Single dad making $13/hr... how do I get ahead?

Marcel starts off this our Tulsa Oklahoma caller hey Marcel how are you doing good how about yourself better than I deserve sir how can I help I'm always I'm 25 years old I have two boys four into it I'm trying to establish a a set goal and on plan how to get out of debt far as my student loans and have a lot of I'm a single parent so I have a lot of bills just as doing so I'm trying to figure out how to how to go about doing that taking credit okay and so what do you do for a living work for the gas company and what do you make what's your household in oh right now I'll make thirteen fifty you know mm-hmm forty hours a week yes sir yes sir and I get paid every week so that's good that's good and you got family in the area yes okay where's the kids mom uh she recently just got back in town she was she was moved away in Atlanta so so you have the custody of the boys right yes okay all right and does she pay any child support uh no okay okay and how much debt do you have sir uh with my student loans and medical bills of six seventeen thousand maybe seventeen eighteen okay cool and and a how much is your rent oh right now it's five eighty five that's good news that's good news okay well you are you got a lot of stuff on your plate man I mean you already knew that you're trying to raise kids and and you're working hard you're a good man and you're trying to but making thirteen fifty an hour feeding two kids with $500 rent that's about all that's happening there there's no there's no wiggle room in that budget you already knew that didn't you yeah yeah so I'm just telling you I think it's impressive if you just feed your kids keep the lights on keep the rent paid at the 13:50 rate tomorrow and let's worry about student loans a little bit later now okay having said that we got to have some hope for this situation the good news about life Marcel is is that it's never a snapshot it's a filmstrip and what that means is it's ever-changing you're not stuck where you are right now next year is going to be different it's either going to be better or worse but it'll be different yes true okay and so we're going to start working towards making it better because the best way for you to build a quality life for you your boys and get rid of this debt is we got to get your income up okay long-term right yes you're a good man you're working hard I'm glad you got a job but I want you to make twice that to three years from now okay and I think you're probably worth it and so you don't know where you can get some traction in your life financially you're living right on the bubble and I don't want this for you ten years from now and it will be exactly what you're doing you'll be doing exactly the same thing you're doing right now ten years from now unless you plan a way out so we got to have a new gameplan and to start with we got to start thinking about what do you want to be doing with your life if you could do anything you wanted to do what would you do that paid sixty or a hundred and sixty thousand a year and you don't have to answer me right now but I want you to start thinking that way and then what if one of the then once you identify say I could be that thing I know I've always wanted to do that I really believe I could do that but I got to have some training I got to have an education I got to have a mentor program an apprentice program whatever it is to get there and that's going to take me two years and go into this class or taking this certification or doing this or that right right and so we got a plaint we got to figure out where we're going and then make a plan to get there that's your long term answer to your financial equation too plus it's just going to give you a better life all right and then the short term is the dreaded part-time job which is tough as a single dad but if you can get some family support and do you know even if you just did a few little things and made a thousand bucks a month dude that changes your whole life right now I mean if I could add a thousand dollars a month to your income right now I'd be like woohoo because it changes these ratios way doesn't it yes it does and that could be cutting grass on the weekends okay that could be um you know uh I don't know walking somebody's dog I don't know I don't know whatever you got talent that you know how to do that you can go do you you may be a computer engineer I don't know what you do but figure out something that you can do and maybe it's a small business idea that you just do for yourself because let me give you an example and I'm not saying you do this but I'm amazed at how much money people make per hour just doing little odd job things like like like being a maid going into a lady's house cleaning her house you make $25 an hour doing that now and maybe there's something the equivalent that you would do this like that right I'm just saying you're you go be a maid that's not my point but but but I'm saying if you cut grass for yourself for two people you could have intent five dollars an hour and do that do that on Saturday mornings before the kids get up your mama comes over and sits there while they're still asleep or something I don't know but let's start to think that way with a short term to get the income up and start to have some traction and get a little distance between you because you're so on the bubble that any little thing right now is a freaking crisis yes yes ok now am i saying anything in all of this that's wrong ok am i I'm asking you know oh no no no no does this all make sense to you yes sir now let me ask you this how how much reading do you do oh not much not much okay that's okay that's okay um here's what I want you to do I want you to become a reader I want you to turn the television off the average millionaire reads a nonfiction book a month I got a friend of mine reading to a month because he wants to be a two millionaire okay so I'm gonna send you some books and is I'm putting you in college right now man on how to get your life organized how to get your act together where you go win and double your income and it's not going to be easy if it was easy everybody would do it right right yes sir right but you got you got to know that the average millionaire can't tell you who got thrown off the island they're there reading and doing other stuff at night you know well and so turn off your television when the kids go to bed read 30 minutes a night and even if you're a slow reader it doesn't that you're not getting a grade on this only grade on this is improving your life so take your time if you don't understand something read it three times and if you don't understand that then email somebody over at the office one of us will explain it to you yes sir and so we're going to school here because this is how you make your life better is you have knowledge tomorrow that you didn't have today and you apply it is that fair yes sir are you in a good church get real good get some good men around you and look for some men that are doing well in the business community that would walk with you in this journey you're going on that'll put their arm around you and say hey Marcel I'm gonna walk with you I'm gonna love you and I'm going to show you how to win get some guys that are ahead of you on this journey and they will show you how to take the journey you hold on I'm gonna send you a whole case of different books you're going to be reading for the next two years on everything I'll send you hold on you

Channel: The Dave Ramsey Show

Views: 623,039

Rating: 4.9236155 out of 5

Keywords: dave ramsey single dad, dave ramsey marcell, dave ramsey marcel, dave ramsey radio call, dave ramsey child support, dave ramsey single mom, dave ramsey radio, david ramsey financial peace, dave ramsey radio show, dave ramsey financial peace university, david ramsey, dave ramsey envelope system

Id: VnYvnvKie-s

Length: 7min 55sec (475 seconds)

Published: Thu May 01 2014