The Ramsey Show - App - A Car Allowance Doesn't Give You Permission to Get a Car Payment (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 14, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. It's common sense for your dollars and cents.

Maureen is with us in New York City to start off this hour. Hey, Maureen, how are you? Better than I deserve. How are you? Just the same. How can I help? I'm 22 years old. I actually said I'm living in New York City with a full-time job. I've never had a credit card and I don't want one. It doesn't fit well with me. But lately, a lot of my co-workers and friends are telling me that I quote, have to get one to build credit. I've only had one $1,500 student loan that I paid off

within six months of graduating. I have a month-to-month living situation, so I'm not under a lease and I've never had one, but I'm looking into moving into an apartment next year where I'd be signing my first lease. So I'm afraid that I'll get denied an apartment because of my lack of credit, but I want to know if no credit is significantly worse than average credit, and if so, is there a way for me to build credit otherwise? Okay. Well, the only way to build your credit score or to build credit is to borrow money. Why?

So that you can pay it back. Why? So that you have the opportunity to borrow more money and raise your score. Why? So that you can borrow more money. Why? So that you can have the opportunity to raise your score and borrow more money. This is a dog chasing its tail that keeps bankers rich.

The only reason you build credit is why? So you can build credit. Why? So you can build credit. Why? So you can build credit. It's all about going into debt. The whole thing is.

Right. And staying in debt, which you have just said that your broke friends don't think is a good idea. Well, if broke people are making fun of your financial plan, that's generally a good thing. So the reality is, is that the downside of living with a high credit score, if you have an 800 credit score, it basically means you've paid roughly $100,000 in interest over the last few years. So because it's an I love debt score, it's the only way to build a credit score is to go into debt. It's the only possible way.

There's not another way to do it. And so worshiping at the altar of the great FICO as your provider in life is a really bad altar to worship at. It'll keep you in debt the rest of your life. So if you want to play that side of it, you can play that side of it uh there's not a really good middle ground is the problem you've either got to sell out you either got to sell out to fico or you got to sell out to i'm going to avoid fico because the middle ground means you have a low credit score which means you paid a bunch of interest and still didn't get the benefits of having a fICO score. Now, what does that mean in reality? I do not have a FICO score.

Okay. I'm a multimillionaire. So what that means is I can go down to the local apartment complex that requires a FICO score to rent an apartment, if that one does. Not all of them do. And I walk in, and a 26-year-old property manager says, No, Mr. Multimillionaire, we cannot rent you an apartment. Now, I can write a check and buy the complex, but I can't rent an apartment there.

That's how dumb but asinine this whole idea is. And so what it amounts to is this. Can you find an apartment in New York City that does not require a FICO score? Yes. Will you get turned down for some that require a FICO score? Yes. Will you get turned down for some that require a FICO score? Yes. And I would face exactly the same obstacles that you are facing. So you're either going to have to find people who will work with you and do business with you without a FICO score over the scope of your life, or you need to go worship at the altar of

the great FICO. There's not a good middle ground. And so you're going to have the challenge of being in debt the rest of your life, or you're going to have the challenge of occasionally someone, because you don't have a FICO score, will not let you do something. And believe me, I personally have experienced that type of FICO score-ism. It's a type of, it's an ism. It's like sexism and racism and, you know, it's prejudice is what it is. And so I've been turned down for things.

My auto insurance is higher because I don't have a FICO score. It's just illegal, but they just do it. I mean, it's just wrong, but they just do it. And so, you know, you're going to run into stuff like that, and you just have to decide which game I'm going to play overall because there's not a really good middle ground. You see what I'm saying? If you sort of build your credit and I'm sort of in debt, you sort of have a FICO score, and your FICO score will suck.

And then that's worse than not having one. I think you could go into an apartment manager who has a brain, not all of them do, and say, look, hey, I'm 22. I don't have any debt. You know what that means? I got a lot of money. I can pay the rent. That's what it means.

If somebody comes to me, I own a bunch of rental property. If somebody comes to us and says, I have no no fico score that means you have no debt that means you have the money to pay the rent i like you as a tenant but i have a brain and not everyone has a brain that rents apartments uh and so you're going to run into uh people that aren't allowed to or choose not to think in our culture because the fico score has become so ubiquitous and it's out of control. So that's what your thing is. And, you know, you have to get a credit card. No, that's just people trying to justify their stupidity.

You don't have to, but you can make a choice to. You can decide to go that way and go into debt so that you can go into debt so that you can go into debt so that you can go into debt and that you can go into debt so that you can go into debt. And be a dog chasing its tail for the rest of your life. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. John is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hi, John.

How are you? Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a question in regards to long-term disability insurance. I believe I have long-term disability insurance that work, but I've been trying and trying to find out if I do for sure,

and I'm not 100% sure that I do. So I've been thinking about getting a long-term disability insurance through Zander Insurance. Not until you find out if you have one. Okay. You only need one. And if it's furnished through work, it's a whole lot cheaper.

HR can't tell you? I mean, what size company do you work for? I work for a company that is a large company. Don't they have an HR website that has your benefits listed on it? No, they've outsourced everything to a third-party company. Don't they have a website that has your HR benefits listed on it? No, all they give me is a 1-800 number to call and a representative to talk to. Did you talk to them?

Yes, I did. And they cannot confirm for sure that I have long-term disability insurance. That's strange. It's a simple thing. Yeah, it's a simple thing. You either do or you don't. It's furnished by your company, and they pull up your company's package. Correct.

Yeah, I would make that my hobby for the next two weeks. I'm going to bug the crap out of everybody around me. Your supervisor, his supervisor, her supervisor, I'm going to call 16 people at the third-party company. I'm going to call HR 14 times because they outsourced to a company that can't find their butt with both hands. And so, yeah, let's get an answer to a simple question. This is really not hard.

And I'm guessing you do have it furnished. That's my guess. Probably covers about 60 to 70 percent of your income, which after taxes is not far off. And you probably do not need to buy long-term disability. That's my guess. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. If you've turned on the TV, read a paper, or been on the web lately, then you know this country's in the midst of an identity theft crisis. Equifax is attempting to settle with its 150 million breach victims. Now that's a joke. And Capital One exposed the records of over 100 million Americans. These are just the breaches making the news. You can't possibly still think you don't need identity theft protection. Folks, this problem is not going away. The only

way to fight it is being prepared with an ID theft protection plan, and the only one I have ever used or recommended is from Zander Insurance. They cover all types of ID theft, take over the work if you become a victim, and even protect your money if it gets hacked. They also cover kids for free on their family plan id theft is a nightmare Jake is with us in Maryland. Hey, Jake, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world?

Not a whole lot. Quick question for you. My wife and I are in baby step two, and we have recently put our house on the market. It went on the market last week ago today. We owe almost exactly $100,000 on it, and it's for sale for $157,900. So when all is said and done, we're hoping to walk away with about $45,000. My question is, should we use that money to pay off debt, or should we use that money to turn into the next house we're going to be buying?

Why are you selling your house? We need a bigger house. Okay. Why don't you wait to sell your house until you get out of debt? Yeah. Okay. Good point. How much debt do you have not counting the house?

$28,000. And what's your household income? $82,000. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I sympathize with you needing a bigger house and wanting to move to a bigger house, but I think we probably clear the debt before you do that. That way you don't have this conflict. Because right now, you know, I would tell you to use the money to clear the debt,

which means you're not going to have the money to buy another house. Sure. So you end up renting and i'd rather sit there i'd rather sit there uncomfortable small for a year and get out of debt and then sell it and move up at that point and then take the cash instead of yeah pouring it into debt port into another house exactly exactly but yeah i think you're you know, I get that you're wanting to move and probably not going to make your wife or your real estate agent happy that I'm taking it off the market, but that's what I would do.

I would take this year and get everything cleaned up and then, you know, maybe this time next year put the house on the market or however long it takes you to get the $28,000 cleaned up, make an $80,000. But if you lean into it really hard, you ought to be able to do that in about a year. So good question. Thanks for joining us. Andy is with us in Chicago. Hi, Andy.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Me and my wife are new listeners as of July, and we are currently on Baby Step 2, and I just have a quick question. We are just down to our car loans, and both of them are leases. One lease is up in February, and we already have the money saved up to purchase the vehicle outright cash that my wife wants. And then my lease is up in two years. But my company offers me a truck allowance, which is $600 a month, plus they pay for all my fuel, or

I can take a company vehicle, and then that would, and I could just have, don't have to pay anything, or would not get a truck allowance. Which do you think I should do at that point? At the two-year point? Yes, at the two-year point. Okay. Or sooner if you just sold the car you got. Because you've got a truck allowance now against that lease now, right?

Yes, that takes care of the lease completely now. Yeah, okay. I mean, you can run the numbers out, and you'd have to do some detailed calculations, and I have probably, I don't know, 50 or 100 times over 30 years I've looked at it. Almost every time I look at it, it is a lot cheaper for you. You come out ahead if they furnish you the vehicle. Because by the time you figure repairs and loss in value into the equation, which is real, I mean, if you buy a $20,000 truck, it goes down in value because you're apparently on the road a lot, aren't you?

Correct. Yeah, and so you destroy a vehicle's value by the miles you put on it by being a road warrior. And so, I mean, if you buy a $20,000, a 20 30 000 truck and you run the wheels off of it and they give you 600 bucks a month and they give you fuel that doesn't cover all the repairs and loss in value and the insurance cost so translation you come out better if they just give you the keys to their truck correct because i can use the vehicle as if it's my own personal vehicle also okay well that's nice i i mean it doesn sound like, unless you're driving a very inexpensive vehicle, that $600 a month is going to cover it.

Because you think about it, a $30,000 truck or a $20,000 truck, either one, they're going to lose more. I mean, you're only getting $7,000 a year. Correct, correct. And they're going to run the wheels off the thing you're going to lose more value than that not to mention you got all the repairs tires oil changes all that stuff right so yeah company car is going to come out better for you um and i would get there sooner rather than later i mean i'd look at that car lease and see if you can't get out of it by selling it.

And that's an option also because since we've listened to you in July, we've been able to take care of $120,000 in debt. Good for you. Yeah, so add up. I mean, find out what the early buyout is on the car versus what you can sell it for and see how far in the hole you are. And if it's not too shocking, I mean, if you can write a check for $4,000 or $5,000 or $3,000 or $4,000, you're going to come out ahead by just going ahead and flipping that thing now and taking that company truck. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I didn't think of it that way. Sooner rather than later. But if it's going to cost you $10,000 to get out of it, you may want to ride it out to the end. You know, you just look at it and figure it out but you can crunch some numbers on it they're all the numbers are right there in front of you just don't leave stuff out and that's what people do in these scenarios so you're wise to think it through this way well done andy well done you're killing it man proud of you open phones this hour at triple eight eight two five five two two five now andy did not ask this question but some of you

have in the past so i'll go ahead and address it because it's part of that same subject just because your company gives you a six hundred dollar a month car allowance does not mean you can take out a six hundred dollar car payment and people do it all the time because when they fire you from the company or the company goes broke or they change their policy and no longer want to give you a $600 car payment or $600 car allowance, you still got the car payment. Because they didn't borrow the money, you did. And you're the one losing your butt when it goes down in value.

And you're the one that's got all this other stuff on you. Now, again, that wasn't Andy's question, but somehow people have in their head, oh, by the way, you're a road warrior. They give you $600 a month whether or not you have a car payment. So buy something that you pay cash for, and if you're running the wheels off of something, don't destroy a valuable vehicle. Destroy a less valuable vehicle. If a $10, dollar truck will get the job

done i'd rather lose the money on the ten thousand dollar truck than i would the thirty thousand dollar truck because you're turning you know when you start putting 40 50 000 miles a year on a car you are disintegrating its value and i know the trucks i know you're taking care of it i know all that but i'm talking about what you can sell it for. The actual value of your asset is going down so rapidly. And so you drive the least vehicle when you're a road warrior that you're having to pay for it. You drive the least vehicle that gets the job done because that way you lose the least money as it goes rapidly down in value due to the miles you're putting on it. Now, what is the least vehicle that will get the job done because that way you lose the least money as it goes rapidly down in value due to the miles you're putting on it now what is the least vehicle that'll get the job done well you're

in it all the time it needs to be reasonably comfortable so i'm not putting you out there in a freaking smart car you'd be at the chiropractor every week because you live in this vehicle so it needs to be a comfortable good road car and the second thing is it's got to be reliable because you're running the wheels off of it. And you don't want to be stuck out in the middle of Egypt somewhere with no dadgum, I mean, with the thing breaking down on you all the time. But short of that, we're not trying to impress anybody with the sex appeal of your road car. You're running the wheels off of it. So get something that is reliable and comfortable and as cheap as you can

possibly get that does those two things, reliable and comfortable. Generally, that's probably going to put you in a $10,000 to $15,000 car range. You start spending more than that on a road car, you're just destroying too much in value. You don't take a nice $30,000 BMW and destroy its value by running it down the road like that. Don't do that. That's just financial suicide. If you want to have a car that's not your road car, that's a third car.

I'm okay with that. But whatever you're running down the road, destroy a third car. I'm okay with that. But whatever you're running down the road, destroy a cheaper car. And don't take out a car payment just because you got a car allowance. They're not tied to each other. You get the money anyway. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Jordan and Chelsea are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? Good, how are you, Dave? Welcome, welcome.

Where do you all live? Dayton, Ohio. All right. And here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. And how much have you paid off? $170,000. All right.

And how long did this take? About four years. Okay. And your range of income during that time? So we started at about $45,000 and ended up at about $175,000. Well, there's a little jump. Yeah. Okay.

So what kind of debt was the $170,000? All student loans. All student loans. How long have you two been married? Right at four years. Okay. So you started out and just start out careers, and then both of you get jobs, and then the careers took off. Does that explain this huge jump?

So when we got married, I was actually still in pharmacy school. And when I graduated, that's why the income kind of ticked up. Oh, okay. All right. And that's why it jumped up a bunch then. Yep. Okay. Very good.

So you're a pharmacist. I am. Yep. I'm a pharmacist at the pediatric hospital in Dayton and also work at I jumped up a bunch then. Yep. Okay, very good. So you're a pharmacist. I am, yep. I'm a pharmacist at the Pediatric Hospital in Dayton and also work at another hospital as well. Cool. And Chelsea, what do you do? So I'm a brand-new nurse practitioner. I actually just graduated with my master's, so I'll be starting my MP career when we get back,

but I've been working as an RN. Nice. Both great careers, and incomes are shooting up fast. And so lots of student loans, I get it. Yes, sir. You got married four years ago. So you have uh t-shirts i can't see them from here looks like a picture of somebody and and your whole posse is with you

with their t-shirts both sets of parents are with us and the shirts say team mclean can't keep quiet because we're debt free all right okay very cool so you get married. You're in pharmacy school, and you're staring down the barrel of this huge student loan debt. I mean, it's awful. You're a millennial. You're not going to make it. You're going to die. How are you going to survive? You're a victim of the system, but not you guys.

Nope. So what happened? Tell me your story. So the story actually goes a little further back than that, back to when I actually asked Chelsea's dad to marry her. He actually said yes, but then one of his next questions was, so I assume that you have a lot of student loans here. And I was like, oh, yeah. Are these all yours?

No, not all of them. 130 were his. You had 40, you had 130. Okay. And so he said, so's your your plan about all these student loans and i kind of floundered around and then a few weeks later he uh saw fit to give us the total money makeover audio book and shortly after that we listened to it and just kind of looked at each other and was like this is what we've got to do like Like, this is the answer. He's subtle. Yeah.

A brick through a window. I love it. Listen to this. Okay. You got no plan. I said yes on the blessing, but you got no plan. Listen to this book. Good.

I like this dad. Good stuff. Well done. Very cool. So you listen to the Total Money Makeover audio. Then what happened? We got married, and after we got back from the honeymoon, it was game on. Yep. All off the audio book.

Yeah. Wow. Very cool. We listened to podcasts, too. Kind of our motivation to keep going. That helped us. Sure. Four years is a pretty long slot.

Oh, yeah. So how long before you got out of school? How long have you been out of school, How long have you been out of school then? I've been out of school right at two years. Okay, so two of the four years. You guys are just hanging on and, you know, Chelsea's working. And your student loan's activated, Chelsea, of course. Right.

But his hadn't. And so really this kicks in in the last two years. Right. Most of it did. Big time. With the income and with the student loan debt kicking off. Okay. Wow.

Congratulations. Thank you. You know how weird you are? So weird. You're so weird. I mean, normal is deeply in debt, broke, and no hope. And you just decided not us. Right.

What made you believe you could do this? Just listening to people and hearing their stories, I think, is a big part of it. And that's part of the reason we wanted to be here is just to encourage other people who are listening to know that, yeah, it may be four years. But if you keep at it and keep your nose to the grindstone, eventually you'll get there. Two years were treading water and two years were game on. Yeah. I mean, you were game on emotionally, but mathematically, there's a curve on this. It's pretty ridiculous yeah

way to go thank you we're proud of you congratulations i know your parents are proud of you so we know who one of your cheerleaders was your your father-in-law jose's dad but who were there and obviously mom and dad are both sets are here to cheer you on but who were your that's your biggest cheerleaders that was your your camp? Basically, our parents. I mean, a lot of family support. I think other people at work were kind of looking at us cross-eyed a little bit. So family was in our corner, though. That's all we needed. Yeah.

I mean, most pharmacy students and nurses, it's a typical thing, like a doc or whatever, going to keep these loans around like they're a pet. For sure. You know, and they don't think they can just knock them out. And you just punched its lights out. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I think just finding a plan, a budget, sticking to it, especially if you're married, just get on the same plan and go at it full force.

I think having your partner there is key because there were definitely times, four years is a long time, where kind of like, I'm tired of this. I don't want to do this anymore. And he'd be there to pick me up and like, we're still doing this. And we had each other's back. Yeah, that's a big part of it. That's really big. Very well done.

Good, good, good. What was the hardest part? I think just continuing to stick with it. Four years is a long time. And so just having to go back to work day in and day out and know that we're going to get there eventually. But it's a lot of work between now and then. So how old are you guys?

About 28? Yeah, I just turned 28. And I'm 26. Okay. That fits the storyline. Yeah. Very good. Good for you.

Well done. Well done. You're not even 30 and you've already killed it. You got a great income, no payments. Yeah, you're going to be one of our everyday millionaires. Absolutely. Looking forward to it. On your way. Yeah, you're going to be one of our everyday millionaires. Absolutely. Looking forward to it. On your way.

Yeah, live like no one else. We've got a copy of Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. That's the number one best-selling book, and that'll help you with that next chapter. Because you've got Chapter 1 closed. Time to open Chapter 2, baby. Game on. We've got stuff to do here. I love it.

Well done, well done, well done. All right, it's Jordan and Chelsea from Dayton, Ohio. $170,000 paid off in four years, making $45,000 to $175,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free! I love it! Well done, you two. Well done. No victims there. Those are victors.

You're going to be one or the other, aren't you? I mean, we all get knocked down. We all get trashed. We all get ourselves in stupid situations. We all do this, regardless of which generation you're from, X, Y, Z, millennial, boomer, I don't care. Every one of you, every one of us, have had the opportunity to do something stupid or be a victim. Victim of the man. I'm a victim of an ism.

The isms have got me. I'm stuck. Yeah, I'm a victim of the the man i'm a victim of an ism the isms have got me i'm stuck yeah i'm a victim of baldism people don't respect bald people i'm hurt i'm a victim not those two those two millennials right there they're rock stars and i meet millennials just like them all the time so don't you dare come into my presence and trash millennials oh yeah there's some of them get their participation trophy and live in their mother's basement i got that but i meet people just like those two all the time this nation this world is in good hands with this next generation coming up not because of all of them but because there's plenty of good ones plenty of good ones and if you think they all vote one way or think one way well you're just narrow and stupid you don't know what's going on out here i get to meet these kind

like this right here that hang out i mean that's a 28 year old couple that'll make two hundred thousand dollars next year and don't have any debt in the world and know how to control their money and have relationships with both sets of parents that are here to endorse them and lift them and cheer them on. I mean, their life is set. Well, they're privileged. Yep, they are. They were privileged to make a decision to win. That was their privilege. They decided.

Instead of going, well, I guess I'm just always going to have $170,000 of student loan debt. Nobody can pay that off. Nope, not those guys. They did it. So what are you going to do? Yeah, you. Well, Dave, you don't understand. I do understand.

I don't care if you make $20,000 or $220,000. I don't care if you make $20,000 or $220,000. I don't care if you owe $20,000 or $220,000. I'm here to help you. I believe in you maybe more than you believe in yourself right now. When are you going to get control? When are you going to walk out of debt? When are you going to become wealthy as a result? You. Talking to you.

Ready? Set? Go! It's your turn! Our scripture of the day, Romans 12.2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Peyton Manning says, it's not wanting to win that makes you a winner. It's refusing to fail. Ooh, very good. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that means even if you screw up,

as the customer, if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll still remake your window blinds for free. That's a pretty good guarantee. It's a great company. Site-wide savings are happening right now. Take an additional 5% off if you use the magic word Ramsey. Blinds.com slash Ramsey. Tiffany's in California with our question.

She says, I'm looking to start my own business, but I want to make sure I still invest in retirement. In my research, I came across the Roth Solo 401k option. Can you tell me the pros and cons of this option? Sure. Sure. low 401k option can you tell me the pros and cons of this option sure sure it is exactly it's designed for exactly where you are and you can go that route i mean it's it's basically a roth ira for a self-employed person and um the other thing you can look at is the simple ira which is a 401k for small businesses as well and once you get a little bit bigger and you've actually got a few employees and so forth, it's a very inexpensive way to kick off a 401k. But the solo 401k is for the solopreneur, meaning the entrepreneur that has one person,

and that's what it's set up for. And certainly the SmartVestor Pros can sit down with you in your area and explain to you every little detail and show you what the ins and outs are and help you get it lined up. Well, we're about halfway through the month. Christmas will be here in about an eye blink. Do you know where your money is? You see, winning is not an accidental thing winning is an intentional act if you don't have a budget then you need to join the five million budgeters that are using the best budgeting

tool on the planet it's easy to use this takes a few minutes to set up your first budget. And did I mention it's free? Every dollar. Yeah. You need to be telling your money what to do. Being good with money is not an accident. It's an intentional act. The only way to win is to make a plan to win. You have to give every single dollar you earn a mission.

And all you need to do is download the app from iTunes or Google Play Store or sign up for a free account at everydollar.com. Every dollar. Now, you can get on there and you can go ahead and get the rest of your plan, which is going to be over in just 20 seconds. It's time for you to take control of this subject money's either going to tell you what to do or you're going to tell it what to do there is no middle ground joe is in san antonio hey joe welcome to the dave ramsey show hi sir how are you better than i deserve what's up

well i had a bit of an odd question for you, I want to say thank you for everything that you've created because your products have done a lot to help my family. Cool. I'm honored. How can I help today? Well, I have my GI Bill to use towards whatever I want in terms of school, and I just wanted a bit of advice. What do you think is a good program to go for with a good degree program, I guess, to

go for? I would never pick a degree based on only what it pays, because you'll be a miserable person doing something that pays well if it's not something that you have some passion about what do you want to do with your life what do you want to be doing what do you see yourself doing 20 years from now uh to be honest with you i think uh i want to be an entrepreneur okay all right i really just i've wanted to work for myself for about five years now. Okay. So you got that bug.

And then the next question starts to be doing what? But you can ask that question later. The easy answer is to get a degree in business if that's the case, right? Yes. Get a good marketing degree or a finance degree or something like that. And that will put a lot of really good tools in your belt. You know, I've got an undergraduate degree in business, in finance, specialization in real estate, many, many, many, many moons ago from the University of Tennessee,

but I still use some of the things I learned in that degree track, you know, in that learning track. They're actual tools in my belt. I still use them every day. Accounting, you know, understanding the basics, understanding of accounting and finance and statistical analysis when we're looking at a project and so forth. And so, you know, I think a business degree, if you're going to go into business, obviously, is unbelievably valuable because there's academic things that add to your vision that you don't have if you don't get that.

And so it's kind of a no-brainer. The good news, too, is if you decided later you wanted to do something else, a good marketing degree or whatever, something along those lines, it's very usable across a wide spectrum of things. And so it's a good general field of study, in other words. But my son-in-law has a degree in entrepreneurship. And the school he went to allowed him to get that.

It's the same school, as a matter of fact, University of Tennessee, allowed him to get a degree with that. So you can actually study entrepreneurship but again you're going to get the basics of business in that track i hope you know accounting statistics marketing business law you know a lot of those things that you're going to intersect with if you're running a business and starting a business so very cool. Thank you for serving the country, sir. We appreciate you. Dana is in Tucson.

Hi, Dana. How are you? Dave Ramsey. Hey, what's up? You're amazing. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity because I love how you handle money, how your brain works, and how you advise. Well, thank you.

It's a privilege to be able to talk to you. So I'm 56. I sold my house in Hawaii about a year ago, and I'm just sitting on the money. It's about $420, and I don't really know. I don't owe anything, and I'm not sure what I should be doing with the money right now. Okay. Are you single? I am single. Okay. What do you do

for a living? Well, I had a business. I opened it up when I was 20, and then I branched out for a second business in Hawaii, which I closed, both of them. The last one I closed in 2015. So I'm just sort of semi-retired, not working right now. Okay. Well, you've got a lot of earning potential at only 56 years old. The things you could do would be a lot of, you could have a lot of fun and make a lot of money in the next 15 years pretty easy. And, you know, you're an energetic person and you've run businesses before. So I'm going to be tempted to look at that idea again and say goodness what could i do and make some good money the thing the lessons you've learned the bumps on your head that

you got a scars that you got along the way those are valuable that that experience um teaches you some things not to do and you know a lot of things to do already and so i want to see you plug into some kind of an earning process i uh can't see you 56 years old just sitting on your butt for the rest of your life you got to do something you know and so yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna head that direction and then that's gonna tell me what to do with the 420 000 do i need some of it to for an emergency fund yes Do I need some of it to start my next venture? Yes. Do I need some of it to buy my next house? Probably the rest of it, right? And then we'll work on getting that house paid off, and let's try to build some serious nest egg for retirement purposes beyond

this $420,000 in these coming 15 years. And of course, getting a house paid off in the process as well. So, yeah, good stuff. You're in a good place. You've got a lot of options because you've done a lot of things smart to this point. And then the trick is what are we going to do now that you're there? The truth is this, folks, if you're in your 50s, between 50 and 60 years old, for most people that is their highest income earning decade. Now, not everybody, but sometimes it's a second career, too.

It's an encore career, we call it. But it's something about all the life comes together, and you know yourself by then, and boom, it takes off. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show on the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for the show. You know, you can listen or watch anywhere with the Dave Ramsey Show app on your smartphone.

Catch the full show or watch the highlights and check out Dave's upcoming guests. Head to the App Store and download it today.