What’s Holding You Back From Changing Your Life?
2024-04-12 01:55:23
The Ramsey Show believes you can build wealth and take control of your life—no matter what stupid mistakes you've made with money. Join as Dave Ramsey and his team of experts answer your questions on the top problems holding you back. Listen now or ask your question live by calling 888.825.5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET. Learn more at www.ramseysolutions.com
Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. Excited to have you here with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. I'm Ken Coleman, Jade Warshaw joins me and we're excited to be here with you. Hey, listen, we are going to lift you, we're going to coach you, We're not going to yell at you. So safe place here. We know that you've got a lot of questions, we want to meet you where you are, and here's how you do it 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. You ready to go?
Let's get into it.
We didn't plan this today, but we're both rocking sweatshirts.
Ken, I think you stole the hoodie game from me a little bit, not going to lie.
Oh, really, just a little bit. So I was unaware that hoodies existed until I met you. Is that what you're implying?
I thought so.
She's sassy already and I like it. Edwin is going to join us in Knoxville, Tennessee. Edwin, how can we help you?
Hi, so this is a bit of a dumb question, I think. But I'm 23 in college and my question is, should I try and jump the gun and move out before I finish? Right now, I'm currently living with my parents and I've got money saved up, planning on buying a car, getting more jobs over the summer to. You know, it depends how well to move out, but, you know, kind of wondering, Hey, is it a good idea to move out? While I'm still like, I still have a little over a year left of school left to finish.
So when you set a question up like that, that means you believe you might be jumping the gun. In other words, you are a little concerned, so why don't you share with us what your concerns are and then we'll walk through that with you?
Just to be clear, are you talking about jumping the gun and moving out, or jumping the gun and quitting school?
Moving out of his parents house.
Oh, okay, just checking.
Yeah, just moving out of my parents house.
So what are you worried about happening? what would bad? what are you concerned that might happen if you were to do this?
My main concern is I won't regulate my spending habits. Well, simply put, like I'll go from, because right now I have little to no expenses, right? I don't really even pay the amount it would take for rent.
Do you have a history in your life, your very young life of burning money?
Not really. I mean, I do spend not huge amounts, but I do give more freely than I think I should, if that makes any sense.
Well, to be fair, you haven't had to regulate your money. I mean, you haven't been forced to because you've been at Mom and Dad's. And I'm not saying this in a negative way. I mean, you're 23, so you haven't had to be as intentional. As someone who lives on their own and must pay rent and must buy food, you haven't had to do that.
So there is that side of it.
Fair, but I'm driving in on something. Edwin, Are you a person who? I mean, you sound like a guy who's pretty smart with your money and you think? Caution first, is that true or false?
True, all right.
So my point is this it's a legitimate concern, but is there any evidence that this concern could happen? Do you think if you move out that all of a sudden you're just going to get willy nilly with your money and not be able to pay your rent? Are you going to become a person who all of a sudden doesn't think, Do I have enough to pay my rent? First? Because that's how you are right now. True or false?
It is how I am right now.
Yeah.
But like?
Keep going.
It's strange.
No, it's not strange, you're a really smart guy. What are your other concerns? Jade? And I want to hear it.
Let's walk through this.
Thank you. My other concerns that pile onto this is like living a family, you know, I haven't. I've always had a second hand on the wheel, so to speak when it comes to having financial help with my life. Um, like, for example, the car I'm planning on buying, it's it's from my parents, like they're selling it to me. No interest, you know, great deal.
And I'm not going to get my first car, but I'm more so worried when I move out, I won't always make the best decisions.
Listen, what you're describing, what you're describing, a I want to validate. Like, it's a normal feeling. It's literally you growing up and spreading your wings and becoming an adult. And there is something to that. Like, yeah, you used to have mom and dad's help, they used to help you out, you know, with the payment or the insurance.
And like, like you say, you go, if you're hungry, go down to the refrigerator and get some food out of it. And you're at that age where you are starting to cut the cord, so to speak. And I would, to Ken's point, you know, it's it's okay that you're feeling that way. And some people are a little bit wired in a more cautious sense. But part of this is just facts of life, in that you are entering into a more independent phase of life.
And if it were me, I would engage you to lean into it and start to make some of those cuts, maybe while you're still in your parents house. So maybe it is something like, Hey, they still pay my cell phone bill? Okay, like, take it back and say, you know what, guys? I'm starting to be more independent. I'm going to pay my cell phone bill. Or start pulling back those areas, and then you're going to start to see, Okay, I can do this.
I am, I'm getting my confidence under my belt and before you know it, you're going to go, Oh, this is like, I can do this, this is time for me to do this.
Right, are you on campus?
I'm about 20 minutes away from campus.
Right, and you're living with mom and dad, and so you're going to school locally, right? Yeah, okay, listen, I don't think there's a right or wrong.
Okay, because to me, you don't sound like a person who's going to make frivolous financial decisions. I just don't think that's who you are. I think that if you want to move out, great, be smart about it.
When you don't know what the right move is, it sounds like your mom and dad have guided you well financially, and they themselves are responsible financially. Is that correct?
For the most part, yeah.
For the most part, but here's the deal. You can call them and get an opinion. But I just don't see you doing anything crazy now. If it was me and I'm going to give you the. And Jade may have a different version for what she would do. But if it were me and I was going to school locally, 20 minutes away. And I was almost a year out before I finished, and I was living with my mom and dad. I'd go ahead and stay. And what I would do is focus on school and any work that I had outside of school.
That was making money. I'd be stacking cash and I'd be planning for my exit once I exit school, but that's what I would do. I would just stack the cash. And then once I left, once I got out of college, I'd be gone.
That's what I actually did, I mean, once I left school and I didn't graduate. Once I got into the real world, I never came back and lived at the house. I would stop in. I was in between jobs, so I would stay there for a week or something like that, so that's what I would do.
I would stay home and plan for my future, but if you want to step out now,-.
Do you have the money, Edward?
I'd go for it.
You have the money to step out.
I do, I knew he did.
Well, you're, I'm sorry, my screen says you don't have a car or a license. I'm just trying to figure out what you do have in place, because those are pretty important to step out on your own.
They are, they're very important.
Why don't you have a license?
Back within the family stuff, just a bit. The biggest reason is not comfortable learning to drive with my parents, and they've been a bit strict as to who I'm allowed to learn with. I've been gracious, but-.
All right.
Well, that's a whole separate-.
Listen, for that reason alone, I'm going to make a sweeping judgment for that reason alone. I want you to gain more independence because being 23, I want you to have a license. I want you to save up and pay a car. And probably for you, getting out of the house is going to be a good thing.
Good grief, I'm sorry.
You need to have a license. KeN COLEMAN I agree.
What, I didn't disagree with you, I'm saying good grief. I didn't know that was his situation, we were talking about something else.
All of a sudden, Wow, we have a lot of issues in that house. wow.
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Hey, welcome back to the Ramsey show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me and we are thrilled to be together. Here for you and your questions, my name is 888-825-5225. We're here to talk about your money.
We're here to talk about your work and that income, and we'll talk about the relational aspect of all of that. Jump in 888-825-5225. Okay, a couple of quick announcements. We're always putting out content here.
First, I want to talk about my colleague Rachel Cruz. She's got this fabulous series planned, I guess, because here's number two. It's called I'm Glad for Where I am. And for our viewing audience, you can see this, we've got it on the screen here and I'm holding it. This is really, really well done, and this is all about appreciation and gratitude and contentment. The series.
This is I'm glad for where I am and so really, really great stuff, great messaging. It's heartwarming. It helps your kids be grateful about family and home, to really understand their groundedness, and this is really, really good. If you pre-order it now, you're going to get access to the live online event. Story Time with Rachel and Q&a, so that's really fun. And then I've got a new book out short.
This is about a 45-minute read called Find the Work You're wired to do. But what is it? For those of you who've seen my books before, it's very different. This comes with the Get Clear Career Assessment, and so the assessment and this book answer four questions. Here it is, Who am I?
What do I want to do? where can I do it? how do I get there? That simple? The assessment itself is one of the greatest self-awareness tools in the professional space. And then this book is written to come alongside of you once you get that assessment. Which tells you what you're good at, what you love to do and what motivates you. And this comes alongside, and I coach you through all right now. How do we pick the right destination, the right path to win professionally? Which watch this money audience allows you to win financially?
You know what I love about that, Ken? That's coming out in about a week or so.
Let me hold that book.
Okay.
What I love about this, hear that.
Oh, thank you.
The hard cover.
That's it short, though, it's short, 45-minute read.
You throw it 45 minutes, throw it in your backpack, it fits super simple. Thank you, come on, love that, Ken.
By the way, if you order it before it comes out in about two weeks, here's what's cool. You don't get a bunch of a million things. You get three versions of the book, hard cover and an assessment, e-book and an assessment, and the audio book and the assessment. So essentially three books and three assessments for the price of one. Wow, so you can get that all at Ramsaysolutions.com slash store, Rachel's book, Ramsaysolutions.com Slash store.
All right, thanks for being patient with the announcements. Let's go to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Catherine is there? Catherine? How can Jade and I help?
Well, first off, it's an honor to be allowed to ask you guys some questions.
Well, it's our honor to be asked, So fun. So what's going on?
Okay, so a little bit of backstory. I am 24 years old, just turned 24 last month. I am currently four and a half months pregnant.
Oh, congratulations.
Going to be a single parent and I have the baby step one completed, but I'm 13,000 plus in debt.
Can you tell us what kind of debt it is?
Well, there's a few different ones. I am in debt to family, my dad, my younger sister and my grandparents. Credit card debt of 980 some and personal loan of 3,000..
Okay, and the rest, the other 10,000 or so or 9,000 is to the family.
Yeah, I've got 7,050 left to my grandparents, a little over 400 to my younger sister and about 140 to my dad.
What's causing you to borrow money from your family?
Well, I had some financial trouble a couple summers back. I got scammed a few times, which caused me to go into the hole with the bank a couple of times. The first one was actually right before my 22nd birthday, which my grandparents helped me get out of debt with the bank for, which is why I'm still paying them back.
And then that same summer, similar deal, similar scam type. And I was unable to pay my rent or my electrical bill, so my dad and my younger sister were willing to help me get those paid for that month.
Okay, you're working.
Yes, Ma'am. I work as a groundskeeper and student supervisor for my hometown university.
Okay, what are you earning or taking home?
I'm $14.
28 per hour, and if I go by gross, it's approximately $29.
06 a year.
Okay, you live it on your own or with family.
I live in a one-bedroom apartment by myself.
What's that costing you?
My rent per month is $600.
Okay, and how much of this are you seeing in each paycheck? What do your paychecks look like?
Depends on whether or not I'm able to get OT. An average paycheck is about $905,000 $907,000..
Okay.
And if I'm able to get OT, I'm only allowed to get about five hours per week. So it's like upwards would be somewhere around $1,060.
So the most you would be bringing is $2,000 a month.
Yeah, just about okay, and that's after taxes, sure.
That's what we want.
Yeah, that's good, it's good to know.
Okay, so the question is, you're having a baby? tell us in your mind what the question is, how can we help you today?
Well, I know you guys say, stop the baby steps. Well, first, get your emergency fund down and stop the baby steps while you're in the progress of pregnancy.
That's right.
But I really need to get at the very least a personal loan gone before the baby gets here. Because that is the only one that has any type of interest on it, and it's 18.
6%.
Right, okay, so let's talk about that. Yeah, you're feeling the crunch of this, right? You're feeling the walls start to kind of cave in because you're seeing all. Right now, I'm realizing the gravity of this decision. Wasn't good to take out these loans. And now you've got this baby on the way as well.
What I want to caution you towards is not falling into the same trap, right of? I've got to do something, so I'm just going to do this. And so in this case, we've got to kind of pause and take a look and survey the whole situation and go okay. If you don't save money and your baby comes, listen, you've got to go on maternity leave. There's a lot of things that are going to be coming up financially that you need money for. And it does suck, like when you have debt that is accumulating interest, that sucks, but that's also part of what happens when you pull out debt. And so you kind of just have to accept that's where you're at right now. And your A1 priority is saving up money. So that you can take care of this baby and so that you can have peace around the fact that this is coming and you're financially prepared.
What do you think that number is? Give her a quick suggestion.
To save up money for a baby.
How much would you want her to save?
She's going to have to run out these numbers because, okay, she's used to making $2,000 a month. Let's think about the fact that you're going to go on maternity leave at least six to eight weeks, okay? So how much money is that? That's three months worth of salary.
It's for sure two months worth of salary, I'd want three just in case. And then have we talked to the groundskeeper job? They know what's going on. And so you've got some things that you need to do to plot this out.
And then there's the cost of having the baby. If you've got insurance, you're going to probably have to hit that deductible, so there's money coming. I want you to call your insurance, find out how much it's going to cost for you to have this baby. I want you to calculate how much you need for at least two months of maternity leave if you don't have paid maternity leave.
And these are the things that you need to have in place. And when you have that, you're going to sleep better at night when this baby gets here.
And here's the deal. That means you're going to have to go work more jobs. You're not just relying on the five hours of overtime from the current gig. You need to be working all the time right now, as much as you can. Physically, that's healthy for you and the baby.
Got to get more income. This is the rant.
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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, where we help people win with their money, win at work and win in their relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me. We're thrilled to be with you today. And boy, I tell you I never thought I would sort of kind of arrive. But you know, you kind of co-host the Ramsey show and we're popping up on all the podcast charts. And I call my mom and she's so proud of me.
And you know, Dave talks about where we're at on the charts, but you know, the show is growing in so many places. And we just want to say, however you're listening, thank you, and however you're watching, or wherever you're watching, thank you. Would you help us grow? You can do that if you're on YouTube and you like it, give us a thumbs up right there below the video window.
Subscribe to our channel and share, and if you're listening via your favorite podcast app, give us a five-star review and a follow. And that is so, so kind. We appreciate that we want to get to as many people as possible, and it's got something to do with algorithm. I know what it means.
I just can't spell it, so thank you very much. All right, let's go to Friedrich. I hope I'm saying that right. I think I'm hooked on phonics.
We'll find out. He's in Edmonton, Canada, home of the Oilers. Friedrich. How can we help?
Hey Ken, how are you?
Good, did I say your name, right? Yes, oh, that's very exciting. Well, how can we help?
All right, perfect. So is it okay if I give you just 30 seconds of context?
I'll allow it, I'll allow it. All right. Yes, of course.
So I'm currently a filmmaker, and I'm currently still in school. I want to do filmmaking as a full-time job. I have put together a perhaps idealistically crafted plan, as well as an advertising campaign. I understand it will be very difficult to secure full-time status in the timeframe I've set. But the whole idea, or maybe it's just the way it conceptualizes itself, feels a bit delusional, I guess. My question is, how can I know if reaching full-time is even possible at my current position in life? And how can I know if it is or isn't all just delusion, I guess?
Okay, so, you mean, is it possible for you to be full-time in the film or television or video production industry? Am I understanding that, right?
Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I'm turning 16 in a few days.
So the answer is Friedrich. Of course, it's possible for you to be full-time in film, television or video production. Now, to what level? I can't answer that, and you can't either. There is this thing called the dream, right? And this is the ultimate, and I'm going to attempt that.
And the process and the journey along the way is really enlightening and still very rewarding. But the reason you feel this way? And the answer to the question, is this a delusion? No, it's not delusion. If you actually have some talent, if you're talented in this area, and that could be by the way, we're talking about a wide range.
So do you see yourself directing, producing? are you more on the editing side? are you the cinematography side? And you're only 16? So there's no wrong answer here. But do you think that if I interviewed everybody that knows you and I'm not talking about your best pals?
I'm talking teachers and adults, to be honest. Would they say? You know, Friedrich's got an eye for this, he's always been talented at this, this and this. Do you have base-level talent at the age of 16 in this area?
Well, basically, what I want to do is more working for myself, as in doing wedding videos and real estate videos. It's not traditional film, I guess, but to answer the question, I would probably say yes.
Yeah, and you're only 16.
How many more years of school you got in high school or whatever? What do you call it in Canada?
Yeah, two years.
Two years so, my friend, there's zero pressure and I feel your heart and I can hear your head in your question. And I was that way, I was the kid that was like, dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.
And is this crazy, is this nuts? Is this, you know, delusional? and if a person asks if it's delusional, they're usually not delusional.
What's the opposite? My question to you would be, what would make it not attainable?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Like, what are the things that make it not attainable?
I guess just not getting enough clients, maybe.
Okay.
And keep walking that out. I love this question, Jade. keep walking that out, Fredrick. What would have to be true for you? Not to get clients one day that want their wedding filmed?
I don't know, maybe running out of opportunities and people to ask, I guess.
That could happen because we know people don't get married very often.
That's right, if you're swimming in a shallow pond, you might need to, you know, cast the net a little bit further. But I mean, I think that's a good exercise to go through is say, Okay, what would keep this from happening? A I suck at it. B I don't know enough people and I don't know how to market to reach more people.
So start writing out those lists and then start figuring out what it looks like for you to solve those problems.
But, Fredrick, the fact that you've got the talent, the fact that you're a little bit worried about not being successful tells me. You've got really two out of the three pieces, and I think the third piece is just flat out get some experience, see what's great at 16. You can just start volunteering your services until somebody hears about you and they go, Hey, I heard you shot my cousin's anniversary thing and it was so well done and they put it on Facebook. What would you do for me? You go well, that one was a freebie.
This one's going to cost you, you know, just start doing it. You've got two full years to show your work. In fact, I'm going to recommend you get a book it's called Steal Like an artist, and you get the second book called Show your Work.
Both of these are written by a guy by the name of Austin Kleon. They're short, little books. It takes you about 15 minutes and I think it would be really good for you as a 16-year-old to begin to go. What are wedding videos or whatever videos that I see that I like and begin to study your competition who's doing it well?
What do you like about what they're doing? How would you do it differently? You begin to develop your own eye. I don't know if that's an actual phrase, but my colleague here is really a phenomenal musician.
Run with it, Ken, run with it.
You at some point developed your own voice. You became a very, very popular singer, and she made a lot of money and she developed her own jade style. In other words, she interprets songs her way. There's no unique song or artist out there. They're all stealing from everybody and that's a good thing.
So those two books steal like an artist and show your work. That's my recommendation. Thanks for the question. I love that. All right. Rachel is joining us now in South Bend, Indiana. Rachel, how can we help?
Hi, thank you for taking my call, you bet.
I did the math this morning and realized that my husband and I are not worth millionaires. Hey, come on, somebody.
We need some celebration music, James.
You can't just cruise past that like, you didn't say what, you just said, that's our fault. That's really great.
We're going to get a little something like, maybe it's a hockey sound and the crowd going nuts. We need some little sound effect when somebody tells us that, but anyway, we digress. Go ahead, Rachel, what can we answer?
So we currently have some real estate and then our primary residence that we owe a little bit on each that's not included in the net worth.
That's not included.
The debt is not, I already took that out.
Okay.
We have an extra $5,000 a month that we have been putting towards just paying those off completely. And I'd like to have it all paid off in the next three years.
Okay.
I know that it's usually recommended to pay off your home first, but we have less on the real estate. And I feel like if we pay off the real estate first, we'd have that extra payment to throw down on the primary residence. Or to have backup for all of the water heaters and furnaces and the little pumps that go along the way.
Well, why don't you run me through the numbers? Let's start with the primary tell me what you owe on it and tell me what it's worth.
It's worth $400, and we owe $177.
And in the real estate, the properties are worth $600 and we owe $98. If I paid $5,000 a month, we could have the real estate.
Can you break them out for me? Can you break them out individually? That way I can get a better picture?
So the real estate, it's just one commercial loan.
Oh, but I thought it was several properties.
It is, oh, but under one loan, it's multiple residences on a commercial loan.
Okay, so the loan is, you said, $600??
That's what it's worth now, but we only owe $98.
Okay, got it, so it's worth $600, you only owe $98, got it?
Okay, so yeah, what are you wanting to do here? You're putting $5,000 extra a month on it.
I'll tell you what, here's the deal that music means. We've got to go to a break and we're not finished. RAchel. So if you're willing to hold on, we'll come back and allow Jade to walk you through this. Okay, so good stuff there.
Hang on the line and we'll get back to you, all right? Hey, don't forget that you can jump in on the conversation 888-825-5225. She's Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman, and this is the Ramsey show.
We'll be right back.
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Welcome back to the Ramsey show. I'm Ken Coleman, Jade Warshaw is with me and we're here for you. And so we went into the break and Rachel was with us in South Bend. And Rachel's question is about multiple properties that they have debt on and the primary residence. And they are net worth millionaires as well.
So we kind of got into the break. I'm going to give it back to Jade to walk her through that, so here we go.
So, Rachel, it sounds like the biggest thing. You've got the primary residence, you owe $177,000 on it, but it's worth $400,000. And then you've got a large loan that embodies several properties that you owe $98,000 on. And it's worth $600,000. And you're just trying to figure out, hey, which one should I sell first, like, which one should I pay off first, right?
Correct.
Okay, so you told me, I think you told me that. Right now, you're putting $5,000 extra on the loan that carries the properties, and if you keep doing that, you'll pay it off in three years.
If we keep doing the $5,000 a month, we'll have them both paid off in three years. But I'd like to pay the real estate off first because I think it'll free up the payment. So we'd have that extra $1,800 a month to use towards any maintenance expenses that I expect, even though I know it's usually recommended to pay off the primaries first.
Honestly, the fact that they'll both be done in three years, I think it's fairly negligible. Three years is such a short period of time to have these both paid off. I mean, if you wanted to say, yeah, we're going to roll it all into the big loan first and do it like that, that's fine. Or if you wanted to do the primary residence one, fine. It's such a small difference between the two of them.
And my guess is which one is going to free up the most cash if you pay it off first?
Actually, we'll both free up the exact same amount, but we would just be able to pay off the smaller one first.
Yeah, I think for you guys, I think it's very negligible. And so for me, whichever one you choose to do, they're both going to be completely gone. In three years. They both yield the same amount of return once you've paid it off. There's not really a –.
Whatever one makes you feel better at that point, I mean, in many ways, I might say, hey, do the primary first, because it's where I live and it eliminates that risk. You could do that, but because you owe so little on the properties, you might do those first. I mean, it's not like you're going to sell them.
You're going to keep it. So what are you leaning towards?
I'm leaning towards doing the real estate first so we can free up that $1,800 a month payment. And then feel like I have some wiggle room. Instead of trying to be push, push, push for the $5,000 since, the other one would take longer to free up that extra payment.
¿How much longer?
And then not feel frustrated. The primary would take two years to pay off, and then one year for the real estate, versus one year for the real estate, and then two years for the primary.
I mean, if you really want to know what, like, if I were Jade, I woke up in your shoes. Even though the real estate, the rentals are less, I'd probably do the primary first. It's two years versus one year. And it's going to feel really great to go to bed at night in your own bed. That everything is paid for.
Thank you.
If you don't do that, like, no skin off your back. But I'm just saying, if you asked me, that's what I would do.
All right, there you go. Okay, thanks for the question, Rachel. Appreciate that very much.
Today's question of the day comes from Megan in South Carolina. She asks What advice would you give a young and hungry adult who wants to be successful fast but seems to hear the word no from the higher-ups in a company?
Well, this is funny, because when I see someone who wants to be successful fast number one, I certainly understand that I feel that. And sometimes that's part of the answer is that maybe you want it a little faster than is actually possible. Unrealistic expectations lead to unmet expectations every time, and that's really, really frustrating. So when I'm not getting my expectations met, one of the first things I have learned to do, Jay to say, how realistic were these expectations?
In other words, am I being emotionally mature, emotionally healthy? With my frustration? Now? There are a couple of questions I would ask, too. Megan, I would ask, Why am I getting these? No's a lot, and that could be the expectation issue. If it's not, if it's something else, what's the pattern?
Is there anything you can learn and do as a result of all these no's? And if the answer is yes, then we do something we learn and do. They're telling me no because you don't have this skill set, so I got to go develop that skill set, or they're saying no because you don't have the experience.
So you go, okay, I'm going to pay my dues and be patient. They might be saying no because there's a better fit and that sucks to hear that sometimes. But I've played enough sports to know that there are a lot of times I can play my absolute best. And boy, I'm learning this in pickleball right now, Jay play my best pickleball game and still lose. Because the dude across the net. Or, in the case of about a 64-year-old lady who just completely outplayed me not too long ago.
She's a former tennis player and listen, she was better than me and so you got to live with that. So what say you? That's what I think I would do if I kept hearing No's and I wanted to be successful.
Anything you want to add to that.
I don't think so. I mean, you definitely don't want to ignore when you hear multiple, multiple no's, you want to see what it's. It could be time to leave, it could be time to leave, or there might be something that you have to face with the man or woman in the mirror.
There's something there and also can I add, I feel like, didn't I beat you at Pickleball one time?
No, no, you may have been on a team that beat me, but you did not beat me. And Sam, your hubs is in the lobby. He didn't beat you. I'm pretty sure that you. When we played with a good friend of ours, the four of us, I don't think I lost, actually.
Well.
Am I remembering that wrong, Sam?
To be fair, we had doubles, it was doubles, it was four of us and we kept shifting the team.
Yeah, and as the person shifted to my team, they became victorious.
Yeah, when we played together, we dominated, let's be honest about that.
This is true, and you know what, while we're having fun with this, this is what I love. This is a legitimate athlete here. Okay, I am a complete poser, all right.
I was high school level only. I'm sitting next to, if you don't know this about my colleague, and I'm going to brag about you. D1 volleyball player. So we're talking next level reflexes and intensity. Oh boy. So I told her she'd never played with me before, and I don't know that she'd ever played before, period.
I hadn't. That was the first time.
That's what I thought, so we're out there playing. And I said to her, I said, Look, you get what you can get. Here's kind of a dividing line, but you just communicate, yeah. And so every time that the ball came anywhere near her, she said, I go.
I go, I go.
Every time before she hit the ball, it was, I go, you've got to communicate. I enjoyed it, it was very, very heartwarming and fun, very intense, though.
I go.
For me, it was great to see your calves for the first time.
Or lack thereof. Yeah, unfortunately. Pray for Jade, she had to see my legs, they're just skin and bone.
But I digress. But, you know, there is something to back to the question of the day. Yes, I do want to talk about this for a second because I actually wanted to get you to weigh in.
So let's frame this question, let's reframe it to. We have a lot of people right now that are listening and watching, that have heard Dave or one of us say. You know, there's two ways to get out of debt, and that's cutting expenses.
Yep, and adding income, and we could also say that's how you win financially, is at the end of the day. Yes, it moves you through the baby steps faster, but increasing your income has a professional context.
100. And when you look at that, it is hard sometimes not to get impatient, not to get discouraged. When maybe you get overlooked for a promotion, yeah, or you're out there looking for that second job.
Or you want that better career path to go from maybe making $60,000 to $80,000 to $90,000 to $100,000.
And I wanted you to speak to this because you understand it. As an athlete, when you want to compete, you want to win, you want to earn a starting position.
I wanted to speak to the mindset of our audience about winning professionally so that they can win financially. What say you?
Not only in the question, but in life is she wants to do it fast, like I got to do it fast. And I do think there's a component to whether we're talking about sports and getting to the point where you're a winner. There's a journey that is part of this.
And sure, you could when it relates to finance, you could go pick up a quick side hustle and pick up some extra dollars. But for the people who are trying to have career growth and, you know, go along that path with you. Ken, there's something to be said that there's a bit of a journey here. There's a timeline that's taking place and it's not overnight and we shouldn't get discouraged by that, right? You don't become a master at anything overnight.
There's a timeline there. And so in this case, no might not have anything to do with the fact that she's not skilled. It just may be not. Now. You're just getting started.
You've got more time.
So as in paying off debt and winning professionally, building a healthy marriage, raising healthy kids, this is a long haul. You're training for the marathon right now, you know a little something about that.
That's right.
There you go, good stuff, good hour. Jade Warshaw, Thank you, thanks to James Childs and the crew behind the glass for keeping us on the air.
Thank you, America, this is the Ramsey show.
Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number 888-825-5225..
Jade Warshaw is with me and I'm Ken Coleman. And we have a lot of fun coaching people, we have a lot of fun while we're doing it, so that's our theme. Feel safe.
Feel confident that your problem is not wacky. You're just like everybody else and we all need some help at some point and that's what we want to do for you today. All right, let's get it started in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I once ate at a white castle in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Random fact of today.
I feel sorry for you.
Nobody needed to know that. But now you do, Aubrey's on the line there, Aubrey, how can we help you?
Hi, I'm glad that you've been to Fort Wayne and at White Castle.
I'll bet you, and it was right downtown. Do you know the one that I'm talking about?
I don't even know is it there anymore? Probably not Aubrey.
I'm a lot older than you, I imagine, but we digress. What's going on?
Okay, well, first, I'm excited to talk to you guys. I like both of you guys a lot. Oh, thank you.
So I have had a debate on my heart for a long time. I've been back and forth on my job.
I've been doing 100 commission sales for the last three years and I really thought I would get into sales. But I just felt like I needed to give it a shot and take that opportunity. And I've never quit on a bad day. There's been a lot of highs and lows. But now, being over three years in, I'm just kind of looking at things and realizing. Like, I'm not as far ahead as I thought I would be, or as like I was told I would be.
And I'm just like, there's parts about my job that I do like, but for the most part like. I've worked six to seven days a week for three years straight and I've just been so burnt out. I lost management at the end of the year and you know, like, I want to have a job that I like. Wake up and I'm excited about every day. And lately, it's just like I feel like I can't even get myself to go and do what needs to be done.
And I do have debt that I want to be able to tackle. I just feel like things have been so inconsistent up and down that I haven't even been able to make any real progress. So I'm just like, you know, if I leave, if I quit, like, part of it, part of that kills me. Just because I've invested so much of my time, my energy, my money into this business. But then I also, like, don't know where to go if I leave, like, I don't even know like. I've kind of looked at the job market and it just kind of feels a little underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time.
Yeah, I think it's actually, yeah. So so if if this job was more consistent, and, um, you just had a better overall experience, would you be calling questioning a career path in sales?
I mean, I think the money would make me want to say that's why I've been so back and forth. However, I know in my heart, like this doesn't really fulfill me, like this isn't really what I'm passionate about.
All right, so here's a fun little question. Try to get right to the heart of the matter fast. And it only works if you just say, what's on the top of your mind, do you understand?
Okay, all right, so no wrong answer, you can change it after the call, all right.
What would you try tomorrow professionally? If I just gave you the gig and it made you? Uh, let's just throw, let's have fun. Let's say 20 more than you're making now. And you knew you would absolutely crush it, uh, but you didn't have to commit to it as I'm making this 30 year choice.
I'm just going to go do something else to try it and I know I'm going to crush it. There's no risk at all. What would you do, Aubrey?
Oh my gosh, that's such a hard question.
It's not like because you already selected an answer. That's why I did a long setup. I've done this before. I want you to just say what's at the top of your mind? And then we'll break it down. So ready.
Go.
I mean, I think it would be involved with something that would be like kind of a creative process. Like something like house flipping or getting into some type of like, entrepreneurship or something like that. But that's an, you know, an inconsistent way. I don't have the money for that.
I know you don't now, but remember, remember, I said we were removing all risk for a moment. And what I'm attempting to do, Aubrey is a part of the lesson. I need you to turn your brain off, and I need you to turn your heart on and we go. What is it that I really want to do? Cause you're still a young lady and you got a lot of options and you got a lot of time. True or false?
True, all right, so so, part of what you called today was everything's underwhelming that I'm looking at in the job sheets or whatever online, and then the process overall is overwhelming. Because I'm trying to pick this big direction and that's what I help people with.
I'm going to give you a couple of tools today, I'm going to give you my get clear assessment. This new book. Find the work you're wired to do. I'm going to give that to you, okay, because it's actually going to really help you.
But all right, um, what you've got to understand is the answer you gave me is pretty darn close to what you ultimately want to do. Will it change a little bit as you begin to explore it? will it look a little bit different than you described? To Jade? And I just now? Possibly, uh, probably, but that creative, entrepreneurial. I heard several things in there. I want to, I do this all the time.
So I actually want to stop for a second, I want to. I want to ask Jade, What did you hear in her answer? Objectively? What did you hear?
What I heard is, I think, and this is just me, I could be wrong. She mentioned that she's got debt that she wants to pay off, sure.
And I.
I think that when people have debt, it it clouds their thinking. Because everything has to be about how can I make more money and how can I do this? And it. It can be very hard and I that's why I loved your UM exercise with her, because it it causes you to go past all the things that I need to do. And like, yes, I know, but this is important. And I think for her really trying to spend time and go, what, what would I do?
What could I do, what would I love doing? Yeah, and understand that the situation now with the debt and everything. That there will be a time when that's gone, and when that's gone, you can really see clearly. Oh, like, this is what I love to do.
Like for for Sam and I, when our debt was gone. That's when I really realized what I love and want to do. And I think the same thing for her, all right.
So Aubrey, that was brilliant, what she just said. So so we will figure out what we need to do when we figure out where we want to go. All right. So so what are you selling right now?
Give it to me in 10 seconds or less. What are you selling?
Um life and supplemental health insurance.
Okay, great, I. If I were you and I wanted to get into real estate, maybe flip some stuff, and I just kind of wanted to be an entrepreneur. I'd start thinking about real estate. Because that's straight commission and you're used to that.
But I think there's some limiting things about this product or service and the company that you're dealing with, and we don't have time to unpack that. But am I right? There's a lot of limiting circumstances that if it were just you, it'd be a different ballgame.
Yeah, there's definitely some factors.
I knew that, okay, so, uh. I'm not in any way trying to say, go do real estate sales. But that would be something I would be considering and I would be considering right now. Who cares? How underwhelming it is. Jade I'd be going and getting a good sales job.
And I don't care if it ain't exciting because it's only temporary. Yeah, it gets me out of debt, it allows me to walk through the baby steps, and it sets me up to go all right. Now. I'm going to get my real estate license, or I'm going to go work for another entrepreneur and learn how to do that, I guess. Aubrey, I'm going to give you the tools to get clear assessment and the book, find the work you're wired to do.
That's my gift to you and that's really going to help you. Uh? But you need right now to get out of this situation and get a better sales job where you're making more money consistently. And that's going to free your mind up to chase the thing that you ultimately you know. And you started to tell us, and Jade, you nailed it.
Get out of your head and into your heart.
That is beautiful, I love that. And debt getting out of debt, I'll help you with that, for sure. Good stuff.
All right, quick break, we're right back. This is the Ramsey show.
Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. If you do not know this, it is Financial Literacy Month, and we at Ramsey Solutions are celebrating, uh, the work that our amazing foundations and personal finance teachers are doing. Uh, by the way, I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me this hour.
Phone number is 888-825-5225.
And I want to tell you if you haven't heard about this. Foundations and Personal Finances is a is a program that we, uh, put in, uh. Schools choose to use this all across the nation. And, um, it's an important, important subject, because, frankly, it's just not taught enough. And, uh, there are many states in this country that require some type of financial teaching, uh for, uh for kids to to graduate high school.
And that's why we created foundations and personal finance. It's a curriculum that over 7 million students have gone through. And I've been, uh, blessed to be in multiple iterations or versions of it. And, uh, it's really rewarding because we hear from teachers and students on this. And so we thought it would be fun, Jade, if we had one of our, Uh, foundations teachers on the show.
Hey, and so we've got Jason, who's calling in from New Lennox, Illinois. Jason, how are you today?
Ken and Jade How we doing Happy Friday and, uh, we're doing well over here. Thanks for having me on talk about, you know, some of the amazing things we're doing over here. At Lincoln Way West and Lincoln Way District Two 10. I love it with the energy.
That's what I was going to say. I would want Jason as my teacher, right? So tell us what you teach at, Uh, Lincoln Way Central.
Sure, uh, primarily, uh, primarily. I'm personal finance teacher, so that's been my my main focus. Um, I've been doing the foundations class, and, uh, we've been teaching kids to be weird, uh, financially weird, you know, since since 2008..
So, uh, I think this is my 16th year teaching foundations, is that right?
What grade is it? What grades do you teach? I've got?
I've got seniors sitting next to sophomores, uh, the people that take our foundation class. It's open to everybody, so I could have a 14 year old sitting next to an 18 year old. Um, and it's, it's. It's a beautiful thing, though.
And that's all you teach, or finance classes, uh, in addition to foundations.
Uh, yeah, I teach, uh, our business class, or one of our business classes here, um, one of our tech classes, uh. But I gotta tell you, I'm glad you brought up the the mandatory state thing. Um, unfortunately, Illinois is one of the one of those states that is not yet mandated it. But um, I gotta give, uh, look. The kids say we've got to give our showers to to my school, Lincoln Way West in our our district two 10. About a decade ago, we mandated it for our students, even though our state hasn't.
Wow.
We did, um, way ahead of the curve. And, uh, and Illinois actually has a bill on the table, um, but it's just sitting there and they're not doing anything with it.
Yeah, go ahead.
Why do you think that is like we? We see how important this is. Do you have any you want to weigh in on that at all?
The whole politics side, I'm not too sure why, it's just sitting there waiting to be voted on. It's been sitting there for for quite some time. Um, so I think, you know, using the power of the Ramsey show and everything like that is is, we need to, uh, you know, we need to get it out there. People call you.
Okay, so you know what we're going to do? This is exciting. James I've never done this and I'm doing it. Uh, if you are listening to the show right now and watching the show and you live in Illinois, you need to call the Illinois State House.
Let it rip.
Uh, and I don't know what the number is, but you can find it on the Google. And call your representative, call your state senator and tell them that you want this to pass and why? There you go, that's good.
I like that.
How about that? HB One, three, seven, five, make it happen.
Oh, this is great.
All right, here we go.
It's hb, hb, one, seven.
Three, seven, five.
Geez, one, three, seven, five. H.B. That's House Bill. For those of you don't know what that stands for, it's very exciting.
1375.
I feel like I'm back in my old world of politics. H.B. 1375 should pass, and it should pass because our children are the greatest resource we have. They are, in fact, our future vote.
Yes for H.B. 1375. This is very exciting. If I could start a petition, I would there it is.
All right, yes.
Now, here's what I got to know switching gears. Yes, I'm very excited.
You went into your mode, you can't be stopped.
I got to tell you.
I got them all wound up. I'm sorry, Jade.
As long as I don't say my fellow Americans, then we're going to be okay. So here's a question with this, this day and age we live in, I'm curious, what are today's students asking? or what are they commenting about? When you're teaching our principles through foundations? I'm really curious.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is, a lot of it is going against everything that they see in society and pop culture, and even in their household from their parents. So when we tell them things like, No, I know your mom wants to get you a credit card to build your credit score.
She has the best intentions.
But she thinks that's the only way, because that's what most people do, and I always tell them, look.
Is it easy to do things differently? No, if it was easy, it would just be the way. And that's why most people do things the wrong way, and not the way that we teach them. And so when we tell them about. You don't need a credit score to survive well. How do I get a car?
We teach that in the Foundations class, how to save up and pay cash for a car. How am I going to get a house one day? And that's what their parents are worried about, and I want my kids to have a house one day, too. But most adults don't know about manual underwriting.
And we teach our high school kids that, and so when we're teaching them things that that they don't see day to day in their households or out in the real world. It does come across as weird, but you know, we've done all the studies and everything is backed up. You can live without, you know, the credit score, and and you can be a student without a student loan, and so that's one of the biggest benefits of the classes.
We're showing them, hey, everybody out there is broke, normals, broke. We want you to be weird, do things differently, and that's that's what this class is. It arms them with information before they go out and make those mistakes.
Like I did when I was in college and getting my first credit card and car payments, I never taught this stuff.
So Jason, do you see? do you see the students taking? are they taking this home to their families? Like, are you hearing any stories about man? I told my mom this and I'm teaching my parents how to handle the money now.
Awkward, awkward family dinner conversations I've been, we've got. I had a student, you know, his name was Mike Manning. A couple of years ago. He went home and I tell them you, you better. When your parents ask you, what'd you learn in school today? Don't say nothing. Uh, not in my class.
And I'd say, I say that, you know? The dad asked him, You know, what'd you learn today? And it was like the middle of the debt chapter. And he said, We learned about credit cards. Dad, do you have a credit card? and the dad goes, I got a few.
And then my student, you know, came right back at him and said, You know, you spend, you know, 12 to 18 more when you use a credit card as opposed to cash. And the dad, you know, comes back with the typical, Well, I. I pay it off in full and I get my airline miles and then on cue. My student, who I taught very well, said, You know, consumer reports, 70 of airline miles never get redeemed. And the dad's like, at this point, he's like, go to your room and eat dinner in your room, like.
That's good, yeah, they're bringing this stuff home, for sure.
I love it, that's awesome.
You're listening to Jason, who is a teacher in New Lenox, Illinois. At Lincoln Way Central High School, he teaches foundations and personal finance. A part of our It is our financial curriculum, with over 7 million students having gone through this course. To that end, Jason, give you the last story. We've got about a minute and a half.
I'm curious. I know that legacy for teachers is when a kid leaves and comes back and shares. Here's how I'm doing. Appreciate your role in my life. Do you got any stories of of students who have, who who listened to what you said? They've moved on into the real world and and they're winning financially.
Yeah, absolutely, I've got a kid that actually, he just graduated last year and he's. He's a freshman down at the University of Alabama. And he was keeping me up to date with his, his college. Which that's out of state tuition.
$55,342 a year. This student, Anthony, he just like we teach them in in the life after high school, the college chapter. He became a scholarship beast. nice, he won a full tuition called the Small Town Rural Scholarship. He got his pell and he applied for. He became a scholarship. Still a router, a long time kind of job.
First first semester tuition final $260.
Very good.
Very good.
Unbelievable. Well, thank you Jason and hey, shout out to all of the teachers involved. And if you are a teacher, don't forget you can enter the Ramsey Teacher Appreciation giveaway, sponsored by Ramsey Education. One teacher is going to win.
You ready for this? A $5,000 vacation and two more teachers will each win $3,000 in a vacation. So, go to Ramsey Solutions.com slash teacher that's Ramsey Solutions.com slash teacher to enter Go Now.
All right, welcome back to the Ramsey show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is with me, Jade. You know what time of year it is?
Don't you tax time have you filed already?
Of course I have Ken look at. I grew up talking to Ken.
I apologize, no slight intended. Some people are last minute I, but I get it. And boy, you know, I hate taxes, but here we are.
It's April 15th, whoa?
That's Monday, Ken.
Oh boy, and uh, if you have it, you need to, you need to, you need to do it. Oh boy, really quickly. And uh. But, uh, let's talk about taxes in general, because, uh, a lot of chatter out there in the Ramsey Baby Steps community.
This is a robust community on Facebook.
It's huge, it's a lot.
Hundreds of people and a lot of chatter.
And.
Uh, so you've got some what you consider to be some? Uh, he's pretty pretty spicy comments. are they? Are they pretty interesting anyway? What's going on, I mean?
We always love to hear from you guys, see what you're saying, because that informs a lot of what we talk about and what we do. And so when it comes to taxes, you guys were, you know, taking it to the the the interwebs. And so there's this thread, there's a thread on the Ramsey's Baby Steps community, Facebook. And it's basically tax refunds, like, would you rather get money back? or would you rather pay a bill? so tax refunds versus tax bills?
And so that's easy, isn't it? I w I will never want to pay.
You would think it would be simple, but Tracy, uh, one of the uh, community folks on there, she said. Let's play a game. I want to know who got closest to zero, right? Like, let's hit it in the middle. And so the responses were crazy, like one lady said, Not me, I'm about to pay $8,000, but I knew it was coming.
And so she had it saved up, so that's good, and she's like, I've changed my withholding for next year. And then Catherine responded She said, Well, my federal refund was 30 and my state was 80..
That's pretty darn close to zero. I don't know how you beat Catherine.
Uh, yeah, I'm gonna keep it just like that for next year. CatherinE Uh. And then Tracy came back, she said. Well, we've mastered this dilemma. For the. For three to five years, we're paying two, 2,500 to $3,000, but now this year we were able to only owe $40 for federal.
And our state refund was one 28.
So, again, it's not exactly zero, but that is pretty, pretty, darn close.
I like that. Oh, it looks like Gerald's coming off the top ropes here.
Listen, Gerald came through like a champion, he said. I finally had a return that was $0..
Gerald has been met. I don't know how we did it.
I don't either, I get questions.
Are you trying to say that Gerald might not be, uh, coming correct?
I ooh, no, no, I don't want to offend Gerald, I still know how he did that, I want to know.
Yeah, I want to know how he did it because he can help us all out. And so then we had another post. A related question was, Okay, if Gerald got zero, how can the rest of us get close to zero? So Edgar said, I did my taxes.
And it says that I owe 1900.
So the key here is what we want people to understand. Because if you may not be like Gerald and get it to zero, but the key here is we want it to get as close as possible. Like tax refunds, we've taught you guys over the past several weeks, tax refunds are not a good thing. IRS data shows that the average tax refund last year was $2,812. Like, that's about $236 a month.
If you're doing the math and think what that could really do for you. If you added that back in your budget, like, that's that's what we're trying to get you to. If you had this money back in your budget, it would really be working for you. So the closest you can get to zero, the better. It may not be right on it, but the closest you can get is what you're looking for.
And to answer Edgar's question, like, how do we get it close to zero? It's it's simply you going in and changing your withholding on the W4 form. That's what we're looking for, and by the way, the W4 form has changed recently. It used to be the way Ken, where you would go in and claim your dependents and you could, like, put as many as you want on there.
It's not like that anymore, so the form has changed. And if you're wondering, well, how do I know, Jade, what to switch it to? How am I supposed to know? Like I said, you can look at your tax refund from last year and you can say how much was it divided by the number of paychecks you got, whether it was 12 or 24. If you get paid two times a year, a month, and then you can take that.
And that's the amount that you need to adjust on your withholding. And by the way, if you haven't filed your taxes yet and nothing's really changed from last year to this year. I would get with my tax person now and be like, Hey, while we do the taxes, by the way, let's change that W4 form, so that's how it goes. And if you waited too late, by the way, if you haven't filed, if you've been waiting and you don't think you're going to be able to file on time. And you know that you are going to have a tax bill, just make sure that you file for an extension. I cannot tell you enough.
File for an extension When you do this, it helps you avoid what's called a failure to file. Penalty guys, okay, and this penalty is going to apply. If you owe the I.R.S money now, if you think you're getting a refund, that's a different story, but it's a 5 per month penalty.
That's a lot, up to 25%.
I'm breaking out, I generally when I talk about taxes, I get hives well.
And so this is going to need the cortisone for this. Because an extension will give you six extra months to file your extension you'll have from now to October 15th if you file the extension. But just know that an extension doesn't change. When your tax bill is actually due, okay, so you're filing the extension through your talk, your tax software, and if you need a tax software, of course, we have the Ramsey Smart Tax.
So again, if you have a tax bill and you don't pay it by tax day, the IRS can charge you penalties and interest. It's a lot, and so we want you to pay as much as you can, as fast as you can. That's what we're talking about here. So if you need to file your taxes or file an extension, just make sure you're using a service that you can trust.
Like I said before, Ramsey, Smart tax is what I want you to check out. It has low upfront pricing. You can file your federal return online for under $35 can $35. That's what I'm talking about.
And it includes all of your major forms and deductions. Remember, there are no hidden fees along the way. It can save you up to 70 when you switch from another software, so that's good. So go ahead and head to Ramsey Solutions.com. Slash Smart Tax to file or file an extension today.
Tell you, the only thing I can think about James is it's a. We should be raising an army of Ramsey show listeners to finally push through the flat tax. we just need a flat tax. It's just the absolute best. It would make all of this a lot easier, we'd put a lot of money back into people's pockets.
Oh.
Really, it's a separate show, politically feisty.
This is the second time you've needed to do your well, the first one.
I wouldn't call either one. The first one was not political as much as it was. This is for our students. It requires you to support HB 1375 in Illinois. This the flat tax is absolutely political. But I honestly think that real people left right center.
Okay, could all unite on that?
Look to the cookie.
Just let's get the flat tax Mo money in your pocket and you can spend it however you want to. You Libs can go do what you want you, right, easy.
You hardcore right-wingers?
No.
I'm just saying, everybody wants more money in their pocket. What you do with it, you guys can fight about, but come on the flat tax, let's make it happen America, all right.
John is up in Atlanta, Georgia. I appreciate your vote, November America. appreciate your vote, John. How can we help?
Hey Ken and Jay, thank you so much for taking my call. It's a true honor to talk to you both.
What's up?
Hey, a little background and I'll get right to my question. My wife and I just started Financial Peace University. We're on baby step two, we have 4,000 left on a car. We do have twins in college.
Before hearing about Ramsey, we took out a 30 year mortgage, and I know now that Dave recommends a 15 year mortgage. And my question is, do we pay extra now on our mortgage as if it were a 15 year? While we're on step two, or should we wait and get through step three and four before doing that?
I would pay it as it is. You've still got the $4,000 car that we've got to pay off, so you know, you've got the extra money in your budget there. So let's go ahead and utilize that to get out of debt quickly. In many ways right now, inadvertently.
This is kind of helping you get through those phases a little faster, since it's obviously a little bit extra money in your pocket. So I would, I would keep it the way it is, I'd pay off the car. I do baby step three, make sure I'm into baby step four, and then definitely when I'm in four or five and six, I definitely want to be paying that.
Like, it's a 15 year mortgage and if you have money extra, you can add that to it as well.
Perfect, okay, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
That was a straightforward one.
How about that?
That rarely happens.
It rarely does. You could do about 30 of those calls. No drama, really fun stuff, all right.
Jade Warshaw is here, I'm Ken Coleman, we're here for you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Don't go anywhere.
We're not just a quick break. This is the Ramsey show.
Welcome back to the Ramsey show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is with me. Hey, I want to tell you about every dollar. It's our budgeting app and it's fantastic.
And it helps you manage money the way we teach you. Every dollar works, whether you're on iOS, Android or online, and you can start every dollar right now for free. And you can just get an idea of where is my money? Where has it gone?
It allows you to get organized, personalize your budget, stop overspending and saving more. So, if you're new to every dollar, we'll show you a long-term financial roadmap. This is really cool, so it's more than just okay. Where is my money from a budget standpoint?
It allows you to track your net worth, debt free date, retirement date, the baby step, progress and so much more. It allows us to coach you, not just inform you on your money, and this is great. You can download the free app for iOS and Android or go to Everydollar.com to get started. that's Everydollar..com.
All right, Jonathan is up next in Los Angeles, Jonathan. How can we help?
Hey, how's it going? Thank you for taking my call.
Sure, what's going on?
Yeah, so I have a $700 car payment right now, sheesh, and I currently can't afford it.
Yeah, no joke.
I make $50,000 a year right now and I'm just trying to figure out how I can get out of it. I've tried selling it, but I am going to be upside down about $9,000 or $10,000 on it. So at this point, I'm not sure if I could take a hit on my credit and get it repoled, or I'm not sure what to do. That's why I'm calling today.
What do you pay for it? like, what do you owe on it?
So right now, currently, it's about $32,000.
Okay, and I believe the car is worth, like, people were only offering me like $19,000, $20,000..
Why is that? Did you roll negative equity into it?
I didn't, no, I think because of the car and the market value of it.
What is it?
It went down completely.
What is it? what kind of car is it?
It's a subaru.
What kind of Subaru?
It's a Subaru WRX.
And how long have you had it?
About almost two years, in June.
Oh my Lordy, so oh my goodness, what other? What other debt do you have?
So I I have $1,500 credit card debt.
Maybe more. I just have to double check, but that's all for my. For one of my credit cards, it's $1,500.
And I also, I have a small toddler right now, so it's kind of hard to balance everything out. So I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this car, and, you know, just to be scratch free.
So the only debt besides the $1,500 credit card is the car. Is that right? I just want to be sure.
That's my biggest debt yet.
No, no, no, I want to know, do you have any other debt? Not? what's your biggest debt? It's just the car and the credit card, right?
Yeah, so I have a few other credit cards. uh, I want to say together, Um, I have five credit cards in total, so I'll.
Listen, tell me all the debt. I can't help you if I don't get a full picture, so roll it all out to me.
$2,000 in total for credit cards.
Okay, so another one, another couple equal 500, that's correct. Okay, got it?
Okay, so here's the thing, like, you're, you're $10,000 upside down on this car. What you know? You've got a couple of options here, but I don't know that they're going to be worth it to you. In this case, a lot of times when somebody is upside down in a vehicle, we would say to them, Hey, if you can't cover it in cash, which, by the way, I didn't ask you, do you have any savings?
I'm guessing, no.
I don't okay at the moment.
So a lot of times, what we might offer is say, listen, if your credit's fine, you know, go over there to the credit union or whatever. See if you can get a loan for $12,000 so you can close the $10,000 gap on this car. Get out of it and then take the other 2000, maybe put 500 with it and buy yourself a cash beater. That's what we would say in your case, you know, is it worth it to you to do that?
I'm not really sure. Yes, a $32,000 car is more expensive than what a guy making $50,000 a year should should be driving. But because you don't have a lot of other debt, you might look at this and go. If I can pay this thing off in two years, I can keep it, yeah.
That's what I'm wondering. Jade Jonathan, What, what would you say? On all five of those credit cards, your total monthly payment is to service all five cards.
Like monthly payments, I think like the biggest one, I mean, starting with the lowest one, it's probably like $40..
Yeah.
And then the minimum payments would be like 40 to 50.
I think the highest one might be 80 to 100 right now. I am behind on one of them right now.
Okay, so are you saying all right? So the highest one is, let's just call it, let's split the difference, call it 90. And you said, that's one of them. And then the other four are somewhere in the $40 range minimums.
Yeah.
$40 $50 range a month, minimum due.
Okay, but here's what I'm trying to do for you. I'm with Jade on this because I start. I'm going to call that rough math of $300 a month. Does that sound about right? JONAthan Yeah.
All right, listen, you're an able-bodied young man, yes or no?
Yeah, yeah.
Come on, man, get after it.
Come on, this is it.
How quickly could you pay off those credit cards to where you just now freed up $300 a month? That makes that car payment a little bit easier on you overall, and then, like Jade saying, you pay it off.
Also, the big elephant in the room here is you, you're living in Los Angeles and you're making 50,000.
I live in the outside city of Los Angeles, sort of like out of the city.
Yeah, what do you do for work?
I'm a delivery driver for Fedex.
Okay, here's what. And you mentioned you have a toddler. Are you a single dad? What's the situation with the toddler? Do you have a wife?
I have a fiance, we just recently got engaged.
Okay, and when are you getting married?
She works as well.
When are you getting married?
We don't know yet, we're trying to get out of our debt.
Yeah, but you'll get out. I'm not suggesting that you get married to get out of debt, but you want to get married, so get married. And then you can work together on this, and you go further faster when you work together, so consider that, like, don't get me wrong.
And I want everybody to hear me clearly. I'm not saying get married so you can pay off your debt, I'm saying you have a kid, you're engaged, you're betrothed, you want to be married, so just go on ahead and get married.
And combining finances is actually going to be a really key factor for you guys going forward. And you might be thinking, I don't want to combine yet because she's got debt too. But, trust me, you go further together, faster, and it will allow you to work together on the same page. You're in the same house, you got a kid.
You may as well like jumping with both feet, so that's where that is.
I want to challenge you to get your income up higher, 50,000, 50,000, even though you're on the outskirts, you're still in an expensive area. And with the debt that you have for no other reason, alone with the debt that you have, having more income is really going to be helpful for you. And Ken, talk to my guy about long-term, yeah.
So so short term, real quick, you've got to do anything and everything that you can. Okay, so however many extra hours you have in a week, what experience and skill do I have that I can just go earn money? Short term, this is going to allow us to move through the baby steps faster.
Now, long-term, you know, we're starting to go, how do we build wealth? And and and I want you, I'm going to give you a gift, I'm going to give you the Get Clear career assessment and the new book Find the work you're wired to do. And I want you thinking, how do I go from getting debt free to maybe moving up within Fedex or or moving out of that delivery truck? And now I'm making six figures in the next 18 months.
What can I do? Can I get there in 24 months? Is it going to take me 36 months to make that kind of money? To where now? Not only am I debt free, but I am making really good money and investing and taking care of my family. That's that's what I want to know.
So real quick, you got any idea what that would be? What's that long-term play that if I could snap my fingers and give it to you, you'd go? I'm in, that's what I want.
Yeah, 100. What is it? You know? I mean, I want to, I want to, you know.
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