The Ramsey Show - App - How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Salary (Hour 1)
Episode Date: July 20, 2020Relationships, Debt, Career, Education Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http:...//bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR
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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio,
this is the Day Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money.
My name is Anthony O'Neill, co-hosting with the birthday lady today, the one and only Christy Wright.
Happy birthday.
Thanks. This is a fun way to spend it. Get to hang out with you,
be on the show.
This is awesome.
Man, this is awesome.
You know,
and she's not really excited
to spend it with me, you guys.
Her husband and her baby
is in the lobby
and surprised her today.
So that's why she's really happy.
It was a fun surprise.
I didn't know they were coming.
It really was.
But we're going to be
taking your questions
about money and about life
and especially about ladies.
Y'all, I'm telling you right now uh christy wright has the answers wherever you are especially
you're a young lady um and even if you're a young man you want to understand your wife
your future spouse uh better give christy a call don't call me uh give christy a call
888-825-5225 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.
Kelly is there, and she's ready to take your phone calls, and we'll get you through.
We've got a couple of lines open right now.
So, again, 888-825-5225.
So, Christy, what's new in your world?
I mean, today's your birthday, but how are things going for you and your brand?
What's new?
You know, it was fun because last week we got to pour into some business leaders.
You were there with our Entree Leadership Summit event.
But one of the things that I think has been really fun
is to see how the market is responding
to this expansion we've done
from the Business Boutique Podcast,
turning into the Christy Wright Show.
You know how this is, Anthony,
because you've put a lot of new stuff out there
in the last couple of years.
You've got an idea, you dream it, you plan it,
you work on it, you hope, you pray, all the things, but you don't know till you put it out there in the last couple of years. You've got an idea, you dream it, you plan it, you work on it, you hope, you pray, all the things,
but you don't know till you put it out there
how it's gonna connect or how it's gonna be received.
So man, it's been really cool to see the feedback
from people listening to the new Christy Wright Show
and now it's weekly instead of bi-weekly.
And so it's just been really affirming
and really exciting to know that this is,
we're on the right track.
This is the path God has called us to
and it's helping people and it's just the beginning.
So it's been really fun. And your shows are zoom, zoom it. I mean, I see the views. I,
you know, I look at the other personalities, make sure I'm supporting and, and seeing how
we're all trying to keep up with you. It's not about me, but Chrissy, you're killing it. So
where can they find you on YouTube for your show? Yeah. So it's a official Christy Wright and same on Facebook and then Instagram is Christy B Wright. And, uh, yeah, it's really
just what the things that we've tried to say is I've been helping women for years, create a
business they love. And what I've learned is they don't want just a business they love. They want
to create a life they love. And so we're trying to help them, uh, do just that. So it's been fun.
Listen, 888-825-5225.
Christy Wright is in the building today with me.
And we're going to be talking about your life, your money.
And ladies, give us a call.
I'm telling you right now, she has the answers.
She can help you out.
Christy, let's go ahead and go to the phone lines.
Let's talk to Jaden out in Norfolk.
Norfolk, how can we help you, Jaden?
Hey, Anthony. What's up, Jaden? Hey, Anthony.
What's up, Christy?
Hey, how's it going?
Good.
So I've been dating this girl for about five and a half years.
We were high school sweethearts.
And she has a car now that her parents bought her for college,
but she wants to sell it and get a more expensive,
like mid-payments on a car through her dad.
Like her dad's going to buy it, and then she's going to make the payments to her dad.
And her argument, and I'm against it because I don't want to be in debt.
It's not me, I guess I shouldn't say.
I don't want her to be in debt.
But we're not married or nothing.
And she says, well well it's not your money
it's my money so it shouldn't be your issue so i was wondering what you guys think about that
well i'll jump in from my just my gut response here jayden and then i'm curious what anthony
has to say from the financial perspective but i'll tell you two things can be true it is true
that you're not married and you don't have a say in how she spends
her money. That's true. And the other thing that's also true is y'all have been dating five and a
half years. Either you're heading towards marriage or you're not. And so you have a say in her life
as someone that she potentially might be wanting to spend her life with or whatever you guys have
talked about. So there's an element of there should be a mutual respect enough to say, hey,
let's get on the same page with how we value money, handle money,
create this foundation for the future, assuming there's a future,
unless y'all are just, you know, this is going, this is a dead end here.
So I think two things can be true.
You know, so two things can be true.
I think it's important to build a foundation of being on the same page
with how you handle money, how you view debt, and figure it out now,
you know, before you get married, before you get engaged. But at the same time, technically she's right.
You don't have a say, but I think, I think she should have enough respect for you and you, for
her to lean into this conflict and get on the same page financially, um, with any decisions that
you're making because you want a future together. Anthony, you know, you hop in on, you hear this a
lot, man. Well, wait, I don't hear this a lot. Well, people not being on the same page.
People not being on the same page.
Yeah, you're right.
We hear that all the time, whether you're married or not.
Yes, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, because my people know, don't come to me with this stuff.
Anyways, Jaden, you said something, Christy said that a dead end, and you said you don't think so.
So you feel as if there is still a future with this young lady, correct?
Yeah, I just, I mean, the only reason
we're not married is, I mean, I'm only 20
and she's 19.
I just, I don't know.
Y'all are young.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Y'all are young. That's wise.
Don't rush.
So you're saying 20, so that means you were, what, 15?
She was 14.
And y'all been dating that long. So here's the thing. Here's the thing, Jaden, because you're young.
So I'm gonna let you slide. I won't be as me. I'll be the good guy today. I'm gonna be like Christy.
I think you all just need to have the conversation, you know, just really just sit down and say, hey, this this is where I'm trying to go in life. And I date for the purpose of marriage.
I see us as a great potential of getting married.
But I want to be debt free.
I want to build a legacy for my kids.
I want to help you start a business.
But the things that you're doing now could delay that if we do get into marriage.
I'm not going to tell you what to do with your money.
I'm not going to get into your business because you're right.
It's none of my business. But I do want to tell you that to do with your money. I'm not going to get into your business because you're right. It's none of my business.
But I do want to tell you that I care for you.
I love you.
I respect you and I honor you.
And because I do love and care for you, here are my thoughts from there.
Now you can take it or leave it.
Then from there, Chrissy, this is my only thing.
Let's have it. If she keeps that up, then she's sending you a message of who she is and what you will deal with in the future.
Yeah.
And so and I don't want to tell someone to break up with someone because they're in debt.
But what I'm saying is if you are the kind of guy and that you do not want to be dead and she's saying, I love this lifestyle, then that's a serious conversation to have that maybe you need
to back off. You know what I'm more concerned about than even the money or the debt part of it,
Anthony? It's the lack of respect that she, it's my money. You don't get to say that posture
is concerning. So I would even, Jaden, let's just keep money out of it for a half a second. And
let's get to the deeper root here and say, look, you know, I care about you. I love you. We've been together X amount of years and I want a future with you. It concerns
me that you don't have enough respect for me and our relationship and the future that you'd be
bringing this debt into, by the way, that would be our money and our debt in the future at some
point. The lack of respect is the bigger concern to me. So I would, I would have a conversation
about how you guys respect each other
and show respect and show love.
And then, oh, by the way,
let's figure out the debt piece of it as well.
But if you don't respect each other,
that's a major problem.
That's a huge problem,
especially for a man.
We crave respect.
So if I don't feel respected
by my woman or my wife,
well, we got a problem.
Yeah, listen to her about it.
Don't listen to me.
Listen to Chris. Both. It's both. Y'all, listen to her, by the way. Don't listen to me. Listen to Chris.
Both.
It's both.
It's both.
Y'all, this is
The Dave Ramsey Show.
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and get this month's dave ramsey special visit grip6.com that's grip6.com Going out to Great Falls, going to have a conversation with Ty.
Ty, how can Chrissy, Ryder, and myself help?
Hi, guys. How are you doing?
Hey, we're doing well.
Great. What's going on?
So my question, a quick story. I currently work for a construction company, and the job that I'm working on is a couple hours away, or to where I live, to where I currently actually have an address to finish up nursing school. and vehicle wear, all that kind of stuff for getting back
because I want to get back every weekend to see her.
Just trying to figure out how to approach that subject with my boss.
I've only been working here for just over a year,
so I'm just trying to get that figured out.
What do you do, Ty? What's your role?
I'm a project engineer, so I'm part of the
management team for the project, and it's a big couple-year project that I'm currently on right
now. Okay, I got some more questions about this whole scenario. So when this project launched,
and they put you on this project, how was that agreement set up? Was it expected that you would
move to this place three hours away for the duration of this project for the one to two years? Or how was it discussed?
Well, initially, it was intended to be on another project in the same city. But then they needed my
help on this, on the second project that we have in the same city. And so I switched over to that project.
And, you know, and I've talked about it with my fiance about doing this for now
because it's a great job.
It'll allow us to pay cash for this for school.
It's just that this is a, it's kind of a financial hit,
taking all the gas money and the
vehicle maintenance, all that kind of stuff out of it. And the six hours of driving every weekend
and everything. So sure. Well, the reason I'm asking about how it was set up and I want to go
back to that again, whether it was the first project or the second project, whichever project,
I just want to understand what you agreed to, because if the project was set up such that you
agreed and said, I'm going to take this project,
understanding that you wouldn't be compensated for the mileage and the time
away, and you've chosen,
because they expect you to live in this city temporarily for a year to two
years, and you've chosen to drive back for your fiance, which makes sense,
but it was more your choice to come back when they expected you to stay there,
then that's a different conversation with your boss.
So I'm just trying to understand how this was set up.
Yeah. So the first project I was initially intended to stay there, then that's a different conversation with your boss. So I'm just trying to understand how this was set up. Yeah.
So the first project I was initially intended to be on, I was told I'd be here till October.
Okay.
Till the beginning of October.
Okay.
So you agreed to that and now it's looking like one to two years.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay, cool.
Well, I think it's two pieces to this.
And Anthony, you jump in this too.
I'll tell you one of the most common mistakes I see people make when they are asking for
a raise or negotiating salary is they talk about what they need.
I need this.
I have this many kids.
I need, I need.
And the employer in many instances is not as concerned with that.
They're concerned with results.
They're concerned with the value you bring to the role that you provide in this project or this position. And there's going to be a range,
so we can't ask for something outside of the range. So when you talk about this with your boss,
I want you to talk about results, value. While you are pivotal to this project, you need to be
on this project because here's what you're involved in. Here's the results you're getting
for them. And you can talk about the expense.
Hey, this was an unexpected expense that we didn't agree on from the get-go.
I want to be on this project, but I want us to come together on compensating me for the cost I'm incurring.
Whether it's on my car or mileage or however you want to phrase it.
But you can talk about the expense of the job that wasn't a part of the initial agreement without talking about, well, I just need more money because we eat out a lot. And
people make that mistake. They don't talk about the results. They talk about what they need,
but you can talk about it in a way that, that works. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. I mean,
I definitely will listen to Christie's, uh, advice there and we'll pray for you. Uh, thank you so
much for calling in, uh, going out to Indianapolis, we're going to have a conversation
with Alex. Alex, how can
Christy and I help?
Hello, I'm Alex,
19 years old. Just got
out of high school two years ago. I turned
20 this year. I got a
auto loan. I have no other
debt. I owe $30,000
on my truck.
Alex,
you say you're 19 years old? debt um another thirty thousand dollars on my truck whoa whoa whoa whoa say this alice alice
you say you're 19 years old with thirty thousand dollars on your truck
yeah and uh i make 55k right now uh i was gonna my question was i if i2,200 a month on my truck, it'd be paid off by August of 21 next year.
What kind of truck is it?
I mean, 2019 Chevy Silverado.
Why do you need that much of a car for you at 19?
Well, I had the first truck i bought when i was 17 it was like six thousand dollars
i blew up on the road and then the next one my next one my whole transmission went out and then
my engine went out so i just went and got this i figured it'd be worth the money it'll last me 10
15 years too much of a car man that's just too much of a car for you, Alex.
Let's just be honest. You're 19 years old.
You're driving a better car
than my own father, and he's 60 years
old. And so
here's my suggestion to you.
You're not going to like it. And Chris,
you can chime in too. And Alex,
I want to commend you, though, on this much.
19 making $55,000 a year
is absolutely amazing.
And one of the key things that I'm always teaching young people is to be a good steward and to get ahead of the game and don't fall into the trap of the norm.
It is normal for people with decent salaries to go out there and get a car payment.
I want you to be on the opposite side.
Have your salary.
Keep your money.
And what I want you to do is honestly sell the car
Sell the truck and go get you a cash truck
You're making $55,000
Are you living at home or you got your own place?
I'm pretty sure you got your own place right now, right?
Nope, living with my parents
Until I get my truck paid
Until I plan to get my truck paid off
My other question was I was hoping to
Build a house or get a house End of next year After all my debts paid off, which is only my truck.
I have no other debt.
You can do that a lot faster, Alex, if you do sell the truck.
Here's what I like about you, Alex.
The fact that you're 19 years old and making $55 and calling the Dave Ramsey Show to ask the question because you want to do the right thing a lot of people call and Anthony they're asking the question but they actually
don't want to do the right thing I hear in your voice that you do and so I'm so I'm so impressed
but uh yeah just like Anthony said if you pay if you sell that truck you're going to get to that
home goal a lot faster yeah Alice I want you to sit on I want you to hold on the phone I'm gonna
have uh Kelly send you the copy of Dave Ramsey's book Total Money Makeover I i want you to hold on the phone i'm gonna have kelly send you the copy of dave ramsey's book total money makeover i really want you to read that because what i want to do is help get
you ahead of the game um so you don't fall into the trap because i i it's not often we meet a 19
year old who's about to be 20 making that kind of money and so what i really really really want
you to hear me say this sell the car go buy you a nice ten fifteen thousand dollar truck stack up your
emergency fund start stacking up money go towards a house because you said that's something that you
really want to do then when you get into your house when you have some equity when you have
you know when you're a homeowner then go buy you a real nice car but pay for it cash do not lift
paycheck to paycheck because you want to look good.
I mean, $55,000 and you're driving a $30,000 car.
My goodness.
That's just not good.
But, I mean, if you were going to, the way he asked the question,
if he was going to put $2,200 a month towards this car payment, hypothetically,
if you've got that margin to put towards something, put it towards this cash truck,
put it towards your emergency fund, put it towards the house,
it's going to go a lot further than going towards the interest of this car payment so man
i'm excited about what you can do if you do this man that's that that's a sharp young man i mean
the fact that he called and asked that question um i commend him but people hear me clearly you
do not want to spend five six they even have car loans now chrissy going to be 10 years
no just stack your money and you're gonna be all right coming up next we got a debt-free
scream right here live on the day ramp show with chrissy wright and myself i can't wait we'll see Thank you. In the lobby of Branded Solutions on the Get Preach stage, Drew and Miranda are with us.
Hey, you guys.
How you all doing?
Hey.
Hello.
We're doing good.
Oh, my goodness, man.
Y'all are a sharp young couple.
I like your shoes, too.
His or mine?
I mean, I like both of y'all's, but I really like yours.
I mean, the nice and glitter for this beautiful stage right behind you.
It's good.
So, tell us, where are you from?
Houston, Texas. Houston, Texas? Is it hot or cold out there right behind you. It's good. So tell us, where are you from? Houston, Texas.
Houston, Texas?
Is it hot or cold out there right now?
It's pretty hot.
It's very hot.
Hotter than Nashville?
Yeah.
It's pretty hot.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
So you guys are here to celebrate.
So go ahead and let's start this process.
How much debt did you all pay off?
$89,223.
Nice.
$89,000. That Nice. $89,000.
That's amazing.
That's big.
$89,000.
And how long did it take you to pay it off?
24 months.
24 months.
Yes, sir.
If my math is correct, that's two years.
It is.
Yeah.
And the range of income during that time?
We started at $130,000 and then some extra jobs and raises later.
We're north of $150,000.
Cool.
Congratulations.
That's awesome.
What do you all do for a living?
I'm a project manager for a real estate developer.
I went from property management to commercial brokerage, and now I'm in co-working.
Awesome.
Man.
So, Chrissy, I've got to ask you a question.
You can ask some more questions.
I don't want to lead all this because I could talk all day long.
What kind of debt was it?
Is that me?
Yep.
So our phones, a little bit of credit card.
We had a loan on a bunk bed and lots of student loans.
A loan on bunk beds?
Yes.
We took a loan out on our bunk bed.
So that was a mistake.
That was a big mistake.
You can finance anything.
I tell you what.
Right.
Yeah.
And then student loans, was that the bulk of it?
It was.
Yes.
How much were the student loans?
So you had 50 and I had 20.
Yeah, so 70.
70,000 of it.
Man.
So what happened that got you all on this journey?
So you know what?
We have $89,000, nearly $300 in debt.
What was that thing that said, all right, enough is enough.
I'm tired and I'm ready to attack it.
I think for me, I went through a Bible study with some of my coworkers.
The Ron Blue, God owns it all.
Okay.
At that same time, he was commuting a lot to work and so he got into
the dave ramsey podcast um and he has a lot more to say about the podcast because that's his bread
and butter right there he loves listening to it so i was a financial peace baby and so my parents
were coordinators and so i had recalled some of the lessons or at
least i knew dave ramsey had something to say about money and so we uh about a year after we
got married we were still trying to figure out how to do the whole money together thing and i was
commuting and so i stumbled across the podcast and started doing three hours a day on the podcast and
and she had at the round the same time was doing this study on stewardship so we had to start having hard conversations about what's our legacy going to be?
How are we going to handle school for the kids?
How are we going to do retirement?
What do we want to communicate to our kids about values and morality and discipline?
And so basically we bought the program Hook, Line, and Sinker.
And then 18 months after we got married, we started the we started the baby steps.
OK, take me back really quickly to those early conversations, because I think there are a lot of people listening right now that are scared to have them.
They are married.
They love their spouse and they want a great future.
But it's just that that awkwardness, the fear that everything that is wrapped that a lot of times keeps us from having that conversation.
So go back to some of those early ones and talk to us about what was it like?
How did you approach it?
Kind of help some people that might be in those shoes right now today listening.
Yeah, I would say it takes a lot of communication.
I think when you go into a marriage, any kind of hard conversation is going to be awkward.
And it's going to take some time to kind of have conversation is, is going to be awkward and it's going to take some time to
kind of have those conversations, but having them open and being honest and knowing that
your partner's listening to you and understanding you is, is important. And he gave me so much
grace through all of it. And for me, it was, it was just open conversation from the get-go. So both of our families have a history of coming from broken families.
And so we're – and actually, this is our – your second marriage, my first marriage, longest marriage I've ever had, which is good.
Mine too now.
But so we came into our relationship highly sensitive to what other landmines would be for our relationship.
So we came in eyes wide open.
Let's identify the things that are going to be the most dangerous to us succeeding and let's go kill them.
And finances was one of the big ones.
Absolutely.
So I got to ask you this question and then we're going to let you celebrate.
Y'all got to celebrate real big.
This is huge accomplishment.
Did people think you all were crazy when you started this journey?
Well, what were people saying about you two?
And I'm pretty sure you all had to say no to some things.
Or was everyone your biggest cheerleader?
I would say that I know you just showed a picture.
The people right here in this room are our biggest cheerleaders,
and we are so proud that they could be here today.
And who are these people these are our parents and our kids and my sister-in-law so and there's there's a handful
more that were supporters and along the way we had some detractors so i work in construction
and so everyone's got a truck and um for the last six months i've been driving around in a 2012 camry and actually
our car story is is pretty rough my truck ended up having electrical issues we had to sell it um
then her parents graciously sold us used her old tahoe uh and then the week i had it in town uh i
got it in a wreck 35 mile an hour rear end and so then that thing was kaput the transmission went
out we sold that took the insurance money and our cash flow bought an armada end. And so then that thing was kaput. The transmission went out. We sold that, took the insurance money and our cash flow, bought an Armada for cash.
Wow.
And then two weeks before we were supposed to pay our last payment off, I took an unprotected
left and got T-boned.
And so we had a choice to make.
It's like, do we say screw it and go get a car note, pay everything off, or delay our
payment?
And so we decided to bite the bullet, went ahead and paid everything off,
carpooled, Ubered, tried to make it happen.
And then we were telling our story on Christmas,
and some buddies of mine from high school came and said,
we're so inspired by your story.
We have this car we don't use.
We want you to use it for the next six months while you save up to buy a car.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well done, guys.
Well done.
I mean, the story to get you here is incredible.
Yeah.
Well, we have a copy of Chris Hosen's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, because clearly
that's the next chapter in y'all's life, in building wealth and passing on legacy.
And speaking of legacy, you have your son and daughter, Nico and Piper here?
Yes, we do.
Bring them on stage.
Yes, bring them.
Oh, my goodness.
Look at them.
They're the cutest.
Yes. Oh, I absolutely
love it. Well, are they ready?
We've been practicing.
Are they ready? We're going to count down.
He's smiling like I'm ready.
I'm going to get to yelling it.
Alright you guys, Drew and Miranda
from Houston, Texas.
$89,300 paid off within
24 months, making
$150,000.
Let's hear a debt-free scream.
Y'all ready?
Yeah.
All right.
Three, two, one.
We're debt-free!
Oh, man.
You know, I...
That is fun.
That is amazing.
It never gets old.
Yeah, Christy.
I mean, I think for me, the best part of that is seeing those two kids.
Yes.
Young.
Yes.
And their future is different because of what their parents decided to do when they were little kids.
Yeah, and it's not an easy road depending on how much debt you have and how long it takes you to pay it off.
Drew just gave us a tiny snapshot of some of the things he went through with the truck
and the car and you're going to face obstacles even once you've decided to do the right thing.
Yes.
It's not all of a sudden going to be easy and perfect and the path always made perfectly
clear.
But man, once you decide, it's like Dave talks about this.
You have this never again moment.
Yeah.
So I'm never looking back.
Yeah.
I'm taking debt off the table and we're going to change our family tree. And what's amazing is when you decide to do that, even if it gets hard,
the, the determination will pay off. And they're just such an example of that. Those little kids
and their story, their whole future is different simply because they decided they decided, you
know, and, and, and to y'all listening right now, if you don't have kids make that decision now.
So you only have to go down that journey with kids and um i celebrate you and your husband for you what y'all do with your kids
right now like their future is so much better so man i'm just excited just to have this conversation
with you christy i mean we're we're changing lives here this is fun this is a front row seat
i'm serious you guys if you really really really want to learn how are these people doing this i want
you to stick around to the next break because we're going to tell you how you can start your
debt-free journey and how you can become debt-free how you can start building your legacy this is
the day ramsey show Thank you. do you ever get to the end of the month and have no idea where all your money went
it feels like as soon as the money comes in, it goes right back out. Here's the thing, you guys.
If you want to take control of your money, you and I'm talking to you, you have to be the one to tell it where to go.
That means getting on a budget.
Every dollar, give every dollar a job every single month.
The best way to do this is with our new ramsey plus membership it gives you all our best
money products including a premium version of our budgeting app every dollar that's where you'll
make your budget track your spending and clearly see where all your money is going you can try all
of this with a free trial of ramsey plus today never again wonder where your money is going to start your free trial. Text BEGIN
to 33789. Again, that's BEGIN to 33789. And Chrissy, one of the things I really love about
Ramsey Plus is financial peace and diversity. That's inside of it as well. Yeah. And it's so
amazing to see how when you have a plan, it reduces your stress, your worry, your fear,
because you can see the steps you need to take. I tell people this all the time when it comes to anything in life.
It's not having too much to do that overwhelms us.
It's not knowing what to do.
That's why we put that together in a plan.
Step one, two, three.
When you see it, you can do it.
And it's just amazing how much easier it can be once you can actually see it.
And that was the secret to Drew and Miranda.
They had a plan.
That's right.
And they stuck to that plan for two years, 24 months.
And because they stuck to that plan, they were on a budget.
They took the class.
They were able to become debt free.
That's right.
So I want to encourage you.
Text BEGIN, B-E-G-I-N, to 33789.
This is the thing that changed my life.
You've taken it.
It's just a great, great, great thing.
So check it out, you guys, and I promise
you, you will thank
us all later. We're going to keep
the conversation going, have a conversation with
Jack out in St. Cloud.
Jack, good afternoon. How
can Christy and I help?
Hello, Mr. O'Neill. How are you?
I'm doing good, man. How can we help?
So I'm
18 years old here.
I'm pretty young.
I've got a decent chunk of money saved up for my age, I think.
And given that I just graduated here in May somehow with all the COVID stuff going on,
I'm really on the fence on whether or not I should go to college
or if I should just, you know, find a full-time job and just work for a year
and then save up some more money so I have even more to go to college later on.
I'm just looking for some professional advice on what I should do.
That's good.
How much money do you have saved up right now, Jack?
$16,000.
$16,000.
Have you applied to any schools to get in, or are you trying to figure out if you if you should even apply well i've applied to uh south dakota state university
out in brookings and also a local community college i was thinking about maybe taking some
some classes there just to save some money but but you you know, with all the COVID-19 stuff going on,
I really am not all up in arms about going to school here,
especially if it's out in South Dakota,
and then have them all suddenly turn off all the lights and say,
you have to stay at home and you have to do distance learning.
Because, I mean, I graduated just this spring,
and we did our whole last semester online, and that was a nightmare for me.
I really don't want to do that.
I understand.
So, yeah.
What do you want to get a degree in?
Probably something in business.
I mean, I could see myself maybe owning, like, I work at a local dairy clean in my hometown and I love it there I've been there
for three years and I could I could easily see myself one day owning one of those so maybe a
degree in business or maybe even if I decide I don't need a degree just go for some business
classes maybe yeah yeah yeah I like that and I'm gonna let chrissy talk into the business side of
things because if i'm correct chrissy you don't need a degree to own a business um but here's my
thing when you're young uh jack i am a huge fan of education i'm gonna be honest with you i'm not a
huge fan of racking up debt for education though and so i do believe that you know if if you believe
um we have two problems if you're concerned about your health, then yes,
I would encourage you to not go to school.
But if you're not concerned about your health,
but you're concerned about the school shutting down
and then saying, hey, go home and do distance learning,
then I would definitely say take the chance.
I'm a huge fan.
If you know if you want to go to school, go to school.
But at the same time, do you need a degree to actually own a dairy queen?
I don't think so.
Am I correct here?
No, you don't.
I think the important question that you want to ask yourself, Jack, at the age of 18, which is very young, is do I want a degree for my life?
Yeah.
Today you think you want to own a dairy queen.
That dream may change in a week, in a month, and in 10 years.
You may be doing something totally different. You know, Jack, I thought I was going
to work at an advertising agency and I got a degree in advertising. And it's just amazing how
as you grow and mature and you're exposed to more things in the world, more opportunities,
more industries, you'll learn more about yourself and what you want that you just don't know today
and you can't know today because you're 18. So what the question I would ask you is, do you want a degree for your life to have to open doors for your life? If so, one of the things I
would encourage you to think about is not this all or nothing mentality of I'm not going to go to
school at all for a year and I'm just going to work and see what happens with COVID or I'm going
to go full time and then maybe they're going to pull the plug on me and I'm going to have to,
what if you just, like you said, either community classes, community college classes, some online classes, whatever you want to do.
But I would get plugged in if you want a degree.
If your answer to that question I asked you is yes.
If you want a degree, get plugged in in some capacity now.
Because if you don't, it's going to be much harder to go back when you're 19 and 20 and 21.
And that degree that you desire will continue to get delayed because there's never a good time to go back when you're 19 and 20 and 21. And that degree that you desire
will continue to get delayed
because there's never a good time to go.
Right now is a good time to go
because everybody's going, you're 18.
Go ahead and get started on that dream.
And then you can always add more classes later
or you could always back off later
if you decide, hey, this is the business dream.
I've got enough basics to cover my bases.
But I would just say plug into something today
if you want that long-term
to give you more options and more opportunities. Because once you get in the groove cover my bases. But I would just say, plug into something today if you want that long-term to
give you more options and more opportunities. Because once you get in the groove of working
full-time, it's real hard to say, hey, I'm at 24. I'm just going to go back and get my degree. It's
harder then. You'll thank yourself at 22 when you're graduating that you started today, if that's
what you want for your life. Yeah. So to answer your question specifically, Jack, what we're
saying, I like her question. Ask yourself, do you want a degree for your life. Yeah. So to answer your question specifically, Jack, what we're saying, I like her question.
Ask yourself, do you want a degree for your life?
And if your answer is no or I do not know,
I also agree that I want you to take maybe like one or two classes
at a community college and then get out there in the workforce
and try different things.
See what you're attracted to.
See what you really like.
See what you do not like.
And then as you get a little bit older maybe spend this one year and then once you identify that let's say for an example
you get out there and you find this particular job field well do do some research well do i need a
degree for this or can i do maybe trade school maybe can i get a certificate and then go from
there but right now i'm not really uh pressed for you to be in a rush to go out there and just jump into paying a lot of money for school.
I want you to figure out what you're doing.
So tonight, write down a vision.
Step back and say, all right, this is what I'm going to do for this year.
I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that.
The key thing here, though, is to have a clear, clear, clear vision.
You know, Christy, we were talking about your YouTube channel earlier,
and I just got to talk about
mine's a little bit yeah you know you're you're rocking it's amazing how it has grown so much
it's because you're doing such great work there I mean I think so I think I'm doing okay over there
but here's why I love my YouTube channel it's because of people like Jack 18 19 years old
they're trying to figure out how do I start off you know um life early i mean how do i
start off correct what do i do with my money and so that's what we're talking about over on my
youtube channel we're really geared towards that 18 to about 34 year old and we're having
conversations like should i go to college how do i pay for college we're interviewing people who
are like 25 26 interviewed a couple two weeks ago, 28 years old, Chrissy,
paid off all of their debt, have over $200,000 in their savings account,
paying off their house by next year and they're 28 years old.
That's unreal.
And we unpack, okay, why, how?
Like, you're different.
Like, what are you doing?
And they really break it down.
So I want to encourage people to go to youtube dot com for slash Anthony O'Neill.
Check that out, because we're just having a real conversation, a relevant conversation with just relatable people.
Yeah. And you're talking about such practical things that people are interested in.
You have videos on how to date on a budget. How do I not seem cheap, but show the girl I care about?
These are really important things to talk about.
Yeah, they are.
But some females say
I am cheap.
Christy Wright, man,
thank you so much
for joining me.
This is fun.
This has been real fun.
I want to thank
our producer James Childs
and Kelly Daniel,
our associate producer
who's on the phone lines.
Remember, you guys,
the caliber of our
financial future
will be determined
by the decisions
we make today.
So I want you to make the right one.
This is The Dave Ramsey Show.
This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.
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