The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Work for a Cause I Don't Believe In? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 6, 2020

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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. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today here on the air.
Starting point is 00:00:44 Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Zachary is on the line to start off this hour in Virginia. Hi, Zachary. How are you? Good. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Sweet. I know you've probably gotten this question multiple times in different variants, and it's probably nowhere near to the degree,
Starting point is 00:01:10 but I recently ended up getting into a car loan, which honeypotted me, basically. And what I wanted to do was get a source of transportation to get a better job. I'm 20 years old. I work two jobs, about 70 to 75 hours a week. And it originally was a good deal. And then as I got roped into it, I ended up, I now end up having to pay double what the original price was due to the interest and everything like that. And so I don't know whether it's a good idea to drop both jobs, drop a job, try and find something better, get cushioning all along those lines. I just don't know what the best course of action is.
Starting point is 00:01:51 So what do you owe on the car? What's the payoff on it today? It would be $17,000. What did you pay for the car? I paid $2,000 down payment. What was the price that you paid for the car, $19,000? It was $17,000. I got a car loan for up to $2,000.
Starting point is 00:02:13 It originally was priced at $9,000 before processing fees, interest, and all that type stuff. And then overall, the car payments all add up to $17,000. Now, that is not your payoff, honey. That's the total of all your payments. Yeah. Okay, that's not your payoff. Your payoff is if you paid it off today, it would not be $17,000 that you owe. That includes all the interest over the whole term of the loan.
Starting point is 00:02:40 And so if you paid it off today, it's more like $10,000. Okay. So what would be the best course of action? Because I just down paymented it, and I'm just looking at the card. Who do you owe the money to? Thomas Motorsports. And what is the – so they carried the note on the lot? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:59 Okay. Call them and ask them what the payoff is today that you want to pay it off. Okay. Okay, and get that number, and then figure out what the car is worth. Gotcha. Okay, so let's say that that number is $10,000, and then you look the car up on Kelley Blue Book, kbb.com, and let's say the car's value if you sell it private sale
Starting point is 00:03:28 if you sell it to another individual which is the best you know your best pricing rather than selling it to a dealer on trade-in value look up private sale on kelly blue book and let's say that that's nine thousand dollars and the payoff is ten thousand dollars well that means in order to sell it you have to put a thousand dollars extra on the table to pay off and get out of this mess. Yeah. And then it sounds like you need to sell the car, doesn't it? It does. I just don't know if it would equal out to the, you know,
Starting point is 00:03:58 amount of like the total car payments and everything. That's what made me very scared. It's not the total car payments. Yeah, okay. The total car payments don't matter unless you keep the car and the loan through the whole term that's the only way you're going to pay 17 000 yeah so you have an interest rate on this thing yeah 25 okay um are are you living at home with your parents? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:29 Okay. Was your father or mother involved at all? No. Their debt was too bad. No. I mean, did they look at this situation with you? Did no one say 25% is brain damage? Nobody said anything. If anything, I was told it was normal. Okay. I'll help you with this. It's brain damage. It's not even normal. Car payments are fairly normal. 25% interest on a car is not normal. Yeah. Really, really cray cray. Okay. That's where you are. All right. So yeah, you got to get rid of this car and this, or get rid of this loan one of the two what are you earning how much are you earning uh with both jobs it's about 2,800 all together to play around with okay and you and you live at
Starting point is 00:05:13 home uh yeah okay so what are your expenses if you just said i'm going to live on nothing and pay this car off very very fast uh i'd pay about that i could probably triple the car payment no you make 2800 what in the world would you be spending money on you live at home yeah uh food and everything like that food where you live at home groceries you have to buy groceries at your house? Yeah, I chip them. You chip in how much? About $200. Okay, that leaves me $2,600. What other expenses do you have? Gas.
Starting point is 00:05:54 I do give about another, yeah. And party. All that stuff. Yeah. Okay, so no restaurants, no life until you get this car paid off. $200 plus your gasoline, and that's the only thing you're allowed to do. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:13 So let's pretend that that's $2,800 minus, or we'll even be generous, $800. Okay? You have $800 in expenses. That's $2,000. $2,000 pays off $10,000 how fast? In about five months. There you go. Yeah, I got a huge misconception about the interest thing.
Starting point is 00:06:34 It's very... Well, the interest is brain damage for sure, but it's not going to hurt you as bad if you pay it off in four or five months. I'd like for you to do it in four months because i'd like you to have zero expenses almost and just put 2500 a month on there i'd go get a third job and try to break dave's record and try to do it even less than that you are young you've got plenty of time you ain't got nothing to do but work yeah and now you got yourself a car that's paid off and you're never going to do this again in fact if you do what dave just said you're going to learn this lesson without too much pain yeah and you know if you learn this lesson at
Starting point is 00:07:09 20 you never have to do it again that's the good news i've done a lot of stupid stuff in my life sir and the good news is if you do if you when you do something stupid if you just never do that one again there's plenty of other things you can do to the stupid, but at least you never do that one again. And if you don't do that one again enough, eventually people call you wise. That's true. So you went on to a car lot and got screwed is what happened. 25%. You got screwed by this company,
Starting point is 00:07:37 and no one was there at 20 years old to coach you and tell you you were getting screwed. That is absolutely ridiculous. You paid too much for the car and you paid too much for the loan. You got, there was nowhere in this whole discussion that you got a deal. No one took care of you. No one watched out for you. Your mom and dad just let you wander down and get shot in the face. I mean, this is bizarre. Okay. This is nuts. So the bad news is you got this lesson. The good news is it's a complete thorough butt kicking and you will remember it. So go make $2,500 to $3,000 a month and pay these crooks off in the next four months and be done with it. This is just, man, I want to kick his dad's butt. Unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:08:29 This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind. 43% of Americans are not protecting their loved ones with life insurance. This drives me crazy, people. What are you thinking? Taking care of your family has to be a top priority. Think about it. If you died today, would you be the hero by making sure that your family had the money necessary to carry on their life without struggle and hardship? Would they be able to pay the bills and plan for the future? That's what term life insurance is all about. Regardless of where you are in the baby steps, you've got to make this a top priority. Have I gotten my point across yet?
Starting point is 00:09:32 That's why I talk about Zander Insurance every day. They keep it simple and make sure they find you the best rates out there. Zander will do their job to find you the best rates and make sure you're served like I expect. But you have to take the first step. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282. We've gone through some tough times recently, and a lot of folks are hurting right now. You might be jobless. You could be broke. You could be struggling to put food on the table, literally. John Maxwell says change is inevitable. Growth is optional.
Starting point is 00:10:32 If you said to yourself, never again during this COVID shutdown, you've already taken the first step towards winning with money. You've chosen to grow as a result of these tough times. If you want to take the next step so that you can sleep easy and join the group of Americans who are not haunted by their finances, well, we can show you how. We've been doing it for 30 years. We just launched something new, something huge, something that will change the trajectory of your life. It's called Ramsey Plus.
Starting point is 00:10:55 This is the all-access membership that gives you our best money products. You can learn with all nine lessons of financial peace university our proven plan you can budget with the premium features of every dollar sync with your spouse sync with your bank everything you can track your progress with the new baby steps app and you can start your free ramsey plus trial free trial right now so set your up so set yourself up so you say, never again. Never again am I going to walk through a crisis without confidence. A guy yesterday on the air said, I had financial immunity when the virus hit. He was immune from the financial problems because he's out of debt and had a pile of money.
Starting point is 00:11:45 Hey, you can be there. You can do this. Get the free trial for Ramsey Plus. Text TRIAL at 33789. That's TRIAL to 33789. Roxanne is in Tampa, Florida. Hey, Roxanne, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up?
Starting point is 00:12:06 I have been a bit of a financial disaster my life, and I just recently decided to try and get control of it. Good for you. So I started by reading the Total Money Makeover. I just finished that book and started listening to the show yesterday. Wow. Yes. that book and started listening to the show yesterday. Wow. So, yes. So I'm really kind of at a desperation point of needing to get myself in order,
Starting point is 00:12:32 but also kind of not sure what to do. I'm trying my best to follow along with the advice in the book. Good. So what was baby step one? Baby step one was my, well, I forget. Okay. That's all right. That's all right.
Starting point is 00:12:49 You didn't know you were going to get a test when you called in, did you? I didn't know there was a quiz. Maybe step one is quickly get $1,000 as a starter emergency fund. Does that sound familiar? And that's what I was going to say, but I was unsure of myself. That's okay. You're okay. That's fine. And I do have that. And I have actually run into kind of a financial up because I worked an extra summer job. And so I ended up with about $7,000 that I can
Starting point is 00:13:21 put towards something. Do you remember during the book that we said anything above $1,000 goes on your baby step two where we list your debts smallest to largest and we're going to pay them off in that order. How much debt do you have, not counting your home? I have about $32,000 on my car and I have about $100,000 in student loans. What do you make a year? I make about $63,000. Your car is too expensive, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:13:57 Yes. Okay, so we need to start working on getting it sold and getting you a cheaper car, like about a $5,000 or a $7,000. I'm really unsure about selling the car because I'm not going to get what I owe on it. I know. So what do you owe on it? You owe $32,000.
Starting point is 00:14:21 What's it worth? It's worth about $29,000, $32,000. What's it worth? It's worth about $29,000, $30,000. So I would rather you be $3,000 in debt than $32,000 in debt. Yeah. Go borrow the $3,000 at the credit union. Use your $7,000 to get you a $7,000 car. And voila, we just got rid of $30,000 worth of debt, just like that. Okay.
Starting point is 00:14:47 You don't sound convinced. I just don't know what I'll get for a $7,000 car, but I'm a single mom. You'll get $30,000 worth of less debt. You have a car that owns you. Yeah. This car is ridiculous in your financial situation. Yeah. It's ridiculous. And so you, what you've got to do is you, do you have a, how old are you? 42. You have family in the area? No. Okay. So what you do, do you have anybody that you know that's a mechanic? I could find someone, yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:29 Yeah. Ask around with your friends who's a good mechanic. Have them check out the car and have them make some suggestions of the type of car that will get you the most use. When it's a $7,000 car, we're not buying a dream car. We're buying a car that is solid transportation and that's all. Right. Nothing fancy. And by the way, it's not forever. It's till you get your mess cleaned up. Roxanne, how much is your car payment a month?
Starting point is 00:15:53 It's $453. Yeah. So imagine when you get that back, what Dave just gave you was $453 back in your budget. And now you're putting that towards your debt snowball, and it's going to feel a lot better. That car may not be something you're super proud of, but you're going to feel better driving this $7,000 car. Or I would challenge you to look at a $5,000 car. Anywhere in there. But then we've got to get after the rest of those student loans, and we're going to put you on a budget and help you do all of that. So here's what's happened, okay? You have never in your 40 years of life addressed the whole subject of money.
Starting point is 00:16:33 It has always happened to you. You've never happened to it. There's no shame in that. But my point is that you are a brand-new toddler barely taking your first steps learning to walk. And, you know, I got grandbabies that are toddlers and when they take those first few steps they ain't real stable they don't feel real confident and that's where you are right now you don't feel confident doing this i've been teaching people to do this for 30 years and i've been doing it longer than you've been alive so it's my confidence and
Starting point is 00:17:06 competence on it it's like automatically I can instantly say get rid of the car get your $7,000 car get on a budget and get an attack mode because I can see how you can do that mathematically but in your mind it's so new to you it's hard for you to ingest that does that make sense yes sir and so it's okay that it's a little shocking and weird to you and you feel a little off balance because you've been doing it so poorly for so long that to learn to do it right is very difficult and you're gonna be great at it you've just never bothered before and you're gonna do great i'm so proud of you well thank you yeah and do you know what Ramsey Plus is? No, not yet.
Starting point is 00:17:48 Okay. It's a subscription thing that we have where you get access to Financial Peace University and you go through a nine-week class on how to handle money. It's way down deep into what the Total Money Makeover teaches. And there's a budgeting software in there called EveryDollar, a budgeting app called EveryDollar that helps you do that. And there's groups in there to support you, and there's coaches in there to support you. And there's a tracking app to track your progress and cheer you on called the Baby Steps Tracker app as you work up those baby steps, okay? And so what we're going to do, since you're brand new at walking, is we're going to put you in the world's best program for walking. And we're going to walk with you and show you how to do it.
Starting point is 00:18:32 It's called Ramsey Plus, and I'm going to pay for it for a year for you, okay? Oh, my goodness. And if I do that and I give it to you, I want you to call me back and yell, I'm debt-free someday soon, okay? I will. All right. You hold on, and Kelly will pick pick up and we'll get you signed up for this. It is, you know, the hardest part of transformation is
Starting point is 00:18:56 the first steps. Always. Anything. Anything you want to do. Because you're so unsure. You have no confidence. You have no confidence. You have no stability. Yeah, tons of fear, too. You could hear it.
Starting point is 00:19:10 What am I going to do about a car? It's a legitimate fear. And as you walked her through it, now she's soaking on that, and she's going, okay, all right, okay. It's a whole new paradigm. You just shifted it. It's the same thing when you're talking about careers. It's a brand-new thing to think about leaving this job after 10 years.
Starting point is 00:19:29 It's a scary thing. And it should be scary because you can't see it. So what you have to do is keep working until you can see it. And when you can see it, you can achieve it. Ramsey personality Ken Coleman is my co-host today here on the Dave Ramsey Show. In Springfield, Missouri, Justin and Alice Alicia are calling in to do their debt-free scream. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, we're good. We're good. Welcome. How much have you paid off?
Starting point is 00:20:16 We paid off $51,950.80. And how long did this take? It took us two years and seven months. All right. And your range of income took us two years and seven months. All right. And your range of income during that two years and seven months? Well, we started with $56,000 and we ended with $46,000. Okay, cool. So what kind of debt was the $52,000? Pretty much a little bit of everything. We had two auto loans. I had an FSA youth loan, and then we had six credit cards. Wow. Okay. So you were kind of normal. Yep, just a little bit. How old are you two? I am 26. And Alicia, how old are you?
Starting point is 00:20:57 24. Awesome. Very cool. So what happened two years and seven months ago that put you on this journey? Oh, great story. We were actually in Okinawa, because that's where I was stationed in 2016, and I'd started a men's Bible study at our church, or joined it, and it was the 33 series. And it talked about the man being the financial provider in the marriage, and it talked about being able to give your wife the option not to work outside of the house, and it mentioned you. And at that point in time, I had never even heard of you, and I felt like God was really just speaking to us about something we talked about. So I read your book, The Total Money Makeover. Actually, I listened to it about 30 times on my way.
Starting point is 00:21:47 You there? I'm here. Can you hear me? Yeah, you're cutting in and out. Okay. So you listened to the book 30-something times, and then what? Yep. And then it just really got me on track to want to provide a better way for my family and change that tree.
Starting point is 00:22:03 Cool. So, Alicia, he comes home, and he's kind of gone crazy. What did you say? Oh, gosh, Dave. I wanted to be normal. I was not the person on board. He jokes with me, and we listened to your show several times about your name being a cuss word in our home. And that was it.
Starting point is 00:22:24 He was just hounding me all the time. And at the time, you know, I've done some self-growth there. I was being selfish. You know, I wanted to continue doing things. We hadn't had any kiddos yet. And I was going to school, never had student loans, though. And so he talked me out of doing that, which I'm very grateful. And so I continued to work, and we paid off a bunch.
Starting point is 00:22:50 We were actually stationed overseas. And then we just got back to the States a little over a year ago. And when we got back to the States a year ago, we found out we were pregnant. Yay! So it was perfect timing. Yeah. Yes, and now our little one is 10 months and we were debt free when she when uh as soon as she was three months old yeah it's just been a crazy journey
Starting point is 00:23:12 yes very cool very cool fun well what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is guys you Uh, staying current and having the discipline. Uh, I really, uh, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but later on it yields a harvest of righteousness. Uh, that, and I just, I listened to your radio show just about every day. So just hearing everyone else doing the debt free scream, it just, it really kept me motivated to get to that point. What was the hardest part of this for y'all? Changing our lifestyle. Stopped going out to eat with my friends at work, brown bagging our lunch, and saying no to people when it meant to go and spend stuff, which is funny is actually my coworkers at my last station,
Starting point is 00:24:09 they put on my going away plaque a quote that said, that's not Dave Ramsey approved. Not Dave Ramsey approved. Well, very cool, you guys. Very cool. Well, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. We're very proud of you heroes. Well done. Thank you for your service.
Starting point is 00:24:27 We appreciate that. And Justin and Alicia, 52,000 paid off in two years and seven months, making 56 to 46. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! three two one we're dead free well done you guys very very well done all right theodore is with us in topeka kansas hi theodore how are you i'm good dave how are you better than i good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can Ken and I help? So this is going to be more of a Ken's coffee on the back porch type of question.
Starting point is 00:25:13 So I'm a banker, and I'm trying to figure out what kind of, you know, what can I do in my career that's less contradicting? You know, I do loans, home equities, things like that. And every time I get someone in to sign a loan, I just want to reach across the table and smack them because I'm just like, what are you doing? And I just, I feel so unfulfilled. And, you know, I just, just going to work every day feeling contradicted. Yeah. Well, so you've been thinking about this long enough to make this phone call. The question is, have you put any thought into what you would really love to do?
Starting point is 00:25:49 Whether or not you think you're qualified for it or not, I just want to know, what would you love to do if we could just transition you out of this and you start Monday morning? Guaranteed success. What would you do? I'd love to financially coach people, to be quite honest with you. Not necessarily as an investment advisor, but just walk people through their finances. Yeah, why is that? Give me the why. I love people. I love helping them.
Starting point is 00:26:15 You know, I think that finances is a big struggle for lots of people. And if I can help them overcome that one little thing, I mean, what you guys and your company have done for me is fantastic, and it's not only just changed my financial life but all aspects of my life. And if I can do that for someone else, you know, that fulfills me. And do you love the idea of working for yourself? I do, absolutely. Very entrepreneurial.
Starting point is 00:26:41 Well, that's what that destination involves. And so, you know, we talk to so many people, Dave, on his show, me on my show, that want to be financial coaches. And, you know, this is all about getting to a place where you can actually coach people. Our Financial Coach Master Training Program, that's where I think you ought to start. Because, again, you get the double benefit of learning the coaching process. They know how to do it well. It can make you a better coach. And then they're also going to walk with you and help you grow your business.
Starting point is 00:27:14 But you need to understand that this isn't a, I walk out of banking and I hang a shingle and I'm immediately making enough money to sustain myself. How much money do you make right now? I make $45,000 a year. All right, so we've got to come up with a plan that involves either you replacing that $45,000 a year in a job that you can do. You have the talent to do it. It may not be the dream job. In fact, it won't be. But it's a day job where there's not this wrestling match with your values every day or, and I'm okay with this one, if you can get there.
Starting point is 00:27:43 I know Dave's going to speak to this, but can you get to a point in the banking job where you realize I'm not doing anything illegal and I'm not being unethical. I am pitching a product and providing a product that I personally, I don't like it. I think it's bad. I'm a cash guy. I'm a no-debt guy. But you can stay there long enough to get to the point where you build that financial coaching business and you step into it eventually. Because you're going to have to build up that financial coaching business, just like an
Starting point is 00:28:10 entrepreneur, one client at a time, to where you're making close to 45. Or if you can get six months of your living expenses in the bank and you believe in yourself, then that's an approach. But that's what's facing you right now. And you've got to decide which is the best way to get there yeah all of that makes sense every bit of that i mean it's just hard to you know be a health nut and do marketing for mcdonald's it's very difficult yeah i get that it's just it is hard and um because it it wasn't incongent. It didn't feel hypocritical for you when you started, but now you're feeling that way.
Starting point is 00:28:49 And we didn't tell you to feel that way. You called and said you felt that way. So, I mean, I don't shame people for being in that industry. There are, in quotes, good bankers. I sometimes meet people in a social situation and go, well, you won't like me. I'm a banker. I'm like, I don't hate all bankers at all, not even close. But, you know, some are more scummy than others, like every other industry.
Starting point is 00:29:13 But obviously, you know, there are people that do a good job and, you know, keep people's best interest in mind. Tell someone not to borrow money sometimes is just irresponsible. They won't make a loan that they could make and you could start doing some of that as long as your firm allows you to exercise judgment in that way but um yeah i think you're going to make a move to something and ken gave you a good map our scripture of the day psalm 1195. Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing can make them stumble. Washington Irving said, Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today here on the air. Laura is with us in Meridian, Indiana. Hi, Laura. Welcome to the Daveidian, Indiana. Hi, Laura. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. I have a question. We have a whole life policy on my husband who is 70 years old. He's how old?
Starting point is 00:30:36 Your phone cut out. He's how old? He's 70. Okay. And it's for $146,000 through the Hartford, I think it is. Should good idea to cash that the cash value is 37 000 um rather than rather than keep the insurance how much uh of a nest egg do you guys have yeah a million over a million and then our house is paid for we don't have any debt except for an rv that we that we purchased several years ago. Other than that, we're debt-free.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Very good. What do you owe on the RV? $100,000. Okay, good. Nice RV. All right. It is. Well, you're a millionaire.
Starting point is 00:31:39 Yeah. If he died and you had no insurance, I think you're okay financially. Don't you? Don't you? I do. But the thing about it is we have to pay $500 a year premium on this insurance. Not anymore. You're canceling it.
Starting point is 00:32:00 Well, I mean, yeah, exactly. But they said $37,000 cash value, and then, of course, we have to pay taxes on that. Nope. But when we... There are no taxes on that. There are none. Nope. Because your basis in this policy is what you have paid into it,
Starting point is 00:32:16 and you have paid more than $37,000 into this garbage. Okay. That was my question. Okay. That is a perfect answer. Thank you so much. So the way you answer the question is, do I have enough? Am I okay if he passes away?
Starting point is 00:32:34 Financially, am I okay if he passes away and we don't have this insurance? If the answer is yes, then you can afford to get rid of the insurance. If you had zero money, I might be telling you to keep it, right? Okay. You see the difference? I do see the difference. But it's not a good policy, and it's a horrible place to have that $37,000 sitting. I'd rather you pay that on that RV, and let's get that RV paid off, and get rid of that $500 bill, and then just make sure you've got everything lined out with the investments. You know where they are.
Starting point is 00:33:06 He knows where they are. We have a plan when either one of you passes so that the other one knows exactly where everything is and how it's going to go down and how you're going to be taken care of with that million dollars. Very well done, Laura. Very impressive. Everyday millionaires, Ken.
Starting point is 00:33:22 Yeah, really impressive. Would you recommend they do anything else with all that money they've got to pay off that RV? Or are you saying slap the $37,000 on it? I'd slap the $37,000. I'd find another $60,000 somewhere out of that million and pay it off. Yeah, because that's a sweet ride, I guess. I'd be debt-free. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:39 They're millionaires. They can afford the RV. But I wouldn't be running around with payments on it. But, yeah, you're right. And let's clear the whole life policy, clear the debt, and then you've got a real clean, very straightforward situation. Make sure there's a goodwill. Everyone needs a goodwill. And, you know, your kids and if you've got children and each of you as spouses
Starting point is 00:34:03 need to know where everything is and what the next step is when someone passes. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Up next is going to be Ray in Houston, Texas. Hi, Ray. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.
Starting point is 00:34:22 What's up? Hey, so I just had a potential career change question. Currently, I'm a pilot, and my wife and I, we make really good money, but I feel like I want to become a financial planner. I love flying. It's great when there's not a pandemic going on, but the impending furloughs is getting to getting to be too much and now i have a family to think of with a new wife and everything so i want to be a financial planner and i can get
Starting point is 00:34:51 a cfp certificate or i don't know if that holds enough weight without getting an mba and like finance or cfa or something like that so i was wondering if i can just get the certificate and be good or if i should go ahead and get the m as well, or what I should do in that regard? CFP would be just fine. Okay. Yeah, you don't need an MBA to be a planner. Not at all. And CFP is a more stringent course study than an MBA study is
Starting point is 00:35:19 when it comes to the issues of personal investing. You can get an MBA and not learn anything about personal investing. That's fair. And the CFP is laser focused on that. I just did not go a whole lot of ways without the degree. Yeah, and it's very stringent. I mean, it's like getting a CPA. It's a very tough program.
Starting point is 00:35:37 And so it's a good program. I will warn you to go ahead and prepare yourself to challenge some of the standard conventions of the financial world, because some of the stuff that's taught in CFP coursework I don't agree with, in other words. But it is a wonderful designation, and the knowledge base is very thorough and very good. I just don't want you to become part of a herd is all I'm saying. You know, keep the ability to think for yourself in that process. So, Ken, we're having like a rash of people want to be financial planners or financial coaches. Do you get this every day on your show?
Starting point is 00:36:18 You would be surprised at how many people want to be either financial coaches or they're not saying career coaches because that's not as widely known of a term you hear life coaches but we get a lot of people that i'll ask them i wonder what you do they want to do what i do and i go oh you want to do what i do or you want to do what dave does and that's to be expected because they've had profound life change happen more so on your side of the aisle but i want to address something very quickly because I think a lot of people that fall into the myth that Ray fell into twice, he asked you twice, he came back to the same question. He said, so you don't think the NBA will give me more credibility? He didn't use the word credibility, but I'm inserting the word credibility. That's what he was saying. And there's this myth out there that a graduate degree is going to make me more impressive.
Starting point is 00:37:05 Now, is a graduate degree impressive? Yes. But in this particular situation, the CFP is much more relevant, A. And then, B, if he spends his time connecting with other financial planners that are successful and he begins to go to lunch with them and say, tell me what has really worked for you in your first two to three years. And really go to school on studying successful people in that field and making good connections.
Starting point is 00:37:30 They are going to see his humility. They're going to see his hunger. And they're going to see his gratitude if he does all three of those things, and I expect that he would. And they will open up doors for him that the NBA would never open up. And I just want to point that out. In this situation, he was thinking, well, if I get the NBA, it makes my name look more impressive. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't at all. Yeah, because truthfully, probably 90% of the people that come
Starting point is 00:37:55 to you for help with their finances don't know what either one of those are. No. And don't care. They just want help. Can you help me me i've never asked one of my doctors to go to the back of his office and pull out his diploma and show me before he treated me yeah not once not once nor did i ask where they went to school that's right not once not with an attorney not what the only thing i'm asking is can you win that's the only thing i'm asking can you do the job can you can you can you get the trademark done? Can you execute the contract? Can you, you know, all I care, you know, I don't really care whether you went to Cornell. I don't really care.
Starting point is 00:38:31 I just want to know, can you get it done? And if you can get it done, you don't really have to have anything after your name except what the law requires. And by the way, they'll go tell 10 other people that you helped change their future. And that's how you grow your business. I don't have a CFP. Yeah. I don't have an MBA. Uh-uh.
Starting point is 00:38:49 Neither do I. I don't have a graduate degree. Yeah. I'm a lowly undergrad. I don't even have that. I started in politics and then never went back. Oops. There you go.
Starting point is 00:39:04 And this is who you're listening to. Yes, we are inserting confidence at alarming rates. James Charles is our producer. Kelly Daniels, our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.
Starting point is 00:39:33 This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. You can listen to Dave, Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, or the rest of the Ramsey Network anywhere with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Catch all of our full shows, browse by topic, or send clips to your friends. Head to the App Store and download the Ramsey Network app today.

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