The Ramsey Show - No Amount of Debt Is Too Big for a Comeback
Episode Date: July 3, 2025Ken Coleman & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: ‘Finding a girl that likes me and not my money' 'I don't see a way out of my debt.' 'My wife doesn't want to give up he...r horse' 'What's the best way to start a business?' 'I work full time but I still feel broke.' 'Should I invest in farm land?' Next Steps: ✅ Help us make the show better by taking this short survey! 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or send us an email. 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan ✔️ Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey 📱 Download the free Ramsey Network app! 🎆 Buy 1 Book, Get 1 Half Off! 🛡️Get trusted insurance coverage that fits your budget. Connect with our Sponsors: Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at ALDI Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries Get started today with Churchill Mortgage Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! Save 15% on your first Field of Greens order with code RAMSEY Find top Health Insurance Plans at Health Trust Financial Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at Mama Bear Legal Forms Visit NetSuite today to learn more Use promo code RAMSEY for 18% off at The Nokbox For more information, go to SimpliSafe Get started with YRefy or call 844-2-RAMSEY Visit Zander Insurance for your free instant quote today! Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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This is the Ramsey Show. America, thrilled to have you with us. This is where we help
you win with your money. Win in your work and win in your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225.
888-825-5225 is the phone number. Alongside the incomparable, the fabulous Jade Warshaw,
I am Ken Coleman and we're here to coach you up today. So we got those money questions,
we got some work related questions. Hey, I need some more income I like helping people make mo money mo money mo money mo money
And by the way, if you're at the Ramsey show and we help you make mo money
It doesn't come with mo problems. It better not not here. Yeah, we have a good kind of mo money. That's right
So let's get right to it. Josh is gonna start us off in Augusta, Maine
Josh, how can we help today?
in Augusta, Maine. Josh, how can we help today? So I've got a bit of a strange problem here. Perfect. Jade loves strange problems. I love weird problems.
Perfect. It might not sound so strange once I explain it. I'm 25 years old. I, uh, I own my own home.
I built a construction company.
I make, uh, about 130,000 a year.
Um, and I've got a real proclivity for building my income, building my business, building my personal wealth over time.
Great.
And one of the things I'm really struggling with, and my business, building my personal wealth over time. Great.
And one of the things I'm really struggling with and I'm looking for a non bias opinion because you don't have friends are they're great, but you know,
you can only get so much. Um,
I'm looking for any sort of advice on how to select a,
a partner who's not remotely interested in my position in life.
Are you talking about business partner or romantic partner?
Romantic partner.
Got you.
Your position in life.
I mean...
Just at 25, I'm doing fairly well.
Tell us what that means. What's your net worth?
Net worth.
Like, are you saying if I, my business net worth,
or if I would liquidate all of that?
You don't have that much, my friend.
If you can't answer that question.
Listen, I appreciate where you're at, young man.
You said you're 25 and you have a proclivity.
Great word, by the way.
Yeah, wonderful vocabulary. I'm a big fan of proclivity. Great word, by the way. Yeah, wonderful vocabulary.
I'm a big fan of proclivity.
Just used it twice there,
because I like the way it sounds.
To make a lot of money and all this,
because we don't know that, you're 25.
I appreciate your confidence, but if the question is,
how do I make sure I find a girlfriend
who's not into me for my position in life?
I go, well, I don't know that I want to find a woman
who's not interested in my position, for my position in life, I go, well, I don't know that I want to find a woman who's not interested in my position because that position in life,
the way I'm hearing that is you gotta provide.
Position leads to provision, Jay.
Come on.
Okay, Ken, you're right.
So I mean, you're not in a place, my friend,
where you're worried about gold diggers
unless you're hanging out in the trailer park.
Are you dating women that are in poverty situations?
I try not to, but they pop up. Well, okay. So listen, this is good. Listen, Joel, listen, if you are dating, I got to be very careful how I say this, but I'm going to answer
the question. Go for the gold, Ken. I got you here to correct me, but... Maybe I ought to say it.
No, let me say it.
Okay.
If I'm trying to, I got to,
I'm channeling Stacey right now.
I'll make sure my wife is right beside me.
And I'm thinking, what would Stacey want me to say?
Okay, cause she's a good woman.
If a woman who is in poverty pops up into your dating life,
I don't have a problem with that.
People deserve dignity and there's lots of great women
and lovely women and lovely men who come from poverty.
So I'm not saying cancel it out.
However, if a person from poverty
pops up in your dating life,
as you begin to date them,
you should have some discernment there to go,
am I a ticket out?
Yeah.
And so you just have to have some extra judgment and discernment there.
I wouldn't cancel them out, but at the same time, I wouldn't necessarily be, you know,
hanging out in those areas either.
So I'm trying to walk the fence there.
I think it just goes both ways, Ken.
I just think this is a problem he doesn't need to be worried about.
I don't think it is a problem.
I think it goes both ways.
The same way you are
All that stuff matters to your point your station in life with your work ethic what you're accomplishing
That's part of the resume. Yeah, you know the the personal resume
and so the same way that you have built a personal resume that people will
Learn about as they get to meet you you will learn about their personal resume as you meet them and learn about them.
And you get to decide who gets the position
based off of their personal resume.
And so there's nothing wrong with that.
You opened up the call talking about
this was a strange or weird problem
and I don't think it's strange at all.
I think it's just part of everyday life
when you meet somebody and you get to decide,
okay, is this person gonna be somebody
that I'm going to be friends with or is this person going to be
somebody that I date long term?
Have you had a lady, you said that this has popped up a few times.
So have you had someone that has come from extreme poverty that has dated you and you
felt like they were only dating you because you were a meal ticket out?
Yes, it's happened to me more than once.
How do you, how'd you know? Tell us,
be very specific. How'd you know? When did you know that she was only after you for your money?
It happened a couple of months, about three months then. I noticed at first she was very big on
balance as far as our personal time and psychological investments. You know,
we're able to talk and work things and figure stuff out between us as people. But as time
goes on, it turns more into what kind of life you can provide for me and my future children and there's no reciprocation
besides physical, which to me is, you know, it's got a value but not the greatest value in the world.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm not sure I understand.
And I want to understand.
I agree, you're not being specific enough.
There's part of it that I think it is part
of the conversation, maybe, maybe, and I don't know,
you were there, I was not there.
Maybe she's saying, hey, here's what I'm looking for
in life, these are what I consider gender roles,
I would love to be in a relationship
where maybe the guy works, maybe I stay at home
with the kids.
She could just be sharing that that's something
that she's looking for.
Am I, did I miss it or?
I think she's right.
Josh, did she say,
I want you to buy me this and buy me that?
And I mean, was it very obvious
or is this just a young young lady talking
about what life might look like?
In separate instances, it's been both.
Well, you're worried about stuff
you shouldn't be worried about on that.
Let me put this way, Jade,
when you and Sam got serious
You don't want to ask me this. Yes, I do. What were you thinking?
Like what were you what were you wondering about Sam my exact words were you got to come correct?
Those were my exact words meaning I I have a high standard of work ethic and what we both do
Did you ask him about his professional future
and what he thought he was gonna do with his life?
I didn't have to ask, I could see it.
Okay, but my point is you were interested in it.
I was interested, I'm like, listen, I'm a go-getter,
you're a go-getter, like everything we do, we do 100%.
Like that was the standard, it's like,
if you're gonna be around me, you gotta come correct
because I'm an intense person.
And so that was that on that.
All right, so all right, I'm putting Josh on hold here.
I said what I said.
What's your dating?
I think he needs to be in better pools.
He probably needs to be in better pools.
I also think that, and I don't say this to be,
there's no salt or shade on this.
I do think that he's viewing himself in a light
that's a little bit puffy. Oh, 100%. And so I think that if he just viewing himself in a light that's a little bit. Oh, he's puffy
Oh hundred percent and so I think that if he just kind of chills a little bit
Yeah, everybody's not after him. You're doing well, but you've not like you don't have a proclivity to build wealth yet. You're 25
Can I just say that yes, I mean come on man, so you're doing well, but yeah, relax
Yeah, relax use your discernment and get a good group of friends
who can discern on the ladies for you.
That always helps.
This is the Ramsey Show.
We'll be right back.
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Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw helping you through this hour. 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.
Michelle is joining us now in Jacksonville, Florida.
Michelle, how can we help?
Well, I have an adult son who's in a situation where he has a house with his girlfriend and
they have a good interest rate and a really good payment and they broke up.
And so she wants him to refinance the house in his name and he
has bad credit. I put 40,000 down on the house for them and he wants me to either
help him to get the house by co-signing for it or for me just to buy it outright
and then he rents from me. But I've been helping him his whole life and he's like
35 and I just don't know I'm a widow
and I don't know when to say I'm I guess he has a history of mental illness and a substance
abuse dog kind of you're scared feeling like I should yes I'm scared.
Let's finally got a good job really good job and but he can't manage his money.
Yeah well don't buy this house for him.
Do not do not put yourself in this situation.
But I also understand you're scared, but I think this is the moment where he's looking
to you for direction anyway.
If he's got a really good job, you're just going to sit down with him and be okay to
let him know that why you're not doing it and what his real options are.
And these two young people are on the, well, they're not even that young what his real options are. And the two of these, these
two young people are on the, well they're not even that young for heaven's sakes,
they're on the home, both of their names are on the home? Both of their
names are on the deed, but only his girlfriend's name is on the loan, so
she's suing him to make, force him to refinance the house or move out, and he
can't, he doesn't have the credit to refinance it. Well then it's a really clear decision. He moves out. Yeah. He moves out. He said I'm just so scared
this is his only chance in life to own a house. No, no, no, no, no, no. Of course it's not.
What is the evidence that that that this is the only time he could ever own a home?
Well he he makes about 60,000 a year and they each pay half of the mortgage
payment so they each pay 750 and he says he can't afford child support they have
a child together he can't afford a mortgage payment he can't afford a new
car his car is about to die on the side of the road he wants to be the co-sign for a car too.
No. Credit card is max no money and savings but I don't want him to be
homeless and on the side of the road with no car and I just have fears. I get it. And I'm gonna die so he's not here to like, away my fears. Well, there's so many other options though. You're
choosing options that put burden on you and you called because quite frankly you're exhausted at the idea of doing this. The very idea of doing this is exhausting and it's probably equal part scary.
And the only reason you're even considering this and not saying hard pass immediately is because
you're worried about your boy, he's had a lot of struggles and you feel like, but I gotta tell you,
I think this is a blessing in disguise. He's got a new job, a good paying job. Sounds like there
might be some growth opportunity. They break up. He
needs to get out of this house because it's the only shot he's got to be able to afford
the child support because he didn't have any shot on that. The judge is going to decide
that. But he says that rent is higher than his mortgage payment. Not if he's sharing,
no. Not if he's renting with one or two other guys that are single. And believe me, there's
plenty of those in Jacksonville, Florida. This is where you can mama him in the sense of showing him
adult options and saying, one of the options that you don't have is me. So here are the other options.
Yeah, he's even down to saying he can't afford to move the stuff out of his house or
afford a rental like a storage unit. I wish he was on the phone.
I know, right?
Because this guy needs a good sip of grownup juice.
Did you say that you put the 40,000 down for this house
that the girlfriend basically has the right of ownership to?
Well, they each have a 50-50 ownership share
and he was living at my house in the basement
paying no rent and he had trashed my basement
because he was on substances at that time the basement paid no rent and he had trashed my basement because he was on
Substances at that time so I honestly just wanted him out and for my peace of mind. I put down I
Put down
40,000 yeah, and it was in 2022
No, and that's what he held that over my head and said I hate to see you lose your 40,000 unless we finance this together.
Now he's pissing me off.
I felt a little bad for him.
But now this is a kid who's manipulating you and you know why he's doing it?
No.
Because it works.
Yeah, it always has worked.
I operate on guilt a lot.
Today's the day.
35 year old boy needs to understand it's time to be a 35 year old man
and the best way he's gonna do that is you have to look at him and go and by
the way I'd be okay being really raw and sharing your emotion. Share with him why
you've done this in the past because of guilt and now you've got to earn this and
go I can't do it anymore I can't it's not good for me and it's not good for
you and I know deep down you don't want me to hurt me. I don't know Jade I don't
have anything but tough love here. What do you? I want me to hurt me. I don't know, Jade, I don't have anything
but tough love here, what do you?
I have nothing but tough love.
I'm holding my tongue, my son is young
and you're further along in life than I am.
And so there's part of me that just wants
to wallop this dude, but I also understand
that there's, you know, like there's motherly love here.
And so I get that, I can understand that there's this pool
that you probably have to want to
get involved.
But I also feel like you can't like you got to just let this guy do what he's going to
do and all you can do is pray and you know,
you know what he needs Michelle?
I'm going to tell you the one thing I think you can and should do in this situation.
We already told you what not to do. I think
he needs belief from mama, not help. Oh, that is probably something I've never really offered.
That's true because I'm always operating on fear and guilt. And by the way, you have,
and listen to me, Michelle, I say this with a father's heart. And I say this from my own experience.
He needs belief.
No more help.
Yeah.
You need to sit down with him and tell him
what he should do and show him that he can do it.
And then you need to walk away.
And you need to be as number one cheerleader.
I love that Ken.
Oh, that's so good.
It's so good.
It's tough.
It's so hard because we want to help our kids.
My goodness.
I mean, it's just so hard.
I get it.
I truly get it.
Yeah.
But at this point,
I mean, and that's the rub, right?
He's 35.
He's not a boy. I honestly think when it comes to this house, I think, and that's the rub, right? He's 35. He's not a boy.
I honestly think when it comes to this house,
I think they just need to sell it.
I was going to suggest that.
Whatever the profit is, give it back to mama.
She's the one that put the money down to begin with.
I was going to ask you, but see, you
get the girlfriend involved and her name's on it.
So she gets all the dough.
She's on it.
Yeah, they need to get a lawyer involved.
This is what happened.
This is what,. He's broke.
Yeah, but mama does.
Mama's already, if she wants her money back, if she cares anything, she might not care.
She might be like, I wash my hands of the situation, I'm out.
But if she's like, man, I'd love to get my 40,000 back.
I'd love to talk to somebody to see how this happens.
Yeah, I just don't want her racking up 10 grand in legal fees.
And that doesn't take long.
But I like what you're saying.
But I think this is the get out of jail free card for this guy.
I wish we had him on the phone and say, I know you guys broke up and that sucks.
I know you got a kid.
But the girlfriend's going to want his name off the deed.
I'm not exactly sure what the process for that, the best process for that would be.
But this is a chance for him to start over.
Yeah.
Meaning he's already got the breakup.
100%.
He's got a good job.
Yeah.
But I don't buy this rent is so expensive.
He's manipulating there.
He's manipulating.
He's got child support coming,
staring him in the face, Jay.
He's got a lot.
He needs to make more than 60,000
and he's just gotta get his life together.
Yeah, he's gotta grow up.
My guy's got, he's got a lot to get together.
By the way, Jade, I'm gonna give it to you.
We got about a minute and a half.
I think this is a great time for new listeners
and viewers that come in all the time.
I want you to tell them why this call is exhibit A
on why we shouldn't buy a house
with somebody we're not married to.
Go ahead.
Because there's no clear rights.
Like I said, with this it's like,
okay, both their names on the deed,
one name's on the title, mom put the money down.
There's such a tangled web here and
It's gonna take a lot to untangle
That's why I said I if I was mom and I wanted to see about this it's like now you got to involve a lawyer
In a different sort of way. There's no clear
division of of
Assets and so that this is just what is known as a hot
Steaming pile.
Ken, that's what this is.
And so it's not good.
Don't play house.
Don't play, I haven't heard that in a long time.
That's what this is.
I know, but that's how I know your dad's a preacher.
Oh, 100%.
100%, that's true.
That's true, I can't get it.
You can take the preacher's kid out of the church,
you take the church out of the preacher's kid, right?
But you know, that's what happened here.
We love each other.
Let's go in and do this house.
And now look at it.
You know what?
They would benefit from some counseling too.
They really would.
The two of them, mom and son together, mom on his own, on her own.
I just saw flashes of a reality show where you're coming in and telling these two, get
your stuff fixed and just love each other and get married and get this nonsense over
with. I'm not a counselor, but I can send them to better help and they can, they can help.
I think you could be a matchmaker. You think I could sit down and be quiet. Let's fix this.
Act like you got some home training. This is the real show.
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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships.
I'm Ken Colman.
Jade Warshaw is with me.
888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in.
Let's get back to the phones.
Chris is there in Columbus, Ohio.
Chris, how can we help today?
Hi there, how you guys doing today?
We're doing great.
What's going on?
Well, straight to the point,
I got into some credit card debt.
How much?
I'm about 50,000.
50,000.
Yay, yay, yay.
What happened?
Yeah. That's a lot. What took place?
It is. So, all right, about 2021, I bought a house, went into it, having a little bit
of credit card debt. When, what I didn't realize is when buying a house, there's stuff that needs help. You know, I had, it's, you know, I went in like, you know, maybe $8,000 in credit card debt
and had it sitting on a 0% balance transfer.
You know, I wasn't that worried and it was great.
I still think the house was a good investment.
We got in sub 3% on the interest rate
and value's gone up by like 25%.
But the cost of ownership, the cost of owning the house,
a lot of times that just fell to the credit cards. Yeah.
Was that because, so the question I have, is that because you didn't have any margin in your
paycheck when it came to everything else? And so any kind of house repairs or all that was just a
squeeze on you? Or was it because you had a new house and you're all excited and you guys wanted to start doing some projects and you didn't have
The cash for it. So you thought well, we'll just put it on the card. Was it that some of both?
What were we talking about?
Little bit of both. I mean so, you know, I got I got young boys. They are when we moved in here
They were eight and six and man that's really
the perfect time to build a tree house in the backyard.
So you know, guess where that went? I went to the credit card.
Okay.
You know, we got a half bath downstairs and I'm pretty handy. I can do a lot of stuff myself.
Uh-huh. Well what percentage of your...
It's real easy to...
What do you take home every month?
What's your take on pay between your wife?
So I'm making about a hundred a year
And that's just because of a new position that I've taken this year last year and when I bought the house
I was making about 85 and what's your take home pay? What do you see on your check every month?
Let's see I make make 13 and change every week
Every week 1300. Yes. Okay, and then what percent how much is your mortgage?
2400 the taxes. Okay, so 5200 all that yeah. Wow
So that that's that's a little bit, tell me again,
I'm sorry, Ken said something,
tell me again what your mortgage is every month?
2,400.
2,400, okay, I think that's where some of the problem is,
because you're getting really close to that
being half of your take-home pay.
Yeah, it very much is.
And so that's where we get into this.
Because I mean, think about it like this. And I don't think people take enough time
to think about these ratios. We say, all right, your mortgage should be no more than 25% of
your take home. So there's 25 there. If you're a giving person, you're probably doing around
10% there. And then when it comes time to do your investing, you're doing 15% there. That's 50% right there.
So if you mess around and your mortgage creeps up,
25 more points, you're at 75% of your income
and you haven't even done anything yet.
So yeah, no wonder you would be going to credit cards, right?
Because you haven't even bought groceries,
you hadn't taken a vacation, you've done nothing.
So I think that what's really really squeezing you is the mortgage
that's probably thing one and then if you're not on a really tight budget then this money
just disappears are you guys doing an every dollar budget?
We're very good about budget you know we're both emotional people and so occasionally
do have some impulse purchases that take us outside of that budget. We're both emotional people and so occasionally do have some impulse purchases
that take us outside of that budget.
And you're aware of it.
We're getting a lot. Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. So what it might be for you guys.
The no spend bonds.
Okay. So, but that's not sustainable. So what it might be for you guys, it's one of two
things. The first thing is if we know that we're on a tight budget and we knowingly
say we can't afford this, but we're going to put on the credit card, you know, we're
going to do that. So you've decided that. And so for that reason, then you need to say,
okay, this is a habit we have and it's not working for us. Let's cut up the credit card.
That way, when that sneaky feeling of let's build a tree house sneaks up,
you can't put it on a credit card
because you ain't got a credit card, right?
So let's take the cookies off the shelf
so you're not tempted by them.
And then you're forced to stick to your budget.
And then what will happen is you'll go,
man, I'm just, I'm not happy with something
with our lifestyle, we want more money.
And then your creative brain will kick in, you'll go, okay, what can we do to bring up our income?
And you won't be dependent on these credit cards anymore.
I think you should cut your card up right now on the year.
Hey, yo.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, I double dog dare you.
Did you hear the chuckle?
That was the respectful chuckle.
It was an uncomfortable laugh.
This credit card, I'll tell you.
Do all of them.
Cut them right now.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, you know what?
I would.
Honestly, we've stopped using them.
I used to be in the habit of, you know,
we put everything on the credit card and we pay it off.
But you know, just a couple of those times
where it has leaked beyond where we were able
to fully pay it off.
Chris, you're not ready.
He's not ready. Chris, you're not ready. He's not ready.
Chris, you're not ready, buddy.
He just said, I would, but.
You gotta get, here's the problem.
I don't think you've hit, I don't think you're ready.
I don't think you've hit that moment of-
What do you think, 10 more grand?
Should he charge 10 more grand?
Let's get it to 60 grand.
What's gonna make you miserable enough?
Something's gonna have to make you so uncomfortable
with these things that you're like, no more.
That's what we find, Ken, that is what we find on the show I agree hundred percent you're not there you're
not there you called us what so what is the reason for calling us feel pretty
close what's the reason for calling so my question is dealing with the credit
card debt I feel like I've got three well maybe just told you so we got to
stop using them first yeah yeah then we pay it down.
Roll this over in your mind, Chris.
Roll this over in your mind.
You cannot solve a problem while simultaneously creating it.
So as long as you have these credit cards,
you're creating the problem, so you'll never solve it.
It's infinite.
It's the cat chasing its tail, dog chasing its tail.
So you have to stop the crazy cycle
and the way you stop the crazy cycle is you say,
I'm not gonna keep contributing to this problem.
I'm not gonna keep adding to the pile.
I'm gonna stop it, turn off the faucet,
then you can clean up the mess.
Yes?
And so what Ken and I were-
I think I'm at that point
and that's kind of why I'm calling.
Then you gotta cut those bad boys up.
Snap them up.
Yeah.
Put them through the little-
Dude, I'll cut them up right now.
Yes.
There we go.
Cause you guys got an impulse problem.
Yeah.
And you just said that, that was your words.
You got them right now?
We got about a minute and a half.
You got them on you?
Yeah.
You got it. You want to check the cards?. Let's go down. Yeah, do it do it
Oh boy, and you're gonna be in the fetal position later today
You're gonna maybe sob in the shower because you're gonna realize oh my gosh. I this this was a security blanket
All right, so you got some scissors
Do we need on okay this tell everybody what's happening right now. Describe what's happening. We gotta make this exciting.
Oh, shall I use names?
Okay, which one have we got here?
Hold it up, tell us what it's called.
Ooh, Chase Visa.
Ooh, Chase Visa.
Hold it near the phone so we can hear it.
Okay, hold on.
Chase, this is a Chase Visa.
All right, let's see if you can hear that.
Yeah.
You can't do it?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha? We heard the cut.
And we heard the exhale.
Are you sure you weren't giving yourself a haircut?
That was a sound like barber scissors.
So we got to go.
We got about 45 seconds.
What's next?
Options for getting at the chronic.
I don't want to do something stupid,
but I mean, with these these they're charging 30%
cut it, stop talking and cut it.
What are you cutting? Cut it.
I'll cut another one. Come on,
man. What is it? Which one are
you cutting? Tell us quick.
Hold on city guard city card go
yes out here we won't wait for
the sound just tell us when it's cut.
Oh yes, there it is. It's gone.
Do you see?
That's great.
How many more you got?
Several.
Wait till I get to the MX in the drawer.
Keep doing it.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Well, you know what?
We're a cash business and we got a lot of people that need to hear these advertisements
coming up. So we got gotta take care of business.
You my friend need to keep cutting.
Keep cutting, don't stop.
Good job, good job, Chris.
Love it.
Did you hear that every time he cut one?
He went, he went, oh.
Yeah, yeah, it's painful.
It's visceral, you feel it.
That is so fantastic.
Keep cutting, Chris.
Yes.
All right, we'll be right back.
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I'm Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw is alongside 888-825-5225.
That's the phone number to jump in.
We'd love to hear from you. Taking your
money calls, your income related calls today. Matthew is joining us in Houston, Texas. Matthew,
how can we help?
Hey guys. How are you today?
Good. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you. So I'm 25 years old, a career salesman. At the beginning of this year I landed a new job which I've
been you know my income has grown drastically and closing on a house at
the end of the month and I just wanted to know you know at my age I want to
start investing early I also want to be debt-free is there a balance to investing
you know post-tax dollars and paying off the home? Or should
all of my excess cash just be going to the principal and, you know, I start investing
once that's paid off? Because, you know, at my age, the value of the compound interest,
if I start now, I feel could really pay off down the road. So I just wanted to get your
thoughts on that.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good question to have
and I think it's a question that a lot of people have.
So you just closed on this home.
Let's make sure you're in the position to begin investing.
Do you have three to six months of expenses saved?
I do.
Okay, great.
And then at that point,
you would be considered baby step four,
which is you're investing 15% of your gross income
every single month.
Are you doing that?
I haven't started.
Well, I contribute to my company's 401k plan, but other than that, I haven't started, which
is pre-tax, but I haven't started investing any post-tax money yet.
Okay, good.
So what I would say is whatever you're doing now, if you have access to a match through
that employer account, I would invest up to that match. And you said it's an after-tax?
It's a pre-tax with my employer. So they match 3%. I'm contributing 6% right now.
So I would do up to the match and then I would go over to a Roth IRA and I would go ahead
and max something like that out. And then if you still have money left in your 15% of contributions
Then you could go back out and get as close to maxing out that 401k as possible
the goal here is again for you to be investing 15% of your gross income and
Most people do it on a monthly basis because you know you can kind of set it and forget it with your employer
And so that's what I would do.
And then beyond the 15%, any money that you have extra,
I would put it towards the paying off of the house.
And so that's the way we teach at 25 years old,
you're not married yet, you don't have any kids yet.
So you can kind of forget for now about Baby Step five,
because you don't have any kids,
there's no 529 that you need
to really add to and so then for you the next step is baby step six you're putting extra
money towards the house and you get to decide how intentional you're going to be about that
right you don't have to go crazy like you did with the other baby steps but you're a
single guy you could probably you know make a lot of headway on that what do you owe on
the house?
So around $450, $460. Okay.
I haven't even made my first mortgage payment yet.
Yeah, you said you closed here. You haven't even closed yet, right? Or you just closed?
I haven't closed yet. Right.
Okay, yeah. And so that's what I would advise you to do. That's what I did. And that's what
I do.
Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you. I mean, I love Jade's advice.
Follow it.
But I just want to commend you.
I love this.
Excellent.
I love this mindset that you've got, man.
You haven't even made the first payment yet.
You're calling and going, what do I do first?
But we want you to be set up for the long term and you're going to have no problem getting
rid of the house payment.
And the reason I suggested you go into the Roth right after the 3% is we want that 3%
match.
I mean, obviously that's free money, but then I love the Roth option for you because on
down the line, you're gonna want money that you have access to that you don't have to
pay taxes on and that you don't have that required minimum distribution.
And so that's why we would say that and then come back and you can fill up that 401k when
you're done.
What do you expect to make in the next 12 months?
I'd say around $400,000.
Wow, my son.
See, I've been wanting to ask that.
I had to wait.
I didn't want to interrupt, but I was going, I had a sense that he had jumped into a-
Well, when he told us the amount on the house. I was like wait a second Yeah, so here's the reason I asked that again. This is all an exclamation point to jade what Jade said
I can't add anything to what she said on that with that kind of income. You're gonna be fine
You're going to be more than fine
So you'll just follow the baby steps and with that kind of income man. It is gonna be ridiculous
Okay, have you gotten your hands on an investment calculator?
So I was just going to mention, I took a look at the amortization schedule on the loan and
that really just kind of ticked me off.
So I want to just-
Let it tick you off, but go in order.
You know what I mean?
Right.
Get your investment strategy because of that kind of income and what Jade's talking
about with the investment calculator is one of her favorite things to do.
Are you running some numbers for him?
I'm going to run a few numbers for him.
He's so upset about his loan, his mortgage, his amortization payment.
We need to get his mind focused on this part of the advice.
Okay, so then let's play a game.
How much do you already have in retirement investments?
Do you have any? Oh, only maybe six or $7,000. Okay, I'll put 7,000 in there.
All right. And then let's say you contribute, let's see, 60,000 a year. So let's say 5,000
a month. All right. And then we'll get you at 10% rate of return.
Cause you make a lot of money.
Dude, if you don't do anything else,
from now until forever, like from now until 65,
oh, actually, hold on, hold on.
Yeah, I was gonna say.
I accidentally put in the wrong retirement age,
but it's actually worth noting.
I put in 48.
Like if you were to retire at 48,
you'd have 5.3 million.
I thought I put in 65.
Let's put in 65 and see what it says.
If you go till 65, I'm shook.
Tell him the number.
Now, don't remind him what he's putting in every year.
No, this is monthly.
If you put in 5,000 a month,
because you make 400,000.
That's 60,000 a year.
That's 60,000 a year at a 10% annual rate of return.
You already have 7,000 there.
If you do this from age 25,
you said you're 25, right?
Yeah, I'm 25.
Until age 65.
You sitting down?
Are you sitting down because I'm standing up!
$31 million!
What do we got?
$31 million!
Oh my God. $31 million. $31 million.
$31 million.
That's crazy.
I had to put my pinky like on Austin Powers.
Yeah.
So now you feel a little bit better?
I do.
I feel a lot better.
But you know, and that's really why I called you guys.
Cause I know that, you know know if I start now by the time
I'm you know 65. It's gonna make a huge difference
And oh by the way, that doesn't mean you aren't paying your house off
You're still paying the house off. Yeah, we didn't even talk about that and we didn't even talk about the fact that
This is you starting like this is not you at your full potential. You're still going up in the world
You're still on an upward trajectory.
Man, I thought Mike,
I thought something was wrong with my calculator.
No, that's 15% of your income.
And oh, by the way, after you budget all that,
you're now making extra payments on the house.
Oh yeah.
And you'll pay the house off before you know it.
So this isn't an either or, it's both and.
That's the point of the exercise.
Matthew, I'm happy that I know you.
I'm happy I got to talk on the phone to you.
Hey, check back in with us.
Keep letting us know how this goes,
because so many people need to hear this.
If you can get these things firing on all cylinders,
even if you're not making $400,000 a year,
if you're making $200,000 a year, what is possible?
When you get a hold of your finances so early is so amazing.
And for anybody listening, if
you've never like played with an investment calculator, I suggest we have
a great one, ramsysolutions.com. You can check it out or you can just Google
Ramsey Investment Calculator and it'll pop up. But start playing with those
numbers to see what your life can be and I mean that's motivating at the very
least. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for the call. I love the breakdown, Jay.
That's always fun when we get into the numbers
because in his mind, he's like,
I gotta pay that house off, I gotta pay that house off.
It's like, no, it's both and.
It's both and.
It's not either or and fun to run those numbers.
And boy, that's a staggering number.
That is a staggering number.
And let me just.
And not many people make his money.
No, they don't.
I won't at least call it out.
Or at that early in life.
At 25, he'd be making 400K.
No, this-
He's in the top 1%.
Top 1%, 100%.
So I just want to at least call that out.
But let's also, Ken, let's explain why we care so much
about paying off the primary mortgage.
Tell us.
Because at the end of the day, yes,
we want you to have the compound interest,
but at the end of the day,
there is going to be a time where you do not work
and you don't want to be a time where you do not work. And you
don't want to be making payments on a mortgage or mortgage is the
biggest line item in your budget. You want that done and
paid for by the time you're you're you know, that age so
that you can just live.
Yeah, I totally, totally agree. There's a young man that's
living like no one else. I promise you he's gonna be living
like no one else and also giving like no one else.
At a young age, by the way.
Great stuff, good hour, Jade Warshaw.
All right, does it for this hour.
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Welcome to The Ramsey Show where we coach you to win in your life, specifically winning
in your money or with your money, winning in your work and winning in your relationships.
The phone number for you to get coached up today is 888-825-5225.
I'm Ken Colman, Jade Warshaw is with me and we're here for you, 888-825-5225.
We'll start it off in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan.
Sarah is on the line.
Sarah, how can we help?
Hello?
Hi.
How are you?
Hi.
Good.
How are you doing?
Good.
What can we help with?
Well, first of all, thank you for taking my call.
Of course.
I love you guys.
You guys are absolutely amazing and help me so far.
The challenge I'm facing now is I have $300,000 worth of debt and I just can't see a way
out.
I'm working three jobs and it just doesn't seem to work.
Wow.
Well, break it down for Jade here.
So start off with your income through the three different jobs.
Give us a range and then walk her through your debt.
My salary position, I bring in 80.
My salary is 80.
I bring in 80 and then I net 55 when you take out tax insurance.
And then I have a second job that I gross 40, but then I'm an independent contractor
so I have to take out taxes and stuff.
So I net about 30 to 35 thousand good and then I have another part-time job that brings in about 600 bucks a month, okay?
Okay, so 72 on the 85 so you're somewhere in that 92 93 range with those numbers. Is that right net?
Yeah, I mean that sounds amazing, but that's
Yeah, yeah, but you do something with that. Yeah, Dr. Jade is in today, so it's gonna be okay.
I'm gonna pretend like you didn't say that.
The debt doctor, no?
Oh, okay, okay, I'll take that.
See what I'm doing?
You didn't know what I was doing.
I didn't know where you were going.
Sarah, now that I know where he's going.
You can do surgery on this.
I can help you.
So you're bringing in almost $8,000 a month,
which ain't too shabby,
but you've got $300,000 of debt.
So walk us through this debt.
It's all student loans.
Okay.
Private, federal?
I have $12,000 of private.
I will have those hopefully paid off by December.
The rest, the $300,000 is all government.
What was it for?
I'm just curious.
I went to law school.
And are we practicing law?
Yes.
And that's the number one amount of money you gave us?
What kind of law are you doing?
Yeah, I do estate planning, probate stuff.
Gosh, it feels like we've got a path to be making a whole lot more than that.
Am I right?
Or are you feeling like you're capped out and why?
No, you hit the nail on the head. I've been looking on indeed and stuff and I I'm
that's actually the average pay for where I live and it's pretty
it's it's hard to deal with because I do feel that I
Earn should earn more but it's it's about average. Do you is there anything keeping you tied to the Detroit area?
Family, yeah. Okay. Okay. One other silly question, Jaden, and I'll get out of the way.
I am curious with what you've done so far. Is there a pivot or some type of additional legal work that you could do that would add to your income based on your
current qualification or specialization? So I got my real estate license about a year and a half ago,
so that's my second job. Yeah, I'm talking just the legal field right now. Well, the reason why
I got a different type of job is I'm really burnt out practicing law, so I'm trying to expand on
other things, so that's why I got my real estate license to help bring in more money.
But that's extremely a part time, but I really want to try to pivot out of
practicing.
I get it. But I'm going to, and again, I'm about ready to hand it to you,
Jay. No problem.
But you got $300,000 in law school debt.
I don't think you get the burnout yet.
And I think that the greatest opportunity for you
to make money is through your law, your legal work.
You just don't have time to sell houses.
That's a full-time deal.
So it's either or.
It's like you go all in on selling homes
and if you do that, then there's no limit
to what you can make.
But I'm just going to make that point, you know, you've got to bring in some more income
here because $300,000 is doable.
I'm going to hand it over to Jade.
Jade, walk her through the process here.
Okay, so the loans, did you consolidate them or are they single, singular?
They're single.
Okay, good.
They're singular.
That's good, That's good.
Okay, so as trite as this may sound, all we're doing is listing them from smallest to largest
and we're paying minimum payments on all of them.
Hopefully, I don't know, are you enrolled in any of the assistance plans?
Are you in save plan or anything like that?
The income driven payment, I've been on that for about 13 years.
Okay.
And is it going to run out or do you still have time to be on it?
I mean, honestly, I try to re-enroll and it takes months and months to get an
answer. So I don't know. I'm kind of in limbo right now.
Okay. What's your current payment for the, for the lot of them?
I don't pay anything.
Okay. Good. So here's what we do.
The fact that your minimum payments are zero is a good thing for you right now
because that means you can put the full strength
of your income on the smallest debt and knock it out fast.
I wish there was a way to tell you
that there was an easy button here.
There's just not.
And if you've listened to our show for any bit of time,
you know my husband and I had 280, okay?
And at the time we weren't making what
to combine what you're making now. And so
there's there's a part of this that you have to just, you know, ride that income until
the the debt is gone. You know, once you have maxed out your money for your time, and I
don't know that you have yet, Ken, I agree with Ken, I think that you can do more to
max out your time and get better
money for it. But once you do hit that point, there is a point where you just go, okay,
this is what I'm making and this is how long it's going to take. And as I've said many
times before, you got to ride that horse to the old town road and just that's what you
got to do. And then when it's done, it's done.
That song is going to be in my head now all day and I'm having you to thank for that.
I'm kind of like yeah and I'm kind of like torn because I actually make more money selling real
estate in half the amount of time versus my salary position of course I get that paycheck
every two weeks. Well then what's that transition look like because that's what I'm getting at like
if you get after it and you can double triple triple your income, then this is a game changer.
Key word is consistently.
If you can do that consistently, then that's a great sign.
It's almost like what would have to be true for you to change your schedule, stock some
money up or something to be able to then go, all right, I'm dropping one of these jobs.
My gosh, you got more jobs than you know what to do with right now.
So we got to create some margin time wise, than you know what to do with right now.
So we got to create some margin time-wise, which means we got to have some margin money-wise,
right, Jade?
You tracking with me?
I'm tracking with you.
And then what would it take for her to get to a place to where she can now go all in
on real estate, and that's going to take a little bit of time to build that pipeline
up?
Yeah, I mean, we're always looking for you to be able to replace whatever your income was
at its best, right?
And if you can do that consistently with real estate,
I say more power to you.
The weird thing about real estate though is of its nature,
it tends to be up and down.
Yeah, what's the market like in Detroit area?
It's slow.
I get consistent at least two listings and closings, but it's a rollercoaster.
Yeah. See, so you got it to Jade's point. We got to factor that in. The market determines
what's going on in some degree. You don't just, you know, I'm going to tell you shingle
and it's everybody wants to buy a house from me.
I'm going to tell you, when you have this kind of debt, there is something to be said
for being able to count on. I know what's coming in and I know what I'm doing with
it there's just kind of that moment only line yeah assembly line that you can
just I'm cranking it out I'm paying off the debt and this is temporary and when
the time comes you'll do what you love I agree because of the market where it's
at I'm gonna go with Jade's decide what you can do and lock in on it.
And then if something changes, then the timeline changes, but get that mindset for the climb.
It's going to take me a while to climb this mountain, but I will get there.
I appreciate the call.
You got this.
Stay encouraged.
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That's betterhelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash deloney. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show America alongside Jade Warshaw.
I'm Ken Coleman.
The phone number for you to jump in, we'd love to coach up today is 888-825-5225.
888-825-5225.
Amy joins us now in Vancouver.
Amy, how can we help today?
Hi. My question is about a shared asset. Amy joins us now in Vancouver. Amy, how can we help today?
Hi, my question is about a shared asset I have with my other adult sibling.
So the asset is actually in Texas
and it was given to all of us by my parents.
And it's definitely been a blessing
and it's getting to the point where there wasn't really a long-term
plan put in place.
So it's starting to feel less like a blessing and more of a point of conflict.
So me and all my siblings have lived there.
It's a house and all me and all my siblings have names are on it and we have all lived there at some point
While paying rent except my brother is now he's been in the house for about six years and he hasn't paid rent and
He's currently
on leave with the military
And I tried to reach out to make a plan before he left, and he didn't respond
to anything. So I'm wondering how to navigate this asset and keep it a blessing while preserving
our relationship.
How many siblings total?
There's four of us.
And how did he get this deal? How did he just start living in when everybody else has lived in it and paid rent?
I'm presuming you guys have rented it to other people as well, is that true?
I think we've rented it to one other family.
How did he get away with living rent free for six years. So it was kind of like on your integrity. There was an account set
up and you put a certain amount in that account every month. And he decided he didn't want
to use that same account. He wanted to do his own thing, which we're like, that's fine.
You know, you can pay rent how you what is the rent? What it it's 250 dollars a month oh my gosh this is a joke
and so he's not been paying it not not once what do the other siblings think about this
so basically like we would we don't know how to resolve it the communication is not great
they kind of want to be like well well, yeah, we'd like to
talk about this kind of written it off as like, oh, like, we're just never going to
see money from that. It's just never going to, nothing's going to change.
How'd you arrive at the 250? Is that like an arbitrary amount or is that maintenance?
What is that?
So that was set up like over a decade ago, like a long time ago.
And it was with the purpose of like, oh, this is affordable so we can live in it and save
money so we can kind of get ahead.
It doesn't include like utilities or anything like that.
So all four of you are on the deed?
Yes.
What's it worth?
The asset? Probably 200,000 on the bottom side, on the
low side. And there's no debt on it, right? No, no. So do the other three siblings,
I'm sorry, there's four of you, so the other two plus you, are they all wanting
to get out of this as well? Are you there? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the
end of that question. Okay. I'm here. I'm asking, do the other siblings, are they in
agreement with you about they want to get out or you're the only one thinking
going, how do I get out of this? No, the other siblings were all in agreement.
Okay. Okay, well that helps. Majority rules.
So I'm going to, I don't know, so I want to say something, but I'll first say I don't
know, I've never experienced this before, so I would be seeking counsel, actual legal
counsel on this, on what your options are when you've got four people on a deed, three
want to get out.
I just don't know enough legal on that, but I would say this.
However this goes down,
it's time for three of you
to stop letting him bully you. This guy's a
bully. And I know it's your brother.
I'm just telling you like it is.
He's not returning your calls. He's just acting like a school ground, like on the playground
bully. I'm not going to talk to you. I'm giving you the silent treatment. I'm creating all
this tension and I'm not playing ball. I'm just creating all this and I'm daring you.
He's daring you guys to do something. And I think he's doing it because he knows you're not willing to do anything
about it. And I think that's the only little thing I wanted to put in there because I think
however you resolve this, Jade, I'll get out of the way if you've got a point on this,
but I think whatever needs to happen, he needs to realize the gig is up. You've long outstayed
your welcome. You've taken advantage you've taken advantage of us.
It's over.
Yeah.
So just for clarity for me, so you guys, the plan was when you live in the house, you put
the $250 in the account and that's split amongst the other three siblings, right?
No.
So that amount goes just towards repairs.
Like always something like breaks.
Okay.
You have money in the account to pay for it.
And so while he's been living in the house, if something broke, what happened?
I'm not sure. So well, he there are things broken and they're just not fixed.
So he just didn't take care of the place while he was there either. Right. Oh, wow. Okay.
So yeah, I mean, the majority rules here, if you have to get a judge to force this,
I don't think it would be that difficult to do it.
We could talk about the idea of him buying you guys out, but I don't think that's going
to happen.
It's just not going to happen.
So yeah, you might have to sit down, all of you guys sit down and try to make it light.
But for me, the fact that you're calling it's no longer light.
So you can try to keep that a light conversation.
But I think the longer you let this go on, the worse it gets.
So to Ken's point, yeah, I think you guys get together, somebody talk to a judge and say, how do we force this?
Because we're ready to sell it. We've kept it this long. He's not paying rent.
And the truth is, I kind of like the fact that he doesn't owe each of you because I mean, if you guys guys are splitting this money truly, he'd owe each of you $6,000,
but he doesn't since he's not even taking care of the place,
although who knows if that'll affect the resale value,
but I'd get out of it immediately.
I would too, because if you look at this split,
let's say they sell it for 200,
it's less than 50 grand each.
It's just not enough money
to be dealing with all this garbage.
So Amy, I'm with you, I think your instincts are right.
Let's get out of this thing.
No messing around, it's not worth spending a bunch with a lawyer to the judge thing, whatever.
I think Jade's right. Let's clean, efficient, force his hand. We're selling this thing and we
avoid all the tension. And then Thanksgiving and Christmas takes care of itself. But yeah,
I'd get out quick. I really would. That's an unfortunate situation. I mean, when you get,
Yeah, I'd get out quick. I really would. That's that's an unfortunate situation. I mean when you get and see that's it Okay, so I'm sitting here
And I didn't ask okay, I've already pulled her home, but like I
Didn't ask I guess I should have if mom and dad are still alive. I got the picture. They aren't around
I got a feeling they're not around but I just went for that reason. I just I sat there and I went
Note to self
If Stacy and I want, note to self,
if Stacey and I wanna bless our three kids, I need to bless them individually,
not try to do a, hey, we're gonna do this asset
and work the three of you into it.
I just sat there and I went, note to self.
Cash money.
And individually.
Yes.
You're not in it together.
Yeah.
I'm blessing you this way,
I'm blessing you this way, this way,
and it's not this like joint thing where this is, it's just what, I don't see what the value is in that.
It's probably the family home is my guess. And I think, and they probably had the option to sell it early on, but they weren't ready to part with it yet. And so it probably just became, listen, I am adding all sorts of story to this that I don't know are true. So I'm sorry if that's not true. But you agree, right? Yeah. To give four kids a house.
All right, you guys, here you go.
Yeah.
Even if there's not a problem,
it just feels like it's easy for a problem to exist
because then you have four different people
who have four different views of life.
Yeah.
Money.
It's like when you get a gift card
to a restaurant you don't really like,
you're happy for the gift card,
but now you're forced to eat at Applebee's. Oh, jeez, you just went there. Just a shot across the bow. I'm just saying.
Eating good in the neighborhood. I mean, there's a lot of people that like an Applebee's.
Hey, note to self, team, no Applebee's gift cards for Jade. That would not go over well.
Yeah, it's happened. Where would one get you a gift card too?
I'm with you. Asking for a friend. Visa gift card. No, no, I want to know. I'm putting you on the spot.
20 seconds. If I'm going to get you, Stacey and I are going to get you and Sam a gift card to a
restaurant. Where do you want? Where do you want to go? It has to be national so people know it.
Okay.
Come on.
I don't know.
Jay Alexander's?
Do you guys have that?
Yeah.
Do you guys?
You live here too.
I'm not going to lie.
Do you guys have that?
Can't call me.
I wanted to say red lobster.
Are you aware you live in middle Tennessee as well?
I wanted to say red lobster.
I don't mind that at all.
I love a good lobster.
All right.
Quick break.
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That's A-L i dot u s. You're listening to the Ramsey Show.
I'm Jade Warshaw.
Next to me is Ken Coleman, bestselling author of many books, but most recently, Find the
Work You're Wired to Do, home of the Get Clear Career Assessment, which is very, very great.
Very fun, very fun tool.
And it's always good to be with you.
By the way, you're a bestselling author too.
Yeah. Money's not a math problem.
Pick it up.
You can find them all at ramsdesolutions.com slash store.
Get into it. Get involved.
I want to get involved with these phone lines.
And by the way, if you want to get involved with us, call us.
The number is 888-825-5225.
And we will pick up your call.
Let's pick up Alicia's call.
Alyssa actually is how we're gonna pronounce that.
Green Bay, Wisconsin, what's going on?
Alyssa?
Hi, thanks so much for taking my call.
Did I say it right?
It's Alyssa.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, got you.
Yeah, very nice.
Thanks.
So I have another insurance question for you.
Wow. It's the day of another insurance question for you. Wow.
It's the day of insurances, wow.
All right, hit us with it.
Mine's about life insurance.
So my husband and I, we're actually in disagreement
on how much we should have.
Okay.
And we're actually on the same page
about most everything else when it comes to finances,
but this one, so I'll just lay it out.
What does he think?
How much?
Okay, so we both right now have 500,000 on each of us,
and he is completely fine with that.
Okay.
And I used to be, but then I've been listening
to you guys a lot more, and now I know that it should be
10 to 12 times our annual income.
That's right.
And so we're just not at enough,
and he is like
not about it. Well this makes him wrong and this makes you right. Well yeah I agree with Ken and
let's talk deeply about it. The purpose of insurance is to if something god forbid were to happen to
either of you anybody that's dependent on your income, they will be set
up, right? And it's not just for the moment, it's ongoing. And so what's your income and
what's his income?
So mine's right at about a hundred and his is about one thirty.
Okay. So yours is at a hundred. His is at one thirty. So if something, God forbid, were
to happen to you, he's got five years' salary, basically.
But you're saying, hey, I'd love for this to be even better.
I'd love for you to be – if we do what I'm saying, which is you'd have over a million
dollars of coverage –
2.5 is what I'm recommending.
I'm bumping it up.
OK, yeah, OK.
Because you got them at 230 combined income.
Yeah, but I'm saying individual policies.
Right. I know, but my'm saying individual policies. Right.
I know, but my total is going to be 2.5 between the two of them.
That's all I'm saying.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
But if something were to happen to you, like for you to be able to provide basically 10
years of your salary to him, what a great gift.
I mean, that allows, and vice versa.
So what's the difference? Like he's probably
thinking about quarterly payments or monthly payments. What does this look like? Have you
priced out the numbers with Xander? Yeah, actually I did. And so basically like he thinks
it's a waste of money. And honestly, we probably would have none if it weren't for it. We're
in the military, so we have to take that 500 each. Okay.
And so thank goodness.
But, and no, and he does have a point,
like he says, you know, like,
if one of us were to pass the other one, you know,
with that 500, like, could easily pay off everything.
And then we each make enough to like, you know,
live with our daily expenses, so I get it.
But I was telling him,
cause I heard you say actually not that long ago, and it kind of made me like really look into this
and like be like, wow I never thought about this before, because we'd always
had that same mindset as like he has now. But you said, you know, the intent is
that if they pass it's not just to like, oh here pay off your debt and and like
not a retirement plan.
It's like, hey, invest to this.
And then the interest should pretty much make up
for the income that you're losing.
And I was like, oh my goodness, that makes so much sense.
So I really wanna do it.
Yeah.
But he is like, he just doesn't,
he thinks it's a waste of money.
And of course like he jokes when I mentioned it and he's like, you know what? I'm not gonna die until we're way older anyway. So it doesn't he thinks it's a waste of money and and of course like he jokes when I mentioned it and he's like
You know what? I'm not gonna die into our way order anyway, so it doesn't even matter and I'm like well
That makes me a little uncomfortable almost I think he's uncomfortable. I think I think the whole like you said, it's the 500
It's part of work. It's required. So in many ways for him that was a no-brainer
But when it's time to actually turn on the you know turn on the lights in his brain and start thinking about it
It's an uncomfortable conversation. You're talking about what happens when you you know kick the bucket and that's not I
Flip this I'd flip this on him. I think he's real cavalier about this thing. He's too cavalier about it to be completely honest
But okay play it his way. Go, all right,
I did the numbers. I ran the numbers, got some quotes from Xander. Let me show you the
quotes. And since you're okay, if I die, just living with the 500, turns out I'm okay with
that too. But tell you what, I'm not okay. If you die early, Sparky McGee. There you go. I don't think 500 is enough for my safety gland.
And I got some numbers I ran.
And I'm pretty much telling you that we need to do this.
I'm not asking your permission.
I'm just getting you to buy in from my piece of mind.
And I'd lay the real numbers out, which by the way, I'm just curious, what would the
total increase be year over year with the numbers you got from X way, I'm just curious, what would the total increase be year over
year with the numbers you got from Xander?
I'm just curious.
I want to know too.
So yeah, and actually I was really impressed.
So I did a quote on just mine for another 500 because that would put me at a million.
And that's only going to be like $17 a month.
So I go back to Sparky, I'm sorry, I'm calling your husband Sparky, but, but
he's kind of irritated me a little bit and I'm trying to be nice.
I'd go back to him and go, Hey, listen, I know you're good with the 500 K.
If I kicked the bucket early, I'm not.
I just bumped it up to what this guy, Dave Ramsey has been teaching for
decades and it's $17.
I mean, come on.
That's one drive-through.
That's one time through the drive-through for the month.
Yeah, that's two Starbucks, you know, come on.
So I would just present it.
I'd present it that way and say, I'm doing this.
Yeah, yes, Ken.
Oh, by the way.
Well, we do have to agree on everything.
Like that is something that we are thinking of.
Oh, I know, I know.
I'm having some fun with this.
I'm not, but we're also talking about real
$17 a month I don't think this is a knockdown drag out is my point he being
stingy are you guys still in debt is that why he's being kind of tight with
the purse strings okay yes we are we do have debt but it is not out of control. Okay. Is he super tight?
Yes.
Oh, yes.
And the thing is, is like,
it's not that I don't understand it
and I value it and everything,
but I just think that like, he thinks it's unnecessary.
So we are not about unnecessary spending.
And that would get him.
And he's like, no, we're completely covered.
Like he is like, oh no, like, you know
It's the 500,000 that would take care of everything and we both make enough income that like all of our you know
Monthly expenses are good. There's just no reason for it. Let's go back to the basics of this
We need to and this is what you tell him and hey play the call like the whole this this is
Documented I can't wait. Sorry. sorry, man. Sorry, Sparky.
So here's the thing. Let's go back to the basics on this because when we
what we teach here, right, the baby steps on getting out of debt, the whole entire purpose is to change your family tree.
It's all legacy built at the end of the day. It provides peace now, but it's also providing peace for the future and for the people that come after you.
And such a huge part of that is insurance
until you can self-insure,
because we're building wealth not just for us,
but to be able to pass down.
And until you can self-insure,
depending on insurance companies to help you with that,
is such a huge part of the wealth building process for you because again
I hope you guys live until be as old as Methuselah. I don't care live as long as you want, but if for some reason you don't
This is here. It's kind of just that failsafe that kicks in and to spend
Sparky
Marky mark Biff, whatever your name is, to spend the extra $17, bud.
It's $204 a year.
It's $204 to make sure your family has half a million more.
By the way, for your peace of mind,
I keep playing that card.
I was having fun with it, but I'm not joking around.
He's tight, play to that.
Go, you're tight because you're fearful
about money and stuff, and I appreciate that.
There you go, Ken.
But guess where I'm tight? I're fearful about money and stuff. And I appreciate that. There you go, Ken. But guess where I'm tight?
I'm nervous about this.
And it's $204 a month.
So go, so you know what?
Yes, we gotta be in agreement.
I'd say Sparky, it's time to have a new budget meeting.
We have, it's like calling Congress back
for a special session.
We're having a special mid-month budget meeting.
And I am gonna find $17 a month to make sure that I'm not
stressed out when you die early because you drink too much Diet Coke or whatever. Sorry,
Diet Coke drinkers.
You mean sorry, Sparky.
Sparky.
We love you, Sparky. We want the best for you.
We do love you. Help your wife out, dude. Come on.
This is the Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warshaw.
I'm Ken Coleman.
The phone number is 825-5225
to get coached up. The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by our friends
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Alrighty. Today's question comes from Andy in Delaware.
My fiance had a lot of debt related to a prior divorce.
She's currently living with her parents
and her parents used a little cash
and 10 credit cards to pay off her debt.
So now she owes them close to $75,000.
I know legally most of this is not in my fiance's name,
but morally we owe it together when we get married.
I didn't agree with how her mom put this debt
on credit cards and it doesn't sound like
they are paying much more than the minimums right now.
My plan is to take out a personal loan after we get married
to pay off her parents in full.
So I have control over the debt completely.
This would drop down the interest significantly.
We could then attack it with both of our incomes
to pay it off as quickly as we can.
Would this work or is there a better plan?
Okay, so just to clarify, there was a divorce,
she had debt, her parents said,
we'll take care of it, but we're doing it with credit cards.
And you're like, no, when we get married,
we're gonna take out a personal loan to clear it.
I don't necessarily like that method. I like that you're saying, hey, when we get married, we're going to take out a personal loan to clear it. I don't necessarily like that method. I like that you're saying, hey, after we get married,
then we'll tackle it together. That is right. So green check on that. I would not do the loan.
The truth is, you're only on the hook for the $75,000. You're not necessarily on the hook for
any interest that is in crude because of their method of paying for this
That part is on them because they chose that route
They chose that card with that interest rate unless there's a conversation that I don't know about in my mind
I'd be like I owe you
$75,000 Ken I couldn't agree more. It's a lot easier. They've already assumed this debt for her. This is not something that she put on them. They did this. I would pay the parents directly,
and I agree with Jade. I wouldn't worry about the interest. That's their problem. I think they'll
be thrilled that you guys are serious about paying it off, and I think it's a lot easier to pay them
off. Now, I would only say the caveat to that is you both need to agree, you and your fiance,
that we aren't skipping this. We're going to treat this like it is a private loan, like our credit would be affected, like
they'd come after us with collections, all of the things that people that loan money
put in place as some sense of accountability.
And I think that's the key, or else this could create tension.
And I don't think that's the case here.
I think this is like, we want to get this out. I love the urgency don't think that's the case here. I think this is
like we want to get this out. I love the urgency, love the character and the integrity here,
but I agree with Jade 100%. Pay the parents directly.
Here's the problem I do foresee is that he's already noticing, hey, her mom put this on
credit cards and this is him speculating. It doesn't seem like she's making payments.
Or he says something there where, you know.
They're paying the minimums.
Yeah, they're paying minimums.
So I do foresee a problem of down the line,
them saying, well, we did this,
but the balance has grown.
So I do think you need to have some sort of really,
really clear conversation about how interest is handled
and how that part is not pertaining to you.
And records, records, records.
Records, records.
I would treat every payment that's sent to the parents,
however you choose to do it.
I would have that in a journal, a financial record,
your bank would easily give you that.
I would do that so that it is tracked.
If you have the conversation that Jade is recommending,
and I agree, because again, they could do something dumb
with all that 75,000 and not pay off the cracker, but at that point, ain't my problem. And let it be
known when Ken and I talk about you having this conversation, we really mean
your wife, not you. You need to stay far from this conversation and let her
speak for both of you, because otherwise this could get grisly. Let's go to
Detroit, Michigan, where Nick awaits. Nick, how can
we help? Hey, Ken and Jade. Thank you for taking my call. I had a question about
having dual employment. Reason being was we have three boys, seven, six, and three.
So we're in that messy middle and I wanted to give my wife the opportunity to you know, be a stay-at-home mom
She was a nurse to begin with and then
Once we had our third child. I just said, you know, my brothers will stay at home. We can not survive with my income
Now that she took advantage of her or she took advantage by herself going through her masters to get
nurse practitioner, and she just completed the program.
And you told her to stay home?
Yeah.
Hold on, hold on.
I did.
Okay, so, Ken, you go ahead.
Yeah, keep going.
I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
Yeah, keep going.
Get to our question.
Yep, okay.
So, I work for a fire department, and I make about 110 Yep. Okay. So I work for a fire department and I make about 110,000.
And then I also have a family business where I make about 100,000 as well.
Obviously the fire is pension and then the family business is just straight
salary. There is a simple IRA that I can contribute to.
My question is, is now that she has her nurse practitioner license and we have no student
debt, am I crazy to supplement my loss.
And obviously strive to make more of the family business or do I just grind it out with both
employments if I can manage it.
All right.
So how much is she going to make as a nurse practitioner?
I would hope about 140.
Okay, so 140.
And the family business where you're making 100 right now, do you own that or are you
working for another family member?
For my dad.
Okay, and is that what you want to do long term?
Let's go 15, 20 years from now.
Do you want to be a fireman and be in the business or do you just want to be running
that business or not in it at all?
No, and so that's a unique part is that in about five years
I had the opportunity to leave the fire department under a full pension or I'm
able to be I can pull out from the pension. I know but I'm not I'm not
focusing on that I'm asking do you want to be long-term owner or involved in the
family business yes or no?
Yes.
Yes.
I mean, that's the dream.
That's what you want, right?
Yes.
Okay.
So what would benefit you leaving the fire department right now?
Forget the pension.
I know you're all hung up on the pension.
I don't really care about the pension.
I'm not minimizing the pension, but we don't make decisions based on pensions.
So my question is, if you leave the fire department,
that's a certain block of hours every week,
and you just focused on the business,
would that allow you to do more
and get paid more in the family business?
Yeah, there would have to be a discussion,
but yeah, absolutely.
I'd have the discussion.
Dad, if I walk away from the fire department
and I start full-time and I'm all my energy in here, what's that look like?
This is very simple.
Stop thinking about the fire pension.
If you walk away from the pension to make your life better in the now and the next,
nobody cares about the pension.
I want to know where does the stay at home mom who was going to be a nurse practitioner
fit into all this?
Because that was the thing that made me be like, wait, what, what, what?
Sounds like she's back in, right? To work? Yeah. No this because that was the thing that made me be like wait what what what sounds like she's back in right?
To work. Yeah, no, and that was the goal. I mean she just wanted that she does her personal goal was become a nurse practitioner and
Being a stay-at-home mom it gave her the opportunity to just focus on school and nothing else
So she's excited. She's excited and to get back in and does she have a gig?
She's currently seeking.
Okay, cool. Okay, okay.
I walk away from the fireman position.
You're only in it because of this pension.
It's the only evidence you've given us as to why you keep doing it.
And I just don't think you need to keep doing it.
Now you can if you want to.
But if I'm trying to grow in one area, which is for you as a family business,
every second I'm spending in the fire
station is taking away from that long-term goal. And if your wife makes 110 and she's replacing
the fireman salary, yeah, why not? Bingo. This is a no brainer. If it plays out the way that you
want it to play out, maybe wait until she gets the gig. I'm afraid to pull the trigger. Well,
don't pull the trigger until she
starts making the money and she's in.
No, absolutely.
Yeah, man, you got this.
That's interesting.
Yeah, I was confused in the very beginning,
but I also jumped the gun, so that's why I was confused.
Yeah, you got a little fired up there.
I know, I did.
You thought that was going a different direction?
I did, I did.
Don't tell me what I can do.
Is that what I heard?
Yeah, yeah. I can do. Is that what I heard? Yeah. Yeah, I
I
Digress she's a strong woman hear her roar folks
Good hour. This is the Ramsey show Hey, folks. Hey folks, our Fourth of July sale is happening right now from July 3rd through the 6th.
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Welcome to The Ramsey Show where we help you win in your life America.
Specifically winning in your money, winning in your work and winning in your relationships.
The phone number for us to coach you up is 888-825-5225.
888-825-5225. The phone number for us to coach you up is triple 8 8 2 5 5 2 2 5 triple 8 8 2 5 5 2
2 5.
The dynamo next to me is the one, the only Jade Warshaw.
I'm Ken Coleman.
She'll take lead on the money calls and help you manage the money.
I want to help you make more money.
So it's a good combo.
Let's get right to it.
We're going to go to Denver, Colorado.
Peter is there.
Peter, how can we help today?
Hi guys. Thanks for taking my call you bet
So I'm calling in because my wife and I are in baby step two and
trying to get out of debt and
About a year and a half ago. I got my wife a horse lease started
About a year and a half ago, I got my wife a horse lease started because she loved being with horses and working with them.
She was at the time volunteering at a horse center for people with disabilities.
So she got to basically just shovel poop and be around horses but didn't get to ride ever.
And I saw how much joy that was bringing her, so I got her this horse lease.
What's that mean?
Can you explain that more to me?
Yeah, I've never heard of that.
Yeah. So basically we pay three hundred and fifty dollars a month
and she can go out to this property and ride the horse whenever she wants.
Her, myself and the kids, actually.
So it's been a lot of fun.
But I'm wondering if we're being irresponsible since we're in baby step two.
Is it can I ask more? I'm just gonna dig deeper on the horse lease real quick.
So is it there's several horses on the property and she can ride any horse or does she kind of get assigned a horse?
That's like that's her horse. Tell me more about it. Is it personal?
Is it?
Yeah, so we just have the one horse that we have access to.
And how long is, how long have you been doing this?
About a year and a half.
Year and a half, okay.
And the idea of her giving this up
is met with what kind of reaction?
Not great.
A lot of tears and
she feels like it just helps her a lot emotionally. Yeah.
How long would you have to give it up? I mean, how long is your journey? Are we talking?
So, we have like $21,000 in debt. I've got $3,000 on the last credit card,
So we have like 21,000 in debt. I've got 3,000 on the last credit card, 5,000, maybe it's over 21. So 5,000 on my truck. And then I just got a personal loan for 15,000 to cover last year's
taxes. Because that was the first year we'd ever had to pay taxes.
Okay, so you're at 23 now.
Yeah.
Okay.
So is that it or is there more?
That's it.
Okay.
And what's the income?
Sorry, Ken.
No, go ahead.
Make it about 120,000.
Oh, okay.
So why, this is going to be gone in a year?
You're going to live on 100 and you're going to gonna be gone in a year? You're gonna live on 100
and you're gonna knock this out in one year or less?
Yeah, shooting for like nine months.
Yeah.
Good for you.
Can she work or does she work outside the home?
So she homeschools our three boys and stays at home.
That's not what I asked.
Can she work?
She does sometimes.
Doing what? I'm a trim carpenter, and so when we're done with houses, the general contractor that I work for will hire her to go in and do the post-construction cleanup.
And what kind of money does she make, and how long does it take her to make this money?
It's very sporadic, because it's just when we finish houses. So
it could be like three right in a row or like the next one we'll have is maybe two months
away. How much time does she take when she cleans? One to two, one day usually. One day.
And so she's able to do this with the kids? Yeah, usually we just have my father-in-law babysit.
I'm gathering information over here.
I mean, I'd simplify it.
I'd simplify it like this, and some people might hate this answer.
Technically, if you're in baby step two, you cut out things like this.
Now, you guys aren't, you're not burning like some people are in debt, and you could be if you choose not to go hard on this,
but you're gonna be out of debt so quickly.
What I'd say is if you wanna spend $350
and keep this horse leased up with this horse
that you've probably established a relationship with,
just earn the $350 a month, earn it back.
Go out and get a job.
I am shocked right now, but I love it.
I thought you were gonna go hard on this one.
It's an amount of money that is truly not gonna make
or break them to that extent.
But I'm with you.
I wanna make sure the audience hears this.
I wanna make sure that Peter hears this.
I love this idea, because that's what I was gonna say.
Mama needs to go make the 350 or there is no horse.
Yeah, because-
She's gotta cover the horse. But
I do have one question on that. Peter, let's say it takes you nine months and all this
is clear. Is that what you, is that the number you gave us? That's what we're shooting for.
What's the name of the horse? Jesse. Is Jesse going to be available for lease nine months
from now? It's certainly not guaranteed. Is Jesse old?
Well, that doesn't make any difference
because if Jesse dies, we can't lease him anyway.
I know, but I'm just saying,
maybe she wants to live out her Jesse's last nine months.
I'm gonna throw a wrinkle into this, Peter and Jade.
I'm gonna throw something out and let you two discuss it.
Okay. You ready?
Yeah, I'm ready.
I like your idea,
but I think the better idea
is to go talk to Jesse's owner
and tell Jesse's owner what the story is
and say nine months from now, we're going to be debt free
and this is super important to my wife.
I need to know that we can jump back into the contract
and lease Jesse nine months from now
and I would take the 350 and I would help mama get motivated to knock this debt out and say we're going to stop riding Jessie for nine
months.
Okay, but she.
I'm just throwing a hardcore alternative out there.
Peter, Jade discuss.
So Peter, are you saying that if you were to cancel the lease, are you worried about
Jessie not being available and that somebody else would take the lease spot? Is that what you're concerned about? Essentially, yes. Yeah,
she could just lease her out to somebody else. Which is why I have the conversation with Jesse's
owner. Yeah, well, but if I'm the owner, if I'm Jesse's owner, I'm like, you want me to hold the
horse? But how can she not lease him out to like 50 people? How many times can you ride Jesse in one month? I mean that's easy you've got to be available. So we're there's usually only one. By the way I should point
out to people who just jumped in. Jesse is the horse. Jesse is a horse. We're talking
about riding a horse. Yes. Should have probably made that clear. Yes. I'll refer to him as
the horse from now on. Jesse the horse. So it's not to confuse everybody. All right.
But how many times can you ride the horse in a month? She goes out like once a month. Right? Twice a week. Okay, twice. Oh, that's a lot.
Twice a week for $350 and I don't want to get too deeply into your
business but I did want to ask because you kind of alluded to it, does your wife
struggle with like some anything mentally because you said it helps her
mental health? I don't think it's so much like a mental health problem so much as just like
she she's with the boys constantly, she homeschools.
Yeah totally.
And that's kind of like her.
No need to explain.
Our children drive us crazy.
We are.
She needs a little time with nature.
Come on.
Okay, I listen I think Ken's idea can't hurt.
It can't hurt.
It can't hurt you to go by and say, hey, we've got a nine month window.
We've been working with you guys for a year and a half.
We love it. We need to temporarily suspend this and then we'll be back,
you know, give them the date and time. If he says, yeah, say yeah.
But if not, yeah, tell mom and be like, hey, mom, if you want to keep this going,
you just got to fund it because we decided that our priority is paying off the debt
and so we decided that that's the priority with our current income and I want to stand by that
and if you want to do something more, go clean some houses, mama gots to fund it, go clean some
toilets, it doesn't have to be toilets, that's the last thing I'm going to, that's the last job I'm
taking, I'm trying to make a point, she really wants to ride the horse. You gotta pay for it.
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You're listening to the Ramsey Show. I don't know about you, Ken, but I feel like the last couple of calls we've gotten have
had something to do with protections, making sure that an inheritance is safe, making sure
that the money and the net worth that we've amassed is safe, making sure that my identity
is safe. It all has to do with insurance and everybody wants to have the right insurances
after all insurance is there to mitigate risk, right? Whether it's health insurance, home
insurance, renter's insurance, all of these things are out there to protect you in case
a cost comes up that you yourself cannot cover your insurances there to kind of fill that gap for you.
And it can be very confusing to navigate
all of the insurances and doing,
going through, I don't know, Ken,
that is something that if we start talking about insurance,
my eyes glaze over and I want someone to handle it for me.
Yes, I would concur.
And so our Ramsey Trusted Pros, they shop the market
and they compare all the insurance quotes so that you don't have to and so
That I don't have to and your pro will compare the quotes
They'll look at the discounts and they will bundle the deals for you at no extra cost
Which is great when my husband and I moved here
Ken we were you know in a new house we had to have the the housing insurance for that
We needed to get the umbrella coverage and all that.
And they shopped all the quotes.
They rolled it into one nice, neat bow and we got more coverage for less money.
Like that.
I love that.
So Ramsey Trusted Pros will make sure you have all the coverage you need and
nothing that you don't.
So there's not going to be any fluff here.
Ramsey Trusted Pros, they're interviewed, they're vetted, and they're coached
to make sure that they're market experts.
And here's the best part,
they truly do have your best interest at heart.
I've experienced that, Ken,
I know that you have experienced that.
So the question you need to be asking yourself is,
do you have the right coverage
based on your individual needs?
Okay, and so to do that,
go to ramsysolutions.com slash coverage.
Again, that's ramsysolutions.com slash coverage. Again, that's ramsysolutions.com slash coverage.
And let me just add, because I hear it in the wind,
insurance guys is not a baby step, okay?
It's not something that you wait until you're after,
after you've paid off your debt
or after you've saved up your savings to do.
Insurance is something that you do the moment that you've learned about it. And so if you've been listening to the show
for a couple of segments or even just this one segment and you're like, oh, you know what,
I don't have life insurance. That is your signal that you need to act on that today. Not once
you've paid your debt off. Okay. If you don't have health insurance, check out health trust. That's
the partnership that we have.
You need health insurance today.
If you're a renter and you don't have renter's insurance,
this is your sign from, oh, this is your sign.
You need renter's insurance.
You are out here with no coverage, anything can happen.
If you don't know, if you have the bare minimum of auto,
you need to do our insurance checkup
and make
sure that you are covered.
Because if you get in an accident and your coverage isn't what you thought it would be,
you're about to be up a creek without a paddle.
So please, please, please prioritize this in your every dollar budget.
It is so, so very important to get the coverage you need today.
Our Ramsey Trusted Pros will help you do that.
All right.
Let's go to the phone lines.
Tyler in Buffalo, New York is here.
What's going on, Tyler?
Hi, how we doing today?
Doing good, how can we help?
Hi, so I'm looking into possibly starting up
a home inspector's business come this winter here.
And I was just curious on what the right steps
would be to do that.
All right, So home inspection, why'd you pick that problem or that solution? What
drew you to that?
I guess the big part that came out of it is the flexibleness, because I have a job
right now that's kind of seasonal. It pays very well with the seasons on, but then
wintertime you don't have hardly anything going on.
Okay. All right. And what's the Holmes inspection business like in the brutal winters of Buffalo?
I'm guessing you Buffalo folks, I mean, do you just know how to handle that kind of snow?
I mean, you guys were in the news last year during the football season, crazy snow. Is
it a normal rhythm and there
is not a big drop off in the wintertime in Buffalo as it relates to home inspection?
It's nothing too crazy. At that time right there, I actually lived south of Buffalo and
there's a lot of new builds going on. So there's a lot of possibility for it.
You have a background and some expertise, some skill set that lends itself to doing
that well?
I did plumbing for about five years. I've sat in an electrician. I've worked with carpenters.
When it comes to the nuts and bolts of it, I know fairly well.
You got it. Trust me, you had me at plumbing. I was like, okay, you've got the skill set for that.
You enjoy the work. It can be a pretty good business. I mean, you can build this
thing and to where it could replace your seasonal income. So I'm not seeing any red flags on
this. How much is it going to cost for you to get qualified to do that? Is it a certification?
Yes. The bits I've looked into, you know, you can go online and file for your course
and then that right there is roughly probably about
$2,500.
$2,500 bucks?
Do you have the cash for that?
Yes.
All right.
I like that, so no red flag there.
And is the market saturated?
Is the market moderate as it relates to people out there that are your competitors?
Or is there hardly anybody doing it?
In my micro area, there's two. And they, you know, honestly,
the quality of the work they do is not very well.
And, you know, it was something I actually seen an issue
when I was working in the trades still.
Okay, so you've heard this from viable sources,
that these guys or gals aren't doing a good job.
Yes, and even seen it myself. Are they covered up in business or are they, what's their business like, the flow of business?
They seem to stay fairly steady, but at the same time, the exact grid, I'm unsure.
What's your gumption level as it relates to talking to realtors, bankers, mortgage pros? Are you a guy that'll get out and connect and shake
people's hand, look them in the eye and go, I'm the newest home inspector on the
block and I come from the trades and I'm telling you my competition, they ain't so
good, I'm fantastic, give me a shot. Are you willing to do that? Absolutely.
Alright Jade, I ran him through my questions. I turned the balance
of my time over to you. I don't see any red flags. You use the word gumption. I love that word. Gumption.
I love that. Because this is a, the reason I asked that question, Tyler, is because this is a business
where you, sir, are the product. That's right. And... Jade and I are in that same business. Jade's the
product, I'm the product. So you got to have
that gumption necessary to put yourself out there. And the realtors that you want to work with are going to be the type who are doing high volume
because they're going to be able to give you a lot of work. And if they are high volume realtors,
they know how to talk, they know how to command a room, they know how to, you know, their BS level
is very low, right? So it's like this guy, you know, but if you come in there and you're like,
listen, we need to work together, here's why.
I love that.
So my question that I, the only question I wrote down,
which I kind of feel like that's what we're into now
is how do you get clients?
Like, what's the strategy for you to go in there?
Because it's not like you're trying to railroad anybody
or steal, you know, you're not intentionally trying to like
steal anybody's clients, but at the same time,
you want the work
does that make sense so it's like how do you see yourself getting in there and
kind of pulling the boat close to the dock and getting those clients?
That's one thing I'm kind of unsure of I don't know really where to start with it
I wasn't sure if it's something you get in with the banks or you know
you contact realtors or if it's just a matter of you of just talking to everybody you can to get your name out there?
Okay, well, it's the list that I ran through earlier,
but I would start with your mortgage companies in the area.
They're the ones that when a house is going for refinance
or the actual initial financing,
they are the ones that are getting the home inspector out.
I know when I've refied, the company I refied with, they they're the one that chose the they have their guys and they get their gals
Okay, so for certain for certain mortgage, I would check on the real realtor side. I'm gonna say I don't know
I think that's more of a mortgage play. Okay, because again the mortgage company are the ones the banks
They're the ones that need to know
What the house situation is.
Now realtors do it as well.
I'm not saying realtors don't, but I'm saying realtors and mortgage companies when they
do refinancing, they'll have a, I'm sorry, I've confused the whole situation.
You're talking about home inspection.
I apologize.
I got in my head home appraisal.
Sorry, mortgage companies are appraisers.
That's right. Home inspection israisers. That's right.
Home inspection is realtor.
You're right.
My brain just got all cobwebby.
That's all right, Ken.
I got the broom out.
You're all swept clean.
Appraisals, so home appraisers,
that's different than the home inspector.
So realtors, realtors, realtors.
All dead.
And hey, listen, can we tell them?
Tyler, if I were you, I'd start with the with the website
Ramsey solutions.com find our those pros. That's it. The realtor grows right there
Shark calling them ago. I called the Ramsey show. I'm a big Ramsey listener and
You are a trusted pro
Can we talk can I help you So that's where I would go.
Look at this guy. Come on, Ken.
I had to get the cobwebs out of the way first.
It's what he does. It's what he does.
Hey guys, George Camel here. Do you ever feel like insurance companies only care about your
money and not what you actually need? Well, there's a better way. When you go to Ramsey's insurance resource hub,
you'll start feeling confident that you're getting the right coverage.
That's truly best for you.
You'll find helpful info on everything from life insurance, health insurance,
identity theft protection, and more. And when you're ready to get the coverage
you need,
you can connect with a Ramsey trusted insurance pro who will only get you what
you need at the best price. Go to ramseSolutions.com slash insurance RamseySolutions.com
slash insurance This is the Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warschall.
I'm Ken Coleman.
The phone number is 828-825-5225.
Let's go to Phoenix, Arizona.
Jonathan is there.
Jonathan, how can we help?
Hey, thanks for taking my call.
Sure.
Not quite right at the moment.
I'm not quite right at the moment.
I'm not quite right at the moment.
I'm not quite right at the moment.
I'm not quite right at the moment. I'm not quite right at the moment. I'm not quite right at the moment. I'm not quite right at the moment. I'm not quite right at the moment. to five let's go to Phoenix Arizona. Jonathan is there. Jonathan, how can we help?
Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure.
I'm not quite sure where to start.
To be brief, I'm 24 with two kids of my own.
My fiance has two kids from a past relationship.
I am the only one that works at the moment.
And it just seems like I'm always drowning. And I am the only one that works at the moment.
And it just seems like I'm always drowning.
I come from a family that has never really been financially stable.
So I don't even know where to start to begin to get out of this drowning feeling.
Yeah.
Man, I'm so sorry.
But can I just tell you real quick before we go into this?
I sense in you a guy who wants to change his family tree.
I sense in you a guy who is busting his tail and trying to do right by those little ones.
And I wanted to encourage you because I think you've got a lot of character and I love the
fact that you're calling and asking for help.
It's a big deal to go, I need help.
And I just felt like you needed to hear that. You're not a failure and you are going to be able to figure this out. We're
going to help today. You got me?
Yeah.
Alright, a couple quick things here. I'm going to turn you over to Jade, alright? So we're
going to try to do as much as we can in a quick amount of time. Number one, what are
you doing and what is your income? I work in the HVAC industry and my yearly income is around 60 to 80 on a good year.
Okay that's not bad.
So we've got somewhere between 60 to 80,000 gross and are all four, if I heard you right,
you've got two kids and your girlfriend or fiance has, is she, is your fiance or no? Yes, she's fiance.
Okay, I thought I heard that. Okay. Are you got all four kids staying with you guys all
the time?
Yes.
Okay, so she's at home taking care of the kids.
Yeah.
Gotcha. Okay. And what kind of debt do you have?
We're in about $23,000 in a minivan.
Now wait a second, when you say we, did you both sign on to that deal?
Yes, yeah, we did.
And it's $23,000 on a minivan?
Yeah.
Okay, what other debt do you have? I'd say 1600 in collections and credit cards and then she has around
taste
600 to a thousand in collections and credit cards. That's it. Yeah, you got any money in the bank at all?
No, I did but we had to go through it hit some unfortunate times. So yeah, no, it's cleared out
What do you mean by unfortunate times?
Give me 20 seconds on that.
I lost my job, my last job, where it was great money, good work.
I was able to save up around $4 to $5 grand.
And then once I got laid off from that company, we had to use that to keep our bills going.
Was that HVAC work as well or something different?
Yeah, no it was HVAC.
You don't have to tell us, but was this something you did?
Yeah, unfortunately.
Did you learn from it?
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay. So what that tells me though is that you have more income potential in that industry
because you were clearly working for somebody else making more. What were you making when
you were with them? About 96 grand.
So what would need to be true for you to get back to that? Honestly find a
different company. But it's possible, yes or no? Yes. Okay, I just want to leave that
there. Yeah, let's get to it. I always? Yes. Okay, I just want to leave that there.
Yeah, let's get to it. So, alright, I always like to kind of ask all the questions. I'm
kind of like the general doctor and then she's a specialist and so she kind of sits over
there and she's like rubbing her chin. You filled out the paperwork for me, Ken? Yeah,
that's what I am. Let's be honest, I'm the intake nurse. That's not true. No, but I think
this is doable, Jade. I do too. I like what you
just said about the opportunity to make more and if I'm you, I'm getting on that today.
Ken, what's the first step? Where do you go about that? It's a budget. No, I'm talking
about for him to find the job. Oh, sorry. I apologize. You see where I was at? You had
already clocked out. Well, no, because they've not done it.
They have no idea where their money's coming and going.
That's the issue.
Here's what I would say.
Jonathan, because you're in the trades of HVAC,
you don't have to stay at this current company for a 10.
I mean, you go to the best situation that you can go to.
So I would be really, because you're stable now,
now I'd be looking, and you learned your lesson from the last one,
HVAC can make really, really good money and so you're looking everywhere all the time until the
next opportunity comes and the minute it shows up, walk right to it. Love that. So that's homework
number one is we're looking for that. Homework number two is you do need a budget. We're going
to make sure you get set up with an every dollar budget. It's the best way to budget because
you're going to see all the things that you're spending money on and you're gonna be able to pinpoint
Okay, where's an area of concern? Where's an area I can cut back on?
Maybe there's more at our disposal than we realize but it's just been going out to things. I don't know door-in scar whatever
So we're gonna give you the budget. I also wanted to know, what's your living situation?
Are you renting?
Do you have a house together?
Tell us about that.
We're renting.
Okay, and what do you pay every month for rent?
Just under two grand, so 1980.
Okay, that's a squeeze.
Not gonna lie, and I know you've got the kiddos,
but you need to find something that's more along
the like 1400, $1300 area area so that it's not squeezing you so
much because you told me make five to six thousand dollars a month and so
assuming you know it's somewhere right in the middle yeah thirteen fourteen
hundreds really your max so I'd be thinking through what that could mean
because unless you see a pathway quickly to earn more money, this rent is going to
continue to squeeze you.
The van, what's the van worth?
You owe 23, what's it worth?
It's about 21.
Okay.
I'd be looking at getting out of that and into something a little less expensive.
Take a couple months and save up the difference so you're not upside down and get out of that
van and get out of that van
And and get it or you go over to the credit union and say hey the vans worth 23 or I owe 23
It's worth 21
Can I get a $2,000 loan and can we add like seven or eight to it so that I can get something else?
Jonathan listen real quick to what she just said okay?
This is doable you bust it go to a credit union or something get a different loan
You know whatever we got to a credit union or something, get a different loan, you know, whatever we got to do.
Pay this thing off because you're going to save yourself a lot of money.
What's the car payment on that?
You guys don't want to know.
Yeah, we do.
We do want to know.
Well, I know.
That's why I'm asking.
Look, 7.41.
It's way too much.
It's 783 bucks a month.
All right.
So, Jay, tell him how to get rid of that car because that is a $700 raise instantly.
The how-to is, the first place I want you to try to go to
is a credit union because they're gonna care about
the fact that you're a human being.
But wherever you end up going to get this loan,
I want you to get this loan, okay?
So what you're doing here is you have to pay $23,000
to get clear on this, but it's only worth 21, right?
And so you need to clear that $2,000 difference.
That's what you're going to get the loan for.
So that when it comes time to pay this off,
you actually get the title, right?
That's, that's, or you can give the person the title
who buys it.
That's what we're talking about.
But then you're without a car, right?
And so the idea is don't just get the loan for 2,000,
get it for a little bit more, maybe 7,000,
start looking online tonight and see what can I get
that'll get us from point A to point B.
This is temporary, this is not forever.
This might be for a year and a half until you can get,
you know, later on add some more money with it
and trade up, okay?
But look for an $8,000 car.
Now you're in for $10,000 instead of $23,000 you see what I did
there and now instead of paying $7.83 a month if you can get in with a credit union with a better
interest rate maybe you're only paying $300 a month you see what I'm saying yeah so that's what
we want to do with the car with these credit cards and collections let's settle them okay and
whenever you settle them you're calling them up and saying, hey, I know it says I owe you 2000.
Today I can give you 700, take it or leave it.
That kind of thing.
And you get it in writing first.
And they're going to settle with you.
If it's already gone to collections, they will settle, but you're going to have to be like white on rice.
Like you're going to have to be on them calling all the time because if you dealt with Betty before and Betty didn't do it,
call back and talk to Shirley.
And if Shirley won't do it, talk back, call back and talk to Heather. Somebody's going to do it for you, but you
have to do your due diligence and stay on top of this. The good, the only good news
that comes out of this collection stuff is that you're going to end up paying it for
a lot less, but it's going to be at your expense as far as the effort goes.
Yeah. Jonathan, you can do this. Hang on the line. We're going to get you in every dollar. Please just start plugging
the numbers into this thing. It's so intuitive. It's so
simple. And it's a game changer because you will now know where
your money is going. Yeah. And that is half the battle. What
Jay just did for you is a huge victory to get out of that car
payment. And on the path to building prosperity for those
kiddos, you can do this, Jonathan. We're here to help.
This is The Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warshaw.
I'm Ken Coleman, 88825.
5225 is the number.
Our scripture today comes from Hebrews 4 verse 16.
Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help us in our time of need.
I feel like that should be the verse for all budget meetings.
Yeah, you're probably right.
Let us approach this budget meeting with grace and confidence so we'll receive mercy.
That's pretty good.
And our quote of the day from Mark Twain,
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Ooh, that's...
Classic.
The man was deep.
Wow. He would have owned Twitter if it was a thing back then.
That's got a lot of depth to it.
Good stuff there.
All right, Paul is joining us now in Edmonton, Alberta.
Paul, you are on The Ramsey Show.
How can we help?
Thank you so much for taking my call.
How are you today?
We're good.
How can we help you?
So I recently got a raise at my job. I doubled my
salary. I just needed to quickly Google my currency. I make $37,000 a year. It's not a today
purchase, but down the line, the reason I called was, is it worthy, and a worthy investment, to purchase some farm land and
then lease it to farmers as like a, I don't want to say passive income, but like as another
source of income?
All right, before we answer that, I'm guessing you've done enough research to answer this
question.
So give me an example of some acreage and how much you could lease it for to a farmer
in this scenario.
What kind of real revenue are we talking about?
Have you run the numbers?
I just know, I just only heard about like this kind of format through some of my friends.
Like they worked with farmers in the past and then like I had another friend that leased
their farmland to like farmers. So So it's kind of been a short thing
that I got introduced to, so I wouldn't have that number go up.
So you get my point in asking this question? Before we get to the financial side of this,
there's just the good old-fashioned common sense. And so it's like somebody saying, should
I buy a business? Well, we want to look at your financial situation and we're going to dive into that.
But we want to also go, what's the business?
And does it have viability?
And have you done a business study?
And so in this situation, this will not be hard for you,
but you need to go become an expert in the numbers.
In other words, it's got to be this amount of acreage
and then based on that,
and it's got to have this kind of soil quality
and then based on that. And you got to be this kind of soil quality and then based on that and
You got to be able to buy it
Well, you know, we're gonna get to that part, but I'm just saying like even if financially you can do it
Which you're gonna coach him on I just wanted him to know is this an actual
Smart investment even if you're in position to do so, which I don't think you are but that that's my little quick warning
I want Jay to jump in on on your financial. And I'm getting in Ken Coleman territory here.
I don't sense that it's necessarily
something you'd be passionate about.
It sounds like something you just heard some folks doing.
That's a good point.
And it's like, oh, maybe that can work for me.
And I think that could also be a bit of a,
at least I'll call it an orange flag.
And can we also say real quick,
there's no such thing as passive income.
No, no.
It doesn't exist.
That's a lie.
Yeah, for sure.
So back onto the other side, if we do,
let's say, let's just pretend for,
I can't say what I was gonna say.
Let's just pretend that you had vetted this out
and you had some numbers, okay?
And you said, yeah, I've looked into this.
I can make X amount of dollars.
Then my next question to you would have been, okay,
what's it cost to buy these acres of land?
And then if you would have said, well, Jade,
it's gonna cost me $400,000 to get the land,
da da da da, because I need at least this many acres,
then I would have said, okay, how are you going
to pay for it?
And so I think that's where we get into the numbers
nitty gritty of this, which is you're making 37,000 a year.
I would never tell you to invest in
$400,000 and go into debt for it.
I would say the first line of your investing needs to be you investing 15% of your income
and that's steady and that's like your kind of country road of investing and then on down
the road.
If there's other things that you're interested, like real estate or land, that sort of thing,
I would say, listen, the idea is to pay cash for it. And that's really, really, really the best way to purchase
land and real estate is in cash.
So I like that you're thinking about more ways to earn money.
I like that you're kind of creative and what that could be.
It's not just, I don't know, kind of the typical route,
which is cool, but I think that you have a lot of work to do
and a lot of study on this.
It was never something that I was gonna put like,
be in debt for, it was always gonna be something
that it would be a cash transaction,
but that would be like 10 years ago.
Like it's not like something.
Oh, okay, great.
I love that.
I don't have that money today.
I don't have that money today.
I love the question.
But it would just be something that like,
you know, given with the recent bump in income, I've already
invested on the side and whatnot.
Paul, I was just telling Jade this during the show breaks today.
I'm kicking around an idea a friend brought me an investment opportunity.
I've never invested in something like this before and I am doing a lot of due diligence.
I've had some really smart guys that have done things like this before that are my friends
and I'm going, take a look at this.
What questions do I need to be asking?
So the advice I'm giving you, I'm actually taking
and I would never wanna make any kind of investment
that I even, this is what we teach by the way
in mutual funds, we want you to sit with a smart investor pro,
multiple people, who do you connect with,
chemistry, do they have a heart of a teacher?
Do you understand what you're doing
so that you can make your decision?
They're not telling you what to do.
You are telling them what you'd like them to do
with your money.
And so this thing on farmland,
my advice is just do your homework
and know it inside and out.
Know what the risks are.
Know what the upside is.
And so that when the time comes and you've got cash,
and you can do it. So, I really appreciate the call, young man. I love the forward thinking.
Let's get in one more quick call. Andrew is joining us in Indianapolis, Indiana. Andrew,
how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. You bet. We got about three minutes,
so make it fast. All right, I'll make it quick. I just wanted your guys' opinion on giving,
say, friends or family financial advice.
I was approached by my mother-in-law, gave her some advice.
She's kind of thinking about taking it,
but then I talked to her.
Well, the key is that she approached you.
My answer is don't give it unless they ask for it.
Well, and she did.
Yeah, good for you.
And it seems like a no-brainer
based off what I've learned from you guys.
And I absolutely appreciate that.
But part of me is going,
well, if she does it and doesn't do it right
and it doesn't work out,
then she comes back to me and says,
hey, you told me to do this.
Listen, that's our job every day, Ken and I.
Yeah, but it's interesting that you say that
because the advice that we give on here,
if somebody does it the way we tell them to,
then we're not worried about something. So what was the advice that you gave her?
Well, she's got a, she's paid a car payment and miraculously somehow, I'm not sure how
she timed it just right. She's got a lot of equity in said car, but also has about the
same amount of credit card debt and she doesn't really drive much. And the numbers are there to make it work to sell this car,
pay off the credit card debt,
buy a four or $5,000 car to do the minimal driving
that she does, and then pile up that money
to maybe buy a better car or work on her mortgage.
Okay, the only way that doesn't work out
is if the four to $5 thousand dollar car she buys is a lemon
So this is where you as a son-in-law can get massive son-in-law points and go
Hey, I will do the legwork or help you get a mechanic who will be willing to see said cars and don't buy any
$4,000 to $5,000 car that the person won't let you take it to the mechanic and you just walk her through that and guard
I just don't see how that turns out bad. Do you?
No, I don't I really I really don don't. It's really up to how they work out the advice and if they
take it to the letter and to the T. Yeah, and that's where we're struggling. She keeps
sending me links for cards that are like eight or nine thousand. I say you can't afford that.
You need to lower your budget. I mean, the hard part for where you're sitting is, again,
if they've asked for advice you offer
You offer the advice and then after that there there comes a time where you do kind of have to go
Okay
Now my hands are off of it if you choose to do it great if you don't if you need help
I'm here to help you but what I'm not gonna do and
I'm gonna say this very carefully because we're on air you cannot
For people asking for advice, you cannot be
what I call an ask-hole. Boy, I'm glad you slowed that down. Because an ask-hole,
not you, is there a person who asks the same thing over and over and over to
avoid actually doing, okay? And that's annoying. And so if you feel like it's
getting to the point where this person is being an ass hole
See how I stepped in there then you go. Okay. I've given you
You what you do. I like that. I think that needs to be your next little product
I think it needs to be some type of a money bumper sticker that you sell Jade in your store
T-shirt that I think a lot of people would like to wear that.
I'm afraid to say it,
cause I know I'll mess it up
and the FCC will not be happy.
We hit that K pretty hard.
We did.
Hey, thanks for the call, Andrew.
Thank you, Jade, for always being awesome.
Thank you, Kelly and the team for keeping us on the air.
Thank you, America.
This is your show.
This is the Ramsey Show.