To where it's still a net win for you guys? So even when I put, so in this assumption, I'm thinking that our current home would go on rent. So even in that term, if I make that assumption, we would be saving close to $10,400 more compared to what we do here yearly in California. How much do you owe on the home in Austin? Close to $340.

What's it worth if you sold it today? So I checked Redstone. It says $525,000. Okay, and then what price point have you done your homework on homes and what they cost in the area where you guys are going to be living? I don't think I'm going to buy property in California so soon.

So we would be renting at least for next couple of years in California for sure. Yeah. If I'm in your shoes, I am selling your property in Austin. I'm with George. For a few reasons.

Number one, being a long-distance landlord is a recipe for disaster. Yeah. And number two, you guys aren't in a financial position. Obviously, the income is great, but you're going to be paying rent on top of hoping that you have a responsible tenant who pays on time that can pay the mortgage, right? That's always, I put that in air quotes. You can't see unless you're watching, but that's

the part that worries me. And so I would get, I know it's, it's, there may be a stupid tax involved here because you guys just moved in recently. And so after realtor fees, and it may not have appreciated that much, you're going to have to pay capital gains on the profits as well because you've only been there for a few months, correct? Yeah, so I mean, she's still after joining the job, so she still has six months to eight months to move to California. So I think we can stay one year in this property and make it a long-term capital gain instead of short-term.

That's better, at least. So I'm still selling it. You guys will leave with, what, $160,000 change in equity? Right. That can help kickstart your journey in California. And if you're in California long-term, you're going to want to buy something, even though it's insane. And that might mean you save up $600,000 with your amazing income and buy a $900,000 property years from now. Okay. And another thing that I was thinking,

what if we pay off this property? Does it make sense to hold on this property and rent it out or still paying off? It doesn't make sense. You're still a long-distance landlord. The question is, when you're in California, would you go buy a house in Austin to rent out? Right, yeah.

The answer is probably no. No. And so I think the time to be a real estate investor is once we can pay cash for another property and our current home is paid off. And you guys can do that. I mean, with this income, it won't take long for you guys to do that. If you keep living on less than you make and you're clearly very intentional, you're a super smart guy. And so I think you can get there. But right now, that wouldn't be my go-to. I have a follow-up question, Patty. Is this a hybrid model? Well, even if you were to move to California, will she be required to be in the office every day? Do you know that? Because I know she's working remote for a season in Austin. Yeah, she has to be in office. It's a manufacturing company. Gotcha. All right. Okay. And you've looked at rent in that area that's close by to her work?

Yeah. So worst come worst, it would be like if we go for a single family home, it would be around $4,200. But we can move into apartment. I mean, we have been staying in apartment from past 15 years. As long as that rent is about 25% of your take-home pay, that leaves you with plenty of margin to live the rest of your life, invest 15% of your income into retirement, pay off the house early. Do you guys have kids? No, no kids.

Okay. Did she get recruited on this, or did she go seek this position? She got recruited. She has a pretty good experience in launching on electric vehicles she used to work for tesla before okay let me ask you this this is this is a very quick point but i gotta know if if a company in texas had had called and offered the same position um and and so you have now one in Texas and one in California. Let's say it was the same thing.

Which one would you all take? Texas. Yeah, I got to tell you, when someone recruits you, it feels really good. It does. It feels good to be wanted. Right. But I just wonder if long-term financially, if you guys, if she doesn't go, all right, what if I look for something in a different state that's not as expensive?

What if I look for something in the Texas area and I can further my career in Texas? You don't have to take every good offer because I'm just, I just want to throw it out there. I'm not in any way trying to talk you out of going to California at all. I'm not anti-California, but I'm being very realistic on the financial implications of moving to California to do something that she can do in another state. So if it were me, I would be sitting down going, okay, if we want to move up, can we move up in other places? Do we have to take this opportunity, which is a good opportunity? I don't know that this is a great opportunity. You may think it is, and if you think it is, then do it.

But I at least wanted to put that out there. Are they paying any relocation costs or paying for any visits? They're covering everything and giving us $10,000 more for miscellaneous stuff. Yeah, that's good. I'd go visit for sure and check out the area, figure out what the different neighborhoods are, where you want to rent, and that'll make you feel a little more peace about the move in case you do it.

But I think to Ken's point, it doesn't have to happen. And so think about the future and what you guys want to do long-term as well. I just have so many friends that are moving here in our state where we have no state income tax, and the amount of money they are making by simply moving out of a high-tax state. It's realistic. Even taking a pay cut sometimes. Or to your point, George, how much money and how long it takes to save up money

to just save up money to buy a house in a state like that where real estate is so high. You've got to think about the big picture. They have a great shovel, at least. And that helps with this whole situation. Way to go. This is The Ramsey Show. I feel like right now is the time of year when it's make or break when it comes to our goals. We had a reset when school started again, and now we're heading into a holiday season. And let's be real, it's hard to stay motivated once that spending frenzy starts. We've all got goals, whether it's to find a better job, make more money, pay off some debt, build stronger relationships, and it can be hard to keep that momentum going.

But here's the good news. Coming up in a couple weeks, we have one of our biggest events, Smart Conference. We're coming to Dallas, Texas for a day-long, jam-packed event where you'll get advice from leading experts on money, personal growth, career, mental health, and your marriage. You're going to leave with all the knowledge and motivation you need to reach your goals and live the life that you want. So join me and the rest of the gang. All the Ramsey personalities will be there. Dave Ramsey, Dr. John Deloney, Ken Coleman, Christina Ellis, Rachel Cruz. It's going to be a good time.

It's a special event. And by the way, it's more than just speaking. We've got some fun things planned. Very entertaining. Almost too much entertainment. We're going to get a charge more. You and Rachel are doing a little, is it like a version of your new podcast we're doing a live interactive uh podcast does that mean that you'll have the beverages the adult beverage on the stage it might be a mocktail we

don't know yet you know it's early in the day ken we can't go i have a recommendation for you or rachel what's that um my wife recently had a had a nice beverage with some elderberry in it oh yes like a vodka base for the immune system yeah a little elderberry in it. Oh. Yes, like a vodka base. Good for the immune system. Yeah, a little elderberry dropped right in there, and boy, she thought it was really refreshing. I know you're not taking suggestions, but I thought I'd give you a suggestion.

That's a good wintertime drink, Ken. Thank you for that. So October 22nd, we're all going to be there. It's a day long, and it's like drinking from the fire hose, Ken. I mean, you're going to leave exhausted, but also so motivated. It's a lot of energy whenever you put 6 000 people in a room that are there for at least a common goal of getting better uh and there's just a lot of juice in the room you know and it's a great event to bring friends family who may not you know they may not be in with the

ramsay gang yeah and they can get a taste of what we're all about. Well, we've got a theme going here. The juice? Elderberry juice taste. This is good. I mean, this is... Gosh, Ken, you're too good. I know. It's happening. So go to ramsaysolutions.com slash events.

Get your tickets today. Join us. You don't have much time, and it's going to be a great time. I guarantee that. We'd love to see you there, Dallas. We're coming near you soon. Coming to you soon, not near you. That's right.

Actually coming to you soon. We'll be in the heart of Dallas. Yeah, there you go. All right. Back to the phones we go. 888-825-5225. Ethan joins us up next in Madison, Wisconsin. Ethan, welcome to the show.

Hi, thanks. How's it going? Doing great. How are you? What's going on? Good. So I graduated in May of 2021 last year. And over that course of time, I paid off $20,000

in student loans. I just took the first job I could get out of school and hustled and grinded and did that. And then I come to find out the student loan forgiveness thing is happening. And I found that I'm eligible to apply to like get my money back, so to speak. I'd have to go back into debt with my loan provider and then have my debt forgiven that way. How should I go about that? Should I do that, go back into debt in order to be forgiven? Is that wise? Okay. All right. I got to jump in, George. Sure. Quick, because I read entirely too much news every day, there are now multiple lawsuits that have been filed by multiple states against President Biden's executive action. This is not me making this up.

This is happening. The reason is because you have a lot of privately held student loans. And so when he made that executive action to say we're going to pay off, we're going to forgive $10,000. It's affecting, and again, I'm not defending it. I'm just saying it's real money that's hurting private companies that hold loans and people sign up for, and then the states are motivated to protect those companies because those companies are taxpaying companies in their state. So I don't know if you're paying attention to the news, Ethan, but that has happened. And so you have two things going on. So the lawsuits have been filed. So the $10,000 forgiveness is not happening until those

lawsuits are all dealt with, number one. Number two, they're not actively moving towards those refunds right now anyway. So I just want to put that out there, George, because people feel like this is a done deal. I'm going to go ahead and move forward with this. And it's the basis of his question. So I don't think it's going to happen. Yeah, and for those listening that aren't clear on how this is working, because Ethan's going, well, they're going to put me back into debt, but it's forgiveness. So what we've been seeing is the student loan companies are saying,

all right, we're going to drop $10,000 back into your bank account, but we are also reinstating your debt balance to $10,000. And now the hope is down the line at some point, the government your debt balance to $10,000. And now the hope is down the line at some point, the government comes and wipes that 10,000 balance. It makes my head hurt. Only the government can come up with something that stupid. It's pretty convoluted, but that's how it's working, right? Ethan, am I right on that? Yeah. That's what you described. So no, don't do it.

So here's what some people are doing. I'm not going to advocate for or against this, but what they're doing is saying, hey, I'm going to take that $10,000 in the bank and make sure not to spend it, which that takes a level of discipline alone for people who had already gone into debt thinking that this was a good idea. And then they're saying,

I'm going to hang on to the $10,000 in case they don't forgive it and I'll still have the money to pay it off, Ken. Oh, sure. That sounds wonderful. So, Ethan, that's kind of what you're describing as a, if you go through with this, that's what the hope is, is that you hang on to the $10,000, and once it's forgiven, you go, all right, cool, this money is free and clear now.

Gotcha, gotcha. So there's risk involved, is what we're saying. And unnecessary risk, so don't do it pay your student loans off the government is not going to do it for you and you're completely debt-free now yeah that's correct oh you did it now oh great great so but he's saying i can get the refund oh i see forgiveness yeah yeah what baby step are you on now um i was in four five and six but i just replaced the transmission in my car, so I'm back on three. Restocking that emergency fund. Good man. Nice. Well, you know what's clear

to me is that the secret sauce to winning with money is Ethan, and not a third party, not a government, not a forgiveness program. And so I'm sticking with the Ethan program for now. And if you so choose to do it, I'm not mad at you. I'm happy for you for it to, you know, propel your financial journey, but there's a lot of risk and a lot of unknowns right now. Yeah. Certainly just wait. Wait until the dust settles in the form of all these lawsuits. Yeah. Appreciate the call. It's a good conversation. Where's my little thing of Tums? We're just riling up Ken again. He's getting heartburn. When I hear about the government and this thing, it gets me right here.

We got the tropical thumbs out back. We'll get them for you, Ken, at the break. All right. Blinds.com, question of the day coming up here. Their 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they will remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more.

Use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Brittany in Illinois. I work full-time at a large church, and I love, she put in all caps, my job, but make $45,000 a year. I'm a single mom, homeowner, and drive a modest car. Even though I don't live extravagantly, I'm still living paycheck to paycheck. Almost all my income is going to tithe, my mortgage, bills, and income property taxes. I used to make $50 to $100 an hour as a digital marketing copywriter, but stopped doing that when offered my current job in ministry. With income as our

biggest wealth building tool, but also living a Christ-centered life, would you recommend someone quitting the job in ministry to pursue a higher paying job? My biggest motivation to becoming financially free is so that I can continue working in ministry without the stress of making ends meet. Do I find a higher paying job for a few years to get to baby step four and then come back to ministry? That's probably the direction, but I want to go back to some things that, you know, you can desire to be in ministry, but if you cannot, and ministry is just like any other job in that there's a pay range, a scale, right, for the type of job you do in ministry, just like in industry. And even though you desire to work in ministry,

if you're not qualified and you are unable to make the amount of money that you need to make, then what we need to do is go, okay, what does ministry look like in another form? In other words, you can volunteer, you can work part-time in ministry, but we've got to be able to sustain ourselves and accomplish the financial goals. And I think if you can make $50 to $100 an hour as a digital marketing copywriter, but you stopped, I'd get back into that field to get the highest paying day job possible. Now, for the whole purpose of getting to baby step four, right, and getting your financial life stable to where you can then go, all right, I could take a bit of a pay cut, but why not maybe go back to a full-time day job, do some volunteer or part-time ministry work. It's still valuable. It is still feeding

that passion you have to minister to others, but it doesn't have to be a full-time job. That's okay too. Yeah. If you love your job, but your finances are so tight that you're so stressed, then you're not going to have a great life. And there's more to it than that. So I want you to go back to that marketing role. Maybe it's in a consulting part-time position, but it sounds like, man, you can propel your financial journey by jumping back into that full-time right now. So it's a good call, Ken. Thanks for the question. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, host of the Fine Print and Entree Leadership Podcast. Joined this hour by the host of The Ken Coleman Show, Ken Coleman. You can find all of those shows on The Ramsey Network or wherever you listen to podcasts. It's a free

call this hour, 888-825-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life, your money, and your career. David joins us up next in Virginia. David, welcome to the show. Thank you. How's it going? Good, man. How about you? Good, good. How can we help today? Yeah, mine's more of a, just a choice question because I'm not sure, but I'm going to be all background. My wife and I are both around 60. Help is so-so. That's one of our concerns is always health care, of course. We own a small business franchise. At this point in our lives, we're debating whether to sell the franchise

and go into another franchise that maybe isn't so labor-intensive or just go back to corporate where we can get some decent health care and ride it out that way so we can just take care of ourselves. Tell us a little bit about the business itself. What kind of business is it, and what kind of money is it throwing off? Commercial cleaning. Been doing it 15 years. Revenues are about $1,700, so it's stable.

What are you paying yourself off the $1,700? I'm taking $60, my wife's taking $40. Wow. Where is the rest going um most of it's being tucked away because we're debt free um we have a house to pay for kids that's grown and gone no college fantastic you don't have a lot of over no is it just the two of you just the two of you doing the cleaning uh no no we, no. We have a staff of about 30. Oh, okay. Well, that's where a lot of that revenue is going, too, is payroll. So when you say labor-intensive, you don't mean manual labor on your end.

You're just saying the headache that it brings. Yeah, I couldn't do it if I wanted to at my age. How much have you got saved for retirement? Currently in our portfolio, about 1.2. And what could you get for the business if you sold it uh we're getting evaluated right now but we're guessing six 600,000 probably 600,000 600,000 on 1.7 in gross revenue that doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense to me. I've never heard it that way. You do mean 1.7 million in gross revenue per year? Correct. Correct. A million of that goes to payroll.

Hmm. That just seems awfully low. I thought you were saying 6 million, which sounded a lot closer. Where'd you come up with that number? Based on other franchises that are similar that have been sold. Ah, okay. Well, I've got to tell you, I'd sell it. I'd get out of that business. There's just really no long-term benefit for it. The fact that you're in your 60s, you've got health issues.

The good news is you've got pretty good retirement set up, and you can continue to do so. But, yeah, I would cash out. But I would not, at this age, go into another franchise. That's just me. I'm going to go low risk, no risk is what we're saying. I'm going to go no risk. And you guys have a lot to offer.

I feel like your heart has left this business. And so I think it's time for your body to do the same. So I would cash out, and that will set you guys up nicely with your nest egg. And if you want to go corporate to get some healthcare, that's not a bad idea, but I don't want you to do it just for the healthcare. Do you guys have long-term care in place? We don't right now, no. And for me, it's more of, you know, I still want to work, of course. I still want to bring some income in because we're not ready to fully retire yet. But at the same time, I want to punch a clock and call it a day

and spend time with my wife and go visit my daughter. Then do that. That's honorable. Do it. Because the decisions between being self-employed as we are and continuing that route and having all those headaches that come with it or just working with somebody has been something my wife and I have toyed with a lot. Yeah, I just feel like we're hearing a guy who doesn't want any more headaches. You just want to work for somebody, go do a good job,

and leave work at work and go live your life. You just said as much. Yeah, I think you're right. Well, I mean, you're the one that's saying it. It's not my opinion. This is what I heard. And I think in some're you're calling us for permission and i'm trying to grant you permission to do what it is we hear you say that you want to do it's just so hard to look at it and say you know you've been working for yourself basically and there's a lot of perks that come with that um as opposed to you know reporting to someone that's right i want to make sure we're set up to be able to retire one day and just actually do that at a decent age. Well, I think you are. George, wouldn't you agree? You're the

money guy. I think he's set up now. You're only going to add to it if you sell the company. But let me just put it to you this way. Working for yourself in this current company, do the perks outweigh the headaches? Yes or no? Financially. That's the only side of it right now. The rest of it now. i'm gonna ask it again you just gave me a caveat do the perks all of them do the perks outweigh the headaches no no you tried to be a politician on me on a sunday morning show the difference between me and those sunday morning hosts is i'm gonna hold you to Ken's not fooling around. Not messing around. Midterms are coming up, you know. David, listen, you've done a good job, man. I think what you want to do is the right thing to do, don't you, George? Yeah, I think to give you guys some peace and clarity, I would

connect with a SmartVestor Pro and run the numbers because right now you're kind of hoping and wishing, not really sure what the number is that you guys could actually retire with. And I'm over here crunching some numbers for you. If you took that 600 grand and you just plopped it in a taxable brokerage account, within six, seven years, that'll be over a million on top of your 1.2. And so you guys have to look at your lifestyle and how much income would we need to withdraw from our nest egg every year to have a great retirement, do all the things you're talking about. David. And that'll give you some great clarity, but you're in a great spot. How do you feel about what George just threw at you? It definitely puts a spark in it, without a doubt. There we go. George, you and that calculator. I love a good calculator. You just inspired David. You just inspired him. Sometimes it just takes a

little math. That's all it is. But once you have that, David, you guys are, you've worked so hard and you've lived on lessons you make, you're debt free, you've been doing this stuff and you got to remember what the reason is. Yeah. It's not just to punch the clock. And David, the numbers that George gave you, that doesn't even count. You work in five or six more years. That's if you just put 600 grand in and never touched it and just put it in some good funds. And you never clean another corporate office the rest of your life. I wanted to throw

that in there. How does that feel, David? That works for me. We got David in a good mood, Ken. Boy, we did. He's chuckling. I love it. I like a good chuckle. I'm here for it. All right, let's take another one. Megan joins us in Kansas City. Megan, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you. My question is, my husband and I are on baby steps for 5'6", and my question is, outside of the 529, where could we save for our children's future? Do you feel like it's not enough in the 529? No, I, long story, the 529 sounds like a really great option for kids who want to go to college. And my family is a combination of kids who get their PhD law degree, as well as kids who cannot learn the traditional way, maybe an associate's at best, but go more the trade school, certificates, continuing seminars, that type of stuff. And I kind of just want both my kids to be set up kind

of equally when they turn 18. I know there's a lot of risk involved with that. They're under two. Oh. Two kids under two. I thought you were going to say they're like 16. Okay, we got plenty of time here. You're just worried, hey, what if they don't need the funds for education? Yeah, what if they don't need the funds for education, but I do want to make sure, and I say I, my husband and I, do want to make sure that they are, you know, set up to succeed. But even if they don't go to college, they will pursue some sort of education, right? Yeah.

Even if it's in the trades. Yeah, that's the goal. And so that money can be used towards any expense when it comes to education. It doesn't have to be a four-year university. It can be towards housing and laptops and all the things required to do that. And you can always change the beneficiary. So if one kid needs more and the other one doesn't, you can change the names and move

that money around. Okay. So you're still just saying stick with the 529, even if you want to make sure that they are set up and they just go straight into work. Yes. Because if they go straight into work, they don't need $100,000 sitting there because they're going to have earned income with no expense at that point. So there's not really anything to save for. I mean, you can do custodial IRAs and what's called an UTMA, Uniform Transfer to Minors Act. There's all kinds of things like that, but I wouldn't worry about that at this point. Okay. Yeah. You're doing great though. At two years old, you're already thinking about this. Most parents, it's just, oh my gosh, they're 18. I guess we need to, oh, we're broke. Take out student loans.

We'll co-sign. And so the fact you're thinking about this tells me they're going to be okay. And the future of education is probably only getting more expensive, Ken. So I'd rather at least plan for something and decide later. Thanks for the call. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. My thanks to all the folks in the booth, Jenna, Ben, James, Zach, Andrew, the whole gang, and you, Ken Coleman. Thank you. Appreciate it. We'll be back with you before you know it. Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral? Check out your favorite moments from The Ramsey Show on YouTube. Go watch and subscribe to The Ramsey Show channel on YouTube.