Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out

Summary

Summary of "Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out" – The Ramsey Show

Release Date: January 7, 2025

Host: Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw

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Introduction

In this episode of The Ramsey Show, hosts Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw delve into various callers' financial struggles, offering actionable advice based on Dave Ramsey's proven financial principles. The primary focus revolves around overcoming debt, budgeting effectively, and making informed financial decisions to build wealth and secure financial stability.

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Caller 1: Isaac from Springfield, Missouri

Timestamp: [01:03] – [08:33]

Situation: Isaac, a 26-year-old married father of two, runs a new cookie store franchise with his wife since June. Additionally, he works as a realtor. Despite their full-time commitment, the business is only breaking even, leading to considerable stress over bills and personal finances. They owe a significant loan to a silent capital partner amounting to approximately $125,000 (70% of a quarter-million loan).

Key Issues:

• Business not generating substantial income.
• High debt due to initial loan.
• Limited time and resources, leading to reliance on side hustles like DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Advice & Insights:

• Prioritize Family Finances: Ken emphasizes the importance of securing a stable income to support the family before focusing on the struggling business. "You and your wife have got to be spending time actually making real money taking care of the family." ([06:01])

• Evaluate Business Viability: Jade suggests exploring every possible revenue stream for the cookie store, such as catering for events and collaborating with local businesses to increase sales. "I want to cater every event with dessert. I'm going to companies and saying, what can I do?" ([05:28])

• Consider Cutting Losses: Ken raises the possibility of discontinuing the cookie business if it continues to underperform, emphasizing not to prolong financial strain. "I'm not worried about the cookie business... I want to cut bait at some point." ([06:03])

• Debt Management: The couple is encouraged to consolidate their debts and possibly restructure their loan to alleviate financial pressure, aligning with the debt snowball method.

Conclusion: Isaac and his wife are advised to stabilize their personal finances by securing a reliable income source and critically assessing the viability of their cookie store franchise. The hosts advocate for prioritizing family needs and making tough decisions to prevent prolonged financial distress.

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Caller 2: Melissa from Orlando, Florida

Timestamp: [13:00] – [30:36]

Situation: Melissa, a single mother living with her parents, faces $8,000 in debt after consolidating credit card debt with a loan in late 2019. The pandemic led to job furloughs and a move to a different state, making it difficult to keep up with loan payments. She earns $3,800 monthly from her job and an additional $800 from child support. Her primary debt includes a car loan with a remaining balance of $21,000 and medical bills.

Key Issues:

• Inability to keep up with loan repayments due to unforeseen circumstances.
• Limited income sources.
• Upcoming expenses include moving out and supporting a young child.

Advice & Insights:

• Budget Creation: Jade underscores the necessity of creating a detailed budget to understand monthly income versus expenses, allowing Melissa to allocate funds effectively toward debt repayment. "If you have the budget which will set you up... here's what you're spending." ([07:46])

• Debt Snowball Method: Melissa has started paying off smaller debts, which Jade encourages continuing to build momentum in eliminating debt. "You should be spending $3,000 a month on paying off debt." ([19:29])

• Car Loan Evaluation: Considering the high monthly car payment of $570, Jade suggests downsizing the vehicle to free up funds for debt repayment and essential expenses. "I would get out of that vehicle. I'd buy something far less expensive in cash." ([18:53])

• Prioritize Essential Payments: Ken advises prioritizing immediate family needs over the struggling business, ensuring Melissa can support her family without additional financial strain. "This is ideal... you and your wife have got to be spending time actually making real money taking care of the family." ([06:46])

• Financial Planning: Emphasis on using available income efficiently, minimizing unnecessary expenses, and possibly seeking additional income sources to expedite debt repayment.

Conclusion: Melissa is guided to overhaul her budgeting approach, reduce high-interest debts like her car loan, and focus on essential expenditures to regain financial stability. The importance of prioritizing debt repayment while planning for future financial goals, such as moving out, is highlighted.

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Caller 3: Katie from West Palm Beach, Florida

Timestamp: [21:34] – [30:52]

Situation: Katie is navigating a divorce from a military spouse, living in an RV, earning $13 per hour, and supporting two young children. She aspires to attend nursing school without accruing additional debt. Her husband is not forthcoming with financial support, complicating her efforts to rebuild her financial footing.

Key Issues:

• Low income and lack of financial support post-divorce.
• High childcare costs.
• Desire to further education without increasing debt.

Advice & Insights:

• Increase Income: Ken and Jade stress the necessity of finding higher-paying employment or additional income streams to support her family and finance her education. "You don't have to have a degree to get that kind of money." ([25:31])

• Budget and Debt Management: Emphasis on creating a comprehensive budget that accounts for all expenses, including childcare, and allocating available funds towards debt repayment. "There's nothing wrong with that... the only wrong answer is you not talking about it and coming up with a plan." ([34:57])

• Educational Financing: Advising Katie to consider the cost-effectiveness of her nursing program and explore scholarships or part-time work to offset tuition expenses. "This is like cleaning house. Right... it's going to get you on a firmer foundation." ([07:46])

• Long-Term Planning: Encouraging her to view current financial challenges as temporary setbacks that will strengthen her financial resilience in the long run. "So this is like you cleaning house." ([16:12])

Conclusion: Katie is encouraged to focus on increasing her income, meticulously budgeting, and strategically planning her education costs. The hosts provide reassurance that overcoming her current financial hurdles will set a solid foundation for her future independence and financial security.

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Caller 4: Christian from Portland, Oregon

Timestamp: [42:53] – [73:34]

Situation: Christian is beginning Baby Step Two, aiming to eliminate $90,000 in debt, including a $35,000 auto loan and $55,000 in credit card debt. He receives $7,000 monthly from a trust and approximately $2,000 from part-time farm work. Balancing responsibilities as a father to a two-year-old, he struggles with budgeting and managing his finances effectively.

Key Issues:

• High debt relative to income.
• Difficulty in managing finances and sticking to a budget.
• Emotional stress related to financial mismanagement.

Advice & Insights:

• EveryDollar Budgeting App: Jade recommends using the EveryDollar app to create and adhere to a budget, simplifying financial management by automating calculations and tracking expenses. "The only commitment you have to make is to make the thing right, plug your numbers in, and just to take atomic habits." ([44:20])

• Debt Reduction Focus: Prioritizing paying off the car loan to reduce monthly obligations and freeing up funds to tackle credit card debt more aggressively. "I'm gonna take that bet and I'm going to probably get out of this car because what are you paying every month for it?" ([49:14])

• Income Enhancement: Ken emphasizes the importance of increasing income, even if through part-time work, to accelerate debt repayment. "You're putting everything on your American Express. And then what happens if you lose your job now, you just owe the money, but you didn't get your paycheck." ([73:02])

• Emotional Empowerment: Highlighting the psychological relief and empowerment that comes from taking control of one's finances without relying on credit cards. "You're going to actually feel that you've been in debt this whole time." ([72:30])

Conclusion: Christian is advised to implement a structured budgeting system using the EveryDollar app, focus on eliminating high-interest debt starting with his car loan, and seek ways to increase his income. The hosts emphasize the transformative impact of disciplined financial management on both his financial health and personal well-being.

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Caller 5: Dag from Seattle, Washington

Timestamp: [53:47] – [73:34]

Situation: Dag is approaching retirement from a career in emergency response and seeks guidance on pursuing a second career in teaching without incurring additional debt. He has paid off his house and accumulated $460,000 in mutual funds, earning substantial interest. Dag is exploring whether to continue holding farmland or invest the proceeds more lucratively.

Key Issues:

• Transitioning from a physically demanding career to retirement.
• Deciding between selling farmland or continuing to lease it.
• Optimizing investment strategies for retirement funds.

Advice & Insights:

• Asset Evaluation: Ken advises Dag to assess the long-term potential of the farmland versus the historical performance of mutual funds, suggesting that selling might provide a better return based on current information. "I'd probably go buy a sign today and smack it in the dirt, and take that money and put that away." ([38:37])

• Investment Strategy: Jade recommends diversifying investments by maximizing contributions to Roth IRAs, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and placing excess funds into a brokerage account to achieve higher returns. "I would definitely be investing this money and getting a better rate of return." ([59:56])

• Retirement Planning: Emphasizing the importance of having a clear financial plan that prioritizes savings and investments to ensure a comfortable retirement. "Keep three to six months of expenses... invest the rest." ([59:40])

• Emotional Considerations: Addressing Dag's feelings towards inheritance money, ensuring he understands that it is his to manage wisely for his future. "It's yours... If you give me a gift and I just set it on the shelf... Now, it's yours." ([61:10])

Conclusion: Dag is guided to critically evaluate the financial benefits of selling his farmland versus continuing to lease it, with a strong recommendation to prioritize investing in mutual funds for better returns. The hosts stress the importance of strategic investment and comprehensive retirement planning to secure his financial future.

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Caller 6: Tyrone from New Jersey

Timestamp: [64:40] – [69:05]

Situation: Tyrone works for a small company with less than 20 employees and has discovered irregularities in his 401(k) contributions. His employer made minimal deposits throughout the year, culminating in a single large deposit at year-end. Concerned about the legality and ethics of this practice, he seeks guidance on whether to continue his employment.

Key Issues:

• Suspicion of unethical handling of 401(k) contributions by employer.
• Lack of clarity on the employer's financial practices.
• Need for accountability and transparency in retirement savings.

Advice & Insights:

• Immediate Action: Ken and Jade agree that Tyrone should address the issue decisively by questioning his employer thoroughly and seeking legal counsel if necessary. "It does not sound that right at all." ([65:17])

• Professional Consultation: Suggesting Tyrone consult with an employment lawyer to understand his rights and the legality of his employer's actions. "I almost might seek an employment lawyer on this." ([67:05])

• Proper Financial Management: Emphasizing the importance of ensuring that retirement funds are managed properly and invested consistently to maximize growth and security. "What matters is... what that land is..." ([36:43])

• Building Trust: Encouraging open communication with the employer and demanding transparency regarding his 401(k) contributions and investment strategies.

Conclusion: Tyrone is advised to take immediate and serious action regarding his employer's handling of his 401(k) contributions. The hosts recommend thorough questioning of his employer and seeking legal advice to protect his retirement savings and ensure ethical financial management by his company.

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Caller 7: David from Denver, Colorado

Timestamp: [73:34] – [77:34]

Situation: David is nearing retirement and seeks advice on pursuing a second career while managing his investments conservatively. He has a paid-off house, $460,000 in mutual funds, and plans to purchase a new home. David is considering transitioning into teaching, leveraging his extensive experience in public service.

Key Issues:

• Choosing between selling farmland or investing proceeds more lucratively.
• Deciding on a second career post-retirement.
• Optimizing investment strategies for continued growth.

Advice & Insights:

• Career Transition Planning: Ken advises David to explore teaching opportunities within his current department or consider obtaining additional certifications to facilitate a smooth transition into education. "If I can get out of the environment... what I would do." ([55:01])

• Investment Optimization: Jade recommends reallocating funds from high-yield savings to more diversified investments like Roth IRAs, HSAs, and brokerage accounts to achieve higher returns. "If Godrit, put it in mutual funds... invest it." ([59:56])

• Financial Accounting: Emphasizing the importance of maintaining an emergency fund and maximizing retirement account contributions to ensure financial security during and after retirement. "Keep three to six months of expenses... invest the rest." ([59:40])

• Inheritance Management: Addressing David's concerns about treating inheritance money wisely, ensuring he recognizes it as his own and plans accordingly. "It's yours... it's your money." ([61:10])

Conclusion: David is encouraged to strategically plan his career transition into teaching by leveraging his existing experience and possibly acquiring additional certifications. Additionally, optimizing his investment strategy by reallocating funds to higher-yielding investments is recommended to enhance his financial security in retirement.

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Caller 8: Tyrone from New Jersey

Timestamp: [65:16] – [73:34]

Situation: Tyrone works for a small company with less than 20 employees and has discovered irregularities in his 401(k) contributions. His employer made minimal deposits throughout the year, culminating in a single large deposit at year-end. Concerned about the legality and ethics of this practice, he seeks guidance on whether to continue his employment.

Key Issues:

• Suspicion of unethical handling of 401(k) contributions by employer.
• Lack of clarity on the employer's financial practices.
• Need for accountability and transparency in retirement savings.

Advice & Insights:

• Immediate Action: Ken and Jade agree that Tyrone should address the issue decisively by questioning his employer thoroughly and seeking legal counsel if necessary. "It does not sound that right at all." ([65:17])

• Professional Consultation: Suggesting Tyrone consult with an employment lawyer to understand his rights and the legality of his employer's actions. "I almost might seek an employment lawyer on this." ([67:05])

• Proper Financial Management: Emphasizing the importance of ensuring that retirement funds are managed properly and invested consistently to maximize growth and security. "What matters is... what that land is..." ([36:43])

• Building Trust: Encouraging open communication with the employer and demanding transparency regarding his 401(k) contributions and investment strategies.

Conclusion: Tyrone is advised to take immediate and serious action regarding his employer's handling of his 401(k) contributions. The hosts recommend thorough questioning of his employer and seeking legal advice to protect his retirement savings and ensure ethical financial management by his company.

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Final Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw consistently emphasize the importance of:

• Budgeting: Utilizing tools like the EveryDollar app to create and adhere to a realistic budget.

• Debt Reduction: Applying the debt snowball method to eliminate high-interest debts systematically.

• Income Prioritization: Securing stable and sufficient income sources to support personal and family needs before pursuing additional business ventures.

• Investment Strategies: Making informed decisions about investments to ensure long-term financial growth and security.

• Open Communication: Encouraging transparent discussions within families and with employers to resolve financial issues effectively.

The episode serves as a comprehensive guide for listeners facing similar financial challenges, providing them with practical steps to climb out of debt and build a financially secure future.

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Notable Quotes:

• "You gotta make money." – Ken Coleman ([05:28])

• "You have to have a budget to know where your money is going." – Jade Warshaw ([07:46])

• "I'm not willing to say that's now, because I don't know enough." – Ken Coleman ([06:03])

• "This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show." – Ken Coleman ([08:53])

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Conclusion

"Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out" offers invaluable insights and actionable advice for listeners grappling with debt, struggling to manage finances, or seeking to make strategic financial decisions. By addressing real-life scenarios and providing tailored solutions, Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw empower individuals to take control of their financial destinies and work towards lasting financial peace.

Transcript

[Ken Coleman]

Foreign. Welcome to the Ramsey show where we help you win in your life. We're gonna help you win with your money, win at work, in your work, and win with your relationships. All three of those are coming together. Hopefully, you're winning. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is the voice and the fabulous face that you see next to me. And we are here together. We're gonna help you out, take your phone calls. Triple 882-522-5888, 825-5225. Partner, you ready to go? You warmed up? Did you salt cleanse on the throat or any kind of loss?

[Jade Warshaw]

Stretch the hammies.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

Warmed up the voice.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. I like you. Stretch your hammies for sitting here for three hours. That's pretty good. We're gonna start it off in Springfield, Missouri, with Isaac today. Isaac.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. So I'm 26, I'm married with two kids, and I own a business that we just opened back in June. It's really taking a lot of time from us. My wife and I are both working at it full time, and we're not making much money yet. And so we're just kind of stressed about bills and stuff. We're kind of wondering how we can organize our lives better to be able to make more money and move forward.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what kind of business is it?

[Caller]

So it's a. It's a franchise that a friend of mine and I bought into, and it's a cookie store.

[Ken Coleman]

And it sounds like we got a myriad of issues. So I heard we got to organize, but then we've got to figure out if this franchise can actually work. So which is the bigger problem? Spending or budgeting the money? The little bit money you're making? Are you making any money at all? What's the bigger problem here? Because I heard several things, so I.

[Caller]

Guess to get more specific. So we have that business. I'm also a realtor on the side, and so any extra time I have, I'm spending on that trying to sell houses and stuff. I knew at that, too, just a few months ago. So I'm just barely starting to make money. The business itself, the cookie short, the cookie shop, isn't making really anything. We're just barely breaking even. And then we're just doing all kinds of little side hustles where we can doordash and ubereats and delivering for Walmart and stuff like that.

[Ken Coleman]

Let me ask this. Who is. Yeah, I got an idea. Now, what we're talking about. So is it you, your buddy that you mentioned you're the two partners. And your wife is also helping out just because you can't afford to pay anybody. Give us just a little bit more clarity on that.

[Caller]

Yeah, so we did stuff the stupid way because we hadn't found Dave Ramsey yet. And so a friend of mine, he. He's just a silent capital partner. He put in money up front and helped us get into it. We have a big loan on it.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much?

[Caller]

It's a quarter million.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, mama.

[Ken Coleman]

And you owe 125 of that?

[Caller]

Yeah. So I owe. Yeah. 70% of it? Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, no. Well, that ain't 125. Last time I did.

[Caller]

Oh, that would be.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, so you owe 70% of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

And the rest you owe to your.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm the 70% partner and you guys aren't making anything. You barely making it, keeping the business going. It's just barely made.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you know why? Do you know the problem?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have you figured out what the problem is?

[Caller]

Well, kind of. We think we do. So we, our sales were really, really good when we opened in the summer. And we would have made money, but we didn't have our expenses under control. Once we got our expenses under control, we cut payroll costs really down. We got control of our inventory costs, stuff like that. We're doing a lot better on the expenses side. But our sales went down and we hit the winter part of that is because our marketing budget was kind of gone. So we weren't making as much because we just. Our marketing was suffering.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you expect that also, did you expect that, that it would get slower during the winter considering, you know, it's the winter and folks aren't just out.

[Caller]

Yeah. And in Missouri, the winters are pretty brutal and cold, so. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you, you expected this, but it was too early to have had any reserves kind of piled up is what you're saying, right?

[Caller]

Yeah. So we're. Yeah, we're just barely making it. But yeah, my capital partner, he's out in a different state. My wife and I are here and we're operating the business.

[Ken Coleman]

How many hours are you working, the two of you, on this cooking shop?

[Caller]

We've been able to bring our sales up just a little bit, so we've been able to hire one more part time person, but my wife and I are both are each putting in about 25 to 30 hours a week.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, so what I'm trying to figure out, Jade, is they gotta make money.

[Jade Warshaw]

You gotta go out and get business. You're a cookie maker. I'm trying. If I'm. You and this is just me. I'm brainstorming ways they can make money. If I'm you, I'm trying to host every party, every wedding, every. I want to cater every event with dessert. I'm going to companies and saying, what can I do? Because you've got to make money, otherwise this is not going to do well for you. And I want to know if my competitors are making money, because if they're making money and I'm not, then I do know that I'm doing something. Not only doing something wrong, but I'm not taking advantage of every opportunity that's out there for my business.

[Caller]

Yeah, well, and I guess there's kind of another part and that, that's just. I'm really worried because I totally get what you're saying. And that's where my head is too. It's like I need to. We need to get our sales up. We need to get our sales up. That's all we talk about with the business. And so I'm trying to reach out and get catering orders and stuff. But then we're worried because the more time we dedicate to that and it's not a sure thing, that money will, you know, will go up. That takes away time where we're doing like doordashing and stuff and we're trying to pay the bills on the personal side. And so that's kind of where we're stressed.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, that's where I'm coming in. I don't know. I'm going to tell you something. If I'm going to do what we always do here, and I'm going to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Answer this the way Go kin style.

[Ken Coleman]

So I don't know what you're going to say and I'm anxious to see what my partner says here on this. But if I were you, I got to take care of my family first. I'm not worried about the cookie business. I'm really not. Because I hear it in his voice and I think there's a greater reality here. And I'm going to try to keep the cookie thing afloat with other part time people. This is already a slow season. You and your wife have got to be spending time actually making real money taking care of the family. And I'm not sure that there's a future on this cookie deal. And I. I'm the kind of guy that go, I don't want to prolong misery.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

I want to cut bait at some point. I'm not saying it's now. I'm not willing to say that Because I don't know enough. We have limited time, Jade. But I do think the most important thing is, is that one of them has got a full time, decent paying job that will at least take care of the family. So again, this is ideal. What would I do? I'd go either either Ken or Stacy has got a full time job that takes care of our expenses so that our family doesn't go below water. And then we fight to keep the cookie thing alive until we can apply some lessons and hopefully get more foot traffic. What do you think?

[Jade Warshaw]

I 100% agree. One of you needs to be working full time and, and, and find a full time job instead of doing all these odds and ends. I think that's also part of the equation here is you guys are burning the candle at both ends in many different ways. Yeah. I'm curious to know. I know you told us the actual debt. I'm curious to know what you're burning every single month. Like what are you losing? What are you losing every month? Because you said you're not making money.

[Caller]

So we were losing money. We've gotten to a point where we're either just breaking even or making about a thousand dollars or less.

[Jade Warshaw]

And when you say break even, does that include you guys paying yourself or that's just you keeping things on and keeping things going? Okay. Yeah. And then my next question before the next question I'd have before making this decision is, have you ever run a successful business before or is this your first go around being an entrepreneur?

[Caller]

So. So as a brick and mortar business, this is my first attempt at all. I've done other like side hustles and stuff, like helped with marketing for other businesses. Helped with.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Bookkeeping for other business.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I think this is going to be different for you. And I think for me there's going to be a moment, like Ken said, where you're going to have to cut ties with this because if you're not making money, you're losing money.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. I'd give it a run, but one of you's got to go make a really good living and not all this door dashing and scrapping. Let's get, let's get some comfort, see if we can give this thing a run. Or is it worth it at this point? Just go, all right, I'm going to take my 70% of that I owe. I'm going to pay it back. I'm going to learn something. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show where we coach you to win with your money, win in your work and winning your relationships. Alongside Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. Jade, are you fired up? You're ready to go? You got your talk ready for January 23rd. I'm talking about the take control of your money live stream. Let's get ready space out on the gigantic Jumbotron. As I was walking to lunch yesterday, I was like, hello, Jay.

[Jade Warshaw]

It was too much.

[Ken Coleman]

But gonna be a lot of Dave Ramsey. And you. That's right, are going to be teaching people how to stop living paycheck to paycheck so they can pay off debt and finally get ahead. Also, I'm told Rachel Cruz and George Camel will be joining for Q and a little cameo.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, factoids, yes, they'll be there.

[Ken Coleman]

So when you sign up, here's an extra little potential bonus. You will be entered in our cash giveaway. Five people are going to win $4,000 each at the Take Control of youf Money live Stream. That's this January 23rd. You can sign up. It's free. By the way, you can sign up for the live [e-mail] livestream. That's ramseysolutions.com livestream. Can I put you on the spot for a little a preview? What can you tell us? What will you tell us?

[Jade Warshaw]

I will tell you that your money is the most expensive thing that you have and yet most of us treat it without care. We don't know where it went. We just kind of guess about it. And here's the thing, Ken. If I Bought you.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, I'm very excited. What's your.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your favorite, like, luxury brand?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, Gucci category.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Can you give me, like, fashion?

[Jade Warshaw]

Give me fashion. Oh, Ralph, if I bought you a brand new Ralph Lauren trench coat, like a really nice one, you would treat it with care. It'd be on a hanger.

[Ken Coleman]

I would get it dry clean regularly. You want to keep those nice? Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.

[Jade Warshaw]

But you wouldn't get home. Ball it up.

[Ken Coleman]

Throw it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Throw it in the corner. Step on it. Wonder where.

[Ken Coleman]

Yard work in it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Wouldn't do yard work in it.

[Ken Coleman]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

If I said, ken, where's your coat? You'd know exactly where it's at.

[Ken Coleman]

I'd wear it in with a little bit of pride.

[Jade Warshaw]

Meanwhile, most of us with our money were like, I don't know where it went. Some of it's in my wallet, some of it's over here. I don't know what I spent. And it's so expensive. We spend our time, our effort, our sanity, our sleep. We spend so much to get it, and then we just treat it like, I don't know where it went. And so. So I'll be talking a little bit about that.

[Ken Coleman]

I like that great metaphor. That's gonna put people in a. A good place of tension.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

The way you just set that up. A lot of people are like, ouch. I'm treating my purse, my shoes, my fill in the blank better than I am. My greatest resource, my money.

[Jade Warshaw]

We're not realizing it.

[Ken Coleman]

It's gonna be fun. All right, let's get back to the phones. Melissa joins us now in Orlando, Florida. Melissa, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call. I am pretty new to the Ramsey show. I just started maybe about like a month or so ago, so I'm still learning. And I definitely want to change my relationship with money. But I'm calling because I took out a loan back in. It was the end of 2019 to consolidate my credit card debt, and I was paying it. I was able to afford the payments. And then the pandemic started, so I ended up getting furloughed for my job, and. And I also moved to a different state in 2021, and it was just a lot for me, and I just couldn't afford the payments.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So I kind of just stopped. Stopped paying. And I guess, like, I thought it, like, disappeared somehow. I don't know. But I never really got.

[Ken Coleman]

Speaking of the example you just gave, she did not know where it was.

[Jade Warshaw]

You Were. That was a wish. Or maybe it just evaporated.

[Caller]

Yes, there's a lot going on during that time. But. So I did. I remember seeing a couple emails from the company telling me to give them a call to, like, get back on track. And again, didn't answer those emails, which I wish I did, but a few years later, now we're in 2025. But I did get an email from a company saying that they sold off my loan to Debt Consolidator. And they basically were giving me very little options as far as, like, paying it off. It's for a little over $8,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so what are they saying to you?

[Caller]

So they offered to pay it in full by end of December, which I couldn't do. And then they also offered 90 days to pay it in full, but they keep going back to paying it in full. And I told them, you know, I have like, medical bills and stuff that I'm trying to take care of, so this is what I can afford. And there's just a lot of back and forth and I just don't want to delay it because I just don't want to want any legal issues or anything. But. And then just some backstory. I am currently. I live at home with my parents. I'm a single mom, and I am planning on moving out this year. So this whole thing just feels like such a setback for me.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

So it's a little discouraging.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, don't look at it as a. Let's change our thought here, because if you're. If your goal is to move out, don't think of this as a setback. This is just something that's going to. When you deal with it, it's going to get you on a firmer foundation so that when you move out, you're in a great position. So this is like you cleaning house. Right. And you know that feeling that you get after you clean everything out up, it's like, okay, everything's in its place. Everything's where it's belong. It belongs. I might be tired, but feel good. Right. You've accomplished something. Yeah. So let's talk about your debt snowball, because you said you've got some medical bills. Are you listing them from smallest to largest? Like, logically, what debt comes next?

[Caller]

So I actually just paid off my two smallest credit cards because I started that process.

Good.

So my largest would be my car. I have a few years left on that. And then right now my smallest credit card balance is probably like 400, so. And what's Your income right now, a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Grocer net, what do you bring home? So every month, how much money do you bring home?

[Caller]

Each month I bring home 3,800, but I also do get some child support as well.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much is that?

[Caller]

That is 800amonth.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, what are your actual expenses? Like, what do you, like, you're living with mom and Dad.

[Caller]

I know.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's what I'm wondering.

[Ken Coleman]

What's your bottom line? Like, you could make it if you only had this much coming in.

[Caller]

So I. My biggest payment is my car. Another, like, setback was last year when I had my baby. I went on an unpaid maternity leave. So I went about three months with no income. So I had debt. I thought, like, the whole point of me moving home was to pay off my debt, which is also 8,000.

[Ken Coleman]

Melissa, I'm jumping in only because we have limited time with you, and I want Jade to be able to get to this. So what is that minimum number that you need to just survive because you don't have housing? What's giving you a ballpark number? Is it. Is it $1,800, $2,000? 1500. What is it that you have to have?

[Caller]

I would say for the month? Yeah, I would say about maybe. Because with my minimums and my car, I would say maybe about, like, two, 3,000.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I think we've just discovered the issue. I think Ken just discovered it, which is you don't have a budget because people who have a budget know their numbers. And I'm not saying that to be, you know, ugly in any way, but we've just discovered, I think if you have the budget which will set you up with. Before you get off the call, you're going to be able to see, okay, here's what my life costs, and here's how much margin I have after I pay for everything that my life costs. Right. So for you, you're in. You're in a wonderful situation. And the fact that you're not paying for housing, and you've got to capitalize on that to the fullest extent while you're there. Okay? And you're going to be able to do that with the budget. You're going to be able to say, okay, here's the truth. I make. I have 4, $600 every single month. How much is your car payment?

[Caller]

It's 570.

[Jade Warshaw]

And how much is the total amount that you owe?

[Caller]

I have about 21,000 left.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what's it worth? Do you know?

[Caller]

I don't know, actually.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. I'd Be curious to know how much that's worth. If you want to get out of this really, really fast. It might mean downsizing your car. $570 is a lot of money to be paying when you're trying to do things like save up to get out of your parents house, pay off debt, take care of a one year old, that sort of thing. So I'd be thinking about getting out of that car, but the budget is the number one thing. And what you're going to do is you're going to put your income at the top. You're going to subtract everything that you think you might spend money on. And then, Melissa, whatever's left goes to your smallest debts. You should be moving very. You should be spending $3,000 a month on paying off debt.

[Ken Coleman]

I agree.

[Jade Warshaw]

There's no reason why you're not. You don't have a house, you're about to not have a car payment. Let's get going.

[Ken Coleman]

Hang on the line. What are we going to give her? We're going to help her out with it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, let's give her every dollar, premium and total money makeover.

[Ken Coleman]

I like it. All right, you can do this, Melissa. We're walking this through with you. This is the Randy Show. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Hey, folks. We all have stories. The family and cultural stories that we were born into. The stories of the things that have happened to us, both good and bad. And the stories that we constantly tell ourselves. And while we can't go back and change any of our old stories, the world is waiting to see what you and I are gonna write next. As we enter 2025, I want to encourage you to examine your old stories and be intentional about the new ones you're writing. And I'm not talking about goals that are going to be long gone by February. I'm talking about writing new stories that will change your life forever for the better. And if you're like me, therapy can be a great place to explore the old stories, even heal from them and begin to write new ones. And if you're thinking about starting therapy, I want you to consider my friends at Better Help. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy and you can talk with a licensed therapist when it works for your schedule, you just fill out a short online survey to get matched with the licensed therapist and you can switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. So start writing a new story this month with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com DeLoney to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L p.com DeLoney welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Here to help you win in your life. We want you to win with your money, win in your professional life and win with your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside triple 88255. 225 is the number. West Palm Beach, Florida is where we go next. Katie is there. Katie, how can we help?

[Caller]

Yes, hello. What a great opportunity. I just want to say and thank you guys for taking the call.

[Ken Coleman]

Sure.

[Caller]

Thank you.

I'm going through a divorce. I was married to somebody in the military. He brought me down to his hometown. Two weeks within arriving, left me with nothing. And because of jurisdiction, I can't leave. This town doesn't have a lot of work opportunities. I've managed to kind of make it on my own without any family or friends here. But in my current situation, well, obviously I want to get out. I'm getting paid $13 an hour and I'm living in an RV. But I am very thankful for the blessings that have come my way. But obviously I just want to see my way out. My thing is I want to go to school and I don't want to get in debt, but I feel like that might have to be an option and I just need to, I guess, I'm sure.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, let's start with two quick questions. Number one, do you have kids?

[Caller]

Yes, I have two little ones.

[Ken Coleman]

How old?

[Caller]

Six and a four year old.

[Ken Coleman]

And nobody to watch them?

[Caller]

No, it's just been me. So when we know, because of Florida being 50, 50, I, you know, you know, but I actually have the kids most of the time. When does, seasonally, when does your 4.

[Jade Warshaw]

Year old go to kindergarten? In, in the, in the fall or do you have another year to wait?

[Caller]

He's in daycare, so, yeah, this year he should be going to preschool.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

So you do have a daycare option. Okay, that's good.

[Caller]

Are you right? Yes. And, you know, there's certain programs that help with that, but right now it's, I'm paying for the full tuition for both of my kids and not getting any assistance. Okay, I know. Child support.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, so let's just, let's try to get you some clarity. Let's back out of the situation because this is, this is tough. Hard to see some things if, if money were no object and I just gave you this degree or certification, whatever you're referring to, and you're talking about schooling and I just gave it to you. Today. And you had that done, what would you be using the schooling for? What is this. This. This path direction you're thinking that you need schooling for?

[Caller]

Well, I just. It's not exactly what I want, but it's what pays. Nursing.

[Ken Coleman]

No judgment. So nursing, that's what you've selected?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, and. And. And what would you make. Would have you done your research? What would that allow you to start out at?

[Caller]

28? Around 28.

[Ken Coleman]

28 an hour. Okay, well, we've got a real challenge because you just literally have no money for the nursing program. How much would the cheapest nursing program cost you?

[Caller]

From what I've seen, and I mean.

[Ken Coleman]

The cheapest, because nobody cares what brand name is on the diploma. We just need the diploma.

[Caller]

Yeah, this is at the local community college. I have the number, but it should have been more prepared.

[Ken Coleman]

That's okay.

[Caller]

I did look into it, and I have the numbers. I just can't remember them. But it's absolutely cheapest.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, do you have a ballpark idea if you had to guess? If you don't, that's okay. I don't want to hold us up. So we need to know that number. Okay, so, Katie, I'm talking like, it.

[Caller]

Would be for an associate's 13,000. 13,840. So around 14.

[Ken Coleman]

So total with 14, that would allow you to become a nurse. 14 grand. Okay. All right, Jay, that least gives us a target on the future, the deadbeat dad thing. Just real quick question. I'll get out of Jade's way so she can coach you on this, but is, are there any legal recourse on this guy not. Not paying you what he owes you?

[Caller]

So he's. I was able to get the military detainee, but because he got out, right now we're in a limbo with the court.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, gotcha. All right. Okay. Well, we got to get our income up. We got to do bet. There's got to be a bridge, Jade, just on this. On the income side, there's got to be a bridge. From where she's at making 13 an hour. Now, if we could get her to 20, 22, 24 an hour. I don't care what it is, Katie. It's just you. You're doing something. You don't have to have a degree to get that kind of money, potentially. Now, I know you're in a limited area, so within reason, if we can get your income, is there a bridge or a second job? Friends, old grandmas at the church you go to? You've got to get really, really innovative in thinking. Who can help with the kids when they're not in daycare so you can make more money to be able to cash flow this nursing program, help me.

[Jade Warshaw]

Understand the limited area. Is it you're on base? Is it to help me understand that.

[Caller]

Very, very small town. Everybody knows everyone. If you get a job.

[Jade Warshaw]

West Palm Beach.

[Ken Coleman]

She's not in West Palm.

[Caller]

Where are you?

[Jade Warshaw]

I know South Florida.

[Caller]

Where are you? Okeechobee.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, okay, listen, I, I think there's more. I, I have different questions to ask you because I'm thinking about how we can cut around your budget. I thought I heard you say that you're paying tuition for a six year old or explain to me their daycare and whatnot.

[Caller]

Like the daycare. I'm paying full daycare and aftercare for my kids.

[Jade Warshaw]

For both.

[Caller]

Because I don't. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is the 6 year old in kindergarten or is still in daycare?

[Caller]

He's in daycare. The four year old's in daycare.

[Jade Warshaw]

And when does my six year old go to kindergarten? I'm trying to figure out when your time and your money frees up because daycare is super expensive. Plus there's the time aspect. So I'm trying to figure out when they will be in school, you know, from, from 8 to 3 and when you'll have that money freed up.

[Caller]

The aftercare for my 6 year old is at the school so. Because I get out around 4:30 and she gets out a lot earlier so I don't have anybody to watch her because I've only been here I think a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, I understand.

[Caller]

Trying to get to know people.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I'm just trying to understand when they both will go to kindergarten.

[Ken Coleman]

When will the 4 year old go to kindergarten?

[Caller]

Should be this fall. Preschool. Oh, you mean kindergarten.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, kindergarten, yeah. Okay. So that's going to be a huge, that's going to be a parting of the seas for you because you're going to get a lot more money back in your pocket and you're going to have built in child care for this portion of the day which right now with the single mom limited options, we need, we need to know when that's going to be. So I think for you that's going to open up a lot of opportunity. In the meantime, I do think that there's other things you can do for 13 an hour. I, for more than 13 an hour. I think you just need to expand your horizons. Even if it's you finding work for home from home things. Right. I think the Nurse idea is great and I want you to do that, but we've got bigger fish to fry in this moment. And maybe just for the next 12 months, until you can get your kids off to school, that not line item is back out of your life. You're starting to figure out what's going on with the child support and then you can start to devote money towards nursing. So I think this is a dream deferred, not a dream denied by any means, but I think the next 12 months is about you being in a survival mode and looking for work that you can do that's going to earn more money until you get to the position where you can get this degree. Is that fair, Ken?

[Ken Coleman]

I agree. Just from a logistics standpoint, Katie, because I'm trying to. I know you're overwhelmed. Who would watch the kids and when would, when would you do the nursing program if you had the money today? Somebody's got to watch the kids. What's that?

[Caller]

Right. And so I've been trying to plug myself into some churches, but it takes a while to build, of course, friendship and trust. So it's a work in progress.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, so here's the thing. You're doing the right thing. Here's my point. Jade's 100% right. I want to see you get more income. Let's solve the who can watch the kiddos while I'm making more money problem. I think that's huge. Let's get a budget. Jade will help you out. We'll give you the every dollar or something along those lines. Jade, you. But I think real quick, let's get help for kiddos. They know you're single, Mom. They know you need a little help. Let's get the finances completely under control. Let's increase our income. And once you're stable there, I think you can save up 11 to $12,000 faster than you think. If you have better income and you got everything kind of under control, you know where your money's going. In, out. I think that's the plan for me. Please don't do the debt. It's just going to put more stress on you. I think it's worth waiting.

[Jade Warshaw]

I agree wholeheartedly. I would not go into debt.

[Ken Coleman]

No, it's, it's just. And I get it, this is the lure, by the way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, she wants to, she's a in, in a hot pot that's about to boil and she wants to jump out. And jumping into debt is not the, the option.

[Ken Coleman]

Hang on a line, Katie. We're going to take care of you, Kelly will will get you hooked up with some great resources to kind of get control of the money. And with that clarity comes confidence to move forward on the advice we've given you. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside Jayde Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. Glad to have you with us as we coach you and others up to win with your money, win in your work and win with your relationships. 888-255-2225 is the phone number today's Ramsey Network app. That question is from Louis. We just finished paying off $100,000 in debt. However, we have only 80,000 saved for retirement and have 15,000 saved for our teenager who will be going to college in three years. I'm 50. My wife is 47. Our annual household income is 175,000 and we only live on maybe half of that. Should we not put money into our daughter's college fund at this point and just hope she can qualify for scholarships or cash flow college when we get there so that we can save more for retirement? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Jade Warshaw]

I like this question, so I always like to set the tone for these sorts of questions by saying that there's no requirement for a parent to pay for their child's education. Like that truly is really a privilege for both a privilege for the parent if they can afford it and a privilege for the child if they receive it. It doesn't make you a bad parent if you do not pay for your kids college. I know for me, my parents told me they're like listen, there is no college fund. You better be smart and good at sports, Right? And so the, the moral of the story here for you, Lewis, is as long as you're really communicating what the plan is and if the plan does not involve you giving them all the cash that they need for all four years or whatever it is, maybe they go to a technical college, maybe they go to whatever they decide. If you're not paying for the whole thing, what you do need to be saying is, and here's how we are paying for it. You're going to get these scholarships or you're going to work part time and have it thought through and talk to them about what that plan is as opposed to leaving them hanging or putting any room for them to think that student loans are an option. And so in this case, I think it's up to you and your wife if you go, hey, this is because you're going to retire, like that day is going to come and you're going to need the cash to be ready for it. So there is an inevitability, an inevitability there that you can't get around. And if you've sat with your smartvestor and you've realized, hey, if we don't get on the ball with this, we're not going to have the money we need for when we stop working, then yeah, that is a reality that you have to face and say, okay kids, this is all you get or you don't get any and here's what we're going to do instead. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I know people who can't afford to pay for their kids college and choose not to because they want their children to have skin in the game and they want them to pursue, you know what I'm saying, that side of it. So this really is up to what you guys decide. You have a really great household income. I'm wondering if you can continue to put 15 aside in cash flow a portion of this, whatever you decide to do. I, I just want you to know that there's nothing, the only wrong answer is you not talking about it and coming up with a plan. That's the only wrong answer?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, good answer, Love it. I can't add anything to that, so I won't. Let's go back to the phones. Kirk is joining us in Denver, Colorado. Kirk, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Yes, I'm just calling about just some financial question. I'm a pastor, been in ministry my whole life. We pastor a small church in Wyoming. And so we've lived in a parsonage all that time. So we don't own a home or anything. We've gone through financial peace in our church. We use cash for everything. We're completely out of debt. But my wife's parents were involved in a tragic car accident, lost their lives. And so they had. They live in Missouri and they had a couple farms. And so we sold one with my wife's brother. We sold one and just put the money into Edward Jones. And we made. We have about. I think there's about $460,000 in there. And last year we made 19% interest on that. I think our cash interest was around $75,000. Anyway, my question is we've been talking with her brother about this other chunk of land, and so he. I don't know if he's thinking we should keep the land. My question is, are we going to make more in interest if we would sell that and put it in a financial institution or keep the land, thinking that the value of the land might go up someday?

[Ken Coleman]

Depends on the land and depends on the stock market. Yeah, but. Well, yes, but we have historical averages on the stock market, so we know what the stock market has done historically. So you've got a range there of what that's going to do. What matters is this land. That's the asterisk in this. What do you know about the land? Is it just farmland? Is it in an area that's tell. What do you know about the land and the future around it?

[Caller]

Yeah, the land, it's. It's north of Springfield, Missouri. It's. And it's so just a rural land. It's just farmland. It does have some water that goes through it. So we're. We're probably going to just sell it. Not like to be developed, but just someone who would want the farmland to run cattle or add to their farm or whatever. And so it's. It's not in a county with like a big city. So it's. The value per acre is lower. Maybe it's like $10,000 an acre. We're not sure ex. What it's going to come up to.

[Ken Coleman]

You're on the right track. I would want to know what's the potential of this land over 15, 20, 30 years? Because if it's a retirement, because you're asking apples to apples, and these aren't apples to apples. And so that's what I would be doing. If I'm looking at this as retirement money, I'm either going to Put it in mutual funds the way we teach here, or I'm going to hold onto the land and at X age that we determine, we sell it. So as you look to however many years that is from now when you would actually want to use it for retirement, what do you project or what do some land experts in that area project that land value to be? That would be the answer that I'm looking for. And based on that, then I make my decision. And. And, you know, look, you're going to probably get much better return on getting that cash out now and putting it in mutual funds. That would be my guess based on what you've told me. But I would want to know for sure.

[Caller]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there anything.

[Caller]

I'm just gonna say I'm 58 years old and so we're going to be retiring here soon.

[Ken Coleman]

What do you think you guys stand.

[Caller]

To make them maybe on that land? You're thinking maybe 700? I'm thinking maybe 750,000. If I'm figuring it's like 150 acres. So if my wife gets 75 acres of it and it's worth $10,000, that's $750,000.

[Ken Coleman]

I'd probably go buy a sign today and smack it in the dirt, me. And put that. Take that money and put that away.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you. Do you. Do you need it? That's the other question. Is it. Are you banking on it? Is it something that you need in the short term?

[Caller]

Not in the short term, but definitely through retirement. Because like I said, we don't have a whole lot. And so this, this 400, close. Close to 500,000 that we already have in mutual funds. We're gonna need to buy a house. We're thinking maybe 250 to $300,000 house. So that's going to take a big chunk of that and then can just live on the rest and put it in a trust and give what we can to our kids.

[Jade Warshaw]

But the other question I had is, I mean, is it just. I mean, does it cost you anything? Is there any upkeep on this land? Are there any animals on it? Does it cost you anything?

[Caller]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is it just sitting?

[Caller]

Not really. And. And her brother lives down there. And so like fixing some fence. We actually lease it to a guy for. We don't really make a whole lot on it. He just runs some cattle on it. So there is some upkeep on the land somewhat.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't know.

[Ken Coleman]

What would you do?

[Jade Warshaw]

What. What popped in my mind is, is there a way that I'd Want to make money with this land as it's appreciating in value, so that I can make money two ways. That's what was in my head.

[Ken Coleman]

And then cash out when you're ready.

[Jade Warshaw]

And then cash out when I'm ready.

[Ken Coleman]

I like that. If you can.

[Jade Warshaw]

If I'm not, and if I'm not going to do that, then I'd probably cash it out and invest the money. That's. That's me. I'm not saying that that's necessarily right. It's just what my brain would be thinking of. I'm trying to find ways to get money right.

[Ken Coleman]

And that's why I said I take the 750 now, because it doesn't sound like I actually agree with you, Jade. I'd want to know what that looks like. And then again, I'm comparing. Where do I. So I'm with you. I'm 100% going. My goal here is to make more money, and that's your goal, too. So the question is, is what allows you to make the most money? I think my gut tells me, and I'm not informed, but I told you what I would do to get informed.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

I would add to it what Jay just said, which is, could we be making more money than just leasing to the current guy who's letting cattle run on it, run all those numbers, at which point I'm going to go if my money has a chance to grow faster by getting it now and putting it in the stock market through the mutual funds, the way we teach investing. And that's probably the way I'm going. Yeah, because you got, what, 12 years before you're gonna go after it? What do you think it work until 70?

[Caller]

I'll be. I'll be 59 in February. I mean, I want to retire whenever I can, but. Yeah, so I'm figuring, you know, 60, 67, 68, something like that, to retire and.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

I will say I love a lump sum. I love the idea of dropping a big old lump sum and letting that let it do. Let it do what it do, what it do.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I agree. And then, you know, you got options. I love that plan. I'd probably sell that dirt tomorrow.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. See what the wife wants to do, too. She's got a good intuition.

[Ken Coleman]

Glad you brought that up. This is the Ramsay show.

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[Ken Coleman]

Welcome to the Ramsey show. This is where we help you, America. Specifically, we help you win with your money, win and your professional life and win with your relationships. Alongside Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. We're both thrilled to be together for you. So we'd love to coach you up. Here's how we do it. You give us a call, 888-2552-258882-55225. Jade's our resident money expert. I'm the resident professional advice expert. Let's make mo money so that Jade can teach you how to keep moving, keep more of the money. That's our tango today. So can we help you? Let's go. Christian starts us off in Portland, Oregon. Christian, how can we help today?

[Caller]

Hi, Ken and Jay. Thanks for taking my call. Yes. I am just starting the new year off the right way with trying to get out of debt. I'm following the baby steps. I just don't have a lot of accountability and I need direction. And I really wanted to make a big deal about this, so I wanted to call the show and get some professional advice from people that I trust.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I've got good news for you because I'm sitting next to the budget queen, not the dancing queen. There it is. Do your thing. I think this man needs to know how to figure out a budget.

[Jade Warshaw]

First off, Christian, I love that you're understanding the importance of accountability to the point where you're like, I'm going to call on the show. People are going to hear it. I post about it on social media. I, I actually really like that some people kind of like to do their goals in the quiet and in secret. And I listen. I'm no psychologist. I don't know, but I have a feeling around that. I think that when people do their goals quietly, it's because they're afraid that if they don't accomplish them or if they're, they fail, no one has to know. Right. And so I love the account of you saying, no, I'm putting it out there. So my question is, what is it that you're trying to accomplish and what is it? What is the thing that you're worried about being a roadblock for you accomplishing it?

[Caller]

Well, I've never really been good at my finances in the past. Keeping a budget, keeping up like a record of my finances. And I'm about 90,000 in debt. It's 35 of it. 35,000 is an auto and the rest of it is credit card. And I am, I work part time seasonal on a farm in Oregon. I don't make very much, but I'm very fortunate and blessed to have a trust that I get money from every month and. But I've been very irresponsible. It's 7,000 now.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you get 7,000amonth from the trust and then you're working part time on a farm. What do you make from your part time work?

[Caller]

When I am working, which I'm off season right now, but usually about 2000amonth and I work part time because I have a two year old daughter and I watch her half the week. I have her three and a half days.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Do you have any support around you that could help with her?

[Caller]

Well, so her mother watches her the rest of the time and she is a big support and my daughter and everything.

[Ken Coleman]

I know, but I'm talking about you're, you're a daddy now. And I'm jumping in here because I don't like what I'm hearing and I'm not like criticizing you, but you need to be working full time even when it's your turn, your custody side of things. That means you see her after you come home from work. That means someone is helping you or you are paying for them to help you because you need to be making more money in this off season.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Is the trust for life?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. I have a question. You told me earlier that you've never been good at like managing your money or sticking to a budget. Do you know why? Why is that? What do you do instead?

[Caller]

Well, I was never really taught that. And yeah, I am. When I get around math or numbers, I choke up. I didn't get very far in math and school.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And it's, it's a very uncomfortable subject for me.

[Ken Coleman]

Is it also fair to say, Is it also fair to say that you haven't needed to budget?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Caller]

No. Well, what do you mean by that?

[Ken Coleman]

Meaning you've never had to worry about not having enough money, so therefore there was never a need to watch where this dollar was going and where that dollar was going?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. $7,000 a month. You can live on that.

[Ken Coleman]

$7,000 a month, a good chunk.

[Caller]

No, I haven't had that. I haven't. I only got it. Hasn't been that long since I've had that.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Caller]

And it hasn't always been 7,000. I started getting it in 2008, and it started off at 2,000.

[Ken Coleman]

Which is why, by the way, Jade, I want him working. Even though this is a nice blessing, I still want him working. Working.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So let's, let's get into this a little bit. I. I totally buy it. None of us were taught this in college. None of us were taught it in high school. Few of us were taught it in our own homes. So it's very, very important. And I'm also with you on the math. Despite popular belief, I actually hate doing math and I'm not very good at it. I made season in high school and college. So there we go. The good news for you is that we solve those problems here for you with every dollar. So before you get off the call, I want you to have the Every Dollar app. It's a budgeting app app. And it's going to help you do the things that you said you struggled with, which is making a plan for your money, sticking to the plan with your money, and doing the math on your money. It does all of that for you. The only thing that you have to do, Christian, is the only commitment you have to make is to make the thing right, plug your numbers in, and just to take atomic habits habit, stack it with something else you do, right? So if you have a, a habit in the morning of you make up, you wake up, you, you make your morning coffee and you read the news on your phone, right? You just add, and after I read the news on my phone or before I read the news on my phone, I track my transactions in every dollar. That's it. If you can start that habit this year, you're going to see things with your money begin to turn around. Because for most of us, we're just not. It's not part of our day to day rhythm. And so we're not seeing the fact that we're overspending on food or we're not seeing the fact that we're overspending and accidentally spent the money for something more important on something less important, right? And so for you, I think getting that habit into your life is going to be really important. So that's numero uno. The next thing I want to talk about is this car. So you said you've got a $35,000 car, and then you've got another 55 or 60,000 in credit card debt. So I kind of want to tackle the car. What's it worth?

[Caller]

I think it's probably worth a little bit less than 35. I haven't actually looked it up. I don't know those numbers. Numbers.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, then that would be my second piece of homework. Number one is every dollar. Number two, I'm looking to see if this thing, if there's a break even here or if, you know, if it's very short amount of upside downness. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take that bet and I'm going to probably get out of this car because what are you paying every month for it? 700amy guy. Let's get that money back into your wallet. That's a lot of money for somebody who's in $90,000 of debt. So if I were you, I would get out of that vehicle. I'd buy something far less expensive in cash. And yeah, that's what I would do.

[Ken Coleman]

That's almost half of that debt. Not quite, but almost.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you're clearing out a big portion of it. And then with these credit cards, you know, don't consolidate them. Don't, you know, do a shuffle game. Just list them, smallest to largest and pay them off one by one. Ken, what's he going to do with the career real quick?

[Ken Coleman]

I don't know. We didn't have enough time to get into that. What do you want to do? If money wasn't an object, Say it goes.

[Caller]

If money wasn't an object, Something to do with plants. I work on a veggie farm. I moved to Oregon so I could do permaculture design, which has a lot to do with, you know.

[Ken Coleman]

So here's what we're gonna do. Hang on the line. Kelly, let's get him a copy of find the work you're wired to do. It's a best selling book with an assessment. It'll help. This is the Ramsey show.

[Jade Warshaw]

You've got a lot to keep organized in life. Kids and calendars and carpooling and cleaning.

[Caller]

I mean, it is so much.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's why you need a Knockbox. That way if something happens to you, you leave your loved ones with happy memories and not a huge mess. Knockbox is a complete system to help you organize your accounts, personal history, estate planning, documents, and all your other info in one place. I'm talking about everything from life insurance policies and social media accounts to your dog's vet divided into 15 simple categories. Plus they've got checklists that tell you what to add to each folder so your family won't have to guess where everything is. So Start getting organized [e-mail] Ramsey your family will thank you. That's knockbox. N O K box.com Ramsey all right.

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[Ken Coleman]

The Ramsey show continues. Thrilled to have you with us, America. 888 825. 5225 is the phone number to jump in. We would love to hear from you. We want to coach you up. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside. Hey. Our Ramsey show annual listener survey is now live. We'd love to know your favorite parts of the show, what you like, what you don't, what you want to hear more of. Whatever it is we do want your opinion. There are a couple ways to participate. You can text the word survey to the number3.3. You can text survey to 33789. Visit ramseysolutions.com survey that's ramseysolutions.com survey. Or if you're listening on podcast or YouTube, click the link in the show notes. Sign up today to tell us what you think and you will be entered, by the way, to win a $500 gift card. So got a chance to win 500 bucks. Bucks just for telling us what you think. If you're gonna say anything mean about me, just go ahead and decide not to.

[Jade Warshaw]

There might be a few of those.

[Ken Coleman]

You think A few.

[Jade Warshaw]

A few can.

[Ken Coleman]

Can.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sweater.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, Today my sweater is just very low key today.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you're doing good.

[Ken Coleman]

I can't help it that I like, you know, some. Some bolder statements from time to time.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you do good. As do you, indeed.

[Ken Coleman]

But I think you pull it off better and maybe people are going, he should probably try to keep up with you.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm playing your song monochrome.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I like that. It's a good look. All right, back to the phones. We go. Triple 882-55-5225. Dag is joining us in Seattle, Washington. Dag, how can we help?

[Caller]

I, Jade, Ken, thanks for taking my call and listen to you guys for a few months or several months and love everything you guys are doing.

[Ken Coleman]

Thank you.

[Caller]

So I'm, I'm heading in the direction of my retirement from my primary career probably in the next, as early as three years, but could, could push that out a little bit. So I'm kind of, I'm, I'm, I'm looking at the sunset of, of my, my main career and what I'm looking to, you know, do as a second career and then also, you know, building some wealth in that I've already paid off. I'm, I kind of flip flopped. Maybe 5 and 6 paid off the house. So now I'm bolstering the college account for the kids and then trying to build some wealth, tools. And I'm playing it really conservative. We've got some money in high yield. I'm just looking a little, looking for a little direction and a couple of those areas as my sunset of my career kind of approaches.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, so direction in what you do for work after you retire from the main career and then direction in how to invest. Is that what I'm hearing?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Caller]

Yeah. And I, you know, I'm, I've been in public service as an emergency responder and just that, you know, the length of that career is wearing and tearing on the body a little bit.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Caller]

So I.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, let's just dive in there. Let's dive in. I have a sense that a guy like you calls this show, you have a couple of ideas that if, if there were zero resistance, you could go, this was probably one on my list, this is two on my list. Am I right?

[Caller]

Sure. Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, so give me number one. What would you do if there were zero resistance? Let's say we fast forward and we walk away from public service and boom, we walk into this. What is it?

[Caller]

It probably has something to do with teaching in the, similar to the field. So basically shifting my knowledge and experiences into some kind of teaching environment to the new up and comings, whether it's through my teaching LLC or at a local community college, certainly an option. I don't have a teaching credential, so I have to go down that route.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, what about instructing within the actual department?

[Caller]

And I do do that currently. It's getting out of the emergency response side of things. Kind of the wear and tear of the 24 and 48 hour shift.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. So the question is, since you're working, are you working for a municipality or the state?

[Caller]

A municipality, essentially.

[Ken Coleman]

I wonder if there are some training, instructing opportunities in different departments. And so the idea here is, here's where I would start brainstorming. Deck. All right, these people know me. I've been a city employee or county employee for X amount of years. I'm in the system. If I can get out of the environment, that's what I'm hearing you say in emergency, and I can move somewhere else and still take some of that transferable experience and get into instructing, then I'm not having to go necessarily get any qualifications. That's one option. The other option is, yeah, over the next couple years, you moonlight and get a, get an online teaching degree and then decide, I can go to the local high school, I can go to the local community college. You know, I think it's just laying out all the specific training slash instruction options in your area. Make a list. Where could I go if there were zero challenge or hindrances? Then, then we look at that list and we go, well, I kind of like the idea of teaching at this local trade school, or I like this idea of teaching at this local public school, whatever. And you begin to make the list of this is more desirable than that. And I got my top two or three options. And now I start asking the question. And these, I wrote about this, by the way. I'm going to give you the book paycheck to purpose, but I wrote about this. There's four qualifying questions. Once we know, dad, what I want to do, they are what do I need to learn? That's the education question. Could be a certification, may have to be associates, may have to be four year degree. What do I, what do I need to do? What experience will I need? Okay, that tells me where I'm entering or I'm transferring certain experience. Then it's how much is that going to cost me? That's the finance piece. And then finally, based on my finances, how long will this take me? And those are the four questions, Dag. And they're in the book. And I'll give the, give the book to you at the end of the call. And it's in the get qualified stage. But those four questions right there, that comes up with a plan. And now it's not intimidating Jade because now he knows what he's got to do. So I love that. I think that's your homework there. I want to get Jade in here on the retirement piece so she can give you some guidance there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, tell me more. The only thing that made my ears perk up is when you said that you were very conservative and you were utilizing high yield savings accounts. So I didn't know what percentage we're talking. So tell me more about that.

[Caller]

Yeah, I. So the, you know, the houses. I'm fortunate that I got my house. I got my house paid off.

[Jade Warshaw]

Nice.

[Caller]

I'm going to have a small pension, deferred comp. And I put quite a bit of money away to pay for my stepson's college. And my goal is to have that 100% by the time I retire. Okay. And. But then I have some. Some extra in there that, you know, I know that I can do better with that outside of a high yield.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much extra?

[Caller]

And it just. I would say in the hundred. Ish range, I'd be maybe comfortable with freeing up out of there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, that's the amount you'd be comfortable. How much is in their total?

[Caller]

240.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, my goodness. All right. Great job saving. Listen, if I were you, if I were in your shoes, I would keep three to six months of expenses. You sound like a guy who wants 12 months of expenses. But I for sure keep six in there. And then if. If you're not. If you don't have something that, you know, that you're intentionally about to do with this money, you know, you're not remodeling your kitchen or you're not about to do something, it's. It's not college money. I didn't. I'd invest it. I would. I'd be maxing out Roth IRAs every single year. If you have HSAs, I'd max those out and then I'd throw the rest in a brokerage account, and that's what I'd be doing. I'd definitely be investing this money and getting a better rate of return. Somewhere between 10 to 12. If you're investing in the mutual funds that we teach. The type of mutual funds we teach. Yeah. What. What gives you pause about that?

[Caller]

And I'm. Say that again. I'm sorry.

[Jade Warshaw]

What gives you pause about investing it?

[Caller]

I think part of it is a good portion of the money I've saved. A little bit of it was inheritance, probably about a third of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Caller]

And I just want to be. I kind of treat that as it's. It's not really. Yes, I received it in inheritance, but it's not really. Not really my money. It's.

[Ken Coleman]

No, it's yours.

[Caller]

Gift. And I want to. It is, but. Yeah. I just.

[Ken Coleman]

Can you imagine if I gave Jade a gift and then took it back the next day? No one's taking that money back. It's yours.

[Jade Warshaw]

Or if you gave me a gift and I just set it on the shelf and didn't use it to my advantage. Boom. Hey G, get with a SmartVestor Pro so you can learn about this and feel good about investing that money.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Come on, Dag. This is the Ramsey Show.

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[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Keith. Ken Coleman. 888-255-2225 is the phone number. It's time for our Question of the Day. It comes to you by and from our good friends. Why Refi? Why Refi? Refinance is defaulted private student loans and bills. A custom loan based on your ability to pay. You'll have a payment that you can afford with a low fixed interest rate you can't get anywhere else. So this will help you stick to your budget and work your debt. Snowball. Go to yrefi.comtoday/ramsey. That's the letter Y, R E F Y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states.

[Jade Warshaw]

Alrighty then. You have to turn your microphone on.

[Ken Coleman]

That's how that works.

[Jade Warshaw]

You do okay. Today's question comes from Tyrone in New Jersey. He says, I work for a small company with less than 20 employees. Recently I discovered that while my employer has been taking deductions from my check for my 401k, they have been holding the money and making a few small deposits into my account throughout the year and then one larger deposit at the end of the year. Huh. I confronted my employer and their only response was that they were sorry. Does this sound legal or unethical? And is it time to seek new employment?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeesh.

[Jade Warshaw]

That does not sound right.

[Ken Coleman]

It does not sound that. It does not sound right at all.

[Jade Warshaw]

Smells very fishy. Yeah. Because you're missing out on time in the market if they are not investing the money into the funds that's you chose.

[Ken Coleman]

This needs to be dealt with instantly.

[Jade Warshaw]

Instantly.

[Ken Coleman]

Like sitting down with lots of leaders going, hey look, I'm immediately. I got questions. Don't go in accusing, but a lot of questions and good questions.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good questions.

[Ken Coleman]

Why has this been happening?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

You said sorry. That implies a mistake. Has it been remedied? What are you going to do about all the back stuff?

[Jade Warshaw]

I need to know tone because I. I have strong tone.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm going to say serious tone.

[Jade Warshaw]

A serious tone? Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh yeah. Very serious.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

The qu. Let the. I like that you asked this. So I want to set this up well.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

The questions themselves take care of the tone. In other words, you don't have to be accusatory, angry. A really pointed, specific line of questions pre thought out, maybe right there in front of you on your lap or on your phone. And in the moment, the you're serious, Serious face. We're not joyful about this.

[Jade Warshaw]

No. No smiles, no amiableness.

[Ken Coleman]

It is seriousness. But I think the questions asked properly make it very serious. They go, this is a person who did their homework. This is a person who has follow ups. There is a line of questioning. They. They feel as though they are on a witness stand and that's how it should be. You don't have to be ugly and accusatory because you're hoping to get to the bottom of this and get an actual solution. But by doing this, you're going to find out really quick if this is a fishy situation or if this is a fixable situation. That would be my take.

[Jade Warshaw]

I like that. I, I love a, a furrowed brow and, but a nod. Yes, like, yeah, that, that way. First question.

[Ken Coleman]

How did this happen?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Oh, okay.

[Ken Coleman]

And stop talking. Yes, how did this happen? That's a serious question. Then the follow up is, has it been fixed? Will this ever happen again? What happens to the money that I earned? That should have been put like these questions, these questions are going to imply a whole lot of seriousness.

[Jade Warshaw]

That would be my posture and, and.

[Ken Coleman]

And spoken from a guy, by the way, who's not done it. Well, all right. I mean, because I get, I get how the heat should be pretty hot under the hood there. It should be steaming. But can we keep that in and can we ask the questions that way? That helps us hopefully get some real responses.

[Jade Warshaw]

I hope so. Yeah, this, this would be, this needs to be dealt with.

[Ken Coleman]

Would you, would you seek, I almost might seek an employment lawyer on this. Not, not lock up a lot of time, but maybe a consultation.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't think I, I mean, don't get me wrong, this is not the type of thing that would ever happen here, but let's just pretend I looked at my investments and said, wait a minute, like my thing didn't go in there. I mean, I, I would go to my leader and, or, you know, who's over HR or whatever and say, hey, here's what I discovered. I, I, I would not be lawyering at this point. I'd be doing what you're doing, which is asking serious questions.

[Ken Coleman]

This is the thing, though. They've already apologize. And so essentially that's true. We have an admission of, we have an admission of guilt here at this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Point for the next round. And if I see it again, because my thing is, if I see it again, then, yeah, I'm sorry, I should.

[Ken Coleman]

Have done a better job asking you if, you know, you've got to go have this conversation with the leader, which they do. I might consult an employment.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I probably would just at that point.

[Ken Coleman]

So I know what should be.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's, this is, you know. Yeah, this is very, gives me a little. Listen, I don't want to say do anybody wrong, but they took a loan.

[Ken Coleman]

It smells over there.

[Jade Warshaw]

That was a loan.

[Ken Coleman]

I get it. Let's go to Denver, Colorado next, where David awaits. David, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi, I'm starting to work the. Well, I'm working baby step two and I have been using a credit card for all of my like day to day purchases and I pay that credit card off every month, but I'm looking to stop using it and I'm just a little hesitant to like start carrying a balance so that I have like the money to just use the debit card for other things and then like have to carry that as I pay that one off too, instead of just like paying it off. And so I'm not sure, like, is it something where I should like wait a month or two and save up the extra money or should I just go and carry the balance and pay it off as quickly as possible?

[Jade Warshaw]

So, okay, let me filter it through the baby steps. So when you're paying off debt using the debt snowball method, what we say to do is you pay minimum payments on everything so that you're satisfying whatever your, your debts are for that month you're paying. You know, you're doing the things on your budget that are necessary for that month, whatever they may be. I mean, everybody pays their rent or mortgage. You pay your groceries, you pay your minimums on your debt and then the extra money after that goes to paying off your smallest debt. So you do need to satisfy with your own cash the things that the month requires. And which for you, that's going to feel some type of way because you're used to doing that with your credit card. So essentially you're used to taking all of your income and throwing it to your credit card to paying it off in this month. You're going to go, no, I'm going to take my income and I'm going to use it on my life. And what the margin is I'm going to use to pay off that credit card. And what you're going to discover there when you do that is what has been true all along, which is that money was debt and you were borrowing it and now you owe it and have to pay it back. That's what that's going to feel like. You're going to, you're going to actually feel that you've been in debt this whole time. Does that make sense?

[Caller]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Listen, I'm proud of you. I'm glad that you're. See, you've seen the light. You've had that moment. What caused you to, to go, you know, I don't want to do this anymore.

[Caller]

It just like it's a little hard to plan like when you're, the bill is finished on the 20th of the month, but you don't pay for it until the 15th of the next. And so it seems a lot easier, more simple to manage the other way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, listen, I want you to have every dollar. That's going to be a great way for you to make this transition into using your own money. And let me just say. And Ken, I know you can speak to this. When you have been a person who. You've let credit cards run their scam on you, which. What credit cards do is they say, hey, we'll make your life easier for you. Easy in the word, in quotes. But what it really does is it steals your confidence to handle your own money. That's what it does. Because you have this crutch that you've been relying on that's always there. It's debt, but you don't feel like it's debt. And then the moment you remove it, suddenly most of us are like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know what to do with my own income. It feels exposing. And so that you're going to feel that for a moment, and then you're going to go, oh, wait, I actually make money. And I. I work hard for my money, and I should have the dignity of managing it and spending it in and of my control.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, there you go. And what will change is I was waiting for him to respond because, you know, the emotion.

[Jade Warshaw]

He's licking his wounds.

[Ken Coleman]

He really is. But, you know, I love that he told you, why this? Why the call? Why the change? The stress of living off of that credit card way that a lot of people do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I'm going to use it for this and then pay it off. And for him, he's not wired for that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

And I'm just thinking about how light he's going to feel.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

You know when he just starts to do it this way, the way you've told him, and he goes, okay, now I am in full control, and I don't have that angst.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you're not behind a month when you do that. You're always behind a month. And so what happens? You put everything on your American Express. And then what happens if you lose your job now, you just owe the money, but you didn't get your paycheck.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So there's. There's method to the madness, people.

[Ken Coleman]

Good stuff. Thanks for the call. David. It's gonna work. Take a deep breath. Maybe three or four, and it's gonna be great. All right, don't move. Quick break. More of your calls coming up. She's Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. You're listening to the Ramsey Show.

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[Ken Coleman]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Koma. Jade Warshaw is with me. And we are here for you. Triple 882-55-5225. Triple 882-55-2225. Couple quick things here before we get back to the phones. You need to be tuned in to a new show called 90 Day Money Makeover. I'm a little excited about this because my partner, my, my partner today, the colleague here next to me, Jade Warshaw, you put it on your own Instagram.

[Jade Warshaw]

Just tell the folks we're friends. Partner, colleague.

[Ken Coleman]

We are friends.

[Jade Warshaw]

Thank you.

[Ken Coleman]

I just mean in the. Okay. Sam and Jade and me say we go to dinner. We hang out. We hang out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Thank you, Ken.

[Ken Coleman]

Sorry.

[Jade Warshaw]

Just put some respect on our relationship here.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, the respect was the colleague. It's a broadcasting thing. I've, I'm old school. I was trained on things like that. It's all just throwaway words. She's my dear friend.

[Jade Warshaw]

Thank you.

[Ken Coleman]

We actually hang out.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let's get into it.

[Ken Coleman]

I was bragging on you. You posted something on the gram and I saw it and I was like.

[Caller]

All right.

[Ken Coleman]

Because I'm not paying attention to your schedule.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know, I know.

[Ken Coleman]

90 day money makeover. You want to tell folks about it? Or I can tell them about it.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'll tell them a little something. So a while back, we said, what would it be like? You know, we take calls on the show all the time, Ken, and we give them advice, but we don't know if they're actually going to take the advice. So we thought it would be really cool to follow somebody who calls into the Ramsey show and actually help them take the advice. And so we follow them over the course of 90 days. And we've done a couple of these episodes and they have been really, really.

[Ken Coleman]

I really remember you telling me about this one where you were out, like on a farm.

[Jade Warshaw]

Like I'm talking about on the farm.

[Ken Coleman]

It took you a while to get there as I record it did.

[Jade Warshaw]

I was fighting for my life out there. Let me tell you, it was great Though the life change that takes place over the course of 90 days is absolutely incredible. And it really just. I mean, it's amazing. So anyway, 90 day money makeover. It's available now. The first episode came out Yesterday. It's on YouTube. You can go to the Ramsey show highlights page and watch it. The first episode, we follow a single mom, Heather Hartman. Let me tell you, Heather is amazing. I feel like we're bonded for life after this. But she's such a strong, just strong woman. Hard worker. But she was drowning in debt.

[Ken Coleman]

My production notes say that you may or may not have challenged her to sell some chickens, a calf and even a calf. Is this true?

[Jade Warshaw]

When I met her, she had 50 chickens. She had.

[Ken Coleman]

How much does a chicken fetch, bro?

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't know.

[Ken Coleman]

But you told her to sell.

[Jade Warshaw]

I told her to sell them. She had three cows.

[Ken Coleman]

Were you wearing overalls by any chance?

[Jade Warshaw]

No, but.

[Ken Coleman]

Straw hat.

[Jade Warshaw]

They convinced me to wear boots. Boots?

[Ken Coleman]

No, flannel, though.

[Jade Warshaw]

I. They convinced me to wear flannel.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, I gotta tune in just to see that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Listen, I was in my Green Acres era.

[Ken Coleman]

I. I went, did you buy boots for this?

[Jade Warshaw]

I did. And they were ugly. They were terrible.

[Ken Coleman]

What were they?

[Jade Warshaw]

Do we know Amazon?

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, you didn't go Timberland or anything?

[Jade Warshaw]

No, because I wanted people to know that it was a joke. I didn't want them to think that I was trying to.

[Ken Coleman]

I could see you wearing some really killer Timberlands on this episode.

[Jade Warshaw]

Maybe next.

[Ken Coleman]

Maybe next. Next time. I'm sorry. Interrupted you. So. No, you coach her up in this episode.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, coach her up. And. And she's gone through a lot. She's divorced, trying to work through a divorce. She's got children, she's got debt, it's a lot. And a huge farm that she had. So watch the episode. She really did does change your life. So again, available on YouTube or click the link in the show notes. Or you can just write on in there to the highlights.

[Ken Coleman]

As much as you laugh about going out to the farm, they made a good choice in choosing you. Not me, me. I mean, there's no chance you're getting this. Listen, this J. Crew Ralph guy out there and on the chickens and I'm not entertainment out there.

[Jade Warshaw]

Jaden can On a farm.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. From a silly standpoint, it wouldn't be much redeemable content. Like, they show me all these farm tools, I'd be like, what do you do with this? I have no idea. And I don't like calluses either. Unless it's from a pickleball paddle or a golf club. Those are the only two, too, that I like to get.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good to know. Good to know.

[Ken Coleman]

All right. It's gonna be fun. It's really good. It looks good. I saw it on. On Jade's Instagram, so it's very, very good. Trailer looks great.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, it's very good.

[Ken Coleman]

I can't wait. You know what we need to do? We need to have you and Sam over and we'll watch it. We'll do a watch party. Since we hang out all the time.

[Jade Warshaw]

I. Yes.

[Ken Coleman]

People want to know that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Not in the hot tub, because we won't do that.

[Ken Coleman]

No, I didn't know that was an option.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, you guys don't know this, but during the break, Ken told me about his hot tub. He told me about his new espresso machine. He told me about his deck. I'm like, I need to come to Yalls house, Ken.

[Ken Coleman]

All right, you're welcome.

[Jade Warshaw]

Take a call.

[Ken Coleman]

Moving on, Jenny is on the line in Dallas, Texas. Jenny, how can we help?

[Caller]

Hi. Hi, Ken. Hi, Jade. Thank you for taking my call. I just have a question. My husband and I have about $167,000 worth of debt, and I really wish I had found y' sooner. We. We are on baby step two, and the house is 125,000, and we have some consumer debt of 42,000. Okay. And my question is, my husband has. We've been married for seven years. Seven plus years. And he has a separate account than mine. We have two checking accounts, and then he has an emergency account that he only has access to. And I'm not really sure how much is in there, but he does use it for emergencies and for, like. We have all of our vehicles paid off, and they do need work from time to time, so that has come in handy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

And.

[Caller]

And he's. He's kind of. We've kind of done this thing where he pays the house note and then I pay the consumer side of it. And he's wanting me to, like, just get in there and get us out of debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, okay.

[Caller]

As fast as possible. And I'm like, we need to put everything in one checking account.

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

What does he say to that?

[Caller]

And he just says, well, I. I want you to have your own money. And I'm. I'm just.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there. Press that? Like, is there a. Can you see a reason for this? Like, are you guys coming from relationships where there was lack of trust, where there was some form of abuse or control? Is there a divorce? You know, was there Anything that would cause him to say, I want to keep mine over here and you over there.

[Caller]

See? And that's something that I've asked him before because I don't have a problem with us having the same account. You know, that doesn't. We've been together for over seven years. I mean, it's not. I'm not going anywhere and he's not going anywhere, so I'm not really sure. And at this age, I mean, we're in our 50s, so it's not like we're spring chickens and we're just trying to. I want to get all this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, that's kind of what made me ask. Because if you're coming from previous relationships, I'm just trying to get it into his head space a little bit. I'm talking to you right now, and clearly you're on board with it, which I. By the way, I think you're right. I'm just trying to understand what, what's giving him fuel to that fire. Did you have a season where you were spending like crazy? Like, tell. Is there anything other than just him wanting it this way?

[Caller]

Honestly, I'm the one that, you know, gets stuff paid off and he's like always, you know, bragging about me, you know, and. And I'm like, well, if you really want to do this, I want to do the scorched earth approach. And he's not a fan of that, which I can get. You know, he does put, you know, a portion of his check, every check into this other account that I don't.

Have access to, which is for emergencies.

And all of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have you asked for access to the emergency fund account?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what does he say?

[Caller]

Just, he just is kind of like, well, it's okay, I've got you covered. You know, And I'm just. It kind of frustrates me in a way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, listen, that's a red flag. That's definitely a red flag. I don't like that. I feel like that's a controlling effort if I'm just being honest. Honest. And what I find. And you know, Ken and I are both, you know, we, we both have been in long term marriages. Ken, I've been married 18, you've been.

[Ken Coleman]

Married coming up on 27.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. So here's what I know. If I say to my spouse, here's the way I'm feeling. I. I'm feeling like we're separate in this area and I want us to come together in this area. Or here's something that's causing me to really feel unsafe. Right On. On bad footing here. Sam is going to come and go. Okay, let's fix that. The fact that he is not aware or caring about the things that are making you feel unsafe or making you feel separate from him is a red flag. And I would take that to counseling immediately.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I agree. Couldn't agree more. I think this is a therapy session. Marriage issue first, money issue second. I also would say to you, let's get him on that page. Let's chill out on the score earth and teach him the momentum once we get him on the same page. Good hour. Jade. Thanks you. Thank you so much for joining us here, America. This is your show. This is the Ramsey show.