Increasing Your Income Jumpstarts Your Wealth-Building

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show. It's where we help you. win in your life. Three areas. Win with your money, win at work, and win in your relationships.

Manuel. Manuel.

All right. No, no. We got to call you by your name, Manuel. So how can we help?

All right. So I'm about to graduate from college with a degree in mechanical engineering in about a year. Nice. But my dream career is to be a prosthetist. And you have to go to grad school for three years.

Let's break that down. So, Jade and I, we want you to go with no loan. So let's start to map this out, so it doesn't feel like you're placing your life on hold. Because, can we be honest? That's the emotion.

Did you say $160,000?.

$160,000.. Yeah. And here's my question.

It'll be $90,000 each year.

Okay. And you said there were only eight schools in America that offer this particular degree, grad level degree, correct?

Yeah. That's what I found in my research. Yeah.

Is $160,000, the high, low, or medium of the eight prices?

It seems about like the medium, like the regular price.

What's the lowest price? I'm curious.

I actually don't know that. right off. I'd find out. It's like every school I look to.

I'd find out. Let me tell you why. The good people that you're going to be putting prosthetics on or designing prosthetics for, and the people that will hire you, do not care which school you go to. Do. you agree or disagree with that statement?

Agree. Agree. All right. Definitely agree.

So, homework, assignment number one, Jade, I want, Manuel, finding out what the lowest price school is. Let's say it's $100,000 for sake of discussion. Okay. Now, all of a sudden, if I'm doing the math right now, I always have to have Jade help me, because normally I have to take my shoes off to do math.

$100,000 divided by two, Ken.

But the point is, is that you've got a six-year timeline for the $160,000 price. You're looking at it kind of going, for me to save cash, it's going to take me six years. I'm trying to get you in a mental process by which you start to go, wait a second, I am not limited and I'm not putting myself on hold. So practically what we're doing right now, Manuel, is we're going, all right, I need to find out what the lowest price school is. Let's say, for sake of discussion, it's $100,000..

I don't know, maybe three, maybe four.

By the way, we're not holding you to these numbers. We're just working the exercise that you need to do after the call. All right. So now we've shaved off years, right? And let's not forget, we shaved off lots of dollars, and you're going to be making really good money as an engineer.

From everything I've read, it's the only way in is the master's.

All right, I'm going to challenge you.

Let me challenge you.

There's a lot of things I've read and I think I'm right. And then I meet somebody who's actually experienced it and actually knows. So that's homework assignment number two, right? I want to know, by talking to somebody in the field who hires people in the field, who's working in the field, is it the only way that I get that job? by getting the grad degree?

Well, I'm looking at a couple of things here. So I'm really interested in where the lower price range schools are.

I wish I knew that number.

Because that dictates a lot for us. But I think that, to Ken's point, while you are where you're at, what will you be earning as a mechanical engineer?

Out of the gate, right now. I'm currently at an internship and I rolled over to a career. And so I'm not sure what the price is, but I think I've heard a lot of. it's around $40,000 as a first year income.

First year income as a mechanical engineer?

I don't know.

Right after graduation. I've heard it could fluctuate depending where you are, but that's because I'm at a startup now.

Okay. I just think that you need to do a lot more research. I feel like, and I'm not faulting you on this, because you've been focused on your education, but I want to turn a lot more of those I don't knows, or I thinks, or I'm not sure. I want those to become way more definite, because where you work, and the amount of income that you're able to earn, and knowing where you're going to go next is a huge, informative piece of this puzzle, right? Like, if you find out, hey, there's mechanical engineer jobs in Denver that pay twice as much as the ones that are over here in New Mexico.

And man, I'll just leave you with this. I want you to go watch our documentary, Borrowed Future, because there's a dentist that's featured in that powerful documentary. And you just need to get his story, because if he could get ahold of you, he'd go, it is not worth all the debt on the back end. Even though you're doing the thing and you're making good money, you do not want to be stuck with all that debt and resent the very thing that you feel you're supposed to do with your life. And you're going to do good stuff.

Hey, how are you guys? First of all, I'm really excited to be on the show. My first time and I have a bit of a different kind of question for you guys.

A different kind of question? Here we go, America.

I'm ready.

So my question is, how can I budget to have fun? The reason why I'm asking is because a lot of my family is dispersed in different parts of the world.

Okay.

So I always have to find a way to budget to travel and go, visit and, kind of, you know, connect back with my family. So that's, to me, it's very important to make memories. Luckily, I never opened up any credit cards. I don't have any debt. I have a house paid off that I'm renting.

That's cool. Hey, it sounds like you've done a great job with your financial situation. You don't have any debt. Did you say you have a paid off house, but you're renting it out?

Yes.

Awesome. And then you've got an RV that you're renting out. Where are you living?

I'm actually renting a house.

A second house?

Yes.

Okay. Interesting. Okay. So tell me a little bit about how much income you're bringing in every month.

So I'm bringing, just for my job, it's about $4,000 a month. And then with the rental, it's another $1,200.. And once I get the RV rented out, I'm planning on renting it out for another $750 a month.

Okay. And how long will you be able to rent that RV out at $750?. Because it's going down in value. And is the RV completely paid off?

Yes, the RV is completely paid off. So, I mean, I just would rent it as long as I possibly can or eventually sell it. But for now, I'm looking to just get some money out of it and just kind of rent it out.

And what do you pay in rent for yourself?

I pay $1,000 in rent.

$1,000.. Okay. Interesting. So, okay. You asked one question, but I can't help but pull a thread of another one.

Yes. So, eventually, well, my plan was that I was going to live in it, but the rent has been increasing more and more in Texas. I originally am from New Jersey. Right. I moved from New Jersey to kind of get away from all the expenses and stuff, and I came here.

But the rental is not where you live? How far away is it from where you live?

The rental is 20 minutes from where I live.

Oh, okay. Okay. Let me keep myself on track. Let me just give you a piece of advice that you didn't ask for. If I were you, I would not be renting.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. The reason why I originally got a rental was because there was a whole mixture between a family thing going on with the property at first. So, I kind of rented to get out of that situation.

But you own the house.

Yes, right. But it was a whole sentimental thing, you know, having family come over, and can I live in it and things like that.

Oh, so you have family renting the house?

Yes. Yes.

Right now, still?

You know that... Yeah. I'm sorry?

Still?

No, no, not anymore.

No, we appreciate the reason, but the advice is still correct.

It doesn't change what I think that you should do. And I get that I'm just a radio person that you called into. So, let's get to the crux of what you want to do, which is you want to travel more. And you're on the right track. You have to put in the budget.

So, I can give you an example. Last, about two years, I think it's been two years already, I met up with my uncle. We actually went to the World Cup in Qatar together. Sweet. That's one place that we traveled to.

So, when you went to Qatar, what was the problem? or was there a problem? I'm guessing that you budgeted to go because you said you don't have any debt. So, tell me where the problem is.

So, to be honest, so the problem is, I also have this thing where it hurts me. I have to start taking money out of my account. For some reason, it bothers me. I got to a point in my life where, even though I know I have a good emergency fund, and my checking account is still good, it starts to bother me when it goes down.

It might feel a little excessive. Like, here's what you have to decide the tension between. You said that it's important for you to see your family, but we also know that your family, it sounds like, is spread across continents and countries. So, it can, when you're making $4,000 a month, I'm just going to be honest with you, it can feel excessive if you're going to Spain and Mexico and Romania and Europe and Qatar. Like, there is a part of that, that, even if you're making it work, there's probably a part of you that's like, hey, can this money be better spent elsewhere?

So, I'm not really, I do have that, but it's not really a thing that it's working out for me.

Okay. So, I think that's what you're feeling. I think you're feeling the tension of, okay, there's things that I want to do, but I'm doing them at the expense of other things that I really need to be doing, right? So, the way we teach is you're already in a great spot. You have no debt.

Yes, I do have some money saved.

How much?

I have about 12 grand right now.

Okay, great. So, you might bump that up a little bit, since you're a single guy, try to get it to six months of expenses. But then I think what's happening is you're not investing. And we would suggest that at this point, you're investing 15% of your income every single month, every time you get a check. And I think once you start doing those things, you're going to go, okay, when I have extra, it truly is extra.

Yeah, and this is pretty simple. You need to reset your expectations. You just don't have a lot of margin. I think you said your rent was $1,000.. You make $4,000..

He's trying to do the most. He's trying to do everything.

Yeah, I'd rather travel. If it were me, I'd rather travel. Yeah, scale it back. So there you go. Thanks for the call, Argenis.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. How are you doing?

We're having a blast. What's going on?

So more questions for you. Hoping you can help me out. Love my job. Absolutely love it. Been there for about two years.

All right. Let's go back. So you said you weren't begging for it. Did you bring it up or did your leader bring it up in the review?

My leader did initially.

Interesting.

Did they give you a timeline?

No.

And did they discuss any comp?

They discussed a potential increase.

Nothing specific. I got to tell you, I love Jay's question. If you combine it with no details at all on timeline, what it looks like. I feel like maybe this was a carrot. I think you're doing a really good job.

Pretty good.

You'd have been fine? Yeah. Yeah. So now here's what you got to do. You've got an immature leadership move.

I think you're right, Ken. What was formulating in my mind, and it might be the question that Chris has, or maybe somebody listening is, if you're, you are in a position and you have outperformed your position to the point where you can be talking about a raise, what's, what's a fair timeframe for you to see that play out in the form of an actual income increase as a, because, you know, Chris might go and follow your instruction and the guy be like, okay, yeah. And we, and they create a, you know, a roadmap or a rally plan around this. But what's a fair timeline to watch that shake out?

Yeah, it's a good question. I'll answer it. But, Chris question, did you get any kind of annual bump? We know in corporate America, your typical bump on an annual raise, and usually it's tied to your annual, is a three to 4% bump. Did you get any kind of annual bump?

3%.

Okay. That, okay. So that falls within the averages. So this was not about the raise. in this case.

But I mean, even with that, like what's the, what's the timeframe on that?

I don't think there is. That's too formulaic. I think it is based on if I'm talking to my leader and we're talking healthy here and the leader's going, I see you're a performance guy. Let's lay out a plat path for growth. And if I hit these numbers, then I get this.

I see. Yeah.

But, Chris, let's let you step in here. I mean, we told you what we thought. You. any more questions? Does that help?

I think it's all good. I'm willing to work with them. Let's just say that. But I don't want to, again, like you said, be waiting too long.

Well, you know what's going on?

Yeah. It went his whistle and now he's like, let's go.

You get it. So I would do it the way that, because here's what we're going to do. If you do what I told you to do, we're going to find out real quick if they meant it.

Absolutely.

All right, my man. Hang in there, but go after it. Listen, let me tell you this.

Right.

There's a guy I used to work for who used to tell me this, I don't know where he got it, but he said, nothing's moved unless it's shoved. Sometimes you've got to shove your leader a little bit because you're not the only person they're thinking about. They didn't wake up this morning and while they're getting ready for work, they didn't go, huh, I've got to think about Chris's cop plan and how I'm going to promote him today. They're just not. So you've got to stay in front of them a little bit and there's an art to that.

I think that's exactly right. I think sometimes...

You know what I'm talking about.

Sometimes it's a little bit of a test to see how bad do you want it and are you going to go get it and make it happen? Push forward.

There's a respectful push.

Oh, 100 percent.

And it's basically get in front of your leader and be like...

Hey, remember when you said that thing? Yeah.

Hey, I want to play. Yeah. Listen, there were times where I got in the game only because I said, hey, coach, I'm ready to get back in. Put me in, coach. And he was like, oh yeah, Coleman, all right, get back in.

Come on, Michael Scott.

It's all I can think about is Dunder Mifflin.

And I'm hearing the theme song in my head right now.

Let's see what this is all about. Jim, you're on the Ramsey Show. How can we help?

Hi, Ken. Hi, Jade. I had a question about a vehicle loan.

What's up?

I have my emergency fund saved. I have six months expenses saved. The only debt that I have is my mortgage and this vehicle loan.

Okay.

My question is, I mean, fortunate enough that my job provides a pension. So I have a pension for retirement.

Okay.

And I also am involved in a deferred compensation program with that.

Okay. That's great.

Separately, I have a Roth IRA that I no longer contribute to.

Okay.

So my question is, that Roth, should I cash that and pay off my vehicle, my truck?

No, I would not do that. But I do wonder why you have a Roth IRA that you no longer contribute to, because if you have a pension, we would still say that you're investing a certain percentage into separate retirement funds, and a Roth IRA would be a perfect place to start.

Sure, sure. So I do have a separate one. The Roth that I was talking about, I was actually in charge of and I was managing. I changed that to what we call a deferred compensation. So I do have money coming out into a separate retirement account.

Okay. And the deferred compensation, where is it going? What's it going into?

I believe it's a pre-taxed account and it's managed by a third party. It's obviously not managed by me.

Okay. And are you choosing the investments?

No.

Okay. So back to what I said, and I'll get to the rest of the question, but this is really important for you and anybody else listening. When you have something like a pension or deferred compensation, that's great. But because you're not in control of it, the pension, obviously, there's a huge portion of that that you're not in control of. And if you die, that money dies with you.

So the deferred I have is 10%.

And are they taking it from your salary or it's just them putting that money aside for you?

That I'm not sure.

Okay, let's find out about that, because if it's just them putting money aside for you, then I would count that as 0%. when it comes to your 15%, that's being invested. And as far as this deferred thing, I'd probably count that for about half, because you're not in control of it at all. So let's say that 10% count that as 5%, and now we still need to do another 10% of investing into plans that you have control over. You're choosing the investments.

Yeah, yeah, that 10%, and maybe that was a little confusing. That 10% is managed by a financial advisor, and they are invested.

Right, but it sounds like you don't have any say in the matter. It's just, hey, this guy, we give him this money, and he does X, Y, Z with it, right?

Correct. So you get to pick either aggressive, conservative, and you can either set amount, or you can do a set percentile of your pay.

Yeah, I mean, I get what it is, and my ideals on that remain the same.

Okay.

So I know I answered part of your question. What was the other part? Because you mentioned a car.

Correct. So that, Roth that I was no longer contributing to, I could pay off my vehicle with that Roth that I was not contributing to.

Well, what do you owe on the car?

18..

Okay. And what do you earn every month?

I try to break it down monthly.

Okay, so... Is that your primary car?

I have three vehicles.

Okay.

But yes, I mean, my family has three vehicles, I should say. My wife has one, and then my daughter has a vehicle. But my truck is the only thing that I have a loan on.

What's the payment on it?

I think it's $500..

I would just keep working that plan to pay it off.

There's no reason for you to borrow from the Roth for all the reasons and hit yourself. Just get it done. It feels like you're trying to fast forward something that you regret, which I get. But in this case, that's not a good strategy. The only strategy right now is to either sell it and you get something cheaper if you've got equity in it, or just go ahead and pay it off.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can afford the truck, and I don't want to sell it.

What's your hesitation?

Well, I thought I would, just, which I'm not going to do now, but I thought I would just drain the Roth. I have that deferred comp, and I have my pension. And then, obviously, I would start working on my mortgage.

I love that you're mad at it. But there's a couple strategies on how to be mad, right? Yeah. And the way you propose is like throwing a tantrum. It doesn't help anybody, versus getting focused and knock this out.

Let's put it in perspective, because I always have a handy-dandy investment calculator here. So I want to know how much is in that Roth right now?

It's $18,000..

It's exactly $18,000..

Yeah, depending upon the market, depending on that day, yeah.

Okay. So that's probably one reason it's tempting. So if you don't mind me asking, how old are you, Jim?

I'm 38..

Okay, you're 38.. Let's just pretend that you decide to retire when you're 68, okay? So what would happen if we left that money alone, that $18,000 alone, and we invest it for the next 30 years, and it compounds annually at about 8%? That's fair, right? 8%?

Yeah, let it go.

Let it go. Yeah, let it go.

You got to let it go and let it grow. And I don't think that in the moment it feels worth it to you to say, let me just take that money and pay off this payment. But when you really think of what it could be, if you just sit there and let it grow, you're going to have almost $200,000, and you didn't touch it. As opposed to pulling it out now, just use your own income, pay off this car. And I can't emphasize enough what I said earlier about your investments, especially now that you revealed that you've got a daughter and a wife.

Yeah, I mean, I do have a life insurance policy.

Okay, good, it's term. All right, great. Yeah, term is absolutely smart. But you've got the plan.

Yeah, of course.

You've got the plan. Yeah, okay. Listen, I'm trying to help folks out. I want to make sure he's okay, because your retirement is not just for what happens after you die. It's for your family.

Good hour, Jade Warshaw. Thank you, James Childs and the crew. Thank you, America. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hi, Ken. Hi, Jade. Excited to be here.

Let's stop right there for a second. We'll get to the rest of your question, but I got to tell you, we got a working mom beside me, and I'm anxious to dive right into this, because, by the way, you said that, I think you're leaning more towards, no, I kind of want to keep working. Am I right? Tell us your real raw feeling when he brought that up to you.

I mean, there's a part of me that definitely is intrigued by it. I mean, who doesn't want to be home with their kids all the time? Me.

And me.

True.

Listen, I love them, but I like a break.

Me too, and I have a very flexible job. I really like what I do. I like the people I work with, and I'm home most of the time anyway. I'm pretty much fully remote.

Well, why don't you try it, and then, if you start having feelings that are like, oh man, I feel like I want to be home more, then you can adjust. Why do you feel that you have to make this decision before the baby's even here?

I don't know. I think it's just more of, you know, it's come up a few times, and I don't know, it got me thinking, and I just...

Why does he want you to stay home? Like, what's his reasoning behind it? Is it a cost thing? Is it a nurturing thing? Like, what are his talking points, per se?

I think probably more towards the nurturing side. You know, I don't think it's a financial thing. We definitely could afford for me to not work. How flexible? But I think it's just more...

How flexible is flexible? When you said your job is flexible and you're home most of the time anyway, what does that mean? Describe flexible.

So, I'm in the office two days a week,

But what I'm... And I've got a follow-up question. So, what does the flexible look like when I'm home? When you're three days at home, what kind of free time or control of your time do you have?

Pretty much complete control. If I need to step away for an hour, for two hours, if I need to sit on the couch because the babysitter has to leave early and bring my computer with me, I can do that.

All right. So, I did interrupt you because I wanted to dive in there, but I... So, I want to make sure we get to any specific question, but I think you called because you've got some concerns. We know your husband's concerns. He's like, you know what?

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. What are your concerns?

Tell me.

I mean, from one standpoint, as much as I know, we can afford it and we're in a good position financially, I... There's always that fear that things change and...

What's your income?

You could always go back to work, but...

What's your income right now?

I make $120 a year. Okay. And my... Just me or my husband as well.

No, I just want to know your... Because you're giving us your concerns, so I want to walk through those. So, one is we can afford it, but that's also $120K pre-tax. That's a lot of money. What are your other concerns about walking away?

I also carry the benefits.

And... What does your husband work, by the way? I just want to know, what does he make?

He... So, he owns his own business. So, salary, he takes about $150,.

Very different if his company's carrying them. I've been there, done that. What else? What else is on your concern list? Anything else?

I mean, we live in a very high cost of living area. So, I just... There's always the concern.

So, it is financial.

There's two money things you've listed.

Yeah. And that's not bad.

Like, we're not...

No, I think it's fine. I think it's fantastic.

Yeah.

I think it's your call. I mean, in this situation, I think he's got his preference, but this is a conversation that we have to have at the dinner table with a budget. and go, let's walk through reality. if I walk away. Let's start doing a real new budget.

Can I just be honest?

I hope you're always honest.

I mean, I feel like if we were talking about a situation where you're like, I go into the city every day, I work nine to five, I come home, I'm exhausted, that would be a lot different of a conversation. But we're talking about a woman who honestly sounds like you have the ideal situation that a lot of moms would be like, oh, I wish that was a situation for me. You kind of have it the best of both worlds in that you've got this flexibility and you can see your children. You've got three days at home that you're working, but you've also got two days where you go into the office and you get to be a professional, Samantha. And so I honestly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'm with you. If I was your husband, I wouldn't have brought this up at all.

Because that's going to put a lot of pressure on him too.

Well, and I want to ask real quick, do you guys have any debt at all?

Just our mortgage.

Okay. So again, this comes back to, this is a preference issue. You guys need to have a real, honest conversation and you need to lay out your concerns with him. He needs to hear your concerns. We need to put pen to paper on what a real budget looks like without your income.

dude, what are you thinking? I'm feeling some type of way, because part of me would be like, well, what would it look like then if you stayed home? I'd turn the tables on this a little bit and figure out-.

Not me, because I want that double income right now. What the kid is-.

I'm just saying to try to figure out what are we really trying to get at? Is it a money thing? Is it a nurturing thing?

I guarantee you-.

And if you ask those type of questions, you're going to get to the bottom of it.

But I guarantee you this is his tradition. Tradition? The way he grew up, what he's always envisioned, that's part of it. This is the Ramsey show.

One night only.

One time only event. If you've enjoyed our segments on the show in the past, when we talk about budget, she's the budget queen. I've now given her that moniker. We'll see if it sticks. But it's going to be fun.

Okay. So I kind of feel like yesterday was Valentine's Day. And in the spirit of that, I found this new dating app. Actually, my husband sent this to me.

I'm a little concerned as to why Sam is sending you information on dating apps, but I'm going to keep that between you two. I can't. Sam's a good friend. He's out there in the lobby.

To clarify, sometimes he'll send me things that he thinks people will want to hear about on the show.

Sam, you know, I love you. I got you, Sam. I got your back. He's a good man.

So he says, it says the new dating app, there's a new dating app that only matches singles who have good credit scores.

Come on.

And it's kind of funny, because we've talked about this before, about when you're dating and when's a good time to bring up financial stuff. What are your barriers to entry? You know what I mean? What does somebody have to have the minimum on the table for you to be going forward?

So they're taking the step of, we're going to throw a filter in here. Yes.

Listen, it says just in time for Valentine's Day, the app is called Score.

Now that makes me a little uncomfortable.

A new app and a website for the financially minded. It hopes to attract people with good to excellent credit scores, who know the importance of monitoring their finances. No one with a credit score less than 675 is allowed to join.

No way.

675 is table stakes.

So they have to submit their credit report to get? Yes. Wow. Yes.

Of course, an 850 is considered perfect and very few people get in at that point. But yeah, you have to have at least a 675.. So, Score, there's more to it than this and I think it's worth talking about.

Score, they know what they're doing with that.

Of course.

Yeah.

All right. It's a dating app. It's a little Kenyoo window,

but we don't have to talk about that. It is a Kenyoo window. It is. All right.

Score is the creation of another company. They're called the Neon Money Club. It's a company Black owned, and they partnered with American Express to create not only this app, but this is maybe the other part that's worth talking about. It's its own credit card. It's called?

Oh, now I'm completely, I got questions.

That's a Wu-Tang reference, Ken.

It is.

Cream, get the money. Dollar, dollar, boo.

This is why I don't know and I didn't get it. I'm not a big Wu-Tang guy. I need to get caught up. I need to go back and refresh myself on the Wu-Tang.

Yeah. I mean, when I look at you, you scream somebody who would know all the Wu-Tang songs.

Yeah. Anyway. You're right.

This card-.

It's called Cream?

It's called the Cream Card and it lets card holders-.

I like cream corn.

Invest in the stock market using the points they earn.

So it's a game. They are now setting you up. It's under the guise of responsible dating all to get a credit card. Am I drawing the lines correctly?

What I'm thinking is happening here is, we're all people who want to build our credit. And so I'm going to find somebody on the Score app and I'm going to take them to dinner, and I'm going to use my Cream Card to buy us Filet Mignon and Dom Perignon. And it's okay if I spend more than I can afford, because I can take the points and invest them in the stocks.

I have so many thoughts that I feel like James Childs, our Fearless producer, sitting on my shoulder right now, saying, careful. I have many thoughts about this.

It's not good.

I'm going to go to a restaurant with my Score date and drop my Cream Card on the table.

And she's going to go, ooh, la la, like he has the card.

I just don't know, man. This is all, this is garbage. This is a game. So let me say this. You tell me more.

Literally.

It's just terrible.

I'm like, wait a minute. So you're going to spend more money. Let's just put this in simple, real terms.

Is this appealing only to the African American community?

I hope it's not appealing to any community. I mean, don't get me wrong.

I think that I know you don't, but I'm saying this feels like this is a, this is a, this is a real play.

Well, let's real talk for a minute, Ken. What I think about stuff like this is just Jade talking. What I truly think about situations like this is I think that at their core, they think they're helping people and they want to help people. And they're thinking the way. they think, the way we help people is to help them build their credit score.

I don't. I think these are slimy credit card people, because the whole point of the app is to lead you up the ladder to the credit card. I'm just telling you.

But think about it. I don't know what the point system is.

They don't care about dating. They don't care about marriage.

But they're thinking we're going to bring couples together who are like-minded, who are going on a financial journey together, who are going to build their empire together, right? And I'm like, you can't do that based on credit and debt.

Because think about it. 100%.

If you say, all right, in a normal life, if I was spending cash, I'd spend $100, right? But if you're like, listen, you don't get any points until you spend 150.. Then you spend $50 more. And then you're like, okay, great. I spent $50 more.

This is a sign of the apocalypse. when we're trying to get cream points. We've now, it's like society is done. All right, now. I got an idea.

Listen, that would be the app for me.

No debit card, no credit card. It's no, it's just, you know what? You want to find people who are like-minded with you with money. Money problems is one of the biggest cause of divorce. We need a dating app.

It would change society. I have some real thoughts. I can't share them, though.

I'm just saying, that's the-.

I feel like you're narrowing the pool a lot.

Yeah, yeah. You want to narrow the pool to find the right person. Yes, but- Small pool for the long game.

Yes, but in many ways, love goggles can be very helpful. Yes, love goggles. Like when you meet someone-.

I'm lost right now.

I'm going to get you where I'm going.

Okay.

When I met Sam Warshaw, I didn't know how much debt he had, but I'm like, this guy's a snack. So I'm like, let's go forward. And by the time I found out how much- He's a snack. By the time I found out how much debt he had, my love goggles didn't care. So he wouldn't have got into the app and maybe instead I would have been matched with some poindexter who's maybe not as good looking.

All right, I'm being a little altruistic, but I'm just saying you want to be around people, you know, that you want to have no money problems. You want to find girls. You want to find guys that got no debt. That's just an app idea. This whole segment's hysterical.

A protein bar?

A bag of chips? A filet mignon. That's a snack. That's an entree. My world, what kind of world do you live in where a filet is a snack?

A chocolate-covered strawberry, Ken.

Oh my gosh. Stay away from the app and the credit cards and everything. Oh my gosh. I feel like I learned so much and yet I'm not better for it.

Well, now you know Wu-Tang Clan, so there you go.

I do need to search the old tube, the YouTube, for some Wu-Tang videos. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hi, I was getting a call out of question. Me and my wife are going back and forth. I'll give you a little background. I have four properties, I guess, that are all paid off, and we bought this one property to build a house on. My wife wants me to get a loan and finish building the house, just because we've had some problems with hiring and doing it a little bit at a time.

So real quick, are you living in some other house, or are you living in a part of this house? Because I heard you say four. Okay.

No, I live in my other house that I live in right now. I have like two other rental properties, and then we bought this other property.

Okay, I heard properties, and I wasn't sure if we were talking dirt or homes. So are there homes on all these properties? No, no, no.

Yeah, I have three homes and one property. Well, I have an old beat-up home on it. I'm going to tear down my building.

Gotcha. And you're in the process of building another house right now?

Yes, on that property. Yes, sir.

How much do you have left?

Oh, I just started building the shop.

Oh, okay.

My wife wanted me to. Like I said, the house I live in now is 20 years old. So my wife wants me to put some money into this house, and I want to sell this house and just use that money to build a house.

Okay. Well, let's get some real numbers here. So what's it going to cost you? Eventually, you guys are going to move out of this house, and you're going to build something on this land, or whatever it is that you own, right? So what do you think it's going to cost to do that?

I'm looking at about $400..

$400, okay. And how much cash do you have saved?

I got about $150 in the bank, I guess I can say this.

And is that aside from three to six months of emergency fund, or is that including?

Yeah, well, because I have... No, that's aside, because I have like $20,000 I saved for emergency fund.

So we've got $20,000 aside for emergency fund, and then you've got this $150, correct? Two separate pots.

Yes.

Okay. I'm sorry, I'm asking you a bunch of questions, but I want to get the lay of the land. How much income do you and your wife bring home per month combined?

It's about $120.. I mean, it ranges, it goes a little higher sometimes, but $120, let's go with that.

So my suggestion here, I'm going to give you a couple of different options. For your emergency fund, I'd probably like to see it beefed up a little bit more, simply because you're about to move into a brand new house, or you kind of live in a rental now that needs work. I just feel like having a little more than $20,000 might be helpful. So whether it's you just stacking that cash up, or you moving some over from the $150,000 that you have piled up. Then my next question is, if I were you, you know, I look at this situation and I'm thinking, you've done a lot of things right.

You know what I'm saying, yeah. The house I live in now don't have a mortgage.

Right, but when you go to move into this new house that you build, you want to lay your head down on the pillow and know there's no mortgage there. So I would consider, I don't know what these other three properties are worth, but what would it take to find, to pull together another, you know, $300,000 to make this happen debt-free?

Well, yeah, that's the thing. I wanted to do that, but then I'll keep building it up and then I'll do it as we go. But my house I'm in now needs work. So I need to put like another $20,000, $30,000 in this house.

In order to even sell it?

I would sell for $500,000 right now, which it is, but I want to fix it up a little bit.

Well, if you know that you're going to sell it, I wouldn't put the money into selling it. if you know that you're going to still pull $500,000 from it.

But then my wife, because I told her, let's move to the other property and live in our motorhome and then sell this house and we'll have the money to build that thing. But my wife don't want to live in the motorhome up on the other property until we-.

How long would it be?

Because living in this house, well, another story, I got two girls that are still in high school. So I got to wait for them to get out of high school. So I got about three years.

So what's the realistic timeline on this? If they're out of high school in three years,

I mean, I use it, for, I like going out in it. I don't want to sell my motorhome.

What's your household income?

It's probably worth $25,000, so it's not worth a lot.

Listen, at the end of the day, here's the math I want you to do. If you calculate that with all the other vehicles you have, if it's more than half of your income, your yearly income, you need to get rid of something, because that's too much. You're not, you don't have enough of a...

Joaquin, you called to ask us, should you finance building a new house because your wife wants the house? The answer is no.

And I've listened to you guys forever, and I know you guys are going to say no, but that's why I wanted her to hear about it.

Right, but we've walked through everything. This is really simple. You're going to do what you want to do with the motorhome. I agree with Jay completely, but bottom line is you don't need to finance, so don't finance. You have the properties to be able to do this.

And the good news is, if he wants to get started on this sooner, all he has to do is look and go, the other rental house, when's their lease up? Because as soon as their lease is up, you guys can move in there and get started sooner than three years from now. So he's got options. It's his wife. he's going to have to get on board.

Oh, yeah. And he is not wanting to part with that mobile home.

I feel that.

Do you?

Look, that's the least of his concerns. I agree.

He can do everything we told him to do and still keep the mobile home. But when you've got opportunities like that, it just makes so much more sense. Fascinating. So you have been, how long have you been co-hosting on the show?

Ooh, since September. No, since December of 22..

All right. I've never asked any of my co-hosts this. So I'm fascinated with this.

I'm ready, Ken.

What is your take, having sat in the seat enough now, on? why a guy like him, I'm not knocking on him, why does Joaquin know exactly what we're going to say, but he still calls in anyway?

He and his wife are not on the same page. And so when he goes in to talk to her about this, he feels like he's speaking another language. But when he calls us, now, suddenly we're all talking the same language and he realizes he's not crazy. That's what I think.

And then he gets a little bit of confidence, a little bit of language to take back.

Yeah, it's like, okay, I'm not totally crazy. Okay, now I can stand on business a little bit more when I go talk to my wife. That's what I think.

I concur. I concur. I can't add anything to it. I've never asked one of my co-hosts. And you know what?

That's a good word, Ken.

It's a word you can use this week. No one will know what it means, but just sound great. Don't move. This is the Ramsey Show.

All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're someone you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is with me, 888-825-5225, answering your calls. Let's go to St. Louis, Missouri area.

Hi, John. So me and my girlfriend... I'm Ken.