Live from.

The headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I am your host for the day, Jade Warsaw, joined by Mr. Rogers himself, Ken Kahlman, looking like a finger of bourbon. You look good in brown, Ken.

The team likes to call these cardragans.

Yes.

Cardagans. Instead of cardagans. You know what? I felt in a fall mood today. I had no idea you were going to show up looking like the first day of spring. We are quite the couple today.

We are. Come on, give quite the couple a call. There it is. Give us a call at truple-8825-5225. He's the work and career guy. Let's talk about it. I am the money girl.

I was wanting to note, was it gal or girl?

I could have gone better with that.

I say gal, but George makes fun of me for saying old words like gal, but I think it fits the cardigan. Let's help some people. By the way, every serious man needs a cardigan in his closet.

I'm telling you. That's debatable. Okay, that's debatable.

We'll leave that there.

All right, well, give us a call. The lines are open. But before we do King Coleman, you know I got to get into this right here.

Here, give it to me. Let me talk about it. This is amazing. First of all, congrats her in order because my friend has got a new quick readout called Money's Not a Math Problem. Let's see, where's the camera? There we go. I'm going to put that... This is my David Letterman moment. For those of you who used to watch him, he would put the fore finger up there. Look at her. She looks like a million dollars. Thank you. Looks like you feel like a million dollars. I do. It says, Money's not a math problem. That's right. The real reason you're broke and want to do about it, why should people buy this other than the fact that you're amazing and it's $10?

It's $10, number one, so there's no reason not to buy it. But here's the thing. How many times do you guys call into our show and say, Guys, I'm doing my budget, but I can't stick to it, or I feel like I'm doing this money stuff, but it's just not working, or How do I get my spouse on board? All of these things that aren't about the numbers, Ken. It's all about what takes place upstairs, up in the noggin, what we think about our money, what our belief system is. Believe it or not, the things that you believe about your money drive your behavior with your money. This is your chance to get into it. I share my own stories in this. This is me examining myself, and hopefully you will see yourself through that same lens. You'll read it and you'll be like, Jade, yes, this is it. Get your copy today, $10. If you pre-order, you do get some little goodies. You get a free Q&A webinar session with just me.

Oh, wow.

You get three months, three months free of every dollar premium, which is the crème de la crème, okay? This is your homework for today. Go and download this book. It's perfect for gift giving. It's the holiday season. This is what you need to get your money right before January 1, okay?

42 pages of Force, because my friend is a force of nature. Thank you, Ken. I have one other question. The earrings. Yes. Did you choose the back cover, the green to.

Match the earrings? There is some validity to that, Ken.

I appreciate that. I'm a friend of fashion.

Yeah, for those listening, it's this teal background with an orange jacket and a striped shirt. It is bright and colorful. It looks like a magazine.

It's a lot. But you're a lot.

And that's a good thing. It is an acquired taste, Ken. No, you're for a moment. Much like your cardigan.

Well played.

King Coleman. All right, let's take a call. Let's go to the phone lines. We got Wyatt in Philadelphia, PA. What's going on?

Hey, guys. Good to talk to you. Thanks for taking my call. Of course. Yeah, I'm a cabinet maker by trade. I'm 33. My wife stays at home with our four little kids. I make I make 30 bucks an hour. And I just feel like I can't get ahead financially. I can't really seem to save any money. I don't have any debt other than our mortgage, which is around, I think we just bought it four years ago and refinanced. I mean, we still probably owe 200,000 or something on it. And in the Philly area, it's pretty hard to find a house that's any cheaper than that. We were fortunate to get this place. But anyway, I feel like I cut costs anywhere I can. I keep my house with firewood that I prepare.

Right. And you.

Have no debt? Right, I have no debt, no credit cards, no student loans, nothing like that.

So what is it that you're.

Trying to...

What's the specific area where you're like, I'm trying to accomplish X, Y, Z, but I keep hitting a roadblock?

Well, I can't seem to build up our savings at all. I put a little bit of money in my every paycheck, and my boss matches that graciously.

What margin do you have? What margin do you have when you pay all the bills, you take care of groceries, gas, all the things? What margin do you have at the end of the month?

Yeah, I mean, probably like I'm saying probably a few hundred bucks, maybe 500 bucks.

Does that include the IRA contribution at that point? Or is that not before you made that?

That's probably including that. I think it's like two dollars an hour that I contribute, and then my boss matches that.

So 4 or 500 bucks is what's left over. You could be saving that per month, yes?

Yeah. Maybe I need to do a better job of budgeting. I don't feel like we're buying a bunch of extra crap that we don't need, though.

Well, I just want to make sure we're on page on par with the numbers. So you said you make an hour. So what are you bringing home? Don't subtract anything out of it yet. Are you seeing $4,800 a month? Is that where you're at?

No, about $4,200, and that's after taxes. And I work a little bit over time, a few hours a week. So it's around.

$4,200 a month. $4,200. And how much is the mortgage coming out?

It's 1,460, I.

Think, a month. Okay, so whenever people tell me they're struggling to get ahead, I just show them big number percentages, right? I'm like, Okay, your mortgage and rent shouldn't be any more than 25 %, so you got that. Then you've got 10 % should be going to giving, should have about 15 % going towards steady retirement contribution, 15 %. So that puts us at 50 of the things that are like, This is making me fiscally and financially responsible. So my question to people is, what is happening with the other 50 %? And that's when you've really got to dial into your budget. Do you have an every dollar budget?

No, I don't have that.

Okay, you're not going to leave this phone call without every dollar. So I want you to go and download every dollar and I want you to get the free version, then I'm going to give you a promo to get $15 off so that you can get the premium version for a lot cheaper, okay? Because it's just got more bells and whistles to make it even easier. But the every dollar free version will get the job done, trust and believe. So that 50 %, I'm telling you, there's something in your budget that is eating your lunch, and it's probably food, a food category, a restaurant category. Maybe there's a hobby that you or your wife has that's eating more into this than what you realize. I think if you do some detective work on that other 50 %, you're going to find that margin because you've done well. You have no debt. Your house feels very reasonable. The money is there, I promise you. You've got to do a little detective work to find it. But I want you to know you're on the right track. Just get that investing up to 15% when the time comes after you've saved 3-6 months, and then you'll be there.

This is The.

Ramsey Show. Yeah.

What we teach at Ramsey boils down to taking control of your life. It's all about.

Personal.

Responsibility, and if you own a gun, that's even more important. So I recommend.

Becoming a member.

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That's.

Usca. Com/ramsey. All right, all right. You guys are listening to The Ramsey Show. My name is Jade Warsha. Your host today, I'm joined by Ken Coleman, my other host for the day. We're talking about your life, your money, and your work. The work that you do should matter. It's very important, and so Ken Coleman is here to take any questions surrounding that. I'm going.

To throw a little idea out. Okay. If you want to start a business in 2024, you want to work for yourself. Maybe it's a side hustle to get out of debt, or maybe it's just, I want to be my own boss. If you got an idea and you want to bounce it off of us today, just put that out there because we're seeing more and more of this in our country today. I think as people about this year wrapping up, and do I make moves? I'm just going to throw that out. We'll take any work-related question, any money question, but let's just kicking that around. This is Shark Tank without.

The rejection. Yeah, it's perfect because you're the career work you got your framework for that, and I've done it. I've started businesses from ground up. Let's do it. Let's do that. Let's also go to Emma in Jacksonville. Fallowrida, what's going on, Emma?

Hi, how are you guys doing today?

Doing good. How are you?

Doing good. Yeah.

How can we help?

I had a little situation with two car loans that I have. One, my sister was supposed to take over, and then the second one I got because my car got totaled. Then my sister decided she didn't want the car anymore, so now I'm stuck with both payments.

Whose name are both cars in? Are they both in your name?

They're in my name. Okay.

They're both in my name. Yikes.

Well, this may not be that bad.

What is- One is on the verge of being repossessed.

Because I can make both payments. Is that the car that the sister has been driving or your car for all intents and purposes?

The one that I'm driving. She parks the car back at my house, so I have both cars. I have possession of both cars again.

Okay, so let's walk through the numbers on this and figure out how to get through this. Let's call car number one the car that your sister had, even though it's in your name. We'll call car number two your car that's also in your name. So car number one, what is that one worth? What do you owe on it? And if you were to sell it, what do you think you could get for it based on Kelly Blue Book?

Car number one, I owe $9,000 and it's worth about six.

Okay, so three upside down. And is that six based on Kelly Blue Book personal sale?

Private sale.

Private sale. Okay, so three K upside down. Okay, and let's go to the next one. Car numberto? That one.

So it's worth $16 and I owe $29.

Oh, Lordy. Okay, how did that happen?

I was in a pretty desperate situation. My car got totaled with and I needed a car to get back to work. And my sister, she was completely taking over the car. And I asked her before I bought it Are you sure you want to take over this car completely? She said, Yes, I love it. I need a car too. I decided to buy a new car, obviously, with a bad interest rate. It's about 20%. I only have a thousand dollars to put down because my car just got totaled. I just bought that car about four months before that.

Did you roll negative equity into it or just...

No, I bought it just.

Off the lot. Okay, I do want you to check something. I actually learned something from Dave, and you might want to look into this. He's made it very clear that sometimes people think that they have more to pay on the car than what really is because of the way the bill looks and they're just showing you your total of payments. They're not really showing you what's left. Just do a little bit more due diligence and find out for sure, is this the payoff? Is 29,000 the payoff? Just double check that for me.

23.

24. Okay, so you did double check that. Okay, now let's get into your numbers and figure out how to make this work. Are these cars your only debt?

No.

Okay, what other debt do you have?

I have student loans for about 30,000 that I just started paying on after the pause went off. I have $12,000 in credit card debt, 10 in personal loans.

Okay.

And I think... And then these two cars.

And the two cars. Okay.

Well, I have my mortgage, too.

Okay, let's not talk about the mortgage. That's on the back burner for quite a while. What are you earning per month? What's your take-home pay? What do you see when you.

Get your check? I earn about 70,000.

A year. Okay, when you take your check home every two weeks or every month, how much is it?

I'm a server, so I get tips. I don't really get a-.

A set amount?

-set amount.

Okay, so on a normal month.

On a normal month, I'm averaging about 5,000 a month.

Okay, and do you have any kids, or is it just you, or are you married?

I have one child and I'm a single mom, so he's five.

And he's five. In daycare? Or what do you do.

With that? He's in public school.

Okay, kindergarten. Okay, all right, you're in a dilly of a pickle. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to shoot you straight. You've got some mess on your hands that needs to be cleaned up. And the first thing I would do, I'm guessing you don't have any money saved anywhere.

No, I do not. I'm spending all of it just on my debt and my-.

Just trying to stay above water. -our water. Yes. I want Ken to jump in here because right now we have a income issue. And this is not going to get cleaned up the way it needs to be and then the time frame that we really need this to roll until we can get more income coming in. I'm about to give him the assist here. But the first thing on your list is getting out of that car that's $9,000, and you're going to take that $3,000 hit some way or another. Whether it's you saving up $3,000 cash and just making it even, or if it's you running down to the credit union and saying, Hey, I need a $3,000 loan to get this $9,000 debt off my back, at that point, you're going from a $9,000 debt to a $3,000 debt. So it is still lowering the process, which is what we want to do. But you've got to get out of that, out of at least one of these cars so you don't have two car payments. Yeah, I'm asking. So that's what you.

Do first. I actually want to say if it were me, Jade, I want to know what you think on this. I'd get rid of the more expensive.

Car first. Well, I want her to, but I don't know that she's going to be able to get a loan for the amount. You don't.

Think she can get the 13 or whatever the.

Difference is? I don't know, because of just her income and the-.

If you can, I would do that, because then she said that next car is in that debt snowball, and now she's got a car she can actually drive, but it's a whole lot less. But I mean, to your point, the value on that is a little higher, so I want to get as much as I can for that.

Yeah, look, Ken makes a good point. If you are able to get a loan for the difference on car number two, the one that's worth $16, you can try and try hard. But I don't want you to get caught up in some really crappy loan terms, so I really want you working with a small credit union, someplace that's going to have your back. I don't want you going to SoFi. You know what I'm saying? Okay.

How can we increase your income quickly? What I mean by that is what skill and what set of skills and experience do you have? Do you go, Ken, this is what I do best. This is my skill set, and I've got experience here. Because I want to think about some freelance gig stuff that could increase your income quickly. What do you have to offer there?

Well, I'm a waitress manager at a restaurant that's in a really toursy spot. That's why my income is higher than a lot of service. But I have two degrees. I have one in psychology and I have one in pre-law studies. Wow!

Okay, so here's what I'm doing. I'm getting online and I'm going, All right, what remote after-hours work? Because I know you're waitressing, so we got to figure out, Okay, do I have time in the day or I have some time at night or weekends? Where is your block of time that you could actually do more work?

Probably in the nighttime because I might have to go to school.

During the day. Here's what I'm thinking. Tutoring. Tutoring is a premium. You're sitting there, the baby's asleep, you know what I mean? You can do it at your computer. I'm thinking about tutoring or teaching. Tutoring is one thing with that law degree or pre-law or whatever it is, or the psychology. What is some online extra work I can get where I'm being paid a premium for my expertise? It's somewhere in that maybe some low-level counseling, maybe some teaching or training. That's what I'd be looking for, Jade, to get in some extra money quickly.

Absolutely. I think people forget about those night hours that are available to them to really make some good money. You've got the ability to do that and make it known. This is the key to unlocking this problem. You need more money coming in, and the only way to do that is to get more work going out. This is The Ramsey Show. No matter what.

Time of year it is.

Focusing on your family's financial plan is always a smart move.

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They understand and live this strategy and will take the time to help you find the most affordable term life rates. Go to zander. Com or call 800-356-4282. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I am Jade Warsha. That is Ken Coleman, and we are here taking calls all afternoon about your money, your career, your work, your relationships, how money is affecting all of it, and how all of it is affecting your money. So give us a call. The number is triple-eight-eight-two-five, five-two-two-five. Ken, I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving because just a little over a month ago, back in October, we went down to DC because it was the beginning of this whole student loans are coming back, the payments are back, the interest is hitting, and it is affecting Americans. We wanted to get a pulse on really how this is affecting people on the streets. Taking it to the streets, like Michael McDonald said, we were able to interview folks in DC. We went to the Georgetown area. We went all around getting people's take on how the student loan pause and payments coming back is affecting people. We want to show you a compilation of what we heard.

Did you have to get student aid to come here?

Yes, I'm on.

Financial aid. I got a.

Work-study job, but yeah. Yeah, they'll rack up.

For sure. No. You did not. Mom and dad? Yes. Way to go mom and dad. Yeah, I.

Came in with a scholarship from elsewhere, so they pay for my stuff. So you're full ride? Yeah, full ride. Up top, dude. That's what I'm talking about. I do.

Have loans.

For my graduate school, for med school. How much do you have already? I'm a freshman.

I can't remember the per semester number, but it's not cheap. It's like.

In the thousands. Yes, it's about like $350,000.

Hold on one second. I'm going to have to get down here and breathe. I think I get about 20,000. Twenty thousand? Do you know how much of that is a loan? I believe about half of it. Half of it? Maybe 40,000 over the four years. Are now your parents going to help you pay that? Yes. Are you going to have to pay any of it back at all? Likely not.

I feel like.

I'm pretty lucky that my parents are able to help out.

A lot with that. You are very lucky. Hopefully, I'm in a spot where we can share the burden, but realistically, we'll.

See about that. The government has a program where they calculate. It's like an income-driven repayment plan. Honestly, I had an opportunity to get into the income-driven payment option. I'm a little eased that it's maybe a reasonable payment that I can afford. However, with the interest accruing, it's already accrued $1,000 in one month before I even made an actual payment. If you had to guess, just if you said, you know what, Jade? I think it's probably going to take X amount of years for me to pay off this debt in full. Or if you even plan to pay it off, tell me a.

Little bit about that.

I'm going to be completely honest.

I have no earthly.

Idea, but I.

Mean, for the first few.

Years, I was going to be on the struggle.

Train a little bit. On the struggle bus. As a resident, I'll probably have a payment of about $200. But $200 when the total is probably $400,000 and the interest is still accumulating, and that's only a drop in.

The bucket every year. Exactly. What does it do to you emotionally to be thinking about $350,000 worth of debt?

Right now, I'm under so much stress and pressure that I put it off.

To the side. Yeah, it's out of sight, out of mind because you're already in med school and it's pressure enough.

Exactly.

Going off and finishing.

School and.

Restarting your.

Life in a lot of ways is so much.

Pressure on anyone.

So.

Imagining having all.

That debt on.

Your shoulders is just like an unbelievable, extra burden.

You're essentially going to be working for the.

Next.

It could be the rest of.

Your life, right.

To pay that.

Off and.

It's just crazy to.

Expect a 22-year-old to have.

That much foresight.

Do you think tuition is outsized? It's gotten ridiculous. What are.

Your thoughts on this? 100%. The government was giving more loans. It raised the cap of the loans that were available. As a result, a lot of the colleges and universities just increased their tuition. The people that are paying the price are the students. Pretty absurd. Even though someone is very lucky like I am, just.

Asking someone to.

Pay 80K a year is.

Pretty ridiculous.

It sucks. I think it's an.

Unfortunate way to capture.

People in debt. It's not affordable for most people. They've been.

Allowed to do this forever.

It's.

What they do. It's what we've.

Allowed to happen.

I'm.

Curious, why has it gone up.

So much?

What do you think about how tuition has gone up 12% a year for the last 10 years. What do you think about that as a student? Is it worth it?

Honestly, I love going to school here, but you think about it once you.

Actually start thinking about the.

Real money about going here. You could get a similar education, obviously, at a lot of other universities, and.

There are a lot.

Of opportunities afforded to us here. But I think that for a lot of people whose.

Parents can't help them as much as.

I'm fortunate that my.

Parents can help me, going out into the real.

World after college and having that much debt on your.

Shoulders is.

Just a lot.

I think for a lot of people, it might not be worth it.

It's obviously not in your favor at all. You probably like dice to be paying back your debt. I would say certainly.

Worth it.

You think so? More so.

Beyond the academic benefit.

But the value of a.

Social community. Did you.

Hear about Biden and the forgiveness, the student loan forgiveness, and then the Supreme Court shut it down? Are you familiar with that? Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? Honestly, I feel.

Like a lot.

Of things like that may.

Appear to be something good.

That a politician.

Is doing.

But in reality, I.

Don't.

Think anything to that extent would ever go.

Through just because.

He wants to seem like he's doing all.

This stuff.

For.

Students, for young people.

But in reality, that's never going to happen. Personally, I lean pretty left, so I say, yeah, the government should have.

A say in that. But I know.

Some of my fellow classmates might not.

Think the same. It is the responsibility of students that take up the loan to repay it back at some point. I know it probably does suck, but you took on the loan and took on the education, hopefully he had a great plan afterwards to earn enough income to pay it back. I think it's complete political blasphemy. It's catering to a portion of his base.

I think that obviously.

Gained political traction, but I think it's infeasible.

For the.

People who.

Have paid off their loans, I.

Think it's a poor lesson teaching. I think there are people who have busted their to repay their loans and they're just off the hook. I'm conflicted in this. I believe that people should be responsible.

For.

The debts they've taken out.

And they need to be accountable for that.

On the other hand, my selfish side, I would like student loan forgiveness for sure. Honestly, as an educator, I'm disappointed. I was looking forward to just being able to start new, fresh. I'm looking forward to purchasing my first home. It's definitely disappointing. We have a responsibility to help. What's fair?

What's not fair?

I don't have that answer. Is it fair? I understand people are like, Okay, well.

You forgive mine. Well, and.

Someone else is like, Whoa, hold on a second. I'm just going to sing.

It up.

Right. While my.

Take may be that the government should be the one who fixes this problem. I think, again, at the baseline, we can all agree that the problem needs to.

Be fixed. The government, we need to do better.

We need to do.

Better in.

This country to help.

Educate our people. The youth have no idea. When they're signing them, they.

Don't know what $100,000 is.

They don't know what $200,000 is.

Not to mention the interests. Yeah. You have to be very smart with your choices and live within your means and have a plan to.

Repay it.

Change is going to happen if we change and say, Enough, no more. Our youth, our people deserve better. What if I told you that I paid off $280,000 of debt? I would ask you, how did you do it? Can you teach me? Does it give you hope, though? Does it make you feel like it can be possible? Absolutely. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Look, if you were listening on podcast, you need to head over to the Ramsey show YouTube and watch that because it's totally different. It hits different when you watch it. Honestly, if you're looking for more information about this, I want you guys to go to ramseysolutions. Com/studentloans because here's the thing. The news cycle moved on, Ken. The news cycle went on, and they're talking about, I don't know what they're talking about again, but the pain of this is still affecting people every single day. People are making payments. They're still deeply, deeply in debt. We just want to know, we still see you guys and we're still here for you. At the end of the day, there's still a way out.

There's a way to avoid them. Hey, real quick, we'll help you get out of it financially. But here's a two-part question. Is a degree and the loans that come with it the only way to get where you want to go? Or is it the best way? If the answer is no to either one, hey, go get you a certificate. Go get you a community college associate degree. You can get where you want to go without the degree many times. By the way, that means no debt. Let's think about that as well.

Love it, Kim. This is The Ramsey Show.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, folks, it's Dr. John Deloney. This time of year can be hard in seasonal, effective disorder is real. When I moved to Nashville, the time change caught me off guard. It got dark at 4:30, and I was ready for bed by 6:45 PM.

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On, everybody? You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I don't know about you, Ken, but I am shook. Really, shook is the word that it's about to be Thanksgiving.

Okay, I was getting ready to ask you what's got you all shook up?

I just feel like this last half of the year has gone by fast. We're into Thanksgiving. We're already getting into Christmas, which means here at Ramsey Solutions, it's really, really exciting because we do our $12 Christmas sale every single year. I love the sale because you go to ramseysolutions. Com and you can load up. I'm talking about you can load up on things that should not be $12 that you can get for $12. And not only that, but they also do this Cash Giveaway thing, which is pretty awesome. So there's just a lot going on. If you go to ramseysolutions. Com/giveaway, you can sign up to win money so that you can then go spend the money, you know what I'm saying? So ramseysolutions. Com/giveaway is where you can sign up to win cash money. I'm talking about $5,000 is what we're giving away. Then you turn around, take some of that money, and head over to this $12 sale. Now, I'm not saying Rob Peter to pay Paul. I'm just saying this is a nice little strategy going on.

It is. You could get both of my best-selling books that could help you.

From paycheck to purpose.

It helps my kids. It helps my kids eat. These are things that you have to think about, Jay.

Let me tell you what I think is the—and this is no diss on you, King Coleman—this is just a personal thing. The fact that you can get the total money makeover for $12 really blows my mind because that book helped my husband and I pay off $460,000. If what you get from it is any indication of what it's worth, then all I'm saying is the book is really worth almost half a million dollars.

I see what you did there.

You're getting it for $12. Okay. All right.

The question is, can people enter daily to win the $5,000?

You can enter every single day because the thing is they give away little prizes in between it. I believe they give away $500 weekly.

Weekly, that's right.

There's real money at stake here. This is real skin in the game.

Right, you can enter to win every day and no purchase necessary to all those things. So ramsysolutions. Com. There's two.

Places to go. There's two places to go. Yeah, if you want to do the giveaway, you go to ramsysolutions. Com/giveaway. That's to get that free money. Then if you're like, Jade, I got Christmas shopping, then you go over here to ramsysolutions. Com/store and get you some of that $12 holla. That's what I'm talking about.

All right, now I got something to talk about. What? I think this is controversial. This is exciting. I want to know you guys can get in the comments and you can voice your opinion on this. Is it too soon to start decorating for Christmas? No! I don't think so either.

Thank.

You. I'm with you on this. We agree.

On this one. Drop it in the poll.

Are you post-Hallowe' like the next day? Do you wait a couple of days?

I'm going to tell you guys how it's done right, and then we're going to hit these phone lines. Listen. This is how it's done right. Oh, boy.

She's.

Confident, folks. After Halloween, November first, you keep your fall decorations out. You don't keep Halloween decorations out. Halloween goes away the day after Halloween. You keep your fall decorations out, but you put up your Christmas trees, and you don't even have to put the ornament on them yet.

Oh, this is like a pre-decoration strategy.

It's just out there.

How long?

Then maybe a week or two. It's a slow fade. Then you put the ornament on the tree so that by the time folks come to your house for Thanksgiving, you got the trees out, but it still got a fall vibe. Then after Thanksgiving, you take the fall decorations down and put out the rest of your Christmas decorations. That's the proper way to.

Do it. I don't know. I wanted to agree. I don't like to disagree with you because I like you so much. But I'll be honest with you, I think once we go Christmas, we got to go. You can't go half-fall, half-Mary, Dingle. It's got to be one or the other. You go all the way.

I think so. Look, I spend money on these decorations. I want them to get their full-of, okay? Because this is the cost.

Of money. I want people watching on video to make sure they see my dark brown cardigan that you said I looked like. Say it.

Look, this time I'm going to go for two fingers of bourbon, Ken.

Coolest thing anybody's ever said.

About me right there. But they can't see all the browns. You got all of it. I know. I do. There you go. Ken, let's take a call for crying out loud. Let's do it. Let's go to Corinne in Houston, Texas. What's going on, Karen? Is it Corinne? Did I say it right?

Yes, ma'am. Yeah, you did.

Nice. Hooked on phonics.

Big bird. What's going on, Corinne?

I have $20,000 that I want to create passive income with... And so my few options, I was thinking like an ATM, you have to buy those new. It's a couple of thousand, and that would create monthly income or even a laundromat. But that's obviously talking a lot more money, and I don't have the income to mess around with that. But if I start with something small like an ATM, then I can create passive stuff. But then I also have a little bit of debt that I want to put the money towards. But then I also feel like maybe some can hold off, and so it's.

A toss-up. All right, so before we get into the income, we got to figure out what your financial picture is really quick. There's layers here, too. Yeah, how much debt do you have?

I have $3,200 on a Capital One credit card and it is like $80 a month in interest, which that's bothering me. That's definitely a priority, like the top priority.

But then.

I have-.

Okay, keep going. Sorry. What else you got?

I'veat it. I have two vehicles. One is completely paid off and then the other one, they're both older. I work at a repair shop. So I have little experience with that. I take care of my stuff for the most part. Nice. It doesn't have much issues for that one. But then I have an older one I just bought and my dad helped me out. It's a long story, but he's lending me five grand to get this vehicle. So I do owe five on my other car, but I'm able to take out money monthly to pay that off for him, so I have.

Time on that. It's the 3,200 on the credit card, five can a car. Anything else? Student loans? No.

Okay. All right. Look, there's no passive income strategy until you pay the debt off. That's what we teach. Then we want to make sure that you've put your emergency fund in place.

Yeah, okay.

Do you know what he's talking about when he says your emergency fund?

Yes, the $1,000, depending on your income. I watched a few of the Dave.

Ramsey videos. Do you have $1,000 in savings?

$1,200? Yes, I have closer to $2,300 or maybe a little bit more, but I was putting that more towards the vehicle. But I've been taking that out monthly out of my paycheck. So that's.

Extra, I guess, for my backup. Okay, let's clean it up a little bit. I like the way your mind is working. I just want to tidy it up a little bit. So there's the $2,300 that you have set aside as an emergency fund. Then you've got an additional 20,000 that you're hoping to use to spend money to make money, right? So let's take the 23,000 or 2,300, I'm sorry, let's back that down. And I'm just going to walk through this. This is all going to happen basically in one day, but I'm walking you through it so you can see what the process is. All right, in one day, you're going to imagine that 2,300 going down to $1,000. And that essentially is baby step one, getting a $1,000 saved. And with that $1,300 that's left, you're going to put that towards the car, the $5,000. I'm sorry, you're going to put that towards your credit card today. Yeah. And then that's going to leave you what, $1,900 left? You're going to take... I'm sorry, math is not my thing. Let's go big number. You're going to take that money and throw it at that credit card.

Then you're going to dip into that 20,000 that I know you're like, Jade, it's passive income. But trust me on this. Just go with me for a second. And if you have questions at the end, we'll get to it. You're going to dip into that $20,000, and you're going to pay off the rest of that credit card. Then you're going to dip into that $20,000 again, and you're going to pay your dad back fully, and you're going to be fully out of debt, and you're probably going to still have $13,000 left, all right? Yeah, that's the money. That's your money. I got $13,000. And then you're going to take that $13,000, and you're going to put it with the $1,000 that you had before in your baby step one, and now you're going to have $14,100. And we're going to use that to be our three, this is baby step three that we're now on, our three to six-month emergency fund. And here's why I'm saying all this, because right now you're going, Well, Jade, you just spent my 20,000. But here's the thing. I am all pro-business, pro-making your money, pro-doing your thing. But you've got to have that foundation in order, because when you have that girl, after that, everything hits right.

And it clears your mind to make better decisions. Trust me. Just go with me on this.

Well, honestly, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to pay off all the debt, and I wanted to have savings in case I need to move or something like.

That and.

Have it set. But then I also felt almost like that was like I felt guilty.

Because I'm not making more money.

No, you're being smart.

You're being smart. You're being smart. And if you do this, you're going to save up some more money in no time to make you more money. So do what I just told you and you are going to be on the right track. That does it for this hour of the show. Thanks for listening. Hang with us next hour. This is The Ramsey Show. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show where we help people build wealth, help you do work that you love, and will help you create actual amazing relationships. I am Jade Warsha. I'm joined by my co-host, best-selling author, host of The Ken Coleman Show, the man himself, Ken Coleman. We will be taking calls all afternoon about your life, your money, your career, your work, your relationships, and how they all work together, how they all affect each other. Ken had a great idea. If you're interested in starting your own business coming up in the new year, you got some ideas, call us up, run it past us. We'll be a little shark tank for you and see if it makes sense. We'll poke holes in it, give you some constructive feedback.

We'd love to do that. Give us a call. The number is triple-eight-825-5225, and we will take your call. Matter of fact, we're going to see Mekita. She's from Asheville, North Carolina. What's going on, Mekita? How can we help?

Hey, how are you? Thank you for taking my call.

No problem. Did I get your name right?

Yes.

You did. Winning. Yes. How can we help?

My husband and I have a small dog grooming business. We currently have a lease to the location, and I am not on the lease. We're looking at a different location so we can expand our business, and they would like me to be on the lease. And the issue is I do not dog groom. I do all the office work, all of that behind-the-scene stuff. But if something were to happen to him, say, he passes away, I would still be on the lease. And I don't know the legalities of it. If I would be responsible for the remainder of the lease, I would say so if I'm signing it. I'm just trying to get some advice on what to do because we really want to go to this other location and expand our business. Leases don't come up very often, but it's just a big concern.

Is your husband the other name that they're asking to be on the lease?

Yes.

Does he have the same concern that you have?

Well, if I passed away, he would be okay because he still does the dog grooming. He would just have to figure out the rest of paying bills and all the other stuff.

I do. Yeah. First thing, I'm just going to common sense this one. I think there's two things I would be looking at. One, if you're concerned about this, and I think it's a valid concern, I think you talked to the landlord about it. There's a reason why they want two names on the lease. Then there's a reason you have a concern on this. I would have a good old face-to-face conversation, look him in the eye and go, Hey, how would you treat that? Because if something happens to him, I don't have because I can't do dog grooming. I would start with that. The second thing I would do is I would also ask your husband if he's done any work in this, but is there any insurance that the business could take out on him so that you could take care of things like this lease. But if I was getting in a situation like that, I'd start with the face-to-face conversation and go, Hey, I've got a concern about this. Obviously, this is the only exception here. I have no problem signing up for this based on any other reasons. How do you feel about it?

They go, Well, I've got my reasons. They're going to walk you through this. There's a reason why they have it. Maybe they make an exception. But I would also look at potentially the insurance policy on your husband through the business, and probably not very, very expensive, and that would take care of that type of legality, but I would just dive into it and look at what your options are.

Okay, because I did ask him if they put in a clause, a death and disability clause for him and the lease that we could sign that goes had no.

Well, my take on it is slightly different. If I'm a co-business owner with my husband, I would want my name to be on everything because I want to know that I have full ownership the same way he does and the same amount of skin in the game. The way my brain is working on this is, you guys have this business. If the business is healthy, I would just make sure the business has a certain number of months of retained earnings for down months, for if the worst happens. And in my mind, this is just Jade speaking now, if something, God forbid, were to happen to your husband, he's the one who knows grooming. He's the one who knows that. What would just happen if you hired another groomer and kept the business going? Or you guys worked on... My guess is that the idea is to keep building this business. And maybe in a year or so or whatever, you do have more than just one groomer, and he's going on there. I just feel like there's a way to keep this thing going without... Does that make sense?

Yeah, that makes sense.

I mean, do you want that hassle? I mean, that's the whole point of your question. I mean, I don't mind the advice. I like your angle. I'll go with Jade on-.

If something happens, to be honest with you.

Yeah. What about the retail? I'll go with you on the retained earnings. You have that set aside. You've got the... How long is the lease?

Look at that insurance policy. It's six years.

It's a six-year lease. All right, so you got... Jade makes a very good point. You guys are taking out money and you try to get to a point where that lease, you'd be able to pay it off cash and walk away. But if you don't want to keep the business going, if that would be a hassle for you, we're talking.

Worst-case scenario here. Yeah, this is such a worst-case scenario. My bigger question is, I guess part of my question is, are you not interested in dog grooming as a business? You just like bookkeeping and da, da, da, da. Because at that point, it's like you're I guess you really are viewing yourself more as like, I just work for this business. It's not really my business. Is that where you're at?

I love the dogs and everything, but the actual art of dog grooming is very complicated. There's no way my brain just doesn't work like that.

Well, I mean, I get that she doesn't want to be a dog groomer. But my question is long term, if he wasn't the groomer, is she interested in keeping the business going and just hiring another groomer?

All right, so what's the answer?

The only issue is because we're in a small town is because we've seen another business go through that, they've been through attempting. They've had, I think, five different groomers in a year trying to get somebody in, getting them in, they leave. It's just we're in an area that's really expensive to live in.

Hey, listen, you don't want to do it. It's as obvious as it.

Can be. If you don't want to do it and we're playing worst-case scenario, then I mean, yeah.

I would look into the insurance. I know that that exists. I would kick the tires on it. I'm not an expert on it, so I wish I could give you some details on it. But if it were me, I'd be calling my insurance agency. I'm assuming you guys have some type of insurance on the business anyway, and I'd be going, Look, what can we do here?

I have never even thought of that. That's a great idea.

Especially- Well, because I'm wearing a cardigan. I'm feeling extra safe today.

Yeah, I'm just curious. I would definitely be curious to look into that, because then the other part of me is like, Okay, if she's listed as an owner, then maybe that's why they're requiring it. But if she's not listed as an.

Owner- I'm fine as long as she's got insurance and she's not responsible for the lease. That's all we want to take care of, because she don't want to do this business.

Yeah, that's interesting. I wonder what she would want to do if the worst were to... These conversations, man, they're dark and twasty. I'm not going to lie.

Yeah, it's a whole other segment.

What would you want to do? It is a whole other segment. But that's what we're talking about, guys. That's about to do it for this segment. Be sure to give us a call. Think about where your question is and give us a call at triple-888-25-5225, and we will be here to chop it up with you. This is The Ramsey Show.

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All right, you guys are listening to The Ramsey show. I am Jade Warshaw. He is Ken Coleman. Hey, if you like this show, if you've been listening for a while or maybe you just discovered us, I would love, love, love, love, love if you took a moment to share the show, tell somebody about it. You can do that in a lot of different ways. You can text your favorite episode. You can use a little paper airplane button and send them your favorite clip that we might post. Or you can just go in there simply and like it, subscribe it, whatever that is, that helps us so much. It's totally free. It's easy for you to do. And it's really just a way for you guys to show your support. And we appreciate it. Look, we recognize that without you guys, there's not a show. So we thank you for tuning in. We really, really hope that this resource is helpful for you, right? So thank you, thank you, thank you so much, thank you. There's a lot going on, and I want to talk about this right quick, Kim. A lot of you may have heard that Mint, the budgeting app Mint that we've all known about, is closing its doors.

Intuit is the big conglomerate that owns Mint. A lot of people were using Mint to do their budget. Now Mint has said, Well, we're closing our doors, and a lot of people are looking out here for a new budgeting home. Enter Ramsey Solutions.

Where's the trumpet sound effect? They're There it is. There it is. That's great.

So Mint currently has four million budgeters, Ken. That's a lot of folks. They're just telling four million people, Hey, we're done. See you. Not only that, then they were like, Well, let us give you some place to go. Why don't you sign up to Credit Carma? They're literally, Ken, pushing these budgeters into a platform that's not a budgeting platform. It's really just a place for them to get into more debt. To Venus, Flytrap. It's a Venus fly trap. It's a Venus fly trap. Let me just be flat out honest. When I very first started budgeting and looking for, because back in the day, I was on pen and paper, Sam and I getting out of debt. I remember a hipster buddy of mine was like, Hey, you should try Mint, bro. I was like, Okay, so I went on to try Mint, and I was like, This is not for me. It wasn't. Then in my search for Mint, I saw every dollar, and I started using every dollar from day one. Okay, all right. Let me tell you, back in the day, however many years ago, it didn't have the bells and whistles that it has now.

Now every dollar is sleek. I mean, it's a Lambo. It does all the things that you need it to do. I just really want to formally invite anybody listening. If you're looking for a new budgeting home, because come January first is going to be a cold day and you're going to need somewhere to go inside and warm up your money, you know what I'm saying? Go over to every dollar. It's free. You can download the app for free and you can get started budgeting for free. And it works like a charm for free. There's also a premium version if you want to do a little upgrade and get just some more budgeting features that are going to help you even more, make it even more streamlined. Some people like that hands-on approach, though, that they get with the free version where they can really be hands-on. And other people, they want to be like, Jade, I need it to do a little bit more for me. And if that's you, that's fine. We've got a premium version. It's really cheap, really inexpensive for you to use that one as well. And I know there's a lot of folks out there that are like, Jade, you know what?

I'm going to take this as my cue to do Excel or do pen and paper. But there's a problem with pen and paper, kid. There's a lot of problems with Excel and pen and paper. Part of it is it's not keeping track in real time. Are you telling me that you take your computer with you when you go into publics, and every time you make a purchase, you're adding it up in your Excel spreadsheet? No. What most of you all do is at the end of the month, you're like, Well, the month is over. Let me go reconcile my budget. You pull out that old '80s calculator with the tape roll, and you start doing your math, and you realize, Wow, I just went over budget $500, and the month is already over. There's nothing you can do about it now. You already went over budget. It's after the fact. What would happen if you had a budget like every dollar that was on your phone, not just your phone, it's on your phone and your spouse's phone, and in every single day you're getting update on how much money is actually there. Those transactions are automatically going into the app, automatically updating, so you can automatically see when you get to the grocery store line, Hey, I only have $179 left to spend.

Well, I think, Ken, that it would change the way that you spend, which would ultimately affect your budget.

That's correct.

I'm just saying, every dollar is a way. If you're looking for a place, we want you to come to every dollar. Matter of fact, I have a promo code. Let me just throw that out there. If you go to everydollar. Com/jade, I myself will spend Dave's money and give you $15 off your first year, that's on me.

Or let.

Me do you one better. Now, this is a little bit of a roundabout road, but let me do you one better. If you purchase on pre-order my book, which is Money is Not a math problem, which is truly, truly at its core about budgeting, if you purchase this on pre-order, I will give you three months of every dollar free, every dollar premium. I'm talking about the one with all the bells and whistles. That comes as a perk. It's $10. So if you want to get three months for free to see how this thing is really working, go ahead and do the book. And that's another little roundabout way to get this. So there's methods, Ken. There's layers to this thing is what I'm saying.

Okay, well said. Well said indeed. Anything to add? No, I think that was perfect.

All right, let's move on. Let's move on. We got Rachel, and I'm going to say Lafayette.

There it is. Is it Lafayette? Yes, that's his actual name.

Louisiana. For the history buff out there, the man's name was Marquette de Lafayette, and everybody goes Lafayette, tell the truth. Well, that's country. It's like it's not Lafayette, it's Lafayette.

Thank you very much. Well, this is Rachel, and she can tell us if we're right or not. Are we right? Is it Lafayette? It's Lafayette, yes. Okay, that's what I'm talking about. What's going on, Rachel? How can we help? Yes.

Hi, I have a question regarding an investment property that both my husband and I own. We purchased it using an inheritance with the intentions of using the profits to help supplement our retirement later on and also our children's secondary education. Okay. We paid cash for it two and a half years ago, and we currently have 95,000 invested into it. We currently profit 750 per month after all of our expenses. The kicker is a few days ago, we had our annual HOA meeting where the annual budget for the complex was discussed, needed future projects, difficulties collecting HOA fees from several of the owners. We also learned that the current HOA fees are not meeting the current budget needs and are also not taking into the consideration for the needed improvement projects. Therefore, we're anticipating a rise in the HOA fees next year.

From what to what?

We're not sure about next year, but we just went from 206 to 263 a month in HOA fees.

And if you had to guess, what do you think it could get to? What's your.

Biggest fear? I would say.

350, if.

Not more.

So where.

Does that put you at? What's that? In our profit? What would.

That put in on that? Well, I know. I mean, you call because this is creating a problem for you. What is this making you consider this raise in HOA?

Just with knowing all the issues that they're having, I'm wanting to sell. My husband is wanting to keep it.

Real numbers. What are you afraid of? If it goes up as high as 350, what does that do to your profit margins? Aren't you passing some of that along to your renters?

If not- Yeah, we are going to go up on...

We're on the rent.

As you should. Yeah, I'm afraid that if we get into the 400 a month, more people in our units are not going to pay the HOA fees, and then it's just going to go downhill from there. I may be with.

I think that you -.

-continually to -continually to.

Can I just cut in? I think that you're projecting a lot of what of what right now, like you said, okay, it's gone up gone up that's bucks, that's you're going to pass 30 of it over to your folks, and you're going to take some of it. Instead of making of a month, you're going to make to a month. I would really cross that bridge when you get to it. I think that to just go, Oh, this is getting crazy. I'm selling right away. I mean, what would happen if you just stuck in a little bit longer to really see where this goes? That's what I would do. I mean, Ken? Yeah, I agree.

I think you trust your husband on this. Walk through the numbers, the numbers, your fears. Let's get some facts on this and let's move forward. I wouldn't get out because of the.

Verizon HOA. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade I'm your host, joined by Ken Coleman, who is also your host. We are taking calls all afternoon about your life and what's going on with your money and how it relates to the other areas of your life. If you want to talk with us, give us a call. The number is number is triple-88825-5225, would love to talk with you. We're going to go straight to the phone to Dennis, who's in Charlotte, North Carolina. How can we help today, Dennis?

Hi, how are you, are Jade?

I'm doing good. How are you, Dennis?

I'm doing great. I'm super glad to.

Be on here. Awesome. I'm happy to talk to you. What's going on?

Well, it's a little bit about my situation. My mom, I'm 18 years old. She passed away last September at the age of 36. She was a drunk driver.

Oh, gosh.

Since then, I've moved in with my pastor and my best my best I've been having trouble getting a job. My buddy and his other buddy started construction, and I've worked with them off and on. But I get to start my first day at UPS at UPS tomorrow. Nice. Shift from 4:00 AM to 9:00 PM. I'm looking really much forward to it. To hours, good money, $21 an hour just to start out. But I got a little bit of trouble. I've been not doing money like I said. I got a credit card. It was very stupid. Very stupid. Not due or nothing, but I've already spent $110 on that credit that credit limit is 300. I don't want to go. I don't want to spend any more on it. And my Papa has helped me out because I've had a rough couple of weeks. He gave me some money. And my friends, we got to eat. I said, no, I'm not going to eat. I don't have to. They'll pay for it because I got really good friends. And I make sure that I put their put their how much I owe them back then. So I'm in debt to friends and credit card to around $340 something probably.

And three days passed in my phone bill, which is $120. And two days passed in on my car insurance, which is $200.

Okay, I got it all written down. And I have I have Okay, and you've got you've got But you start the UPS job tomorrow. Yes, ma'am. And when do you get your first paycheck?

So today was the orientation for 10 minutes. Tomorrow we go in for three hours at four that But then Friday I go in four o'clock in the morning to nine o'clock in the morning, my actual my first day. But I will get that money next Thursday, but it won't be enough. I'll get next week's paycheck after Thanksgiving.

Okay, so after Thanksgiving, assuming now that you've gotten you've gotten how much money will you have? Because it's still the month of November, so it's not like we've crossed into another month. How much money will you have once you get those two checks after Thanksgiving?

I would want to say $600, maybe seven. Maybe seven.

Got shelter, you've got a car. You know what I'm saying? You're living with your pastor and your papa. You've got- My pastor and best friend. Best and best and best friend, with that $600, if you took that and you paid the $200 in car insurance, that leaves you with you you paid the 120 on the phone, and then you paid the credit card for card What about that? And then with your next check, you came in and you paid the 230. Sorry, I didn't get to write down what the 230 was for, but whatever that. That's your biggest debt, and you paid that one final. How would that feel? Yes, ma'am. And then by Christmas time, you have no more debt. That's the right-.

That'd be perfect. But one, I got asked about what should, which I think is a pretty good pretty because question, car is car is My car insurance will not be extended. Should I just let my phone go off for about a week or so?

So your car insurance is late. When would they lapse it? They won't lapse it until the next month, right? It's just.

Late at this point? They send you a letter out the first day you don't pay it. They'll send you a letter out saying it's been canceled. I talk to you on the phone. That's not That's not have three days after.

Okay, so let's make that first that because you need to be able to drive and you need to.

Have.

Insurance. So let's let that be the first thing. And if for some reason, if you're not able to cover that and they do lapse it, call them up and be like, be I just got this job. Is there any way you can extend it? What will that look like? If they won't, then you're just going to have to pop into another policy. And until you can, just don't drive your car. Do not drive around without around without you're and you're going to need going to need somebody in your circle, one of these friends who's been spotting you some money, get them to drive you to work until you can get this money and get back with your insurance.

Yes, ma'am.

You got that? Ken Coleman is going to help you with this career side. Career side.

Come I'm just really curious. You're only You're only very, very young, and you got plenty of time. This is not a pressure question. I'm just curious. I'm glad, by the way, you're at UPS. I think this is a great landing spot for you with all the trauma you've gone through, losing your mom. You're going to get great benefits there. Work your butt off. Just get stable, get your financial feet underneath of you, and heal emotionally. But I am curious, what are you thinking about? What are you wondering about as an 18-year-old young guy about your professional future?

Well, I'm a preacher, so I think about preaching a lot, but I want to be successful. I'm actually in the course of taking online real estate classes right now. That's a main thing for thing is pursuing real estate. But their classes are hard, they're online, and they're difficult, but I'm not a quitter. That's really what I do want to do. I'm not even sure if that's still what I want to do a lot of things.

Well, that's fine. Are you thinking by vocational? You're selling homes during the week and preaching on the weekend? Is that what I'm hearing?

Yes, sir.

All right. Well, you've got plenty of time. I would say this. I want you to walk our baby steps out. We got our crisis situation, which really is in a in because you have a place to land, you have a place to sleep, you got food. Let me just say this on the cell phone thing. Phone thing. Phone people aren't going to cancel your cell phone because you're a couple of weeks late. I love the fact that you're communicating with people and just telling them exactly your situation. Look, here's where I'm at. I'm okay. I got a great job at UPS. It's one of the most respected companies in the world. You're good to go. So then get that $1,000. Once we get through this getting caught up on everything, $1,000 in your savings account. That's your emergency fund, right? And you have no other debt, correct? That's just these small little things. Great. So here's the deal. Cut the credit card up.

Today. Tonight.

You don't need the credit card. That credit card, if you still have it open, it becomes an option for you when times get tough and it just keeps putting you behind the eight ball. As tough as your life has been over the last year, you can handle it. You have got a spunk about you, a light that I can just feel coming through the phone, and there's no stopping you. You've got support through the friends, through the place to stay. You don't even need the credit card for what most people think they need it for. So cut it up and not just cut it up. I'm going to challenge you when this call is done, the next phone call you make to the credit card company and cancel it. And then once you've got a thousand dollars in your savings account, baby step one, since you have no debt, you are now moving right moving what is a six-month emergency fund look like for you? Because you have no other expenses. I'd like to see a six-month emergency fund for you, but three to six months will work. And now you begin to go into baby step baby where you begin to invest to invest 15% of your probably going to have a great retirement count set up with UPS.

Get familiar with it with HR, talk to them about it, do your max contribution, and then go, go, go. Young man, you're going to be way ahead of most 18-year-olds financially, which gives you a ton of freedom professionally as you begin to explore things. Do you understand what I'm saying?

Yes, sir, I do. You got my word. I'll cut it up as soon as I get offered and I'll.

Call them.

I like it. I love that. Just to get you started, I'd love to give you a couple of months of every dollar premium. Austin is going to pick up, make sure you get started with the best budgeting app that is out there. I would love for you to have that. Matter of fact, you know what? Dennis is on point. Let's give him Financial Peace University because I want him knowing all the ins and outs. I want him completely financially literate. There we go. Can I.

Say it? Let's add on to the gifts. Austin, let's also give him the get clear career assessment for him to just begin to think to think does my future look future Give him the him the book to purpose, which is also the companion. Is there anything else? You know what? Give him one of my books. Why not? I was waiting for this. Look, I forgot that I had it to give away.

Let's be honest about that. This is brand new. It's a.

Rookie move. It's a rookie move. It's okay. It's okay.

I have mistake. Yes, give Yes, give is not a math problem. I love it. Man, Dennis, he's what I call a superstar, a stud, really.

Great spirit for a young man who's been through a bone-crushing, spirit-crushing loss.

100%.

Loses mama at 36.

Yeah, 36.

I mean, that's tough stuff. What a bright soul he is.

But I really like that he's surrounded by really great friends, really great family, a pastor, a church, people who really came in. It sounds like they just put their arms around him and made sure that he knew he was he was got, knew those people had people had I love that. That's what it's all about. I love that. I love the generosity, Ken. You came through came through were like Santa like.

I have the spiritual gift of giving away Dave's away I love that.

Love something you come with. Love it. Here to help people. I love it. It gives me chills. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, guys, it's Rachel Cruz. And I want to remind you that budgeting is the only way to get through the holiday season without overspending. And there's no better way to budget than with every dollar. Right now, you can get a year of premium features for only $49.99. That includes features like features like paycheck planning, and so much more. Go to everydollar. Com/black Friday to get that deal now. That's everydollar. Com/black Friday. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade I'm This is Ken Coleman to my right. We're taking calls about your life and your money, so give us a call. The number is triple-eight, 825-5225. We've had a lot to discuss over the past several segments, Ken. And I don't know, if you guys listen regularly, you may have listened yesterday, and we had a gentleman call in. Let me just give you a brief synopsis. We had a guy call in, and he was a vet who was fully disabled, but he was still able to able to And so he had the GI Bill available to him to pay for some extended school.

And because of the nature of his disability, he had, I believe, up to $65,000 of federal student loan forgiveness available to him, even though he only had $10,000 that needed to be forgiven. Be forgiven. Was trying to ask us, ask it be right for him to basically take out a student loan that would not be used for used for he technically didn't need it, but that he could just use for life, like his mortgage and things like things We felt like there was a bit of an ethical dilemma there, and so we advised him, Yeah, don't take out the money. You can live, you can work. I know it's available, but it's for student for student loans, this case, you wouldn't be using it for education. But during the break, Ken and I talked, and I thought, I was like, You know what? This is tax dollars. I'd be willing to give to my portion, which is like 0.0019 %. It just grew. We came back and we asked you, the.

People- Well, what was my opinion?

Go ahead and tell them, Ken.

Them, Ken. You said I I said, I'm not giving any mind. I'm like, no.

You went Scrooge mode.

No, I just went personal responsibility mode, which gets.

Called Scrooge. No, I'm not mad not mad at you, Ken. Oh, no, I get it. Get it.

So then.

Let's ask the people.

The people. And apparently, how did we do this?

We.

Took a poll. You can drop a poll on YouTube. We did a YouTube poll, and we got a lot of strong feedback in the comments as well. I'll tell you what the numbers were, and then you can guess can answer goes with which with All right, okay. It was 67% to 32%. I'm telling you right now, the Ramsey audience, 67% went with Ken, team Ken.

I think you're right. I think even though I was like Michael McDonald and take you to the to the cared.

Yeah, it was 67%. Dang it. Meaning they agree with me? Meaning yes, they know that they wouldn't give their money, so they agree with me. These are people who believe in rugged individualism, personal responsibility.

Good on you, folks. I'm not mad. I am not mad because honestly, because of you guys, I am now am which richer, okay? Thank you for giving me money back into my pocket. Love it. This is why I love this show, this.

Show, Ken, because you talk.

About I must.

Say, James. Is the best. I do like the poll, and I like doing this more often. I wish we could maybe do a text in and do live poll results during the during the certain issues, when you, our fearless leader, think it might be interesting, we should figure out a way to do that. I love that. Love going to drop your personal cell phone number in the in No, but they got this ability to do this now, these people, these tech people. You give out a text number and then and I just think it'd be great.

All right, stay tuned. You never know what can happen.

On the show. We are here for the for the they.

So they a voice. They do have a voice. I'm about to let let us hear Cheryl's voice. All right. And Renne... Renne? Look, Ken, you.

Got me flustered.

You just said just said Nevada. I was thinking about how I was going to make fun of you next. Oh, you were? Yeah, I was I What were you going to say? I was going to say, Ken, if you would stop yapping, I can go to Cheryl and hear her voice. Then I messed up and said, and and then you made fun of me instead. That's what happens. I got them. What's going on, Cheryl? How can we help?

Hi, thanks for taking my call. No problem. My husband just retired the end of June, and we're still trying to get our retirement budget together. But my kids keep thinking we've got all this money that we can spend on them. I feel so broke constantly, even though we're not really giving them money, they've got trust funds that my parents set up for up for my parents my parents I just don't know what to do anymore.

Cheryl, these trust fund kids are hounding you for money?

Yes.

But you're not giving it to them?

No.

But you feel bad because you're not giving it to them? Yes.

Well, I thought you said you feel broke, and I'm confused how you would feel broke because of them. I think you feel broke because of you all.

No. We have more money than what we're telling the kids we have.

Then how can you feel broke?

Because I'm constantly being told, We need money for this. We need money for this. We need money for this.

I.

Mean, it's getting to be to My daughter wants Christmas money. What?

How old is your daughter?

She calls to co-sign for a loan for my 17-year-old.

Granddaughter.

To get a 2020.

A 2020.

My daughter's credit is down to two.

And you want to know whose problem that is? That is? Not my daughter's problem. Yeah, it's not your problem. Cheryl, this is your family, and you love you love I am an impartial person out here, and I'm telling you, these folks are entitled. You have done the right thing. You have said, No, I'm not going to fund this and that, and I'm certainly not going to do it at your whim. If you feel the need to be generous, you can choose when and how you'd like to be generous for your family, but they do not get to treat you like grandma, ATM, and come to you whenever they feel like they need this or that. You're exactly right. Exactly right. I were in your shoes, I would not feel bad about that for a hot second.

Hot second.

The status? The status? I wish.

Well, okay, we'll come back to that. What's the status of the trust funds? Do they already have access to them, or are they waiting to get access to them?

I'm the only one that has access to them right now. My now. My my parents' house as part of his of his ended up having to take a loan against that trust because they would not upkeep the upkeep the the city has an ordinance where you can't have just weeds all over your front yard.

And.

So your son- We ended up having to take a loan against the trust to pay someone to come out and landscape their front yard. The car for the granddaughter is a loan against my daughter's trust.

Why are they.

Loans, though? I wasn't about to cosign because I don't want to make car payments.

Right, okay. But my question is, is the trust delineating when certain amounts are supposed to be distributed to them and they're just not getting what they felt like they were supposed to? Or is it something different? Right.

The trust gives my daughter my a month.

That's it, and she gets that.

She gets that every month.

She wants above and beyond that. Is that what you're telling me?

And she wants above and beyond that.

All right, so let me tell you.

My son has a house to live in. Right now, his rent is $275 a month to help pay for the sewer, the insurance, the property taxes, that type of thing.

All right, Cheryl, here's the problem. Your kids know about the trust, and they have known about the trust for a for enough to let their behavior be so immature and so lazy that they can't even cut their own their and you've got to take a loan. First of all, you didn't have to do any of this. You've done it. I think you called today because you're at your wits end. And should be. And you should be. But I will I will have a lot of responsibility here, and I'm not saying this to be mean to you at all. I'm saying that now is the day for you to you to is enough. You got to decide what you're going to do here on this trust. I don't think they've earned they've earned I don't want to get into the into of this because I don't think that distracts from what you need to do. What you need to do is say, This is what you get. If it were me, I'd change the trust to where they don't get any of it until they show themselves worthy and responsible of it. But at this point, they get what they get from the trust, and you need to say, That's it.

That's it. There's no more asking mama for anything, which means you are going to say no to all these loans against loans This is over. This is a family meeting, a come to Jesus meeting, where you make it really clear how things are going to be going forward because these kids are manipulating you emotionally. You sound like an emotionally weary lady who actually needs to take charge and let the kids gripe and complain it's time for them to be adults. I know that's not fun to hear, but this isn't going to change until you cut them off and be okay with cutting them off.

Show off. Right, Ken. I am not going to argue with that. That is strong advice from Ken Coleman, and I agree I agree Thanks for hanging us with us this hour. Be sure to join us next hour on The Ramsey Show. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I am Jade am I am joined today by Ken by I am the money personnel, and Ken Coleman is the work and career personnel. But we But and dabble into a bunch of other things. So if you want to give us a call, we'll talk about what you want to talk about as long as it has something to do with your life, your money, your work, and your relationships. The number is number The phone lines are open, but I see we've already got David in San Antonio, Texas. David, what's going on in your world, dude?

I have a quick.

Short quick.

Would you recommend.

A person who suffers from emotional.

Spontaneous.

Shopping, stay out of the shopping malls? I'm going to hang up and let you know.

David. Wait a second. You don't get to hang up hang That's too juicy.

But wait a minute. A minute. The answer. David, you know the answer?

Well, what's.

Your.

Recommendation? Do I just not bring as much.

Cash into a Walmart or a shopping mall? Or do I not go at all?

Do I.

Write down a-.

Well, we're going to dig deep and find out how deep it is.

But- All right, before you dig, I want to also just make a connection with David. I suffer from emotional, spontaneous eating.

What type of things do you eat, Ken?

Oh, boy, chips and salsa. Okay. I go the salty variety. I don't want to make this about me.

David's in.

Good company. I'm saying I want to learn. I'm going to see if what you say to him about emotional spending-.

I want to.

Know what it looks like. -helps me with emotional eating.

I want to know, David, what does this spending look like? Are we talking about, Hey, I go to Target and next thing I know I've spent $500 on a credit card? Is it I come back because it's the Lexus Christmas to remember and I bought my wife a new car? How deep does this go?

This walk into a shopping a shopping say, with, My $400.

Is to buy one item.

And leave. But you know how a shopping mall is. The next thing you.

Know, you see this, you want that.

You may be with a woman.

She sees this.

You want you want wants this. And the next thing you know.

That 400 is gone. I totally get it, David.

But here's the thing. You came with came This is key. Did you go with $400 and you only spent $400? Or did you go with $400 and you spent far more than $400?

Okay, that's a good... I didn't think about all that.

I see what you're saying. Do you see what I'm saying?

Because there's part of this- No.

What's the answer?

You actually asked a question. It could be both at any given moment.

I mean, it depends. I mean, not.

That I go.

To the mall a lot, but you know.

If you go over the $400, the extra money that you're spending, is this you putting it on a credit card?

Yes.

Okay, here's what I would recommend. In general, I think that we all can be emotional spenders, celebratory spenders, I'm sad spenders, whatever that thing that provokes that I'm a celebratory spender and eater, by the way. So knowing what those things those things of Some it's like, I like spending like and these are my... It seems like you have identified the mall is mall For other people, it might be might be For other people, it might be, I don't know, whatever, Bass Pro Shops, whatever it is, right? So some of us know the key the key If I go in that store, I will buy something. So I would avoid those stores.

Also, there's some data some I out. This. Don't go shopping when you're in a sad or mad state of mind. There's mind. There's actually Yeah, it's people go out, and you don't even have to be in the mall to want to go buy something when you're sad or mad.

That's right. That's the other part. The first part is identifying what is the store that just I can't leave without spending something. Then the other part is identifying what type of spender am I? Like I said, I'm a celebratory spender. I get that. I'm a celebratory eater. I get that. You, David, need to look and go, What is the emotion I'm feeling when I feel the need to spend? So that's number two. Now, practically speaking, this is just me. Whenever somebody says, Hey, Jade, I can't stick to my budget, or, Hey, Jade, I'm spending like crazy, like crazy, you I just tell people. I'm like, You need to take the take out of your wallet. And that comes in two parts. Number one, if you have credit cards, you need to cut those jokers up never to be seen again. And your debit card also needs to come out of your wallet, and you need to replace that with that with envelope of cash that only gets you what you need. David, you're not the guy who needs to keep $400 of cash in your wallet in and of itself. You probably need to keep 25 or 50, and that gets you through.

The day. Don't take a woman to the mall with you.

I you. That's right.

I got to add that.

Don't take these.

Women out. You can tell he's got an issue with this. David, you take a lady a the mall, what happens to you, pal?

You, overspend. He overspends. He gets soft like butter. He's like, I got to spend.

She's just- Because she's looking at something and you want to make her feel special, David.

That's correct.

That's.

Correct, yeah. You need to tell her ahead of time, like Jade's advice, show her the envelope and say, I only have $50 in this because this other lady in my life named Jade said I could only have 50.

Maybe don't show her the envelope because we don't want her thinking- That.

Would take care of the lady problem. Yeah, it will. That's what I'm doing for him. I'm helping him out. David's got a lady problem.

He does. But maybe don't show her $50 and say, This is all the money I have.

You'll find out. Yes, I would.

No, disagree. That might make the pool shrink real quick.

No, it'll tell you whether or not she likes you for you or the stuff you're getting her, David. Her, David. That I don't know what I'm talking about. Talking about. I don't know.

Talking about women.

Exactly because.

Everybody has emotions now. Oh, no, I'm not blaming women. I'm blaming you and your weakness for women.

Okay.

Well, it happens. That's right. I didn't get this cardigan without some experience. I know what I'm talking about here. You got to be careful. That's your cryptonight.

You're laying it out there. One hundred %. Let me just go one tab deeper. Do you think that the majority of the spending that you do is on other people or other women, or is the majority of the problem that you're spending on things that you're buying for yourself? 50-50. It's 50-50. What I would say is, if you're dating around, if you're swiping left or swiping or and you're going out with different ladies, a dating a.

Oh, okay.

Got you. Sorry. Like Tinder or whatever. Whatever the dating apps are. I'm not in that world. I'm not either, but I got my ear to the pavement, Ken. You do. I know what's going on. You are up to date. If you're dating, don't spend big bucks on these just a weekend date. Once you find a lady and it's like, This is my lady, then you can start creating a larger budget for what you might want to spend to wine and diner. Do you have debt? I'm about.

100.

In credit card debt for that Oh, no, that's another conversation, David. Conversation, David. A You didn't tell us about that.

No, 100.

Oh, okay. Just $100.

That's nothing. Okay, yeah. We're paying that off.

Look, this- I'm telling you, the envelope, I like you, but this is how much I like you on this date. This date.

I'm going to go to Set yourself a clear budget. I'm going to go to envelope. Get the envelope, clear amount of money in there. This is for dinner. We're not hitting not hitting afterwards. It's for dinner and a movie. That's right. We're keeping it simple. We're not going to extremes, Ken.

No concessions at the movie.

But ladies, okay, it's poll time.

No Annie Anne's.

Pretzel in the mall. James, it's poll time. If you're a lady and you go on a date and he shows you a $50 envelope and says, This is it. This is all I got. Turn on or turn off. You tell us, Is this a good thing? Are you like, This is a responsible a responsible.

Is this a bad thing? I think it depends on how he looks. I really do.

Because if the guy showed me a $50 envelope and said, This is it, is would give me Uncle Boo Boo vibes, and I would be like, I don't know about this guy. He can keep it a secret is all I'm saying. Just take me out. You don't have to tell me everything right now.

All right, that's fair. Put it in the poll. Let's see what people say. Maybe not the best procedure, but a great principle. I'll give.

You that. This is The Ramsey Show. Here's the thing about investing advice. You can find it just about anywhere, but that doesn't mean it'll always help you with your.

Personal goals.

Here's another Here's another in with a with a These Pro. These can review your plan or help create.

One that's personalized.

To you. To find a SmartVester a in your area, go to ramseysolutions. Com/smartvester. Ramseysolutions.

Com/smartvester. Go to ramseysolutions.

Com/smartvester. Is a is non-client promoter of promoter of Learn more at more com/smartvester. You're listening to.

Listening Ramsey show. I am Jade Warshaw. You are Ken Coleman, and we are your co-host together today. Give us a us a call. The number is We'd be happy to take your call. Now, our question of the day is brought to you by Neighborly. Neighborly is your hub for home services. When you need to make repairs, schedule routine maintenance, or get local help for home improvement projects, go to go com/ramsey, your source to find and schedule reliable home service providers in your area.

Today's question comes from Derrick in Oregon. What do I do with the leftover money at the end of the of the I'm in every dollar. What say you.

Judge Jane? I say you follow those baby steps, Derrick, and whatever baby step you're on, that's where the margin the margin could be anything. For anybody who's listening for the first time, I'd be happy to just walk you through those baby steps so you know where your money. You can assess your own personal situation and go, Okay, where does my margin go? Baby step one is one is a saved. If you are in debt and you're looking for a way out, baby step one, you just you just get a Starter, keyword, Starter, emergency fund. Then after you've done that, and by the way, for your starter emergency fund, you pull that from any money you might have had have or you go out and get it, you work, the average person is able to get that money in about 30 days. 30 you move on to baby step two. Baby step two is paying off all of your debt except your mortgage. Now, this is where we're going we're going And again, if you have a stash of money, maybe you got 20k in the bank, you've got money in stocks, that's non-retirement money, you take all that money plus the margin in your budget, you throw it at your debts from smallest to largest.

That's called the debt snowball, and that is baby step two. Then after that, we head on over to baby step three. This is where we're stacking up three to six months of an emergency fund. So if you're listening and you're like, Jade, I don't have debt. I mean, I've got my mortgage, but that doesn't count. Okay, now you're on baby step three. That's where your margin and your budget goes to baby step three, stacking up three to six months of basic expenses. It doesn't have to be your full-fledged, full budget with all the and whistles and whistles, okay? And after you've done that, if you're like, Okay, I've still got some margin. We're investing 15 %, which happens to be baby step four, and we still have some money left over, now you can throw that towards a 529 for your kids. Your can throw extra towards your mortgage, okay? And that's where that margin goes. If you're on baby steps four, five, and six, your margin is paying 15 % to retirement. Anything after that, you're putting towards your kid's college. It's not a particular amount, whatever you can get. Can then whatever is extra after that, you're paying off your house early.

House early. How this thing works. I can't say it enough. When it comes to budgeting, I'm going to call myself out here, Ken, and you can tell me what you think.

Okay, I'll call you out.

I used to think that a budget was simply a list of your debts. As long as your money is paying for your for and you know what your debts are, and your month-to-month bills, car notes, hair appointment, those things that are that car notes, rent, insurance, cell phone, as long as you've paid for that in your budget, you're fine. Everything else is just up for grabs. Everything else is tree chock. Grab bag, if you will. You a grab bag. You don't have to budget that money.

Yeah, no, that is not a budget, as I.

Understand it. It's not a budget. A true budget is a zero-based budget, meaning you take your paycheck and you give an give and you get to choose. Some of the things are mandatory, and I'm a responsible adult, I have to pay these things. Then you're also, though, also, that other half that used to be the be self money, you're giving that money an assignment, too. It's okay if one of the assignments is hair appointment. It's okay if one of the assignments is dog food.

You better believe I have to get my hairs did.

You got to get those hairs.

Did, Kare. John Maxwell once said that a budget is telling your money what to do. That's right. I think that is a very simplistic but powerful way of looking at the process of budgeting. Yes, zero base, because I've told every dollar where it's going.

That's.

Right. Why we have the have the budgeting app.

There you go. That's why it's called Every dollar. You tell every dollar where to go. And by the way, I talk specifically about every dollar in this new little quick read that just came out today. It's called Money is Not a Math Problem. And I call it Money is Not a Math Problem because we're dealing with things that happen in your mind when it comes to money. But the other play on this is I'm talking about budgeting and I'm talking about every dollar, and every dollar does all the math for you. So again, it doesn't have to be your math problem. Math every dollar figure out that math problem for problem for Ken Coleman?

I see what you did there. Yeah, that's what I did. It was a seamless self-promo.

Very good. I will beat that drum. Yes, you did. All right, let's go into the phone lines. We got Robert from Las Vegas, Nevada. What's going on, Robert? On, Robert? Hi.

I taking a call. I have a question. Bought a house a year and a half ago, first time buyer, and I'm late in my life. I would like to try and pay off the house much earlier than earlier typical 30-year mortgage.

So.

I'm thinking five to six years, maybe seven years. Love that. And so I can enjoy the house.

Yeah, I love that idea.

I don't think don't be around 30 more years to enjoy it after I retire.

Sure. Well, I mean, I hope that you have a long, full life, but I get this feeling of wanting to pay off your house. I love that. My only question to you would be to make sure you're at the right point in your financialwe're going to need to actually start taking those steps. Let's dig a little bit deeper. Is that cool with you?

Again?

Okay, so we just walked through those baby steps here a minute ago. What baby step would you be on? Do you have debt? Do you have money saved?

I don't have any have except for the mortgage and one car one car credit cards. I've got some cash.

How much cash?

Thirty-five.

Thousand. Okay, would you call that about... How many months of savings would you say that is? Is that three months? Is it four months? Six months? No, it's.

Right around five.

About five About five months.

All I got to jump in because we got the car payment. You said we have no debt except, but the car payment is debt. How much do you owe in the car?

Well, good question. I don't know the amount I owe, but it's a monthly payment of 350, and it's only because I got in a car accident that totaled my almost paid off car.

If you had to guess what you spent on the car, what do you think you what do you think you spend? Is it Is Is it Is.

Oh, no, no, no. It's probably more like $15,000.

Okay, so I'm glad Ken dug deeper on that. I would take some of the money out of that savings stash that you have enough to pay off that car completely. I would get that get out of your life because it's draining 350 bucks a month from you that you could be using to pay off your house. I would pay that pay off, get it out of your life today. Then you've Then you've got five you wanted to build that savings back up, you backup, you if you're like, Look, I'm fine. If that brought you down to three months and you were fine with having three months of savings, we suggest we suggest three months. Six months. You want five again, you could take some time and build it back up. Back my next question to you would be, are you investing you investing of your income in retirement?

No, I do not have any retirement yet. I just got this better income a couple of years ago, and we're able to buy the house, like I said, about a year and a half ago. Basically, my plan is to pay the regular mortgage and then throw a lot of extra cash at the mortgage for the next five to.

Six years. I know you want to do that, but I also want to make sure you've got plenty of retirement and cash on hand as well. As well. I would love to see you do is also start investing 15 %. 15 %. Got this new job, this new income. I want you investing 15 % of your gross your gross I want you doing that every month so that you can start having compound interest work for you so that when you do go on down the line, this money is there. Is there. After that, when you've got that extra that extra you can start putting some extra on your mortgage however much you can or however much you'd like to. You do not have to be to about this, but I do want you to be very intentional about getting this mortgage paid mortgage paid off all work together. I think right now you're just one track mind. I got to do the mortgage. Because you want that want that I think everybody wants the feeling of not owing anybody anything. Anybody there's But there's to this madness.

Yeah, there was a plan for the retirement. It was like five years towards the towards and then the next five years will be just all towards retirement. Towards retirement. They're wouldn't have any major debt.

Look, debt. Look, the end of the day, you can work your plan if you want to. I'm not mad at you. You're grown man. If you want to work the plan that you had and that you created, you are free and clear to do that. But if you call us, we're going to tell you what our plan was and what our plan is and the plan that's worked for millions and millions of people, a plan that's been around for over 30 years. So it's your prerogative. Bobby Brown said you can do what you want to do, but I'm going to tell you what Ramsey Solutions says. So it's your world. This is The Ramsey Show.

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I am Jade am one of your hosts for today. I'm joined by Ken Coleman, your other host for the for the day. Fun to host with you. It's fun to take calls. If you're interested in calling us and getting our take on your life, your money, your career, whatever's going on with you, you can give us a call. The number is number It would be really our great honor to just discuss that with you. Absolutely. You. Absolutely. Phone lines are open. We've got Elizabeth who's in Charlotte, North Carolina. What's going on, Elizabeth? Hey Elizabeth?

Hey are you guys?

Doing good. How are you?

I'm doing well. Thank you for taking my call. I'll get to the point. I'm newly divorced, and I have three children that I'm taking care of alone now. One has One I have two embraced. My question is, I'm caught up in a cycle of payday loans. I just started listening to your show last week. So my normal job, I'm working five nights a week as a nurse. And so now that I've heard your show, I have now picked up every day that I have off. I work I work or shift Pretty much the reason I can't work anymore is because I only have a sitter at night, so I have to do what I can when I can. But I've got to get out of this debt.

How much do you make before you get into overtime?

About overtime?

What do you think this overtime… I know you're brand new to this, but what do you think the overtime is going to make you in a given month if you're able to keep up the schedule?

Probably an extra.

An extra month?

Per.

Month, Per Okay, all right.

So at this point, I just want to make sure for sure for this point, you're five nights a week, or at this point, are you seven nights a week?

I just picked up, put it this way. Last way. I heard your heard I was doing five nights a week. Now I'm doing every.

Night a week. Okay, now you're doing every night a week. Okay, very, very cool. So tell me more about this payday, Lender, and tell me more about the debt.

Okay, I have a have $24,000. I have about have in credit card. Credit card. I have probably two personal loans. That's about $5,000 together.

Okay.

Like I said, I'm paying for two sets of braces. One child has been through, you know how you start all over, you take them off, and then they put them on to do something different.

Oh.

Do I?

What's the total debts on that combined?

Right now, I only owe about $250 more on the braces, but I think they're going to start over with something with with one of them, one of the of the that'll be probably another $5,000.

And do you have to do that? Okay, we'll talk about that in a minute.

What else do you have? Yeah, I got expertise on that issue.

Tap me when you're ready. I will tap you in, Ken. What else do you do you.

Let's see. Other than the payday loans, I just have rent because, of course, I'm not buying now. I have a rent of rent.

Rent is $2,000. Okay, how much are the payday loans? You didn't tell me.

Oh, the payday loans together, I could probably hand off with $3,000.

$3,000. How many of them is it?

It's four.

Okay, so four payday loans equaling loans Okay, do some quick math for me after your taxes, after everything like that with your overtime, what are you bringing home, taking home per month?

I haven't gotten my first check with the overtime yet, but I'm pretty sure pretty be close to seven.

Seven thousand. Good job, mama. Job, Good job. Okay, so are you on a budget? Because me talking about this means nothing if you're not on a budget.

You know what? I just got everything written down. But my thing is now I have to break bad news to everybody that we're not buying anything for anything.

I anything. That's right.

I'm dealing with the pouting, but I'm like, whatever, you all just get.

Over it. They'll get through it. This is going to be temporary. This is going to be a temporary sacrifice to win. Before you leave, Austin's going to give you every dollar because I want you on a budget that is going to make this as easy as possible for you, okay? Because on every dollar, you're going to put everything in there, and you're going to really be able to see at the end of the rent, at the end of the bills, at the end of everything, what is my margin to actually be able to start paying off some of this debt? And first things first, Elizabeth, I want to give you a little bit of breathing room. Do you have any money any money.

Have not one not because I've been putting everything trying to catch my bills up. I've never been behind on my bills. And now with all of this happening, all my bills are behind. And I'm like, I can't stand it.

I'm freaking out. You just feel like you're freaking out. Yeah, I want you to tonight, because you're going to get the every dollar budget after this call. Tonight, I want you to work on that. That in between your shifts on your break, because I know you're working tonight, I want you to get this every dollar budget up and running, because when you see the numbers, you're going to get some peace. Just knowing what the situation is for real, for real is going to give you peace. First things first, I know you want to get these bills. I want you to get quickly a thousand dollars saved. That's right. You're probably like, Jade, you just add a thousand dollars to my plate. Sell something. Go through these kids' rooms, look at these TVs, sell this stuff and get you a thousand dollars. Let me tell you what that's going to do for you, Elizabeth. You are going to be ahead just by doing that of the majority of Americans. I know you don't... You may be... The majority of Americans can't cover a thousand dollar emergency in cash. So just having that, you're going to go, Okay, winning at life.

And then you're going to move on and you're going to start going through these debts one by one. You're going to list to smallest to largest. So it sounds like either the braces is going to be first or one of these payday loans is going to be first. And with all this extra overtime, you are going to knock these bad boys out with... You're coming at them with a club, like club, a with a knocking these things out going as quickly as possible. I love that you already told the kids, we're not doing it. When it comes to Christmas, I ain't got no Monday. We're not doing that. Doing that. Okay, I wanted to take a serious look at this at this carOkay, if I've.

Already.

Thought about selling it. Okay, what could it go for?

What I've been seeing... I probably could get $22 to $23 for it.

Okay, so a thousand bucks thousand bucks Yeah. Okay, so what you could do, you could go over to a little credit union and see if they'll give you a loan for the thousand dollars plus a couple of other thousand so you can get you a cash car. So essentially, you're going from $24, from in debt to $5,000 or $6,000 in debt. You could do that since you're a little a little upside that would get you out instantly. Go to a little credit union. Don't fool, Sophie, and some of these other jokers. Make sure you get a person that you're talking to and you're saying, Look, this is situation. My situation. Okay, could look into that. But you got a little bit of a journey in front of you and you're going to walk it. Do you feel like you have the tools?

I put it this it I'm motivated, very motivated. Very motivated. I'm very motivated.

Love me say this, Elizabeth. You're actually okay. I know what you're feeling, and I'm glad you feel this way because it's got you awake and it's got you motivated. But I also want to encourage you. I you. I don't want sleep tonight. You're going to be able to come up with $1,000 for that baby, that first baby step emergency fund pretty quickly, okay? The amount of money you're bringing home right now, if you budget, if you do what Jade tells you, she's going to give you all kinds of great goodies. But if you actually get a hold of the of the based even on that car payment, you're okay. If you actually just get control of the money and go, All right, beyond giving the speech to the kids, which is the first step. But I will say, You're okay. I want you to breathe easier. Intense? Yes. Intense? Yes. About the situation you put yourself in? Sure. A little bit. But you're going to be okay. Get that $1,000 first, then work your way through the baby steps, and you'll knock that car out. You'll be fine, or you can pay the car down, then sell it when you got more margin in the car.

The car. Got breathing room. I want to make sure if you keep this overtime this and you get in the budget, you've got room in that budget to where you're not going to be panicked. You're going to be out of this debt quicker than you than That's right. That's what I want you to hear.

Never ever, ever, ever, ever set foot in a payday loan store. Ever. Store.

Ever. Let me let me also... Let on the braces, because I want to get practical. Listen, I have three kids. All three have had braces. The multiple times multiple Here's what I'm going to tell you. I'd be on the phone with the orthodontist and going, Give me the real, real. Real, real. If we can't wait six months, can we.

Wait If we can't wait.

Six months, can we wait 12 months? Remember, you're in charge of the kid's teeth, not the orthodontist. That's right. Unless something bad is happening, it's going to cause issues down the road.

The for real issues.

Press pause. We did that. I had to cash flow three sets of braces, plus my wife, braces, plus retainers. We did it when we could do it. By the way, the way, teeth are fine. I'd press pause on that if you can.

This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey The Thanks for listening. Our scripture and quote of the day, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. That's Jeremiah That's Jeremiah one of my favorites. Babe Ruth said this. He said, It's hard to beat a person who never gives up. Love that. Love it. Hey, give us a call. The number is number is We want to talk to you. We want to know what's going on in your life. We will help you as best as we can. Talking about myself and Ken Coleman over here to my to my go to the phone lines, Ken. We've got Porsha who's in Dallas, Texas. What's going on, Porsha?

Hi, thank you all so much for taking my call. You're welcome. I am extremely, extremely stressed out right now. It's mostly because I'm stuck in between a rock and a hard place right now. Right now.

I am.

Having the... To finish my nursing program at school, but I'm also in a lot of lot and I have six babies that are held. Yes, I am married. My husband does husband does I do also have two bonus babies. So total, we total.

Have- Who are the bonus babies? Tell me about these bonus babies.

So when I got married, I had I had had three.

Got.

You. We had a had last year, and so we technically have nine.

Oh, my word.

What is the range of ages?

Wow.

Sorry, I just- Both of us have boys who are now 17, both 17, graduating next year.

I have a daughter, 16, all the way down to a daughter that's one. Oh, one.

Oh, So you're just exhausted.

Yes. I have recently pretty much argued my whole entire family down. I work I work go there. And I pretty much recently argued my whole family down that I can continue working and working to school at night. And that's been a hassle. Now to add all of that, of that, in but I also pay out of pocket for my schooling, which is roughly around $2,600 a month.

Wow.

Okay. Yeah. And so right now, I paid the first payment, of course, and I'm continuing to go to school. I'm not only that, but I have to pay day-to-day care. We also pay someone to help out with children on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturdays while I'm at school.

At.

School. And I'm just-.

How much are I- Is the problem the money or you're at your at your.

The problem is the money and I'm at my at my because I'm not sure if I should continue to pay out of pocket for my schooling because I feel like this would put me in a better position, or if I should try to pay off the debt.

Off debt. Okay, get a quick snapshot of the finance part, because you've already said you talked your family down, which tells me the family's going, We need you at home. Is that fair? Yeah. Fair? Yeah. Okay.

Kids are like, Mom, we support you. We got it. My husband is like, You have a lot on your on and a lot of family is like, Well, like, That's right. You do.

We work We.

Work to but this is a lot.

You do. You do. All right, the financial picture? How much debt do you guys have?

Myself, I am... I mean, it's going to be around maybe $80,000. Maybe $80,000. Loans? That's me being a very modest... No, ma'am, student loans are $73,000. I can't get student loans or anything anymore, so I've been paying out of pocket to finish my degree.

Okay, so $73,000 in student loans, $80,000 in other types of debt. What does that $80,000 consist of? No, of?

No, no, no, no, no, no, said $80,000 total for you, correct?

No. Well, total is $175. This is just for just I'm going to beto be honest with you. My husband didn't have any debt, but his car broke down recently. My vehicle was stolen, his car broke down, and so he had to get another car, which, I mean, it's $1,000 a month total for the insurance and the car.

All right, so slow down for a second, because we're going to help you, but we got to get a handle on it. You got $175,000 in debt. I don't care whose, it's our debt. Okay, so $175,000 total is what you're dealing you're with debt, correct?

Yes. For the.

Entire household. Are you guys with your full-time job and your husband's your job, and you're paying $2,600 a month in nursing in Are you guys paycheck to paycheck? Are you not having any money left over at the end of the month? What's that look like? Yes, like?

Yes, pretty much paycheck to paycheck. I was doing a lot of overtime to make ends meet and then pay for school.

Okay, one other quick question. Jay is going to help you on all this, but I'm trying to gather info quick, because we don't have a lot of time. We've got four minutes. All right, so we got to help. How much nursing school do you have left? How much before you would finish the program?

Two years.

All right, and then what would your increased income be? What are you projecting if you were to finish nursing? How much more could you make?

At minimum $80,000. I'm currently at currently Okay.

All right, Jade, I just want to try to gather really quick and hand it to you, but I will tell will I want her pressing pause on nursing school. Nursing school will still be there.

She's going from going from $54,000 not increasing not That's correct.

But she's got two.

Years left. I want to want combined income, what money do you guys see monthly in your hand every single month?

I make 54, he makes makehe makes $60,000.

Okay, I.

Don't have a calculator.

Okay, 54 and 60. Is that after tax? After tax? Is I just want to know in your hand, when you all get your two checks, what do you get for the month?

The month? Me one second. One second. We're probably both We're probably looking at $8,000 a month together.

Okay, I love that. Now, what I want to call out here is you've got to know your numbers. When people call in here, the first symptom that I see of just pure chaos is when somebody can't tell me what they earn every month. I'm not trying to call you out, but what I do want to call out is money is expensive. The money that you earn is expensive, is It is costing you your time away from your kids. It is costing you your sanity. It is costing you your sleep. These dollars you make are expensive. Let's treat them with care and like they are worth what we give to them. Fair? Right. I Right. I fair. All right. It's fair because, girl, you are getting it. You are working are working.

But they're also in big time debt.

Time you're in big time debt. I want you to know, go home and get your numbers. I want you on an every dollar budget, okay? You're going to plug in this income and you are going to know your numbers, and then you're going to start working down that list. You're going to say, Okay, we got we or $8,700, whatever it whatever it you're going to go line by line and say, and first things first, groceries, and you're going to go through the most important items, rent first, food, utilities, transportation, that's the that's most important most important your giving in giving in you're going to go line by line. And then you're going to see, to what's left after all those important things are done? What do we have left? That's called margin. And with the margin, we're going to go through, and that's when we're going to decide, to school versus debt. Ken Coleman said, I think you should hold off on the school.

Well, which finds me $2,600.

It's a lot. That's what I'm saying. You can put towards that. I agree with you. I agree. I think that you could essentially, guys, put the pedal to the metal. With your income, you might have the ability to pay this off in the next the next two years. Then you're going to have this complete freedom to really go out and pay cash for the things that you want to do. You'll be able to really, truly focus on school. How old are you?

I am 35, and I am having a hard time focusing on school because of everything else that I have going have.

Going on. That's not fair to.

You, by the way. Yeah.

It's not fair to you. Take care of you. You and Hubs get together and fix this. This is going to be a be a two to Get after it to get this dead out of your life. Then here's the good news. You get through the nursing school with no with no going to get a nice chunk of change. I want to throw one other thing out here, but it's not for now, but it may be for maybe a year from now, Jade. Now, get it. I would like for you to just dig around, talk to people. You're in the know, you're going to nursing school. Be interested to see if there's any hospital or clinics or anybody that would be willing to reimburse you for your schooling. Because if we could if... Now, I still would press pause to get life under control and control and be a mama and all that. But maybe six months to a year from now, you get a little bit of margin. If you could get that reimbursed or someone pay for your nursing, because right now in America, all over this country, we have a need for need for nurses.

They're burning out at a very high rate. Not to freak you out, just keeping it real here. But if you're committed to it, I would like to see her potentially see, could she get that nursing reimbursed or paid for?

I like that. I think there's a good chance.

But only after she does what you tell her.

To do. Yeah, I think there's a good chance of that. Look, that. Look, she's got woman is a superwoman. She is a star. Nine babies she's taking care of, going to nursing school, working. It doesn't get any crazier than that. I'm proud of her. Absolutely. I know that they can get through this debt if they work together. Ken, that was a great three hours, buddy. I need to take a nap after.

That last call. Look, let me tell.

You something. When it comes to your life and money, you can tell me that you won't do won't do never tell me that you can't. With God, all things are possible. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, guys, I'm Rachel. And I'm George. And you've probably heard our voices before on The Ramsey Show. And do we.

Have a surprise for you?

Yep, we have our very own show, Smart Money, Happy Hour, where we talk about pop culture, current events, current events, and.

Of George, it's a great show.

And what else do we talk about? So much, Rachel. Not enough, and yet too much. We talk about guilt tipping because tipping is out of control and I won't stand for it anymore, which is why I'm sitting. I'm glad.

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Talk about something else I'm passionate about, Disney Adults. Oh, George. Why is it a thing?

Listen, some adults.

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