The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Keep From Going Into Debt for Online College? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 10, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the 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. Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, multiple number one best-selling author, is my co-host today as we take your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Anchorage, Alaska.

Cindy is with us. Hi, Cindy. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, Chris. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

So I had a question. I'm currently in Baby Step 3B, and I've been in Alaska on and off for about nine years working as a nurse. And I figured it's time to start looking to purchase either a condo or a home. And I wanted to get your opinion. So currently I have where I could buy a smaller one bedroom condo, but kind of looking at the real estate and either put a higher down payment on a larger condo or a house or obviously buy 100% down? But if that wasn't the ability. So I just want to get your opinion on that. Cool. So you're out of debt and you have your emergency fund.

Now you're saving your down payment, right? Correct. You're out of debt, and you have your emergency fund. Now you're saving your down payment, right? Correct, yes. Good. And I have enough that I could buy like a small, like a one-bedroom condo is like $105 to $115. Yeah. But the resale on those here. And what is your income? Yeah.

Anywhere, depending on if I work one or two jobs, anywhere from $75 to $90 a year. Okay. jobs anywhere from 75 to 90 k a year okay and so how long will it take you to save up to buy a little bit better than the one bedrooms that don't set resale well um i'm guessing probably about another year yeah like to put a hundred percent down but i could put obviously that larger so you have a hundred now Yes, correct. Wow. Okay, and how much longer do you see yourself in Alaska, Cindy? Well, I have a little gypsy soul, so I've got one foot in and one foot out. Okay, I heard the southern come out right there.

Yeah, I'm from Kentucky originally. Oh, well, see, we might be related. You're from the motherland, Kentucky. That's good. Right, and I went to school in Louisville, so I understand. Oh, well, see, we might be related. You're from the motherland, Kentucky. That's good. And I went to school in Louisville, so I understand. Okay, but in your gypsy soul, do you see yourself there another three to five years or less? One half of me, and that's where the caveat comes in. One half of me says yes, because I didn't think I would see myself here this long. Okay, don't buy a one-bedroom.

Yeah. Okay. You told me three times that they sell slow and they don't appreciate well, and so it's just not a good investment. I mean, you already knew that. You didn't need me to say it. You were telling yourself that. So the two options are you wait and save unpaid cash for a little bit better property that you could resell if you get ready to move and you're not stuck in it. And that also means it's going to go up in value because time on the market is also correlated with appreciation most of the time.

Meaning if something sells really fast, it's hot, it usually is going up in value. And so that's the, you know, those two things, days on the market are correlated with appreciation rate in your MLS statistics typically. So, you know, I'm okay if you buy today and put half down and pay the other half off in three years. Gotcha. Okay. Or if you want to wait and pay 100% and you wait a year and a half or whatever and you want to put 100% down, either one's fine. But I would not buy the no soft market one bedroom now dave explain the phrase and this thing is said oftentimes in real estate you make your money on the buy what does that mean well you have to buy something

if you're going to get a deal at a deal right and don't buy something that's got a bad situation. Like those one bedrooms in that market aren't selling. Okay, so you made a poor decision at the buy. It's not necessarily the money that you made, but that's going to cost you money on the sale, on the back end. Right. And like the first house I ever bought was up on a hill, and it wasn't up on a good hill. It was, like, stuck in the side of a bluff and nasty and ugly.

I mean, this house was ugly, ugly with a U. And I got a great deal on it. But you know what? When I got ready to sell it, it was still ugly. And so I gave somebody a great deal on it. How long did it take for this thing to move? Yeah, it took forever. And so that's the problem you get into is that if the reason you got a good deal is still there when you get ready to sell, you're going to give somebody a good deal. Whether it's floor plan, whether it's the elevation from the street, whether it's the fact that there's a flood of the one bedrooms and they built too many of them.

And a lot of the people buying those necessarily aren't put. They're not putting down roots. They're more transitory. Whatever. Yeah. Whatever the reason is that you got a deal going in is the same reason you're going to give a deal going out unless you can change that. And I mean, if the reason you got a deal was it was a foreclosure, it needed carpet and paint and a roof curb appeal. And the curb appeal is fine but you just need to cut down all the big bushes and put down some new landscaping you had 25 year old you know plants out front that look like crap that kind of thing and you go in

and do a makeover on the house now that you've changed the equation there that one makes sense but cindy i would tell you this reach Get an endorsed local provider, somebody that can give you that objective third-party opinion and guide you so you emotionally don't get so caught up into it. But come up with a dollar range that you're going to buy. Don't let the bank or mortgage company tell you how much you're going to spend. You need to do that on your own. Yeah. Well, you've done such a great job.

She really has. I mean, you've saved up $100,000. Most people don't have $1,000. No, that's exactly right. She's got $100,000. She's been intentional. She really has. I mean, you've saved up $100,000. Most people don't have $1,000. No, that's exactly right. She's got $100,000. She's been intentional. She really has. That's pretty impressive.

Well, she's from Kentucky, Dave. She's smart. I'm just going to put that out there. Are you? Yeah. You think I'm just going to leave it lay there? I think you will. Maybe not.

Maybe not. We can fight on air. It's okay for us to battle. I'm just going to laugh all the way into the commercial break. That's all I'm going to do. But seriously, people out there, I know. Okay, here you go. I know mortgage rates are low and everyone's getting house fever and you're getting tempted.

But listen to me. Don't let interest rates determine when you make this move. The goal is not to buy a home. the goal's to own that bad boy outright. So you stay in control of you and your emotions. That's the thing, what she's done, she's done that. She really has. She's sitting there on $100,000. She easily could have been shopping with a $90,000 household income for a $300,000 or $400,000 house.

Easily, yeah. And instead she's questioning whether she ought to buy a $100,000 one bedroom. That means her heart's right, her head's right. That's right. And I don't care where she's from, she's questioning whether she ought to buy a $100,000 one-bedroom. That means her heart's right, her head's right. That's right. And I don't care where she's from. She's acting smart. She is acting smart. Doesn't matter where she's from.

We're going to give her credit. Oh, well done. Well done. Yeah. Home prices, people, you know, getting the impulse fever, this built-up thing inside of your spirit that is forcing you in your emotional mind to buy the largest purchase you're going to make. Yeah. This is the recipe for stupidity. It really is.

And this is how people get burnt is doing this kind of stuff. So she's being very, very smart. Way to go, Cindy. Great job. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, and I will be back right here on The Ramsey Show. Over the years, I've heard countless horror stories from listeners about being harassed by debt collectors, receiving calls at work on their cell phones, and some even getting yelled at and threatened. That is not okay.

There are laws against this. And there are people, attorneys, that can help make this stop if they are in fact breaking the law. Go to CollectionBully.com to learn more. Fill out a quick questionnaire that will identify if you are a victim of this type of illegal harassment. That's CollectionBully.com. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Luke is with us in Green Bay. Hi, Luke. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Good afternoon, Dave and Chris. Sure. Question for you today is regarding umbrella insurance.

My wife and I, a few years ago, got a $1 million umbrella policy liability. And just curious if there's a certain net worth where we should look at adding to it on the $2 and $3 and $4 million as you go along, or is there a certain ratio that you kind of have a rule of thumb for? Well, it starts to get ridiculous when you get above $5 million. The bargain is $1 million. A couple of hundred bucks you can buy one million umbrella but above five million you start to get ridiculous um i mean i have found a 10 million that's decent i think i've got 10 right now but i also have the dave ramsey problem i mean

if i bump into somebody they're going to be going oh i'm okay what's your name dave ramsey oh god you know and so all of a sudden you know it's like I got a big target on my butt, right? So I went ahead and picked up an extra level of it, but I don't know that I would necessarily recommend that, anything above $5 million. What I do tell you to do when you get above the million need, I mean, if you're starting to sit on a net worth of, you know, north of $3 to $5 million and that kind of a thing, you're starting to worry $1 million is probably not enough. You really need to start looking at other risk management things you can do then, and that's starting to put assets into LLCs and trusts and so forth. I personally do not own a single thing anymore. I don't even own my cars.

My cars are in LLCs. And that's all from a risk management standpoint, that the owner of the car is the only entity that could get sued if something happened. The only way I could get sued personally is if I had committed a criminal act, and they could pierce it then. But so, like, one of my farms is in one LLC. This building is in a trust, and so on. I don't personally own anything.

And that way, if someone falls over in one of those properties or something happens around one of those items, they can only, if you lost the lawsuit, they can only take the assets in that entity. Entity, that's right. And you bring up the statement risk management, which is huge because you can work so hard to build wealth. But if you don't protect it the right way with an umbrella policy, which all that is, folks, is it's another layer of coverage over your automobile and your homeowners. And so it's just like an umbrella that you'd walk outside with.

It's that extra layer of protection. And Dave said it, a million-dollar policy is a couple hundred dollars a year. And so you can get that in place. But the LLC and the trust, Dave, are crucial things for people to get set up. Well, and what you're going to find is that when you get north of $5 million in net worth, if you're being wise and watching everything, there's two things that start, three things, that start to get north of $5 million in net worth, if you're being wise and watching everything, there's two things that start, three things, that start to get very complicated.

Your taxes, your risk management portfolio, meaning you start buying things in the name of something else, and your estate plan. And the three of those things work together. You need to have the entities built in such a way that they serve the estate plan but also serve risk management and so that that's where you know you're going to start to spend some money on defense yes and on diligence um to keep the government's hands off to keep a target off your butt that kind of stuff but you know it's such a small dollar very few very few times do i would i suggest it would be highly unusual for me to suggest more than a $5 million umbrella.

An umbrella only covers liability, too. It doesn't cover anything else. That's right. It's not covering the property itself. You get covered with traditional insurance. Yeah. But the umbrella, it just attaches to the liability limits on the top of your car policy, the top of your liability limits on your car policy,

the top of the liability limits on your homeowner's policy, and extends them out another million dollars. And at $250, somewhere around there. And we've got all kinds of everyday millionaires out there. So if this is something that rings true for you, I want you to go to DaveRamsey.com and click on the Insurance ELP and start to have that conversation. Like, this is the time to get those things in place. Yep. Sean is in Bloomington, Indiana. Hey, this is the time to get those things in place. Yep. Sean is in Bloomington, Indiana.

Hey, Sean, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Yeah, so my wife and I are in a very unique situation these past couple weeks. She works for an ESOP company, and they just recently got bought out by another company. So all the employees are being paid out in their vested shares.

Wow. So my question is, we have the option to take out a distribution, up to 40% of the payout of the vested shares. And my question is, do we take some of that out to pay off all of our debt, including the house, and then roll over the rest in the 401k option that they're providing with the company, or should we just roll everything over into the 401k? So it is all pre-tax. Is that what you're saying? No. 401k. So it is all pre-tax is that what you're saying? No the tax you will still have to pay the taxes on on the vested shares. But I'm yeah and so you can't roll it into a 401k then if it's not pre-tax it can't be rolled into a 401k. Yeah there's based on the paperwork here they're based on the paperwork here um they're giving us the option to

um i guess move it into a 401k i'm still looking at all the paperwork here but yeah i double check it because typically what they would do sean in that scenario they would allow you to take what you own and stock and then purchase new stock of the new company. Okay. Like it may not be a traditional 401k, but just double check that. But I'm going to tell you, buddy, how much debt do you guys owe on right now outside of your home? We owe on two vehicles. That's $53,000.

How much money is this transfer going to be worth? It's $1.477 million that is her part correct wow i love it congratulations we feel like that we've won the lottery yeah okay here's what you need to do you don't need to ask two goobs on the radio you need to get some tax advice okay i want you to get some detailed tax advice because there's too much money involved here. I can't tell exactly what you've got from the way you're describing it, and I'm afraid I'm going to mess you up as far as taxes. Number one, I want to get the money out of that single stock as fast as I can into mutual funds.

Now, you can do that inside of a 401K, inside of a rollover to an IRA, or if you've got the ability to just take the money out and only pay the taxes on the gain. I can't tell what is available to you to shelter it. So what I would do, if I were in your shoes, let's play this through. Let's pretend this is pre-tax because it sounds like it may be. Okay? And they're going to convert it to stock, and then I'm going to convert that stock into mutual funds inside the 401k as fast as I can.

If you can move it instead of the 401k into an individual traditional IRA with no taxes, i'm going to do that with the bulk of this and i'm going to pull out 400 grand and just pay taxes on it because i think there's not going to be any penalties on it and pay off your house and your cars what's your home mortgage uh we currently owe 126 000 okay so two 200 grand plus some taxes gets you out of debt 100 right correct out of 1.7 i'm definitely doing that unless you're getting hit with the 10 penalty plus your tax rate and i don't think you are i think you're going to get taxed at a capital gains rate with no again you're gonna have to get some professional tax advice because i'm gonna screw this up but yes i unless you're getting absolutely hammered on the withdrawal then i would pull enough out to be debt free and i would roll

the rest of it into mutual funds into the 401k and i would move it into some uh uh into an individual ira rollover if i can get with one of the smart investor pros and get online and get with one of our tax pros. If you don't have one in your back pocket, both of them are the ELP for taxes and the SmartVestor pro for investing. They both can tell you exactly what you've got because I can't tell how this ESOP was set up. I can't either. And I want everybody else to calm down out there because this is not how these normally play out. This is the best version of this story.

Well, it's an employee stock option program. I mean, ESOP and the thing just went bananas. It did. They got lucky. Don't leave your money in the new company stock any longer than you have to. Run. Uber high risk here. Yep.

I want you to get out of that and get into some diversified investments where you can calm your risk down, and that way this money's going to still be sitting there. That's right. Congratulations. That's so thrilling. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Last year was hard on many marriages. Did you know that money is one of the largest stressors on couples?

Well, this Valentine's Day, help put an end to money stress and give your loved one a gift that will help you get on the same page with money. Right now, save up to 67% off Valentine's Day gifts at DaveRamsey.com. Get our number one bestselling book, The Total Money Makeover, to help you save money now and plan for a bright future. Or get Christie Wright's new life-changing devotional for women called Living True, 40 days to get back to you. Plus, if you want to help your loved ones keep their cash organized, check out the highly demanded Rachel Cruz wallet. You can also purchase your event pass to our Money and Marriage livestream

featuring Rachel Cruz and Dr. John Deloney. Happening Valentine's Day weekend. Give a Valentine's Day gift that will strengthen your marriage. Go to our online store at DaveRamsey.com or call our Ramsey Concierge Team at 8 today Matt and Jamie are with us in Sioux City, Iowa. Hey, guys, how are you? We're good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. I see on my screen you're debt-free. Congratulations. Thank you. We're excited. How much have you paid off? $81,243.93. Love it. How long did that take? Roughly 16 months.

Good for you. And your range of income during that time? So our primary jobs have us write about 50 take-home, and then the four or five side hustles that we did throughout that time brought us up to about 80. Wow. Four to five. You guys are after it.

Goodness. What kind of debt was the $81,000? So it was all student loans, and 95% of it was probably me. How long have you guys been married? Just about a year and a half. Okay, so you get married and you started on this. Boom, just like that, huh? Pretty much.

When we were doing marriage prep, my sister and her husband, who have been married for a few years, they introduced us to you. So we started, you know, reading your books, listening to podcasts, and we were engaged. And then the day after the wedding, we got home and drained my bank account and really just kind of started. Wow. Went after it. Very cool. So side hustles left and side hustles to the right. What was the most lucrative per hour, the best side hustle? I would say probably I bartended a couple different places. I would say the Marina Bar or even during the pandemic, once things were shut down and Matt and I were both working from home, I started quilting and doing, like, T-shirt quilts and baby quilts and things like that.

And I got faster at it, so that turned into pretty good, you know, per-hour wage. That is fantastic. And looking at this, so, Jamie, did you kickstart this, or did you guys kind of both come together and agree? We both really agreed. I think Matt, because he was kind of the one that was bringing in the student loans, he got pretty intense about it. And we started, you know, even though we were still engaged and we hadn't combined our finances, you know, we were doing the monthly budget. We were tracking everything we were spending. And so that was kind of how I had lived. I mean, I worked 40,

50 hours a week during undergrad, so I didn't have student loans. And so once we got married, we were really on the same page, which made it a lot easier. Yeah, that's fantastic. I mean, when you guys are in this thing together, you know, people rowing in the same direction get to destinations faster. So very proud proud of you who encouraged you all during this during this time um i would definitely say like jamie said her sister and her brother um both of our parents were um very much in tune with it as well they were big supporters of us and um you know just her and i like like she said we got very serious about this our first year. We did not live with heat or AC. One day, it got to 49 degrees one night, and we powered through it.

And now we are currently living in a funeral home to save on rent. So we're all in on this whole thing. So it's pretty crazy. We've got quite a story to tell. Wait a minute here. Hold on just a minute. Are you all working at this funeral home or living there? A little bit of both. I guess you can count that as one of my five jobs.

It's just kind of as needed basis on whatever they need help with. But it was one of my gigs when I was in college. And then when we moved back to the area, friends of ours had run this funeral home. And they said, hey, do you want to live there in exchange for some extra hours that you're going to help us? So, you know, hard to turn that down. Well, okay. No, it's not. Hey, you all are all in for sure.

Yeah, you'd be telling your grandkids, yeah, we lived in a funeral home. There's only been one really ghost story. So we're doing pretty well for having lived there for a year and a half. So we're happy with it. That's one too many, but I'm good. Yeah, all right. I'm even more impressed with you all now. I was before, but now I really am.

I think Jamie comes from a family that believes in working really hard yeah i mean her family's been farmers for a long time and when i got there it was um like jamie had already had this figured out on what what work is and what you need to get done and um we need to spend money you need to have money and we don't do much of the spending so that's kind of what i learned and um yeah now we, now we're killing it. Yeah. So what do you guys tell people the keys to getting out of debt are?

I would say to be on the gentle edge of just grow up. I would say you have to stop buying into this myth of instant gratification. I think that's something that our society has kind of manipulated people into thinking that, you know, everything is just right there. And it's kind of what you said, just do what feels good. You know, you have to kind of get over that and work towards something bigger and get rid of that, you know, instant gratification. That was the biggest thing,

I think, for us, because there would be weekends that we would work 40, 45 hours in a three-day span, and we would make $700, $800, but I didn't want to go to Dairy Queen to spend $6 to cap off the weekend. Like, we were just kind of so, you know, gazelle intense that, you know, we just really didn't want to break from that, and we really looked kind of beyond that fleeting moment. Well done. Well, adults adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. You're right. That's just absolutely vital.

So well done. How does it feel now that you're there? I mean, it's incredible. We're starting to, you know, Jamie's going to go to school here again pretty soon, and we're already cash-flowing that. You know, it's just been part of the process. She got her master's degree. We cash-flowed our wedding, our honeymoon.

I mean, it's just that's how we're going to start doing things and continue to do things. So it's incredible that we don't have to pay student loans every single month. That chunk of change is coming out automatically. It's awesome to see that the hard work we put in is staying in our bank account, and we get to use it how we want to. Proud of y'all. Very proud of you.

Well done. Well, hey, we're going to give you a copy of Chris's book, Everyday Millionaires, and I'm also going to give you some tickets to the Friday night Valentine's weekend special where John Deloney and Rachel Cruz are doing a money and marriage event. So we're going to give you some tickets for that. You guys need a night off. I'm just saying. Wow.

Yeah, weekends with Bernie and everything. Oh, my gosh. Unbelievable. Wow. So you guys are impressive. So well done. You're absolute rock stars. I'm proud of you.

Thank you. Very proud of you. All right. It is Matt and Jamie. $81,000 paid off in 16 months, making $50,000 to $80,000. And it's a great place to go when you're broke to work. They proved it. Well done. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Great job. I love it. I love it. Wow. All right, Madison, pick up and get them a copy of Yeah! Great job. I love it. I love it.

Wow. All right, Madison, pick up and get them a copy of Chris's book, plus get them a copy of this upcoming event. It is this coming Friday, February the 12th, the Marriage and Money event with Rachel Cruz and Dr. John Deloney, talking to you about the money and marriage connection, the communication. One of the things we have found over the years, for those of you that are married, it is absolutely vital that you're on the same page with money. It changes your relationship. It changes the probability of your wealth building occurring. Everything is only $30.

$20 was the early bird ticket, So it's only $30 a ticket. And you can enjoy this live stream. And this coming Friday at 7 p.m. Central, no matter what your marriage looks like right now, we can help you achieve better unity and communication at the special Valentine's edition of Money and Marriage, streaming live to your home Friday, February 12th at 7 p.m. And again, Dr. John Deloney, Rachel Cruz. One thing for sure, if those two are speaking, there will be humor. Oh, they're going to have fun.

The two of them are just funny. We may have to be there to make sure they do what they need to do. That they actually cover the material. Yeah, we got to hit the stuff, people. Because they just get to cutting up. But listen, you're going to have to. I don't know anybody else that does that stuff. No, not you and I. We are straight laced. That's right. We stay with the material. Yeah, we gotta hit this stuff, people. Because they just get to cutting up. But listen, you're gonna have to... I don't know anybody else that does that stuff. No, not you and I. We are straight-laced. That's right. We stay

with the business. Always. We never stray. Never. Weekends with Bernie. Twice or two or three times an hour. Here's the deal. If you're a part of Ramsey Plus, you better get on over there and reserve your seat, because you get a chance to check it out for free. It's a part of your membership, man.

Check it out. This is how it works. Date night. This is how it works. I love it. This is the Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. The phone number is 888-825-5225.

Adam is in Valdosta, Georgia. Hi, Adam. How are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, Chris. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help?

I'm in a position where with my career, I'm trying to go back to school and get a degree to further my career. And I'm in a position where it's possible that I may have to go into debt to get this degree. With my career classes can be transferred over in the credit into this specific university, online university. And there's no way, this is the only one that moves all of the classes I've ever taken into college credits. So I'm trying to struggle because I'm doing my debt snowball. I'm struggling with handling the debt that I have and trying to stay debt-free for my degree. And what's your degree? What's your degree field? I'm trying to get a bachelor's or four-year degree in business administration. Okay. And how much do you lack?

I have, depending on how many credit hours my classes for my career move over, I have only my core classes, so I'm fairly fresh into it. So you've got like three years of work left. Yeah. Right, and I could cut that in half almost if I go to this university because it will transfer all my career stuff over. So you'd have a year and some change left. You'd be in your senior year or late in your junior year? Correct.

And what do you do for a living? I'm a firefighter. How old are you? I am 26. Okay. And so the business degree does what for you? It allows me for, it's one of our uh requirements for promotion in the future as a firefighter you need a business degree uh as a uh higher level an administration level chief oh i see okay yeah it's a further down on my career path. Yeah. All right. And how many years before you would be eligible for that position if you had this degree? If I had the degree, I would say roughly five to ten years.

It's rough to say, but at least five. Yeah. Okay. And how many colleges are in Valdosta? Three, I believe. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, three.

Yeah. And the one you're looking at, though, is online? Correct. Not one of those three? No. This is the only, this university, or the online university is the only one that moves all my classes. I know, I got that part. I got that part.

Have you talked to all three of the others? I have. Okay. Because they are much cheaper than the online. Yes, they are. A fourth, aren't they? Roughly, yeah. Yeah.

So that's what you're doing. You're either going to go over there and talk one of them into this and appeal. I mean, sit down in the president's office. Just throw your butt in there and sit down and go, I'm getting ready to move everything to an online and pay too much for this degree because you guys won't transfer these credits. So we've got to figure out something because this is crazy i would rather keep the money here in our community i'm a firefighter here in this community i'd rather keep the money here in the community and

support our local college and it's better for me to say i graduated from this local community and it is by the way right yeah you're not going to go into debt and go online matter of fact i think the online idea is just a bad idea because i think you're paying way too Right. Yeah. You're not going to go into debt and go online. Matter of fact, I think the online idea is just a bad idea because I think you're paying way too much for the stinking degree that you don't need for seven years. Right. So I would just nix that. And I think you just got to do some politicking on the transfer. Because the thing is, these are small colleges. This isn't like you're trying to go to freaking Harvard and get them to accept your credits.

Right. This is Valdosta State or whatever it is, for God's sakes. Yeah. I mean, it's not like it's not a – I'm not putting it down. You'll probably get a great education there. Yeah. But my point is you'll have access to people probably that have an open mind. Oh, by the way, they actually want students, need students.

They definitely need them. I'm going to go in there and find out what the appeals process is or who I have to appeal to or who needs to stroke an executive order waiving this. I don't know how it works, even. I wish Dr. John was here because he would know. Because it baffles me because even with a community college, they will take the credits and not give you the grade. Some. Some of them. But, I mean, I'm going to

communicate, Adam, take the opportunity or the thought of going into debt off the table. It's what I want you to do. Just because right now you've got that looking like it's the only option to you. And it's really not. I'd much rather you go have that conversation, go low and slow as you're going part time. And it take you longer to get the degree with avoiding debt we got 43 million people walking around with 1.7 trillion in student loan debt you you don't want to go there yeah and all and a percentage of them whining at the top of their lungs expecting the government to forgive their debt now um we've got the um the lefties you know going bananas on this stuff now and so oh we should all have it forgiven.

We should, you know. And so, you know, I'm going to be telling you, no, no, no, no, no. Now, the other question that I would bring into play here, I understand that you need the knowledge pieces to be an administrator in a leadership position that high, the business leadership. But I might even challenge that the degree is 100% a prerequisite for you moving up into those roles. I think if you could exhibit and show the knowledge that was in place, you probably might be eligible for that as well i i

actually have never run into that before but that doesn't mean that you're not correct i'm just saying i haven't run into it and so it it does make sense it's logical sense that to be in an administrative role a senior chief of the chief of uh the fire chief for the whole county or whatever that kind of a thing that you you would need some organizational, administrative skill sets that you would get in a four-year business degree. That's logical to me. I'd even have the conversation with the chief there to find out, can I enroll in the National Guard?

Or will they pay for it somehow? I mean, I want to have the conversation on this to find out and understand it more. But Adam, thanks for reaching out, buddy. That's very cool. You can hear it's heavy on your heart. You need some more options and to have some conversations and keep gathering information the trick is as chris said take the debt off the table it's not an option and then from there what are we going to do we've got to find another way to get this goal accomplished and that's what i keep poking at around the edges here what are the options to still accomplish the goal with no debt yeah and and you know either cash flowing it national guard fire department chips in i don't

care doesn't matter to me i hate that you would pay four times more because you can't get the local college to accept the transfer credits yeah which is illogical by the way on top of that so it means you got a good case as far as I'm concerned. Brenda is with us in Oklahoma City. Hi, Brenda. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. How can we help? Hi, thank you.

I want you to rethink, if you would, buying personal defense insurance. Because I'm single. I live alone. And I don't live in the best neighborhood, and I've already bought it in all actuality, and my son is a firm believer in you. He's coming home next month. He's helping me go through my budget because he's already succeeded with yours. What are you paying for this?

Oh, $179 a year. And you make what? And he's going to go right, oh, about $30,000 a year. That's a lot of money for you. And so basically if you pull your handgun out and shoot a bad guy, this is supposed to protect you. It would because I actually know the company. company yeah it's a really good company there's there are some legitimate companies in that space and there are some companies that cover about half

of what they say they're going to cover too so um i uh i mean i live in tennessee i'm a handgun enthusiast i collect guns. I carry every day. I don't have it, and I make a lot more than $30,000. But the biggest insurance I've got is I'm going to run because I'm not pulling that gun out. I'm going to run. I'm going to run like my head's on fire. So if you want to buy it, it's okay with me. I mean, it's not the end of the world.

It's a lot of money for you, honey. And I might think about spending that $179 on moving. You know, some other things like that. There's some other things to look at. But you give the impression as if this is somehow going to fix everything. If you shoot somebody, it's not. It's going to ruin your life. Did you know you can listen to The Ramsey Show on your smart speaker?

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