The Ramsey Show - App - Have a Vision If You Want to Be Successful (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 22, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions Broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kara is with us in Texas to start off this hour. Hey, Kara, how are you?
Starting point is 00:01:00 Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Of course. I had to get that in. I am hoping that you'll be able to settle, I guess, two paths that my boyfriend and I are heading down on. We are just finishing up over a year-long custody battle over his son, resulting in over $100,000 in legal fees.
Starting point is 00:01:22 Over how much? $100,000. $100,000 in a fees. We did whatever we could do. Over how much? $100,000. $100,000 in a custody battle. Yes, sir. But we did everything that we could to get to the other side of it. Obviously, the most important thing is being able to be there for his son and keeping our family together. We just were notified that his ex-wife is planning to relocate to their home state,
Starting point is 00:01:44 which she is allowed to do. But of course, that kind of throws a kink in us being able to continue down our baby steps. We are currently on baby step two. My boyfriend has figured out that we've got about $30,000 that we would need to pay to be able to get our DGI to the right point that we could buy another home after we sell the one that we have now. If we should move as expected, we're going to be able to get our DTI to the right point that we could buy another home after we sell the one that we have now. If we should move as is expected that we're going to be able to do. I think that we need to pause on the baby steps in order to save up for everything that would be required for that move and as well as to get everything in line legally
Starting point is 00:02:19 just to make sure that we have everything taken care of to decrease conflict moving forward. And I'm just wondering where you would think that we should go from that. So you're moving to follow her and the kid? Correct. Every time she moves? Well, I mean, so there's some restrictions there. So you lost the custody battle? We didn't, actually. No, we didn't. Well, who's, so there's some restrictions there. So you lost the custody battle? We didn't, actually.
Starting point is 00:02:46 No, we didn't. Well, who's got the kid? We both do. So it's shared custody, but basically they had moved here whenever they were married for his job, so they always had this agreement that if she wanted to go home, she could go home, which I think is fair. You know, she wanted to move back to their family, and that is his hometown as well. So we would be moving closer to family,
Starting point is 00:03:06 but it's just several states away from where we are now. Okay. And if she were to go and we didn't follow, then obviously that would change everything for custody. Well, it would make it very inconvenient to have shared custody. Yeah, correct. And all of this is after you spend $100,000 to get joint custody? Correct.
Starting point is 00:03:34 Bizarre. So what does your boyfriend make? He takes home about $95,000. And what do you make? I take home $50,000. Okay. And you understand you make? I take home $50,000. Okay. And you understand legally there is no we? Well, I do understand that, but that's...
Starting point is 00:03:51 Legally, no, I don't care how you feel. I don't care about your romance. Legally, you have a boyfriend that has $100,000 in debt and is following his ex-wife so that he can be near his child, and he makes $95,000 a year. Well, and it's not just his debt. It's things that I've taken on as well. There are things that independently are mine as a result of all of this.
Starting point is 00:04:18 So you borrowed money to pay his legal bills? Yeah. Okay. And when is it you're getting married? I mean, I guess it's sort of, you and my mom could have a conversation about that. It's somewhere out in the future. This is something that I have. You're in a very precarious and dangerous situation, young lady.
Starting point is 00:04:44 No, you are. I'm not joking around. I'm not being funny. I mean, you really are in a mess because you've taken on all of this and you have zero protections to make sure that, you know, if something happens to this relationship, that you're not strung out to dry with these bills and offer someone else's child that you're not strung out to dry with these bills and offer someone else's child that you're not married to.
Starting point is 00:05:09 And so the benefit of marriage for you is multiplied legal and relational benefits. So you do whatever you want to do. I am duty-bound to answer questions on this show because people call and ask me what I would do, and that's what you're asking me, what I would do. And so if you were my niece, and you probably are that age, and so I'm Uncle Dave, and you asked me and we weren't on the radio in front of a whole bunch of people, I would tell you to get married or don't move because you're going to get your, you are setting yourself up for all kinds of problems here. And I'm worried about you and I care about you.
Starting point is 00:06:00 And I know you think nothing will ever go wrong with this young man, but that's what his first wife thought too and so you know you I'm not saying he's a bad guy but things happen in life and relationships end sometimes and so you are in a very very dangerous position and you're walking around with your head in the clouds acting like romance covers all this and it just doesn't and I'm scared for you i'm not trying to be mean to you i'm just worried about you and so um no i would not save up your money for him to move to be with his kid
Starting point is 00:06:39 now if you're if your husband wants to be near his child from another marriage, then that's a different discussion. And the call you're making is perfectly reasonable. And so I would not move to another state with this man if I were in your shoes. And that would be my advice to my niece. Now, you're not going to follow that advice. I know that. But I'm also not going to tell you, because I care about you, to do something that I don't think is best for you. And I'm worried about you.
Starting point is 00:07:09 I think you're in a bigger mess than you think you are. And so that's what I would tell you. And then once you've discovered that and you've settled that issue, and it's not me and your mama ragging on you, that's not the point. The point is we're worried about you and we care about you. And so once you settle that, if you're married, then, yeah, your husband's got $100,000. You and your new husband have $100,000 in legal bills from a custody battle he had on a kid you care about and he cares about. And it's the child of your husband's first marriage, and that's fine. And that's a normal process that people go through.
Starting point is 00:07:43 And now you've got to work your way out of this mess. But, yeah, you'd save up a few dollars and you'd make the move. And then you would begin to attack your debts. But you've got to have the money to make the move if you're going to make the move as a couple. But right now you're not a couple in the law's eyes. And so you're in a precarious, precarious situation. I hope you don't think I'm being unkind to you because it's not my goal. I'm just worried about you, kiddo.
Starting point is 00:08:08 And I don't want to take the call from you three years from now and this story went sideways on you and you're in a mess. I don't want that for you. Because I get those calls too in the last 30 years. Lots of them. That's the problem with this show it's my opinion and i'm an expert on my opinion this is the dave ramsey show Folks, let's cut through the bull. Interest rates are exceptionally low, so you're missing out if you have not called Churchill Mortgage to see if you can save money on your home loan.
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Starting point is 00:09:40 Go to ChurchillMortgage.com. Do it today while rates are low. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. number one cause of divorce in north america today money fights money problems no surprise and lots of folks are struggling with this how to get on the same page with money
Starting point is 00:10:28 and they need someone to help them guide them like how to get on a budget and did you know if you walk somebody through financial peace university you very likely if they're married will change their marriage in the process. If you're a coordinator for a financial peace university, you are going to see marriages heal during that nine weeks right before your eyes. It's actually pretty amazing. The first time or two it happened to me when I started teaching this stuff 25 years ago, somebody would say, you changed my marriage. And I'm like, I was talking about mutual funds.
Starting point is 00:11:01 How did that change your marriage? I didn't understand. They're like, did you go to the wrong class? I mean, the sex class is down the hall. You went to the wrong one, you know? And they're like, no, man. I mean, we learned to work together because we forced everybody to get on the same page, and we forced everybody to be in the same checkbook,
Starting point is 00:11:15 and we forced everybody to agree on their budget as a practical matter because that's the best way to build wealth. And in the process, we actually forced them to come into agreement, which was amazing. amazing so as a coordinator you're going to not only show people how to pay off debt and how to build an emergency fund and how to become wealthy and how to get their hope back but you're also going to get to watch marriages be healed if you want to do that we need some help with some financial peace coordinators right now lots of them as a matter of fact if you're interested in becoming a coordinator you do not have to have financial training it's leading a class that i teach hogan and rachel teaches anthony teaches by video and so pretty
Starting point is 00:12:00 simple to do but you just got to care about people and want to have a front-row seat to life changed, to lives being changed. So to get started, text LEADFPU to 33789. That's LEADFPU to 33789. Amy's with us in Michigan. Hey, Amy, how are you? Hi, Dave. I'm doing well. Thank you for taking my call.
Starting point is 00:12:24 Sure. What's up? Yes. My question is, should I sell my current home and buy a new home? And the reason I would like to sell my current home is I would like more bedrooms and bathrooms in a house. And then I also would like a better school district and a better area. But I currently do have a little bit of debt and I do not have very much money. So I currently have about $8,000 in debt, $5,000 of that being medical debt and $3,000 I owe to my mom. You're single? I am single. How many kids do you have? I have three children. Okay. And you're divorced or widowed?
Starting point is 00:13:06 I, neither. Yeah, I've never been married. Okay, all right. And what is your income? My income is $80,000. Okay, all right, good. What do you do? I am a writer, actually. You're doing really well.
Starting point is 00:13:24 Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you you a lot of people that say writer means broke you're doing real good thank you um well uh no i would get you out of debt and build your emergency fund before you upgrade it on house and then i'd start saving towards an upgrade on the house how much would you be moving up in house price? I would be moving up probably about $70,000. But that's the thing is I feel like most of my money is tied up in my current home equity because my home is worth almost $200,000 and I only owe about $20,000. Wow, that's wonderful.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Yeah, so I feel like if I just... How old are your children? Two and two and then five. Wow, okay. So they're not in school yet. You want to get there before the school district change matters. Right. Well, my five-year-old's in kindergarten.
Starting point is 00:14:17 Okay, okay. And, all right. Yeah, I would roll up my sleeves, buckle down on the budget, knock out the $8,000, make sure I had an emergency fund. And then when you move, make sure, you know, that you don't take on more than a $90,000 mortgage. Okay. Because that's 70 plus 20, right? You said you're going to move up 70.
Starting point is 00:14:37 You currently owe 20. Right, exactly. So, I mean, if you're going to take out less than a $100,000 mortgage or $100,000 or less mortgage and put it on a 15-year fixed rate, you make $80,000 and you don't have any debt except that, and you have an emergency fund, you're in pretty good shape. And you ought to be able to be there in a year. Okay. I mean, $8,000 in a year, making $80,000, that's doable. Right, definitely. So, you would not recommend just selling selling my current you wouldn't recommend like
Starting point is 00:15:06 a bridge loan basically new bridge loan means two payments when you're when your current house doesn't sell your stock okay yeah no you're gonna get yourself in a mess there that's just impatience um okay now the other thing you could do if you want to i i wouldn't do it but um you could just sell it and move and rent for a year in the in the other school in the other school district okay and you you know pay off all your debts well you wouldn't take your year then you just use some of the money pay off your debts and have your emergency fund reduce the amount that you put as a down payment, now you're going to end up with a little bit more than a $100,000 mortgage.
Starting point is 00:15:48 You could do that. That would be fine. Okay. Yeah, that would work. You don't even have to rent. You could just sell it and move. But you need to fund an emergency fund and be debt-free when you move into the other thing. So that's an emergency fund plus $8,000 swing in the numbers we were talking about.
Starting point is 00:16:05 Right. So you don't suggest for people to just sell their house and then get their emergency funds for the equity and pay off their debts for the equity. Well, that would be okay if you do that. But what that means is you're taking on more than a $90,000 mortgage by $8,000 plus your emergency fund, right? So let's say your emergency fund is $20,000. We just added 28 thousand to your 90,000 equation you moved up 70 you have a 20 mortgage right that's 90 right and then if you pay off the eight that's 98 plus 20 right so so you know right we've added 28 to the
Starting point is 00:16:40 equation it's not the end of the world you're going going to owe $120,000 on an almost $300,000 house and you make $80,000. You're still in great shape. Yeah, you could go ahead and do that. The trick is make sure you get yourself on a budget and you don't wander into these debts again. You're kind of cleaning them up with the lotto win here, right? Instead of cleaning them up with the lotto win here, right? Right. Instead of facing the person in the mirror who made the mess and having to deal with that person,
Starting point is 00:17:14 you're getting like you hit free parking or something. Right, yeah. So commit to yourself to never go back by being on a budget and then is a hundred and twenty thousand dollar mortgage on a three hundred thousand dollar property for a lady making eighty thousand dollars unreasonable no and that's about where we are right it's not unreasonable at all but just warn your beat you know be forewarned that you want to address the the habits that cause you to not have an emergency fund making the money you make, and yet you've done very well somehow paying this mortgage down. Very good job. Great job. Open phones at 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:17:57 Next up is California. William is with us. Hey, William, how are you? Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so I'm an active duty Navy sailor working out of Riverside, California, and I'm preparing to get ready into being married to the love of my life who I met through church.
Starting point is 00:18:18 We're now recently engaged and we're just in the planning stages, but there's a lot that I'm kind of dragging into this thing. Now, she there's a lot that I'm kind of dragging into this thing. Now she is absolutely a blessing when it comes to financially stability because she's been able to save up in the past. And I'm walking into this thing with $28,000 in credit card debt, where that puts it at $656 per month. But I also in February,ary 2018 i decided to succumb to what you talk about where people just have to have a house and so february 2018 i purchased a home in california and pulled a loan of 412 000 through the va with no down payment and now the what is your household income going to be? So after taxes, I pull $5,312.32, which puts it at just above. Yeah, it sounds like you got a house you can't afford to make, brother, unless she's a doctor.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Yeah, you're in some deep cotton there. I don't know if you can keep the house or not, but I tell you what we'll do. I appreciate your service. We'll put the two of you through Financial Peace University as our gift for your wedding, and that'll help you make the decisions on LinkedIn Jobs, you are missing out. Our Ramsey Solutions Company page on LinkedIn has over 100,000 followers. That's over 100,000 potential like-minded people our team communicates our current openings to. We also post on LinkedIn Jobs because we know the right person will have an impact on our company for
Starting point is 00:20:13 years to come, and LinkedIn Jobs matches the right person with the right job. It's no wonder a hire is made every eight seconds on LinkedIn, and over 600 million members visit LinkedIn to make connections, learn and grow as professionals and discover new job opportunities. In fact, LinkedIn members add 15 new skills to their profiles and apply to 35 job posts every two seconds. Get started today with LinkedIn jobs and get $50 off your first job post. Visit LinkedIn.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. Well, I am sitting beside a number one best-selling author. Congratulations, Anthony O'Neill.
Starting point is 00:21:07 Thank you so much, Dave Ramsey. Feels good. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey personality, author of his second bestseller, his first number one. First. Debt-free degree. And before we go any further,
Starting point is 00:21:19 we probably just need to pause a second because I'm pretty critical on this show, bestseller lists, when they screw things up. And so when they do something nice and fix things i should also be nice then uh something very unusual in publishing happened i've been in publishing for 30 years and i've never seen this one time happen and uh uh that is a an actual list correct themselves and we just want to say thank you the wall street journal because they had been given, not their fault, but they had been given some bad data, because Anthony's book, Debt-Free
Starting point is 00:21:51 Degree, had been classified as a nonfiction instead of a hardcover advice, which is a different list. And it showed up number seven on the traditional nonfiction list, which is the big list, so to speak. But all of our books generally show up on the hardcover advice list, and that's where it should have been. And when placed on that list, it becomes a number one. And so by 2X over number two, as a matter of fact, on the numbers.
Starting point is 00:22:17 So it was a clear number one. And we found out in the middle of the dadgum week before the list came out that it was on the wrong thing, and we start calling, you know, in the middle of the dadgum week before the list came out that it was on the wrong thing. And we start calling everybody panicking. And they actually, thank you, Wall Street Journal, thank you, BookScan, for actually correcting the mistake because it was an error on Ingram's part that caused this. And we were going bananas because we had achieved a number one, but it landed on the wrong list and was going to make it a number seven. And so we were like, and thank you, Wall Street Journal. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Thank you so much, Wall Street Journal. Made Anthony cry. Made my day. Made him cry. Made him cry twice. Once because it wasn't, and then once when it was. Once when it was. That was good.
Starting point is 00:22:59 I was crying in the middle of my last interview. I remember when I got the call from the team, and I was literally walking into my and they said how did your book do and i just broke down crying it made number one so the good news is you can go to college yes debt free and the statistics i was listening to our borrowed future podcast this morning on the way to work, and the statistics are staggering. There's 44 million student loan borrowers. Yes, sir. 11 million are in default. Yes. Now, if you did go to school, you can do the math on that, and you can determine that 11
Starting point is 00:23:35 million is 25% of 44 million. Yeah. The default rate on student loans is 25%. Yeah. So for those of you who don't know how to give that perspective let me help you with this mortgages 1.3 percent are in default you know why because you actually have to prove that you're credit worthy before they give you a mortgage you cannot be 18 years old with no job and have never done anything and be given a $150,000 mortgage.
Starting point is 00:24:10 They don't do that with mortgages. Thus, they have a lower default rate. Shocking! But you know what, Dave? You're right. $11 million in default. But, Dave, by the end of this year, by the end of 2019, they're already estimating we'll have another million in default. So when we really break this down, every 28 seconds of the day, one person is going into default.
Starting point is 00:24:36 And default on student loans is defined as six months or more without payments. Yes. Default on mortgages is defined as 90 days late yes sir so that even makes these numbers worse yes so i mean the credit card default rate is under 10 percent the you know under five percent is the auto loan default rate because and credit cards they don't even check you they just they don't even know if you're breathing or not right but they're at least dealing with adults with jobs yeah yeah yeah they are and you know what dave did you hear about uh what sally may is doing now now they came out with two credit cards that they're giving to students to transfer their student loan debt onto the credit
Starting point is 00:25:20 card well isn't that a double blessing that's just special i got so heated that's just so special i've seen that did they come up with that when they were on that vacation in maui with their leadership team come on i think they did that just so they can celebrate i mean they're celebrating five billion dollars in student loans in maui with their leadership team they shalima just did that there's a big article last week and they're going to be celebrating next year because now not only are they doing student loans now they're in the credit card business and it's bothering me that we're getting them with the credit card i mean with the student loans now they're saying this credit card is so you can pay off your student loan by the way that is a private
Starting point is 00:25:56 company but it was formed by the government yep and then turned loose to be a private company kind of like a socialism thing. Yeah. This is ridiculous. This is why this book is so important. And I think this is why it's resonating so well with the market right now. Well, I'm going to be in business a long time helping these $1.6 trillion get out of debt. And you are too. But we've got a bigger job now, and that's to do a preemptive strike and say, your kid can go to college and should go to college and better go to college without falling in this trap.
Starting point is 00:26:29 Yeah, absolutely, Dave. I'm on two missions right now. Number one is we have to stop our young people from not even going that route. And then number two is if you have student loans, do not be lackadaisical about it. Get out of debt. Do not spend the next 20 years. So one, let's do the preventative medicine to make sure that our young people are not taking out student loans or anybody who's going to college or education who will not even consider it and then i'm really uh feeling passionate about helping the ones who have student loans right now uh not even just being lazy about it do not spend 20 to 30 years paying off you need to go after it with all that you have and moms and dads you are not a parent plus when you take out a parent plus you're a parent minus yes that's a dumb thing to do to go
Starting point is 00:27:11 borrow money yourself yeah on a parent plus loan to send your kid to school the default rate in those is ridiculous because there's this unwritten thing that junior is gonna come out of college and pay off the loan and i don't know what the numbers are on Parent PLUS loans, but it's almost zero. Yeah. That junior pays it off. Mom and Daddy almost always pay it off. Oh, yeah. I mean, my mom and dad is still paying off their Parent PLUS loan they took out from
Starting point is 00:27:34 my sister a while ago. And so it's not looking good. You just said that on the radio. You know that. Hey, that's fine. You know, that's fine. They made that decision way before you know uh before you converted them exactly now they're like oh lord we need to do this my son wrote the book on it
Starting point is 00:27:52 but you know david we're doing it you know and and here's the thing dave that one thing that we've learned that on average 12 years um after people graduate from college, they still owe 65 percent. And then when you really break it down, minorities owe 113 percent. Both of those numbers are staggering. They're going into school thinking they're going to have the money to pay it off within a year or two. But then the average is 65 percent. Then the minorities is 113. So this is why I'm so adamant about making sure that everyone gets a copy of their book for
Starting point is 00:28:25 their son or daughter, no matter who they are, to make sure that they do not go down that road. But we cannot wait 20, 30, 40 years to start paying back these loans if you have them right now. Do you have any data or do you just have a hypothesis as a minority young man, why the minority number would be different? And, you know, I don't really have a hypothesis of it, but I would think, Dave, it plays a major – I mean, I have a thought on it. I don't have any data. I have a thought.
Starting point is 00:28:53 But I think it's because it's first generation. Their parents didn't go to school. They really don't have the education. I think that could be true of any race then, but it might show up more in a minority data point. Absolutely. I grew up – I mean, I was first generation rich. race then but it probably might show up more yes in a minority data point data point absolutely you know i grew up i mean i was first generation rich to yeah first generation rich but i was also first generation to college and there's nobody to guide you no because but like i was i went to
Starting point is 00:29:15 college and so when i got ready to take my kids to college i could guide them yeah through the through the you know the obstacle course that is college without getting damaged. And I didn't believe the mythology that college was no matter what you studied, no matter where you studied it, it was going to be worth it. Yes, sir. And that might enter into it for any, regardless of race, for any first generation. Any first generation. Because you don't have a guide through, and you could believe the mythology of study anything, anywhere it's worth it yes yes which really gets you stuck bad because then you get out and you can't pay it off because you're
Starting point is 00:29:49 on big shovel don't have a big shovel and dave one thing i was while i was out on book tour parents were coming up to me saying you know what i just wish we had this information in high school and so uh i'm just seeing right now now Now you do. You do. If you've got a kid, high school or under, it's called Debt Free Degree. It's a number one bestseller, by God. The step-by-step guide to getting your kid through college without student loans. You want to talk about student loans? Anthony and I are here. We're going to take calls next segment.
Starting point is 00:30:19 The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And not only are we calling on the government to end the federal student loan program, which is an epic plague on America, and Congress should not endorse and cause a plague on its citizenry. If it's so bad we should cancel them, then we should stop making them. Not only are we doing that, not only do we have a number one best-selling book, not only do we have a number one top ten podcast called Borrow Future, but you can go to Anthony O'Neill's website and we're giving away $10,000 in student loans. No, not student loans.
Starting point is 00:31:34 We're not giving away any student loans. Yes, sir. I'm so sorry. You're stuck. You are stuck in a rut. Too many weeks on the road, man. Too many, Dave. I'm coming back.
Starting point is 00:31:42 Groundhog Day. $10,000 in scholarships. Thank you. Yes, sir. Three of them, man. Too many, Dave. I'm coming back. Groundhog Day. $10,000 in scholarships. Thank you. Yes, sir. Three of them, actually. $5,000, one $5,000, and then two $2,500. You got to go to my website. No purchase necessary.
Starting point is 00:31:55 No purchase necessary. And the thing that I love about it, Dave, is we're giving away this scholarship. But let's just say that's only for three people. But we have 10,000 scholarships on my website as well that anyone can go on there and look up for. You've got a scholarship search tool. Scholarship search tool, yes, sir. And there's 10,000 in the database. 10,000 in the database.
Starting point is 00:32:14 And so just go apply for a bunch of them. A bunch of them. And that's for high school students, current college students, and even for some graduate programs as well. Should be. And they should be doing that. They should be. This is known as free money. Free money.
Starting point is 00:32:26 If you fill out an application and it takes you an hour and you get $1,000, do you get paid $1,000 an hour anywhere else? You don't make that at Burger King, Flop and Whopper's, I can tell you that. No, sir. No, sir. And the other thing you've got there is you've got the college calculator. College calculator, yes, sir, to where we can go in there and just type in any school, how much money you have saved, you and your parents, and see how much more money you need left. And so we have that, the scholarship search tool, the scholarship, and also my scholarship, Dave, I got to say this on air as well, is that's only for high school students. So this is not for current college students.
Starting point is 00:33:02 The $10,000. The $10,000. So you have to be in between the 9th the twelfth grade and then you have the college calculator on there and then dave uh we have the fast foot we have and all that's free all of it's free and even this next thing is free fast foot we're teaching young people how to fill out the fast foot they've currently right now uh nearly 30 percent of high school students do not complete the fast foot form and that leaves a lot of scholarships and a lot of grants on the table just simply because they're not filling that out. And so I came up with a complete PDF downloadable free link that walks them through on how to fill out the FAFSA, when to fill it out, how to avoid the student loans.
Starting point is 00:33:40 Because FAFSA, I need everyone to be filling this out. Yeah, you do need to fill it out, but you have to be very, very careful when you do because you're going to get fed stuff that the wording is confusing on after you fill it out. It's going to look like it's free money or a grant and it's a loan. Yes. So be real careful with that. Real careful.
Starting point is 00:33:59 All right, let's go to Nick is on the line with a student loan question from Illinois. Hey, Nick, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, thanks so much for taking my call. Sure, what's up? So just to give you a little bit of background on me, I am graduating this semester in December. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:34:19 Because of your teachings, I am paying cash for my last semester. Yay! Yeah, I know. So I'm living on a budget with the EveryDollarBudget app, so I know kind of what my monthly expenses are. I already have a job lined up for in January. I will start, and it will be my big boy job. Doing what?
Starting point is 00:34:40 I am a chemical engineer. Whoa, touchdown. Okay. Yeah, so I am told that my salary is expected to be around $100,000 for the first year. And that's with an undergrad. Yes, sir, I'm an undergrad. That's not a bad entry position, brother. Well done.
Starting point is 00:35:00 No, I'm pretty happy about it. The only thing is I do have $75,000 in student loans, and I'm wanting to get those paid off as fast as possible. I've been listening to your program for a while. You know, I want to change my family tree. I want to be outrageously generous, and I know to be able to do that, I need to get rid of these student loans as fast as I can. What's your plan? So the plan is I want to be able to pay them off in 18 months.
Starting point is 00:35:31 I know I can live off because I live on the EveryDollarBudget app right now. I know I can live off about $25,000 a year. So assuming that I take home after taxes about $75,000, that would leave $50,000 per year to be able to pay on the student loans. That would come out to about 18 months. I'm with you. I agree with your numbers. Okay, awesome. So my question is, the loans I have right now are kind of at a high interest rate. They're at about the average interest rate is 7.25%. I am wondering if it is worth refinancing them.
Starting point is 00:36:10 I've heard you talk about Splash Financial, and I know they'll give me a lower interest rate. I don't know if it's worth refinancing because I do plan to pay these off so fast if it's even worth refinancing. Well, you're a chemical engineer. You can run the numbers probably faster than i can but the uh uh basically what we're talking about is in a year a given calendar year and you're only going to have one full 12 month period you got 18 months we're dealing with uh well we could just
Starting point is 00:36:38 say for the first nine months uh your 75 would be reduced in half, right? Mm-hmm. So we're dealing with 37 in the last nine months and 37 in the first nine months, right? Yes, sir. I mean 75 in the first nine months. And so what is the interest rate difference? The interest rate that Splash is giving me is 5.35. So say 2% difference. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:03 Okay. And so 1% of $75,000 is $750,000. 2% is $1,500,000, right? Mm-hmm. So you're going to save $1,500,000 in the first nine months. You're probably going to save $500,000 in the last nine months. Yes, sir. That makes sense? Yes, sir. And kind of one of the things I was basing this off of is sometimes people talk to you about refinancing their mortgage and how they have to pay a refinancing cost. I didn't know if that was something that I would have to expect with Splash Financial, like if I refinance them, if I'll have to pay, you know, two grand in refinancing. I wouldn't do it if you do. I wouldn't do it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:42 I would only recommend you do it if there's no refinance costs and if there's no prepayment penalty. Yes, sir. And I'm pretty sure that's the case with Splash, but you'd need to verify that for yourself to be positive. I'm sure to God we didn't put somebody on there with a prepayment penalty, but I don't think we did. So, I mean, they're good folks, and they've been a big help on this whole student loan thing we're attacking. But it sounds like you're going to save $2,000 in 18 months, and if it costs you nothing to do it, I would do it. And then I guess another thing I should consider, because whenever they're giving me the loan terms, it says, you know, like a five-year loan term. And I should probably make sure with them that there's not like a penalty right
Starting point is 00:38:26 no prepayment i'd like to build it yeah exactly i'd like to be able to pay as much as possible each month instead of just paying a set amount yeah right splash has no prepayment penalty they just typed on my screen so that the team's like don't say that okay i'm not gonna say it does not i would not have thought i would have been endorsing something in their premium i would have had a fit but yeah so they they don't uh that's good and and if they don't have any upfront costs on the refi um then they're going to make the interest off of you during this 18 months and you're going to save about two thousand dollars based on our rough and dirty calculation there and And Nick, how old are you, man? This is Anthony. How old are you? I am 23 years old. Yeah. Yeah. 23 years old, about to make six figures
Starting point is 00:39:11 in the next two years, you're going to be out of debt. Are the student loans your only debt that you have right now? Yes, sir. I'm not taking out a car loan. I don't have a car, so I have cash built up to buy a car here in the next few months because I'm going to need a car loan. I already have a little, I don't have a car, so I have cash built up to buy a car here in the next few months because I'm going to need a car, but no car loans, just student loans. And the last question, I guess you living off of $25,000, it means you're going home to stay, are you staying home with your parents or what's the living situation going to look like? No, sir. I already know how much I'm going to be paying in rent. And I guess the rent is pretty similar to what I pay in rent now
Starting point is 00:39:45 and i already kind of know how much i spend on groceries uh you know if i go out to eat i kind of already know how much i spend on going out to eat dude you are a stud yeah you are absolutely listen folks if you'll listen to this call even if you go back and listen to it on the podcast you will understand how to become successful yes sir all you do is have a vision and lay out the details. He's so intentional about everything. He's planned it all out like he's 55 years old. Because he understands, Dave, the caliber of his future. He's mature.
Starting point is 00:40:11 Yeah, the caliber of his future is determined by the choices he's making right now. Anthony O'Neill, number one best-selling author of the book Debt-Free Degree. Way to go, Nick. Proud of you, man. You're a stud. Very well done. Very well done. Well, we are at war.
Starting point is 00:40:26 Yes, sir, we are. And I'm excited to be in it. Amen. No student loans. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry.
Starting point is 00:40:44 We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.

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