The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Get Back on Track After Leaving an Abusive Relationship? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

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Thank you. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and money and career and purpose, relationships, and everything else under the sun. I'm George Campbell, and I'm joined today by Ramsey personality and best-selling author Ken Coleman. It's a free call, 888-825-5225. Charlotte is with us in Dallas, Texas. Charlotte, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, guys.

I'm going to tell to do this without crying. So I'm kind of in a crisis situation. I have money to spend. I've been following the Dave Ramsey plan for three years, and I am in baby step four. Wow. And I ran away from a bad situation four weeks ago and I'm actually not in Dallas because I ran away. Um, but I, um, ran away from a bad situation and, um,

I've been on the road for four weeks. Airbnb is trying to find a place to land and I found a safe place to land where I can get some medical care. It turns out I was medically starved and so I'm dealing with the trauma that I left, the trauma that I've had on the road and in my car some nights because I didn't have a place to stay

and didn't know where I'd be from night to night. Oh sweet Charlotte. What are you running from an abusive relationship? Um that and yes so I started over and in the process I discovered just how bad things were and so now I need to establish my four walls I just know that I'm not able to start my healing because I'm not in a like my body doesn't feel safe without a home and so I want to rent something but where I am where it's safe and the help that I need is um I'm just there are rentals but I'm having trouble like processing spending all the money and like the help that I need is very delicate so it's going to cost me money my insurance doesn't cover it um so it's going to be self-pay. It's worth it to me to live. But I don't know how much that is. And then I'm just so terrified to spend my money because I think it's going to just like I don't want to waste it.

I know that I'm not like in the best of mental things because it feels so urgent. And when it's urgent, I make bad decisions. So I want to make a good decision like on a safe, quiet place to rent, but I'm scared to rent for a year because I'm scared of getting stuck. And I also, I'm like, I have $40,000 saved up for down payment on a house and I have my $15,000 emergency fund, but I'm scared to spend any money to find a place to rest. And I don't know, I don't want to get, um, you know, I don't want people to think, oh,

we can take advantage of her and make her pay more than she needs to. So it's like, how do I, how do I get my four walls in place, make sure that it's safe and my body can heal in that space, and then get real started, get serious on my journey? Okay, so Charlotte, a couple things. I'm going to have George just kind of walk you through the four walls. You're in such good shape financially, honestly. I'm so scared. I get it.

I'm scared I'm going to waste all my money. Well, wait a second. Okay, all right, so hold on. What if I need that for the treatment? Hold on a second. All right, so I'm actually going to stay with you here. Because I don't have a job. Well, hold on, and I can help you with that.

I'm too weak to work. I get it. So you've landed in an area in a city where you've got some relationships. Is that what I'm understanding? Well, the people are very kind, and I'm getting help. Okay, great. So I'm going to walk you through a couple quick questions, and George can help out on the financial stuff.

But you're actually in really good shape, so I'm going to kind of help you out on all this fear. I'm scared of getting this wrong. I know, but listen. Listen, listen. That I'm really, like, what if I have to go away and I can't, you know, just, I have to, what if I wasn't meant to be here? Okay, hold on a second. So let's just, let's first, first of all, you've got to get healthy and you already

know what treatment you need. Have you, have you gotten a quote on it? Have you run the numbers on it as to an actual cost? No, not yet because it's kind of like it just happened yesterday and there's a lot of unknowns about what I really do need because it's so complicated. Okay. But you have seen a medical professional? Yes. That's what you mean have seen a medical professional? Yes.

That's what you mean by it just happened yesterday? Yes. Okay. So did they tell you about how long it would be before you're going to get some type of a plan and a response? We have a plan, but, again, it's unknown the cost. Okay. All right. I went again with them on Tuesday.

They're working with me. I think they have some financial aid at their office. Okay, great. All right, second question. Are you physically able to work? I know you've been through a lot right now, but are you physically able to work? I would love to say yes, but honestly, at this point, I'm so weak. I don't know when

I can. I weigh 58 pounds. Oh, sweet Charlotte. Okay, listen, sweetheart. First of all, you have a $15,000 emergency fund. You have $40,000 that you've been holding aside

for a house. We're been holding aside for a house. We're not even thinking about a house. And you can't work right now. So the good news is Kelly told me that you're safe and you're in a place where you've got some nice people and you're seeing a medical professional. Your entire focus right now, sweetheart, is getting your body rebooted with the medical professionals,

putting weight back on, and then the next step is going to be getting the counseling that you need because you've been through something extremely traumatic. But listen, you're not going to spend it all. But I need a safe place to stay because... Then get it. Listen to me. Okay, I'm sorry. This Airbnb is causing me trauma as it is because it's like on October 17th, I don't have anywhere else to go. I know.

Listen, Charlotte, I agree. And you said you had a fear of signing an apartment lease that you were going to get taken advantage of. And then you said your other fear is, well, what if I get stuck in this place for 12 months? That is the least of your worries. That's the least of your worries. Okay's the least of your worries, okay? So you need to get an apartment. Go find a really nice apartment, okay?

Nothing exorbitant, nothing crazy, but also in a really nice area. No, I don't need anything. I just need something simple and safe. Well, then do that. Then do that. You have the money. You have been amazing. You had $40,000 you saved for a house.

Just go get an apartment. Put the full year down and don't worry about it. Can I use that for my medical care? All right, here's what we're going to do, Charlotte. There's a lot to unpack here. We've got to do a commercial break. Please hold. Don't go anywhere.

Just in a few minutes, we're going to come back and we're going to unpack the next financial steps for you as well. Okay, so hang in there. We'll be right back. You've got a lot on your plate, a job, your home, your marriage, and your growing family. While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Trusted Provider. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Before the break, we were on the phone with Charlotte in Dallas,

and she was unpacking a heartbreaking situation, leaving a toxic relationship, trying to get back on her feet medically, trying to find a place to land, and we've got her on the line here. Charlotte, are you still with us? I'm still here. Okay. So where we left off, Ken was walking you through your financial side and letting you know that you are more than okay financially. You have $55,000 in cash. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. That gives me a lot of hope on that side. Obviously,

there's a lot more here where you need to get back on your feet. And A1 to me is finding an apartment. Now, you have no income. And so you might need to look at a non-traditional renting situation. Maybe with a family they've got or someone who's just renting a room or a house, somewhere safe in your area that you can land. I've tried that for two weeks and nothing has shown up. And I've asked around. And most people have given me names of brokers.

So I just need to, I felt like I just needed to sit down because they asked me for numbers, and I don't know the housing market, so it's like I don't know what to tell them. I don't want to overshoot it. Numbers as far as what? What you want to pay per month. I mean, there's none of that. They're going to say, hey, the place is $1,000 a month, and you say, okay. Yeah, you need a nice, safe apartment community in a nice area

that makes you feel safe. And you just go and say, I need a one bedroom apartment. And what's it cost? Well, obviously we don't know where you actually are, but you can do some research, do some Googling in your area to find out what is the average apartment costing. I don't want you to be worried about being taken advantage of. I mean, it's not going to be $4,000 a month unless you're in New York City and trying to rent in Manhattan. So right now, I don't want you to be researching for four weeks. I want you to get an apartment this week and land somewhere so that you can get better. Just tell them what I want in one because I know what I want.

What do you mean, what do you want? I want something that's safe, quiet, and private. Okay. And simple. Even if it's just like one of those houses that's split in two. Sure, sure. And they live in one side. Well, this is you going on these websites. There's all kinds of them, and you're doing your research in less than three hours.

And then reach out to a broker. And so if they ask me, because each one has an application fee, so that's my thing is, like, how many do I apply for? Only apply for the stuff that you've looked at online and you've gotten some references on. You have $55,000. You're not going to apply to 48 apartments. So what you need to do is know your area and know what are the safe parts of the neighborhoods and what's a good place to land to look at reviews.

Yeah, so if you know that much. I do know what area I would like to live in. Then go over there, sweetheart, and walk in and say, I'd like to tour. I'd like to look at a couple of apartments. That's very normal. And they're going to walk you through, and you get to walk in the apartment. You don't have to do an application fee to walk in an apartment and you get to walk in the apartment. You don't have to do an application for you to walk in an apartment and look at it. Pick the apartment that you want.

And the reason we're helping you with this, Charlotte, is because this is what's most important. This is money you have to spend so that you have a safe place to land so that the medical healing and then the mental and emotional healing can take place. And you have enough money to take care of a year and not even lose sleep over it and then you can say i just moved to the area they don't care they just want to know that you can pay for your rent and then you're going to get on your feet working once you physically and emotionally can you got to do this first that's so true because i want to work i know and you will you will so so charlotte A1 is the apartment. Once you land there, you've got a safe place.

That's going to give you room to heal and focus on your physical health, your mental health, all these components. And I know it's tough because you don't want to pay all these medical bills, but if you don't have income coming in, there should be a lot of financial aid involved, especially with self-pay. You're not going to pay the standard rate that me and Ken would pay with our own health insurance. So make sure you're working with that medical professional and get a lay of the land of what this treatment is going to take, how long it's going to take, how expensive it might be. And it is worth it. I don't care if you drained all of that money down to $1,000, it would still be worth it if it means that you get healthy. That's A1. So once you've got the apartment and you've got your health back, then we can work on the job.

And obviously, Ken is the expert in that arena. But right now, that's not your A1. So I don't want you losing sleep over what am I going to do for the next 20 years with my job and the house stuff. I know you were so excited. You've worked so hard. I mean, you're incredible to save up $40,000

for a down payment in your situation. But you're going to get that $40,000 again down the road for that down payment. But right now that money needs to be allocated towards you getting better, towards you funding this apartment rent fee, and then we can talk about that. And what I want to do for you is get you connected to a financial coach in your area. So I'm going to have Kelly pick up, and we're going to cover the cost for you.

You're not going to spend a dime on this. And these are financial coaches that have been trained the Ramsey way. And they're going to help walk you through this in way more detail than me and Ken will be able to on a radio call. They'll sit down with you for 90 minutes. They can do it remotely over Zoom. If you're more comfortable with that, they'll do this on your terms and they can really walk with you along this journey because we want to see you get better and we want to see you heal and be back to uh to 100 okay so let me get this straight a1 is apartment it really doesn't matter how much i'm like what obviously i'll know what's reasonable with yes yes living um and then a2 is get a cost and how much. It's your health.

Focus on your health, your mental health, your physical health, and getting that taken care of. I just have to believe that the right one, the right apartment will be there for me, and it will be available. Oh, absolutely. It absolutely will be. That's the thing, the availability. Yes.

But listen, it's out there. And Charlotte, you need to acknowledge something, that you have been under unbelievable, unspeakable hardship and what you're going through. And naturally, you're really, really scared right now, and you're just walking around feeling like there's a monster around every corner. I feel, yes. I know. I feel like I'm in a fog.

It's so hard to believe that this is actually me because I'm just so traumatized. I know. I know. I can't even see myself in the mirror. I know. But listen, and so after you get physically healthy, then you can go back to work, and then we work on the emotional and the mental stuff you've gone through. You're going to need counseling and therapy.

But listen, it's worth it. Charlotte, if you hear anything today, would you please hear that you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to be guilty of, and you matter so deeply to so many people in this world, but you have got to believe that enough to get healthy, okay? And you spend what you've got to spend. I feel like I messed everything up, and I'm so scared of getting panicked because I know what bad decisions I make. And so, listen to me. I made some bad decisions yesterday. But you're still on the phone talking to us. You're still on the phone talking to us.

You're still here, and you still matter. Okay. So you decide to get healthy. Okay. You got it? And you got this. So you decide to get healthy. Got it. You got it? And you got this. Despite all of the things you're beating yourself up about,

George is right. You got $55,000. That's nothing to sneeze at. You got this, kiddo. We're praying for you. Get healthy. Get healthy. Get healthy.

Get healthy. And then we start the climb back into the full Charlotte, being who you were created to be. And when you get to that point, you call the Ken Coleman Show, and I'll help you. You understand? Got it. All right.

Charlotte, do you have any friends or community right now in your area? I have one friend. One friend. Are they a safe friend that they can walk with you through this journey? Yes. Okay, good. I want you to have that community. That is so important.

And it may be at a local church in your area that you can show up and get plugged into. You need people supporting you right now. I mean, you're a very strong person on your own, but it's going to be a game changer

to have those people walking with you. What's that? It's hard to know who to trust anymore. Yeah, I know. So it's like a step-by-step and that's so running. Yeah, yeah. and have those people walking with you. What's that? It's hard to know who to trust anymore. Yeah, I know. So it's like a step-check-step in that flow. Yeah, yeah.

It's like I also just need some privacy to this process. Yep, absolutely. Well, remember your game plan here. Step one is apartment. Step two is your health. And step three is getting income back in your life with a job. But right now, you've got to get all of this taken care of and get you a safe place to land. And Kelly's going to pick up.

She's going to take care of you. What's that? Food, shelter, utilities, transportation. If you've got those covered, everything else is gravy after that. Kelly's going to pick up. We're going to get you connected with a financial coach. We are cheering for you, praying for you. All of America is right now.

You've got this, Charlotte. Thank you. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by my friend Ken Coleman. Ken, I'm really excited about this book you've got coming out, From Paycheck to Purpose. And the reason I'm excited is because I see all over the news these days this idea of the great resignation. People all over the country are going, I don't know if I want to work here or live here or do this thing. And this book is just monumental in helping people during this time especially. Well, thanks. And, you know, it is a clear path. You know, for Ramsey Show listeners that come to us for their financial advice, obviously the baby steps is a clear path.

And this book, From Paycheck to Purpose, The Clear Path to Doing Work You Love, is the clear path to doing what you love and making the money you want to make. So income, impact, meaning, money, whatever you want to say there. That's why we titled it that. Because everybody longs to do something that they're good at, that they enjoy, that creates a result that matters to them. That's talent, passion, mission. And so we go from stage one, that's get clear, all the way to give yourself away where the money's there, the notoriety, whatever you want to achieve, but the contribution that every person longs to make is there.

And so the book is the clear path, and it's for anybody, whether or not you just, hey, I just want to run a small business one day, or, you know what, I've been a stay-at-home mom, and I think I want to be an admin assistant because I love that kind of work, and I can make some money and help pay for college, whatever. This book is for you. And if you go to RamseySolutions.com slash store, you can preorder it. It comes out November the 9th, as you know, George.

And we've got over $100 in free bonus tools, the resume templates, guides, a video course that will coach you through the interview process, the e-book, the audio book, all of that for an amazing low price just to incentivize you to buy this for yourself or maybe for a family member or friend who's going, I want to make the move too, but I'm scared to death. Well, this book is The Clear Path. Takes the fear out of it because it's a stage-by-stage process. So it's called From Paycheck to Purpose. You can get it right now. It'll come to you on November the 9th when it comes out.

RamseySolutions.com slash store. A lot of goodies there, Ken. Super pumped for you. Love your heart behind this stuff. Thanks, man. It'll come to you on November the 9th when it comes out, ramseysolutions.com. A lot of goodies there, Ken. Super pumped for you. Love your heart behind this stuff. Thanks, man. It's going to help a lot of people. All right, let's go to the phones. We've got James in Houston. James, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hey, guys. Excited to talk to you. You as well. My wife and I about two and a half years ago started on the baby steps, or actually started on the debt snowball. In October of this month, we're going to pay that off and be done with that completely. Awesome. We're excited, man.

We'll also be through with the three to six months' worth of expenses saved before the end of the year. And so we're skipping the college thing. All our kids are already in college. We're not going to do that, but we're going to move on to the next step. And they've suggested we put in 15%, start putting in 15% to our employer retirement funds. We've done a little bit of math. And as it turns out, we both have a Roth 457 available to us through our employer. And our pencil to paper shows us if we max that out first, instead of putting just 15% in and then pay off the house after we, um, or continue paying on the house,

but it will cause the house to be paid off two years later. But then we end up with about 60 to 80 grand more at the end of the time period we're thinking of, which is about 10 years when I retire. And so I'm just kind of curious if we're missing something there or if there's some room to tweak this a little bit in terms of how much we're putting towards the house versus maxing out the Roth IRAs with our employer. Okay. Well, first of all, congrats on getting through Baby Step 2 very soon and Baby Step 3. You guys are crushing it. And for Baby Step 4, that's where we say invest 15%. I know you were saying the college part, but that actually goes after Baby Step 4. But you said you're not worried about that.

The kids are already in college. They're doing well. And so you're then moving on to Baby Step 6. After we've invested 15% into those retirement accounts, then we start paying off the house early. But what you're saying, if I'm hearing you correctly, is can I change the baby steps and can I invest more now and let the house payoff come later? Yeah, the house payoff will be delayed by two years from what it would be otherwise if we max out this $457,000 we have with both of our employers.

It's two years worth more worth of a house payment. But when we do the numbers in the end, after the 10-year of maxing this stuff out, and then with the delay in the house, we come out a little bit ahead, about $80,000 ahead, versus if we went 15% and everything else to the house and paid off the house two years. So on paper, it's looking real appetizing. Yes. Yeah. So how old are you guys? I'm 50. My wife's much younger.

Good answer. Oh boy. So she's got a few more years to retire than I do. I'm thinking about 10 years or so before I retire. I'm 52. I'll retire in about 10 years. In those 50 years of your life, have you ever had a paid-for house? Negative, no. What would it feel like to have a paid-for house and no mortgage? I'm just curious. Have you thought about the feeling? Yes, and it would feel unbelievable, obviously, and it would be,000 more that we'll get by maxing these things out earlier with the compounding interest and stuff like that would be if I'm not missing something, so to speak. No, here's the thing. On paper, you're right. Our

plan, you go, hey, hold on, hold on. Why are you even paying off debt? Why are you even paying off the house? You should take the money you would pay off the house with and invest all that in the market. You could make way more. And you start to get ahead of yourself. And the thing with our plan is that it's not all about math. It's about behavior. It's about progress. It's about motivation. It's about legacy. and then all that extra margin, which, by the way, you'll have more of if you're not investing extra, to pay off the house even earlier than two years, now you've got a freed-up house payment that you can now add on top of your investing that you didn't have before. So you have way more margin once this mortgage is out of your life, and you're going to make up a whole lot of ground on your investing as it keeps growing for the next 10 to 20 years. Yeah, I feel like we've sort of accounted for that. We're accounting for adding the investment into what, you know,

the investment we were making in the house once that's paid for into the other stuff and what that would be if it was two years delayed. So we're looking at having the house paid off in four years or so versus six years if we max out now and then maxing out once the house paid off in four years or so versus six years that we max out now and then maxing out once and once the house paid off in six years in that in that scenario taking the money from the house and maxing it out uh you know investing that too as well instead of you know just just what we're doing now to pay it off but i i get what you're saying and i and i believe that uh i understand it and i believe you explained the benefit of sticking strictly to the baby steps.

Well, I'm going to harken back to one of my favorite Dave quotes. Your income is your greatest wealth-building tool. And right now, you don't have your income completely. You don't have 100% of the money that you worked so hard for. And so when you pay off that mortgage, how much is your mortgage every month? $2,100. $2,100. So we're talking $25,000 back in your life for the rest of your life that you were paying a bank to make their buildings bigger.

I don't know about you, but I want to get angry at this thing. I want to get angry at the interest we're paying. I want to get angry at this $ we're paying. I want to get angry at this 21 grand that's going to banks. And then you're going to let that 2100 fuel your investing for the rest of your life. And you're going to set yourself up for success. You're going to be able to retire earlier because of following these principles. Now, you can do James's plan. I'm not mad at you. You're a great guy. I'd love to hang out with you sometime. But if you're going to follow the Ramsey plan, the proven, tried, and true method that millions have done, and you want to build wealth and you want to leave a legacy, just do it the Ramsey way.

But it's up to you. You asked for my advice, and it's worth what you paid for it. Ken, what do you think? That was beautiful, George. I love hearing you do your thing. I think that it does come down to James. He's not – I mean, the guy's disciplined. He's in good shape. You're not in shambles either way. I think it comes down to James. I mean, the guy's disciplined. He's in good shape.

You're not in shambles either way. I think it comes down to what do you want most. I always break it down to that. Yeah, let me say thank you, guys. And one last thing. My wife heard you say go blue earlier. She says OH. Oh, no.

This is where I put him on hold, Ken. We let a Buckeye sneak in on the show. I didn't hang up early enough. Oh, my gosh good stuff this is the ramsey show you Our scripture of the day comes from 1 Corinthians 2.9. It is written, What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him. J.K. Rowling says, It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default. Love a J.K. Rowling quote after 1 Corinthians. Ken, that might be a first for me.

Yeah, it's quite a combo there. I'm here for it. We've got open phone lines, 888-825-5225. I just had a brain fart there. It happens, by the way. Well, you know, it's been a fun show, but it's been a long one, Ken, with you. We're going to David. It's all my fault david is in memphis tennessee david welcome to the ramsey show thank you for taking my call absolutely what's up well i've got a question is when does someone stop paying for term life insurance well or do they ever how what's what's your particular situation well i am 57

okay and my wife is 55 and i think that we've gone through the all the steps and so i'm at a point of uh we're paying for just under 200 bucks a month for coverage for both of us okay and we're we're financially stable enough to where i don't think that you know financially we wouldn't be killed if one of us excuse me financially we wouldn't be hurting if one of us passed away and so i'm wondering if the 200 a month should be going to something else what kind of a life insurance is this uh term like a term to 65 and so i'm 57 and she's 55 so you know i think at that point it it goes up i believe or that's when it starts costing a lot more maybe when is this actual term up for both of you? Let's see, it would be eight years for me and 10 years for my wife.

So you got this term life in place a little older in life? Yeah, well, no, we had it for a while, and then we bumped up the numbers and got it a little bit cheaper probably three or four years ago. Okay, and you're paying $200 a month right now, and you're saying, hey, could we free up that money if you're self-insured? That's what you're asking. How do you know when you're self-insured? Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Yeah, well, it's pretty simple. The equation is this.

You're self-insured when you're able to fund your family's life, not make them rich, but just you're keeping all the bills paid through the money you have in savings and investment accounts and all that stuff. And what you're saying is, hey, I think we're in a good place financially where if we cut this life insurance out, we are self-insured. Yes. And you've run the numbers on that to say, hey, we've got 600,000 across our financial portfolio. So if something happened, we could take that money out, invest it, and take out 10% and survive. Yes. Yeah.

Right now, we've got right at $700,000 invested. Okay. And we have zero debt. Fantastic. And what baby step are you on? I think the last one. So you have no mortgage? No mortgage.

Fantastic. So you guys are baby step seven. You don't have a payment in the world other than your normal utilities and food and all that good stuff and you're got are you enjoying your life what's it like yes and enjoying life and and we're still saving money which is good yeah but i'm looking at the 200 wondering if we need to save more instead of putting it towards life well okay couple, okay, a couple things. Can I jump in here, David? First of all, man, congratulations.

Baby Step 7. You guys are great. You're acting like you're gazelle intense all of a sudden over the $200 for term life. I think it comes down to this. You have to sit there and run the numbers. If you die tomorrow, okay, and you didn't have the life insurance, you just have to look at what your wife would have to live off of and you got to run the numbers what if she lives 20 more years yes if you had no life insurance

which by the way you do right now and it's really stinking cheap david and so are you to just keep it yes i would keep it because i don't think i don't think you have a huge... I mean, do you feel comfortable? Let's just put you to the test. You know your numbers. If you died tomorrow and you didn't have life insurance, as young as your wife is, do you feel like she can live comfortably

for the rest of her life based on what you have right now? I think she could. However, it may help if she had another you know four hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank it would give her a little more security then there's your answer david okay all right the twenty four hundred dollars a year that you guys are spending on this i feel like right now is well worth totally to give you guys that peace of mind the security uh it's not a huge line item in your budget where it's crushing you guys you have all the margin in the world right so i'd hang on to it for now uh You guys are baby steps millionaires, I assume. We're really close.

They're really close. But listen, by the time you're 65, the amount of money you're going to continue to save between now and then, okay? I mean, dude, then you don't need to renew it, right? Then I don't think you need it. But I think right now I'd keep it. Absolutely. Way to go, David. It's inspiring to hear stories like that ken people are doing some things right that's amazing i'm here for it all right we're going to colin in cincinnati colin welcome to the ramsey show hello thank you for having me how are you guys doing great how can we help um so i was recently awarded a scholarship that covers my tuition and it also awards me $25,000 a year, or $2,000 per month. And I currently have $7,000 in savings, and I was wondering what I should be doing with the money

that I will be saving with the scholarship. Way to go, young man. That's a pretty big deal. Let's let's skip past a little celebration there. Wow. Thank you. So is this a full ride? Yes. Yes. And then you've got $25,000 that they're giving you on top of that? Yes. What did you do, man? You won the lottery. Yeah, I really did. Yeah. My dad reminds me about it every day. That's a good dad. Yeah. So what can you use this $25,000 on? What are the stipulations of this money? Well, so currently my monthly expenses are around $900 a month. I have an apartment. And then aside from that, I'm including $900. $900 is including rent and groceries that I spend per month. So I'm profiting about $1,100 per month. But what George is asking you, are there limitations on the scholarship?

Can you use this on anything? Can you save it up and buy a car, or does it have to go towards education expenses? No, I can use it towards anything. Wow. This is wild stuff, Ken. I've never heard of it. I've never heard of your alley, buddy. Give him a plan.

So are you about to head into college? Where are you at with that journey? I am currently a junior and my expected graduation date is in 2024. 2024. Okay, so how many years is this? It's not adding up for me. Is this a longer

than a four-year program? It is. It's a five-year program. Okay, and what are you majoring? What's the degree? It's an information technology and software development. Nice. This kid's going to be all right, Ken. Yeah, I think so. So this is great news. You're asking, what do I do with the extra $1,100 a month, right?

Right. Well, the best investment you can make until you graduate, obviously you're going to go to college debt-free, it sounds like, for the rest of your college career, right? Yep. So what I would do if I was you, I would sock away that money in a savings account, nothing crazy, don't go investing this money, and pile this money up so that when you graduate, you know what you have?

A pile of money. And you can start your adult life, and maybe you might be that weird kid who pays cash for a home, or that guy who's 23, 24 years old and is putting down a crazy big down payment and starting off his life in a great way instead of struggling under the weight of student loan debt like millions of Americans. So if I'm you, I'm not getting crazy with it. I mean, enjoy some of it. You're in college,

have some fun, but I would try to sock away $500, $600, $700, whatever you're comfortable with for that margin to just sock away in a savings account, maybe a money market account, a high-yield savings account with an online bank. You'll probably get about a half a percent. So the point of this is not to get fancy and make a lot of money. The point is to just create a pile of money that you can start your adult life with. Okay. Is there a big purchase that I should be saving up for as in like big picture? Do you have a car? Yes. My parents paid for it. So wonderful. I've got a free car right now. Other than a house, I mean, your car and your house are going to be the biggest ticket items.

I can't think of anything where you're going, all right. I mean, you may want to furnish the house once you move into it, things like that. But I would just save that up. Make sure you have that three to six months of expenses saved up in a savings account and that you're investing your 15% once you graduate, you've got that job. But man, you're doing so great. This is like a humble brag, Ken. I'm here for it. Way to go, Colin. We're proud of you, man. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. I want to thank Jenna and Kelly, our phone screeners, Ben Hill, our producer, Ken Coleman for being a great co-host today, and you, America. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, spend wisely, producer of The Ramsey Show. You can listen to all our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone.

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