The Ramsey Show - App - A Degree Is Not a Golden Ticket to Success! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

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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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. It's all about you, your life, and your money. The phone number is 888-825-5225 you call the advice is free and some say it's worth what you pay for it the phone number 888-825-5225 casey starts off this hour in kalamazoo michigan hi casey how are you hi dave i'm great how are you better than, Dave. I'm great. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? So I have a really weird question for you. His family has been asking for our financial information. They want to know what our utilities are, how much we're spending on everything, and who is paying what. So I am from a family where you don't share those things outside of your immediate household. So my question is, should we be giving them this information, or should we be holding the barrier and, like, the wall that we are saying that this is our information and, you know, it's not really any of their concern. We're not in any kind of financial need. Yeah. Okay. And so you their concern. We're not in any kind of financial need. Yeah.

Okay. And so you're married. We are not married. I told him he could not propose until I finished grad school, and I finished in about six weeks. Mm-hmm. Which is kind of another thing of whether or not that answer changes once we are married. Yeah. Well, it does, because then it's a a different situation because there's not a we now.

Yeah, I mean, all of our bills are in our own individual name. You have a roommate and your roommate's mother is going over the line. Yes. That's different than your husband's mother is going over the line. For me, it is. And the line for me it is and i think and i think relationally it is um either way that she's going over the line what is their motivation of being so dead blame nosy um honestly it's his sister his sister why does his sister want to know his stuff um she honestly she for whatever reason does not care for me, and that's been well known.

We go through points where we're fine and then other times where she doesn't. But we are taking a trip as a family to Disney this fall, and his sister spent $12,000. And I said that we would only go if we could do it our way, and we are only spending about $1,500 instead of $12,000 and I said that we would only go if we could do it our way. And we are only spending about $1,500 instead of 12,000. Um, so she's really upset right now that I'm refusing to do everything that she wanted to do and taking on extra debt. Cause I was only willing to go if I had time to save up the money.

Um, and our 1500 covers our whole little unit. And how old are you guys? 33 and 34. And how old is sister? 39. Well, here's the problem. There's more going on here.

This is not about money. This is about your roommate's future fiancé, maybe future husband's sister's relationship with you. That's what this whole thing is about. And let me just tell you who solves that. It's not you. Okay. This is just an old man talking i'm not a family therapist okay this is not i mean it's because it's not a money thing but you trying to solve this with her is going nowhere agreed i do agree yeah him sitting down with her and going hey sis back off. He did, and his whole family's not speaking to either of us now.

Well, there you go. So we weren't sure if we just disclosed all of this information, if it would fix it or if it's just going to put it in a situation where I'm the third one in the relationship. When people violate boundaries and you say, no, I'm going to have a boundary, and then they say, oh, the only way we're going to have a relationship with you is if we can tell you what to do in your life, we're going to violate boundaries. That is not a relationship. That's a controlling, manipulative bunch of jerks. I think there's more going on here, though, that's outside my realm of expertise.

So I don't know exactly how to address this. But no, I know you caving to people who demand that they can violate your boundaries is not the way you solve a relational issue. OK, but I don't think this has anything to do with Disney and I don't think this has anything to do with Disney, and I don't think this has anything to do with your light bill. I think it has to do with you all living together, and his family doesn't like that, and they don't like you shacking up with their son, and it's talked about all the time, and they don't like your stance on anything, and that's what's going on, and it's being reflected in these other things that are symptomatic. So you've got a much bigger problem than that.

And so, you know, I think you sit down with a marriage counselor and get some pre-engagement, pre-marriage counseling, because you have a real problem in one of the four areas that causes marriages to end, and that's in-laws. It is one of the four areas. The money fights, in-law fights, fights over kids, and fights over religion. And when you are unequal on any of those four things, you cannot come up with a solid way to handle this on any of those four things, then your marriage is going to struggle. Your relationship's not going to last. So you need to see a good marriage counselor to help you with that. And so, you know, you ask me, and I don't think you can solve this by giving them the

information. That's absurd. It's absurd they asked for it in the first place. It's absurd they're angry because they want you to spend and do everything that you can afford to do. That's not an act of love. That's an act of control and manipulation by them. But none of those are the problem. They're all symptoms of a bigger problem that's a relational breakdown between you and his family.

And that's what you're going to have to get into that I'm not qualified to deal with, nor do I care to. Sorry. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Deanna is in Fresno. Hey, Deanna, welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? I just have a quick question. So I'm currently in the Navy. My husband got out two years ago. I mention that because that means we're both eligible for the VA loan. We're currently on Baby Step 2, but we plan on moving next year when I get out. Do you suggest that we purchase a home or rent until we're completely debt-free? Rent until you're completely debt-free and have your emergency fund in place. You buy a

home after baby step three, because if you don't, all kinds of crap is going to happen in your life and that is going to mess you up. You're kind of inviting Murphy to visit. If it can go wrong, it will when you don't have an emergency fund and you buy a home. The VA loan is not the way to go. It is the most expensive loan of the three loans, Fannie Mae, FHA, and VA, unless one of you is disabled in the military. And if you're a disabled veteran, all the fees and gotchas that the VA charges the military folks are waived. But otherwise, they're not waived, and it's more expensive, which is weird because it's supposed to be a benefit for serving, but it ends up not being unless you're disabled, one of you.

So check out that part, but no, wait until after Baby Step 3. Hey, thank you for your service to both of you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders, now more than ever, we need people with the right skills to support our communities, especially the frontline workers who provide resources and care for those most in need. To help, LinkedIn is offering free job posts for healthcare and essential service organizations that need to quickly fill critical roles with the people who help us all. If you are hiring for one of these organizations, free job posts on LinkedIn can help you quickly find the right people for your frontline. LinkedIn jobs can help by screening find the right people for your front line. LinkedIn jobs

can help by screening candidates for skills and experience you're looking for and putting your job post in front of qualified people who have what you're looking for so you can find the right person to quickly fill critical roles. To post a health care or essential service job for free or if you're in another industry and have hiring needs, visit LinkedIn.com slash Ramsey. LinkedIn.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. George is in Chicago. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, George.

Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, man. So I bought your book, The Total Money Makeover, in December. I read it in about a week, and then, you know, I was like, hey, babe, let's do this. And she was in line with me, and we did. So for the last, I don't know, 14 months, we've been on it, following your principles verbatim.

The only thing I can't convince her to do, and I don't want to get into an argument with her, it was cut up the one credit card we have, which doesn't have a balance. I think she's just holding on to it for, like, security's sake. Okay. All right. Well, I think you're right, and I think you need to not think let's ask her why okay is it that you want to hold the card and that's not an intimidating sarcastic question okay it's an honest question we're just sitting here quietly going help me understand because

we're winning but more than we've ever won with money we've had a great year and why is it you want to keep this particular card because we're winning more than we've ever won with money. We've had a great year. And why is it you want to keep this particular card? Okay? Okay. And if she says something like, well, I've had it since college. Well, it's not an old boyfriend. It's a card.

Why do you want to keep the card? Okay? Because I've had it since college is not a real reason, right? Although sometimes people give me that reason. I think you'll find it is one of two things. It almost always boils down to this. And I think you've already hit on it. I think number one thing is it's a security blanket. If something goes wrong, I've got this.

Okay. And I think you'll find that. Okay. And if you find that, then we'll talk about that in a second. The second thing that comes up is if her vote in the budget committee meeting, her voice is not being heard because in your enthusiasm you're being overbearing, she may be holding it as a power play. Because I've always got this option if george turns the screws down too tight because he's a wee bit enthused about this dave crap okay so sometimes sometimes that one comes up and that's

a valid thing too which you know the answer to that is obvious that her voice needs to be heard more and if you find that out that's a really healthy thing to find out, that you can adjust your approach to the budget committee meeting where her vote has an equal voice in the budget committee meeting. I don't think it's what it is. I think it's security. I think you already know your wife and you've already guessed which one it is. So I think it's number one. The way to solve that then is, okay, what amount of money in the emergency fund

or what amount of years of us managing the money perfectly, like we've been doing for a year, would it take for you to feel comfortable cutting that up? Because at some point, you know, let's say you had a million dollars cash in your checking account. To hold a credit card for security would be absolutely asinine. Yeah. Okay, so then you can go backward from there and just go is it ten thousand dollars you know i mean you know at what point and she may just go okay well once we've been managing money well for two years because we got 20 years of sucking at it then i'll just be

comfortable and i'll cut it up and we got one year in and you go okay we have an agreement then at the end of the year if we're still on track you're going to cut it up or she may say when we get the emergency fund to twenty thousand i'll be willing to cut it up. Okay. Let me tell you what will happen if she says that. And you get an agreement on that. You say, okay, we're going to cut it up at $20,000 when we get the emergency fund there. When you get to about $10,000, she'll probably chop it because she's seeing things going the right way.

But you've got however many years of your marriage doing it wrong versus one year of doing it right, and so you're rebuilding trust in yourself as well as in her as you guys are handling this money. Does that make sense? That makes perfect sense. Thank you, Dave. Yeah, so I agree with you.

It would not be a hill I would die on today, but I do want clarification on it, and I want an end date based on a based on a number of some kind some objective measure not when i feel like it that's just being childish and that's what is it you want from this and what is it we can do to replace what you want so that you can do away with this thing okay and and i think it's going to be size of emergency fund i think that's what it's going to be and of course we're in complete agreement you're not using the stupid thing you're getting out of debt not in and you said you're carrying a zero balance but i wouldn't

even have it out of the wallet i just put it in the drawer and you do all your transactions with debit cards cash and the occasional check and online transfer. But zero use of the credit card. Now, that's non-negotiable. I will have a fight about that. We've got to stop using the stupid thing. It's a crutch. And so you've got to break that. Once you break that, then you say, okay, what do we replace it with?

And is it security? Is it power? And let's replace it. It almost always falls in one of those two categories. Mike is with us. Mike's in Boise, Idaho. Hi, Mike. How are you?

I'm good. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my wife and I were seven weeks into your FPU class, and we're doing the EveryDollar app, so we're really trying to get our finances in order. We have a rental property that we're trying to decide if it makes sense to sell. So give a little background,

the rental property, we've rented it for 12 years. It's in Northern California. Up until about six months ago, we were in Southernifornia so now we're trying to figure out if if we should sell this and where did it come from did you did you used to live there we did okay so it's a rental property by default rather than by design and um it's in a different city um if i own all the rental property i own i want within driving distance that i can get there within an hour and currently all the rental property that i own is that because i want to go by and look at it ever so often make sure that somebody hadn't torn it down or change their harley oil in my living room or something like that and and so um you know i don't

do long distance landlording at all. It's not been profitable. It's caused all kinds of problems. I know some people do resort stuff with a beach on the condo or the ski house or whatever, and that's fine if you want to do that. I might do that someday, but I haven't done that so far. And I still would have this weird desire to put cameras all over it to make sure that everything was not being torn down. So anyway, I would sell it because of that, regardless of your financial situation. cameras all over it to make sure that everything was not being torn down so anyway uh uh i would

sell it because of that regardless of your financial situation even though we've had a property manager who's managed it and you know had pretty good luck yeah you've had pretty good luck i think that's the thing it's long distance i i just i wouldn't if you didn't own it you wouldn't go buy a rental property in northern California when you live in Idaho. Correct. It would just be unnatural. And so unless you had some other agenda of some kind, it's just by default. So I'm probably selling it.

And if you don't need the money to get out of debt and other stuff, then I'm probably going to move the money into another rental property over in your area if you like rentals. And obviously you've not disliked them to an extreme level. That didn't come up in the conversation. So good question. Thank you for rentals. And obviously you've not disliked them to an extreme level. That didn't come up in the conversation. So good question. Thank you for joining us. Danielle's in Portland, Maine. Hi, Danielle. How are you?

Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Oh, I'm in a mess. So my monthly expenses exceed my income by like almost $1,000. Most of it is credit card debt and a personal loan, and I just don't know where to start.

Do I stop paying the credit cards to get caught up on everything else? What do you make? $47,000 annually. How much is your car payment? $365,000. How much is your car payment? $365,000. How much do you owe on the car? $16,000. And you make $47,000 a year?

Yes. Ouch. $49,000 for the bonus. Yeah. Ouch. Well, that's a big chunk of it right there, isn't it? Yes. How much is your rent?

My rent is only $400 because I have a roommate. Net of the roommate. Yeah, okay. I own the home myself. But net of the roommate? $800. Yeah, so yeah, okay. All right, so you have a $400 and a $265, and you're making $4,000 a month take-home pay of $3,000.

So that's used up $1,000. You've got a bunch of credit card debt. Yes, I have $16,937 of credit card debt. What do you do for a living? I'm a financial consultant for an insurance company. Okay. And I have a personal loan that the payment... To start with, on the short term, here's what we do. You look at selling the car and you look at extra jobs to get your income up.

And if you don't pay someone, it's a credit card company. But you take care of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities before you do anything. So your payment on your house, your payment on your car, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities before you do anything else. Then you start working to get your income up and get the way through the rest of this. Hold on, I'm going to send you a copy Business leaders make your life easier with FreshBooks. Whether you're starting a business or you've been at it a long time, FreshBooks is one of the smartest decisions you'll make this year. FreshBooks is an accounting software designed for people like you

that lets you do the things like automate your invoicing and your online payments. So you get more time to work on your business. Try FreshBooks for 30 days free at FreshBooks in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave. We're blessed to be here. We're honored to have you. Where do you live?

Indianapolis. Oh, that's not a bad trip. Welcome to Nashville.. We're honored to have you. Where do you live? Indianapolis. Oh, that's not a bad trip. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. Good to have you. And all the way here to do your debt-free scream. That's right. Very cool.

How much have you paid off? $45,000 in 10 months. Wow, that's excellent. And your range of income during that time? It was about $97,000 to $100,000. Cool. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a business analyst.

And I'm a marketing director. Fun. Good for you guys. Neat. What kind of debt was the $45,000 to $100,000. Cool. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a business analyst. And I'm a marketing director. Fun. Good for you guys. Neat. What kind of debt was the 45? Yeah, so we had about $7,000 in a car loan, and then the rest were our combined student loans, about $38,000 total. Cool.

How old are you guys? 29 and almost 29. Yep. All right. All right. And how long have you been married? Almost five years. Okay.

All right. So four years in, and really you were about out of school. You got out of school, got married, right? Mm-hmm. And four years in, you look up and you go, these student loans aren't moving. So what happened? Well, I really wanted to do your plan as soon as possible. Our story, we actually read the total money makeover while we were in college before we got married, but we weren't on your plan.

But when we did get married, I was working on our budget every month by myself. It's really pretty overwhelming because we had those loans and we weren't saving any money. We were pretty normal. We both had a credit card. We were paying it off every month. We had bought some things on 0% interest, but like you said, we weren't making any progress on our debt and it was just very, very stressful. Yeah. And I think that at that point I checked my student loan balance after I'd been paying pretty hefty payments for about a year and the balance hadn't gone down at all. And that was kind of that moment for me where, you know, I knew I deferred my loans

for a while. So I was just paying interest and interest. And so I kind of had that moment of, I'm just, we can't do this anymore. And so I remembered reading your book. I started listening to your show every day and just kind of got excited about it. And then we had kind of this other moment where we would commute into work every day in separate vehicles of got excited about it. And then we had kind of this other moment where we would commute into work every day in separate vehicles and we'd go at the same time. We kind of waved to each other driving down the interstate. And it kind of occurred to me that maybe we could just go down to one vehicle and kind of jumpstart this debt snowball. So yeah, that's what we did. So we sold my truck. Radical. Yeah. Sold my motorcycle. Whoa. Yeah. And we took a little

other money from savings and just kind of threw that at our debt. And the first month, we paid off the car loan and then her student loan and the rest. Then the next nine months was just my student loan, $30,000. So, Steph, you were kind of trying to hold it all together. And he comes along and suddenly gets motivated. You were like, thank you, Jesus, or what? Oh, definitely. It was a blessing.

And it was all his idea, which was even better. I didn't have to keep pushing the envelope. That's perfect. Very cool. So what's the secret to getting out of debt? You paid off an average of $4,000 to $5,000 a month here for 10 months. That's pretty impressive. And you sold a car.

That's part of it. And you sold a motorcycle. That's part of it, right? Yes, that definitely helped. Yeah. What's the secret to getting out of debt? For me, there were really two things. It was us working on the budget together and constantly talking about it, which is inevitable when you're always in the car together.

And the other thing was it just being a total mindset shift in realizing we are managing God's money. It's not our money. Okay. Yeah, I think for me it was, and we definitely want to give God all the glory because he was definitely walking through this whole process. That was big. And then just humbling yourself to the plan.

It definitely works. You just have to commit to it. And then being okay with people thinking that you're weird because some of the stuff we did, people thought we were a little crazy. Yeah, down to one car, that'll raise some eyebrows. And then you sell your motorcycle. What, have you kind of culted your joint?

I mean, really? Yeah. So who was your biggest cheerleader outside the two of you? I think our families were very supportive. Our friends and coworkers, even if they thought we were a little weird, they definitely were supportive, so we appreciate them. So once you decided, okay, we've got to do something, did you just get the old book off the shelf and dust it off,

or what did you do in terms of did you go through the class, or what did you do? Yeah, we definitely reread the book a little bit, and then we just listened to the show. I mean, we were listening to it at the gym, driving in the car every single day together and listening to it. So that was a big part of keeping us motivated. So you're wearing a podcast now. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. All right. Very cool.

Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you. Very proud of you. Very well done. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's Everyday Millionaires book for you. Thank you. And absolutely incredible. That's the next chapter in your story. You're going to be everyday millionaires.

I hope so. You're on fire. You're 29. You're free. How's it feel? It feels amazing. Huge weight lifted off of our shoulders. Not even 30 and you're done.

Yeah. And it's been incredible to see the way it's worked in our marriage and our faith. We're actually in the process of helping coordinate our second FPU class right now. Oh, wow. Connection Point in Brownsburg. So we're excited to be a part of that, too. Well, thank you for doing that. So you not only went through the class, you actually are coordinating.

Yeah. We love it. Well, and you're kind of like stuffing it in the face of these people that are saying millennials, all this negative stuff, and here you are like, touchdown, baby! It's possible. It's not only possible, it's probable when you decide and you guys are doing it you're you're incredible well done all right jeff and steph from indianapolis indiana 45 000 paid off in 10 months making 97 to 100

count it down let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Absolutely fabulous. Well done, you two. Very, very well done. Well, our question of the day comes from blinds.com. It's the number one online retailer of custom window coverings.

You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal. Question's from Abe in Missouri. He says, Dave, my boys are 8 and 10 years old, and they want to earn money. I want to encourage their entrepreneurial spirit. I'm curious what jobs or businesses you've seen kids this age have success with. Well, they're pretty young, and so usually chores around the house that you set up that allow them to earn some money. The thing we're trying to do when they're that age, and really from three years old on up, is we're trying to make this emotional connection between work and money. Work is where money comes from.

It's like magical. And I want to make that connection. It's the amounts don't matter. The market value of their services don't really matter. So you set chores up in the house, and I might have an 8-year-old that's getting paid a dollar a week to feed the dog. Well, I wouldn't pay an outsider to feed my dog. But they got five chores a buck a piece or something like that, and we outline all of that in the Financial Peace Junior Kit on how to teach you how to teach your kids how to handle money as far as outside jobs outside

the family i think the thing i'm going to want to be careful of there is eight and ten years old as their dad i'm probably going to end up having to at least oversee this from a safety perspective um and that kind of stuff. So, you know, and you might end up in a worst-case scenario actually having to help them execute. For instance, if they decide they were going to keep the next-door neighbor's dog while they were out of town, you pretty much got to make sure that dog gets fed while they're doing that or dog gets walked or whatever it is they had promised that they were going to execute and so you got you know there's some parenting involved here some of your time

that's involved too now you know different kids are wired different ways we all have different ones and so you know some of them are going to just be like mr responsible mrs responsible and other ones are going to go oh i forgot for three days and the dog's hungry you know so you just you got to keep your finger on this thing so you need to decide you need to be careful what it is they commit to because you're in the mix that's the other thing i would do so from a safety standpoint i don't want them you know riding across town on a bus at eight years old to do to babysit or something. I mean, that's just silly. So it needs to be something that's done kind of in the neighborhood there, something that's done if you've got a family business,

something you can do inside the business, those kinds of things where you can control the environment. Because the lesson here is not really the money that's made. It's the tie between money and work. Money comes from work. I meet 54-year-olds who don't know that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Folks, I love telling you about well-made, well-thought-out products. Today, I'm talking about Grip6 belts. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable.

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That's GRIPSIX.com. Our scripture of the day, Philippians 4 and 5, Let your gentleness be evident to all, the Lord is near. Benjamin Franklin said, Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked and never well mended. Eli is with us in Buffalo, New York. Hi, Eli. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Mr. Ramsey. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm a sophomore in high school, and right now I'm thinking of going to college to become an attorney. And I was wondering if you think seven years of college and student loans are worth it. I don't think student loans are worth it, but I think law school is worth it. And so I would begin investigating ways to go through law school without paying for it with student loans, finding other ways to fund it and so forth. So the question is, is it worth it? So what would it cost you versus what you would earn okay now a law degree um generally speaking depending on what type of law you go into doesn't matter where you graduate from i have probably six or seven lawyers that

we pay money to uh annually i can't tell you where any of them went to school okay all i can tell you about them is they are competent in their particular area of practice um whether it's litigation or trademark uh specialties one we have that we use we have general counsel on staff i can't even tell you where he graduated from off the top of my head i think i know but i think you've grown to ut law but i'm not positive he may be mad at me now that i said that, but we've got one lawyer on staff. And, you know, so the point being, as long as you learn the law and the ability to practice law in a particular area of law, which is what you're going to do, you're going to end up the law.

In most states, you don't specialize by you specialize practically, meaning you choose a type of law that you want to practice. Are you going to do criminal law? Are you going to do civil contests in court? Are you going to do litigation, in other words? Or are you going to do real estate law? Or are you going to do, which is another guy. Right now I'm thinking real estate. Do what now?

Right now I'm thinking real estate. Okay. Then what I would do is go talk to some real estate people that are doing it and ask them what they make, what do they make, and then look at what it costs. So my point of my big discussion and my blathering is this. I would not pay a bazillion dollars to go to law school when you can go for a lot less than that. Find a law school that's less expensive and go get you an in-state degree from an in-state school as cheaply as you possibly can and get a good high GPA, work your butt off so that you get

accepted into law school, and then go to maybe a state law school or less. But you don't have to go to Harvard or Yale to be successful in law. You simply don't. As a matter of fact, a lot of people don't go to Harvard and Yale. They're very successful. Now, the last thing I'll tell you is this. Any area of study, any area of study, the number one correlation as to whether you're successful, whether it's medicine, law, science, teaching, running a business, whatever your academic area of study is,

where you went to school has almost zero correlation to your success. Your personal habits and character and charisma to deal with people and your perseverance, your never-say-die attitude, your street smarts, your common sense, all of those things have more to do with you being successful than having a degree or where you went to school. Now, getting the knowledge that you get while getting a degree is very valuable. So because degrees are so expensive now, Eli, and colleges are so expensive, and there's

this huge backlash against all the student loan debt, and we've got all these socialists like Bernie and so forth telling people that they shouldn't have to pay their student loan debt and all that feel the burn and all that crap you know but all that stuff's going on out there and so people are starting to say college is not worth it college is worth it so you ask me is law school worth it yes law school is worth it but it is not a golden willy wonka ticket it does not make you successful to get a degree and where you go to get the degree does not make you successful you eli are your secret sauce the fact that you're a senior sophomore in high school calling a show like this says you've got the stuff you got the gumption you got the grit you got the ability to hustle

and grind and in any any career field if you don't have that you sit around with your hands stuck out going nobody you hire me that's because you're freaking bum with a degree that's why nobody will hire you you're lazy that's why nobody will hire you you walk in with your pants around your knees to do an interview that's why nobody will hire you get a belt comb your hair take a shower shake the man's hand the woman's hand look them in the eye let's throw your shoulders back be somebody that's how you get hired it's not like i went to school, so I deserve something. You ain't entitled to nothing, baby. And that's not to you, Eli, because you're the guy we don't have to worry about being entitled. I mean, who listens to the Dave Ramsey show in the sophomore in high school?

Wasn't me, I can tell you that. So you got a lot more on the ball than I do. So you're going to be fine. But, guys, the thing is this. Don't throw baby out with the bathwater on education. Being ignorant as a statement of socialism is a dumb idea. I'm not going to go to school. College isn't worth it. Knowledge is worth it. If it's knowledge that's applicable in the marketplace, like a law degree, it's worth it. I mean, but there's broke lawyers all over the place.

So you actually have to learn how to run a legal business. You have to learn how to get clients and keep clients with people skills involved. You know, real estate business, you're going to be dealing with real estate people, which are drama queens. I love them. I am one. And I've been a real estate person all my life, but they're all high emotional, you know, people. And that's, that's who you're going to be dealing with in the real estate business.

You're dealing with zoning boards and bureaucrats at the lot with the dadgum city, you know, and all this stuff you're going to, that's who you're going to be dealing with if you're a real estate attorney. So if you can't deal with all that, you're going to be what's known as a broke real estate attorney, even though you got a law degree it's not a golden willy wonka ticket it is it's it gets your foot in the door and then you still have to go do the work folks so don't teach your kids that education is a bad idea education is a wonderful idea but don't teach your kids that any education is worth the money because it's not. You get a degree in German polka history, it's worthless. You get a degree in gender studies and then wonder why you can't get a job.

Well, it's dumber than a rock. Of course you're going to have a problem with that, you know. So think about what you're doing. Don't spend $280,000 getting a master's degree in social work. That's a dumb idea. You know, there's just not enough income in that field to offset that expense even if you didn't go in debt to do it it doesn't make sense so you just have to think through what are you spending for what are you getting the little the few pennies that i paid to get an undergraduate degree in finance

or specialization in real estate from the university of Tennessee was worth a bazillion times more than I paid for. It was worth every dime times a hundred because I learned statistics, I learned finance, I learned basic marketing skills, I learned accounting, and I use all of those things every day running this business today some 40 years later. I even learned learned computer programming which has absolutely nothing to do with anything that is programmed today i can promise you that y'all remember those old punch cards yeah i had old punch cards we sit in there with some these ridiculous languages that that my guys laugh about when i tell them that i learned those languages but you know what the critical thinking skills that you use there are the same critical thinking skills you do to program the web today.

Now, I don't use them because I don't know how to do how to write code. But I suspect I could probably learn it in about three weeks if I didn't have anything else to do. Because I've written code before. Getting a degree, I got a little taste of it. And so now when I'm dealing with people who do that for me on my team, now I'm ready to do that. So, Eli, education is worth it as long as you go do something with your life and don't wait on someone else to bring you the water. You're going to be just fine, sir.

You're going to be just fine. Pay cash for it, though. Pay cash for it. It's not worth student loan debt. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We will be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

In the middle of these uncertain times, Ramsey Solutions wants to give you some hope. For the very first time ever, we're giving you Financial Peace University free for 14 days. Go to DaveRamsey.com slash hope so you can watch from home.