Getting Out of the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle

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 Warshaw, joined by Mr. Rogers himself, Ken Coleman, looking like a finger of bourbon. You look good in brown, Ken.

call these cardigans. Yes, cardigans. Instead of cardigans. You know what, I felt in a fall mood today. I had no idea you were gonna show up looking like the first day of spring, so we are quite the couple.

couple a call. Give us a call at 888-825-5225.. He's the work and career guy. Let's talk about it. I am the money girl.

was it gal or girl? I could have gone better with that. I say gal, but George makes fun of me for saying like old words like gal, but I think it fits the cardigan, so 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.

All right, well, give us a call. The lines are open, but before we do, Ken Coleman,

you know, I gotta get into this right here. Here, give it to me. Let me talk about it. This is amazing. First of all, congrats are in order because my friend has got a new quick readout called Money's Not a Math Problem.

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.

my friend is a force of nature. Thank you, Ken. And I have one other question.

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, much.

like your cardigan.

good to talk to you. Thanks for taking my call. Of course. So yeah, I'm a cabinet maker by trade, and I'm 33.. My wife stays at home with our four little kids, and so I make 30 bucks an hour, and I just feel like I can't get ahead financially.

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 XYZ, but I keep hitting a roadblock? Well, I.

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

of margin do you have? What kind of margin do you have when you pay all the bills, you take care of, groceries, gas, you know, all the things? What kind of 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?

probably including that. You know, I think it's like $2 an hour that I contribute, and then my boss matches that. So four or five hundred bucks is what's left over, so you could be saving that per month, yes?

sure we're on page, on par with the numbers. So you said you make $30 an hour, so what are you bringing home? Are you bringing, and this is, don't subtract anything out of it. yet, are you seeing like $4,800 a month? Is that where?

you're at? No, about $4,200, and that's, you know, after taxes, and I work a little bit overtime, you know, a few hours a week.

here's, whenever people tell me they're struggling to get ahead, I kind of 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, right, 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%?

surrounding that. I'm gonna 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, and I think, as people think about this year wrapping up, and do I make moves, I'm just gonna throw that out. We'll take any work-related question, any money question, but let's just kind of kicking that around. This is kind of Shark Tank without the rejection.

it's perfect, because you're the career work, you got your framework for that, and I've done it, like I've started businesses from ground up, so let's do it, let's do that. And let's also go to Emma in Jacksonville. Hello, Ryda, what's?

going on, Emma? Hi, how are you guys doing today? Doing good, how are you? Doing good. How can we help?

they both in your name? They're in my name. Okay. They're both in my name. Yikes.

bad. And one, like, one is on the verge of being repossessed, because I can't make both payments. Is that the car?

that the sister's been driving, or your car, for all intents and purposes?

The one that I'm driving. She parked 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. So, let's call car number one the car that your sister had, even though it's in your name, and we'll call car number two your car. that's also in your name. So, car number one, what is that one worth?

for it, based on Kelley 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 Kelley Blue Book, personal sale? Private sale. Private sale.

let's go to the next one. Car number two.

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.

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. Okay.

cars. And the two cars. Okay. Well, I have my mortgage too. Okay, let's not talk about the mortgage.

how much is it?

Okay. And do you have any kids? or is it just you? 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.

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

Just trying to stay out of water. Yeah. 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 timeframe that we really need this to roll until we can get more income coming in.

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 $13,000 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 can... So 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, it's to your point. The value on that one is a little higher, and 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 $16,000, you can try and try hard. But I don't want you to get caught up in some really crappy loan terms.

How can we increase your income quickly? And 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 skillset, 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 touristy spot. So that's my income. It's higher than a lot of servers, 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 kind of remote after hours work? Because I know you're waitressing, so we got to figure out, 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?

school during the day. So here's what I'm thinking. Tutoring. Tutoring is a premium. You're sitting there, the baby's asleep.

quickly. Absolutely. I think people forget about those night hours that are available to them to really make some good money. And you've got the ability to do that and make it known. This is the key to unlocking this problem.

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You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I am Jade Warshaw. 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 888-825-5225..

Did you have to get student aid to come here? Yes, I'm on financial aid. Got like a work-study job, but yeah. Yeah, they'll rack up for sure. No, you did not.

mom and dad. Yeah, I came in with a scholarship from elsewhere, so they pay for all 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.

I can't remember the first 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 like $20,000.. $20,000, and do you know how much of that is a loan?

realistically, we'll see about that. The government has like, kind of like 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, so 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 a thousand dollars in one month before I even made an actual payment.

I have no earthly idea, but I mean, for the first few years, you're going to be on the struggle train.

a little bit. On the struggle bus. As a resident, I'll probably have like a payment of about like $200, but, like, you know, $200, when the total is probably $400,000 and the interest is still accumulating and it's only like a drop in the bucket every year. Exactly. What does it do to?

you emotionally to be thinking about $350,000 worth of debt?

I'm under so much stress and pressure that I kind of 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. I mean, going off and finishing school and kind of like 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. Like you're essentially going to be working for the next, it could be the rest of your life, right?

your thoughts on this? A hundred percent. The government was giving more loans. It raised the cap of the loans that were available. So, as a result, a lot of colleges and universities just increased their tuition.

Pretty absurd, even though, like someone who's very lucky like I, am, just like. 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.

why has it gone up so much? What do you think about how tuition has gone up 12 percent a year for the last 10 years? What do you think about that as a student? Is it worth it? I mean, honestly, I love going to school here, but like you, think about it once you actually start thinking about the real money about going here, and like you could get a similar education, obviously, at a lot of other universities.

it. It's obviously not in your favor at all. And you probably like die stupidly paying back your.

debt. I would say it's certainly worth it. You think so? More so, beyond the academic benefit, but the value of, you know, 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, like, may appear to be something good that a politician is doing.

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 he 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 his, a portion of his base. And I think that obviously gained political traction, but I think it's infeasible. And 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.

We have a responsibility to help. what's fair, what's not fair. I don't, I don't have that answer. Is it fair? I understand.

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. Yeah. The youth have no idea when they're signing them up. They don't know what a hundred thousand dollars is.

Yeah. I mean, you have to be very smart with your choices and live within your means, and yeah,

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? And can you teach me? Does it give you hope, though? Does it make you feel like it can be possible?

And 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.

think about that as well. Love it, Ken. This is the Ramsey show.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. This is Deloney, and I'm always railing against social media, especially in the summer, because everyone uploads the highlight reels of their perfect bodies and perfect vacations and perfect kids. And I know they're not real. And I also know that I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams, but I still find myself wishing my life was like other people's. And, based on the data, I know this is happening to you too.

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

Okay, I was going 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. And so 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..

of my bestselling books that could help you. From Paycheck to Purpose. It helps my kids. Yes. It helps my kids eat.

is the... And this is no diss on you, Ken 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.. So 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.

you're getting it for $12.. Okay. So 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. Weekly. I believe they give away $500 weekly. Weekly.

purchase necessary, all those things. So ramseysolutions.com. So there's two places to go.

Yeah. If you want to do the giveaway, you go to ramseysolutions.com slash giveaway. That's to get that free money. And then, if you're like, Jade, I got Christmas shopping, then you go over here to ramseysolutions.com slash store and get you some of that $12. holla.

about. All right. Now I got something to talk about. What? All right.

done right. And then we're going to hit these phone lines. This is how it's done right. She's confident folks. After Halloween, November 1st, you keep your fall decorations out.

agree. I don't like to disagree with you because I like you so much, but I'll be honest with you. Once we go Christmas, we got to go. You can't go half fall, half merry jingle. It's got to be one or the other.

all the browns. You got all of it. I do. There you go. Ken, let's take a call for crying out loud.

I have $20,000 that I want to create passive income with. My few options, I was thinking an ATM. You have to buy those new. It's a couple thousand, and that would create monthly income or even a laundromat. That's obviously talking a lot more money, and I don't have the income to mess around with that.

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?

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

But then I have- Okay, keep going. Sorry. What else you got?

So 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 a little experience with that. I take care of my stuff for the most part, so 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.

five can of car, anything else? Anything? Student loans?

No. Okay.

No. All right. So, I mean, look, there's no passive income strategy until you pay the debt off. That's what we teach. And then we want to make sure that you've got 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.

So 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.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then that's going to leave you what?

Trust me. Just go with me on this. Well, and 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 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.

on, Makita? How can we help?

get your name right? Yes, you did. Ah, winning. Yes. How can we help?

small dog grooming business. We currently have a lease at a 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, you know, all of that behind-the-scenes 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.

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, you know, paying bills and all the other stuff I do.

Yeah, I mean, 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 talk to the landlord about it, you know, and there's a reason why they want two names on the lease, right? And 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, you know, because if something happens to him, I don't have a business because I can't do dog grooming.

ask him if they'd put in, like, a clause, a death and disability clause for him in the lease that we.

could sign. that said, no. Well, okay, well, my take on it is slightly different. I, as a, like, if I'm a co-business owner with my husband, I kind of 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. What, 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.

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, do you want that? Do you want that hassle? I mean, that's the whole point of your question. I mean, I don't mind the advice.

This is such a worst case scenario. And 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, da. Because in that part, at that point, it's kind of 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.

Like, I love the dogs and everything, but the actual art of dog grooming is very complicated. I, 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, if she's, is she interested in keeping the business going and just hiring another groomer?

So what's the answer?

So the only issue is, cause we're in a small town is, um, cause 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 a, an area that's really expensive to live in.

You don't want to do it. It's as obvious as it can be.

Yeah. Then if you don't want to do it and we're, you know, 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'm going, look, what can we do here?

Never even thought of that. That's like a great idea.

Well, it's because I'm wearing a cardigan. I'm feeling extra safe today.

Yeah. Yeah. There's cautious. Yeah. I'm just curious.

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. Cause she didn't want to do this business.

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

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All right, you guys are listening to the Ramsey show. I am Jade Warshaw. He is Ken Coleman. And 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.

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 buffs out there, the man's name was Marquis de Lafayette. Yes. And everybody goes Lafayette, Tennessee. Well, that's country. It's like, it's not Lafayette, it's Lafayette.

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. 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.

From what to what?

We're not sure about next year, but we just went from $206,000 to $263,000 a month in HOA fees.

If you had to guess, what do you think it could get to? What's your biggest fear?

I would say $350,000, if not more.

So where does that put you?

What's that, in our profit? What would that put us at?

No, I mean, you called because this is creating a problem for you, so 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's wanting to keep it.

So, real numbers, what are you afraid of? If it goes up as high as $350,000, what does that do to your profit margins? Aren't you passing some of that along to your renters?

Yeah, we are going to go up on the rent, but I'm afraid that if we get into the $400,000 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.

Can I just cut in? I think you're projecting a lot of what-ifs, because right now, like you said, okay, it's gone up $60, that's substantial, but you're going to pass $30 of it over to your folks, and you're going to take some of it, instead of making $750 a month, you're going to make $720 a month. And 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?

Yeah, I agree. I think you trust your husband on this, walk through the numbers, walk through your fears, let's get some facts on this, and let's move forward. I wouldn't get out because of a rise in HOA.

This is The Ramsey Show.

Hi, how are you, Miss Jade?

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

I'm doing great, and 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 mama, I'm 18 years old. She passed away last September at the age of 36 due to a drunk driver. And since then, I moved in with my pastor and my best friend, and 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.

Okay. I got it all written down. Okay. And you've got $0, but you start the UPS job tomorrow. Yes.

So today was orientation for 10 minutes. Tomorrow, we go in for three hours at four o'clock. But then Friday, I go in four o'clock in the morning to nine o'clock in the morning, my actual hour, 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 two paychecks, 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.

And you've got shelter, you've got a car, like, you know what I'm saying? You're living with your pastor and your papa. So you've got...

My pastor and best friend.

Pastor and best friend. Okay. So with that $600, if you took that and you paid the $200 in car insurance, that leaves you with $400.. You paid the $120 on the phone, and then you paid the credit card for $110..

It'd be perfect. But one, I got asked what should, which I think is a pretty good question, because a car is essential.

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 talked to them on the phone. That's not true.

Okay. So let's make that first priority, 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, hey, I just got this job. Is there any way you can extend it?

Yes, ma'am.

You got that? Ken Coleman's going to help you with this career side.

I'm just really curious. You're only 18.. You're very, very young and you got plenty of time. So this is not a pressure question. I'm just kind of curious.

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. So that's a main thing for me is pursuing real estate, but the 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.

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

Yes, sir.

All right. All right. Well, you've got plenty of time. I would say this. I want you to walk our baby steps out, okay?

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. And 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. And you've got support through the friends, through the place to stay.

what I'm saying? Yes, sir. I do. And you got my word. I'll cut it up as soon as I get off here.

and I'll call. I like it. I love that. I love that. And just to get you started, I'd love to give you a couple of months of every dollar premium.

let's also give him the Get Clear Career Assessment for him to just begin to think through. what does my future look like? Give him the book From Paycheck to Purpose, which is also the companion. And is there anything else? And you know what?

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.

for a young man who's been through kind of a bone crushing, spirit crushing loss. 100%. Loses mama at 36.. Yeah. Wow.

I really like that. he's surrounded by really great friends, really great family, a pastor, a church, people who really came in. And it sounds like they just put their arms around him and made sure that he knew he was got. He knew those people had him. And I love that.

through with. You were. like Santa Claus. I have the spiritual gift of giving away Dave's resources.

I love that. Something you come with. Oh, love it. Here to help people. I love it.

chills. This is The Ramsey Show.

in the App Store or Google Play today.

Well, what was my opinion?

Go ahead and tell them, Ken.

You said I would get... I said, I'm not giving him mine. I'm like,

no. You went Scrooge mode.

No, I just went personal responsibility mode. I'm not mad at that.

Which gets called Scrooge. No, I'm not mad at you, Ken. I get it.

So then you said...

Let's ask the people.

And so James, apparently, how did we do this?

We took a poll.

You can drop a poll on YouTube. So 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 which answer goes with which number. All right, okay. It was 67% to 32%.

I think you're right. I think, even though I was like Michael McDonald and taking it to the streets, nobody cared.

Yeah, it was 67%. no. Dang it. Meaning they agree with me? Meaning, yes, no, that they wouldn't give their money.

Good on you folks. I am not mad because, honestly, because of you guys, I am now 0.111111119, which richer. Okay, so thank you for giving me money back into my pocket. Love it. This is why I love this show, Ken.

I must say, James, 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 show. On certain issues, when you, our fearless leader, think it might be interesting, we should figure out a way to do that.

I love that.

You're going to drop your personal cell phone number in the chat? No, but they got this ability to do this. now, these people, these tech people. You give out a text number, and then boom. 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 people, so they should have a voice.

They do have a voice. I'm about to let us hear Cheryl's voice in Reno. Reno. Look, Ken, you got me flustered. You just said Reno.

That's what happens.

I got him. What's going on, Cheryl? How can we help?

Hi, thanks for taking my call. 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. And 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 them when my parents passed away.

So, 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?

It's 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 Christmas. My daughter wants Christmas money.

How old is your daughter?

She wants to co-sign for a loan for my 17-year-old granddaughter to get a 2020 car, because my daughter's credit is down the tube.

And do you want to know whose problem that is?

My daughter's problem.

Yeah, it's not your problem. Cheryl, this is your family and you love them, but 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.

Cheryl, what's the status?

Oh, 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 son inherited my parents' house as part of his trust. We ended up having to take a loan against that trust because they would not upkeep the house in the city, because an ordinance where you can't have just weeds all over your front yard. And so we ended up having to take a loan against the trust to pay someone to come out and landscape their front yard.

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?

The trust gives my daughter $1,500 a month.

And that's it? And she gets that?

She gets that every month.

And 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...

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 while, enough to let their behavior be so immature and so lazy that they can't even cut their own grass. And you've got to take a loan. First of all, you didn't have to do any of this. You've done it.

And should be.

And you should be. But I will say you 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 say enough is enough. And you got to decide what you're going to do here on this trust.

That's it.

There's no more asking mama for anything, which means you are going to say no to all these loans. This is over. And this is a family meeting, a come to Jesus meeting, where you make it really, 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.

Sure, you're right, Ken. I'm not going to argue with that. That is strong advice from Ken Coleman. And I agree 100%. Thanks for hanging with us this hour.

David!

Wait a second. You don't get to hang up yet. That's too juicy. But wait a minute.

He knows the answer. David, you know the answer?

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

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.

So David's in good company.

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? Ooh.

I totally get it, David.

But here's the thing. You came with $400.. 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??

No, what's the answer? There's... 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?

Also, there's some data out. I just read this. Don't go shopping when you're in a sad or mad state of mind. There's actually, yeah, like 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. So that's the other part. So the first part is identifying what is the store that just, I can't leave without spending something. And then the other part is identifying what type of spender am I? Like?

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

I know that's right.

I gotta add that.

Don't take these women out.

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

I overspend. He overspends. He gets soft like butter. He's like, I gotta spend.

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

That's correct. That's correct.

But 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. 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.

That is true.

I know what I'm talking about.