📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan 📱 Watch the full episode for free in the Ramsey Network app. George Kamel & Ken Coleman answer your questions and discuss: "I was scammed by a family friend and I'm afraid to trust anyone now regarding investing," "I can’t afford to invest 15%," "Should I open a traditional IRA for the tax benefits?" "Should I use a national debt relief plan?" 5 Tax Myths, "What advice do you have regarding budgeting for scheduled withdrawals?" "I can't afford to file bankruptcy..." Support Our Sponsors: 🛒 Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at Aldi 🌱 Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp 📱Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! 🏥 Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries 🏡 Get started today with Churchill Mortgage 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe 🏦 Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! 🥗 Save 15% on your first Field of Greens order with code RAMSEY ⛨ Find top Health Insurance Plans at Health Trust Financial 💸 To find out more about student loan refinancing, check out Laurel Road 💻 Visit NetSuite today to learn more 🗂️ Use promo code RAMSEY for 18% off at The Nokbox 🎥 Get your tickets for The Chosen Season 5! 💵 Learn more about Timothy Plan 🏛 Get started with YRefy or call 844-2-RAMSEY 🔐 Visit Zander Insurance for your free instant quote today! Next Steps ✅ Help us make the show better by taking this short survey! 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET or click here! 💵 Sign up for a free training with our EveryDollar team! 🛒 Preorder Build a Business You Love Now at Ramsey Solutions 🤓 File your taxes with 100% accurate software that’s 20% of the price. 🎟️ See Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Delony LIVE in a city near you Listen to more from Ramsey Network 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the main theme of 'Stop Watching the Market—Start Building Wealth'?
This is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about life, specifically money, your professional career, and your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225. Currently holding his stock position and sitting alongside me is George Campbell. Welcome, pal. Can I be honest, Ken? I haven't even looked at my 401k. I have no desire. It's a good decision.
Good decision. I'm riding it out. I'm Ken Coleman. We'll be with you together. We always have a lot of fun together. George will take the lead on your money questions. I'll take the lead on your income questions. That's what we want you to do. And for heaven's sakes, let's address the elephant on the map. Not in the room, George. We just got to say, hold. Hold, hold. Don't freak out. Chill out.
Don't look at your 401k. Don't look at the headlines today. Today's probably a good day to just play board games. You know who's having a good day? All of the news outlets who are getting a lot of views from you guys. Very excited.
All of your clicks and eyeballs going, oh my gosh, it's all coming down.
Calm down.
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Chapter 2: How should I react to market fluctuations?
It's going to be okay. Calm down. You're not cashing out your retirement today. That's right. Leave it alone.
Just breathe.
Go find a hobby. Keep investing. It's going to be okay. It's on sale. Look at it that way. It's been a while since it's been on sale, and it's on sale now. It's on sale. It's a good way of saying it. Next time you invest, those stocks are a lot cheaper.
And I'm going to bite my fingers until they're completely gone to not go on a rant today about what I think about these tariffs, but I will let that alone for today, I think. Let's go to Michael in Charleston, West Virginia. Michael, how can we help?
I'm having a little issue. I lost my husband in 2008 and got a settlement because he died in a work accident and had a family friend who was a trust officer at a regional bank and offered to help me walk through the whole process and drew up some trust for me and my kids. And, uh, two years ago I found out that he stole all the money.
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Chapter 3: What to do if a family friend scams you financially?
Oh my goodness.
Sure.
So I've just got it in a money market account right now at 3.75 interest because I just needed it somewhere safe. But I need it to grow, and I'm just scared to do anything with it now.
Sure. Can we just ask what happened? Did you report this to the law? Is there anything working on this?
I have some attorneys that are working on it, but it looks like he... has spent all of the money, I might possibly recover a couple hundred thousand dollars maybe. Wow.
Is he in prison now? Where is this guy?
He's in Florida right now, and we found out there's other widows he's done it to.
Oh, sure. Well, I'm hoping that he's going to be arrested soon.
Well, that's the hope.
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Chapter 4: Can I afford to invest 15% of my income?
Good to have you here with us. So are you staying on track with the baby steps? You can take a quick quiz to check your progress and receive a personalized plan just for you. Simply head to the show notes, click on the link titled, are you on track with the baby steps and complete the quiz.
You'll get a result and that'll help you get caught up with all of our content because we want you to hit the ground running no matter how fast that is. Sometimes you just got to crawl before you walk. Remember that. and we're here along the way. Let's go to Detroit, Michigan next, where Jill joins us. Jill, how can we help today?
Hi. Oh, my gosh, I'm so nervous.
Well, it's because George is on. He's very intimidating, but I'm going to be here for you.
So I am currently in Baby Step 2. I have only 9,000 left to go. I've been working like crazy seven days a week and evenings, and I'm exhausted. But I'm trying to figure out once I'm in baby step four, how to invest 15% because I don't see the numbers working out. And I'm wondering if I should pay off my mortgage like it's baby step two, or if I need to just do side gigs for the next decade or so.
Side gigs for a decade? I'd rather see you get your full-time income up. But let's dig into the numbers here to see what's actually going on. It's time for a budget-ectomy, Josh. Yeah. Okay, what is your income?
Yeah.
Your gross income.
I make $57,800. I'm a teacher, so I also make about $3,000 or $3,500 gross in the summer.
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Chapter 5: Should I open a traditional IRA for tax benefits?
If you want them gone, you can't mess around. Go to laurelroad.com slash Ramsey to find out more about student loan refinancing. Again, that's laurelroad.com slash Ramsey. Laurel Road is a brand of Key Bank National Association. All credit products are subject to credit approval.
Lisa from Milwaukee is up next. Lisa, how can we help?
Hi George and Ken. Thank you so much for taking my call. Um, my question, a little bit of a background. Um, I started a business in 2023 and it took a little time to get it ramped up. So I didn't make that much in 2023. Um, so the taxes that I paid were relatively low. Um, but in 2024 I did much better.
Um, and I, as I was, uh, giving all my documents to my tax preparer, I said, Oh my gosh, I'm sick. I can just imagine how much I'm going to have to pay in taxes. is there anything I can do to reduce my tax bill? Um, I'm in real estate and I said, aside from purchasing properties, I'm not in that, um, in that mode yet.
Um, and he said that, um, I could, I have a Roth, a self directed Roth IRA, but that won't reduce my tax bill. Um, He said I could, uh, open a traditional IRA, a step, a simple IRA or self-directed 401k. But at this point, my only option is a traditional IRA, um, for 2024 tax benefits. Is it beneficial for somebody self-employed to open a traditional IRA for tax benefits?
Well, I mean, you're just switching it up. So with the Roth side, you're paying taxes now and then never again. And so what you're saying is, well, I'd rather not pay the taxes now, but one day when you go to withdraw that money, you're going to pay taxes on it. So there's no way to really avoid the tax man. You're going to do it on either side.
And if I'm in your shoes, I would just stick with the Roth. I don't like doing anything for the tax benefit. I know it stinks to pay taxes, but it's just part of making an income in America today.
And so I would do any other thing you can do to reduce your taxable income through deductions and credits, but I don't think it's worth switching to the traditional side just to save a little bit on taxes.
Should I have an additional retirement account besides the self-directed Roth IRA for any, because my expenses for my business, my startup expenses, I had some more, but now my expenses are very minimal. So the amount of deductions that I have are very small. So the only thing that he said that could reduce is either purchasing real estate, which again, isn't my mode of operation.
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Chapter 6: Is using a national debt relief plan a good idea?
That's your four walls. So you need enough to cover the basics, nothing more. And then beyond that, we need to make the minimum payments on our debts. Can you do all of that right now?
I can definitely work towards the minimum payments.
Okay. And then do you have anything left over to throw at your smallest debt? No. Beyond your basic bill. So what is your income right now?
I currently have $3,697 after taxes every month.
Okay. Are you doing any investing right now?
I have not started it, but I started putting out about $21 to see if I can save with those. I just have it in a savings account for now just because... Like I said, I'm always living on the edge, so it's like maybe I can just put whatever small I can find.
So how much do you have in savings? Do you have $1,000 saved yet?
No, I don't have a ton of savings.
Okay, so that is your A1. You're going to cover your four walls, nothing more, cover all of your minimum payments. Any extra dollars need to go to a savings account until you have $1,000. That's going to help you cover those ankle biters like you're mentioning. Okay. Okay. Then once you have $1,000, you're going to move on to the debt snowball. That's baby step two.
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Chapter 7: What are common tax myths to avoid?
Absolutely. I understand. I just started getting real with these things like a wake-up this week.
um so i knew i had nothing together um all right well listen to george here i think here's how we pay here's what happened you got a baby on the way and it was a reality that's right and you went oh my goodness i got to be like an adult all of a sudden right yes and your wife is feeling the stress too is she currently working doesn't care about money
She does when she doesn't have it, and she can't feed her baby. She's got to start caring.
Walking through how he gets out of this, Alan paid attention like you've never paid attention to anything else in your life.
You need income ASAP. The debt, I'm guessing the minimum payment is a few hundred bucks?
Yes, sir.
Okay, and you owe $12,000, and it's a car?
It's a couple of things, a credit card, her car. A lawyer from a previous divorce that's only two grand didn't even use them. What's the car worth and what do you owe on it? I believe she said the car's worth like 20 something, 30. And it should be paid off next year.
No, what do you owe on the car?
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Chapter 8: How do I organize my financial documents effectively?
Oh, I'd say both my parents, I would say. My mom's the analytical one, and my dad was the creative mind, but both of them goal-driven.
Yeah, and I've got to point out for our audience, the viewing audience can see this on YouTube if we can lock in, but Rachel, you've got some customized jeans, which I'll be honest, normally I'm a little bit worried about, but I think you nailed those. Walk us through what's happening there.
Thank you. These are, in case I forget why I'm here, debt-free pants.
And how did you go about doing that? Is that hand-stitched? Is it embroidered?
Yeah, I just went to Goodwill, bought some jeans, and then I cut up and sewed another pair on top of these.
No way. Wow. Did it yourself?
Yeah.
Did you self-teach or were you already taught in the art of sewing?
I was taught by my mother when I was growing up.
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