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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell is my colleague and co-host, and he is with me this hour as we take your calls.
Brendan is up first in New York City, New York. Brendan, how can we help? Good afternoon, gentlemen. How are you? Doing well.
Chapter 2: Why should you avoid taking a 401(k) loan for a house down payment?
How are you, sir? I'm good.
So I'm recently married, and my in-laws, who are two of the best people I've ever met in my entire life, maybe besides my wife, have a financial advisor they really like and they've been very successful with. Now, we had a conversation with that financial advisor, and it was very basic, but of course, being newlyweds, we have a timeline to buy a house. He recommended maxing out our 401Ks
to use that as some sort of tax advantage way to pull out that money to eventually use that as a down payment for a house. Now, I know Dave Ramsey doesn't like when we touch our 401ks for anything besides maybe absolute emergencies. So in your opinion, is that something you would advise to do or something which would steer clear of in all cases?
I would run far, far away and bless your in-laws, but I am not using their financial advisor for advice anymore.
Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought too.
And of course, I mean, the financial advisor is incentivized for you to invest with them. So there's already kind of like a, I wouldn't take my down payment advice from, from this guy.
Do you understand why George is saying run from this? Why this is a bad idea.
I mean, I understand our 401ks can be some of the most lucrative ways we can build wealth in the long term, how it's a good route to becoming, as Dave Ramsey says, a millionaire. I understand the implications of if we don't repay that 401k loan in a certain time period, it's a horrible, horrible tax return.
That's the part. We agree that it's a great way to invest for the future. We don't like using it as a loan. It has all kinds of negative implications, and it puts unnecessary pressure on you. Why that route versus another route?
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Chapter 3: Should you feel guilty about not wanting to combine finances with your future spouse?
You guys are doing so well to be where you are in a high cost of living area when everyone says you have to go into debt and you guys are doing this the right way. you'll be a year and a half older with $250,000 down, putting you in a great financial position. And so I would just pause and go, all right, we're 18 months away.
Let's not do stupid with zeros on the end by doing this 401k loan tax advantage scheme this financial advisor told us about.
Okay. Makes sense. There you go, my friend. Thank you for the call. Let's go to Jake now in Newark, New Jersey. Jake, how can we help?
Hey, thank you so much for taking my call.
Sure.
So, I guess a little bit about my story. So I've been with a girl for about a year and I'm planning on getting engaged, uh, in the near future. And we've had a conversation about combining finances when we're together. Uh, currently I'm 25. I make about three times what she makes and she has about 22,000 outstanding student loan debt and,
I guess my question is, uh, I guess it's, it's just uncomfortable because I'm not sure, or should I be feeling guilty for not having a problem combining finances thing? Hey, you know, with the grocery bill and rent and stuff like that, but having some hesitation when it comes to the remainder of the student loan debt.
Should you feel guilty for not wanting to do this when you get married? In other words, should you feel guilty because you don't want to pay off her student loans as her new husband?
Yeah. Yeah, that's correct. So let's say there's about 10,000 outstanding by the time we get married. I mean, that's, Again, I make three times what she makes. What do you make? I make $92,000 and she makes $30,000.
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Chapter 4: How can you effectively budget with an irregular income?
Okay. I don't think the word is guilt. I don't think you should feel guilt. I think that you should get over it, though, because you are going to come together. And when people aren't on the same page on their finances, Jake, it is a very difficult proposition to have a healthy and sustained long marriage. It's just very difficult.
And so you've already acknowledged that you guys are having the conversation about combining finances. That's the best thing for your relationship. The numbers bear that out. That's not my opinion. And I think at this point, I get why you have this distaste for it. But once you guys walk down the aisle, it is our money. And so that means it is our debt. And you didn't bring it.
You make more than her. None of those things need to be factors. The reality is this is now our situation, and combined we can knock it out quickly and move forward in life. And you can't be walking around – and again, you're not saying this in a negative way, but you're calling us and asking for advice, but you don't need to be thinking a lot about how many more times money you make than her.
That just needs to start to get out of your mind.
Yeah, this is more on you than it is on her. And so I don't want you stepping in. Because truthfully, right now, the way you said all this, I'm like, this guy's not ready for marriage. That's what I'm a little nervous about. Because what happens when she's like, hey, I want to add some clothing line item to the budget. And you're like, whoa, not with my money. I make three times as much.
And so I don't want that. That's going to cause a lot of resentment and friction in the marriage. And so you've got to go into this going, hey... I know this isn't ideal, but, man, we make great money now, combined income of $130,000. We're going to knock out this debt really fast. We're going to have an emergency fund. We're going to be able to get to our dreams.
And the amount of wealth you're able to build with dual income is amazing. And so look at this like an awesome blessing. There's an amazing person that you love dearly who's bringing all this extra income to the marriage that we can use to build wealth. So that's how I look at it.
I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. I think also part of the – it's not necessarily hesitation. I guess it's a little uncomfortable is that whatever the remainder is, for me, I wouldn't want to –
say hey let's continue your payment plan of you know whether it's 600 a month or whatever it is and keep accruing the interest i would want to get that out of the way yeah just knock it out knock it out knock it out as soon as you're married have that money saved knock it out and move on with your new life new chapter very exciting stuff you're good man jake if you're in you need to be all in my friend thanks for the call this is the ramsey show
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Chapter 5: What mindset shifts are necessary for financial success?
Thanks for the patience, Sky. How can we help?
Hi, thanks so much for taking my call.
You bet. What's up?
I'm having a budgeting issue. I have an irregular income and I make an average about $3,000 a month, but sometimes, like some weeks I'll make $500, some weeks I'll make $1,000 and it's throwing my budget off like each month. I'm trying to like, I'm just confused.
What kind of work do you do?
It's actually a job that I'm trying to leave. It's just a gig job.
Okay. What kind of gig is it?
It's food delivery.
Okay. And you're saying, hey, sometimes it's great. The business is great. I'm getting a lot of gigs and some months it's tough cookies out there.
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Chapter 6: Why living in a camper is not a viable solution for financial issues?
I'm hoping probably like anywhere from like... Well, I guess around $50,000 or $60,000.
Okay. And what pace are you on right now? And I know you're not going to stay in this food delivery job, but what would you average that out to right now in that range?
Wait, I didn't understand the question.
I know. I didn't ask it very well. If you look at what you're doing from a gig standpoint right now, what are you making per month on average?
It's like around $3,000, but sometimes it'll dip a little bit below that.
All right, so that's a good bit below a $50,000 or $60,000 job. I just wanted to ask that for George because you're going to need to transition. It's like you're going to figure this out, but at the same time, we're hoping we're out of this gig pretty soon, yes? Yes, yes. Do you have any debt?
I have a cell phone that I financed and some old debts that I'm trying to clean up.
Okay. I'm wondering if we find something more consistent right now. I'll walk you through how to do the irregular income budget. It's pretty simple. But I'm wondering if finding a retail job may be more helpful right now.
Okay. I think another caller said that my resume, I don't know how to apply that to a retail job.
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Chapter 7: What should you consider before filing for bankruptcy?
And not only making less, you can't rely on it. It's up, it's down, and that's really difficult. And I just think what George is saying, and I'm putting words in his mouth because his throat's killing him, it's not necessary right now. You don't need something that's up and down in this season.
We need something that's stable and consistent so that we can budget better and we're much more stable while we're looking for that better job.
I did make a contact with a graphic design guy, but he's not a hiring manager. It was just on LinkedIn, but I'm not sure what to reply back to him.
What do you mean you're not sure what to reply back to him?
I just complimented him on some of his work, but I don't know how to go from that to say how to get a job at your company.
Yeah. Well, I'll just reach out to him and say, hey, do you know of any openings at your company or other companies? I'm looking to get connected to other professionals in this area. And if you know somebody that'd be willing to have coffee with me or whatever, I mean, that's the game. And I've got a great resource for you.
I'm going to give you a copy of my bestselling book, The Proximity Principle, which is going to walk you through very practically how you begin to connect with people you know in that industry and outside the industry to find things. But as far as the irregular budget, I want to get George in on this because we do need to get you stable right now.
Yeah, and I'm going to gift you one year of every dollar premium, and here's why. There's a great feature in there called Paycheck Planning that lets you lay out your income for the month, and it'll show you exactly when you would run out of money based on your income and based on your bills and their due dates. Okay, okay. So that will help. Thank you.
But when it comes to a regular income, you want to look at this like a prioritized spending plan, and your four walls come first. That's food, utilities, shelter, transportation. Once that gets paid out, you go to the next priority. That might be your insurance bills or fuel on the car.
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Chapter 8: How can you change careers without going into debt?
You stayed connected. That's the key. Not sending out resumes to companies that don't know you because then you just get lost. You're just a nameless, faceless person. And I know you're much more than that.
Yeah, that's what I've been doing, and I'm really frustrated.
Well, you should be. You might as well be spitting in the wind. You might as well be playing the lottery, you know, and hoping for that as your retirement strategy. That gets disappointing every Tuesday night when you don't get your numbers called. Frustration. So hang on the line. We're going to get you the book and read it and do exactly what it tells you to do.
And I promise you, opportunity is going to knock on your door very soon, Sky. All right, we've got to get out of here for a couple quick commercials. Don't move. He's George Campbell. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by George Camel. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225.
Always good to be in studio with George. And we were talking during the break. I posted a little something on the gram. And I reposted it. It was that good. Oh, you reposted? Did you? You shared it?
I added it to my story because I was like, America needs to hear this.
Well, and so George wanted to talk about it. So George, take it away.
Well, you know, we've often pondered what the Ramsey show is really about because we've always known it was more than money. Money was often a root symptom. But if you really think about what is the ethos of this place, what has Dave been building for 30 years? What is at the root of the calls? And you had this post that you found somewhere else on Instagram.
Yeah, just saw this little note and I thought, man, this is so good. And so I posted it.
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