You Should Be Furious at Your Debt!
The Ramsey Show- 54 views
- 3 Oct 2024
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Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman answer your questions and discuss:
"My car note is $850 a month, what can I do?"
"Should I look for a new job to increase my income?"
"Is 60% too much to be investing?"
"I love the finance world but hate selling debt,"
"Is it okay to spend 28% on our mortgage?"
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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions. It's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us America. We're glad you're here. Ken Coleman Ramsey, personality, number one best-selling author, host of the Ken Coleman Show on the Ramsey Network. He's going to help us talk about work and careers and making money while we walk on all sides of your life. He's my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. John in Dallas starts this hour. Hey, John, what's up?
Hey, how's it going?
Hey, how can we help?
Hey, so a negative in a car loan that I would like to get out of. The loan is about $50,000 right now. The quotes I've been getting are somewhere around 43 to 44.
The quotes you got were from who?
One was from Jeep. I think the other was from Carmax.
Okay. All right. What car is it? Jeep?
Yeah, it's a Jeep.
Okay, cool. What is the exact Payoff. Have you called and gotten that?
Yeah, it's just 50,400 and 60 something.
Cool. All right. Well, there are three numbers when you get ready to sell a car that you can look at. What you were given was a wholesale number or a trade-in value. If Jeep or Carmax buys that car for 43, that tells me that they can sell that car for more than that, and that's why they're buying it. They're adding inventory to their lot, and obviously, their goal is to make a profit when they sell a car off of their lot. If they buy it for 43, they're going to put it on the market over there around 47 or 48, whatever, something like that. Does that make sense? Yes. Second number There is a private sale number, which is an individual selling to another individual. That would be the number you need. You can get that at kellybluebookkbb. Com or go to edmundscarguide. Either one of them help you get that number. Matter of fact, you got to look at both of them and compare them and see what you think you should put it on the market for at trader. Com or Craigslist or Facebook marketplace or wherever it is you want to sell your car to another individual.
The third number is a retail number, which is what Jeep dealership is going to put the car on the lot for because they are a retail establishment. You don't have that option because you don't have a car lot. It's not illegal for you to get that much money for it. It's just unlikely you're going to get that much money for it. I think your car is probably worth 47. I might be wrong, but when you look it up, you're probably going to find it to be about something like that. Who do you owe the 50 grand to?
It's Chrysler Financial. The issue that I have seen, though, is right now, it seems like the same Jeep on the lot, brand new, are going for 46 or 47.
You got something wrong because they would not have offered you 43 for it because your Jeep is used.
Yeah, I got a warranty with it.
I don't know if that- That's great. It's horrible, but it's great news for this situation. When you pay off the Jeep and sell it early, they will give you partial refund for that upfront purchase on that warranty. That's probably worth a couple of grand. But listen to me carefully, okay? The chance that Jeep, the Jeep dealer will pay 43 for a used Jeep that they have to sell for 43 is zero. If they're selling the exact same Jeep for 48, one of your numbers is wrong because it doesn't add up. If the actual exact same Jeep selling for 48, it would make sense a used one like yours is selling for less. Agreed? Agreed. If they're going to resell yours after they buy it from you, they're going to make a profit. If that's selling for 48 and 46 is what you use, Jeep, or 45 is what the used Jeep is, they're offering you less than 43. You got something else going on here. You're trying to figure out some way you're trapped and you're not. How bad's your credit?
Mid 600. I filed for bankruptcy maybe four years ago, right when the pandemic started.
Yeah. So your credit sucks. Okay. Yeah. What you've got to do is you have to find the difference. Let's pretend that you can sell the car for 47, like I'm saying, then you need the $3,000 difference, $3,400 difference. You got to come up with that money. Either you can cash or you got to borrow it. That's why I was asking about your credit. If you go borrow $5,000, buy you a $2,000 car, and write a check for the difference on this when someone else buys the car, then you're out of it and you're free. But that's what you're going to have to do because this thing's strangling you with an $850 payment. It's beaten the snot out of you. If you're like me, John, when I've done stuff like this, every time I write that check, I feel dumber. Every time. Just the very act of doing it can.
I would say there needs to be some intensity on this, intensity on everything that Dave laid out, your three options: Intensity to sell something, go make some extra money, attack this thing so that when you sell it, whatever gap you have there, you're able to get a beater or something else and put this thing behind you. But this has got to be handled with intensity.
It really does. If you're still sitting around paying $850 payment six months from now because you haven't taken action, then you just keep hitting yourself. You're just beating the snot out of yourself every day. The faster you get out of this, the less damage it's going Because let me tell you, 100% of the time, jeeps go down in value. So the longer you hold it, the wider the gap is going to be. Right now, the gap is the least it's ever going to be. That's exactly right. So Ken is smart. He's telling you the truth. You got to get out of this thing. You got to get fired up about this and go like, My hair is on fire. This matters. I got to do this. I got to get after it. Borrow the difference, sell something, take six jobs, come up with the difference in cash, Whatever it is.
Because the quicker he gets out of this, the quicker he gets a $10,000 raise. It's that simple. 815 bucks a month, that's right about just shy of 10 grand. That's a lot of money.
Yeah. 833 a month is $10,000 a year. You get a $10,000 raise.
That would motivate me.
Motivate me to never take out the payment in the first place. That's exactly right. There's that, right? Guys, As cars, all of us in America, as a culture, we are stupid about cars. It's the largest thing we buy that goes down in value. You take a $50,000 car and you drive it for three years, you're going to lose 60 to 70% of that money. It's going down in value like a rock. That's where a Chevy gets that, like a rock. They go down in value. There's nothing evil about having a nice car. What's bad is when your nice car has you. It has you when you bought a car you couldn't afford, it's going down in value, you've got too much tied up in a depreciating asset. And worse than that, you financed it. Worse than that, you fleeced it. Oh, you're getting fleeced. That's a bad idea. Don't do that. That was my sheep impression to go with the fleece joke. You all got it? Okay. Yeah, really, seriously. I'm like you. I like a nice car. I drove a nice car today, but I can afford to take the losses as a percentage of my net worth, percentage of my income.
But most people, man, cars are killing you. They're killing you. This is the Ramsey Show.
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What would it be like to have no debt? Million dollars in your 401k? That'd be pretty cool. We've studied people that have done that, tens of thousands of them since we started doing this 30 something years ago. None of them accidentally did that. They didn't wake up and go, Whoa, look what happened. They're not shocked. It was a series of steady habits and behaviors. Can we see habits and behaviors change everything in every area of our life? The habit and the behavior that causes people to be intentional with their money to hit the goal of some level of financial peace, a pile of money in your retirement and zero debt house and everything paid off, that happens only with a plan. You have to plan to do it, and then you have to incrementally, how do you eat an elephant, a bite at a time, But you need a plan to eat the elephant. You need to do a little blueprint, a little diagram on the elephant and go, Okay, I'm going to start right there. Then I'm going to go over there, and then I'm going to go over there. That's called a budget, where you give every dollar of your money in a assignment.
Don't do ready, fire, aim. Do ready, aim, fire. Every has given direction exactly what to do. That's why we named the world's best budgeting app, EveryDollar. Tens of millions of people are using it. You can get it for free, and it'll get you on your journey, baby. Go to the app store, go to Google Play, download every dollar for free. So Ken helped me, and a few of the rest of our team helped me put together the questions that I would ask President Donald Trump once we were given the opportunity to sit down with him. We reached to Vice President Harris's camp, if you haven't heard, and to President Donald Trump's camp, and offered to do a long-form interview for the Ramsey podcast, Ramsey Show YouTube channel. We were able to go up there last week and do that. We posted it yesterday, Wednesday, October second, on our podcast channel and on our YouTube channel so that people can watch it. Ken, it broke all records around Ramsey anyway. We've got There are huge numbers around Ramsey, but these numbers are even bigger. Nine hours and 11 minutes after it was posted, the first million people had watched it.
The completion, meaning the people that turn it on and watch it all the way through, is almost 100%. No one's turning it off. They're watching the interview all the way through, which also tells me that our team did a great job putting that together. Some of those questions that you helped me formulate must have been stuff people wanted to know about.
Yeah, imagine that. We got probably the most covered, the most unpredictable presidential election of our lifetime. It's been a crazy last three months. People were paying attention. We're just about 30 days out. I think it was timely because I think people wanted to know what you were going to ask. I think you've got, obviously, a very trusted audience. My question for you is, because people can watch it from a content standpoint, I'm just curious. You had a very full day. There was a massive press conference right there in the lobby of Trump Tower moments after you the interview. I'm just curious, what was his state of mind? Was he present? Was he distracted? What was going on? I'm just curious what that was like in the moments before the conversation.
A hundred % zoomed in. Really? Completely not distracted at all. Interesting. I don't think you can survive in the environment that a presidential candidate, either party is in, because it's from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next. I mean, you're all day long. You're flying from... They flew in from North Carolina. They'd just been down there speaking. Then they had this, they had that, they had this, and they came in, they go, Hey, we're actually running a little bit early. Can you start early? We're like, Yeah, let's go. But if you can't concentrate in the moment in the middle of that frenetic thing, I think the process would eat you alive and you would collapse. And your image, what you're trying to portray would collapse. If you're thinking about the next thing rather than the moment being present, I don't think you could do it. It'd be like doing this show and I'm thinking about something else. That's exactly right. You have to have a level of focus.
The other question I think people would love to know is we have an image of somebody like him who's been covered probably more than any person in the history of media. His ID rating around the world is 100, right? In those moments before the interview, moments after where only you and the people in the room saw that, how does he come across? What's his personality like? Because we know him as Raleigh Trump and when he had to be presidential.
Yeah, well, and making fun of people on Twitter or whatever and all that, and caustic bombastic. That's what you think of when you think of Donald Trump. He's quite the opposite.
Really?
Just completely chill. Just came in, sat down, goes, Hey, can we move that light over? It's making my hair glow. We said, Yes, Mr. President, we can move the light. Is there anything else you need, sir? Really focus on detail. We do that with anybody, obviously. We're not going to treat anyone with respect that's sitting there. We're not going to, No, we can't move the light. Of course we can. But he's like, Yeah, this thing, it gets crazy, Dave. That's funny. That's funny. He was telling me a story. I was hearing it from Donald Jr. That they were joking around the family, and some of the kids didn't think it was funny after he got a shot in the ear. One of the kids, I won't say which one, looked at him and said, Yeah, but how's the hair? Is the hair okay? Yeah, ear's bad, hair's great. It didn't hurt the hair. They got a sense of humor. It was really disarming how chill. Because you get amped up because you got to meet the energy, right? It'll be energy with energy. Otherwise, it's going to look weird and be weird. But it was just like, I wanted it to be down.
I wanted to not have stump, bombastic, crazy Trump. I wanted to meet the guy, and I wanted our audience to meet the guy. And we, 90%, we got that.
The other thing I was going to ask you that I think is interesting is, again, we have this perception of him. He's got a business, obviously, owns so many different types of businesses within his empire. What was the interaction like in the tower with the team? Because I think I think that if people come to Ramsey Solutions, you come to one of our live events, what they will experience is what you require, which is high touch, high efficient service, the way we try to treat our fans. I've been around you a decade, been an employee, been around you for two decades, work with you and for you for a decade. You require that, and thus it's a system. We have created a way, a standard that you have required and how we treat people and People comment on all the time. I'm curious, being in his world for those moments, what did you notice about the professionalism? Did you see any culture things? Because you really talk a lot about that with Entree Leadership.
You and I, we teach a lot on leadership. We've got the Entree Leadership brand. We speak to these small business guys, and we end up in discussions with teams about leadership and helping people run their business and leadership issues. You can tell by the way the team is acting, are they looking around like fear? You can see fear in their eyes or fear. Zero fear. Zero fear. They were cutting up. They were having a good time. They weren't sloppy. They were very professional, the excellence. They were very complimentary of our team, of how excellent our team was to interact with and how trains run on time. We got stuff done, we're supposed to, all that. There was this mutual respect. We're just standing around for 20 minutes or 30 minutes talking, and talking to Secret Service guys and the Homeland Security guys and the other Secret Service guys and the other Secret Service guys and the other Secret Service guys. But his social media team, they're the ones that put this whole thing together because obviously this falls in that bucket. They are really good at what they do, and he just lets them do it.
There's no fear. They're running their lane. They're running their lane, fully delegated. No. Fully delegated. You get the feeling he actually knows exactly what they're doing, but is not giving any instruction whatsoever. Interesting. Except about the lighting. Yeah, there you go.
That's right. Well, that involves the hair.
That's the hair. It's a different standard. There we go. This is The Ramsey Show. I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable. Yeah, and what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, Oh, it's terrible. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly, and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through, how am I going to pay my bills in the middle- How am I going to eat next week? Yeah, in the middle of all that grief. It's terrible. Life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Xander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance. It doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud, and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place.
The cost of a stinking pizza. To get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800 356-4282, or go to zander. Com. Ken Coleman-Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Number one best-selling author of the book Paycheck to Purpose. Abigail is with us in Minneapolis. Hi, Abigail. How are you?
I'm doing good. How are you?
Better than I deserve. What's up in your world?
Not much. I guess my question today is, I'm in quite a bit of student loan debt, and I have a job that I love and a career path that I think I love. But the amount of debt that I'm in and the amount of money that I'm making, I just don't see how it's practical to do that.
What are those two numbers? How much do you make and how much debt do you have?
I'm in about a $160,000 debt. It's all student loan debt. I don't have any other debt. I make currently 65,000 at my salary job as a judicial law clerk. Then I work another job as an event manager, and I probably bring in about a thousand a month on that.
Okay, a judicial law clerk. Is that what you said?
Yes.
Okay. And your degree is in what?
Yes. I have a BA, and then I have my law degree as well.
Okay. Have you passed the bar?
Yes. I just took the February, or I mean, the July bar.
Why would you not be a lawyer instead of a clerk?
Just in case I didn't pass, I got this job that I am stuck in for about a year.
Yeah, but I mean, now that you've passed At the bar, you double your income as a lawyer, right?
Yes. If I wanted to go in private, but I feel like my heart and my prayers have been leading me more into the public sector and working for the government.
Yeah, you're 160,000 A million dollars in debt. You don't take a government job. I'll help you with that. I'll let Ken, the expert, tell you the same thing. Wait a minute.
Yeah. I wonder what I'm going to say here. Well, Abigail, I love what you're saying, but I would I agree with Dave that temporarily we pivot to the private sector, juice that income, knock the debt out. You can always return back to working for the government and that type of specific work that you want to do. It's not going away.
What is the appeal of the government deal?
I just feel like there's a lot of need, especially on the side of- There's a lot of what? Need in the criminal justice system. A lot of need.
Okay. Why can someone in the private world not supply someone's needs? Why is it the government the place you go to get your needs supplied?
I guess, morally, I want to work in the criminal justice system because I feel like there's a lot of issues there, but I don't think I could be a private defense attorney.
Right. You're talking about the prosecutorial, that's all the government. That's the answer to Dave's question. If you want to put the bad guys away, in your mind, I want to be on this side of it. I don't want to go to the private sector.
Yeah.
Again, I don't have a problem with that, but the reality is you're not stuck. But you did say something that's interesting. Are you under some contract? Because you said to Dave a moment ago that I'm stuck in this for a year. What does that mean?
When I started the job, it's about a one-year commitment that you do a law clerk position.
You have no way around that. We've got ourselves on paper. We got to follow that to the nth degree on that, correct?
Yeah, then I have probably like half a year left.
Okay.
Well, you've already- Did you not think you were going to pass the bar?
Well, I just wanted to make sure I had a job just in case I didn't.
Yeah, but I mean, you signed a contract to stay knowing that you were going to go take the bar.
Yeah.
Well, that is what it is right now. As an event planner, you count them up with an additional $12,000 But right now, you're going to have to slash everything that you can slash and make as much extra income as you can. That's how you get out of this right now until the six months is up. But I'd begin this process today, as soon as you hang up with us, mapping out what the path is to the private sector for the sole purpose of making as much dough as we possibly can to knock this out. Because at that income, you can knock that out and get that out of your life. Yeah.
Then I guess in the interim, while I'm still paying on my loans, right now I pay probably about 200 over what is the minimum on them just because I'm trying to pay them off. Should I keep doing that? Or should I wait?
Pay whatever you can pay right now. The more you pay, the less you'll owe. As fast as you can, let's move into a higher paying position. Okay, here's what I'm troubled about, and I'm not positive I'm hearing this, but I'm going to throw it out there because I want to make sure I address it because I don't feel like I've been kind to you unless I do. Sometimes I run into folks who feel like, not in your world, not in the law world, but just in general, that, okay, I can do this thing that I do, this skill that I have. If I work for a nonprofit ministry doing my thing, making 70% of what the marketplace pays for my thing, then I'm doing holy work, I'm doing good work, I'm doing God's work, I'm helping people work. But if I go into the private sector, by definition, it's greedy capitalism, and I'm a horrible person, and that the only people over there are horrible people. I think I'm hearing a little bit of that out of you. Like the holy work is at the prosecutorial level, and no one in the private sector is as holy.
I just don't believe that.
I don't think that's true. I just have prayed a lot about what I want to use my career as and where I feel like I can help.
What you're discovering is that what Jesus said was true. The borrower is slave to the lender, $160,000 worth of debt, and it's really hard to serve two masters. The master of the answer in your prayer life is to serve a certain way, but it's a way in which you can't pay your bills. You're stuck, mathematically, because you have two masters. You have a student loan master, and you have God tapping you on the shoulder in your prayer life, telling you to do this other thing. It's very hard to serve two masters. I want to propose a third option for everyone out there, and that is that you do not have to work for less money to be holy, that you can serve with excellence in the marketplace, kindness, compassion, do good work and help hurting people from a private sector position, anything you're doing. That's as much a ministry as a nonprofit, because nonprofits are not in the Bible. Nonprofit is a designation by the IRS, not by God. And all nonprofits are profitable. If they're not, they go out of business. They close down. They take in more than they pay out. They're profitable.
It's an accounting entry that allows them to stay under the IRS as a nonprofit. It is not a wholeness issue. You can enter the private sector folks and do holy, godly work and be at the top of your game income-wise.
I agree. I would say in this situation, I don't think she was necessarily going that route as much as In the private sector, you're limited in the type of work you're going to do that's going to put the bad guys in jail. I would equate her situation to someone who really wants to teach. If you got a master's degree and you want to teach, I would use that master's degree to go get a six-figure job, get rid of the debt, get your life in a situation where you live below your means, like the teachers we have in our Millionaire Study, third largest group of networth millionaires. I agree with you, too, though, Dave, that right now she needs to be going after the debt. But I do think that if you get your life in order- She's on it.
My point is she don't have to sell your soul to do that. I agree with you.
But I also say if she wants to put bad guys away, you see that as honorable, right?
I do, but she said there was a need in the market. The need is putting bad guys away?
Well, I can't speak to what I want to help.
I want to help people. I guess you're going to help the victim by putting the bad guy in jail. I'll go with that.
Law enforcement.
I think there's a need there. I love law and order. I like the idea.
Yeah, it's interesting. But I agree with you that now she needs more money.
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Go to fairwinds. Org/ramsey to learn more. That's F-A-I-R-W-I-N-D-S. Org/ramsey. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Ken, I spent a little time with my friend Ben Shapiro the other day, and we were talking about our mutual friend, Reverend Daniel Lapp, Yes. And rabbi talks about the Hebrew word in the Jewish tradition, Jewish language, rabbi's teachings, for work, is virtually the the same word as the word we use for worship. And those of us that have a New Testament, those guys play in only in what I call the Old Testament. They call it the Bible, the Talmud. And great friends of ours, by the way. We have great discussions. That word work and worship are the same words. In their mindset, to do your work well with excellence in service of others is an act of worship. That's what I was trying to say before that break is I think that a plumber that loves God and does excellent work at a fair price, treats people with kindness, shows up on time, cleans up his mess, does the work, and people that he's doing his work, what we would call in the New Testament as unto the Lord in 2 Corinthians, right?
Or if we're going to have Trump, we can say 2 Corinthians, right? But 2 Corinthians, right? That'll come back to haunt me right there. But I'll hear about that by nightfall. But anyway, do your work as under the Lord. Your work matters. It matters, and you talk about this all the time. Sure. Functioning in your gifts as an act of worship does It does not require that you do it from a government position or a nonprofit position. That's right. It just means you have to do… It's a matter of the attitude and the altitude of the heart, not the actual location of the paycheck.
That's exactly right. It's not holier depending on who is writing or who's signing your check, rather. It's the actual work, the actual result itself. To that end, you don't have to just choose one lane to do the work in. I think it's really important that people see that, that there's missional results in multiple lanes of work. When you can figure that out, you go, Wait a second. If I can use my talent over here, it's just as worthy, to your point, as it is over here. It's all work that is honorable creates a good result. I'm talking about honorable work.
Now, there's parts of any profession you can do that you could question the honor of it. No question. Not only from your intention, men, but also the type of people. You don't want to be a guy getting people who are horrible criminals that really did do the thing. I wouldn't want to spend my life getting them off. I don't think that's holy work. In in her situation. Do all defense attorneys do that? No, they don't. There are defense attorneys that function with integrity before God. There are some that are That's right. But that's just about true of accountants. It's about true of people that own gas stations. It's true of people on a hotel. I mean, you can find the good and the bad people in almost any profession.
Yeah, there's no question about it. It's all about what result are you creating and why are you creating it? You could have someone who's selling faulty goods. That's wrong. That is evil.
Even though sales-A dishonest scale.
That's exactly right. The act of selling something is not wrong. But if you're selling a faulty product intentionally, now all of a sudden, it's dishonorable.
Yeah, exactly. Philip is with us. Philip is in Pittsburgh. Hi, Philip. How are you? Good, Dave. How are you? Better than we deserve. What's up?
Excuse me, I'm nervous. My question is, should I buy a business or grow what I have now organically? Feel free to ask questions to dig.
What business are you in?
It's a tax preparation and consulting business.
Cool. You have the opportunity to buy someone's practice?
Yeah, I do.
Okay. Do you have the cash to buy it?
Excuse me. No, It would be a seller finance deal. Okay.
Well, it's all about a mathematical thing, and then we've got to structure the financing where I'm not about to throw up about it. I'll help you with that, too. But the question is, what are you talking about paying for it?
We talked about $225 right now, and the billing Yearly billings are between $175, $175, and $180, I'm sorry.
Okay. On $150,000, what's your net profit?
$150, it What she had, it's probably around 75.
So 50 cent. You got a 50% margin on this? Yeah. Because it's largely service-based. It's got to do with your hours, right? Exactly. Do you have a Have you got capacity to take that on?
I do.
What are you generating in your business? What's your revenue's picture?
Right now, organically, I started at the beginning of the year. It's about 30 so far. That's part of a side hustle as well. I work full-time as well.
What's your day job?
Basically, the same thing. I do tax planning and consulting. I don't do preparation as much, but I do it outside.
How much do you make? What do you make in your day job?
Ninety.
How much of the 30 on this side accounting hustle are you keeping? What's your profit margin on that 30?
On that, I actually have only taken maybe 5,000 I put a lot of it back into it to grow it.
How much you got in savings of the side hustle?
On the side hustle, 5,000.
What are you What were you thinking is the benefit? You called us. I'm curious. Before you got on the phone with us, what were you thinking the benefit would be of buying this other agency?
I think the benefit for me would have been just to be able to work for myself. I come My whole family is entrepreneurs, and I have always wanted to do this. The lady who approached me is older, and I just wanted to work for myself. Does that make sense?
Yeah, of course.
I feel like, like I said, I've always wanted to do it, and this is following in my lap.
My line of questioning is trying to get you to reconcile what the true benefit is, because I'm pretty proud of the fact that you've launched something on the side in the same You've got a good day job and a good salary, and you've managed to put money back into the side hustle. You got a little bit saved and retained earnings is what we call it in Entree Leadership. I'm sitting there going, If I'm you, I'd probably go the more patient route because I don't see a huge windfall to even take on this financing. I don't think it's enough of a benefit to take on the debt. It doesn't make sense to me.
Yeah, and that's actually the line of thinking I came across a week ago. We were supposed to move slow with this, and then that's what I thought a week ago, and that's why I'm calling as well.
I wouldn't do it.
Here's the thing. We need to separate. You don't want to buy a job. You want to buy a business. That's good. If I were going to buy this business, I'm not going to do the tax prep. I'm going to hire someone to do the tax prep. Now, if I buy the business and I can generate 150 out of it, if I keep enough of her clients on From 200, I can keep three quarters of them. That'd be pretty good keep. I got 150. I'm going to have a gross profit of 75 on that. Then I've got to pay someone to do that work, and I'm probably going to have to pay them 50 grand to do that work. Agreed?
Yeah.
That means that as a business owner, I'm making $25,000 net profit on a purchase of $2.25, not a chance it's worth that.
Yeah. Part of the reason why I had paused was her billings are very low on a per-return basis. If I would increase them, I don't know how many of them would actually-Yeah, you're going to lose people just because it's not her, and then you're going to lose more if you raise prices.
Super quick idea, Dave. I would pitch her on a finder fee if she lets him take care of her customers. They got to go somewhere.
Yeah. I'll share revenue with you for a period of 12 months or something. But it's not worth two and a quarter, dude. That's overpriced. It's probably worth 100. This is The Ramsey Show. Before we get to the next caller, I got some good news for you. Even when this portion of today's show runs out of time, there's still plenty more for you to tune into. Just head on over to the Ramsey Network app to finish today's show for free right there on the home screen. If you don't have the app, just search Ramsey Network in the App Store, Google Play, or simply click the link in the show notes for an easy download. You never know what call is coming up next, so be sure and check out the Ramsey Network app. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show. Number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Daniel is in Houston. Hi, Daniel. Welcome to The Ramsey Show.
Hey, guys. Thanks for my call.
Sure. How can I help?
I have a question about budget. I want to know if my wife and I are going overkill. My wife and I, we recently moved in together. We're relatively recent college graduates. Household income is about 200,000, take home is about 145. That's post 401k, life insurance, health insurance, HSA deductions. We have a six month emergency fund. We have zero debt. Now, the goal is for her to become a stay home mother one day. But up until that day, the discussed goal was to invest my income and live offers. In other words, of that 145 that is take-home, 85 is mine, and 60 is hers. So invest 60% of it's take home income. Is that over, Carol?
Your home is paid for?
We do not have a home. We moved into an apartment together. Okay.
And you're married?
Yes, sir. Okay.
You said that, but I was just double-checking the way because usually it's like automatic you move in together once you're married. I'm just making sure I got this right. Okay. The way I would look at this, the way I look at things is based on the data that I have of the The studies that we've done and the people that we have worked with over the last 30 years that have built wealth, what did they do and what is the difference about what they did and what you're talking about doing? That's how I'm going to answer the question, okay? In other words, as we studied 10,000 millionaires, how many of them did what you did, lived in an apartment, did not buy a house, watched their rent go up every single year, which you can 100% count on rent going up your entire life as long as you rent every year until you buy a house and then it doesn't go up anymore. The house goes up, but the rent doesn't go up. Very, very few people that we have studied or that we know of and have tracked with that became wealthy used that plan.
Instead, what they have done is they bought and then paid off a home by investing a little less and using the difference to save towards buying that home. Because the largest line item in the math in your budget every month is the largest item is cost of housing. When the largest line item is rent and it goes up every single year, your largest item is out of your control, and it's going up every year. When you fix it by buying and then you pay that house off, what we My mind is that we find 15 years from today, 14, 12 years from today for you, you have a net worth of a million and a half, 5 or 600 of that as a paid-off house, and 600 or 700 of that is in your 401ks and your Roth IRAs. I'm going to lead you that direction rather than this intense saving. Obviously, let me tell you what you are doing very, very well. You're actually paying attention. You're planning, you're thinking, you're scheming about how we can win this money thing. Most people just ride through life with their head stuck up their assumptions, and they don't know what's going on.
Then they wake up broke. You're quite the opposite. You're on the very other end. You're very, very intense. You're on fire. We've just got to point you in a way that's going to be the most efficient for you to actually hit your end goal, which is a good stable life with a pile of wealth, right? That's our end goal.
Yes, sir.
No, I would not do what you're doing. I would start saving a maximum of 15% of my household income into retirement, and I would stop the HSA. I would build an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses, and then I'd see how fast I can build up a fat, juicy down payment, and I'd buy a house in Texas, which is a wonderful market to own a piece of real estate in. I'd watch that house just go zoom, zoom over the next 15 years. I mean, look back and think about the neighborhood that you might buy in and what you could have bought that house for 15 years ago. That just makes you a little smiley. Wow, 15 years ago, I could have bought this house for... Oh, that's what it's going to be 15 years from now. Yeah, that's what you want to do.
Yeah, and I would just encourage you, Daniel, there's zero, zero chance that the guy we're talking to right now is going to not be able to live below your means. You're going to win. When she becomes a stay-at-home mama, I promise you this, Dave will tell you, I'm right. You're going to win. She's going to want a house. Dave's advice is absolutely right. When babies, she don't want to stay in an apartment, so let's go ahead and just remove the fear factor of, Will I have enough? You're going to. You know what? That's a really- Intensity right now is to get that house payment ready.
Those are two good observations, and you really keyed in on something there. Because I forget, because I've gotten old and I've been doing this so long, but guys, especially young dudes that just got married, guys can live under a bridge. 100%. If we were married, we would not be inside. Right. I mean, it's like... And ladies, they come along and they go, No, it's warm in here, it's cool in here. We can control the atmosphere inside a property. Look, we can cook in here, and we've got storage for our stuff. It's like the domestication of the male beast. But you're right. They just got married and moved in together. He can live anywhere. Sure. Yeah, you're right. Even if she's going along with it right now because she's in love, but she's going to wake up and go, I don't love this apartment. No. That's what's going to happen. You're exactly right. She will be right, by the way, when that comes.
100% right. We're trying to help you out on this one. The way you're living, my friend Daniel, you're going to be able to do what Dave says. You're going to have a fat down payment.
I think, Daniel, if I could get two drops of your blood inserted in some of these people that are sitting on their butts, you're way on your way. You're going to be great. Oh, yeah. You're not going to be a broke guy because you're actually paying attention, you're willing to do stuff, you're willing to go extreme, and you're going to win. You're going to win.
He's going to call in several years from now in a Millionaire Themed Hour.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Baby Steps Millionaire.
Baby Steps Millionaire.
He's that guy.
Hang on, Daniel. I'm going to send you a copy of the book The Baby Steps Millionaires. It's got the white paper of the study, the piece of research that I'm talking about in the back. You will enjoy reading about these millionaires, and you'll see these correlating behaviors that they have with what I'm talking about in the data. Then you'll go, Okay, I can adjust to that. It'll be real helpful to you. You'll really enjoy this book. It's a best seller, and I'll send it to you as my gift, my wedding gift, since you got married and moved in together. This is the Ramsey Show. What does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts and you'll get 10 different answers. Economic growth or a recession. Business taxes will go up or down. Ai will help us work, or it will replace us all. But there's no such thing as a crystal ball. That's why more than 40,000 businesses have future proofed themselves with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud enterprise resource planning system. Ramsey Solutions uses NetSuite, and you should, too. Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and see these your biggest opportunities.
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Today's question comes from Derek in South Carolina. I recently got promoted to private client banker for a national banking chain. This will probably be as high up the ladder as I can climb without being a financial advisor, branch manager, or business banking specialist. My position is a sales role where I bring home about $100,000 a year. I really love the finance world, but the more I listen to your show, it's getting harder for me to push loans, credit cards, and various investment products that I don't believe in like I once did. I don't want to hit the restart button because I love the finance world. I have my SIE and my Series 6 licenses through my employer, and they will pay for my education if I do not want to go to college. Excuse me, if I do want to go to college for a degree. What field in finance would you suggest I pursue? I love the idea of financial planning, but I don't want to push products or make the same amount of money that I'm making now. Well, again, when I read this, I go, Good for you. You're not a bad person.
I understand I love the values that are coming across in this question, but you're not a bad person. So take the guilt jacket off for the moment and go, All right, I do have clear values that are going to guide me. You can absolutely help people win in their finances without pitching products that you disagree with. I think of investment professionals and things like that that have such a huge role in the people's lives that we've been coaching for years. I think that's a great field. If you want to stay in finance, then get in that space and help people with their long-term investments and just refuse to get involved with a firm or the products that you're worried about. But I don't think you have to switch gears at all. But Dave, I'm curious, this is more your world, and you have a greater understanding of that. What's your take on this question?
Oh, your answer is exactly right. I mean, just the smart investor pros that we have, there are people in the Ramsey Trusted Network that We send our listener to. They have the heart of a teacher. They're not pushing any products that are bad products. They're simply helping somebody get their Roth IRA started or get their kids' college fund started or roll over their 401k. They teach you what you should do. Then once you understand and decide that that's what you want to do, then they help you do it. They actually make the transaction for you. That's what a good smart investor pro does. Those guys and gals that, after a period of time in the business, that develop a book of business, a group of clients, they make a lot more than 100K. That's right. They should, and I'm fine with that. But you don't have to be a You don't have to lose your integrity to be in the financial world. There are plenty of ways to do it right. But I think there's more ways to do it wrong, which is what you're observing. That's exactly right. You just have to get with someone where you Gosh, if I don't feel right about that, I'm not going to do it.
They go, Oh, no, you have to do it. Well, that's not where you want to be, right? That's exactly right. What I might do is just click on some of the smart investors on our website, see if you can get to sit down, talk to one of them about joining their firm or if not, at least tell them. Maybe one of them will let you buy them a cup of coffee and they'll tell you how the business works.
That's my great advice is just to sit there with somebody and go, Hey, I want to get in this space. Give me the good, the bad, the ugly. What do I need to do? Is It's been an opportunity for you? I think his litmus test on this is, I need to be in the world of finance where I'm helping people achieve freedom, not in the area of finance where I'm saddling people with debt. I think that's the simple litmus test for him. It comes from a good place.
Yeah, it's great. But you're not going to be working for a bank. That's correct. 100% of the time, a bank employee is going to be forced to sell debt products. It's where banks make their money. It's what they do. There's no It's like asking a dog if it's hungry. Of course, it's hungry. Of course, a banker sells debt. It's what they do. Of course, they think home equity loans and credit cards and car loans and lines of credit and they think, Oh, that's the cat's meowing. Obviously, you've come to the conclusion that we have that that's not a good plan. Kelsey's with us in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Kelsey. How are you?
Hi, Dave. It's so great to be on your show.
Thanks so much for taking my call. Sure. What's What's up?
All right. My question for you today is, is it okay for us to spend 28% of our take home pay on our mortgage payment?
It's okay to do whatever you want to do. You're an adult. It's not like you're breaking a law or something. We teach, apparently you realize, to keep your house payment around 25%, but 28% is like 25%. It's not the end of the world. The reason we teach that is people go out and take 50% of their take home pay, and then they call me up broke. Right. And they're house poor. 3%, that's like saying, Okay, I'm not going to do Dave's 25%, I'm going to do 22% 3% because that's going to guarantee I'm a millionaire in a year. No, it's only 3%, it doesn't do it. The other way is not going to condemn you to death and hell and flames. Okay? 3% is not that big a deal. As long as you get the concept. Now, is this a 15-year?
No, it's not. Not in Portland, Oregon.
Not going to be able to get- They have 15-year mortgages in Portland, Oregon, all over the place. They do. That's true. They don't own the house you want to buy. Yeah, exactly. No, I would not do that. Absolutely not going into debt for 30 years and using Portland, Oregon is my excuse. That's bull crap. No, you're going to be in debt your whole life, girl, and that's not what we're signing you up for here. We want you to be wealthy.
Yeah, I don't want to be in debt my whole life either.
You're signing up for it.
It's just struggling with a three-year-old and a one-year-old in the house we're living in now.
Don't blame your children for your once.
You Yeah, that's true.
You want a house. You got house fever. Take a cold shower.
A bigger place to live.
Yeah. You want a nicer house than 98% of the world's population lives in.
It's true. Yeah.
It's okay. I want you to get a house. I don't want your house to get you.
Yeah.
That's all it is. Oh, by the way, let me ask you this. When you say take home pay, what else is coming out of that check?
What else is coming out of that check?
Well, that's just after taxes. Okay, that's all I wanted. All right. It's not like you took a bunch of other stuff out that we could add back to help you with this formula. Listen, you can do whatever you want. We started the call with. You're like a grown adult and stuff. You're It's not against the law. But I'm going to challenge your decision-making paradigm or framework that you're using that you can't do this in Portland, Oregon, and that it's for the children. Neither one of those are true statements. Okay, this is a house you want, and you're not an evil person for wanting a nice house. That's not the point either. But we have to push the child that lives inside of us out of the cereal aisle and say, No, we can't live on lucky Charms. We have to live on meat and taters. That's the way it works. That's what we've all got to do. That's hard, Kelsey. It's hard for me. It's hard for everybody else. I do want you to get a house, but I do not want your house to slow down your family's progress to cause instability rather than stability because you stretch and stretch and stretch and justify and rationalize.
Yeah. Just to encourage you, Kelsey, I think everybody listening understands this desire to have a little bit bigger space. But the one in the three-year-old, I think is what you said, you just got to remind yourself sometimes, Dave's right, you got house fever. We've all been through that before. These kids don't need more space. The average American family has way more space and way more stuff in that space than they actually need. This is about the long-term play. Where do you want to be 20, 30 years from now? And what decisions that you're making right now are going to hamper or hold that vision back? This is one of them, when you got too much house.
This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks. Dave here. If you haven't booked your cabin on the Live Like No One Else Cruise, now's the time because it's 90 something % sold out. You do not want to miss joining me, the Ramsey personalities, and amazing guest entertainers for the ultimate debt-free celebration. We'll be sailing the Caribbean March 22nd through the 29th, 2025, stopping at the incredible Turks and Caicos Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas. Hurry to secure your spot with a $600 deposit today at ramseysolutions. Com/cruise. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Thanks for joining us, America. We're so glad you are here in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Kevin and Kelly are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good.
How are you?
Better than we deserve. Where do you guys live?
Great up in Mississippi, just a little north of Tupelo. Yeah.
Well, welcome up to Nashville. Good to have you. How much debt have you two paid off?
116,000.
All right. How long did that take, sir?
A year and 10 months.
Wow. Look at you. Great job. And your range of income during that, almost two years?
We started out around 82,000 and ended at 107.
Cool. What do you all do for a living?
I'm a certified nurse's assistant. I'm a land surveyor, do construction layout. Through this process, I actually got my surveying license during the paying off process.
That helped the old income. Yes, it did. Good for you. Great career, both of them. Excellent job. What debt was the 116,000? It was the house. You paid off your house? Looking at weirdos. You guys are weird. You have a paid-for house. How old are you two weirdos?
I'm 35. And I'm 37.
And you have a paid-for house. Way to go, guys. We're seeing a picture of it pop off on YouTube here. Nice place. What's that place worth?
Around 290 now.
Excellent. Way to go, you guys. That's awesome. Thank you. Look at those smiles. I love it, man. My house is paid for. To a house is worth 300 grand. How much is in your nest egg, your retirement savings?
Around 40 in mine and probably about the same in hers, I would say.
Probably. Okay, so you're approaching the first half million on your way to being a millionaire by the time you're 40, probably. Way to go, guys. Thank you. Proud of you. Very cool. What in the world caused all this? What happened? How did you get connected to this Ramsey stuff?
Well, we've got some friends that live in North Carolina, Jim and Julie Sly, and she texted me on my 33rd birthday, and we just got to talking about kids. She had kids that were in college age. She said, Let me give you some advice on you need to be saving for college right now. I told Kelly, I said, How can we save while we're this much deep in house debt? We got to research it, come across you. I got on board with it, and then she got on board with it, and then I couldn't get off board.
Yeah, too late, right?
Too late. I was going to do most of it, but the credit card deal, I didn't have issues with credit cards, so I thought. Yeah, I said, if we're going to do it, we need to do it right. We got debit cards. We cut up our credit cards, got debit cards, and you would be surprised. You're still alive. It makes a big difference when that money goes the minute you spend it.
Yeah, you do spend it differently, don't you?
You do.
Way to go, you guys. So proud of you. How does it feel to not have a payment in the world?
We still don't really know. Yeah, it's unbelievable.
Kevin, I'm curious for the broader audience, how much did it cost you and how much time did it take to level up during this debt-free journey, if that's when you did it, and then that gave you some additional income. Give us the data on that.
As far as like the- How long did it take you?
To get your license. How much did it cost you to get that additional income?
It's a three-part test, and you have to pass each part before you get to the next, obviously. I started applying probably before December of '23, I guess it was, and I passed in October. Well, it would have been December of '22, passed in October of '23. That long of a process to get through all three tests and get my income up.
How much did it cost to actually do that?
The cost of it, probably no more than 1,000 to 1,500 with test applications and the test fees.
Yeah, that's interesting. It bumped your income a lot more than that. It did, yes.
It was something I've been putting off for years and should have just went and done it. When she gave me that wake-up call, it really just boosted our enthusiasm to do something. It's like I woke up when I turned 33, is what I tell people.
When Kelly cut up your credit card, you had to go get to go to work, buddy.
That's right.
Definitely. I love it. Way to go, you two. Who was cheering you on? Who was your good cheerleaders? Probably his parents most.
My parents helped out a lot with discount daycares, what I call it. Then my boss, Andy, he was a big proponent. He was pushing your plan, and he told me, he said, Just do it. Just stick with it and do it. Really, I got so many people in our church that I can't even begin to name. One of my cousins, Jason, he's a great influence in my life, and still he is. Just so many. I can't even name all of them. Do you want to try to?
Anybody tell you you were crazy? Oh, yeah. Oh, you had those, too? Oh, yeah. She had both sides of the equation, right? Yes, sir. Yeah, okay. That's all right. That's good. If broke people are making fun of your financial plan, you're right on track, man. I like it. Good for you guys. Well done. All right, Now you're the other side of it. You got a paid for $300,000 house. What do you tell people the key to doing that is? What's the key to getting out of debt? You got to stick together and stick with a budget and live below your means.
Yeah, you really got to just get to the point where you don't care what people think of you.
Yeah, there is.
There was something else I was going to bring out through this process. We started really getting serious I cut up the credit cards around October of '22. Is that right? And by December of '22, she started eating right, exercising. I wasn't into that. She told me, she He said, You've got to start doing better because you're making it hard on me. That got me in gear. Through this whole process, I shed off 65 pounds.
Wow. Goodness.
Yeah, I've lost about 70.
You lost 70? Yes. Wow. Between the two of you, you lost a backstreet boy.
Wow. I lost 26% of my body weight.
Goodness. Discipline begets discipline. When I find I can control something, then I find out I can control something else that has to do with the mirror. Way to go, you two.
Dave, you've told people for a long time, rice and beans, beans and rice, but you guys went a different direction. We're like, We want to get healthy and debt-free. That's extraordinary.
When you look at it as though you have bitten off more than you can chew financially and physically, it applies both ways.
You have to give it time. I like what you did there. That'll preach right there. I saw that.
I saw that move. That was a good move. Nice dance move.
Mad respect on that. That was well done. I appreciate it.
Excellent, you two. Wow, that's amazing. In both cases, you'll never go back.
I sure hope not.
Physically or financially. Yes, sir. Fiscally or physically, either way. That's right. Way to go, you all. That's so impressive.
Yeah, really impressive.
Very neat. You tell people the key to getting out of debt is what again?Consistence.Consistence..
Both of us being on the same page because I would have bailed ship long time before the end if she hadn't been on.
Well, like you said, you got her started, and then she wouldn't let you quit. That's it. I got that. That was good. Very good job, you guys. You got how many kiddos? Three. Three? Are they all with you or just this one? They are all three. Okay, let's get them up here. Let's get their names and ages, please.
This is Kacin. He is three.
Three.
Kaley, she's two. Kyla is seven.
All right. I got to tell you what, you changed their family tree. They don't know it yet because they're too young that their mom and dad just completely changed everything for them. Not only health-wise, but financially Financial health as well. Way to go. All right, Kevin and Kelly, Tupelo, Mississippi area, 116,000 paid off house and everything, 140 pounds lost. Did all this in one year and 10 months, making 82 to 107. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.
3, 2, 1. We're debt-free. Oh, my goodness.
That's amazing, Ken.
Really extraordinary, the parallels between getting their financial life and their physical life under control.
Really amazing. Same problem, the guy in my mirror. He Same solution, guy in my mirror. This is The Ramsey Show.
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We'll all be doing events and talks on the ship, along with our wonderful stops that we're doing and our wonderful guests that we're having, like Steven Curtis Chapman, comedian Trey Kennedy, Dina Carter, World Class Chef, Monique Chauhan, and more. Ramseysolutions. Com/cruise. That's how you do it. Folks, this is the last segment of the show that will be on podcast on YouTube. If you want the next segment of the show, jump over to the Ramsey Network app. It is free. It's also where you'll find the Donald Trump interview one day early. Lots of stuff happens on the Network app that make it worth signing up for. It's completely free. Download Ramsey Network app from Google Play or from the Apple Store, and you can click on the show notes, watch the rest of the show of the app. Everything's there. It's good for you. Abby's in Boston. Hi, Abby. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.
Hi. How are you?
Better than I deserve. What's up?
I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to pursue a paid leave of absence from my job or just to walk away altogether.
Okay. Give us your current pros and cons for walking away altogether.
Cons. It's an hour commute. My father is sick, but that's another con being far away if something were to happen with him.
The reason you wanted to do this is you want to be able to go be near him.
Yes.
In either case. In any. Okay.
But if you walk away… Okay, go ahead. What are the pros to walking away? We're walking away from that income.
I don't always get along with one of my bosses.
Neither does Ken. He's sitting here.
That's awesome. Yeah, it's not a good reason. What are you walking to? I understand your father, and that's a legit personal reason to try to figure out if I should make a change in my life with the job being an hour away, et cetera. But what are you walking to if you were to walk away? I'm talking about income. You have another job lined up or some prospects, ideas?
I don't have a job lined up. However, I know I could get another position in the industry.
Listen, I love your confidence, but I'm not going to walk away from a full-time income, especially when I need it, and I presume that you need it. You can't have an interruption in pay. I'm not going to leave one place to be closer to my dad and all these changes you need to make without having something already lined up.
Why don't you just go get the other job? Yeah.
I'm afraid that if I were to start a new job, it would start off on a bad foot already because I'm going to have to take time off. Not just because of my father, but because I was diagnosed with something as well.
Okay, this is new information. You have some health concerns.
Yeah, it's a new occurrence.
Okay. You know for a fact your current company is offering you the paid leave option to try to get healthy?
No, they're not.
Okay, well then- They're not, actually. But you presented it as a, should I take paid leave or should I walk away completely? But paid leave is not an option.
I'm under the impression that it's not up to the employer, it would be up to the state.
Okay, but we have some… That's fair. You got me there. But I'm saying we have certainty. I don't feel that I have certainty right now, Phil. You're like, I'm under the impression that the state would give me. I need some certainty on that before I would take that option.
Wait a minute. I think you're confused. I don't think the state of Massachusetts requires an employer to give you paid leave. The federal government has... We're required to give you time off unpaid and hold the position for you. That's a federal law for a family situation or for a health situation. Family Leave Act. The Family Leave Act is a federal law, but it doesn't require paid.
Yes, I understand.
I don't think Massachusetts requires paid.
Okay. Massachusetts, that's a made-up location. I didn't want it to be my real location.
I don't think any state requires paid leave.
Even if you were to apply and you were qualified?
Apply with who? Do you work for the state?
No, I don't. Just for example, my father, he has cancer. We applied for temporary disability insurance through the state that we live in.
That's not paid leave. That's disability insurance.
Oh, okay.
You don't get disability insurance for him unless you can prove you are disabled, then you might get some disability insurance. Are you disabled?
No, I understand. No, it's two separate things. My diagnosis came after my father's situation. When my father got diagnosed, I took a lot of time off of work. Then my situation came up after. It just filed on. I'm just wondering- Is your diagnosis going to cause you to be declared disabled? Maybe. I don't know. It's breast cancer, so I don't know.
I'm sorry, hon. You got a lot going on. Cancer with both of you. Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. You're an hour and a half away from work, your dad is. Is your dad's prognosis… I mean, what are they saying about him? Is this terminal or Yes, he's currently on hospice, actually.
Oh, my gosh.
How much longer do you think he has, hon?
A couple of months, if I'm lucky. Okay.
I'm so sorry.
Thank you. I think I'm just being stubborn and trying to fight the principle, I guess. But maybe it's not worth it. But that's why I felt…
I don't know what's not worth it. It's worth it to get to spend some time with your dad, and it's worth it to take care of your health. I don't have any problem with any of that. If that means you walk away from this job, if you've got a way to eat over the next two months while you get some care and you provide some care to your dad in his last time here, I think that's a wonderful move. Do you have a way to eat?
I do, yes.
Okay, so you got some money coming in or a place to get some money or whatever. If you can do all of and then just get you another job after a year from now, your cancer has been treated and your dad's thing has run its course and you're resetting your life a year from now and you get a new job and you move on. I got no issue with that at all. I just want to be sure you're okay in the middle of this, okay?
I play house, as you would call it.
You're living with someone? Is that what you're saying?
Yeah.
So he's supporting you financially? Yes.
Okay. Then you're okay? Yeah. I don't see any reason that you have to stay in this position. If they want to give you paid leave, and that's something they offer as an employee benefit, that would be awesomeness. But I think you're out of there, and you got to take care of your daddy and take care of you. It's what it sounds to me like, kiddo. I'm so sorry. What a tough, tough situation. This is the Ramsey Show.
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