Don't Leave Your Financial Future To Chance

**Dave Ramsey** (0:04)
Brought to you by the Every Dollar App. Start budgeting for free today.
Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network and the FAIRWINDS Credit Union Studio. This is The Ramsey Show. George Kamel, Ramsey personality, number one best selling author and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour is my co-host today. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. The call is free and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. Josh is in Virginia Beach. Hey, Josh, what's up?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:48)
Oh, not much. How are you doing?

**Dave Ramsey** (0:50)
Better than I deserve. How can we help?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:52)
Oh, just trying to figure out what I need to do and get myself out of a financial pit.

**George Kamel** (0:59)
What's going on?

**Dave Ramsey** (1:00)
What happened?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:01)
Okay. Well, I closed my business and moved to Virginia to try to work somewhere else, get rid of the hassle. All nine yards there.
Even though I'm making good money, I still got six bucks in my bank account, what about some, I pay bills.

**George Kamel** (1:22)
How much debt do you have?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:25)
Combined with my old business, around 100,000.

**George Kamel** (1:28)
Okay. And how much do you make now?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:31)
I'm making right at 85,000 a year at the new job I started. I was making about 80,000.

**Dave Ramsey** (1:37)
Good for you. Josh, how long ago did you close your business?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:42)
Literally, actually my last day in my shop was the first of the year. And I've been about eight months now.

**Dave Ramsey** (1:51)
What kind of business was it?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:52)
It was auto repair.

**Dave Ramsey** (1:54)
How long did you have it?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:56)
15 years.

**Dave Ramsey** (1:57)
Wow. That's kind of heartbreaking, isn't it?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:00)
It is. But there were a lot of bad decisions and choices there that kind of led me into a financial pit and just, you know, So how much of the 100K is business debt and what kind of debt is it?
I got the taxes and they hit me with a bunch of penalties and everything. So I got probably about $70,000 in the taxes with penalties. And then just the vendors and everything and probably about another $15,000, $18,000.

**Dave Ramsey** (2:28)
Okay. That's $85,000 and then the other $15,000 as well.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:33)
Well, actually, then I got a vehicle payment, which is, or my vehicle was $22,000. I still owe on it. And credit cards, I'm right about $3,000 in credit card debt.

**Dave Ramsey** (2:47)
Yeah. What's the vehicle?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:49)
It's a Jeep. Okay.

**Dave Ramsey** (2:52)
What's it worth?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:54)
Probably $17,000.

**Dave Ramsey** (2:56)
You're single?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:57)
Yeah.

**Dave Ramsey** (2:58)
Okay. All right.
I've been through closing a business and the heartbreak of that and the gut punch that that was to my confidence. And so sometimes in these situations, it's more about confidence and believing than it is an actual math problem. You've got a bit of a math problem, but it's not overwhelming. But it's also believing that Josh is a good guy, Josh can win, Josh knows how to do big things again. And Josh does. He ran a dadgum thing for 15 years. Okay. You just made a few mistakes and got tripped up. And so now we've got to work our way out of those things. But if you're single and making 85, we can address these things and push your way through it. So if I'm you, how old are you?
I'm 42 Okay. So if I'm you, I don't have anybody to tell what to do except the guy in my mirror. And so I'm going to set up camp in the cheapest possible, safe and clean one bedroom apartment. And then I'm going to start working all the time, spending nothing and cleaning up this debt as aggressively as I can.
You could think about selling the Jeep, but meh, maybe not. It's not that big a deal. It's not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem by far is taxes. Are you paying anything on those right now?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:23)
Not yet. I mean, I've just been paying all the other debts and everything. I've been trying to pay all the personal debts and...

**Dave Ramsey** (4:29)
Yeah, and the vendors that were your friends.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:32)
You're right. So I'm trying to put... You know, and that's where my whole paychecks now is going from other than my Jeep payment, which it got behind and I had double payments up on it.

**Dave Ramsey** (4:44)