The Ramsey Show - App - Drowning in Debt? You Can Take Your Life Back! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 27, 2019

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This is the Dave Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. Sitting in for Dave, I'm Chris Hogan, and I'm excited to be with you, America, and I'm excited to take your calls. Remember, this show is about you and for you, so I want to hear from you. Give us a call to let us know your question that you want to talk about. That number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. And don't forget that you can find us on social as well, at Ramsey Show.

We're here for you, and so we want to hear from you. So I'm going to the phone. I've got Justin on the line in Birmingham, Alabama. Justin, how can I help you, my friend? Hey, sir. Chris, it's great to talk to you. I just got done reading Everyday Millionaires. Me and my wife right now, we're currently in baby step number two,

and I just found out my wife's mother is paying for her student loans but the loans are in my wife's name so I've been trying to tell my wife that we should probably add those to our overall debt and I'm just trying to get a little uh a little mentorship on what we should do okay uh Justin about how much student loan debt is it? On the debt that she has, about $40,000. Okay. And how long has your mother-in-law been paying on this? She's been making the payments. Me and my wife have both been out of college now for four years.

Okay. All right. And so she's been doing this for four years. What has your wife thought about this? It's just my mother promised me that she was going to pay for my school so it's a sensitive subject for sure okay uh but i just want to take it on so that we don't see that bill show up later on down the road okay and tell me a little bit why is it justin you want to take this on and pay it well chris uh me and my wife we've gotten gazelle intense uh since january and i mean we've just been knocking out debts left and right

you know i took your word on the uh six hundred dollar car payment tried to get rid of my truck and did that and i just want to get rid of as much debt as we can absolutely you say you paid off a lot of debt how much debt did you guys pay off? Right now, since February, we paid off $53,000. Wow. Yes, sir. $30,000 of that was my truck, though. Did you sell the truck?

Yes, sir. Boy, I'm proud of you, man. You are on the ball. What's your all's household income? $65,000, sir. How did you... Oh, you aren not messing around so the other twenty three thousand dollars was how much what was that of credit card uh so we had

credit cards uh my wife my wife's credit cards were in collections okay uh so we got those we got those knocked out and then uh taxes uh we've got babies so we're so we now fixed our taxes to where we're not getting as much back, but we still had some from our babies. Okay. Well, in talking about this, do you feel like your mother-in-law is looking at you all a little different because they're making that payment? She thinks we're brainwashed. Oh, she does? What do you mean she thinks you're brainwashed? She thinks we're brainwashed by Dave Ramsey. Oh, bless her heart. Well, she can be wrong.

Okay. It's all right. I like the focus that you all have. And I'm going to tell you this, Justin. The fact that you're wanting to be responsible and take that on, I think it's going to be a matter of you and your wife having a conversation to explain kind of where you are and, you know, really begin to have an understanding. Explain to your wife what your feeling is and what you want to do and why. And it would really depend, you know, your wife and mother and her parents. You know, you don't know what agreement they had prior, but really explain it. And you guys get on the same page and have some level of agreement.

But just realize now, this is not something that's going to happen quick. You guys need to have some discussion on this and make sure you're in 100% agreement. But I like what you are doing, paying off $53,000 in debt since February. That's not an accident. That's being intentional. So I like that. So keep working your baby steps, being focused, and then you guys gain agreement. And if you decide you're going to, then have that conversation with your mother-in-law and walk it through.

And if things are going to stay the same, then have just this clear boundary of understanding. But I think it's really important for you and your wife to be on the same page and talk about this and gain agreement on the steps you're going to take next. Thank you very, very much for the call. I like your focus and I like your intentionality. All right, next up, I've got Nicolette in Atlanta. How can I help you? All right. I am working on building up my emergency savings. And I was wondering about once I get to my six months of my six months fund, would it be well advised to put it into a high yield savings account or into bonds since I'm not supposed to

be touching that money anyway. Well, I would say this, Nicolette, as you're looking with the emergency fund, remember the goal of that is to be a cushion, right? And so I like that you're targeting six months of emergency fund, a money market account or a higher yield savings accounts the way to go. I don't want you to lock it down into bonds or CDs or anything like that because the goal of the emergency fund is to allow you to get to it if you need it. Okay. And so you want to keep it what we call liquid. So a higher yield savings, which is a money market account, would definitely be the route to go. Tell me this, what baby step are you on right now? I'm on baby step three. You're on three. So you paid off. How much debt did you pay off?

I actually have always been debt free. I like that. Who taught you about money? My parents. Very frugal and active about it. And guess what? You also listened, didn't you? I did. And you avoided it like the plague. And that's a great thing. How old are you? I'm 25. 25 years old old so let me ask you this you don't have any debt are you working full-time right now yes okay what's your income 95 000 oh oh you're making good money at a young age how long is it going to take you to have this emergency fund in place um i'm hoping just a few months that's my plan. But just keeping the savings up. Absolutely. And you can do

that. If you're budgeting and being intentional, Nicolette, you can definitely do that in a matter of months at your income. Just remember, you're going to have to play defense. You're going to have to keep your guard up because there's all kinds of crazy out there lurking, trying to get your attention. And so stay resistant to debt.

Stay allergic to it. And if you want something, it's okay to save up, so stay resistant to debt, stay allergic to it. And if you want something, it's okay to save up, right? But I just want you to pay cash. Don't fall for those traps. And it's really important to keep your guard up out there, America, because you know, there's all kinds of stuff lurking around, right? The little ads that pop up when you're searching on the internet or even on your phone and be careful of what you go look at, right? Don't go look at something that might allow you or cause you to bring home a payment we don't want to bring payments home we want to bring money home and when you have a plan and you stick to it it'll allow you to stay

focused and so remember with the emergency fund i also want to mention this once you get yourself out of debt america you get your money back You want to build up a cushion. The emergency fund, the goal of that is to protect you because cars do break down. There are things at the home that have to be fixed. You don't want to have to reach for debt anymore. We're allergic to that. Having that emergency fund will help you. But I want to give you this tip. Remember, whenever you end up using your emergency fund, right? If you have to buy a tire or car or a battery, car battery or anything like that, job number one becomes to replace that money. This is what people forget. They forget to replace the emergency fund. And then you end up having a situation. So make sure, get out of debt, build up your emergency fund savings,

but if you use it, replace it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable affordable biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry, a Better Business Bureau-accred organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35

years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for the big guy, and we're taking your calls. We're here to help you, to help you dive into whatever money question or topic that's on your mind, and I want to hear from you.

Give us a call. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or feel free to send us your question via social media. We are very active on social. You can find us here with The Dave Ramsey Show at Ramsey Show. Excited to be able to have you and talk with you. I wanted to let you know about one of the biggest events that we do throughout the year. It's the Smart Conference.

And this is an event where we bring in a lot of dave's friends uh people that are experts on their topic and it's fantastic it's a full day event we're going to be in sacramento it's actually going to be november 16th in sacramento california and in this event you're going to be educated on all types of topics we're going to be talking about career parenting talking about dealing with money, goal setting, leadership. I mean, it is absolutely a phenomenal event. And so I want you to dig in. We're going to have obviously our team will be there.

You'll hear from Dave. You'll hear from Anthony O'Neill, Ken Coleman, myself. But also we're bringing in some powerhouse friends. You're going to hear from Dr. Les Parrott on the topic of marriage. This man is absolutely an incredible speaker, as well as Dr. Mick Meeker, who will be talking about parenting. And you'll have an opportunity to learn.

And we'll have John O'Leary there, who's absolutely fantastic as well. This is one of our biggest and largest events of the year. You don't want to miss it. It's a great opportunity for you to come. Bring your kids. You can come with your parents.

It's really for everyone. When we're not up on stage speaking, we're actually sitting out there listening and taking notes as well. Again, it's a full-day event. We have fun. There's music. We also do some contests and giveaways. I'm telling you, you want to check it out. So reserve your spot right now by going to DaveRamsey.com or by calling 888-22-PEACE. Again, that's DaveRamsey.com or 888-22-PEACE.

It's a fantastic event, and you don't want to miss it. Okay, I'm going back to the phone. I've got Danelle on the phone from Virginia. How can I help you? Hi, Chris. Thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate it. Yes, ma'am.

So I have a huge mess. I have $300,000 in debt and about $268,000 is student loans. And I have about $26,000 in a car payment. I got a new car when I moved to Virginia and about $9,000 in a personal loan trying to get rid of my credit cards and other things so that I could start on this path of financial freedom or financial peace. But my situation is that I'm a single mom, so I have a four-month-old. And the dad, he's not paying any child support or anything like that. So I'm taking care of him, trying to get my finances in order, trying to tackle debt. So far, I suspended my company matching.

They give 6%. I completely stopped doing that. And I wasn't sure where I should put this money, if I should use it to build an emergency savings or if I should pay off my lowest loans first. Yeah. I'm not really sure. Okay. Yeah. I'm not really sure. Okay. Yeah. Danelle, let me ask you this.

How long have you been battling this debt? Since I graduated from my bachelor's, undergrad. How long ago was that? Like 15 years. Okay. Okay. And you did graduate with your degree? Yes.

I have several degrees. Okay. Okay. How old are you, your degree? Yes, I have several degrees. Okay. How old are you, young lady? I'm 35. 35. And you said you're a single mom. So what's your household income? I make $107. Okay. All right. And so what caused you to want to do something about this debt? I just can't live like this anymore. I feel like I'm living backwards, like I'm drowning.

Like I'm not getting anywhere. I'm not going to be able to provide for my son, teach him a natural responsibility that I never learned when I was younger. So yeah, this is kind of, you know, being a mom definitely propels that. Absolutely, it does. It changes things, and it causes us to kind of really look know, being a mom definitely propels that. Absolutely, it does. It changes things. And it causes us to kind of really look at where we are versus where we want to be. And I'm proud of you for making that decision.

And this is, as you said, this is a lot of debt. I mean, $268,000 in student loan debt. How many degrees do you have? I have maybe four. But it's because I didn't understand the student loan process, where I kept on deferring it, doing forbearance, and the interest kept on accruing. And so that's basically why it's snowballed to this amount. Okay. And then I got my master's recently, but that's something that I got myself, and I had a scholarship and stuff like that.

Okay. So with this, as you're looking at it, are you familiar with the baby steps? Yes. Okay. And so in that process, the reason why we do it that way is we, we know that without a doubt, progress can be made, but we have to follow a plan. It's almost like when you're cooking, you need a recipe. And so for financial freedom, you need a recipe. You've got to know some steps to take. And so maybe step number one is to get $1,000 saved up, Danelle. Okay?

And that's going to be your starter emergency fund. But after you have that, that's fantastic. You want to put that in a money market account or a savings account. Just put it somewhere where it's not within reach and we're earmarking that as emergency funds so if something happens with the car or whatever you you've got money to fix it but baby step two is where you're listing out your debt smallest to biggest and you're throwing every dime at this debt okay and so looking at this your smallest uh student loan is you've got the $9,000

personal loan. So you would break down the student loans and list them in order. And then from there, what you're going to do is begin to work and to focus. And this is, you know, you, you've got, you're making 107,000, $107,000 a year. So you've got a good income, but now it's time to make progress. And now you're going to dig your way out. And it's going to be a process and it's not going to be easy. It's going to require you being very focused. But I hear it in your voice,

becoming a new mom. That little boy, when you look at that baby, you know you want better for your child. Well, the only way as a parent, our child can have better is if we do better. And so you follow in this process. It's not going to be easy. I'm just telling you, it's going to be worthwhile. I'm telling you that you are going to feel a sense of not only responsibility, but like you're taking your life back. You mentioned, you say,

it feels like you're drowning because there's debt, right? I get that. But we have had people dig their way out time after time. And it's going to require being really, really focused. I'm going to send you and gift you Financial Peace University. Financial Peace University is a nine-week course that allows you to really dig in and start to understand this money stuff on a different level. Like, there's a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. Head knowledge means you understand some things. Like we know that debt is not our friend, right? We know this, but inevitably because of our culture, we're marketed to, and we end up falling for the ploy, right? We end up falling for that trick. We're not no more. You're going to have an opportunity to learn and understand budgeting that you're going to tell

your money where to go. You're going to understand about opportunity to learn and understand budgeting, that you're going to tell your money where to go. You're going to understand about attacking debt, about saving and about investing, but also being able to build wealth once you get out of debt so you can give. And it's a game changer, Donnell. I'm telling you, you've got an opportunity with your four-month-old son to work this process and get to a point to where he'll never know that it ever existed because you're going to put yourself on a different playing field. You're going to have opportunities ahead of you. So I want you to buckle down as a single mom. I want you to know I come from a single parent home and I understand what happens when, when, when a single parent gets serious and gets focused and committed, good things happen. And so you've got an opportunity to make an impact, not only on your son, but if your friends and other people around you. So I love that you're making a statement for you and that you're committed and digging into this and going to stay focused. And I'm telling you,

Financial Peace University will give you the tools that you need. You have to supply the energy and the effort. And I know that that's something that you can do. Thank you very, very much. Now, listen, America, if you're out there and you want to get serious about your financial future, Financial Peace University is the course that will help you get there. It's the information that changed the game for me personally. So you can get Financial Peace University by going to DaveRamsey.com and get information about Financial Peace University. Or you can go to my website, ChrisHogan360.com slash FPU. Either way, it's going to get you the information you need, and then you're going to start to take back, right? What's yours, which is your future. And our dreams can motivate us.

Fear will try to prevent us. But guess what? A plan helps you overcome fear. You can do this. I believe in you. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan filling in for Dave, and we have been digging in, taking your calls and your questions about money. And I want to hear from you. I know you've got something on your mind. Maybe you need some guidance. Maybe you want to get some encouragement to be able to move forward to make this year the best year financially you've ever had.

Well, call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or you that's 888-825-5225. Or you can look us up on social at Ramsey Show. I don't know about you, America, but whenever I watch these game shows, I wonder what happens with the winnings. And if you've been tuned in, you've realized there's been a gentleman on Jeopardy that has been just dominating. He's been on the show like 33 times. And get this, he's won over $2.4 million. Okay, this guy is like the Jeopardy champ. And so I thought,

wow, that's a lot of money that he's winning. You know, I wonder how that gets treated. People ask me that. Well, I mean, is that is that money taxed? Absolutely. You better believe it. It's treated like normal income. So he can be taxed up to 37%. But get this. Remember, some states also have state income tax. And so this gentleman lives in Nevada. But because the game was played and filmed in California, he's subject to state tax in California as well. So all in all, he won 2.4 million, which again,

I mean, let's not complain here. He won some money, but uncle Sam is getting their cut. And so he typically, he won 2.4 million. He may end up with 1.2. And so to answer your question,

America, there is no free money, right? Bottom line, spend taxes, a lot in taxes. And so the next time you hear about or see someone on a show winning money, regardless of the show, just know if they win a prize or cash, they're going to have to deal with taxes. And I'm talking about this because it's really important for people to understand you're going to have to be prepared for that. And you need to know that on the front end. So just as a FYI, no, he's not. He's not getting way scot-free with this money.

It's going to have to pay taxes on it. So it's interesting. All right. I'm back to the phones. I've got let's see here. I've got Tony on the line. Tony, how can I help you? How are you doing?

I think you're doing a wonderful job, you and Dave. Well, thank you. My wife passed four months ago. The home is paid for. We didn't realize there was a $50,000 mortgage. Home Equity took it out on the house to open the letter up, and it says we are going to close your house for the home equity.

This is a security home equity loan. It's $50,000. I got to pay $5,000 next month or they're going to take it. I'm not trying to get a reverse mortgage. What I'm trying to do is, I'm asking you for advice. I can't afford a lawyer. I'm asking you, can I negotiate? I could get some money from some

family members to pay them off. Instead of, you know, all of them for seven years, I want to pay them off this year. Family members said they would help me. Is there any way I can negotiate myself and say, hey, I got X amount of dollars. Would you take it? Okay. Well, Tony, first and foremost,

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. That's tough. And on top of that, now you're having to deal with a financial situation. And so with this home equity line of credit that's on the home, you're saying you didn't know about it? Right. Okay. All right. And that makes that tough. Is there another mortgage that you're aware of on this property? No, it's free and clear. Okay. Or so you thought right because this home equity line of credit this is a mortgage okay okay so this is now the if this is the only lien on the property then this is the first mortgage uh which which is a

good thing tony how much is this home worth uh the home is worth 125 120 000 okay all right so 125 000 uh did your wife pay the bills on this uh no it hasn't been paid in a year that's why they tell me i gotta pay five dollars okay all right they told you it hadn't been paid in a year and you're just now hearing from them well she always took care of the millions that the social care. Okay, got you. What is your household income now, Tony? $60,000 a year. All right. Do you have any other

debts right now? No. Okay. So no car loan, no credit card, no personal loan whatsoever? No, I want to pay them off this year. I can get some money from some family members if I can work out with them. Well, hold on a second, because what we don't want to do is to make this tough situation tougher. And, Tony, what I mean by that is borrowing money from family can change relationships, and it can cause tension.

And I don't want you to add that on top of what you're already trying to fix. So here's step one. We're contacting the lender. I want you to go see them today, tomorrow at the latest, and sit down with them and have a conversation. See, right now, Tony, you're just an account number to them with an address and a balance that's now deficient. I need them to meet you and hear you and understand that you are a man that's gone through the loss of a spouse. And now you're trying to clean up a situation that you didn't know about. Now, not knowing is not necessarily the excuse.

OK, we're not trying to make excuses for it. We're just trying to acknowledge and let them see you and hear from you. And I don't want you to duck from them. OK, because it's real easy to try to ignore something. That's a problem. Don't do that. I want you to go see them and I want you to take, sit down with them, ask them for information about this loan and begin to talk with them about what you can afford to pay. Uh, ignoring it, Tony is the wrong route. Okay. That will cause a foreclosure. You've got equity in this property. You say it's worth 125,000.

This loan is only 50,000. So you've got an opportunity to property. You say it's worth $125,000. This loan is only $50,000. So you've got an opportunity to be able to fix this. You've got a good income of $60,000. You don't have any other debt. So this can be fixed. And this is your home. So go see them. Sit down, talk with them. I don't want you to agree to pay something you're not aware that you can pay. Right now, it's just gathering information so they can put a name with an account number number and then you can begin to have some conversation about what's the next step and what you can do. Again, Tony, thank you for your call, my friend. I'm sorry to hear about your loss, but I know you can push through this and fix it. This is your home. And so I want you to reach out and call them today. Go see them today, tomorrow at the absolute latest. Okay. I'm back on the

phone. I've got Cody in Lexington, Kentucky. Cody, how are you? I'm doing good, sir. How are you, Mr. Hogan? Oh, I'm focused and not finished, my friend. How can I help you? So my fiance and I, we're trying to get financially responsible so we can reach that financial freedom mark. Good.

Unfortunately, right now, we're at a household income of, uh, $74,200. Okay. And our total debts are $67,814. Okay, what are those debts? Uh, so those debts are combined $44,260 in student loans, um, $11,256 in hospital bills, and then she has a $12,298 car note. Okay. So what's your question for me? Okay, so here's my question is, I have a car currently, but it's on the outs, and we're

at baby step one. We've got the, we've got the thousand dollars saved and we actually have around $4,200 saved. And I was wondering if I could, you know, if it would be a smart decision to go ahead and take that 35 out of that and get a car that's going to be reliable with us having a child on the way. And then start tackling off some of the smaller hospital bills. Okay. And then second part of the question would be, she wants to go back to school, which is going to add another about $12,000 to our student loan debt. Okay.

Well, here's the deal, Cody. I mean, in looking at this and laying it out, I like the idea of paying cash for a car. Looking at that, that's a good thing. We don't need to add any more payments. You guys said you want to be financially free, so we got to get focused. This going back to school thing, that might be a plan for the future when we can pay cash, but not adding any more student loans. I mean, hello? We've been here. We've seen this movie. No. Yeah, no, not at all. The opportunity is we need to clean up before we add anything else. We're going to pay cash.

So get focused. If you're serious about financial freedom, you've got to make some decisions, right? Don't play around with it. Get serious about it, and you guys get into the front of this situation, and you clean it up. You attack the car. You attack the hospital bills, then the car, then the student loan. See, it's there. It's available for you, but you got to push your way there. Progress doesn't come easy. It's only for the focus. You can do this. This

is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. hello america you are listening to the dave ramsey show i'm chris hogan filling in for dave and we are digging in taking your calls if you've got a question i want to hear from you the number to call is 888-825-5225 again that's that's 888-825-5225. And you can find us on social at Ramsey's show. You can find me at Chris Hogan, three 60. And speaking of social, Bella from Twitter asked me this, Chris, what are your thoughts on adding student loan debt to a mortgage, Bella. No, don't do it. Listen to me. Do not do that. Because what'll happen is, is now you're taking a debt and you're adding it to your largest monetary asset. This is your home we're talking about. Okay. And I know bankers can be good at talking about, Hey, listen, it'll reduce your payment. No, no, no.

We're not falling for it. That's why it's called consolidation. It's a con. We don't want to do this. Leave student loan debt separate. Leave your mortgage separate. And then you're going to attack that smallest to biggest. So please don't do that.

It's the wrong move. OK, it's just it will create more headache and heartache for you later. So leave your student loan debt separate. Good question. I'm glad to answer it. Hopefully I did that in a nice tone. I didn't get too riled up. But don't do that.

Don't take that bait. All right, next up I've got Deirdre on the phone. How are you? I'm good. How are you, Chris? I'm doing well, young lady. How can I help you? So I am currently 19 19 and I just completed my

first year in college. I have $28,000 in student loans already. I have $3,000 in credit card. And my parents recently took a financial university course and it kind of encouraged me to get proactive because we lived a lot of our life in debt and I don't want to do the same. So I just, I've been considering switching to a different college. It would be cheaper and I really do love the college I'm at, but I don't think I can afford to be where I'm at. I just wanted to know where I should start and really get this down. Okay.

You sound a little stressed, Deidre. I'm a lot stressed. Are you a lot stressed? I mean, is it this money stuff? It's definitely the money stuff. I'm trying to work as much as I can, but all I have are minimum wage jobs because I don't have a degree. It's just really frustrating because I don't want to be broke, but I feel like I'm stuck in a place where I continue to be unless I get this degree. Yeah.

What is it you're looking to study? I want to be a school counselor. So I'm in a psychology program currently. Okay. And that's really where I'd like to go. I know where I want to go now. It's just a matter of do I have the money to even get there? No, and you're absolutely right. And

looking at this at 19 years old, let me first of all tell you, you are very mature for your age. Okay. I mean, you're looking at this and you're, you're really starting to think about the future. And I like that. And you're right. It is stressful and it is a little frustrating, but once you start to get clear on some things, can move in that direction so let me ask you this you know what you want to do as being a school counselor how much is it per year at the school you're currently attending with classes it would be about i'm guessing eight thousand just for classes that's not even for living expenses so all right so that's how much it's costing right now if you were just to throw in all the other expenses, how much do you think it is a year to go there?

Probably $20,000. Okay. All right. $28,000 is what I spent with dorm and everything last year. And that's one year? That was one year. Okay. Oh, Deidre.

I know. Listen to me. We're about to do some math right here. That was one year. Oh, Deidre. I know. Listen to me. We're about to do some math right here. If we were to multiply that 28 times 4, it gets us to a big number, doesn't it? Yeah, I don't want to get there. I don't want you to get there either. So you know what we do?

You begin to pivot here. This is a pivot point. This is where you get a chance to kind of move in another direction, and you start to look at things differently. You know why? Because you learned how to count. You see, this is that wake up moment for you where you look and you say, wait a minute, I can go to community college and be able to kind of knock out some prerequisites and do some things and move in a direction. And with an associate's degree and then begin to look at as I'm working full time to be able to pay cash for school. And yeah, it might take you a couple more years.

But guess what? You're not leaving with a hundred thousand dollar plus souvenir in student loan debt. So, yeah, the 28 that you have, that was last year. I get that. OK, and I'm not going to beat you up for anything in the past. But I love that you're awake for the future. And this is where you have that opportunity. So I want you to begin to look at the community colleges, look at the other schools that are

around, because I'm going to tell you, when you're sitting in that office and you're guiding these young people in high school or even in college, they're not going to wonder where you went to school. They're going to want to know that you care and you're going to have an opportunity to be able to guide them. And, and Dietrich, you're going to have an opportunity to be able to guide them and and deidre you're going to have an opportunity to help kids look at this money stuff differently too and i'm going to send you total total money makeover this is dave's number one best-selling book this was the book that changed the game for me and where you are right now is that opportunity and so i want you to begin to search today for community colleges other colleges that aren't going to cost you $28,000 because you don't need to go into $100,000 in debt to do what it is you're wanting to do.

So right now you have an opportunity. You can make a change. And again, look at this. Be serious. Action steps, right? Research colleges today and programs. Get focused and move forward. You can do this.

Thank you for your call, young lady. I'm excited for your future. Next up, I have Rosanna in Washington. Rosanna, how are you? Hi, I'm fine, thank you. How can I help you today? So I have a husband that just put in his retirement paper for his second job, and he'll be retiring in August.

And I was just wondering if we should think about downsizing our house uh because we have probably more um more of our net worth tied up in the house okay how much is the house worth right now i would say it should be about 425 to 450 okay and how much do you owe on it? Nothing. Okay, free and clear? Yes. Oh, do you guys have any other debt? We've never had debt. So we discovered Dave a couple years ago, and then we just chunked at the house and got it paid off in December. Wow, I am proud of you.

So you guys paid off the house in how long? Oh, well, we're old. So, I mean, we've had the house, this house, for about 13 years. Okay. Rosanna, how old are you and your husband? We'll be 59. Okay. First of all, that is not old.

Okay. So, you just stopped that right there. I'm proud of you all. Paid off the home. So, how big is the home? How many square feet would you say? It's about 2,400 square feet on almost an acre. Okay. And it's just the two of you now yes okay so if you were going to downsize tell me this what size house would you go to

uh like 18 17 1800 okay and and and you're fine with this uh so we like the area we're at and we wouldn't be able to get much house if we downsized without moving kind of across the state. Okay, and are you okay moving across the state? It wouldn't be my first choice, no. Okay, and so is the house, I mean, you don't have any other debts. You can afford it. So I think as you're walking through and you're looking, you all are kind of laying out the options. How does your husband feel about moving?

We're both on the same page. We'll do what we need to do to keep all of the numbers straight and make sure that we're doing the right thing. I was just thinking that maybe some of it could be put into the market. Okay. What's your net worth outside of the home? So probably about $450,000 outside of the home. Okay. All right. And is that typical 401ks, IRAs? Yes. Okay. Yeah. And some liquid cash. Okay. All right. How much liquid

cash do you have? About $40. Okay. Is that your emergency fund? And plus. Our emergency fund doesn't need to be that much. Okay. Well, as you're starting to look at this and thinking and brainstorming about moving or downsizing, when you're debt-free, now it just boils down to preference. And so you have to look and you have to think. You know, if you're retiring, where are your friends? What community are you plugged into? And so you all are at a point where you can get to sell the house. You don't have to.

But it's a matter of thinking through it all. And I would even take your time, drive across the state and look at some areas that you're considering. Spend the weekend there, get a feel for it. Is this something you're up for? Is this a new challenge that you want? Because you have it paid off. So you just have property taxes and insurance, right? And if you do move, I only want you to move and pay cash for the next home, right? We're not going backwards. You've worked hard, Rosanna. So you've got to stay focused.

I like how you're walking through this, but we've got to make some decisions. All right, listen, I want to thank James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, the associate producer, and I want to thank you, America, for your calls. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's over, but you can find more great content on our YouTube channel. Catch the most watched Dave Rants, debt-free screams, and the very popular Everyday Millionaire segment.

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