The Ramsey Show - App - Can I Use My Emergency Fund to Buy a Car? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 27, 2018

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. Thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. John starts off this hour in Spokane. Hi, John. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How you doing?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Quick question for you. First, I want to say thank you. Because of you, I started listening to my wife, and we'll be debt-free at the end of this month. Woo-hoo! That's pretty dope. So, one of the things that I did to go debt-free was I sacrificed in driving a car that deserves a name. His name is Sally.

And it's pretty much on its last leg. The amount of money it would take to fix it isn't worth what it's worth. Did it die? My wife and I are... Is it running? Not yet. So the biggest thing is it runs right now. You would never fix it.

If it dies, you would just sell it as salvage. Yeah. She's going to go... It has You would never fix it. If it dies, you would just sell it as salvage. Yeah. It has no heater core in it. And so once winter comes, it's rough. And so what I'm trying to do is decide if starting in September I get an extra paycheck because we get

paid 26 times a year. And so I'll get an extra two grand in September. So my thought process is I have two options in front of me. I can either, between September and October, save up four grand for a new car, or take and put all of our money in the emergency fund like we're supposed to, and start immediately into Baby Step 3, and then if the car dies between now and December or wherever,

use the money in the emergency fund to purchase a $4,000 car. But the car has no heat. And you're in Spokane in December, we're discussing here. It's 12 degrees outside. Yeah, I've been there. Yeah, okay. I know by Spokane. Okay, what's your household income?

We average about $55 a month, take home $5,500. Okay, cool. And you're debt-free soon, right? Like any minute now. Yeah. So right now you're building the emergency fund. That's correct. So at the end of this, I would have, in the end of

October, if I did it where I put the new car fund in there, I would have $1,800 in my emergency fund, $4,000 in my new car fund. And then I would purchase a new car for $4,000. And then immediately jump back into fully funding emergency fund.

What would Sally bring if you sold her today? $500. Yeah, maybe $1,000, maybe $750. Yeah. She's running. If it's running, she'll generally bring $750, even if she's really ugly. I've got to sell it to someone in arizona where the heater core doesn't matter but well or somebody's got a water bottle yeah um yeah

exactly so uh yeah you end up with a space heater plugged into the cigarette lighter this is a this could be a fire hazard this could be a fire hazard right here oh my god i had a heater that just heated my face. Oh. Oh, yeah, it was good. So you've already done this one winter. But it was worth it, Dave. You already did this one winter.

I did. I did it. I have an hour commute one way, so I did it. In the morning, it would be six degrees outside. I'd have to work. Here's the way we have to analyze this and the reason i'm talking to you about the way we're talking about it because it's a fair discussion um is in order to buy a car with this money we have to declare the car purchase an emergency because straight up

you are using the emergency fund to buy the car. Okay? I'm willing to do that with Winters having no heater in Spokane. Now, the thing I might do is I'm probably going to change your budget a little bit. I might sell Sally and put $1,250 with her and buy a $2,000 car and then go ahead and grow my emergency fund. sell Sally and put $1,250 with her and buy a $2,000 car, and then go ahead and grow my emergency fund, and then in the spring, upgrade. Copy that. With cash.

And that way we're not hitting the emergency fund for $4,000. Because the difference in a $2,000 car and a $4,000 car, I might have trouble calling an emergency. Buying a car and upgrading Sally might be an emergency. You see the difference? a $2,000 car and a $4,000 car, I might have trouble calling an emergency. Buying a car and upgrading Sally might be an emergency. You see the difference? I do. So I'm probably buying a $2,000 car, selling Sally, put some money with her, and it's got heat, and then I'm probably upgrading as soon as the weather breaks. That's a great idea.

And you might upgrade to a $6,000 car by then above your emergency fund, right? Yeah. I mean, so you go from there. Our goal is to upgrade both our cars at some point. Yeah, okay. So I was going to do a four, and then my wife was going to do a four. Okay, well, then maybe we just change this around a little bit. But, I mean, I'd buy a two to get by, get through the winter.

Sure. I'll call that an emergency. If I were in your shoes, would I do that? Yes, I i would do that i'm not freezing to death i'm not i mean you just i gotta tell you it's a great story you're driving this car with only your face he got a heat on it for an hour commute in order to get out of debt that was rocking man that was that was you were you were doing it man that's gazelle intensity right there no gazelle in africa has ever been that freaking cold i'll just tell you you did it man you know that's what it it's penance for my wife it is well i did the same thing i drove that old cadillac i talk about in the videos you know i drove this guy loaned me a cadillac with 478 000 miles on color on it was bondo and the vinyl roof

was torn loose across the top so when i drove it it looked like a parachute on wheels i did that i drove that car for 10 years one three month period and i went from a jaguar into that and then i went into a paid for two thousand dollar car or actually a fifteen hundred dollar car but anyway so i did it too and so i'm not afraid to ask somebody to do it but not for long periods of time and ridiculous you've already done it once and you you've worked your way through this. You're going to be okay. You guys are never going to borrow money again.

A guy who has a space heater in his car plugged in to the cigarette lighter will never borrow money again. This is a guy who's done with borrowing money. You're not some little wimpy person who's going to fall off the wagon. I do Dave-ish. You're not that guy. You're just not doing it. I mean, you're game on here.

Very, very cool. What kind of car is this? I've got to get a picture of this car. What is Sally? It's a 96 Mazda B2300. So it's a little itty-bitty pickup. Oh, yeah. I know the car.

400, 300-pound man. Oh, yeah. I'm barely fitting the thing. A 96 Mazda pickup is Sally. That's correct. What color is Sally? Burgundy. Sort of.

You can call it a color. Faded burgundy now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How many dents? Seven. And no heater coil. this thing is a half a step above a skateboard man that's right that's right you guys rock i'm so proud of y'all well done go buy your car brother but not a big one and then like next spring let's upgrade that's what i'd do if i were

in your shoes i love it. Sally the truck. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, things are getting pretty weird out there. I thought the Equifax breach was bad enough. It exposed the personal financial info of half of all Americans. Now we have breaches affecting almost every U.S. citizen, and the data stolen is more personal and equally dangerous. One company had over 230 million consumer files hacked, which included not only the home address, but info related to religion, pet lovers, smokers, you name it. And the businesses were not any luckier this time, with 110 million files hacked. It really is no longer a matter of if, it's when you'll become a victim.

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Shalzi's next. Hi, Shalzi. How are you? Hi. Aloha. Hi,zi. How are you? Hi. Aloha. Hi, Dave. How are you? I'm in need of some advice.

I'll try. How you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Okay. Well, my question is, should I sell my land in Hawaii to, and I'm in Pueblo, Colorado, by the way. I just moved here. Should I sell my land in Hawaii to pay off my master's degree, my school loans?

How much do you owe on your master's degree? Right now, currently, about $36,000. What do you mean currently? Are you done? No, I am in the middle of my program. Oh. So you're already $36,000 in debt. How much more are you planning to go into debt?

Well, I don't know. I don't want to anymore. I recently found you. I wish I found you a few years ago when I went through my divorce. So I got a rare disease a few years ago, and I lost my, I had to sell my house in Hilo on the Big Island. I left my husband, got a divorce. He used to put us into extreme financial debt. And after I got the disease, I realized I didn't want to live or die that way.

And so I've been trying to recover from my divorce and my marriage. Okay. So do you work now? I don't. I'm actually become, this disease has caused me to become disabled, and so I don't qualify for SSDI or SSI because I own land in Hawaii that I'm not living on, and I can't build a house, and I can no longer live that rural-y because I need better health care. I got you. Okay, So what is the land worth? What's the land worth? I can probably get about $70,000 or $80,000 for it. Okay.

And where did you get it? How did you end up with this piece of ground? How did I get the land? Yeah. You just bought it or what? Yeah, we bought it. My ex-husband and I bought it together. Okay. So it was part of your divorce settlement.

Yes. Okay, all right. So there's no big tie here. It's just a piece of dirt in Hawaii, which is sweet, but it's still, that's all it is, right? It's actually rock, yeah. Not even dirt. Yeah, just lava rock. Okay, that works.

That would be Hawaii. Yeah, all right. So if you can get $70,000 for it, let me me ask you this here's the way i always look at this stuff pretend i had seventy thousand dollars in cash one hundred dollar bills uncle benjamin franklin smiling face is piled in the middle of your kitchen table looking at you there is zero chance today you would go buy some rocks in haw with that. True. You would use it to pay off the $36,000 and to stabilize and sustain your current dreams and goals, given that you're fighting this disease. Yes.

There's no reason to keep this land. I don't hear a single thing in this. No. Sell it tomorrow. Put it on the market tomorrow. Okay. Call one of our, get in touch with one of our endorsed local providers in Hawaii. They'll help you get it on the market and get it sold.

Now, what is your master's degree? What are you studying? I went back to school for transformative social change with a social impact media specialization. And so my focus is to bring awareness to this disease so i'm finishing i'm writing a book and i'm also going to create a documentary and i've also started i worked on the state and level for the disease that i have to explain to me why you need a master's degree in social change to write a book on social change or do a documentary on social change. I don't have either, and I did both.

I don't. I don't. I just thought I didn't have the skills, and after my first two semesters, my instructors told me that I'm very skilled at writing, and I have a good story. I'm not even really good, skilled at writing, but I've done a couple of New York Times bestsellers, like seven of them. But it's just because I had something to say. It's not because I'm really good at saying it. My content team still questions whether I even speak English, but my grammar is so horrible.

But anyway, it's kind of a running joke around here. I sell more books than anybody, but I can't write very well. So I'm just a good storyteller though i am that um so anyway all of that to say i want to encourage you i'm not against education or master's degrees but i'm a little bit thinking this was to give you confidence that you didn't have not actual tools that you needed i agree with you because you went through a divorce and got the crud knocked out of your emotions, and you were trying to recover and believe in yourself again.

I got no trouble with that, but I think $36,000 is enough to spend on that. I'm probably going to park the Masters on the side of the road for a few minutes, and let's go live this dream rather than spending these precious few dollars that you have above your student loan being paid off. I'd rather you spend it on the dream. And I'm doing something that creates an income for you and makes your life better. That's what I'm hoping so that I can sort of turn this poison into medicine. Yeah.

So what's the nature of your disease? It's called rat lungworm disease, and I got it from eating organic lettuce. It's basically brain-eating parasites. I knew organic food wasn't good for you. I just knew it. It's not anymore. I've been trying to tell my wife that stuff's not good for you. Give me a cookie.

It's not anymore, Dave. I'm joking. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make light of your disease. I'm sorry. No, I make jokes about it all the time. Organic lettuce. Who knew?

Okay. Gosh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, you can get it a lot of different ways, just through water or like these floods that we're having. It's actually taking over a lot of agricultural and the wildlife areas in southern United States. So I have a good story to tell, yeah. Yeah, you do. Okay. A little bit of a wake-up call.

And, you know, with you fighting it yourself, you've got a real passion for it. So, yeah, I'd sell the land. I'd pay off my student loan. I would park the Masters on the side and let's go live the dream. If you need to go back and pick the masters up and finish it, you can. But I just don't know of anyone who was not able to affect social change because they didn't have a master's in social change. Social change comes from passion, knowledge, drive, resilience,

a story to tell, a reason. I'm going to drive the lane. I'm going to get people out of debt the rest of my life because I went broke. That's social change. Because I was stupid and I fell for the credit card company's siren song, for the lies that the culture tells you that you'll never be anybody if you don't use other people's money and borrow your way into prosperity. I believed all of that.

And so I've engaged in 30 years of social change as a result. But I didn't have to get a master's degree in social change to do it i just got really pissed off and it's lasted a long time that's what it comes down to and that's where you are so that that's that's where it comes from i mean these are these are people that are world changers so that's what i'd do if i were in your shoes you you certainly it's your life you're to live it, but we'll talk it through together, and I'm here to help you anytime. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in.

We'll talk about your life and your money. Dave, how do I get my wife into gazelle intensity when she doesn't want to change our current lifestyle? Read the Total Money Makeover, and I'm ready to go gazelle intense. You do not walk in after the Total Money Makeover. It says it in the book, Chris. You do not walk in after the total money makeover. It says it in the book, Chris. You don't walk in after reading the book and go, Honey, I read this book. We're going to sell your car.

That does not get people on board. Dude, you talk about why we want to do this. Why was it you got excited? What is it she wants to do? If she was rich, if you had $2 million and no debt, what is it she'd do? Oh, I want to be generous. I want to support missionaries. Good.

Let's get out of debt so we can do that. I want to travel the world. Good. Let's get out of debt so we can do that. I want to change our family tree so our kids never have to suffer like we suffered. Good. Let's get out of debt so we can do that. You need a big why, not a how. She's not going to get gazelle intense over your how,

dude, or mine.'s just gonna you're gonna turn me into a cuss word in your household no why why is it you want to do this if you want to get rich just to be rich you're just a jerk you want to get rich so you can do something with it for other people for your family Enjoy something you've never enjoyed. There's nothing wrong with that. You need a big why, or your total money makeover will never work. All it takes is one emergency trip to the dentist to blow your budget quickly. Now, I'm not a fan of dental insurance. I think it's a waste of money.

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That's OneDental.com. That's OneDental.com. Nick and Connie are with us in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hi, Nick and Connie. How are you? I'm great. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. I see on my screen you're debt-free. Congrats! Thank you. How much have you paid off? $133,734.41 in 22 months.

Good for you. And your range of income during that time? I started about $100,000, got up to $140,000 and back down to about $120,000 range. Okay. What do you guys do for a living? I work for one of the major Class 1 railroads.

And I'm a substitute special ed para, and I have a side hustle. Oh, what's your side hustle? I judge gymnastics meets on the weekends. Oh, that's good. Does that pay well? Yeah, I make about $700, $800 a weekend. Wow, nice. That's sweet. Good. So what kind of debt was the 134 000 we had 14 000 in a 401k loan 24 000 in cars a little over

41 000 in credit card we had uh 29 000 on the line of credit and $25,000 on the timeshare. Lord have mercy, you had everything. Yes, we did. Y'all were like normal. Very normal. You never met a debt you didn't like. Good for you. How old are you guys? 36.

I was going to say 35 to 40. Okay. Yeah, it takes a little while to get that far in that big a mess. Oh, my gosh. Good for you. So how long have you guys been married? 15 years this month wow so what in the world happened 22 months ago that lit you on fire because you guys have been after it well it

all started with the car that put us into debt after 13 years finally went out on us and um i didn't have money to buy a new car didn't have money to buy a used car so the only thing we could figure out to do was take out another loan and get a used car with it. And then we couldn't pay that loan. So me being the reader I am, decided to go to the library and check out a bunch of books on personal finance, which my plan sure as heck wasn't working. Read about three or four books and take care for many of them. Talking about putting pennies away and squirrel a few things here and there, but nothing seemed like it would make sense.

And finally found a total money makeover. Read that after a couple nights. Came to Connie and said, I think I figured out how we're going to do this. This is going to be our way to pay off our debt. And she looked at me and said, well, finally you got it figured out. Way to go, Connie. I like it. That's good. good very cool so what did you do this is radical i mean 134 000 in 22 months what'd you do uh a little bit everything we uh we cut the budget as tight

as we could uh never went out to eat and then we both got a couple part-time jobs. Bigger shovel and smaller hole would be the way to go. Did you sell anything? Pretty much anything I could find. Part of what got us in here is I'm a hoarder and a pack rat, so I had plenty of stuff to get rid of. Nothing major, but things here and there, a lot of garage sales, trips to eBay, Craigslist. And we also had to move from Nick's job relocated us from Colorado to Minnesota. Well, that helps you clean out the garage too, doesn't it? Yes.

Okay, but you didn't sell anything big. Well, the house we sold in Colorado when we moved. Okay, did you use that money to get out of debt? He had about $60,000 of that. Ah, okay. That's a big part of the story. Okay. So then what did you do in Minnesota? Are you renting? No, we got a house, and we had enough to put the 20% down and to get it paid off here in five and a half years is what our plan is.

Okay. So you put 20% down and still had $60,000 left from the sale to put towards this debt? Yes. Wow. Okay. So that means that $74,000 is done cash flowed in 22 months, making $1,000 to $140,000, right? Yes. Okay.

Wow. Very impressive. I mean, once you guys got a game, you just executed. What was the hardest part of this for you guys? Probably right at the beginning. As Connie mentioned, she's big in gymnastics, and one of the very first things I got rid of was the cable TV, which had to be right before the Olympics,

and she couldn't get her gymnastics on TV. That caused quite a fight. But I think really doing the budget and getting everything going was a heck of a lot easier than the way we were living before. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that'll cause a fight. That's like cutting off the NFL right as the season starts, man.

Oh, man. Yeah, that was a really tough one. Yeah, I'll bet. I'll bet. That's a big deal. So were you working together most of the time, or did you constantly go at each other? No, we were together every step of the way. Once, like you said, we figured out our plan of attack, we were together every step of the way once they said we figured

out our plan of attack we were on board all the way okay yeah and then i had picked up a third job coaching gymnastics and they paid me to coach and then also gave me a discount on our daughter's classes oh there you go all right that worked out good well very good very fun well congratulations you guys very Very well done. So what is the key to getting out of debt then? I think the big thing that everybody talks about is the budget, but also being very intentional. You know, we didn't make a single-money decision,

whether it was a cup of coffee or, you know, a big decision like our move, without talking to each other and making sure rather than just impulsing. What used to be need became a lot of want that we didn't really need until we got down the road here. That makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. Very good. Good job, you guys.

Very well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. We want that to be the next chapter in your story. You've done it, man. You did blood, sweat, and tears here to cause this to happen. And I'm proud of you. Well done. Did you have people bragging on you or people telling you you're crazy?

A little of both. Like, you know, my parents told us we'd never be out of debt and you're always going to have debt and to just go buy the things you wanted. But then we also had people that supported us. Yeah. How weird is that for your own parents to tell you that? That's weird, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. How weird is that for your own parents to tell you that? That's weird, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So who was your biggest cheerleader? Probably each other. You know, we're pretty private about it, but I think just each other cheering us on. And the kids, once they figured out what we were doing, they're on board and helped out. So the whole family kind of circled the wagon together to tackle this obstacle. How many kids you all got?

Three of them. What ages? Eleven, nine, and six. Ooh, so they all remember all this then. Yep. Yeah, this left a mark. Yes, it did. Hopefully a good one.

Yeah, hopefully they remember and then your family tree is changed. Very good stuff. All right, as I said, we've got a copy of Chris's book for you because we want you to be millionaires now and outrageously generous as you go along. Nick and Connie, St. Paul, Minnesota, $134,000 paid off in 22 months, including the sale of a home, and that put $60,000 towards it. And then they had $100,000 to $140,000 income to work with.

Extra jobs, not going out to eat not even a cup of coffee without it being in the plan count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one this is how it's done right here man oh, oh, man, oh, man. Well done. Well done, well done. Wow. Well, most people don't work with an investing professional because they think the only thing that an investment professional does

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I can't even do that. Don't DIY your investments. What are you doing? What do you think? I mean, you're going to open up your computer and work on it. You're going to open up your car and work on it. Well, don't open up your dadgum investments and work on it. You get somebody in your corner. And in this case, it is a little different than the car and the computer. I don't really need to learn about how to work on those but you need to learn about investing as you do it your investing professional should have the heart of a teacher and you learn from them as you're doing that click smart vestor at daveramsey.com put in your info we'll drop down a list of the smart vestor pros in your area we recommend we're not in the business but we recommend them because they have the heart of a teacher. And they're going to give you good, solid financial advice and help you get those mutual fund investments going,

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Equal Housing Lender 761 Old Hickory Boulevard. Redwood, Tennessee 37027. Our scripture of the day, Psalms 46.1, God is our refuge and strength in ever-present health and trouble. John McCain said, Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence alone. Our nation is less with the passing of John McCain. Good man.

It's fairly easy for me to look at anyone who's in leadership anywhere, but certainly in politics, and find things I disagree with them on. The thing we've lost is the ability to disagree without being disagreeable. I post a simple thing, rest in peace John McCain, courageous, patriot, whatever, something like that on Twitter yesterday, and I got hate about John McCain back, which gave me an excuse to sit and block people on my Sunday afternoon. I didn't have anything else to do. Because if you're so stupid and classless and such a troll that that's what you're going to do, I'll go ahead and block you. It's just sad, you guys.

I mean, I don't agree with hardly anything Barack Obama did. But I don't think he's a horrible man. I don't think he's a bad person. And I'm not going to spew hate at him personally. I can have a disagreement on the substance without that. Same thing with Donald Trump. But my God, you are either for Trump or his right wing nut followers will take you to the woodshed or you're against Trump. I mean, if you're for him, the left wing nut jobs will go after you.

Or if you're for him, if you say anything positive about him at all, you know, people come after you. If you say anything negative about him at all, people come after you. Why can you not just go? You know, there's some there's some things i agree with some things i don't why can you not just do that because we've lost our ability to disagree without being disagreeable and um i don't i don't know whether social media has revealed that or caused it i don't know whether the 24-hour news cycle has revealed that or caused it see when i was a kid there cnn was the very first one to come out and do 24-hour news and we thought nobody's gonna watch the news 24 hours a day it's the dumbest idea ted turner's gonna go broke of course he

made a mint and cnn was the big dog till fox came along and knocked them out. But, I mean, this need to feed, and their websites have gotten where they look like the National Enquirer. Space Alien. Beyonce has Baby of Space Alien is on the Fox website. I mean, it's like, what are you guys putting on? And you open up CNN, and they have the most bizarre stuff like you used to see in the checkout aisle on National Enquirer. And they report it as if it's like real news.

I'm not talking about fake news. I'm just saying it's just bizarre how the lowest common denominator has really come out. I mean, it's the bottom of the barrel. And you don't believe me. Just pick up any article about almost anything. And if you really want to know why some species eat their young, read the comments below the article. It's just some of the dumbest, angriest, craziest people with some of the most ridiculous statements in the world following somebody. Because they have the benefit of anonymity,

and so they have what we call digital courage, which is an oxymoron, by the way. It's you can hide behind your avatar and say anything. If you walked into my lobby and said to my face some of the things some of you said to me on Twitter, it would not go well for you, and you know that. And you know that. You don't have the courage to do it, though Twitter, it would not go well for you, and you know that. And you know that. You don't have the courage to do it, though, so it's not a problem. And, you know, I have like 900,000 followers on Twitter. I have to stop and think.

When I get ready to tweet something, that's like 10 football stadiums full of people. If you wouldn't put it up in front of 10 football stadiums full of people, don't put it on there. That's a pretty good reminder. It's a little bit sobering, actually. Makes me go, I probably shouldn't have said some of the stuff on Twitter I said, but I had a little too much fun messing with some of y'all on there, right? But isn't it interesting, though?

This common denominator of a lack of civility? And it comes out with a guy like McCain. I mean, McCain is, there's no possible way unless you are married to him or one of his kids that you agree with everything the guy said. There's no way. None of his fellow senators agreed with him all the time in either party. But they respected him, most of the better ones and they can say something good about him his character for instance his courage for instance

his service to his country for instance uh does that mean i agree with him on you know obama care no does that mean i agree with him on what you know, Obama care? No. Does that mean I agree with him on what? No. Who cares, though? Who cares? The guy passed away. He's got a family. He's got kids.

Have a little class. It'll do some of us good. I'm just, it's time. It's time we got a little bit of civility back and learned to disagree passionately without being so dadgum disagreeable i'm just i mean including our president you know he could learn that lesson little class wouldn't hurt him you know i agree with a lot of things he's done a lot of them i love the new tax law oh it's fabulous i'm a huge fan but he makes it hard to be excited if you've got any class i mean you know so come on guys all of you in the media my fellow talk radio screechers out there let's have a little class especially when somebody like

this passes away but i mean i tweeted billy graham passing away and got hateful things who hates billy graham i mean what kind of psychopath are you really wow amazing well anyway my soapbox for the day well like though every day is not one okay william is uh in orlando hi william how can i help you today sir hey dave how are you today better than i deserve what's up uh well i'm currently working as a pharmaceutical rep and make about $40,000 a year. Forty? Forty. As a pharmaceutical rep? You must have just started. Yeah, it's an entry-level position.

Yeah, okay, because a lot of those guys make a couple of hundred. Yeah, there's room to grow. Yeah, I think. Okay. All right, cool. How can I help? Yeah, I have about $30,000 in debt, 20 of which are student loans and 10 in a car. I have finished Baby Step 1 and I'm on Baby Step 2. Good.

And with my current budget, I should be debt-free in about two to three years. Mm-hmm. And that's not considering raises or, you know, moving up within the field. Mm-hmm. Okay, so here's where I wanted your advice. Prior to getting this position, I applied to dental school. And I'll be in the next year considering whether or not, you know, when acceptance letters get out, whether or not that's something I'd like to pursue.

And the debt involved is a little bit intimidating. However, the stability of having that scale of a career versus being in sales where there's slightly less stability. It's mythology. There is no career with stability unless you are. And when you are stable, you can build stability in almost any career. You can make as much, maybe even more, as a pharmaceuticals rep than you can as a dentist. The question is, what do you want to do with your life?

And I will tell you this, William, there's not a chance on this planet that I'm going to tell you to go $400,000 in debt to be a dentist. No way. And that's typical dental school right now. For some unknown reason, dental school has outpaced to become an oncologist, for goodness sakes. It's unbelievable what it costs. I pass. Now, if you can pay cash for it or you get somebody to pay for it, we can discuss it. But not a chance I'm putting you that far in debt to do that deal.

I think you've got a great career right in front of you. The question is, what do you want to do with your life? That's the big deal here. Not what's stable. Don't chase stability. That's mythology. Stability is based on you. That puts this hour in 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, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better.

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