The Ramsey Show - App - Your Life Will Suck if You Wait on the Government To Fix It! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: "Do I have a financial obligation to my adult daughter?", When to do house repairs, "Should I pay off my student loans or wait to see what happens with forgiveness?", Join Jade's Virtual FPU Class! Paying cash for a house, from the blog: 3 Simple Steps to Pay Cash for Your Home. 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

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving and storage studios. It's the Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm your host, Dave Ramsey. Jade Warshaw, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Now, Jade, I've got to tell you, in about 45 days I've not heard myself in my head. It's a little weird. It is weird. We've missed you around here. Well, I'm really happy to be back. I'm excited. i'm excited thank you guys for we're happy to have you back the ratings went up while i was gone which is a bit disturbing but i'm back anyway we're coming for you dave i'm just kidding

we're happy to have you back i know everybody else is too open phones here if you want to talk about your life and your money the phone number is 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 kimberly is going to start off this hour in seattle hi kimberly welcome to the ramsey show hi dave thank you for having me sure how can jade and i help um okay so my question is, I have a 20-year-old daughter. This past year, before I was following your teachings, I assisted her with a down payment of 3% to purchase a home for stability reasons in Kansas. And the payment is about 40% of her take-home pay. She does have a roommate, so the amounts are substantially lower. But I'm wondering what my financial obligation is to her moving forward, since I did, quite honestly, pressure her into purchasing this house.

I'm just wondering, what is my obligation? Why did you do that? I need to understand why you put her in such a precarious situation. She's at 40% with the requirement of a roommate and you said you did it for stability purposes. Help me understand. Well, without making it a long, drawn-out conversation, she did not have the best upbringing, so she has chosen to make some of the same mistakes that I made, and she gets herself into situations where she is living with a boyfriend and dependent upon them. And then when the situation goes south, she ends up having to find a new place to live. And is the house in your name or in her name?

No, the house is in her name completely. And so she is her roommate, you know, based on Dave's teaching. He is a roommate. It is her boyfriend. So on some of the other life decisions, have you shared with her, hey, I did this thing, and I was wrong, and I shouldn't have. I goofed up, and I wish you, for your sake, I wish you wouldn't do it. Have you shared that kind of stuff with her about those life decisions? Absolutely.

And this is another one. I am an alcoholic. I've been in recovery for 10 years. Then this is another one. I'm very aware of my decisions. Kimberly, Kimberly, then this is another one. Okay. Your only obligation is to apologize.

Okay. I did this out of a good heart. I was trying to get you into a stable housing situation, so you didn't make some of these other relational mistakes. So I did it a good heart. I was trying to get you into a stable housing situation, so you didn't make some of these other relational mistakes. So I did it with good motivation. But since you did that, I have learned some things that I didn't know at the time that's made me realize that it puts you in a different kind of instability, and I'm sorry for that. And I'll coach you, I'll walk with you, and if you don't see your income come up pretty dramatically in the next couple of years to where that percentage comes down, then you probably ought to sell it.

That's what I would tell her if she was my kid. Okay. But you don't have any financial obligation. Okay. Just tell her, if you can't get your income up, I may have helped you make a mistake. I'm sorry for that. You may need to undo the mistake by selling the house if you can't get your income up. That's what I would tell her if she was mine.

Okay. But you're signing on, and I've got to help her pay payments because I feel guilty because I screwed up. No, no. She's a grown woman. She's 20 years old. She has the legal right to purchase a house. She had the legal right to tell you to take a fly and flop, and she didn't. Okay?

She has these legal rights, and so she's an adult. She gets to make the call. And granted, you had undue influence probably. I get what you're saying, and I don't disagree with you, but that does not make you financially, legally, morally, ethically obligated. But I would go to her and say, hey, I've learned some stuff like I did about other things I talked to you about, and this is the money part, and, you know, here's what we're doing. What does she do for a living?

She works at a bank. Doing what? I am not exactly sure what her title is. Do you have any idea what her career track looks like? Is she going to see some pretty good income increases? Is she in a training program where income is going to go way up later? I hope so, and I'm not sure. You have no clue.

What's your relationship like with your daughter? Are you guys on a speaking regular basis? Do you get the feeling that she trusts you and that she values your input, or are things frayed? No, we're very close, and she definitely trusts my input. I would just say, listen, unless you see your income coming up, I may have led you into an instable situation when I was trying to help you stabilize.

I goofed. So I just want to put you on a warning that this might not be nirvana that you signed up for, and if you don't get your income up, you may want to look at selling this within a year or two. It's not the end of the world short term. She can make it, and with a roommate, she can certainly make it.

But she went from being dependent on her boyfriend to now she's dependent on a roommate. So we're always, because we're overstrapped, and that's what we're doing. So you've got a good heart, Kimberly. You're a good mom. You were trying. You're doing your best. We're all trying to figure this thing out as we go and um uh and then for the rest of you out there to jade's point um sometimes what the culture whatever people are saying whatever they said and i heard

are saying about money they're all broke so whatever they're saying don don't do it. And in a sense, that's what Kimberly did. She said, everybody says her life will be better if she gets a house. Everybody says no matter what you spend, if you get a four-year degree, even if it's in left-handed puppetry or German polka history, even if you get a useless freaking degree and you go $200,000 in debt, it's all going to be okay because education is important. Everybody says everybody is stupid. Everybody is broke.

Yeah, whatever the culture is telling you, normal sucks. You do not want to be normal. Do not be conformed to this world. In a sense, Kimberly was trying to do the right thing. No, not in a sense. She was trying to do the right thing and not innocent she was trying to do the right thing but she the the pattern or the uh template she was using was that of a broke culture that says owning a home is always good for you and owning a home is not good for you when you're broke that's why they call them brokers

you get broker and broker this is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. jade warshaw ramsey personality is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is Common Sense for your dollars and cents. Common Sense is so rare in America today, it's like having a superpower. If you just stop and think, it will completely set you free. It's pretty amazing. Our question of the day today, today's question comes from Andre in the Ramsey Baby Steps community, which is a Facebook community of about, I don't know, half a million, 700,000, so a big bunch of folks over there. So our house needs a new furnace,

oil tank, and water heater. They're all 40 years old. The hot water heater doesn't even work, and the other things work, but not for much longer. We want to sell the house next year, and I'm worried we won't get the money back. I know this is maintenance of a home, but in today's market, can I view this as an investment, and will it help us sell the house to have all new essential items? Well, if I'm you, Andre, I at least want to get those things in working condition because if I'm buying a house, I would like to know that there is a working water heater. I would like to know that there is working heat in a furnace.

I'm not saying that you have to go in and spend top dollar, you know, at the top of your budget for all of these items. But it's not going to hurt you to have a working home before you put it on the market. That's what I would say. Yeah. And if you're using this as a justification to overspend on these items or to go deeply in debt no we're not going to go there right make sure you pay you had a problem before you sent this email you don't have hot water i mean come on really this is pretty basic stuff here so yeah you need to fix your freaking hot water heater or replace it now i don't know about the furnace in the basement i don't know whether you've got the one from the christmas story movie or what it is you've got

down there but um but the thing i've learned is you can patch those things together most of the time and yeah what often happens is the heating and air person that comes actually wants to sell you a new unit rather than fix it and so they're really good at scaring you to death. Oh, your family's all going to die. This thing's going to blow up. Yeah, you get all this crap. Not all of them. Obviously, there's some good heating and air people out there.

We endorse good heating and air people that are honest all over the nation. But there is a bit of a problem in that community. So be careful with that. Don't overspend is the point. Well, something tells me he doesn't have any money. A house that doesn't have heat and air and hot water is not marketable. No. So you've got to fix it to sell it.

And you should fix hot water to live in it. And you should have heat for the winter. I mean, this is pretty basic stuff. But what he's not saying here is that I have a bid for $25,000, and I want to go deeply in debt on a second mortgage and put it under air quotes of an investment. That's what it is, Dave. None of that is in here, but I read every bit of it in there. Yeah, that's what it is.

That's what it is. And I don't think he's got cash stacked up for this, if I'm guessing. This is something that he was hoping he could pull out debt or a loan to do. I'm guessing he wouldn't have asked us. He wouldn't be taking cold showers if he had cash stacked. That's my guess. I think you're right. Jacob's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Jacob. How are you? Better than I deserve, Dave. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey. So I just started following you guys, and me and my wife got married last year,

and we sold our house and moved to a less busy area that was actually cheaper. And so we came into kind of a windfall of money through that. So after our down payment and everything, and we have our six-month reserve, we have about $60,000 in the bank that we're looking to do something with. And given my situation during college, I qualified for the full $20,000 relief package to the new Biden student loan forgiveness. And obviously that's in limbo right now. So my question is, I have about $36,000 left in student loan debt. Should we just pay it off right now or should we wait to see what happens?

Okay. Well, the thing I have figured out is over the years that, well, I mean, we just need to preface this, Jacob, with I'm old, okay? And I have seen a lot of promises that were going to fix my life come from Washington, D.C. The number of them that have materialized is approaching zero. And so what I discovered a long time ago is that people that wait on the government to fix their lives generally have lives that suck. Sure. And so I, you know,

have you noticed that this has been dragging out for like two and a half years now? Yeah. And that it's now before the Supreme Court, which is what happened after it went to the circuit court, which is what happened after Biden went ahead and just did it and it didn't work. And the timing was always suspect around the midterm elections and all of that so i i don't want to be um charlie brown trying to kick the football with biden lucy holding it okay if i'm you i want to take control of my life that so for that reason i'm going to pay it off if i'm you there's another reason if i'm, but you would have to decide this reason,

but if I'm there, that I would pay it off, and it is that I actually borrowed the money. I owe it. Sure. There's that. Okay. That's a big that. That's not little.

That's a big one. Yeah. that's that's not little that's a big one yeah i guess my thought process was obviously the the onus of the bills would be on the taxpayers right that money has to come from somewhere i guess if i was already going to be paying higher taxes anyways i might as well get the benefit yeah and the guy that the guy that welded your car together that didn't go to college gets to pay your student loan with his taxes and teachers who make pennies have to pay it in taxes it goes to everybody not just you yeah so i mean yeah i mean it's that's the thing so you again you do whatever you want we're not going to argue with you about that uh but you did call here and ask so you're always going to get you know what

we think because that's the problem with this thing. It's what it's about. The show's about what we think. And, you know, Jade, there's a percentage of idiots out there that are going to be really, really upset and say we were shaming poor Jacob. We're not shaming poor Jacob. No.

At all. I'm just telling you what I think. I think there's an ethical consideration. And if you think ethics is a form of shaming, then you are what is known as a child. Because where do you draw the line, Dave? Where do you draw the line? That's the question. I mean, there are government programs that are in place

uh that offer tax incentives i take those i don't pay any more in taxes than i need to so is that unethical no that's in place and i didn't promise to do something and then choose to let the government do it for me that's right i have not ever promised to do anything and then chose to let the government do it for me but i've taken advantage of a lot of taxes tax breaks of all kinds anything that is on the books and is legal i hate taxes so um but that that is not an that there is a complete difference here is that i did not sign up and says i owe this right now you take care of it. But, you know, Dave, a lot of people on the other side of it,

people will say, well, Dave, the student loan companies, they were predatory. They took advantage of me. They took advantage of me, an 18-year-old kid. Absolutely they were. Talk to that. They're absolute scum. They're absolute scum. And on that basis, if we're going to be righteous and holy and forgive student loan debt

we should by god quit making the student facts how can you keep making the student loans and that's talking intensely we call it talking on both sides of your head you know you can't solve a problem while simultaneously creating it that's impossible not not not without calling that intellectual dishonesty right so yeah i mean that which is what the definition of politics is so there you go but uh but yeah i mean democrats republicans alike that you guys up there if you did anything on the hill worth doing it would be stop this program that's right because you're destroying young lives with it you're hurting way more people than you're helping with the student loan program.

If you don't believe me, watch Borrowed Future and you'll see the predatory action. So yeah, Jacob may have been taken advantage of in the sense that he was young, dumb, and naive like I was. And I did a lot of stupid

butt stuff in college myself. So on the flip side, if you have student loans... All I got to say is thank God Twitter wasn't there when I was in college because I'd be canceled like long before

it was even cool to cancel stuff. True that. But if you've got them, I had 280,000 of them. And you know what we did, Dave? You paid them. We paid them off. You and Big Sam. And you did that with like work and stuff.

Imagine that. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Jade Warshaw. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. On the debt-free stage in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Scott and Rachel are here. Hey, guys, how are you? Good. Hey, doing well. Welcome, welcome.

Where do you guys live? We're from Kingsport, Tennessee. Absolutely, just over the hill. Welcome to Nashville. Good to have you. Here to do a debt-free scream. How much did you pay off? $65K.

All right. Good for you. How long did that take? 18 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? Between $60K and $70K, up to ending at $105K. Good for you.

What do you all do for a living? I'm a dental assistant and i at the time um did real estate and um was operations manager for a subsidiary of summit racing um and has since taken a procurement role um with a fortune 500 company good for you very cool good so that that explains the increase in income yes and the um the the side hustle so to speak with real estate okay and that's been going good for you good for you guys what kind of debt was the 65 000 uh we have a list um 5k on a camper um impulse by um 45k in vehicles and 15k student loans you had a lot of cars yeah what'd you do with them um just just hustled with the uh the real

estate side income and got it all paid off paid them off yes okay because you were bathing in that yeah tell me the story what happened what got you started on all this crazy ramsey stuff uh kind of the the beginnings were 2020 a couple things going on um i was unhappy in my career and we were expecting um our first child and i also became licensed and real estate at the time. Just in time for the pandemic. Yeah. You got great timing. And ended up switching you know main roles as well and then fast forward the end of 2021 that role was not going so well you know some night shift you know wasn't you know nice for family life. So I ended up going back to my old employer for a small pay cut.

And I remember having a conversation with Rachel. You know, I almost refused to go back because of the pay cut. And we realized, well, it's not necessarily the money we're making. It's where it's all going. That's right. And, you know, and there was a little bit in there. You know, she had aspirations to be a stay-at-home mom and, you know, wasn't really for her. You know, she tried for a bit.

So then at the beginning of 2021, you know, it was a conversation of, you know, hey, if you decided you want to do this, you know, I've got this real estate, you know it was conversation of you know hey if you decided you want to do this you know I've got this real estate you know side income let's let's get after it wow so during this 18 months what was the hardest part what was the part that you just were like I cannot wait until this this part of it is over what was the hardest part um probably a couple of things the second job yeah hours yeah I know my son was you know a newborn um but and he didn't know I wasn't there but I did and um and my wife as well you know there were days I would I would leave um you know my main job five six o'clock you know drive to a town an hour away to show home.

And, you know, I'm back home at 9 or 10 o'clock. Long days. You know, to give credit to my wife, you know, she mentions at times that, you know, I was the one kind of hustling and getting after real estate. But I couldn't have done that without her support you know to put in those long days and you know take care of our son how's it feel to be free that's awesome awesome was it worth it yeah definitely how are you gonna buy the next car cash bingo not for a while how'd you get connected to us? When I went back to my previous employer, you know, I remember having that conversation with a confidant of mine there,

you know, I hated to come back. I needed that income and, you know, I had it calculated out, you know, I lost this amount per month and, you know, was kind of nerdy about it. And he said, hey, you seem, you know, pretty dialed into this. Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? And of course, sorry, I said no. And he gave me your book and then tuned in the podcast, Rachel and I, and the rest is history. There we go. Very cool.

Very cool. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Sticking to it. Yep, that. And a budget. A budget. A budget. And for me, personally, I had to really change the way I think about money.

Not as a vehicle for things, but as a tool for my family to leave a legacy and to build a future. Ah, that's good. That's a good viewpoint. Well done. Good job, you guys. We're proud of you, man. Sure, right. Thank you.

Good stuff. Good stuff. Hey, we've got the Live and Give bundle for you. We always give it out to our debt-free screamers, the Baby Steps Millionaires book, the Total Money Makeover book. Now when you're talking to somebody, we always give it out to our debt-free screamers the baby steps millionaires book the total money makeover book now when you're talking to somebody you can give it away and financial peace university have you been through it we have not oh good take it take that and go through it we got a membership for you and uh you ought to do that that's great very very

cool so proud of you guys who was your biggest cheerleaders other than the two of you uh you know we kind of we kind of played it close to the vest you know i had the colleague at work there and um it's funny i may be misremembering i don't think rachel recalled but you know when i started diving into your stuff i think i recalled that our marriage counseling um was actually taught taught, had some lessons from you. Oh, wow. Oh, you're pre-marriage. Pre-marriage, yeah.

Okay. That's possible, yeah. And I remembered connecting to those, and things kind of came back, and we just jumped on board. Very cool. Well, way to go, you two. Well done. Very well done.

We're proud of you here. Thank you for making the trip over to do your debt-free scream. We appreciate it. Scott and Rachel, Kingsport, Tennessee, $65,000 paid off in 18 months, making $60,000 to $70,000, now to $105,000. That's the way it always works. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free. Yeah. All right. scream ready three two one we're debt free yeah well done well done well done well one of the things you'll find is that often not with those guys but often the people doing their debt-free screams have gone through financial peace university 10 million people have now. That's not a couple. That's a bunch. And making it probably, arguably, the largest financial class in current existence in America

today, and the most successful by far in terms of the results that we get. We're flooded this time of year. You know, it's the end of January, and so your resolution may be a re-solution by now. It may be time to reset again and go, okay, all that bull crap. Now let's really do it. Let's really do it. So you can't wish for things to change unless you do something different. Get plugged into Financial Peace University. You'll learn the proven plan not only to get out of debt, but become a Baby Steps millionaire in the process and be outrageously generous. Put yourself in a position that every time eggs go up, all these funny memes about eggs are funny memes.

You got $3 million. You're not whining about eggs. I'm just saying. So this is what you do. So check it out. We're offering Financial Peace University right now for $69.99 through the end of the month, which is just a couple days. So get this limited time offer on FPU at ramseysolutions.com slash deal. And how do they sign up for your class? You're doing a virtual

class, right? That's right. That's right, Dave. We're doing a class that starts March 1st. James will put that information on the screen. You can use the QR code to sign up. We'll put the link in the show notes. And hey, we're trying to pack this thing out. So if you are waiting to get started, if you've never done FPU before, this is your chance. If you were looking for inspiration, accountability, this is your chance to sign up.

There are no more excuses. I will warn you, when I was doing small groups, people cried. Now this is Jade doing the small group, and she looks sweet. I can make you shed a tear. She looks pretty, but she's rather mean, I'll just tell you. She's going to get on your stuff if you don't do it. It's just because I love you. It's all out of love.

That's right. It's all love. And she loves to do it. This is The Ramsey Show. jade warshaw ramsey personality is my co-host today as we answer your questions about life and money brett is with us in provo utah hi brett welcome to the ramsey show oh thanks dave thanks for having me on sure what's up uh so me and my family we have been renting for the last year while paying off student loans uh We paid off $115,000 of student loans. Way to go.

That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, so we're at a point now where we're looking to save up for a down payment on a house. And the house we would be looking to buy, it would take us about three years to get a down payment for that house. But we're wondering if maybe it might just be smarter to wait another three years, so a total of six years, to pay for a house in cash. How much of a down payment are you doing in three years, 50%? Yeah, it's pretty much close to that.

How did you determine 50% as a down payment? Just for the house we were looking at for $800,000. You said you can do 50% of the house price in three years. Right. Yes. $400,000. Yeah, I guess $350,000 is what I was looking at. Yeah. Okay. And what do you make? $260,000. Yeah, I guess $350,000 is what I was looking at. Okay, and what do you make?

$260,000. Way to go. Good for you. How old are you, Gus? I'm 32, and my wife is 29. Okay. Well, this is one of the, maybe the only answer that I ever give here on the air that is not what I would do, but what is okay to do.

What I do, the way I live my life for the last 30-plus years now since I went broke, is I don't borrow money, period, for anything ever. And so I have to figure out a way to cash flow it because there is nothing that I want badly enough or that I'm scared enough of to go in debt for it. I have been there, done that. I didn't like the T-shirt. I'm not doing it anymore, okay?

I truly do believe that the Bible is telling the truth that the borrower is slave to the lender, and I truly don believe that the Bible is telling the truth that the borrower is slave to the lender, and I truly don't borrow money. And I do believe that that is the shortest path to wealth, by the way. Okay? Yes. The starting few years is rough, but the ending years are amazing. Yes. But the ending years are amazing. So now, having said all of that, then it's the only advice we give here on the air that I don't personally follow.

And that is if you take out a mortgage with a good strong down payment, 50% is more than a good strong. A good strong down payment would be 10 or 15 or something like that. 20 would avoid PMI. That's good. And your payment on a 15 year fix is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay if you did that in your case you could then pay that house off within six years right right and if you could pay cash for it in six years you could pay it off in six years and obviously anyone who pays their home off in six years is way weird

compared to the culture so you're you're weird no matter where we are on this spectrum yeah and you're and you're heading in the in the you know your your face is under the column of smart people no matter what we do on this spectrum that That's right. So either one of those is fine. So it's just a matter of someone call me a legalist, someone call me a purist, someone just call me not a hypocrite, but that I don't borrow. So you can do either by Ramsey guidelines, anywhere in between those two things, and be there. So you could put down 50%, you could put down 80%,

you could put down 20% on a 15-year fixed where the payment's no more than a fourth year take-home pay and it wouldn't be in this case and then turn and pay it off as fast as you can all of that is within our guidelines because we know that that's going to lead you to wealth brett how old are you i'm 32 way to go way to go what do you do for a living? So I'm a nurse anesthetist. Ah, good. Very good. You're killing it, man. So yeah, and that was where I was kind of having the question between the two, just

because is there any measure on if it's harder for kids to move when they're older? That was kind of what we were going between two. I mean, I wouldn't want to wait. I wouldn't want to move in high school if that's what you're asking. I think that kids are very resilient. I think that by the time they, you know, once they put down roots, if you get into those high school years, it can be a little bit tough. But I mean, you can recover from anything.

But yeah, when they're, how, you have, you've got kids now? So the oldest is seven, so seven, five, seven five and three seven they're all right he would be 13 you know if we waited the full six years to pay well that's also assuming you get absolutely no increases in income right right yeah i yeah true it's a good point which is weird because when i start saving towards something that i want really bad, what I'll do is work my butt off. And my income goes up and, you know, I'm able to just attack it. And so my guess is that it won't take you as long as the math on a straight line without any increases in pay says. Okay, that you should have because your intensity will go up and your income will probably go up both during this time.

So it'll probably be four or five years. But the same thing's true of paying the house off. Yeah. If you bought it and we're living in it. So we're not going to yell at you for either one. I just love the options that you're looking at. I love that you're calling in here talking about 50% down or 100% down. That's a wonderful quandary to be in.

You got options. You got your head in the right place. That's for sure. And so, again, I truly do believe these principles. And so I truly believe that if I live them, I'm going to be the safest in the event of a pandemic. I'm sitting in a building that's worth, I don't know, what's this thing worth now? $300 or $400 million. A bystander.

And it's paid for. And it's paid for. And so nobody, I didn't have to worry during the pandemic that we couldn't make the payments here. Yeah. Okay. That allows this bald head to lay on a pillow and sleep. You know? It just is a different world.

Joe's in Greensboro, North Carolina. Hey, Joe, how are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, Dave. How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for taking my call. A question is, I'm kind of, I own a business.

My father just passed away, so we're still navigating the situation. I'm sorry. How long ago did he pass? New Year's. Sorry to hear that. Oh, thank you. It's trying to get everything together, and I can't slow down. I've got my foot to the pedal trying to get this business in the right direction still

and recouping from losing him is a vital part of it. But my main question is, is what we do have debt for the company. Um, I've been personally working on the baby steps for over a year now. I'm like on baby step three. Um, cause I got to attack my daughter's college cause I neglected that for so long. Um, so now I'm, I'm torn between, do I focus on the business debt or focus on my debt? You signed for the business debt. It's all your debt.

I am. Legally, it's all personal debt. How much is it? $605,000. $605,000? Yes. Okay. What's the business making?

What's your income? About $5.5. $5.5 million top line? Yes. What are you netting? I couldn't tell you that off the top of my head. Okay. That's your next new job when you get off the phone is learn your numbers to run your business.

Okay. You need to know what your numbers are. As an entree leader, I'm going to say small business to small business. You don't stay open if you don't learn your numbers and stay on them. You need to know what you're making all the time. That needs to be like top of mind. It's not because you're money obsessed. It's because money is the scorecard that tells you the health of your business.

It tells you whether you've got a disease inside there or not. So you've got to figure that out. What did you pay taxes on last year? What was your income tax filing on? How much money? I think it was right at $4.8. Your personal income tax. Oh, personal, personal.

I'm sorry. I was thinking about business. $100,000. Okay, your business did not make $4.8 million, and you only personally made $100,000. Something's wrong with your equation. If you're making a profit of $1 million a year, just pay them both off and shut up. Okay? If you're making a profit of $100,000 a year, then you need to prioritize your debts at home and get rid of the small ones first, and then we'll work on the 605.

And that's the way it is. But you need to figure out what money you've got to work with. You can't even tell us. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramsesolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter.

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