Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollars Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show where debt is dumb. Cash is king and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Ken Coleman Ramsey, personality number one, bestselling author and host of the Ken Coleman Show, heard all about 50 radio stations and Sirius XM and podcast every day joins me today.

His show is all about your job, your career and finding your passion and doing in a way that is what's called wise. And we're going to talk about your careers, your life, your money, anything you want to talk about. This is your show. It's called The Dave Ramsey Show. Open phones at eight eight two five five two two five. By your show, I don't mean you own it. I own it by your show. I mean, you get to choose the subject because you're going to call and we're going to talk about you.

We're not going to talk about everybody else. We're going to talk about you right in front of you two eight eight two five five two to five.

Gayle is going to start us off in Jacksonville, Florida. Hi, Gail. How are you? Hey, guys.

I'm great. And it's an honor to speak with you.

You too. What's up in your world? I have a question I'm on baby steps for and we, me and my husband are ready to invest. Unfortunately, we haven't invested up until now. And I'm fifty seven and he's fifty nine. We can invest eleven hundred dollars a lot. And I'm wondering, should I still invest in the four mutual funds that you suggest at my age or should I be more conservative at my age.

I'm sixty and I do. I invest four times my 401k. Looks exactly like I recommend. I don't recommend it.

Let me tell you why I don't recommend stuff for people to do that. I don't know. And the reason the reason I am continuing to do it, I'm going to recommend you continue to do it at our advanced age.

What. And so but yeah.

But anyway, statistically, if you make it to 60 or 65 years old, you have a very high likelihood of making it into your 90s. The average death age of a male in America today is 72 for female 74. OK, but that includes infant mortality, teenage death and so on.

Once you make it, unless you've got health problems into your 60s, you have a very high likelihood of another 20, 25, 30 years of needing to invest.

And so over the scope of not five years, but over the scope of 25 years, what is the best investment mix? And all the data that we have indicates it's those four types of mutual funds. And that's why I personally do it that way. And can what advanced age are you?

Oh, well, Dave, I am the mature age of 46 46.

OK, it's your advanced age 26 is in your third. You're doing the four types as well. That's right.

I do it exactly the way you tell us to do it because you've got a track record. I like to look at track record. I like to see the score. Yeah. How how to work out. How to work out. So that's the thing. Gail, what you're running into, if you've dealt with someone that's not a smart vestor Perot in the investment world, there's a methodology that the investment world has all decided that they all believe, like some like a whole bunch of people believe something about covid, the whole bunch of people don't that kind of thing.

And it's just they just decided that you were all going to die at around 67. And so they move all of your investments to conservative investments in your 60s.

And to me, that's stupid because you're not going to outpace inflation. But I don't do anything the way anyone else does it. I do it. I look at what works. And me following the crowd is not on my list of things to do. You know, Andy Andrews talked about that in his book, Ken, because it works with career stuff and it works with investing stuff. It works. We get out of that stuff.

It works with almost anything if you want to study the competition.

His book, but deep into the pool, what his latest book.

And he came talk to us about it. He's a friend of ours.

And he said, if you wanna beat the competition, study the competition and do what their best practices are a little bit better and you'll be three percent better. But if you want a forty percent better result than the competition, you have to do perpendicular opposite of what they're doing.

Yeah, and it works in any area of life. You know, if it's parenting and your marriage, you know, your money in your work, if you're a small business owner, you know, if you're a marketer, if you're social media, you know, whatever it is, you're going to have to do your homework and then decide, OK, what's working, why is it working, how will I do it? And I think he's absolutely right.

And I think the fact that you've been courageous enough to say, all right, let's see if this is the conventional wisdom, why is it the conventional wisdom? I think you start with that you started going, well, why is everybody seeing it this way? And at that point you have to have the courage to use your common sense and just dig critical thinking skills.

Yeah. Vanessa's in Atlanta, Georgia. Hi, Vanessa.

How are you? Hey, before I get started, I just want to thank you for what you do. My parents were able to change our family lineage and became the first millionaires in their family because of, you know, I'm proud of them.

They're heroes. That's awesome. You were cool. Oh, I have a question for you. Don't yell at me. But I have never been in that. I never want to be in. But I'm thankful for that. I'm a full time college student, graduate student, and I work part time in customer service with Joe Biden. Ten thousand dollars student loan forgiveness and with the fact that you're not expecting payment on interest on student loans until the pandemic is over.

Currently, until December 31st. I was wondering, is it financially responsible and morally ethical for me to take out ten thousand dollars that I don't need? It's going to be forgiven and I don't have to pay interest or payments on it. Well, let me just tell you another thing.

That is not the all that is his wish. And he's not the president yet. Yeah, I'm only 20 percent confident. Yeah, well, and he has to get that through Congress, which has in the Senate what are known as Republicans. The chances of that passing are really close to zero. Oh, so you don't take out a loan on what you might think some freaking politicians are going to do. Yeah, and you said you want to take out ten thousand dollars you don't need.

Did I hear you say that? Well, my goodness. Well, that's the problem. I mean, I'm going to be real straightforward with you. Should you take out 10000 dollars as a government loophole? I mean, this is the kind of policy stuff we're talking about. It's a mirage.

And it's got you thinking in a way that you would not normally think. Well, let me take advantage of this loophole and take out ten thousand dollars. I don't need I just think that this is.

Yeah, no, the answer's no. I'm at a loss, to be honest with you.

You know, the answer is no. Well, this is this is what this Pollyanna Kwesi crap takes up, but it takes a perfectly normal person who had a plan.

Yeah. And then politicians promising we're going to spend your money, makes them think in abnormal ways. And so. Yeah, right. So this is the problem with stupid but stuff.

There are always strings attached to that stuff. Even if they got a version of that passed, there are strings always attached.

Cannot do it by executive order. No, you can't. They can't get through Congress now. So it's one more time. It's like Oprah.

You get a car and then you get a car, you get a car. And I've gotten elected and I'll give you this and I'm going to give you that. And it's awesome. Everything's free. Except it's not.

Yeah, it's not. So no, darlin, stay away. Reagan said it well, most terrifying words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help. This is the right Ramsha. Listen, there are some basic things that you should be doing to take care of your family, a roof over their head, food to eat, a car to get you from A to B and term life insurance, term life insurance is an immediate need no matter where you are in the baby steps, since your family is at no greater risk than when you're in debt.

The only place I send you for this is to Zander Insurance. They shop all the top insurance companies and they're committed to serving you. That's why I use them and have recommended them for over 20 years. Go to Zahner dot com are called eight hundred three, five, six, 42, 82. And Coleman Ramsey personality. As my co-host today here on the air, Ken, when I was a kid growing up, they used to say if something was difficult, they would say, well, I'll take an act of Congress.

Remember that? Oh, of course. Absolutely. Translation Getting something through an act of Congress is very difficult. Yes, very difficult. Just for those of you who are sitting around thinking that the government is getting ready to give you money or that the potential new president is going to give you money, it takes an act of Congress, which is a saying that indicates something is difficult because an act of Congress is. Difficult and with a Republican Senate, a very.

Doubtful. Yeah, to say the least. And remember this just a just a PSA public service announcement for everybody, the government cannot thrive.

It cannot grow absent of your tax dollars, your money. So we look at the Freddie Mae, you know, the whole federal student loan program.

When that was brought upon, that was the idea that that college education was becoming this big thing in this new way of becoming successful.

And they thought, well, we'll subsidize it, but we're going to charge the American people. And it started off with grants and then it became a big blown up student loan program. And they thrive with higher interest rates than than than private loans. And that's how that all kind of get started. So we have to understand that when government offer something, they always want something back because they cannot thrive. They don't produce anything. They do not they live off of your money.

They are parasites. You know, it's a parasite. You have to understand that relationship.

And they don't there's no free gifts from the almighty government.

Yeah. And here's another clue. OK, regardless of. Whether that fleshed out to be exactly true, which I do believe it to be true, but. I'm 60 years old, 100 percent of the people that I know who have waited on someone in government, in the White House, in the Senate to fix their lives, 100 percent of them, their lives suck. I'm still waiting because they're still waiting on someone else to fix their life. And so boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, it is your job to fix your life.

That's why when she said thank you for my parents becoming millionaires following your stuff, I said they're heroes, that it was their job. I did not give them any money. And I appreciate the thank you, but I didn't give them any money. They didn't become millionaires because of me. They became millionaires because I showed them how to do something. But they that's the easy part. The hard part is actually going in doing it.

That's right. So when you go and do something, that's when we call you a doer, not a victim, not a dreamer.

OK, back to breathing again. It's a good thing.

Brandy is with us in Orlando, Florida. Hi, Brandy. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. I think so, taking my call. I'm a little anxious because I know you're going to tell me I did everything wrong, but I recently my grandmother gave me Financial Peace University in 2012, and I'm going to be on the steps of the new mom. I was going on it and I just took the gas and put it on a shelf. And I was back there and I had actually gone through it, but I recently found it.

And decided to do the program and have been and I read your total money makeover in the audio book and a whole day. But now that I have I I think I've done something terrible, cocaine almost destroyed our house. It's completely gutted. I've been living in a camper in my driveway with my three kids and we've been trying to get a loan for three years. You don't have the most. We did, but there was an old cabin and it took them a very long time to come out to the media.

And I just. It took over the whole house and then. Anyway, it's gutted right now, and so for the past three years, what they did in Iraq did give us we gave to a contractor and the contractor said that it would take more. Fix the rest, so we have been trying to get a loan for the past three years and they kept denying the loan to value. And so we you and your husband.

Yes, so what are you what are you on this house that's half completed? One hundred and four thousand. What would it be on your final day at auction?

The way it sits today. I think probably 80, but I have a sentimental attachment to it, my grandmother that passed away from all and I don't have any to drive away in a camper for three years.

It's time to get rid of. And I know that now. And if somebody is going on a loan to fix it, finally and I was so hyper focused on just getting it fixed and, you know, we've doubled the mortgage and I. I don't know. Oh, baby, that's why I was mentioned, because I know you were going to tell me I did all of the wrong things. Well, you did. I'm sorry, you're in a mess.

Yes, I'm sorry. So you took out the loan, you took out an 80000 auto loan to go with your 80000 on our mortgage, and that still didn't complete the house. You know, we it's the work hasn't started yet. It will complete the house. Where's the million dollars? Well, we are the 80000 dollars from the loan. No, they haven't funded the contractor yet, but when they do the loan, the loan will complete.

The house will get back into your house. But but you're going to 160 on 100000 on house. No, I'm sorry, I'm I'm I'm just anxious right now. The house is one hundred four thousand. It was appraised at one hundred and thirty as is, and when it's fixed, it'll be worth two hundred and sixty thousand. And you owe one hundred and four. I owe one hundred and four right now. Oh, I did, I did.

No, I did not get your numbers correct. OK, so one hundred and now I will when you take out this, know, 184. Yes. And it's worth 260 fixed. Yeah, and then you're going to have to roll all of that together into a final mortgage when you're done right. Yes, yeah, you'll need to get a better interest rate. It'll be at 30 years, though, you need to get a new first mortgage.

Yeah, as soon as you get done. Yeah, that's where you are. I think you've got to finish it out. I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I thought you had borrowed 180 on a house worth 104.

I was freaking out. Oh, no. OK, yeah. Well, I'm I don't know. I don't know. I would have gone about it exactly this way, but you're there. I would finish it out. You're gonna have 184 in it. It's going to be worth 260 and get you a new first mortgage.

And then let's get in the business of getting that paid off and get out of the dadgum paper now. Do you guys know how to manage contractor? No. OK. All right, so have you gotten three different bids? I'm kind of stuck with this one because we we gave it to 30000 right after we got it from the insurance company. So has he done 30000 thousand hours worth of work? He they said they have, but there's just pretty much tieback all around the house.

Okay, so going well, you don't trust him. Is what you just told me. You're not going to give a guy who you don't trust the 30000 hours worth of work for 30000, you don't give him anymore. Yes. OK, so you need to get some bids from this guy and two others on what it will take to complete the house in detail, huh? And that includes a freaking schedule. As to when this complete work will be completed.

I suspect the first contractor will not win the bid. And I also suspect it's going to take you more than 80 to finish the house, what's your household income? It's 42. That was really my main question.

I've just been listening you if you can't emotionally get on top of this and manage this with some aggression, you need to not take the loan and sell the house as is today. I think that's probably your best bet. Just listening to your voice, I'm afraid they're going to beat the snot out of you again and you're going to call me back in three more years and still be in the camper in the driveway.

So I think you need to cut bait, kiddo, and go get you another house and not do this renovation and not take this long. Just walk away. I for one 30, as is putting money in your pocket, he'll get you an apartment for a little while and he'll you don't sound like you're in condition to manage this. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. And Coleman Ramsey, personality number one, best selling author, is my co-host today here on The Dave Ramsey Show.

Jason and Dana are with us here on the debt free stage right here at Ramsey Solutions. Hey, guys. How are you? Better than we deserve. I love it. Where are you guys live? Near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A little town called. It's a city of Central. OK, wonderful. So good to have you guys. Thank you so much for joining us. So you are here to do a debt free scream, and how much have you paid off?

One hundred and eighty five thousand dollars. Wow. How long did that take? 30 months.

Good for you and your range of income during that two and a half years, 165 up to about 109. And then back down a little bit to 105. OK, what do you guys do for a living? I'm an engineer. I work on coastal and marine habitat restoration projects and I'm an administrative program manager. Wonderful.

Cool. Good to have you. Wow. What kind of debt was the one hundred and eighty five thousand dollars?

Well, you're looking at weird people. You paid off your house was awesome. Very cool. So how much is that house worth.

About 350. I how much of the one 85 was the mortgage.

That was it. All mortgage. All mortgage. Wow. Look at you. So tell me your story. What in the world happened two and a half years ago?

Well, maybe it goes back a little bit before that co-worker of mine is actually here with us today. And a good friend of us, not good friends of ours. Now, introduce me to you at about 2013 and started listening to you on the radio. And I was hooked from then on, but was doing a little bit of a Dave ish thing for about two or three years and about twenty sixteen I decided, well, I hadn't even done FPO or anything yet, so I said, well let's let's do.

FPU decided to coordinate the class and Websense coordinated seven classes. Wow. But at that time in twenty sixteen I was dropping some hints of maybe because we had a really big note on a big mortgage or a much bigger house and it was really just sucking the life out of our future. So much waste on interest, taxes and things like that. So in my mind I was like, I want to get to baby step seven fast because we didn't have very much baby step two stuff to take care of.

So in 2016, I was dropping hints and it's almost like to sell the house. And that's almost like telling those hotel.

It was almost like telling a guy you got so the bass boat ourselves, motorcycle, because she was it was a very nice that she might be buying it.

But after going through a few, we did decide to sell that house. So it took a couple of years to get all that process done for us to get in the in a new house by 2018. And that's when we started paying off this one. Eighty five. Wow.

And boom, done guys like that. So what was the other house worth. The other house was close to 500.

OK. She moved down 150. Yes sir. Roughly. OK. Wow. That's a that's a big move. But it's not like you moved to third or something. I mean that's very cool. The new house is still really nice. Yeah. Oh, this is super nice.

Three fifty. A bailout in Baton Rouge area.

Yeah. Good way to go guys. How's it feel to be one hundred percent debt free?

This is great. It's awesome. It's the most accomplished I've ever felt. You know, it's like you set a goal and it was a very lofty goal when we first started, you know, sell a house, get a new house. It was a lot of process to go into it. And, you know, we've been together for a very long time and it's the biggest thing we've ever sat in front of us. And we just knocked it out the park.

And I just feel so accomplished.

Let's stay there. I think people need to hear more about that, because you two came together and said, all right, we're going to put this stretch goal out there. And it was really hard. I'm guessing big time sacrifices. Talk about how it is worth it to people that are sitting here on the fence right now going should we sign up for this kind of a challenge knowing it's going to be difficult?

Oh, absolutely. I don't think you realize how much burden you have on your shoulders until it's gone. So people are bopping around with their debt, you know, with a big mortgage. And it's hard for them to see or feel what it's like without it because that's a normal feeling for them. So that's that's kind of what I've always said, is that that you don't feel that burden until it's gone. Yeah. And it's it's huge. You don't even know it's there until until it's paid off.

And you can you can breathe and you don't have a payment in the world. All of your check is your check.

How has it changed your future thinking? Well, I never really liked payments. I did get them ended up paying almost all of them off early and that was just dumb. But cash is the way to go. Future thinking. I'm thinking more in terms of family tree legacy. You know what? What are we going to leave behind so that, you know, our future family is different from here on out? How old are you? Gosh, I'm 38.

I'm thirty six. Wow.

That's a sense of, you know. You're standing on top of the mountain. Hands up. Rock music playing That's the accomplished feeling it. And it's like I did this. I did such a great word. I love that the sense of having done something very, very hard lifted a weight that no one is not. Very few people lift that weight and you guys did it. You were able to pull it off. Very cool. You guys are heroes.

Excellent job.

So what do you tell people?

The absolute key to getting out of debt is I thought about this question today because I know you ask it and it's hard to nail it down to one thing. It's the whole package. You can't darvish it. You got to do it all. And it's three things. The three P's, it's perspective, people and process. And you've got to have your perspective, which is your reasoning. It's your why. It's your drive. It's what's behind you.

It's why you're doing it. If you don't have that, it's probably not going to happen. And you got to be around good people. You've got to be are people who's going to lift you up. You can't hang out with the turkeys and expect to fly with the Eagles. Right. So you got to surround yourself with some people who are going to share that vision with you. And then the process is the budget. You have to have a budget.

You've got to have you've got to live on less than you make. You've got to have the nuts and bolts of it, which is every dollar out, whatever it takes the mechanics of moving that money around. So it's really a complete package. That key. It's tough to nail it down to one things you've got to do the plan. If you have faith in the plan, just do it.

It's going to work. It doesn't work. Yeah, I got goose bumps that'll preach right there.

Go three piece the financial piece. I wrote them down. I'm going to steal every one of you should perspective people process. That's incredible.

Great alliteration. I'll make a Baabda sermon. I'm just saying I'm going crazy right now. We need to do an altar call day.

Right. Right now. Right now. So, Dana, after the house sold the other one and you moved into this one. And you guys started working on this together. How many big money fights after that? We never really had big money fights. It was always he was the money person and I was the free spirit. And it was just like, hey, how much money can I spend right now? And, you know, I think I want this.

Is it OK? I have no idea. And so now it's we sit down, we do the budget together. I know what's going on. Before I had no idea how much money we had. I had no idea how much debt we had. It was just go with the flow. You tell me what I can do and I'll go do it. And so now it's we are so much closer in our marriage. It's that was a major change for us in our marriage is now, which is on the same page.

And I understand why he's frustrated in the week. Yes. Yes.

It's it's that caused you to feel accomplished even more than I mean, you speaking into it. You're carrying your share of the weight, the decision making, pulling this thing wagon together that probably caused that feeling of accomplishment more than not paying off the house even.

Very likely, yes, 100 percent. It's not something I see coordinating for you or you don't necessarily have both people on board. It's very difficult. It's a very, very difficult, you know, way to go. You guys are so proud of you. So you brought the kiddos. What are their names and ages? Let's get them in the picture.

A dead jet is twelve, dollar is ten and Syriana is eight. All right.

Very cool. And have they been practicing their debt free scream?

Yes, we have all the way out of here.

So they absolutely know that their family tree was changed by their dad and mom who are heroes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very, very cool. All right.

Jason and Diane, Dana from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. One hundred and eighty five thousand dollars paid off in 30 months, making 165 to 189 house and everything. The your people counted down. Mazzara Debt free scream three to one with debt free.

Most excellent. Wow, that's the sound of a family tree changing boys and girls.

Oh, man. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today here on the air. Host of The Ken Coleman Show, you have questions about career and about your life. We're here to answer them, of course, about your money. Triple eight eight two five five two two five.

Can you know what is interesting is, is that someone feels accomplished only when they've accomplished something strange, how that works.

We want to build people's self-esteem by giving them a grade that they didn't earn or giving them money that they didn't earn and call that success if they don't feel accomplished because they didn't accomplish anything.

Yeah. Dana, on the other hand, feels accomplished because she has transformed the way she looks at and handles money.

She was not participating in the adult decisions of the household and also was half of the people that paid off the hundred ninety five thousand dollars. That's pretty cool. Yeah.

Our question today comes from Blind's Dotcom. Find out for yourself why Blind's Dotcom is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with a new promos, they run every month, you'll save even more. Here's a promo code, Ramsey to get the best possible deal.

Today's question comes from Connie in Pennsylvania. I've been at my job now for three years. It's a job I enjoy. But every time I try to get a promotion, I keep getting passed up. I'm at a loss and it feels as if my job doesn't care how hard I work. Many years ago, I went to school for massage therapy, but I never pursued it. I'm not sure if I'm even interested in pursuing it because it's been so long.

Do you have any suggestions on next steps for me? Well, we get to two questions here within the question. The first question is, if I had you on the air, I'd want to know if you sat down with leadership and asked them for some real good 360 degree feedback from your peers, from them as to why you're not moving up the ladder. What can you do better and really dive in and find out? Is it a healthy culture like Ramsey Solutions where if you do a good job, you know your role and you accept your role and you maximize it, you're going to get an opportunity to move up here.

And if you're not, we're going to tell you. That's right.

And then you you're wrong to do so. You need to get I'd like to know more about what you do know and then what you're doing about now. The second half of the day, you could be doing the wrong thing and working real hard at it. That's exactly what talked about hard work. Hard work is a good thing, but it's not the only thing that's hard, effective work that creates results and doesn't piss everybody in the proximity off in the process.

That's right. That's a that's a promotable promotable event. That's you're making everybody mad in the process or you're working hard on the wrong thing or you're working really hard, but there's no results from it because you're doing it poorly, even though you've got a lot of sweat.

There's nothing happening here. There's a sweat, not score touchdowns. That's right. Now, here's the other thing. You could also be working really hard. They can notice and appreciate the hard work, but you might be putting yourself up for promotion that you don't have the talent to actually pull off. Sometimes our eyes can be bigger than our belly. You know, the idea of going the you going for something that you may not be a good fit for.

And so that's why we teach on the Ken Coleman show, the sweet spot where you use what you do best talent to do work that you love to do, to produce a result that matters. So we don't know here.

What I think talk it through with leadership is the big issue. That's where you got to start. Yeah. You got to know where you stand and why you stand. Now, the second half of the question is I pursued massage therapy, but excuse me, I went to massage therapy school. I did not pursue it. How do I know can if it's something I should do and this is why I wrote the book, The Proximity Principle, which says in order to do what you want to do, get around people that are doing it and in places where it is happening.

Now, in this case, you use the proximity principle to validate whether or not you really want to do it. I call it clarify and verify. So you're going to be talking to successful. What I mean by that is they've been employed a while and they enjoy massage therapy. You've got to talk to those people. And it's like doing a college or high school term paper. Ask everything about the day, favorite parts of the day, the part of the day.

They don't like how they got there. What do they do to stay active and thrive in the role? And when you get that information day, that's the clarify your brain processes and then your heart's either going to go ding, ding, ding or at. And that's what you have to do.

You've got to really talk to somebody, multiple people, and learn about the work. And your heart and head will combine in that situation. And you're going to know whether or not you should pursue that.

And give you an example, I have a friend that. Here's me, I mean, always when I get a call, someone in the nursing field, I'm always bragging on them because it's a wonderful field in terms of opportunity. You can work as much. You want to work, you make good money. There's always a shortage. And so it's a wonderful field to go into in terms of that. And, you know, she was thinking of going to nursing school in her 30s.

And I said, well, you know, Ken Coleman, CESCO Shadow for that, I guess go be like a college intern and go hang out with a nurse all day long. And this was pre pandemic, but she goes and hang out. She goes, it's gross. Hmm. I don't want to do that. But all the idea of being a nurse and being helpful and kind and and, you know, healer and all that kind of thing was very appealing.

But when she saw what it actually the day to day job involved, it's Groschen.

I yeah. I won't do that. That's right.

And I was like, well one day well spent rather than going to nursing school and then discovering that so true one day clarify and verify.

And for those people who want to kind of kick the tires on that talent passion mission, those three gifts from your creator that help you find your sweet spot. Dave, we have a free resource that Ken Coleman Dotcom called the Career Clarity Guide, and it's free and it'll walk them through step by step. What I just kind of quickly went through and you get a lot of clarity as to some potential jobs in your sweet spot, because there are multiple, multiple career paths.

And then you do what we just describe and you'd be surprised how quickly you can get clear and then you're confident to step out.

You could be real clear on what your mother wants you to do. But that's not helpful. Boy. And the truth, you could be real clear on what makes a lot of money, but that's not helpful. What you need to be clear on is what you're designed to do when you're here. Ken Coleman, dot com. It's a free resource and it's called again, what? The Career Clarity Guide. Career Clarity Guide.

Those of you on YouTube are looking right at it. OK, Peter is with us. He is in New York City. Hi, Peter. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show.

Dave, thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I just I'm finishing baby step two this month. I'm paying off twenty eight thousand dollars and eight and a half months. Way to go. Thank you. So part of the baby, step two was a leased vehicle. I'm also within days about to receive an injury settlement of thirteen thousand dollars. Do I take this thirteen thousand dollars and by the leased vehicle outright. So what's mine or I find my step baby step three.

Well, you need to pay it off if you're going to keep it or just paid off. That's the whole thing. I satisfied all the monthly payments. Oh, you've paid it off through the end of the lease, but you don't own a car. No. So that's what I'm asking. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You know, pay it off if you're going to keep it. Now, what is what is the final balance on the car? They said that the purchase price right now would be fourteen thousand five hundred dollars, and what is the car worth? Cavas worth private 16000. Wow, that's a pretty good. Sixteen thousand dollar car and you're going to have the money to pay cash for it, right? Yes, sir. OK, do you like the car?

I love the car.

I was just wondering, you know, I mean, let's pretend you didn't own it and you had fifteen thousand dollars in your checking account and you walked up to that car and you said, nice car. What's it worth? Sixteen thousand. But I'll show it to you for 14. You go. I'll do that.

Right. Right. So if you weren't in the middle of all this crappy lease stuff, that's the way your brain would work. And that's the exact same series of questions you're going to ask for. You make the decision. Yes. By the car.

OK, I just wanted to make sure you didn't want me to put that towards my emergency fund.

And then now you're not debt free until this car is paid off. Understood. So I want your debt free, then we start working towards emergency fund. That's baby step three at that point. Bury's in Baltimore, Maryland. Hi, Barry. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. How are you doing, sir? Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? We just came into some money selling his townhouse and we're thinking about paying the house or our mortgage all at our house just one bit.

Do you think that's a great idea? How long you've been listening to me? About three weeks. OK? And I already know I already kind of know the answer. Yeah, but why would you not pay it off? Why would you not pay it off? And like I said, I already know the answer. It's only going to leave us with about an emergency fund of about twenty six thousand.

OK, that's an emergency fund. That should represent three to six months, shouldn't it? It does, it does, and we were thinking we were headed in the right direction. We are getting close to retirement. Both of us are 56 years old.

Well, if your credit is good, here's my challenge to you. I'd pay it off tomorrow. And if you hate being debt free, you can go get your mortgage next year.

That's a new challenge. He does. He's literally going. Dave, did you just say that? Well, I mean, you know, no one ever does. No one ever does. Oh, that puts us our that Abrahamsson show in the books.

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