Your Financial Spiral Will End When A Proven Financial Plan Begins

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "Your Financial Spiral Will End When A Proven Financial Plan Begins"

Episode Information:

• Title: The Ramsey Show
• Host/Author: Ramsey Network
• Description: The Ramsey Show empowers listeners to build wealth and take control of their lives, regardless of past financial mistakes. Hosted by Dave Ramsey and his team of experts, the show addresses listeners' top financial challenges through expert advice and live caller interactions.
• Episode: Your Financial Spiral Will End When A Proven Financial Plan Begins
• Release Date: June 3, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Ramsey Show, Dave Ramsey and co-host Jade Warshaw engage with listeners facing various financial challenges. The central theme revolves around breaking free from financial spirals through structured planning and disciplined budgeting. The hosts provide actionable advice, reinforcing the importance of budgeting, debt elimination, and income management to regain financial stability.

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Caller 1: Taylor from New Orleans

Timestamp: [00:05–09:01]

Overview: Taylor, a married individual with three young children, seeks advice on managing differing spending habits between him and his wife. He describes himself as a spender utilizing credit cards heavily, while his wife is a saver with even higher monthly credit card expenditures.

Key Points Discussed:

• Discrepancy in Credit Card Spending: Taylor spends approximately $2,500 to $3,000 monthly, whereas his wife spends over $5,000.

• Income Fluctuations: Taylor's income varies significantly, ranging from $6,500 to $20,000 monthly due to commission-based work.

• Financial Approach: The couple has mostly separate finances, but they've started joint accounts post the birth of their first child.

• Investment Efforts: Both aim to maximize retirement contributions, with Taylor approaching the 401(k) maximum and his wife leveraging company matches.

Advice Provided:

• Eliminate Credit Cards: Dave Ramsey strongly advises cutting up credit cards to prevent overspending and reduce financial chaos.

• Establish a Unified Budget: Jade Warshaw emphasizes the necessity of creating a comprehensive budget that accounts for all expenses and savings goals.

• Set Financial Goals Together: Both hosts stress the importance of mutual understanding and aligning financial priorities to avoid prolonged financial strain.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Ramsey (03:00): "Let me guess, you're the saver."

• Dave Ramsey (03:34): "There's no boundaries… There's no budget… There's no plan set ahead of the month."

• Jade Warshaw (06:54): "You guys are joint banking account and you guys are together on this. Is that true or false?"

Conclusion: Taylor and his wife need to eliminate credit card dependence and collaboratively establish a detailed budget. By setting clear financial boundaries and goals, they can harmonize their spending and saving habits, ultimately breaking their financial spiral.

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Caller 2: Ann from Dallas, Texas

Timestamp: [10:19–53:10]

Overview: Ann, a 56-year-old woman, has sacrificed her career to care for her 92-year-old mother on a limited income. Despite selling her home and depleting retirement savings to reduce credit card debt, she still faces a remaining $64,000 in debt. Additionally, Ann suffers from an immune system disorder that restricts her ability to work consistently.

Key Points Discussed:

• Financial Sacrifices: Ann sold her home and exhausted her retirement funds to support her mother and pay off credit card debt.

• Current Income: The sole income source is her mother's Social Security benefits amounting to approximately $2,300 monthly.

• Debt Management: Despite efforts, $64,000 in credit card debt remains, exacerbated by Ann's health issues.

• Property Value: The family farm is valued at half a million dollars but remains unsold due to emotional attachments and logistical challenges.

• Health Constraints: Ann's health severely limits her ability to work, further tightening her financial situation.

Advice Provided:

• Seek Remote Income Opportunities: Jade Warshaw suggests exploring work-from-home jobs that can accommodate Ann's health condition, such as customer service roles.

• Establish a Repayment Plan: Dave Ramsey recommends allocating a portion of any additional income towards debt repayment to expedite the elimination of credit card debt.

• Prepare for Future Inheritance: Dave emphasizes the importance of managing current finances effectively to ensure that any future inheritance or sale of assets becomes a true financial blessing rather than a burden.

Notable Quotes:

• Ann (11:28): "It's very important for both my mom and I to be right with God."

• Dave Ramsey (10:14): "Here’s what I want… get yourself out of this survival state and into a more like, homeostasis state of being with your life."

• Jade Warshaw (17:54): "This woman feels like... she's the one... She's never paying it back."

Conclusion: Ann must explore feasible remote work options to supplement her mother's income and establish a structured debt repayment plan. By increasing income within her health constraints and responsibly managing any inheritance from the family farm, Ann can overcome her financial challenges.

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Caller 3: Caleb from Orlando, Florida

Timestamp: [22:46–74:11]

Overview: Caleb and his wife have recently completed financial coach master training and utilized the EveryDollar app for budgeting. They face a $17,000 student loan debt and maintain developed credit cards. Caleb, a father of a newborn, feels constrained by their income of approximately $60,000 combined, with his wife earning around $20,000.

Key Points Discussed:

• Income vs. Expenses: Despite aggressive budgeting, Caleb and his wife struggle to manage their monthly expenses against their income.

• Job Challenges: Caleb is a full-time employee at Publix with a current income considered insufficient, compounded by a recent ACL injury affecting his job performance.

• Debt Situation: They aim to prevent further accumulation of student loans while maintaining their existing manageable debt levels.

• Future Goals: With a newborn and another child on the way, Caleb desires financial stability to support his growing family.

Advice Provided:

• Increase Income Streams: Both hosts urge Caleb to seek additional income through leveraging his skills in construction and car detailing, emphasizing proactive strategies like directly contacting construction sites rather than relying solely on online applications.

• Optimize Existing Jobs: Jade Warshaw and Dave Ramsey recommend Caleb explore ways to maximize his current job's earning potential or consider higher-paying opportunities within his skill set.

• Maintain Budget Discipline: Continue using budgeting tools like EveryDollar to monitor and control expenditure, ensuring that income suffices to cover debts and family needs.

Notable Quotes:

• Caleb (22:51): "We feel like we just simply need to make more money, but that's becoming very difficult."

• Jade Warshaw (28:58): "You got to get out there and hustle, bro."

• Dave Ramsey (30:14): "You guys are in an income issue… you've got to get a job."

Conclusion: Caleb must actively seek higher-paying employment opportunities and diversify income sources to address the income gaps hindering debt repayment. By harnessing his construction and detailing skills, and maintaining strict budgeting, Caleb can achieve financial stability for his expanding family.

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Caller 4: Lisa from Detroit

Timestamp: [43:37–116:01]

Overview: Lisa faces a complex financial situation where her husband independently accumulated $30,000 in debt through credit cards and has recently entered a debt consolidation program. She has $13,000 in personal debt and is on a fixed income due to end-stage renal failure. With five children, no savings, and significant financial strain, Lisa seeks guidance on managing the debt and navigating marital trust issues.

Key Points Discussed:

• Debt Accumulation: Lisa's husband accrued $30,000 in credit card debt without her knowledge, exacerbated by gambling problems.

• Impact on Marriage: The lack of financial transparency has led to trust issues, and they face potential divorce if her husband relapses into gambling.

• Income and Expenses: Lisa receives $4,700 monthly from Social Security, which covers mortgage and minimal living expenses, leaving no surplus for debt repayment.

• Debt Management: Her husband earns approximately $2,000 monthly from a steel factory but struggles to contribute effectively due to his gambling addiction.

Advice Provided:

• Separate Finances: Due to her husband's gambling addiction, Dave Ramsey advises Lisa to maintain separate finances to prevent further financial mismanagement.

• Mortgage Reevaluation: The high mortgage payment consumes half of their monthly income. Dave suggests considering selling the house to downsize, thereby reducing financial burdens.

• Debt Repayment Strategy: Prioritize eliminating high-interest debts and establishing a sustainable repayment plan within their limited income framework.

• Counseling and Support: Both hosts highlight the importance of counseling for Lisa and her husband to address gambling addiction and rebuild marital trust.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Ramsey (44:11): "This is the elephant in the room… your mortgage."

• Jade Warshaw (49:08): "You have to expose the fact you're never getting this money back."

• Dave Ramsey (47:03): "There's the marriage side of it where there was a lack of trust…"

Conclusion: Lisa must prioritize restructuring her finances by potentially downsizing their home to alleviate the mortgage burden and keep finances separate to prevent further debt accumulation. Addressing her husband's gambling addiction through counseling is crucial for both financial recovery and marital stability.

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Caller 5: Eric from Indianapolis

Timestamp: [53:24–116:29]

Overview: Eric and his wife are progressing through Baby Step Two, aiming to save $12,000 while tackling $89,000 in combined debt. With a two-year-old and another child on the way, Eric seeks advice on managing debt repayment and increasing income amidst a challenging job market.

Key Points Discussed:

• Debt and Budgeting: Eric has $89,000 in debt, including $17,000 in student loans and additional credit card debts totaling $6,000.

• Income Challenges: Combined income of $60,000, with Eric earning approximately $35,000 and his wife $25,000. Recent ACL injury further complicates income stability.

• Job Market Struggles: Difficulty in finding higher-paying jobs despite multiple applications and attempts at side businesses like car detailing.

• Family Responsibilities: With a young child and another on the way, balancing income demands and family time is a significant concern.

Advice Provided:

• Aggressive Income Pursuit: Dave and Jade encourage Eric to actively seek higher-paying jobs by networking directly with construction sites and leveraging his sheetrock skills rather than relying solely on job applications.

• Side Hustles Optimization: Suggesting that Eric intensifies efforts in existing side businesses or explores new income streams to bridge the income gap.

• Budget Reevaluation: Emphasize the need to maintain a strict budget, prioritize debt repayment, and allocate additional income towards eliminating debts faster.

Notable Quotes:

• Eric (53:24): "Our issue isn't so much that we don't manage our money properly."

• Jade Warshaw (57:09): "You need to get out there and hustle, bro."

• Dave Ramsey (89:02): "You're only 22… $800 a month is what you're bringing…"

Conclusion: Eric must adopt a more proactive approach to securing higher-paying employment by leveraging his construction skills and networking directly within the industry. Maximizing side hustles and maintaining budget discipline are essential to accelerate debt repayment and achieve financial stability for his growing family.

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Caller 6: Aiden from Austin, Texas

Timestamp: [96:01–116:01]

Overview: Aiden is anticipating an inheritance of approximately $70,000 and seeks guidance on prudent financial management and investment strategies. He plans to spend $20,000 on personal expenses, including upgrading his car and repaying a $2,000 debt to his brother.

Key Points Discussed:

• Inheritance Management: Aiden is unsure how to allocate the inheritance to ensure growth while addressing personal financial obligations.

• Current Debt: Besides repaying his brother, Aiden owns a modest car and has no significant savings, having faced financial setbacks from a past move.

• Income and Expenses: Aiden earns $2,500 monthly from his job as a support provider for individuals with mental disabilities, with substantial monthly expenses totaling around $4,700.

Advice Provided:

• Debt Repayment: Prioritize settling the $2,000 debt to his brother to eliminate personal liabilities.

• Emergency Fund Establishment: Allocate a portion of the inheritance to build a 3-6 month emergency fund to cushion against unforeseen expenses.

• Investing Wisely: Recommend investing the remaining funds in a diversified brokerage account, emphasizing long-term growth through mutual funds encompassing growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international funds.

• Professional Financial Guidance: Suggest utilizing Ramsey Trusted Pros for tailored financial advice to maximize the inheritance's potential.

Notable Quotes:

• Aiden (96:01): "I just want to put it somewhere where it can just grow."

• Jade Warshaw (104:32): "This is a bad idea. If your parents came to me and said you got to pay your life insurance to get the inheritances, I'd say, okay, Pop, we'll talk later."

• Dave Ramsey (124:15): "You would invest that money the way we teach to invest any money… It's across four different types of mutual funds."

Conclusion: Aiden should strategically allocate his inheritance by first eliminating personal debt, establishing a robust emergency fund, and responsibly investing the remaining funds to ensure long-term financial growth. Seeking professional financial advice will further optimize his financial planning and investment strategies.

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Caller 7: Randy from Delaware

Timestamp: [32:59–39:07]

Overview: Randy, a single father with over $20,000 in debt, seeks advice on addressing an unpaid loan of $1,700 to a woman he's been dating for over a year. Concerns revolve around debt repayment's impact on the personal relationship.

Key Points Discussed:

• Unpaid Loan: Randy has lent $1,700 to his girlfriend, who has not repaid the amount after nine months.

• Financial Strain: As a single father with significant debt, Randy is distressed about the unpaid loan affecting his financial stability and personal relationship.

• Relationship Dynamics: The loan has introduced tension, potentially jeopardizing the relationship due to financial resentment.

Advice Provided:

• Avoid Lending Money in Relationships: Dave Ramsey emphasizes the risks associated with loaning money to significant others, citing potential bitterness and relationship strain.

• Open Communication: Encourage Randy to have an honest conversation with his girlfriend about the unpaid debt and its impact on their relationship.

• Set Boundaries: Advise Randy to refrain from further financial entanglements that could exacerbate debt and emotional stress.

Notable Quotes:

• Randy (32:59): "I'm a single father with over $20,000 in debt."

• Dave Ramsey (33:48): "There's two parts to this… A, you lent her the money… B, it will affect the relationship adversely."

• Jade Warshaw (38:51): "She's never paying it back. That's what they agree with."

Conclusion: Randy should prioritize addressing the unpaid loan with his girlfriend to prevent further financial and emotional strain on their relationship. Moving forward, it's crucial to maintain clear financial boundaries to safeguard both his financial health and personal relationships.

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Key Takeaways and Insights

1. Budgeting is Fundamental: Establishing and adhering to a detailed budget is crucial for managing finances effectively, especially when dealing with varying incomes and significant debts.

2. Eliminate Credit Card Dependence: Cutting up credit cards and avoiding further debt accumulation are essential steps toward financial stability.

3. Increase Income Proactively: Seeking higher-paying jobs, leveraging existing skills, and exploring diverse income streams can bridge income gaps and accelerate debt repayment.

4. Debt Repayment Strategies: Prioritizing high-interest debts, maintaining discipline in repayments, and utilizing tools like the debt snowball method can effectively eliminate debt spirals.

5. Separate Finances in Troubled Marriages: Maintaining separate finances can prevent further debt accumulation and rebuild financial trust in marriages strained by financial mismanagement.

6. Seek Professional Financial Guidance: Consulting with financial advisors or Ramsey Trusted Pros can provide tailored strategies for managing inheritances, investments, and complex financial situations.

7. Insurance and Emergency Funds: Protecting assets through appropriate insurance coverage and maintaining an emergency fund are vital for safeguarding against unforeseen financial hardships.

8. Avoid Lending Money in Relationships: Financial entanglements in personal relationships can lead to resentment and strain; it's advisable to maintain clear boundaries to protect both financial and emotional well-being.

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Conclusions

This episode of The Ramsey Show underscores the multifaceted nature of financial struggles, highlighting the importance of disciplined budgeting, proactive income management, and strategic debt repayment. Through real-life caller scenarios, Dave Ramsey and Jade Warshaw provide actionable advice tailored to diverse financial challenges, emphasizing the necessity of clear financial boundaries, effective communication, and the pursuit of financial education. Listeners are encouraged to take control of their financial destinies by implementing proven strategies and seeking professional guidance when needed.

Transcript

[Ken Coleman]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app.

[Jade Warshaw]

Start budgeting for free today. This is the Ramsey show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about their money, about their profession, and about their relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888, 825, 5 225, triple 882-55-225. Alongside the fabulous Jade Warshaw. I am Ke and we're here to help you. Jay's going to help you save money, and I want to help you make some money as we work together to coach you up today. We started off with Taylor in New Orleans. As I like to say, Nolan's Taylor. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, good afternoon. Thank you all for having me on.

[Jade Warshaw]

You bet.

[Ken Coleman]

As I said, my name's Taylor. Married, I have three children. Have a five year old, three and a one year old. My wife and I would like to get some help and some advice from y' all in regards to our budgeting. I wouldn't so much say that we have a money problem, but I would say that we have a problem agreeing on what to do with our money. And I think Dave said it before. I think one of us could be considered more of a spender, whereas the other could be considered more of a saver.

[Dave Ramsey]

Let me guess, you're the saver.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's my guess as well.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. Trying to find a happy medium so that we can both be happy, enjoy life while also saving. And more importantly, I just, you know, possibly don't want to work forever.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sure. Now, what is the.

[Ken Coleman]

Elaborate on that here.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, let's get right to the problem. Where are we not on the same page.

[Ken Coleman]

It'd be with regard to spending, specifically credit card spending per month.

[Jade Warshaw]

How much?

[Ken Coleman]

So individually, I spend probably on average around 2500, 3000amonth on my credit card, and she's been closer to 5,000 plus per month.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hold the phone.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's the. How much do you actually bring in in actual money every month?

[Ken Coleman]

Because that, that, that for sure.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you all running all of your expenses on a credit card? Is that what you're doing?

[Ken Coleman]

Not everything. For instance, we pay our credit card off each month, our house notes taken out of our checking account. And our checking, excuse me, our house note is really our only reoccurring debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your take home?

[Ken Coleman]

Fortunately, and that's kind of the hard question. So I work on commission and through a job change a few years ago, it's been hard for me to. My wife, my wife's asked me the same question. What's a Good month, that stays the same. Yeah, sure. A lower month would probably be around, around 6500 to 7500.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Take home. And then a higher month could be closer to, you know, it could be 20,000 plus. Kind of just depends.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what, tell me, what's the purpose of the credit cards and all this? Because for me that just creates. There's already the unknown with the fluctuating income and then adding credit cards with no real feeling like no real boundaries around it feels like it's just adding more chaos to the equation. So why do you and your wife, and let me also add, you make a fine income. So what's the purpose of the credit cards and your. What is it serving?

[Ken Coleman]

It's a really good question. I've considered getting rid of them. I, I don't really have a good answer as to why we have them. I have had a credit card since I guess I got out of college and I've fortunately always been able to manage it, at least as far as I can tell, like I haven't racked up a bunch of debt. So I've just, I've just kept the credit card and when my wife and I got married, got her one too.

[Dave Ramsey]

Is it a credit building thing for you or is it a we can just spend on here and not really have to think about it until it's time to kind of tally it up sort of thing? If you had to point to one reason, what do you think it is? Even if it's not you, your wife's reasoning behind it.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. Initially for me it was credit building. I, I just kind of got used to budgeting, comfortable budgeting with what I knew I was going to spend on my credit card. And I guess I'll point out a while back, like years ago, when I originally had this conversation with my wife, she was paying some bills automatically on her card and then I was paying some bills automatically on my card. We've since changed everything to be auto draft from my card for the majority of it. So a lot of some of my charges are necessities like bill credit.

[Jade Warshaw]

I see. So the majority of your 2500 is your household bills and then a little bit of spending for you. Am I to understand that the $5,000 she's spending per month is just kids, clothes and all the fun things? Is that, is that what it. Because you opened up this call and it felt like to me, Jake, correct me if I'm wrong, I was feeling like the way you were saying this, you're a very Kind man, and I think you're a gentleman. But it felt like my wife is blowing a bunch of money on her credit card and I'm taking care of serious stuff. I got some audience fol folks that are shaking their head in the lobby. So is that what's going on? What is she spending the 5,000 on?

[Ken Coleman]

For sure, y' all, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I would consider. The way I say it is, I think she's buying a lot of things. I would hope, I hope that this call excites both of us and her to look at more long term.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is she listening to this call?

[Ken Coleman]

Investments.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, here's the problem.

[Ken Coleman]

She knows that I'm on. Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, she does. Oh, this is great.

[Dave Ramsey]

And there's no, there's no boundaries. Right? And by boundaries, I mean there's no budget. There's no plan set ahead of the month that says here's what we're spending our money on and here's what we're doing with the excess after we've spent our money on the things that we want to. Now here's the. Do you see what I'm saying? And so I, for sure, I would say for you guys, I mean, I'm always going to tell people to cut up their credit cards, but for you guys, it's like a no brainer. I feel like in many ways it's just creating more chaos around the subject of money and it's creating a free for all because I don't know what the limit is on these credit cards, but clearly it allows you to go out of bounds when she feels like going out of bounds. And the great thing about cold hard cash, Ken, when it's gone, it's gone like there's no more.

[Jade Warshaw]

However, I think Jade's right. But Taylor, I feel like the bigger issue is the fact that you guys don't have a very clear spending plan every month. And whether you're paying cash for the five grand as Jade is suggesting, or you put it on a credit card, the stressor for you is how much money you both are spending, whether she's spending most of it or not. This is a we thing. I'm assuming you guys are not separate accounts. You guys are joint banking account and you guys are together on this. Is that true or false?

[Ken Coleman]

That's. That is true. We were separate when we got married and I thought it worked fine. We've since made it joint after our first child. And I do want to mention that we. So I try to max out my 401k. I come close, or I, you know, a couple of years, a little short of it. She contributes the, you know, full. She's not maxing it out, but she takes advantage of her company match now, but she's working a little bit less now that we have three children, so she's not going to be able to max out her four.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let's cut to. Let me cut to the checks, because we got about a minute left. And here's what I'm thinking.

[Ken Coleman]

Absolutely.

[Jade Warshaw]

I want to get Jade's take on this. After listening to all this, you're stressed out about how much she's spending, and that means you guys got to get on the same page with a real budget, like Jade said. But more importantly, I think this is a marriage conversation about what you're valuing, and we don't have a lot of time to discuss this. But to me, the big question that I have for you is, and I want you to give it to me in 10 seconds or less. All right, Just spit it out. How much money out of the 5,000 that she's spending do you want to earmark to something else, which is what's created stress for this call, I would.

[Ken Coleman]

Like to have at least 2,000 of that earmarked towards savings, investing, charitable.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's what I thought.

[Ken Coleman]

Not just spending.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's the starting point. Jade, I want to give you the jump in here, but I think that's where he's got to get to with her.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. And the way to do that, right now, you're doing the budget the way I used to do it. But budget, which is I plan for all the things I know I have to pay for a house, car, you know, phones, things like that. But everything else is up for grabs. Treat yourself money. You need to take that, treat yourself money and plan every dollar of that money as well. And yes, it can include some of the fun things your wife wants to do, but it also needs to include the really important things, like planning for the future that you want to do.

[Jade Warshaw]

You guys got to get together and talk this out, share your feelings around this stuff, and then come together with a plan.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's a time in your life and in the baby steps for renting, but you don't want to do it forever, because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage, just somebody else's. Plus, rent means instability in your budget because it always goes up, never down. So when you're ready to buy, make sure you work with a mortgage partner. You can rely on Churchill Mortgage Churchill is Ramsey trusted to help you make the move from renting to home ownership wisely. Churchill understands that when you buy a home the Ramsey way, your mortgage payment will be a consistent, manageable part of your monthly budget. Plus, when your home is paid off, that was your largest expense. Now it's extra money in your pocket and an asset towards turning you into a baby steps millionaire. Get started on the American dream of home ownership [e-mail] that's churchillmortgage.com.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let'S go to Ann who's joining us now in Dallas, Texas. Ann, how can we help today?

[Ken Coleman]

Hi there. I am a 56 year old woman that had decided to quit my job in the Estelle you and come to my 92 year old mom and be able to honor her and take care of her while living on our family farm. And I have now as of the end of May, sold my house and emptied my retirement and savings and paid as much into credit card debt as I can. But I still have another $64,000 to pay and I have an immune system issue that causes int and immense pain. So during the time that I'm not taking care of my mom, I am having to more or less lay down and be in bed. And I'm trying to figure out how I can get the $64,000 of credit card debt paid and behind me. It's very important for both my mom and I to be right with God and.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, all right, so couple quick questions here for Jade and I. When you said you emptied your retirement, does that mean it's all gone? Like there's none of it left? And do you have any income? Okay, do you have any income coming in at all?

[Ken Coleman]

Only my mom's government income.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how much is that every month? Ann?

[Ken Coleman]

That is 2300 approximately.

[Dave Ramsey]

And Ann, how much did you have in retirement? How much have you gone through? I mean we know there's the credit card debt, but how much retirement have you gone through?

[Ken Coleman]

I went through all of the retirement because I had a disease that nobody understood while I was coming up paralyzed for years and I ended up emptying a lot of it then trying to get different people to tell me that it ended up being toxic mold and toxic chemical poisoning causing my, my immune system and my body to fight back. And so I was in hyperbaric treatments and everything. The company I was with put me in a lot of those after they realized what was really going on with me. And so now I am the youngest child. The other two Are estranged. And my mom lives out on our family farm where my grandma, grandfather and grandmother built it in the 30s. And she does not want to move. She feels like.

[Dave Ramsey]

Tell me, can you tell me how much the farm is worth?

[Ken Coleman]

It's a. Right now I can sell it on the market for half a million.

[Dave Ramsey]

Half a million. Okay. And can you tell me, can you go back? Thank you for telling me all the backstory. That does help. Can you tell me how much of your retirement you went through, how much you've spent on this move, taking care of your mom, trying to get the diagnosis? How much does it cost you so far?

[Ken Coleman]

I have no idea. The move itself was 11, $12,000 from. From Dallas.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right.

[Ken Coleman]

And I didn't.

[Dave Ramsey]

The reason I'm asking, I'm trying to get a clear peg on this and because I want to make sure we help you in this call. That's why I'm trying to stick to all the facts. You said that you went through all your retirement. I'm trying to get a peg on how much that was so that I can make a fair call on this.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. My guess on what I had just in retirement, right before I came down, that came to my mom's, was about 50, 60,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

50 or 60.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, yeah, 60,000, max. I'd already used the other part.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how many years have you been taking care of her? How long has this been going on?

[Ken Coleman]

This is only a year.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I came out here in April of 2024.

[Jade Warshaw]

What are her responsibilities out of the 2300 that she's getting? I'm assuming this is her Social Security, correct?

[Ken Coleman]

That's correct.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, so out of that 2300, is there a surplus? After you take care of whatever bills are there for her, plus you groceries, I'm thinking everything. Do you have any surplus at all?

[Ken Coleman]

In her Social Security? I try to keep our separate. And her Social Security, we have about 800 for groceries a month, and because of our limited eating, we don't eat that much, so we usually have three or four hundred a mat of minimum left over.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you have a payment coming in as well? Did I hear that?

[Ken Coleman]

No, I do not.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so you're. You guys are both living off of her 2300?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, not until this month, but that's correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why? And are you not. Are you not eligible for any assistance, any government, any disabled, anything?

[Ken Coleman]

At the time I was working, I was making approximately a hundred thousand dollars. And so I felt as though. And I'm a pretty tough person, except for my physical issues. So I was. So, no, I didn't. I didn't go and try to make any extra money on my disability.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And there's none available to you, or is it. There is, but you're just not taking it.

[Ken Coleman]

There could be something available. I just know it takes about two years to get, so I would rather try to make more money faster some other way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, okay, I'm all for that. But here's what I heard, and that's where my brain's been going while you've been sharing this stuff. Because you told me that when you're not taking care of mom, you're so physically either exhausted or in pain, you're having to lay down. So real. So real. Okay. So realistically, could you do something from home to where at least you're sitting on the couch with a laptop or something like that? That's my question.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, for a period of time, I should be able to do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

How long is there?

[Ken Coleman]

I would say from 5 to 10 hours.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

They would be a little different. This is me, but my friends were afraid I'm going to kill myself because I just am a worker, be kind of person and work and manage and. And I've run businesses before, and I've been in several different kinds of H vac plumbing.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're saying that because you're such a hard worker. That's why they're saying that. Because you'll just do everything.

[Ken Coleman]

They think if I go get a job that I'm never going to be able to rest and recuperate from.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, sweetheart, so here's the deal, though. I don't think it's go get a job in that situation. I'm saying, thankfully it's 20, 25, and there are a lot of remote work from home type jobs where even if it's just customer service online. Okay. Just as a cut. I'm just making this up. But I mean, this isn't truly made up, but I mean, a customer service rep. Yeah. Where you're sitting down and they give you a script and you're very intelligent and you're very capable, and if you could do that seven to eight hours a day and you're making 15 to 20 bucks an hour, I'm just throwing this out there. That's a game changer for you. And now it's going to take a while to pay off 63, $64,000 in credit cards. However, if you can put, you know, $1,000 a month and start knocking that out and maybe your physical situation, I mean, you can do this. Your. Your mother's 92. What's her health situation?

[Ken Coleman]

Her health is huge and awesome. And she, I. She hasn't really gone to the doctor in over 40 years. Medical doctor.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love it. She's like a freak of nature.

[Ken Coleman]

She is. I mean, you know, she turned 92 today. Now, every once in a while she'll say she's 102, 202. And although you don't have to put those that many out. But she has always been. I grew up with no processed sugar, no processed flour, no tv.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, here's the deal. Our time is running out.

[Ken Coleman]

I understand.

[Jade Warshaw]

And, and so, Jade, I want to give you the final word here. I mean, she can. Needs to start making money right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, you're. You're only 56 years old. You've got a lot of working years, a lot of working years ahead of you. And I also want to know about this farm. Are you set to inherit this farm? I know you said the other kids are estranged. What's. Tell me what the deal is with that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, we got 40 seconds.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, tell me in 10 seconds.

[Ken Coleman]

We have a trust, and it's me.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, great. So here's what I want, like, ideal. In an ideal world, I hope your mom does live till she's 102. But I really want you to get yourself out of this survival state and into a more like, homeostasis state of being with your life. Because when the come time. Time comes that you inherit this money, I don't want you beat to be in this mode of like, survival, because then that money is gonna go like that. You're gonna sell that farm, and it's not going to be the blessing you want it to be. So spend these next 10 years getting yourself in order like Ken Coleman just told you. And I think that that money and that farm will end up being a great blessing to you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Rachel, do you ever get these sketchy text messages that are like, hey, you need to update your address and verify so we can get you the package you didn't order?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, I have, George. Sketchy.

[Dave Ramsey]

And never trust them.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's why we recommend Delete me. They help with that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, they do. Delete me actually goes in and removes.

[Ken Coleman]

Your information from data broker websites. And it is an incredible service that everyone needs.

[Jade Warshaw]

And there's a lot of shady companies out there that solely exist to sell your personal data to bad guys. And that means your info, like your email address, your home address, your kids names, your name, everything is just out there. For scammers and spammers to find so much. But delete me will delete your data, hence the name.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's gone.

[Jade Warshaw]

They'll wipe it out for you so you can sleep easy.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's right. And then once they remove your information, then they're going to send you a detailed report telling you where they found your information, when they removed it, how many hours they've saved you. I mean, it is incredible. So detailed and it's beautiful.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get this. So far they've reviewed 27,000 listings on my behalf, removed me from 240 data broker sites and saved me 77 hours of time. It's incredible.

[Dave Ramsey]

Absolutely amazing. And Winston and I now get fewer tests, texts, weird emails, spam calls, all of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love it. So you got to be sure to check them out. Ramsey fans get 20% off their annual plans. Just go to join DeleteMe.com Ramsey that comes up to less than 9 bucks a month. Super affordable.

[Dave Ramsey]

Again, that's joins the late me.com Ramsey make sure to check it out, you guys.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, folks, buying or selling a home is a big deal. Obviously a lot of clickbait headlines out there. That's confusing people. Should I, should I stay on the sidelines? Should I get in all of that stuff? And that's why we want to make sure that you're aware of the latest and up to date accurate trends. And so we've created Ramseysolutions.com market. You can click on the link in the show notes if you're listening on podcasts or on YouTube. YouTube. But this is a great link. Ramseysolutions.com market and what we've done here is we're giving you all the latest market trends. There's a lot of free tools to help you buy a home or sell a home with confidence. Some massive financial decision and you just don't want to wing that. And so great, great link there for all of you. Ramseysolutions.com Market or again, the link is in the show notes. However, you are participating in the show. All right, let's go to Caleb who joins us now in Orlando. Florid Caleb, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, guys, thank you. Thank you for taking my call.

[Jade Warshaw]

You bet.

[Ken Coleman]

So just a quick question. Me and my wife, we just finished.

[Jade Warshaw]

The.

[Ken Coleman]

Financial coach master training. We use every dollar. We're very familiar with the show. Our issue isn't so much that we, I guess, don't manage our money properly. It's more of an issue of the income versus the outcome. And we've minimized the outcome as much as possible. We only have $17,000 worth of student loan debt. That's the only debt that we. That we currently have. We got rid of our credit cards. Just really trying to get ahead, and I don't know, we feel like we just simply need to make more money, but that's becoming very difficult. I recently tore my ecl. We recently welcomed our first child. She came five weeks early. She's only a month old. So just trying to get ahead, like in this crazy market and just kind of looking for some advice about that.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, well, then let's take your word for it that this is an income issue. And so let's look at what your combined income is or was. If your wife. Is she deciding at this point to stay home, Is she going to go back? Give me the financial picture. Prior to baby, what was the income?

[Ken Coleman]

So roughly 60,000. And I say roughly because I'm full time at Publix. She's part time at Publix, so her hours vary drastically week to week, but roughly 60,000 combined.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is she planning to go back?

[Ken Coleman]

So, yes, if she has to. The goal is she's currently putting in for remote positions. But it took us six months to find the jobs at Florida. We went six months when we moved here without a job at all. Okay, so long to find anything.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so was 60,000 the combined income or just yours?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. Okay, that's the combined.

[Jade Warshaw]

So how much was hers of the 60?

[Ken Coleman]

Closer to the 20? 25 of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so if we don't want her to go back to work, we've got to replace 25. Let's be aggressive in your numbers. So we've got to replace 25, and that gets you to 60. And the 60, you're saying you cut it to the nub and 60 was barely getting you guys by.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. How much margin did you have in your budget when you're paying off debt? How much is extra going towards the debt?

[Ken Coleman]

So right now the. We're paying the minimum payment on the student loans, which we would like to be attacking that more. But with the monthly income versus the monthly outcome, between our rent, car insurance, stuff like that, it's just. I mean.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, but how did you get ahead on the other debts that you paid off on the same?

[Ken Coleman]

We didn't have any, like, we very, very lucky to not have any, like, credit card debt or anything like that. We've always, like, managed to pay that off. And then we got rid of the credit card.

[Jade Warshaw]

What'd you do to Your leg. What'd you say that was?

[Ken Coleman]

I tore my acl.

[Jade Warshaw]

I. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I. I heard something else. I was like, I'm not sure I've heard that one. Well, listen, have you had surgery on it?

[Ken Coleman]

I have not yet, no.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. That's brutal. My oldest son went through it, so I watched him go through it. I know it's tough. However, on the other side of the surgery, after about a week, week and a half or so, you can, you can work and I don't. You're. I. I assume you knew what we were going to say, but, bro, you're only making 35,000. I'm not knocking you, but the answer to your question is more money. If you guys have taken financial coach training with us, then you know the ins and outs, you got a pretty low amount of debt. 17,000 is. Is peanuts compared to what most people are carrying in debt. You said you've cut your expense. Absolute bone. So this is an income issue and an able bodied guy, and I know you got an acl, but you're still able bodied. You're going to be fine. You got to get a job. And you were looking north of 60. That's what you're looking for because that's going to give you some margin, you know, and, you know, you guys were 60 together, so north of 60 gives you a little bit of margin. So the question is, is what can you do? Can you do a trade?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, we used to do car detailing and I also have a construction background. It's just been incredibly difficult to find connections in this area. Like I said, it took us six months just to get a job at Publix. Like, the market in Orlando is ridiculous. And I'm hearing that from.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you mean it's ridiculous? Hard to find a job.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, like we're. We put in, and this is no joke, like we were putting in hundreds of applications a week.

[Jade Warshaw]

I got news for you, Caleb. This is. You're not gonna like the sound of this at all, but sending hundreds of applications out and with no connection to anything. You might as well be trying to spit in the wind in a convertible going 90 miles an hour. That's how effective that is. It's like playing the lottery. I'm going to put out hundreds of applications. Listen, I've coached this before and Kayla, I'm not beating up on you. I'm just telling you, people think rightly so. Well, I, I sent all these applications. I heard nothing back because that's the only exchange. But you've got to get out in your car and drive up to construction sites. What did you do in construction? What was the actual skill set that you had?

[Ken Coleman]

Mainly sheetrock, bro.

[Jade Warshaw]

Don't tell me you can't hang sheetrock all over Orlando. Greater Orlando. If I came down to Orlando today, see, I can catch a flight probably in about an hour. It means I'd get in around five. I could drive around construction sites with you, and we'll get out and say, get over here, Caleb. And I'm gonna walk in, and I'm all slick, and I look like a city slicker. I got white tennis shoes on. I can still walk into there and go, hey, who. Who's in charge of this operation?

[Dave Ramsey]

I am.

[Jade Warshaw]

Some dude. Tell me. I'm the contractor. How's your Sheetrock crew? You got a good Sheetrock crew? You got any losers on there that are all drugged up and they miss three days a week? How about my guy Caleb? This guy's responsible. He's got a baby at home. He's got a bum knee, but he's gonna be full speed in about three weeks. Guy can hang sheetrock with his eyes closed. You got any work for Caleb? Well, I do or I don't, but I got a buddy who does. I'm telling Caleb, you got to get in the truck and start driving around the construction sites, and you got to tell your story, and you will get work. None of this. I've sent out applications, and it took me six months to get a job at Publix. Yeah, because you were playing the lottery. You're actually lucky you got a job at Publix.

[Dave Ramsey]

That is true. You got to get some boots on the ground.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know I'm a little fired up on this jade, but, like, this is an income issue. And if you can hang Sheetrock, then you can hammer a nail. And. And you could do about six other.

[Dave Ramsey]

Things, or even the deet, the car detail. I feel like you've got a couple of skills and a couple of businesses that are just sitting in your pocket. You said that you detail cars. You said that you did the fpu or. I'm sorry, The. The. The coaching. I'm like, put this stuff to use. You got to go out and make it. Make it talk.

[Jade Warshaw]

I love that you did the coaching thing, but you just signed up for a straight commission job that you got to go beat the pathway for. And as much as I love that, I think you'd be better off hanging Sheetrock, detailing cars while you're not at Publix. You got to Replace your wife's income, bottom line, like 25 grand, dude. Now. And so you got to go do it. You are. Caleb, listen, I am for you and I'm not mad at all. But I'm going to tell you something. With a baby, it's time for you to get out there and hustle, bro. You got people relying on you and you are letting life happen to you and you need to happen to it. In fact, are you working today at Publix?

[Ken Coleman]

No, sir.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get in the truck right now or the car and drive around five different places that are building right now and stick your nose out there and give somebody your cell phone. And for all those applications you sent out, you ought to be making as many trips around. So if you did a hundred applications, make 100 trips in the next 30 days to construction sites and watch what happens. You gotta get after it now. Confession, folks. When life gets really hectic, I don't take time to plan my healthy meals. Some days I can't even remember what a vegetable looks like. That's why I keep field of greens handy. It's a superfood powder made with real fruits and veggies selected by doctors to help your heart, lungs, metabolism and more. I mix field of greens with water, I shake it up and I'm ready to go. And you the truth. I did expect it to kind of taste like compost, but it's really delicious. Plus, field of greens promises your doctor will notice your improved health or you get your money back. So go to fieldofgreens.com Ramsey for 20% off your first order. That's fieldofgreens.com Ramsey to save 20% on your first order. All right, time for our Ramsey show. Question of the day, which is brought to you by why Refi defaulted? Private student loans could feel like a wall you'll never be able to climb. But why Refi may be able to help you get over it. They'll work with you to explore payment plans, can tailor to your situation. You can go to yrefi.com Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey it may not be available in all states.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right, today's question comes from Randy in Delaware. He says, I've been seeing a lady for over a year and she has borrowed over seventeen hundred dollars from me that she has not paid back. I'm ooh. I'm a single father with over $20,000 in debt. My wife passed away and I'm living on just my salary. I have a 9 year old son and my daughter is 24. I am serious about this lady. But it bothers me that she has not fulfilled her promise to pay back my $1700 after nine months. How do I approach her about this concern?

[Jade Warshaw]

Randy, listen.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, man, Randy, sometimes I read these questions ahead of time and sometimes I don't because I just want to feel the impact in the moment.

[Jade Warshaw]

What are you feeling right now?

[Dave Ramsey]

Feeling impacted. Yeah. How? Well, it's two parts to this, Randy. There's two parts to this. A, you lent her the money. And whenever you loan money, there's always a risk, right? There's a risk that the person's not going to repay it. That's the biggest risk. And then the secondary risk is that because they don't repay it or even if they do, it will affect the relationship in some adverse way. Right. Those are the two biggies of why we say don't loan money. And you hit the nail on the head on both of them. Number one, she's kind of being a scrub and not paying the money back. And how are you supposed to feel good about this relationship? Because now it has the ability to create like a little bit of bitterness. You take her out on a. Randy takes, let's call her, you know, Sheila. Randy takes Sheila out on a date. Let's call her Sally. Randy takes Sally out on a date. He's not going to feel good about picking up her steak dinner.

[Jade Warshaw]

Bothered.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's already.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm okay. I'm going to talk to Randy Like I would be talking to Randy if he showed up here and we had a cup, cup of coffee. I would look at Randy and I'd say, randy, I'm going to tell you what the problem is. You are serious about this woman, Sally, aren't you? He'd go, yeah, I'm serious about it. I go, yeah. And she knows it, doesn't she? And he would go, she knows it. She's not paying the 1700 back ever. Because Sally. Is that her name?

[Dave Ramsey]

Sally, Sally, Sally, Sheila, Sally ride.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sally is banking on closing the deal.

[Dave Ramsey]

What you think?

[Jade Warshaw]

I know. I know what's going on. He has made her feel like she's the one. He told us in a simple email that he is serious about her. She knows he's serious. She thinks the 1700 is already their money and he's gonna forgive it because he's gonna put a ring on.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't know. Sally could be a rolling stone. Sally could be a rolling stone.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's like, hey, Sally is.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm just here for a Little while.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, let me flip this for a second. I might get in trouble for this with you, but I'm gonna do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Get in trouble.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you and Sam were dating, okay, this is not you and Sam. Real life, but this is you and Sam.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is male, female.

[Dave Ramsey]

Got you. Got you. And I'm with you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Sam loaned you seventeen hundred dollars and you had not paid it back. Same deal, nine months. You're a human being. This isn't a Jade or Sally. This is a human being and a woman who feel her man is serious about her. Are you going to be in a hurry? Is any woman going to be in a hurry to pay the $1700 back?

[Dave Ramsey]

I think if.

[Jade Warshaw]

I really think that you guys are going to be an item and get married.

[Dave Ramsey]

If I was like. If I was dating Sam, that means I'm like, I've got respect. And not that I would ever do this, but if I had borrowed money, I feel like it's a great opportunity for me to.

[Jade Warshaw]

If you think he's going to pop the question.

[Dave Ramsey]

I am.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're going to pay that back. If you think you're going to be too two instead of one. Come on, this is a human question.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's hard for me to put myself in that position because I can't even imagine being in that position.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm gonna tell you what's going on. This woman feels like I think he's in love with her. And because he's in love with her, she doesn't have to pay the money back because it's their money. There's a guy in the lobby with his thumb up in the air. He knows I'm spitting truth right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

But then why would they even like.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's why he should have never lent her the money.

[Dave Ramsey]

But why would they even come up with those terms if they on. On that level at that point? It's just like terms. Well, he's clearly saying, like she was supposed to pay it off within a. Within a term. Because it's been after.

[Jade Warshaw]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

Past nine months.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, it wasn't a term. He's saying, he's saying here it's been nine months. Where's my money, honey?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

The problem is she said to him in a moment of weakness, I need 17.

[Dave Ramsey]

But my point is this. My point is he gave it to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Her and now she's never going to pay him.

[Dave Ramsey]

Ken, you don't go 2015 Rihanna talking about pay me what you owe me. Don't act like you forgot to the woman you love. And Want to marry you. Don't do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know, that's what. Well, but that's the point I'm making. He needs to reconcile the fact he's never getting this money back. So he needs to close the deal. Close the deal and then get rid of the resentment or it's going to end badly is what I'm getting at. My point is I'm not throwing shade at Sally, Sheila or whatever you called her. I'm saying Sally, I think this is a pretty typical human behavior when you're in a pretty close relationship that's she's. He's the last person she's thinking about paying back. Oh, here's my other point.

[Dave Ramsey]

You don't borrow money.

[Jade Warshaw]

And I know, yeah, he's already done it. So I'm saying to him, pal, you need to marry this woman.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think I'm. I'm just going out here.

[Jade Warshaw]

She's not getting the money back.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. I'm the exact opposite. I think she's a rolling stone. I think that he's vulnerable and because he's gone through a lot and found a nice looking lady and is taking a little bit of advantage. But she has no aim also.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. Would you also agree she probably has other debts.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

That are much bigger than what she owes. That's what I'm saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's never getting the money back.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's not getting it back.

[Jade Warshaw]

Saying he's not getting it.

[Dave Ramsey]

He ain't getting it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Hands up if you agree with me in the lobby. Look at this. This is real time.

[Dave Ramsey]

You guys are really giving this lady a lot of credit. I'm giving her zero credit.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm just saying she's not. She's never paying it back. That's what they agree with.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, she's not like, I agree she's never paying. Pay it back, but I also don't think they're getting married. Raise your hand if you think they're gonna actually end up getting married. Okay, see, there you go. There you go. So.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, now in this case, he. Well, now this changes everything. See, I wasn't even going that far down the road. I was telling him to cut his losses.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

But now if, like they cut their relationship losses, he needs to do that sooner rather than later.

[Dave Ramsey]

Agreed.

[Jade Warshaw]

I think he's smitten.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, well, she's shown appeal. Piece of. I feel like she's. If, if what you're saying is true, I feel like she's shown a piece of herself because there's a little integrity there. Because they're not married yet. He hasn't even proposed yet. Be one thing if it was his fiance. He hasn't even proposed. If you borrow money, you should pay it back. Whether it be to.

[Jade Warshaw]

But you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Credit card company, your grandma, you know, whoever it is, if you borrow money, pay it.

[Jade Warshaw]

But relationship one on one here, you shouldn't even borrow money or lend money to your fiance. You would agree with that?

[Dave Ramsey]

I would agree with that. I am a. Like, I have a hard line on that. I think that if you would like to give someone money and you have the money to give, you should give it. In his case, it doesn't even sound like he didn't. He clearly did not have the money to give. That's why he made it alone. And I think that's. When you get into hot water, is if you don't have it to give, sometimes you can't give it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's just hard. You know, when people you love are.

[Jade Warshaw]

Asking, if Stacy and I were dating and she asked me for money, I'd say, honey, you got to marry me. Me, because it's all yours at that point anyway. Until then, I'm not loaning you a nickel. I mean, I'm just telling you.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'll tell you what. Sam Warshaw did do this terrible. This is a bad. This is. Don't do this. He. Okay, my car. I was driving a Jeep Liberty, and the. The. The AC and the heat on. It was bad. And so when winter came, my heat wasn't working, and he got in my car and was like, you've been driving around like this? And I'm like, yeah. He's like, like, I'm gonna get you a car. And I thought he was being a hero. He co. Signed a car for me.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is pre. You guys getting out?

[Dave Ramsey]

Pre. Us getting. No. We weren't even married. We weren't even married.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, you were dating.

[Dave Ramsey]

He co. Signed a car for me. We were just about to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Part of your story.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is all part of you.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's what I'm saying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Like seeing the light.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's why I'm saying, like, you might be right, that he was smitten. Because I think that a guy like love goggles will make you do anything.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's what Sam did with you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, but it's a good thing I married.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's a fact.

[Dave Ramsey]

Married him.

[Jade Warshaw]

Otherwise, here's the problem with our guy. What's this guy's name?

[Dave Ramsey]

Randy.

[Jade Warshaw]

Randy. Listen, here's the problem. Every guy wants to be the knight on the Horse.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. Knight in shining armor.

[Jade Warshaw]

And it's, it's one of our kryptonite problems. And this girl bat her eyes at him and she cried and he swooned and gave her seventeen hundred dollars and he might as well lit it on fire. All right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Not getting that money back.

[Jade Warshaw]

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[Dave Ramsey]

That's right.

[Jade Warshaw]

The $25 price will never go up. And if you're still skeptical, I get it. That's why Boost mobile offers a 30 day money back guarantee. So try Boost, you'll love it. Or get your money back. Go to boostmobile.com Ramsey to make the switch today. That's boostmobile.com Ramsey restrictions apply.

[Ken Coleman]

See boostmobile.com Ramsey for details.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is the Ramsey show where America comes to have a conversation about their money, their profession and their relationships. All three of those areas are very tied together. One's not working. They tend to affect the others. Alongside Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. The Phone number is 888-8255-225882-55225 is the number. Let's go to Lisa in Detroit. Lisa, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, I'm calling in because my husband, he entered into a debt consolidation program. He has about $30,000 in debt. We are not in the program together. And I was wondering if there's any alternative or we out of this. To give a quick breakdown again, I have about here 30,000. I'm not included. I have about 13,000 debt. I'm on a fixed income secondary to a disability. I'm in end stage renal failure. We have five kids, no savings, and I don't know where to go from here.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, gosh.

[Ken Coleman]

Anyway, you can help.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. I'm sorry you're going through what you're going through. It sounds like unbearably tough. Five kids. Is there a reason that yours wasn't included? Can you give me just some more insight as to how you guys are thinking through this? Because that was my first question. Why just his and not yours? Not that it was a good choice. I'm just wondering.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, first of all, he didn't I didn't know about his debt. We don't have our credit, we don't have joint account. He has his own credit cards. I have online.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

And he maxed out his out without my knowledge. So he tried to fix the problem and went into this program and I feel like it's made everything worse because his credit just keeps decreasing and decreasing and I feel like we're gonna be stuck for the next 10 years now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, okay. So this, that there's the marriage side of it where there was a lack of trust and trust was broken there. So right now you, you, you're keep still keeping the money separate. What's. It's hard for me to talk about this, this, this one thing and not talk about your marriage, Lisa. So what's the deal with the marriage? Are you guys, do you forgive him? Have you guys fixed this? Are you going to counseling? Are you leaving him? Like what's, tell me what's up.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, he has one chance left on this death. That he is a cured is secondary to gambling.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

We have involved his family, everybody's involved. And basically if he goes back one more time, we will be getting divorced. Right. We're trying to work through it. Two of our, we have older children. Two of the kids are older. He's my second marriage. But we do still have a 7 and a 9 and a 12 year old.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

17 year old, that's younger.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So you've done the right thing in keeping the money separate because of the gambling. I think that was the right move. So let's think about knowing what we know, which is like you said, he's on this is the last chance. And if this doesn't work out, you're going to, you know, peace out. So let's first talk about this 13,000, right. Because the money is separate as of now because of the gambling. What are, what are you earning? And let's talk about what it would mean to pay that money off.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Right now I earn about 4,700amonth. That's take home from Social Security. And that's my total Debt is the 13,000. I have no other income. I don't have any retirement. I don't have any savings. Savings.

[Dave Ramsey]

And do you have margin out of that 4700?

[Ken Coleman]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

After all your bills are paid?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I pay the mortgage, which is pretty high. It's about 3200amonth and he pays all the utilities.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how much does he make?

[Ken Coleman]

He makes bring home about 500 a week.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So he only makes $2,000 a month.

[Ken Coleman]

Month, Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow. Okay, so there's the issue. Is he working 40 hours a week?

[Ken Coleman]

40 plus. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's he do?

[Ken Coleman]

He works at a steel factory. The thing is, is that he borrowed out of his retirement without me knowing also. So there's 200 a week that comes out for his retirement loan.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much was the total loan?

[Ken Coleman]

The total loan for the retirement total. He's done it over a few different times. No. How much did you take out total? So 25,000 out of that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, 25,000. So what I think. And. And this is. You guys have to sit about this, but I kind of think, Lisa, you're in charge of the money from now on. Not just your money, but all of the money. Because if he even takes the 2000, he's a recovering addict. Right, Right. So it's not right wise for him to have even the money that he's earning in his possession to make decisions with. That's what I would say. So going from there, I think, I mean, that's a dec decision you guys have to make tonight. Is that something that's possible?

[Jade Warshaw]

He's sitting right there, isn't he?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, he is. He's sitting right here.

[Jade Warshaw]

Can he hear us?

[Ken Coleman]

And he. I took it off speakerphone.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, yeah, don't. No, no, no, no. Because that'll affect the quality for everybody else. But you know, he's listening to what you just told us. I agree with Jade. If he wants to save this marriage. And it sounds like you guys have had some pretty nitty gritty talk, what you just said in front of him, like he knows he's got one more shot. I agree with Jade. I couldn't agree more, actually, that he needs to relinquish all control of money because he's broken so much trust and the only way to build it is to take his hands off of it and behave and get healthy and let you manage the money.

[Dave Ramsey]

Are you guys.

[Jade Warshaw]

But I would just say this from an income standpoint. What did you say about your professional status?

[Ken Coleman]

Currently I'm on disability for Social Security because I'm in end stage renal failure.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, bless your heart. So you can't do much, correct?

[Ken Coleman]

No, no.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, now I have. I feel like I'm coming in with a wrecking ball. And I apologize. But I really am saying this because I want you to find some PE in. In the time that you have a big issue, guys, right now. So there's the gambling, right? And there's the issues going on between you guys. Relationally but financially, the biggest issue, like the biggest elephant in the room is your mortgage.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, it's too much.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's half of your income. It's half of your combined income.

[Ken Coleman]

And, and see, we just bought the house and I had the money to put down. I had saved up the money, but I put a lot of it towards renovations, which wasn't smart. When we first moved in, instead of putting it on credit, for instance, like a new deck I paid 20,000 cash for. I made some really bad decisions.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

How long ago. How long ago is. How long ago is just bought? What does that mean?

[Ken Coleman]

A year? One year?

[Dave Ramsey]

So, yeah, that. Honestly, I'm just being. I'm being your. Your best friend right here. Just telling you the truth. That is not gonna change. Like, the, the weight that you're feeling from this is not going to change because. Because that's your mortgage. And unless you can find a giant chunk to put on this thing and, you know, try to recast it so that the payment works, this, it's. It's not going to work for you because you won't have margin to pay off the debt, whether it's the 13,000 or the 30,000. And so there's two. There's two major pieces of this financial equation. One, the house, I think you need to consider selling it and downsizing into something that you can afford. Afford. And then this other piece is. What's your husband's name? You can make up a name if you want.

[Ken Coleman]

Jonathan.

[Dave Ramsey]

Jonathan has got to earn more money. He's got to double his income at the very least this year because he's like, barely bringing anything in. And so those are. If financially speaking, those are the two big dogs that you need to. To contend with secondarily. Yeah, both of you need to be in counseling, obviously needs to be in counseling and therapy for the gambling addiction. But you do too, Lisa, because this is really affecting you. Plus you've got this end stage renal failure that is definitely taking a toll on the decisions you're making.

[Jade Warshaw]

And since he's there, you can tell him I said this. He has got to get his income up. Part of the deal of paying you back and earning trust is he needs to go earn some more money to dig this message.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Ken Coleman]

That's chministries.org budget.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, Eric is up next in Indianapolis. Eric, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Okay, so my question is, I have a debt with Chrysler Capital. I leased a truck in 2016. I turned it in 2020. I was way over in a mileage. They would not sell me the truck, which I was counting on them doing because it had over 100,000 miles on it. So I turned the truck in. They told me I owed them $91,255. So I started the debt snowball. In March of 2022, I had 125,000 in debt and year to date, I paid off all my credit cards and then we have 49,560. So I paid off about 60, 70,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

So I called Chrysler Capital and I wanted to make a one time payment and, you know, pay it off. Say, look, if this went to debt collection, you're going to get 10 cents on the dollar. That's, you know, if it's, if it's 49,000 debt collections are going to give you $5,000. I said, right now I will give you $7,208. And that if I gave them that, I would have paid the full sticker price for the truck plus $12,156. All my lease payments paid on time, plus $79,011, which would be over 65,000. I think that's really, really expensive. Fair. So they came back and they said we could do 20,000. I said, don't you get it? I want this over and done with. The reason I want to open done with this being kill us in October. I have to get a full knee replacement and I'll be out of work for three months. So I'm trying to wrap this up. So they, she said, well, hold on. She Said, well, we can do 15,000. I said, you know, listen, I don't have 15,000. Well, you could send us $7,208 and make payments. I say, I'm not doing that. I said, I'll call you back in a week. I'll call him back in next week. I said, so what are we doing? She goes, best I can do is 15,000 and you can make payments. I said, so send me something in writing. And they absolutely refused to send me anything in writing as a payoff that my debt's been reduced to 15,000. If I call them up and ask what my balance is, it's still 49,005. 68.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I don't go down there. Can you go down there to the place where you bought it and have this conversation in person?

[Ken Coleman]

No. Well, I'm dealing with Chrysler Capital, so they're in Texas.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I live in. I live in Indiana. I moved. I'm a native New Yorker. I grew up in New York, and I moved to Indiana during COVID because my friend was working as a cna. That's an essential job, and I didn't have any work, so I started here as a cna, which is a temporary first time. How many testostate.

[Dave Ramsey]

How many times have you got. That's okay. How many times have you gone back and forth to get this thing in writing?

[Ken Coleman]

I. She says, I can't do it. I'm sorry. You have that. She's on this. Supposedly she's a financial manager. I only talk to her.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right, right, right.

[Jade Warshaw]

And she can't get you something in right writing?

[Ken Coleman]

She. She says, no, you have to pay it off first, and then we'll. Then I'll get it approved. I said, so you have nothing. I said, you're. You're saying me, you need all the money. I said, don't you understand? I've been paying you $600 a week since April of 2024.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

What's the problem?

[Dave Ramsey]

And so when she. When. When you ask her, hey, can't. Why can't you just email me? You know, Know.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

What does she say?

[Ken Coleman]

She says she can't do it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, she don't want to work. She doesn't want to work with you. I mean, you figured that out.

[Dave Ramsey]

So can you request somebody else when you call in, can you say, I want to speak to a different agent or I want to speak to somebody else on the phone?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, you know, she is a financial manager, so I don't know the next step up. I don't know Who I have to ask.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would tell her. I'd be like, give me the next person on the line because you and I can't work together anymore. We've hit an impact past.

[Ken Coleman]

Right? Yeah, I could do that.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's what I would do.

[Jade Warshaw]

We don't have any tips or tricks on this one. This is just pure belligerence.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

They get tired of dealing with you.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, sometimes when you call in, you can tell by the person that picks up, like, this person is not going to help me today. You know, you can just tell. They just don't have the get it factor. And it. It could be that she's made this personal for some reason and she just is not going to help you. And so it could mean, let me let somebody else handle it. Because in reminder, hey, all these calls are recorded. I' these calls, too. Tell her. Tell her I'm recording every single call. Because when this goes down, I'm going to have my proof of everything that you've said and just remind be as. Be as much of a bully to her as she's trying to be to you and then demand to speak to somebody else.

[Ken Coleman]

Right, Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And this is going to be this. You're going to have to pull teeth to get this done.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I'm going to stay on her.

[Jade Warshaw]

You might have to use some of that New York charm of yours, if you know what I'm saying.

[Ken Coleman]

Saying, I got plenty of that.

[Dave Ramsey]

I can tell.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Do you have a cousin Vinnie, by any chance?

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, well, just. Just so you know, I grew up with all Italians, so, yeah. I'm gonna go.

[Jade Warshaw]

I knew it.

[Dave Ramsey]

I knew it.

[Jade Warshaw]

I had a feeling, Eric, I would be talking about some of these cousins of yours that are not great citizens, if you know what I'm saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. She doesn't want to know how you broke your knee.

[Jade Warshaw]

I got a deal. You refuse. You know Eric, right? Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

Man, listen, I wish we had seven tips and, you know, this is not a term.

[Ken Coleman]

No, but here. But here's my question.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Keep paying them.

[Dave Ramsey]

I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, you're on the hook for the least.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're on the hook for the lease. So paying. Yeah, paying it down is only gonna. There's two sides of this. And here's the thing. As long as you continue to make the payment, they're like, okay, this guy's making the payment. They don't care. They just want you to pay the thing off.

[Jade Warshaw]

I've never had any experience with this kind of thing, so I don't have the foggiest. Idea of what his options are.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm either, I mean, once, once something enters collections and it's like, hey, it's no longer with Chrysler Capital, it's with somebody else, that's when they know they're not getting their money.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

The fact that these are still the people that you took the original loan with, that might be why they're giving you so much.

[Jade Warshaw]

They're not incentivized, Eric, to get out of this deal because you're not delinquent.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I'm not, I'm not telling you to intentionally miss payments or something like that, but I am telling you that default is usually, that's the point where it's like we're not getting money from this guy. They sell that debt off and then at that point, anything that they get is whipped cream. So I just don't think you're at that point. I think that's why they're struggling to make a deal with you.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I agree.

[Ken Coleman]

They told me when I said that to her, I said, I know how this works. This is just going to go to the collection. She said to me, and I think she was being honest, she said, well, no, it's not going to collections. We're going to handle everything in house. So they do have a legal department. And at one point I did get a lawyer to try to, you know, to get the debt reduced. And my nuts, my not so broke brother in law used to be a lawyer, so.

[Dave Ramsey]

But on what bounds would that be? I mean, was there anything that was wrong that took place or did you, you just beat the heck out of this truck?

[Ken Coleman]

No, I, I was, my game plan was to buy the truck, finance the truck when the, when the lease was up. Okay, lease is up. I want to buy the truck, you know, give you a down payment. I'll make payments. You know, I, that, that was my game plan. They were, oh, no, it's got more than 100,000 miles. So the same people that lease me the truck won't sell it to me after I made all my payments on time and. Come on.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right, but was it in the, I'm asking, was the, like you signed a.

[Ken Coleman]

Lease contract in the lease contract? There's nothing in there that says if it's open to my husband, they're not going to sell it to you. Nothing. I have a copy of the contract.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, well then yeah, maybe you get your, your brother in law, who's the lawyer to help you with this.

[Ken Coleman]

You know, he's retired.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, but he's got Nothing else to do.

[Dave Ramsey]

I just. I'll be honest. I've never heard someone be on the hook for this much money after a lease gone bad.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I went way over in the mileage. I mean, if you read the contract, it is, you know, it's legit. You know, they. They really have. They really can enforce if they want.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, you're not in good position.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's why I'm saying. But you. You were saying it wasn't in the contract. I'm like, something's in that contract that they're holding you to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I think, again, we've given you our best advice. You got to try to get somebody else on the phone and see if you can get them to work with that. She's not going to play ball. She. And by the way, she's not incentivized to do so.

[Dave Ramsey]

And if you truly think it's an illegality, then get with a lawyer and see if they can look at it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Yeah, I'd get that retired cousin Vinnie. Vinnie. We get him on the phone. Veto. Yeah, all of them.

[Dave Ramsey]

Dude, if your name is Veto, you're a boss.

[Jade Warshaw]

I know. I wish my name was Veto. Be a much bigger deal. Foreign. This show is sponsored by Better Help. My friends. Listen, I know it feels like the world is falling apart. And I know that we're all under huge pressure to perform and to look like we're keeping it all together at the same time. Here's the statistic that blew my mind. 76% of people globally agree that mental health care can help resolve personal problems. Yet 6 out of 10 people still believe that society discourages people for asking for help. Here's the truth. Real bravery, real strength, comes when you open up about what you're carrying, how you're hurting, and learning something you can do about it so that you can be your best for yourself and for everyone else in your life.

[Ken Coleman]

If you're feeling the weight of the.

[Jade Warshaw]

World, please talk to someone. Anyone. A friend, a loved one, or you. Yes, a therapist. I see a therapist every week. If you're thinking about trying therapy, contact my friends at Better Help. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy, so it's affordable and convenient for your schedule. To get started, just fill out a short online survey to get matched with a licensed therapist. If it's not the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time, easily and for no extra cost. Talk it out with better help. Visit betterhelp.com deloney to get 10% off your first first month. That's betterhelp H-E-L-P.com hey, so many of you have shared the show through, whether it be podcasts, YouTube, you're just sharing, sharing, sharing. We're so grateful for that. And that's how the show grows. It's just the algorithms and all of the things, the likes, the subscribes, the shares. So thank you for all of it. But we're very excited about it because we have made it easier now here in the month of June, we have launched the Ramsey 101 playlist on YouTube. So our YouTube channel is very, very popular. And the playlist is the basics. Think about, you know, your math 101. We're talking basic stuff on a college level course, if you will. And our playlist on YouTube is what are the baby steps? How to pay off debt with the debt snowball, how to build an emergency fund as three really practical examples. We're talking just 101, how to win with our process. And that is on YouTube. And you can share it by clicking the link, the top of the show. Notes, notes to open the Ramsey 101 playlist on YouTube. You can text it, you can DM it, you can send it in a group chat and you just say something like, hey, thought this might help. Ramsey101 playlist, super easy for people. One click and they're in. And it's very, very helpful if you're listening on radio. By the way, you've got the playlist featured at the top of our YouTube channel. So here's our question for you, the audience today. Who's the one person you're going to share the playlist with?

[Dave Ramsey]

Thinking.

[Jade Warshaw]

Think about it. There's a person who's not familiar with it, with our content, with our show, but they're struggling financially. Jade, who are you thinking? Who you got?

[Dave Ramsey]

We'll put you on the spot, really thinking through this. And I don't know very many people that don't know about Ramsay. I'm always telling people about you don't.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have a friend down in South Florida.

[Dave Ramsey]

They all know. Those folks really know.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm trying to think who it could be. What about you?

[Jade Warshaw]

Classmate on. On Facebook. No, I'm not on Facebook.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I'm not gonna. Yeah, retro back to high school for this one.

[Jade Warshaw]

Who would I share it with? I'll tell you what, I'm gonna share it with a couple of my son's buddies that are in college. That's a great idea because they're new into this. They're Beginning to slowly, you know, get some independence financially. They're working hard. He's a, he's a rising sophomore. Maybe some of his buddies.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a great idea. I like that.

[Jade Warshaw]

I don't have their cell numbers but I have to get them from him.

[Dave Ramsey]

But yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Somebody young. Somebody young. When we get this information to somebody in their teens and early twenties and if they get it, it's a game changer. So that's my choice. Let's go to Jose in Austin. Jose, how can we help today?

[Ken Coleman]

I think if you take my call. I'm 24, I have 2 kids. I make about 70k a year and my girlfriend makes about 40k a year. We're currently renting at the moment and it's pretty cheap. It's like a thousand bucks a month. It's a three bedroom, two bath. It's actually like one of our friends but we've had some complications with like the house. There was like mold growing and we did. The owners took care of it and then. But my girlfriend wants to buy a house now that she has a job. She, she was a stay at home mom for the first two years with the kids and I was the only one working and now she got a job and she's making about 40k a year. And now she's like persistent on getting a house and she's kind of like trying to force me to get a house and then I'm kind of between getting house and between not. I've been listening to Dave Ramsey for about three to four months now. It was actually one of my co workers who told me about it and I have about $17,000 on a car loan. I got it a year and a half ago and I was thinking about selling it, but if I sell it I'm only going to get like 15,000. And she needs a car to get work. So it's kind of like boil this for me to sell it.

[Dave Ramsey]

She doesn't have a car at all.

[Ken Coleman]

She has a car now which is a 17,000. I have a car, I have a truck paid off already. But she has her car and it's 17,000 less. So that's about 400 bucks a month. And I've been trying to pay it off and I also have like appliances and other stuff that we got whenever we first moved into the house.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much is that?

[Ken Coleman]

It's about. So I just paid off 800 last week, which is for washer and dryers. I have like 600 left on like My refrigerator and a microwave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Any other.

[Ken Coleman]

And then a thousand on an Amazon. Get like a store card because we needed. We did. We were pretty dumb and did Christmas shopping on there and bought a lot of stuff that we did.

[Dave Ramsey]

What else?

[Ken Coleman]

And then all combined together we have like 6,000 total and credit cards.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so can I ask a couple questions just to clarify for me, the two kids, that's you guys kids together, right? Both of them?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, ma' am. It's both of our kids. And that's in a. Other things about child care. We pay about $1300 a month in childcare.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, that's not bad. That's actually really good because how old are the kids?

[Ken Coleman]

It's three and one.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's excellent. Usually it's double that. And how long have you guys been together?

[Ken Coleman]

We have been together for four years now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Four years.

[Ken Coleman]

We, we were like just girl. Like boyfriend and boyfriend and girlfriend. And then once we had kids, we decided moving to together.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so if you don't let me. Let's take this layer by layer because there's a couple layers I want to attack. One, I want to deal with the, the housing issue because you can't stay in a place where you said there's mold, right?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, no, but it got fixed.

[Dave Ramsey]

It did get fixed. So it's not, it's no longer an issue. Okay, great.

[Ken Coleman]

It's not an issue anymore. But she's still complaining. She's like, oh, this place is way too small.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it might be, but you're not ready to buy a house. So let's talk about that and then I'll go back to the other, other issues. You're not ready to buy a house for many reasons. A, you still have debt. B, do you have any money saved?

[Ken Coleman]

I have an emergency fund of $2,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, that's, that's. I'm glad that you have that. But that's not nearly enough to put as a down payment on a house. So the proper time and way to buy a house is you pay off all your debt first. You save up three to six months so you've got that cushion. Then you start saving up your down payment payment. And you save up your down payment until that house payment is in a comfortable spot. Right. And we would recommend no more than 25% of your take home. So it's not eating your lunch every single month. Right. So you guys have a while until you get to that point. That doesn't mean that you can't move out of this tiny apartment and get a bigger Apartment. But you're definitely not ready to buy a house. Now, let's talk about the big elephant in the room, which is why are you with this girl for four years and have two kids together and thinking about buying a house but not marrying her?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I know.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's up with that, dude?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

I don't know. And honestly, it's on me.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Tell me more.

[Ken Coleman]

So we did split up. We did split up for a while. We were split for, like a year. There are some things that happened in between, and it's probably my fault.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so it's on you.

[Ken Coleman]

Not. Not fully on me. But we weren't just getting a. And, you know, we wouldn't say nice things to each other, so we were like, okay, you know what? I just feel like it's bad to go. Like, the kids in this household, okay. We're constantly arguing, so I think it's best if we just go both ways.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And then you got back together.

[Ken Coleman]

And then we got back together because I guess we really loved each other. And we're like, you know what? We. We don't deserve to give this to our kids. You know, we decided to bring them into this life.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Did you do some counseling?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, we did. We're still doing counseling at the moment.

[Jade Warshaw]

I got it. Okay. To that end, I just want to jump in. Jade's got you on the money stuff, but I sensing something here, and I'm just going to ask you a question man to man here, okay? Are you taking the lead on financial stuff in the. In the home? I know you're not married, and it's not ideal, but, you know, you guys are doing a lot together. You need to have separate finances. That's what we teach her. But regardless of all that, are. Does she follow your lead? Can you put a stop to making some unnecessary purchases at this time until you clean it up the way that Jade's led you or you feel like you got nothing. Sway.

[Ken Coleman]

So that's the thing. Like, I'm hoping that she can hear this call. I'm hoping that it's out there so she can hear it, because she thinks that, like, whatever you guys say, it's not, like, nonsense. And I've told her, like, no. Like, I feel like we need to pay off. No, we can't pay off all of our debt. At least pay most of it, because it takes up, like, a lot of our income at the end of the month. And then I also was like, I want to have, like, 10 to $12,000 saved up after.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Do you know why? She thinks it's nonsense. Can you speak to that? Do you feel like you can't or. Because if we know what the why is, then we can help combat that.

[Ken Coleman]

I don't. I don't know. I. I really don't know why. I feel like she's very young. She's 21. I feel like she's a little bit immature at times and she doesn't, like, see things my way.

[Dave Ramsey]

Listen, you're both young and you're both immature. Both together. You.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. You got to stop participating so she doesn't have to agree with us. That's not part of the deal. This is. This is Yalls relationship and there's a lot of muddy lines here. And I would say one of the things that needs to get clear pretty quickly is you go, I'm no longer participating in any debt. Period.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, that's what. So that's what we're actually doing. We're not. We're not doing anything on credit. Everything's on cash. I. I did. I've been listening to his audiobooks as well.

[Jade Warshaw]

Keep doing it. Keep going.

[Dave Ramsey]

And keep your money separate until you're married. Don't put anything in her name. In your name.

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, listen up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Everyone is at risk of identity theft.

[Ken Coleman]

I don't care if you're a hermit living off the grid, listening to the show on a battery powered radio.

[Jade Warshaw]

All of your data collected by every.

[Ken Coleman]

Company you've ever done business with lives online. Your bank, your doctor's office, retailers, the apps on your phone, the gas station.

[Jade Warshaw]

Where you have loyalty rewards, they all.

[Dave Ramsey]

Store your info online, making them ripe.

[Ken Coleman]

For a cyber attack or data breach.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's why I've been telling people for.

[Ken Coleman]

Almost 25 years they need an ID theft protection plan.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the only one I've ever recommended.

[Ken Coleman]

Is from Zander Insurance.

[Dave Ramsey]

They monitor your personal and financial info, even your home title, and take over.

[Jade Warshaw]

The work if you become a victim. It's the most thorough and affordable plan out there.

[Ken Coleman]

I even have it for my family.

[Dave Ramsey]

And our entire team.

[Ken Coleman]

Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, how many of you out there that are listening, watching are sick and tired of being sick and tired and living paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. So the first step is you've got to get a budget to figure out where the money is coming and going. That's the deal. So we've got some free budgeting trainings this month. You can sign up for [e-mail] webinar everydollar.com webinar now, this is free, and you're going to learn step by step how to make a budget and then stick to it using EveryDollar. Sign up for [e-mail] web webinar. All right, John is up in Denver, Colorado. John, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, guys. My wife has joint ownership of a property worth about $20 million.

[Jade Warshaw]

Whoa.

[Ken Coleman]

And, yeah, I wasn't sure if maybe it's time to cash that out and start putting it to work for us as a family. And how would I. If I should even have that conversation with her?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, you got to tread lightly. So it's her and it's your wife, and who else? Who else are the joints?

[Ken Coleman]

It's my wife, her two sisters, and her mother.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, and what's the deal? Like, what do you know about it? Is it in a trust? And what's the time frame exactly?

[Ken Coleman]

It was in a trust for a while. The youngest sister just turned 18, so now it's. It can be sold. So, I mean, I just see it sitting there, and it's like, maybe we should just take it now. Well, you know, I mean, I'm not expecting it to go down to nothing, but, you know, that's enough to change our lives if we just cashed out right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's your wife saying?

[Ken Coleman]

She. She thinks that this property is going to be such a headache. She honestly almost wants nothing to do with it. And I'm just thinking, you know, for how much is worth. It's worth dealing with what's on it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Is it just land?

[Ken Coleman]

It's just land.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you guys sell this, you make 5 million. Everybody makes 5 million. That's the deal, right?

[Ken Coleman]

There's some capital gains, but, yeah, sure, sure.

[Dave Ramsey]

Who's. Who's the one that doesn't want to pull that lever in the mix?

[Ken Coleman]

I think they're all my wife, and all of their sisters are kind of just whatever about it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why are they whatever about it?

[Ken Coleman]

Because they have a weird dynamic about money and their family, and they honestly, I just don't think they want to deal with the potential of making their mother angry.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why would selling it make their mother angry? Tell you.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're like, I feel like we're missing something.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know. This is like an onion. Tell us.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get, get. Get right to it. I'm sitting here listening and listening and listening. I'm going, I don't think I've got the full story.

[Dave Ramsey]

So your mom, Your wife's family is very wealthy. Is this it?

[Ken Coleman]

Through, through this real estate. And that's pretty much it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so this is the one big nest egg. And what is to explain the part about the mom being mad about them selling this now that they're of age?

[Ken Coleman]

Explain that since she owns a share of it also, she is just, she sees it as almost like her legacy and doesn't want to see it go away. And she's always been really bad with money. She's gone through bankruptcy before. She's considered doing it a second time recently. And part of the issue, part of the issue is that they are concerned that she will do some sign, find some way to put this as leverage for, you know, collateral for another loan or something. Something.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, so let me. So, okay, so you're saying the share, if you sell this land, what would she stand to make her share?

[Ken Coleman]

Her share would be 5 million.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, all right, so they're your, your wife's and the, the sibling, they're all worried what she would do with the 5 million?

[Ken Coleman]

No, they're, they're worried that she might find some way. Because my wife and her siblings, they've never actually sat down and talked to the lawyers or read the will or anything. So they're worried that she might have some way to like weasel it into her name. And so that's why they're almost all just like, I don't even know.

[Dave Ramsey]

How do you even know if it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Doesn'T read the will?

[Dave Ramsey]

How do you even know that this is theirs?

[Ken Coleman]

We've been told by the mother in law.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, listen, I think that, here's what I think and can please weigh in. I think that. And I'm not saying anything, please understand, if I were in your shoes, I'd be having a lot of questions too, because $5 million is not a little bit of money. It's a lot. So I kind of think that you're sitting to the side, your eyes are getting big because you're seeing, oh, there's some potential here. But truly, there's no facts around the situation. It's odd to me that there's this major piece of possible money and no one's moving towards it, no one's reading the will, no one seems to care. I almost wonder if it, what's really going on? And so I feel like your homework is, sit down with your, your wife and have the conversation, say, hey, what the heck's going on with this 20 million dollar property? Are we selling it? Are we going to read the will? Like, what's going on? Like can you talk to your wife like that just candidly?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. And I have. And she, she's just said to me, you know, I, I don't expect to get anything from my mother when she passes. I don't expect to get anything from this. I don't. I, I just assume that this is going to be a known factor in my life. So I just want nothing to do with.

[Dave Ramsey]

But it's not even a thing.

[Jade Warshaw]

How did you come up, how did it come up to where you called us and told us all of this stuff? Like how did this. Seems like something just popped up recently.

[Ken Coleman]

Because the mother in law, she talked to my wife recently who didn't talk to me. She talked to my wife about potentially selling it and to pay off her debt. And of course my wife would get her share. And I wasn't around when this conversation happened where I would have been telling my wife, yeah, you should probably do this or really consider it. So when my wife finally told me, I was like, well, why didn't you say, yeah, let's do this? And she was just like, oh, I don't know. I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. How many other siblings are involved?

[Dave Ramsey]

Two.

[Ken Coleman]

Two.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. First of all, we get these calls a lot. The details are different, but the scenario is the same. You're the brother in law and by the way, it's funny, you, I mean, excuse me, you're the son in law and you keep going. The mother in law. You don't go, you never once on this call said, my mother in law.

[Dave Ramsey]

Or whatever, whatever her name is.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's like the mother in law. So it feels like your wife's response sounds like a person who is exhausted in the relationship with her mother, that there are probably some emotional boundaries that are there. And she's almost completely apathetic because she just. The idea of even dealing with mom on this doesn't even feel like it is worth it. Am I about right on.

[Dave Ramsey]

On this?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate because in.

[Jade Warshaw]

A normal situation you'd be jumping. She would be like, yeah, mom, I'm, I'm thrilled to get my, my cut.

[Dave Ramsey]

It sounds like she's resigned herself to say, even though I guess it's the, the, your father in law who left.

[Ken Coleman]

This land, it was their grandmother. The father in law is not really in the picture.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so it sounds like when the grandmother passed, left this land, even though it sounds like your, your wife. Wife is like already entitled to her percentage of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

You're.

[Dave Ramsey]

It sounds like your wife is just resigned to saying, hey, I'm not fighting this battle.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm doesn't even want to look in.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm happier with just waiting until my mom passes and then it'll just go directly to me and then I don't have to fight her about this. That's what it sounds like.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's pretty accurate, by the way. Okay, so based on that, your position as her husband and the. Or one of the son in laws or whatever the situation situation is you don't get a vote. You, you get to give an opinion to your wife. But other than giving an opinion to your wife, there's nothing you can do. So you know, should you encourage her? Sure be great for you guys financially, but she's gotta then corral the other siblings, I guess. Or go to her mom and go, mom, I think it's a great idea. I'm for it. And. But then who knows what the other siblings are gonna to say.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, because at what point the question is how much are you willing to force the sale of this and possibly for, for your wife? That's the question. And possibly. Really? Do you mess with relationships?

[Jade Warshaw]

That's an interesting question. Do you have a good relationship with your mother in law?

[Ken Coleman]

It's okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

What does that mean? That's not an exchange.

[Ken Coleman]

We exchange pleasantries and we're friendly with each other. We talk.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's on a have to basis.

[Jade Warshaw]

Have you ever had a fight or anything?

[Ken Coleman]

No.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, okay, my point is you're a grown man and if you want to call your mother in law. No, Ken, now hold on a second. You didn't even let me finish. Before you disagree. If you want to call your mother in law up and go. Hey, my wife said that you said this.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh no, kid.

[Jade Warshaw]

And she asked me for input on this. What is the situation? Just listen. That's a normal conversation. He can totally do that.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, he can't do that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Why?

[Dave Ramsey]

Without the, without the wife.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, she would need to be okay with that. I didn't say behind her back. Just say, hey, babe. You care if I bring the subject up and see where your mom's really at on this deal? You got to get buy in from the wife.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, no, I think this is a bad idea.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's not. It's called being an adult. And that's if your wife's okay with it. Just to see where it sits.

[Dave Ramsey]

This aggression shall not stand. Look at the audience. They're saying thumbs down, Ken.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, I have a good relationship with my mother. Mother in law. I could absolutely do that with my wife's approval.

[Dave Ramsey]

With the wife's approval.

[Jade Warshaw]

Did you guys not catch that?

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, even still, it's, it's some dangerous territory.

[Jade Warshaw]

You know what? I reserve the right to be wrong. But you all are wrong.

[Ken Coleman]

Buying and selling a home is a.

[Jade Warshaw]

Big deal and you want an expert in your corner fighting for you to get the right deal at the right price.

[Ken Coleman]

That's why we only recommend Ramsey trusted real estate agents.

[Dave Ramsey]

They're handpicked pros who know their stuff.

[Ken Coleman]

Listen to your needs, and have your back from the first call all the way to closing day. To find a Ramsey trusted agent near you, visit ramseysolutions.com agent ramseysolutions.com agent.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is the Ramsay show where America hangs out to have a conversation about their money, their profession and their relationships. All of those are intertwined. And if one of them's off, it can make a mess. And we want to help you avoid a mess or get out of the mess. Alongside Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. Phone number is 888-255-2225. Eric is up in Cincinnati.

[Dave Ramsey]

Cincinnati.

[Jade Warshaw]

Cincinnati. I'm super fanatical today, apparently. Eric, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. So right now me and my wife are in baby step two and I'm wanting to know how long I should work a part time job because we have a two year old toddler at home and my wife is also pregnant right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, wow.

[Ken Coleman]

Due the end of August. So we have a little bit of a nest egg saved up and I'm wanting to get a part time job to keep tackling the debt. Snowball.

[Jade Warshaw]

Perfect.

[Ken Coleman]

Wanting to know how long should I should do that?

[Jade Warshaw]

You should do it until you don't need to do it anymore. It's a part time job number 1 1. So let me be more specific. Obviously when baby comes, you're gonna hopefully tell those folks, look, my wife is due at such and such time and as a result that's gonna affect my ability. But I need this job, want this job. So given this, whatever you're, I gotta be careful on this because the maternity leave for dudes is something that is a thing now. And I've never understood it. I get in hot water because people think I'm a caveman. But whatever that is on your day job and same thing, tell them you got to communicate to them. But my point, the point is, you know, to the extent that the wife will let you out of the house because you got a marriage first, that's the deal. I'd be working as much as I could to pay off this debt, you know. And so if the baby weren't in the picture, the new one coming along, how long would you have anticipated needing to work this part time job to get out of debt?

[Ken Coleman]

That one would still be uncertain. We have about a little less than 89k in debt and based on the the map on the Every dollar app is what I really love using, it would be about three years for us to get out of that 89 debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's your income? What are you making with the part time job right now?

[Ken Coleman]

Part time job isn't solidified. I've got the interview Wednesday around 4:00 in the afternoon.

[Dave Ramsey]

What are you making now?

[Ken Coleman]

My day, my day job is, is about 26 an hour doing 40 hours a week minimum.

[Dave Ramsey]

And what does that. And then my wife say hey, do that math for me right quick and tell me what that is a month for. You.

[Ken Coleman]

Bring in about 2,300amonth after tax and insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

And what would the part time job pay?

[Ken Coleman]

1175 an hour.

[Jade Warshaw]

Doing what?

[Ken Coleman]

It's literally just a dry flat through like convenience place that's literally two minutes from my house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, I understand why you did that super close job, I get it. But you need to be making more.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think you can.

[Jade Warshaw]

$11 an hour is not a good exchange for this extra time to be away from mama and the two little ones.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. What do you know how to do? Is there something you can do on the side for people and set your price? You seem like a guy who knows how to do things.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. So my daytime job at the moment is a security technician and potentially I'm worried talking to another company company that if God opens all the doors I would turn into a programmer for security cameras and access control.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great. I'm just telling you to spend any extra time away above and beyond because that's putting a strain on on your wife. It's putting a strain on you. However, we're okay with this extra strain. That's why I immediately started off with you got to do this part time job to bring an extra income as long as it takes. Because if mama's going to stay home even for the maternity leave, you need that extra income and this is going to get you out of debt earlier while the kids are little. See, the two year old doesn't understand time. So it's going to hurt your heart. Let's just be real. It's going to hurt your heart to be away from from them. But you're doing it for a season and I think a lot Shorter season in three years. That's where, that's where Jade's going with this deal. She's trying to figure out your money thing. So let's keep going with Jade, but let's acknowledge that it doesn't make any sense, sense for you to be doing a part time job and making $11 an hour. When you're worth 26 an hour at the baseline, then you're gonna, you will.

[Dave Ramsey]

Loathe being away from your family for $11. You're already not gonna want to do it, but for that money, you are going to hate it. Great statement, you know, so here's my thoughts on this. First off, you are in baby step two. You do have a baby on the way. So I do want to have highlight this teaching because I think it's important. Any money that you do stack up during this time, you're kind of holding it and keeping it in a fund, a baby fund, just to make sure everything goes right with the pregnancy, everything goes right with the delivery. So just remember that we still want you grinding it, but just keep that money to the side. And then once the baby's born, then you throw it on whatever your smallest debt is. And yeah, I think that to Ken's point, now's the time to really figure out what can you kind of crank up today that you can start making money. Even if it's knocking on the doors in the neighborhood that's really nice that's around you and starting to, it's summertime, start mowing lawn, like anything that you can set the schedule because that's the other thing that's going to give you peace when you have a little baby. Having that control of saying, I get to set my schedule, I get to set my rate. That'll keep you doing these side hustles a little bit longer because you've got a really a three year, two and a half year train and fresh. And so setting it up that way, I think is going to help you long term.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I totally agree. Head down for a season and you guys can get there. All right, let's talk about this.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I want to chop this up.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. So let's talk about young couples, babies on the way, similar to this scenario and they're in baby step two. We got a lot of new people joining us all the time. There's the intensity. We preach gazelle intensity. If you haven't heard us talk about that before, just a quick kind of metaphor. You ever seen one of those nature shows, you see a gazelle in the Serengeti, the savannah, trying to get away from that lion.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right.

[Jade Warshaw]

It is everything. They got to get away. And this situation comes in here. I want your thoughts on this because I know my thought is just do whatever.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

As long as the wife is not yelling at you and come home, help me. She needs help as well. What's the level of intensity like in that scenario from your point. Point of view? Not as just a money expert, as a woman?

[Dave Ramsey]

I think it's a. It's a mental shift because. And I'm going to speak on this from a little bit of a different perspective. I think what happens is we go, baby's on the way. Family's my first priority. Yes. Family is your first priority, whether it be your marriage part of the family, then your kids, part of the family. Right. It's usually 1 and 2. Right. But then we really forget and our mind immediately goes to. The way I show that something is a priority is I spend time, time with it when really there's this whole part of it that's like, hey, what are the different ways that you value a priority? If you say your family is a priority, there are more than one ways to show that time is just one of the many. Another way that I show that my family is a priority is I take care of my body, I eat healthy, I make sure I'm going to be here for the long haul. Right. Another way I take care of my family and make sure that they're. The priority is I go out and work and make sure the lights stay on and that there's food on the table and that tuition is paid. Right.

[Ken Coleman]

So.

[Dave Ramsey]

So instead of laser focusing in on this one small aspect of what makes a priority a priority, which is time, we have to look at the seasonal component and say, well, in some seasons, time could be a priority. In other seasons, going out and grinding that ax and making some money, that's the priority, and that's how I prioritize my family. And so depending on what your financial situation is, that really does speak to how you build bullet point, how to make that a priority.

[Jade Warshaw]

But you got it with the relational component is you got a wife at home with a couple of babies. You gotta smooth that one out.

[Dave Ramsey]

You gotta smooth it out. You might but have that conversation with her, and then she'll start to say, oh, okay, I see. Yeah, he does prioritize.

[Jade Warshaw]

And that's vision casting. I love that you laid that out. Just cast the vision. Short season, we're gonna do this. Here's what life is gonna look like on the other side, get some buy in. Don't have to be a caveman about it. You spend hours researching before making a.

[Ken Coleman]

Major purchase like a home or car. But it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage to protect your biggest assets. I recommend using Ramsey Trusted Pro Pros. Whether you're looking for car, home, or any other type of insurance, Ramsey trusted providers have been coached and vetted to.

[Jade Warshaw]

Serve you like we would.

[Ken Coleman]

Find what you [e-mail] insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, Springfield, Missouri, is where we're going next. Aiden is joining us there. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hi, my name is Aiden Thompson, and I need some advice on how I can control my money better and finance it better with my fiance because we are struggling to figure out ways to pay our bills the correct way.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, our bills. Does that mean you guys are sharing finances before getting married?

[Ken Coleman]

In theory, yes. We have separate accounts and everything, but we're trying to, in theory, control them as one set of separate people.

[Jade Warshaw]

So you're living together?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is this a rent or a home mortgage?

[Ken Coleman]

This is a rent. We live in an apartment. Okay.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you guys make?

[Ken Coleman]

I make probably about $800 a month, and she probably makes about 400amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, well, there's your twelve hundred dollars a month. That is. Yeah. I mean, you barely can live in a cardboard box for that.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old are you?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm 22.

[Dave Ramsey]

22.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you do for a living?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I have three jobs. I work at two restaurants, and then I just got a third job today.

[Jade Warshaw]

You are not doing much work at all. $800 a month is what you're bringing. Bringing in. With three jobs, roughly, it was.

[Ken Coleman]

I just got my third job today.

[Dave Ramsey]

How many hours are you working?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm working at one of my jobs, about 30 hours, and then I'm about to quit my second job.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so what. Can you. Can you tell us what they are so that we can let them know about themselves live on the air? Because anybody that's not paying you to work 30 hours and you're not even.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you waiting. Waiting tables?

[Ken Coleman]

Basically, yes, but I just bring out the food.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, listen, dude.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, gosh.

[Jade Warshaw]

How old are you again?

[Ken Coleman]

22.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay. You need to go get a job at a grocery store or Walmart. Anywhere else or somewhere else where you're making way more than you're making Amazon Flex. Anything else like you bringing out food. I don't know if you've done the math on that. $800 divided by 30 hours ain't much. Much. All right, that's crazy to me. So you call, and I appreciate that you call, but you need some income. And so you're shooting for $15 an hour, $12 an hour, $20 an hour. I mean, anything more than what you're making right now. And what is she doing for 400 bucks a month?

[Ken Coleman]

She is an at home CNA nurse.

[Jade Warshaw]

How many hours is she working? Three.

[Ken Coleman]

She works about probably four to five because she only has one client right now.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, what is she doing with the rest of her time?

[Ken Coleman]

She does like doordashing all to make up the extra money that we can't.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how much does she make from that? Because you said she makes 400 bucks. Is that total?

[Jade Warshaw]

She's not what I'm aware of. Probably she's not working.

[Dave Ramsey]

Aiden, can she. Instead of trying to build up her own book of business, can she go work for a company that will do work for hire for her, like care do like she.

[Ken Coleman]

Probably she can. We've talked about trying to get her a better paying job because she loves what she does, but this job that I've tried talking to her about isn't working her way.

[Dave Ramsey]

She's not actually doing it. That's. Yeah, that's the problem. She might love the idea of doing that work, which is great. She's just got to actually go out and be able to do that work. Because what you're describing is just a couple of hours for the whole week. So either she needs to get with a company that will send her out on jobs, or she needs to get very, very serious about getting on all the sites that would book her as, you know, individually to come out and be a care nurse.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Are you stumped right now? I'm just doing some math over here. I didn't want you to think I left you hanging. I'm just doing.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's making 26 bucks a day.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, 26 bucks.

[Dave Ramsey]

You can do that. You can triple that today just by mowing lawns. It's summertime. Just by going out and be like, can I. Do you see what I'm saying? I just want you to. I don't want you to fall into. To just this pattern of, well, this is what I got, and that one's not enough. I'll just go get another one just like it and just keep stacking up these, these bum jobs. I want you to go, this is not good enough for me. Like, I. I'm a hard worker. I'm a smart guy, like I deserve more than this. And if look for the opportunity, if you can't find it, start creating it for yourself.

[Jade Warshaw]

Get in the car and go to construction, construction sites and say, I'd be willing to be a legal. That means you're carrying bricks around, you're carrying drywall, I mean, excuse me, plywood, and throwing it up to these guys. I did this as a 19 year old. You can make more money as a laborer on a construction site than you can carrying out food. Do you understand what I'm saying? Aiden, I need to hear something from you.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying.

[Jade Warshaw]

Is there a reason why you've not gone after these things? Did Jade hit the nerve here where you just think, well, I'm, I live in a small town, there's not a lot there. I got what I got and it's just not getting me through. What's going on in your mind around making more money?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I have a side business on my own, but I've applied to other companies because I did work for a mowing company at the beginning of the summer, but they let me go because I got injured and they didn't want to keep me for however long I was going to be gone from my injury.

[Jade Warshaw]

What were you making when you were mowing lawns for them?

[Ken Coleman]

I was making $16 an hour.

[Jade Warshaw]

Boom. So you're healthy, go back to them and if they won't take you, go somebody else. But this idea of you don't need a side hustle, you don't need a side business, you're broke and you got a, a woman that has said yes to marry you. When's the wedding?

[Ken Coleman]

Next year? June 28th.

[Jade Warshaw]

Great.

[Dave Ramsey]

Who's paying for it?

[Ken Coleman]

So we actually have a free venue and we're not going to cater any food so that we're going to keep it on the cheaper end and more. Kind of like a potluck kind of thing.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, love the potluck idea.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, how much is your rent by the way?

[Ken Coleman]

Our rent is $1,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you guys are existing off of 200. How are it must be going on credit cards.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, actually we don't have any credit cards.

[Dave Ramsey]

So how are you eating and putting gas in your car?

[Ken Coleman]

So I donate plasma every for two days a week. So that normally is for my gas and then food. We have to normally go to food banks.

[Dave Ramsey]

Can I ask you why are you make? You're a 22 year old, smart, bright guy. Why are you putting yourself on a struggle slice? Why are you doing that why are you choosing that? Going down and donating plasma. That, that's like. That's pursuit of happiness. Next level broke. You don't have to be there. You are fit, you are young, you are smart. You have. The world is your oyster.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's the answer to that? She asked you a direct question. What's the answer? What's really going on? That that's your option.

[Ken Coleman]

I mean, I shouldn't be in theory punishing myself for these low labor jobs and I should probably go out and find these higher paying jobs that are going to help me get through life.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, yeah. And you can. Can I? You know, I just. What I want you to hear from me is I think there's something in your own mind that's making you feel like maybe you're not able to. To accomplish. But I think you can. I did not hear anything Aiden that would make me think, well, he's got a good reason for kind of having to, you know, reach lower. I only hear reasons that you should be reaching higher. And I just think that it's your own mind that's kind of getting in the way of that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. I'm telling you what I'm going to do. I want to give you guys a pre wedding gift. It's called find the work you're wired to do and it's got about an 18 to 20 minute assessment in it. If I give it to you, will you promise me you'll take it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, now here's what it's going to do. It's going to spit out for you how you're wired, in other words, what you're really good at doing what you enjoy doing and the results that motivate you because all work creates, creates result. Do you agree with that? Yes or no?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, so if you could spend most of your day using the talent that you have to do something you love to produce a result that matter that pre be a pretty good day, wouldn't it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Do you also agree that that's your best chance of making income?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I truly believe that. All right.

[Jade Warshaw]

I'm going to give this to you as awareness to hopefully shake you out of the cycle of. I'm just down on my. My luck and life got me behind the eight ball as I think Jade nailed it. You're worth more than this. It's time to start acting like it. It's going to change everything for you guys. You guys are subsisting on less than the poverty level and there's no reason for it other than sheer belief and the effort that comes with it. So hang on the line. We're going to give you the book. Find the work you're wired to do. Please take the assessment and then read the book. It's about a 45 minute read. I'm going to coach you to move, move forward. Please do it for your future. I'm telling you, you can do this, but you got to start acting on this today.

[Ken Coleman]

All right?

[Jade Warshaw]

If you are tackling debt or if you're trying to build wealth, you know what you can forget about? You get so locked in on everything you're doing there, you forget about basic protection. In other words, insurance. Having the right coverage can impact how long it takes to actually get out of debt or build the wealth that you want to build. Think of insurance as a shield around your loved ones, in your wallet, your bank account. Right. If disaster strikes, and we know it does, so we want you to take the coverage checkup. This is a free online resource and it's going to create a personalized insurance action plan based on where you are right now in your financial situation. Go to ramseysolutions.com checkup ramseysolutions.com checkup this only takes a few, few minutes and again, could save you money or it could actually protect you from financial disaster. That's why we want you to do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

I can give them a quick rundown of the different insurances.

[Jade Warshaw]

Go. Why not, why not, why not?

[Dave Ramsey]

So I think this is important, Ken, because like you said, it can kind of, you know, fall under the radar. And a lot of us think erroneously. When you start working the baby steps, you kind of get the idea that, oh, I'll do this when I'm out of debt.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's just not true. True. You know, insurance is not a baby step. It's something that you do as soon as you find out you don't wait till you get out of debt. So obviously if you're home, a homeowner, you have homeowners insurance. But if you're a renter, Ken, you need to have renters insurance because if something happens to that place, it catches fire or whatever, you're out in the cold, somebody breaks in. If you don't have renters insurance, you're on the hook for that. Okay? So obviously there's that. Then of course you got to have auto insurance, but you got to, you need to make sure that you, you have the right type. And so doing that coverage insurance is really important. You got to have collision comprehensive liability all that stuff. All right, Umbrella insurance, a lot of people forget about this. When your net worth hits a certain amount, right? When you're, you know, you over 500,000 net worth, you need to have umbrella insurance. And we say get 1 million in coverage. That's what you're looking for. You need to have that health insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

Come on.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you don't have it through your job, if that's not a luxury that you have in yourself and unemployed, you still need to make sure that you reach out and get that. And we have health trust and some other options here, but make sure that you're covered, you have the right amount because we know bankruptcy, usually it's a result of medical bills. Okay, so make sure you're covered. Health insurance is important. Of course we talk about long term disability, A lot of people forget about that. I'm not going to lie, Ken. Long term disability, if you don't get it through your job, it's going to cost you a pretty penny. It can be a little expensive. But just think about it. There is a very good chance that at some point throughout your working career something will happen and you're not able to work for a while. So think through these things. What would happen if you stepped off the curve today and broke your leg? And if your mind goes blank or you realize there's nothing in place, I.

[Jade Warshaw]

Personally would be in a fetal position sucking my thumb and crying.

[Dave Ramsey]

Listen, I mean, but think about that. It only takes, it don't take much for you to be, no, you know, at a capacity. So there's that long term term care. We don't talk about this one a whole lot, but this is about when you get older, right? When you're old and you're no longer working and someone needs to take care of you. Don't leave that for your kids to have to. I mean, think about the call. We got a call today, Ken. The woman sold everything she had to come take care of her 92 grand year old grandmother and ended up in so much debt because there was no money there to take care of grandma. So that's something you can do today. We talk about getting this in place when you, when you turn age 60, right? Make sure you're getting the right amount. If you have a high net worth, you probably don't need it because your nest egg can fund it. But these are the things that you need to be thinking about and thinking ahead. And then of course we talk about term life insurance. You can get that through Xander. I don't think I Need to go over that. If you listen to Ramsey even for a hot minute, you know that we suggest that. And if you can get some ID theft protection, you can also get that through Xander. That's for your identity basically being stolen on the, on the interwebs. Right. And you can get that for super cheap. It's just peace of mind. So these are the things you need to be keeping in mind. Life happens. You never know how life is going to happen. But insurance is a shield against that.

[Jade Warshaw]

Right. So again we want you to go to Ramsey Solutions.com checkup. This is free little quick 5 minute coverage checkup. You can click on the link in the description if you're listening on YouTube or podcast. Ramseysolutions.com checkupjay that was great. It's kind of like George Talk. Nerdy segment, you know, you just nerd it out there and it's fantastic. People benefited from that. Let's go to Scott in San Diego. Scott, how can we help today?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. Appreciate that. So I am almost 73 in a month or so debt free. But I'm paying 650 bucks a month for $350,000 worth of term life insurance. And I'm wondering is that a good investment or should and I cancel and invest that money somewhere else.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why is it so expensive?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, once I turned 70, I had a term, I had a 30 year term all the way up to 70. And once I hit 70 each year last, last year I was paying 550. This year it's up to 660, I think it is.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it's only for 350 of coverage.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your net worth?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, well, my house is paid off. 800,000. I've got a little over 100,000 in IRA. My wife's got about 20,000 in that. Another IRA there. I've got about 48,000 passive income coming in from retirement and then I'm still working actually.

[Jade Warshaw]

What's your income?

[Ken Coleman]

But total for about 100, 125,000 a year.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Okay, well so I mean, I mean Jade, we talk about this all the time. Somebody your age, I mean, if you had a higher net worth, I think it'd be a no brainer. I mean, I think at this point, here's the, here's the question. If, if you were to die tomorrow because the 350s on you, you know, would your wife need that 350,000?

[Ken Coleman]

And you know, that's, that's the question. That's what I'm Calling. I don't know. I don't think she does.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, you know, all of them are.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, of course. Yeah. No, she, she wouldn't. But I, you know, I, by the same token came out, I wouldn't want her to have to sell the house or think she had to sell the house.

[Jade Warshaw]

Exactly.

[Ken Coleman]

My, and, and all of my, you know, my kids, they're, you know, they're doing well.

[Jade Warshaw]

And so, so how long is this new term? How much is this? How long is this new term for?

[Ken Coleman]

It's for through. It just started this in May and it'll go a year and then it'll go up again next. Next. Next year again.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, so it's on a 12 month rollover. Essentially, yes. Because of your age.

[Ken Coleman]

Exactly.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so.

[Ken Coleman]

Exactly.

[Jade Warshaw]

All right, so I'm thinking through this. I don't have a hard opinion on this. And I know Jade's got an opinion on this. I'm walking through this with you, Scott. So let's take the 650 right now. Okay. And over 12 months, okay, we know that that is close to $8,000, right? Quick math, right. 100%. So if you were to take the 8,000 and invest that, you know.

[Ken Coleman]

Yep.

[Jade Warshaw]

And you invested that for, I mean, let's play this out. How many years, let's say you were going to keep the insurance for her. How many more years would you in your mind, want to pay for it?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, as it keeps going up, I'm thinking, and really, Kim, you tell me if this is goofy, but I'm thinking, okay, hey, let my kids, kids start paying for. Because, you know, listen, when we leave, you know, obviously our kids are going to get their inheritance. It's like, hey, if you guys want this life insurance.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, I don't like that. I don't like that. No, no, no. Your kids, I, I think that's creative and innovative, but I'm glad you're laughing about it. I think that's a bad idea. If you, if my parents came to me and said you got to pay my life insurance to get the inheritances, I'd go, okay, Pop, we'll talk later.

[Dave Ramsey]

What else are you putting aside month, monthly into your.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah. Since you're still working, what are you investing? You know, we're not, not really. I've got a, I've got an IRA.

[Ken Coleman]

That I've put in 100 bucks a month. You know, I haven't really put a lot of money into that over the last few years.

[Dave Ramsey]

So. You're not investing 15%.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm I'm not. No.

[Jade Warshaw]

But let me ask you this because.

[Ken Coleman]

Because last year I called a financial guy, Kim, you'd mentioned, to get, I heard just talking about getting a professional to help us. I called him, somebody I knew, and I said, look, I wanted to take all my money out of my IR and put it to Costco stock. My daughter works for Costco. I know Costco.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is a terrible idea.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, okay, yeah, you say that, but.

[Ken Coleman]

Let me tell you, if I would have done it last year, 40% it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Was up last year.

[Ken Coleman]

So yeah, I, I know it sounds. Because everybody's, you know, like, oh, no, you got to diversify. You got to do this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, you know, it.

[Ken Coleman]

Costco is not going anywhere.

[Jade Warshaw]

People got.

[Dave Ramsey]

You don't know that. A smart investor diversifies their investment. Investments. That's number one. And I want you to walk away with that because that is 100% true. If you put all of your eggs in one basket and that basket catches fire, then you're, you're on fire.

[Jade Warshaw]

Give him real quick math on what you punched up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Hey, don't just take this money and invest it because you're going to be left with less and you're going to have to do it over a longer term. I think for now you need to really get on a budget. Make sure you're investing 15% of your income because the more that you can invest next now, the quicker you can get out of this crazy expensive coverage. You need to start doing the right thing now.

[Jade Warshaw]

These days the Internet is chock full.

[Ken Coleman]

Of so called investing advice from random goobs with zero qualifications. Listen folks, you deserve guidance from someone.

[Jade Warshaw]

Who knows what the flip they're talking talking about.

[Ken Coleman]

That's why I recommend the SmartVestor program.

[Jade Warshaw]

SmartVestors can help you find a professional.

[Ken Coleman]

Financial advisor who can teach you to make your own best decisions with your own money. Get [e-mail] smartvestor again ramseysolutions.com smartvestor Ramsey Solutions is a paid non client promoter of participating pros.

[Jade Warshaw]

Learn [e-mail] all right, our scripture of the day comes from Romans 15:2. Our goal must be to empower others to do what is right and good for them and to bring them to spiritual maturity. Our quote of the day from Harry Kemp. The poor man is not he who is without a scent, but he who is without a dream.

[Dave Ramsey]

That was for our Aiden, our caller. Remember him?

[Jade Warshaw]

Speaking of ascent, I don't want to spend more than 30 seconds on this, but I Got to get your hot take on the fact that they're removing the pennies from the American money system.

[Dave Ramsey]

It just makes sense.

[Jade Warshaw]

Oh, gee. See, it even took me a second. That's like. Did James write that, that for you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Nope.

[Jade Warshaw]

It's right up his alley. He loves a pun.

[Dave Ramsey]

He loves a good pun.

[Jade Warshaw]

He really does.

[Dave Ramsey]

Listen, I'm gonna miss the old penny. It's gonna be a while before we don't see them in circulation.

[Jade Warshaw]

My only quick question is, and I literally know nothing about it, you were the person who told me about it earlier today. Does that mean that if I walk into a place and I've got 3,000 pennies, they won't give me money for it now?

[Dave Ramsey]

It means they're, they're, they're. I don't have the article in front of me, but they're taking them out of circulation and I think they're going to start not creating them, so. Meaning no more minting.

[Jade Warshaw]

And does that also mean that it will remove the, the nomination of a penny?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

So things won't be 99 cents anymore.

[Dave Ramsey]

It'll have to change that. Because think about it. First they stop making them and then they slowly pull them from circulation. Right. And if that's gonna, I mean, I don't know what the articles are saying, but that's going to take a while because, you know, I hope they never.

[Jade Warshaw]

Take away what the quarter.

[Dave Ramsey]

I love a quarter.

[Jade Warshaw]

I got an emotional connection I just realized just now to a quarter.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Remember the half dollar when I was a kid? There was 50 cent pieces.

[Jade Warshaw]

Deal. My grandfather gave me one once and when he gave it to me, he did this number. Flipped it to me.

[Dave Ramsey]

Flipped it.

[Jade Warshaw]

That's a serious piece of metal.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's, it's thick. If you get hit in the, in the cranium with that, you get hit in the dome with a half penny or a half, half dollar. Yeah, the two dollar bill. Remember that?

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Very special.

[Dave Ramsey]

My husband keeps one in his wallet.

[Jade Warshaw]

No, I'll ask him next time I see him.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Jade Warshaw]

Let's go to Thomas in Portland, Maine. Thomas, how can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, how's it going, guys? Good.

[Jade Warshaw]

How are you today?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm doing all right. Doing all right. Well, my, my question for you guys is that I'm recently God told that I'm going to be getting a, an inheritance on board, upwards of 70,000 or more. And to be honest, I don't know. I want to make the right choices with it and I just want to put it somewhere where it can Just grow. And I could just ignore it and it could just become something amazing.

[Jade Warshaw]

Well, great.

[Ken Coleman]

I have a few ideas that I want to spend some of the money. I would like to do something nice for myself.

[Jade Warshaw]

Who'd you get the inheritance from? My grandmother. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Recently passed away in October of last year.

[Jade Warshaw]

So sorry for that. How much you thinking on spending?

[Ken Coleman]

The amount that I was looking to spend would be about probably about 20,000 of it.

[Jade Warshaw]

Okay, so spend 20 and invest 50. All right, well, you got the queen here to tell you what to do with that 50. What do you got for him, Jay?

[Dave Ramsey]

I got questions. Nothing but questions. Thomas, tell me, do you have debt?

[Ken Coleman]

I mean, somewhat. I have a. I have a personal debt with my brother for like $2,000, which is part of why I was going to take that 20,000 anyways and give 2,000 of that to my brother.

[Jade Warshaw]

Good move.

[Ken Coleman]

Other than that, no.

[Dave Ramsey]

No car note, no student loans, no nothing?

[Ken Coleman]

No, no. I own my car at the moment.

[Dave Ramsey]

Cool.

[Ken Coleman]

It's one of those two thousand dollar beaters that, you know, gets me to point A to point B, and it's made me happy. But that's the other part of where I wanted to use that money for.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, good man.

[Dave Ramsey]

Upgrade.

[Ken Coleman]

Upgrade a car.

[Jade Warshaw]

This is a good plan.

[Dave Ramsey]

I like this.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

What about. Do you have any money saved? Not, not the 70, 000, just your own money saved?

[Ken Coleman]

No, I had a terrible mishap where I, I moved and then unfortunately due to having to move and. Well, to be honest, the people were very nice to move again after a month of living at this one place. And they basically drained me of everything that I had saved. So I was like, oh, what's your income? I make, I get paid bi weekly and I get paid about 1250 every two weeks. 2500amonth.

[Jade Warshaw]

What do you do?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm a. I'm a support provider for people with mental disabilities, down syndrome, autism, things like that. I go to. I go and I stay in the home. I live there for three days and I basically do whatever he needs.

[Jade Warshaw]

Does that mean you, what's your living situation as far as rent?

[Ken Coleman]

So I do have my own apartment. I, because I do rent my own place, I pay 1200amonth for it. It's a nice two bedroom place that's five minutes from the local grocery store and close enough to where I don't have to spend too much time driving and spend money on gas.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so I'm gonna bust your bubble just a little bit, but not too, too much. 70,000 is a nice chunk of change. But I don't think it's going to be the lump sum. I don't think it's going to set you free in the way that maybe you think, because I'm just going through this, I'm like, okay, you got, let me say this. You're gonna have to be very careful because you got to pay your brother the 2000. That's, that's nothing. But that leaves you with 68. How much were you planning to spend to upgrade your car?

[Ken Coleman]

I was trying, what I was trying to do is to spend about like 15,000 on it. And I was hoping, because I have no credit, I have zero credit.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, you have to buy. We're talking about buying, we're talking about buying it outright in cash, not financing it.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Pretty, pretty much. I was looking to spend like 2 20. About 20, 20 to 25, 000 if that.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'd say spend 20. That leaves you with 48. Now you don't have any money saved to your name, so I think that you need to use some of this and keep it liquid as a three to six month emergency fund. And I, if I were you, I'd probably do it on the six month side since it's just you. And truthfully your income's on the lower side right now. So I would save up six months. So four for you. What's that look like? What's six months of expenses for you? About 12, 13,000.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, roughly.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so we'll take that out now. You know, you're at 36, you could take that money and then if you wanted to, what I would probably do is I'd maybe keep it in a high yield if you wanted to. Because the next thing around the corner for you is once you start getting your income income up, you could think about buying a house. That's probably more than a five year horizon. So maybe I would go ahead and invest this money. Okay, Just drop it into a brokerage account and keep it there and let it grow so it can be your down payment on a house. I like that idea for you.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. And because again, I don't know all the details, but all of that. So I mean, don't. Going forward, putting it into a brokerage account, I mean, where does it go? I mean, how does that entirely work?

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, that's a good question. So you would invest that money the way we teach to invest any money, whether it's your 401k, you know, money for retirement or money for, like I said, that's non retirement that you can pull out at any time with no penalty other than taxes. It's across four different types of mutual funds. So they're growth funds, growth and income funds, aggressive growth, growth funds and international funds. And all a fund is, is just a big old group of a bunch of different companies that meet that criteria that a bunch of people are funding and investing in. So that's all it is. So if you have I said growth and income. So these are like big companies like Walmart, they're making big bucks all the time. They've been around for a long time, they're paying dividends and there's not a whole lot, a lot of surprises going on. Then you have the international ones which are good to have because if things aren't going so straight, so good stateside, usually things are doing better internationally. So that helps balance that out. And you've got the aggressive growth funds. Those are usually smaller startups or usually tech companies. Things that really have, can have a really high upside but also, you know, have a little bit more risk and they can have a downside. So when you're investing in all of these, they're kind of balancing each other, other out. And we do find obviously there's days that the stocks are, stock market is really high, there's days that it's low or there's weeks that it's doing well or not doing well. But we find that over the long haul, if you're a long haul investor, five years or more, you are going to see the upside of that. So that's what I'm talking about. That's what I would do. I think this is really great money that you have.

[Jade Warshaw]

Yeah, I'm only going to just add to this. Thomas, I want you to go to ramseysolutions.com as soon as we're wrapping up here. And I want you to just search SmartVestor Pro. It's going to bring you to a page where you can put in your zip code and it's going to give you a list of SmartVestor financial professionals that we have vetted. They're independent but they are professionals and they'll walk you through in several means, meet with several to find the one you really like and they'll help you invest the rest of that money the way that Jade has coached you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey you guys. I was shocked to learn that 88% of you out there are sharing the Ramsey show. I mean that is so incredible.

[Ken Coleman]

Thank you so much.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I want to tell you that we're making it even easier to share. So this June we have pulled together the brand new Ramsey101 YouTube playlist, a.

[Ken Coleman]

Quick start collection of how to get.

[Dave Ramsey]

Started walking the Ramsey Plan. Now this playlist is perfect for that one person in your life who needs help winning with money and just doesn't know where to start. So here's what's inside, what the baby steps are and why they actually work, how the debt snowball helps you pay off debt fast and how to build wealth and invest for the future and so much more. So here's what you need to do. Click the link at the top of the show notes. It'll take you straight to the YouTube playlist. Copy it, text it, send it in a group chat.

[Ken Coleman]

Just say, hey, I thought this might.

[Dave Ramsey]

Help because one playlist shared at the right time could be the turning point. One share, one playlist, one step could change everything for that one person in your life. So click the link, share the Ramsey show and let's help someone out there.

[Ken Coleman]

Start winning with money.