The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Steal from Your Future to Pay for Your Past (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 31, 2019

The show about you

I'm Dave Ramsey, and this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. Sitting in for Dave Ramsey this hour, I'm Ken Coleman, host of the Ken Coleman Show on SiriusXM, and I'm thrilled to be joined in the studio by the best-selling co-author of The Graduate Survival Guide, Anthony O'Neill. So we are here for you this hour. We'll take your calls, your money calls, your teenager, college student calls, Anthony. We'll take your career calls. We're here for you.

It is your show, as Dave says every day, 888-825-5225 is the number, so jump in. 888-825-5225. And we will take your calls. Anthony O'Neill, always good to see you, my friend. Ken Coleman, the host of The Ken Coleman Show. How about that? Man, you are doing some big things, Ken. Thank you, buddy. As are you.

Hey, man, the proximity principle. I love that. Thank you, buddy. I'm teaching young people about that all the time. I really am. I know you are and and i always love when we get together here on the show for you to give me the latest interaction you've had with america's future because you do have the enviable position of being out there with these young people all the time yeah yeah i am man and

you know ken i want to get your thoughts on this because you're the career guy um and right now the world and i mean like a lot of students are asking me how do i feel about these new programs um that okay hey my school is saying okay you won't have to borrow any student loans what we'll do is we'll give you the education for four years up front but then when you get a job when you get into your career field we're going to take a portion of your paycheck for the next few years. And I just, I'm baffled by that, but I'm curious. I want America to know, what does a career expert say about giving away a portion of their income for school?

I think it's an awful idea. Yeah. I think it is just shy of sinister, which is another word for evil. And I'm very opinionated on this for this reason. Because here's what these colleges understand. That the student loan thing is becoming a crisis. It is a full-blown

crisis, and they know it. So they realize, wait a second, we've got to get creative here if we're going to keep kids coming to our schools. They are in danger, Anthony O'Neill, of becoming extinct if they don't figure out the rising cost of college education to the reality of the debt that is required to be able to do it. Now, we know you can do it without debt, but this is the general culture's mindset. So you put all that together, it's a perfect storm.

And so they're getting pretty creative. Somebody's up there going, oh, wait a second. How do we get these kids to still come to school even though they don't want to take a loan out? Oh, I got it. We'll front them the cost of the education and we'll garnish their wages on the back end. And so, Anthony, I think it's an awful thing. Hey, man, America, you heard it from Ken Coleman. I mean, I co-sign on that.

I think it is a horrible idea and uh i mean listen this is why we do what we do here at ramsay solutions and this is why i love what i do because i want to help young people not have to borrow a dime work ahead of the game get scholarships get grants go to community college go to trade school but man yes that's a horrible decision stay away from it and go to Anthony O'Neill's YouTube channel. I'm teaching young people how to raise money,

how to get money to go to school completely debt-free. Yeah, and I want to endorse that real quick. Parents, you're listening, and maybe you know Anthony a little bit. Maybe you know him a lot and you haven't said to your kids. I want to tell you about this guy named Anthony. He's a really cool dude. He's got a YouTube channel. Here's why parents need to send their kids to Anthony's channel.

Number one, if they're going to be on YouTube, and they are, they need to be watching his stuff. Number two, he does it in a way where he's going to hold their attention, and he's going to be able to say things to your kids that they won't listen to you. Now, you should still be saying it, parents. Anthony's not your backup, but the point is, what you're doing on YouTube is really good, dude. I've been watching it. Thank you. Now, you should still be saying it, parents. Yeah. Like, Anthony's not your backup. Right. But the point is, what you're doing on YouTube is really good, dude. I've been watching it. Thank you.

Fun stuff. In fact, the other day, my kids were in the office for about an hour. And my 10-year-old daughter was so disappointed that she couldn't see Anthony, she wrote him a personal note. So, like, you're reaching the 10-year-olds, too, bro. So, like, that's a good thing. And she made my day, man. Yeah, that's fun. Well, they love.

Coolest kid. My kids think that A.O. is, they call you Mr. Anthony because I've told, man. That's fun. They love. Coolest kid. My kids think that AO is, they call you Mr. Anthony because I've told them to. So you probably don't like that. They're the only kids that call you Mr. Anthony. The only ones. But hey. But you understand why. I totally understand why.

Because my kids would be calling you Mr. King. 888-825-5225 is the number to get in to talk to Anthony and I. 888-825-5225. We're going to start it off with Mark, who's on the line in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mark, how can we help? Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call. Hey, I got $110,000 in debt, mortgage and debt, personal debt, and I have $110,000 in my 401K.

I'm thinking about taking it out of there and paying off the debt. What do you guys think? Well, Mark, let me ask this question. How old are you and what's your annual income a month? I'm 62 and annual income a month is probably around take home would probably be around $8,000. And I probably asked that question probably a little confusing. Your annual a year but you're bringing in $8,000 a month and you are

contemplating about taking out taking away from your future which is $110,000 to take care of your present which is for your debt. So this is what I'm going to recommend. If Dave was in the office, he would tell you absolutely not. He would say, go ahead and just work the baby steps, go ahead and just pay off as far as

you're making $8,000 a month, which is hot, way above the average person in America. And so I just want to sit here and just say, baby step number two, go ahead and line up all your debt outside of your mortgage, pay all of that off and stop investing into your 401k. Go ahead and knock out the debt. But until then, I don't want you to invest any more into your 401k. And I definitely do not want you to pull money out of that. I just want you to get aggressive with knocking out your debt right here in the work, the baby steps one, two, and three. But that is a question, you know, Ken, that a lot of people are asking us. Like, hey, I have all this money in my 401k, but I'm stuck in debt.

I want to get out of debt, which I love the fact that they're thinking about getting out of debt. That's right. But I do not want you to rob yourself from your future. That's right. And get all those penalties, get the fees. No, just stop investing and attack debt. Well, he's making plenty of money. Plenty.

Look, at $110,000, the only debt he has is his mortgage. He can knock that out and be in great shape and let that 401k continue to build. $110,000, yeah. He can do that in two years because he said that also includes his mortgage. That's right. So I'm thinking he's probably at about maybe $60K in debt. That's easy money if you go at it very aggressively. Let's go to a question from Twitter.

This is for Anthony O'Neill. Lisa writes in, my daughter is 16, has a part-time job, and has saved $1,000. What should be the first step to secure her financial future? Well, she's doing the first thing. She has a job. Yeah, how about that? And $1,000. And $1,000. Well, she's doing the first thing. She has a job. Yeah. And a thousand bucks. And a thousand dollars.

When the average person in America can, doesn't even have $500 in her savings account to cover a $500 emergency. That's nearly 70% per CNN money. And so she's already ahead of a lot of people who are much older. So her first step, she's already done it. Now, what's her second step? It's to really start thinking about her college future. Where does she want to go? If she keeps this mindset up, she's going to be ahead of the game.

No question. How many times? We're going to go in just a second. I got to ask you, how many times you run into kids that are already starting to invest in mutual funds? Not often. Not often. Not often. But we're starting to see more.

Yeah, that's good. Very exciting. And when a young lady does this, she has that potential. Now we're talking about being a millionaire very early on. And also, knuckleheads will stay away from a tooth because their head is right. Yeah. Mom and dad like to hear that. All right, folks, coming up, more of your calls about your life, your money, your career, your kids.

Tim Coleman. Anthony O'Neill sitting in for Dave Ramsey this hour. Don't move. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. There's nothing smart about smartphones if your wireless plan is blowing your budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees and we never turn off your data. No contracts, no hidden fees.

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You're listening to The Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to talk about life and money. Anthony O'Neill and Ken Coleman sitting in for Dave this hour. We're taking your phone calls. Money, life, career, kids, funding for college, all the things that we talk about here from time to time on The Dave Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Lines are open.

We go to Danita, who's on the line in Birmingham, Alabama. Danita, how can we help? Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I am just trying to get some direction on what I should be concentrating on. I'm 32, and I have two young children, and I'm going through a divorce. And I'm just trying to figure out what I should be concentrating on as far as debt that was accrued during the marriage if I don't have any kind of divorce decree.

I just want to know, should I be paying, should I be paying off debt? What should be my main concern right now. All right, let me ask you a couple questions. What is the combined debt right now? You're not divorced officially, so this is your debt as much as his debt. What is the total? $68,000. Okay, $68,000.

And do you work or are you a stay-at-home mom? Yes, I was a stay-at-home mom, but I've been working for a little over a year now. How much are you making? $63,000. Okay, all right, very good. And what does he make? A lot. Ballpark.

About $200,000. $200,000. Over $200,000. A lot. Ballpark. About two something. Two something. Over 200. All right. And so the divorce is, there's no hope for reconciliation? It's just all but the signatures at this point? Right. Okay.

All right, Anthony. I just wanted to get some of the basics there for you. So, you know, this is going to be interesting. It's kind of interesting to see where this is going to play out. Let me ask another clarifying question. Since everything is done but the signatures where where are the assets how is this being divided child support you know what what's the situation i need to know the rest of your financial situation so we have no assets um there's no house cars anything like that it's basically just up for custody and child support.

This was just in November. That's when I filed. What's the child support payment? Well, he hasn't made it yet. It's, I think, like $3,900. Per month, okay. And is the debt in both of your names, the entire $60,000? What's that?

No, it's in mine. Oh, my gosh. All right. Yeah, that's the problem. He isn't paying it. So the longer the divorce takes, the more it's going to affect my credit because he's not paying any of the debt right now. Okay.

Well, the good news is we have a plan, and Anthony's going to walk you through Dave's baby step plan because it is doable. Yeah. Yeah. And Denita, I want you to know that we are we will be praying for you. I know this is probably a difficult season for you and for your kids. Divorce is the last thing that we will we want to see. But hey, we got to move forward, right? So this is what I want you to do. I want you to really just right now focus on making all of the just the minimum payments right now on your debt. So that way you're not getting yourself in any other issues. The key thing here is to I want you to stop racking up any other debt. So stay away from charging, charging your credit cards.

Go ahead and cut them up. Stop adding more debt onto yourself. We haven't used them in over a year. There you go. But it's just now it's like me being out on my own, I'm having to worry about living. And so I can't, I feel like it's kind of crazy to give my life, you know, my living money to bills that the judge may say, well, Brad, sorry, that's the same. You're responsible for paying it.

And that's what I was going to say. Right now, what I want you to do is just make the minimum payments right now because you make significantly less than what your husband's making. And so I do believe that some of the responsibilities will be put on your husband in the future. But as of right now, I need you to take care of that. And also, you have kids. So this is something new. and so I do believe that some of the responsibilities will be put on your husband in the future but as of right now I need you to take care of that and also you have kids so this is something new so I do want you to go ahead and just make sure that you're able to provide housing shelter food clothes and stuff like that make sure that you are taking care of that and then I want you to

start to baby steps with Dave make sure you go ahead and have a $1,000 emergency fund and make sure you go ahead and start knocking out your debt minimum and then get your three to six months of expenses set aside. But as of right now, I want you to focus on your shelter, your food, your clothing, and just making the minimum

payments and fight. Say, hey, Judge, this is something we racked together. I have the kids. I need him to take care of the debt. Danina, have you taken Financial Peace University? I have. And I was actually signing up to lead like a single mom's one in my church.

Well, thank you for doing that. And do you have Dave's Total Money Makeover book? I do. Okay. All right. Well, I was going to give you both of those, but here's the good Money Makeover book? I do. Okay. All right. Well, I was going to give you both of those, but here's the good news. You know what to do. And, you know, look, we're not going to give you any legal advice.

I think Anthony's right. Here's the reality. Those debts are in your name, so do the minimum right now. I wouldn't be opposed to you calling those creditors, explaining the situation. Absolutely, yeah. And let's see what the judge does, but you don't want to put yourself in a hole, and you want to do what you have to do because your name's on it until that gets decided. So we appreciate you.

And, wow, here she is in a very tough situation, and she's still thinking about leading a financial peace university class for single moms. And what a heroine she is. And here's the deal. You can do this, David. You can do this. It's tough tough right now but it will get better you take care of you and those little ones and hopefully this guy will wake up and and do the right thing if not maybe the judge will make him do it i mean i i believe so i believe the judge will see clearly he's making over 200 she's making

60 with other kids this is a debt that you all accumulated together. Hey, husband, ex-husband, you need to step up. That's the truth. 888-825-5225 is the number. Ken Coleman, Anthony O'Neill sitting in this hour for Dave Ramsey. We're going to go to Nick now, who's on the line in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nick, how can we help? Yes. I'm trying to sell my house, and I plan on making about $46K in equity when I sell it and then buy another home.

And I have about $20,000 in total debt other than the mortgage. I was wondering if I should use that to pay off the debt and then use the rest for a down. Nick, so right now you're on babysat number two, it sounds like, with you still being in debt, correctly? Yeah, I'm still trying to get rid of the debt, and I've just been turned on to what you guys are doing, and I'm trying to figure out how to do it, and I think this is an easy way to just immediately get rid of the debt that I have now.

If you sell the house, Nick, just a point of clarification. If you sell the house now, which is going to give you $46,000 in equity, where are you going to live? What are you going to do next? Well, I'm going to buy another home, and I'm going to plan on using whatever is left over from the debt for a down payment. Okay. Well, we have a plan about down payments, and anything I'll let you take over with that.

Yeah, Nick, I love the fact that you're going to sell this home and get equity. And with you saying that you're new to our system, here's the thing I want you to focus on. I want you to go ahead and pay off all of your debt with that, okay? This is where I think you may not like me at. I'm not going to encourage you to go out and buy another house. What I want you to do is to set aside three months of your expenses. Then I want you to set aside another 10% to put down towards a home because we want you to have a PMI free mortgage, which this is, I want you to avoid the private mortgage insurance company, not company, but private mortgage insurance. Okay. So I want you to go ahead and pay off all your debt.

Are you single, married right now? No, I'm dating, and we've been dating for seven years. Okay. We're going on it together. I own this home myself, but then she would be on the next one. Yeah. So she's going to help you pay off the debt? Well, no.

I mean, the ex-wife is going to pay it off. Yeah, you said you were in this together. Well, here. I mean, the equity is going to pay it off. Yeah, you said you were in this together. But here's my point. You said you guys are in this together. If you hold off on buying a home until you have 20% down minimum, that's what Anthony's telling you. Okay. Okay, now you've got $20,000 left over or so after you pay off the – you have $26,000 left. Okay.

And so what he's saying is get it to that 20%. But if you guys are going to close the deal and live together or marry, whatever the deal is, you're doing this together, well then save it up, buddy. Save it together. You're going to get there at a 20% down payment, Anthony, pretty quick. Here's the thing. They need a foundation, especially going into a

marriage. They don't need a home. They need a savings account. They need a foundation. So I would save that, then go towards that 20% to get a home down the road. There it is. 888-825-5225. Don't move. More of the Dave Ramsey Show right around the corner. You know what I've learned after talking to so many people who have been victims of ID theft? They feel violated and they have a sense of fear and intrusion. It can be overwhelming. It's scary and infuriating at the same time.

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We are thrilled to be here for you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. You've got a question? We'll talk about what you need answers to. Is it a life question, a child question, a college funding question? Is it a career question, money question? We'll take them. 888-825-

5225. We go to Logan, who's on the line in Wilmington, North Carolina. Logan, how can we help? Yeah, I have seven, so I'm still living with my parents right now. I am turning 17 this coming April, and I

have 17 and a half more months left in the house. And I was wondering, because we got a new year starting, if I should start a lawn, if it would be financially smart for me to start a lawn care business. Right now, me and my dad are currently doing hurricane cleanup work. So, we have, it's not a real steady job, but I want to know if it'd be wise for me to try and start lawn care for a year and then be able to get an apartment. I'm going to be going up north to Indiana for schooling. Okay. That's good. That's good, Logan.

What are you going to do for schooling? What school are you going to do for schooling or what what school are you going to i'm going to uh it's a program for sia subaru the subaru plant in indiana they'll um two years there and i'll get a mechanics degree okay okay well i like it i i mean i'm loving the route that you're going, and I like your mindset. I definitely want to call out the fact that you know exactly when you're leaving the house. You said 17 and a half months. I get the sense there might be a calendar on his wall, and he's just checking off the days. He's ready to get out on his own, man.

I'm not mad at you, man. But, hey, I love the philosophy, and I love what you're thinking right now as far as in getting – starting a business. Myself, our team here, we've had the opportunity to create a product called the Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox Kit where we're teaching teenagers to do what you want to do. And so to answer your question, yes, you have less than two years left there. Starting a business as far as in cutting grass, that's good money. One of the kids that I mentor that's in a teen entrepreneur toolbox kit, he's cutting grass and making nearly $30,000 a year. That's real money. And it's real money there. So, Logan, that's a great idea.

But then I also want you to start looking into okay if i start this business here is this something that i can take down the road and then also when you start making that money logan i want you to go on ahead and start saving that money to go towards your schooling because i do not want you to borrow a dime to go to school you're already a brilliant young man keep that mindset work hard get as much money as you can here so that way when you get off to school you are completely debt free and you're already an entrepreneur man your your future is so bright again uh you know what i like about this young man anthony is that he's going to essentially a trade school yes a two-year program to put him immediately into the workforce to do what he wants

to do hey logan real quick i'd like our audience to hear your process. How did you choose this particular school, and then what's the ultimate goal? I understand you're not quite 17 yet, but you know why you're going here, and you know where it's going to put you. Were your parents supportive of this instead of the four-year college? Just tell me your quick situation. My grandmother used to work at that Subaru plant. She gave tours of it, and so she was telling me one day, handed me a flyer and said, if I go work for Subaru in their factory

for a couple years, then they will pay for my schooling to get a mechanics degree. And I really want to go in the Marine Corps, but I also don't want and i really want to go into marine corps but i also don't want to i want to be financially smart when i go into the marine corps so i want to have a degree or some education because they will pay more for that education yeah now how much are they going to pay how much will subaru pay um i don't know yet how much super is going to pay for my schooling but well i'm working on that i'm gonna tell you something young man i applaud you and i asked that question anthony knows where i'm going yeah i'm trying to get some parents that are listening right now to start thinking a little bit differently yeah we have this cultural pressure in america

that says johnny and suzy yeah have got to go to college yeah in order to be successful and there is a pressure that parents put on themselves and then anthony you know that you're talking to these kids all the time yeah and this is a young man who's going all right i can go and work in this plant where my grandmother works she told me about this and i can make a lot of money and almost pay for my college, pay for a large part of it. They're going to pay for it. And he's getting paid, too, which means this young man is going to pay cash for college. And then he's going to have a degree with no debt.

And then he's going to go serve our country. And he's going to be in a fantastic financial situation. And so here's the thing. He's not a deadbeat. Nope. He's just delaying college for a couple years to do it the right way. And he's still going to be ahead of all the other kids who went to college right out of high school, and they're going to be behind the eight ball.

Here's the thing, Kent. You said it nice. America, listen to us. Your son or daughter does not have to go to a four-year school to be successful now if they are going there that is great make sure that there is paid for they're not racking up any debt but there's nothing wrong with going to a community college going to a trade school and he just showed us that hey i'm gonna go this route and here's the thing ken when he gets into the service he's going in as an officer.

That's right. And he's going to make more money. He's going to be smart. Because he's going to be a millionaire. He's going to be a millionaire. Oh, yeah. What a great kid. I'm jealous of this kid.

Let's go to Thomas, who's on the line in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thomas, how can we help? Hello, gentlemen. Pleasure to speak with you guys. How are you guys doing? Great. How can we help today uh well i actually just have a quick question uh about the career steps that my

wife and i are going through right now i'm 30 years old my wife's 26 and a couple years ago i landed my career dream job which is firefighter em, and I'm slowly making my way up the ladder. We're on baby step two. We have two daughters. One's four, one's two, and right now my wife and I are both in school. So we're a little, as you can probably tell, we're just a little anxious and want to get out of debt as quick as possible. We got about a total of $14,705 left to pay off. We're hoping by January through March, depending on what steps we take as far as getting out of debt quicker, we should

hopefully be debt-free by the mortgage next year. And my specific question, sorry about that, is should I slow my process in my degree field to pick up a second job? My wife is in the nursing program and working, and I'm working full-time and also in school full-time. And you're saying should you slow down what, your debt payments? Is that what you said? No, slow down as far as my goal is to get my bachelor's degree, and I'm almost done with my associates.

What would slowing down? I'm really not going to get a huge pay jump. Sure. So what would slowing down, why would you decide to do that? What would be the big advantage, slowing down your bachelor's degree, pursuing that? Well. More time to work and make more money?

Yeah, more time. Could allow more time as far as a part-time job. One, to pay, you know, child care right now is a little bit of an expense that we stretch out from time to time, month to month, and we have it budgeted, so it's not a problem. But sometimes when, since I'm on a shift schedule, different months of the different year, or different months, we pay much more than other months. Gotcha. Well, here's what I would say.

I think that you're okay staying with either course, meaning you stay where you're at, and you're going to pay this thing off in a year from now. You guys are going to be debt-free, a young couple. Your wife's going to get paid well as a nurse. But I'm fine with you pressing pause on the schooling, taking the time you're putting into studying and going to classes and get that side hustle just to make extra money to shrink that debt payoff date way down.

I'm fine with that because then you can always pick up and get the schooling done. So I love that plan. And here's the thing, Thomas. If you are borrowing money or taking out student loans right now to go to school, I'm saying stop. Stop borrowing money. Get the side hustle. Get out of debt.

And then come back for it. I love it. And boy, here's another young couple in fantastic position for their future. 30 and 26. That's amazing. 888-825-5225 is the number for you to call in. America, one more segment to go in this hour. Don't move.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This is the Dave Ramsey Show where we talk about your life and your money one caller at a time. I am Ken Coleman, sitting in for Dave Ramsey this hour. I'm joined in studio by Anthony O'Neill, fellow Ramsey personality and the best-selling co-author

of The Graduate Survival Guide and also one half of a dynamic duo, if I might. Yeah. Borrow a phrase that's been used for Batman and Robin. Yeah. This is much more effective. Yeah.

This is you and Dr. Meg Meeker, who's a longtime friend of the Dave Ramsey Show. You two are putting together an event called Smart Parent. We've got two dates in Minneapolis, May the 14th. Hopefully, it's thought out by then. And then we've got Sacramento on May the 21st. DaveRamsey.com slash events to get tickets. But tell us, what are you and Dr. Meg Meeker going to be doing at this new event?

Man, you know, we're really going to help parents walk away with understanding a deeper, deeper, much deeper understanding of what their kids actually need and how parents are actually closer than what they think because some parents i think sometimes judge themselves or say hey am i being a successful parent am i doing this right or man i'm letting down my kids when the truth is parenting is difficult. You know, parenting is different. And I don't have any kids. You do.

Amen. That's why I was laughing. But, you know, I've done 14 years dealing with kids of all ages from middle school, high school and college. And you have Dr. Meg, who's been a doctor in helping parents. And so we say, you know, let's come together and combine both of our visions and both of our expertise and help parents really connect with their kids in this event. And man, it's it's booming right now and we're excited. And so May 14th will be in Minneapolis.

May 21st will be in Sacramento. And I would love if you are in those cities and you have any age kid, from college kid all the way down, from newborn all the way up, and you want to get some good practical steps on what you could do to be a greater parent, a better parent, join us. It's a big deal.

DaveRamsey.com slash events. DaveRamsey.com slash events. You'll see all of our events laid out, but you're looking for Smart Parent with Dr. Meg Meeker and her very own Anthony O'Neill. So check it out. DaveRamsey.com slash events. 888-825-5225 is the number. That's 888-825-5225. And we're going to go to Heather, who's on the line at Charleston, South Carolina. Heather, how's on the line at Charleston, South Carolina. Heather, how can we help?

Hey there. So, full disclosure, I just started listening to the program. Oh, great. Thank you. Yeah. So I haven't gone through any of the steps. Well, we are going to be nice, and we're going to help you out. So don't you worry about it.

All right. Great. Be nice, and we're going to help you out, so don't you worry about it. All right, great. So I have two kids, a freshman and a senior, in high school. My freshman is a total entrepreneur, and I wrote down the teen entrepreneur to figure that out for her. So she may or may not go down the college path, and she's got great grades. But my son, who's the senior um is applying for colleges he has just excelled exponentially in high school and has fantastic grades and is in a position to um apply to a fantastic school um Dartmouth it's in New Hampshire we're down in South Carolina and um it's kind of just all taking us by surprise, the tolls, applying for college and things.

We had set aside a nice budget, what I thought was a nice budget for college, $20,000 a year for four years. And we are now finding out that, you know, the school that he wants to apply to, as many others are, are ridiculous. It's like $70,000 a year. And so we've done the FAFSA, which is the financial aid program that you do. And then now I'm looking to apply for different grants and scholarships and things like that. But I'm trying to figure out what to do if he doesn't get all the money that he needs to. And, you know, he's worked so hard to get to this one program. I don't think it's the only career path for kids. But for him, he's worked so hard.

If he gets into the school, I want to be able to, we, my husband and I, want to be able to support him. Let me ask you a question. I'm going to turn it over to anthony but i gotta ask you is the program he wants to get into it's only available at dartmouth um that's a good question i don't think that's the case in state right um there's another program that's available um also in another state they're both they're all kind of comparable. It's all like this.

What is the program? Real quick, tell us what the program is. It's climate change and environmental studies, but specifically more climate change, which he's been passionate about forever. Well, here's the thing, Heather, and I want to commend you on being an excellent mother. I hear your passion behind being excited for your son, accomplishing and excelling. And you want to help his dreams become his reality.

And that is amazing. But what I also want you to do, I want you to not only help his dreams become reality, but make sure that you also make sure that his dreams doesn't hinder his future as well as far as him put a damper into it and and even with you all so seventy thousand dollars a year is a lot of money and i get it he wants to go off to the school can and and and do this and i have no problem with that but here's my thing if you don't have all the resources right now you can afford twenty thousand dollars based upon what she said I'm going to say son hey we're going to get you there but up front right now instead of for us spending seventy thousand we're going to send you to a community college knock out your prereqs the first two years and we're

going to spend about maybe five to seven grand for that year we're going to pocket the other money that we're going to be setting aside we're going to apply for more grants we're going to spend about maybe five to seven grand for that year. We're going to pocket the other money that we're going to be setting aside. We're going to apply for more grants. We're going to get more scholarships. You're going to get a job. So that way, by the end of this, these two years, we can now transfer into this program that you really desire to. And we now have all of the funds. What I don't want to see America is that parents and the kids are stressing to go to a program and you can't afford

it and i what i want you to do is step back assess the situation the first two years he's not going to jump into a lot of the major stuff he has to do pre-reqs she has to do pre-reqs nothing wrong with going to a community college and no one's no one no one's never going to ask where did you start they're going to ask you did you finish the program yeah i think you make a very good point here and i want to say this very very kindly here because i understand what she's saying but she's essentially going he's worked so hard yeah he's done such a great job we would we just want to go into debt to help him out and that's essentially what she's saying and i appreciate that i really do as a parent. But here's the other thing.

I talk to people every day about their careers. And here's what I found out, Anthony. I understand that that particular environmental program, that's a very specialized program based on what I heard. Yeah. And it's only available in some of these out-of-state schools. Right. But you gave them a great strategy to pay full price for Dartmouth or another state school, outside the state school, that may not be as much.

I also want to point out that let's just sit down with the young man and help him with some maturity to look 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Where do you ultimately want to end up, son? Okay, now let's look at that. I will almost guarantee you there are at least a couple other paths to end up there that do not require you to go to a school that is going to charge you over $280,000 in four years. Because Dartmouth is a very, obviously, impressive school,

great credentials, it's impressive, that degree from Dartmouth. But here's what we know, Anthony. I've heard you and Dave talk about that there is statistical evidence that says that an Ivy League school or the super fancy school does not end up helping you make more money across the board. So I would at least, before you make a decision, let's see where he wants to end up. And then we say, all right, what are the ultimate paths? What if he goes to a state school that they actually can pay cash for? Because they got $20,000 a year right

now set aside for this young man. Great parents. Great parents. Hey go get the degree buster and we're going to help you get internships. We're going to connect you to people. You can take entry level work and get in the field you want to and go get those qualifications later when you're actually making money. Come on. I just got to say that parents.

That's good Ken. You got to look at, parents. Yeah, that's good, Ken. You got to look at, hey, where do we ultimately want to end up and what are the different paths to get there? And, you know, when you do that, you can still help Junior get where he wants to go and you don't have to go in debt to help him. Yes, man. That's, man, you're preaching right there, man. On the Dave Ramsey show, Ken Coleman is preaching. I had to.

I got an offering for you. There is more than one way and it does not require an Ivy League degree that comes with a mountain of debt for mom and dad. And you know what? Before we go, I got to say this, man. I'm not a fan of Ivy League schools. I'm a fan of debt-free schools. Oh boy, I like it.

Now Anthony's stepping on the toes. Come on. Hey man, good to be with you. Hey, Ken Coleman, America. Love y'all. I want to thank our producer James Childs and our associate producer Kelly Daniel and most of all you, America. Good to be with you. Hey, Ken Cole. America. Love y'all. I want to thank our producer, James Childs, and our associate producer, Kelly Daniel, and most of all, you, America. Thank you for listening. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.

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