The Ramsey Show - App - I Got Into Financial Trouble During COVID (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

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Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. My name is Anthony O'Neill, host of the popular YouTube and podcast show, The Table with Anthony O'Neill. And co-hosting with me today is Ken Coleman, host of The Ken Coleman Show and number one national bestselling author of The Proximity Principle. And together today, we're going to be answering your questions around your life, your money and your careers. If you're trying to figure out how do I make my shovel bigger? Give us a call. We have the career expert in the building who will show you how to land that job get that pay increase

and then once we can help you out over there then he's going to throw an alley hoop over here to me and i'm going to show you how to use the money to pay off your debt build wealth start investing purchase your car you know i want i want to see more young people can get their dream jobs pay off their debt when they pay off their debt. When they pay off their debt, they have a fully funded emergency fund. And they're calling here saying, hey, how do I build my dream home? Yes. How do I buy my dream car?

Yes. How do I send my kids off to their school? You know, that's those are the conversations that I'm looking forward to having down the road as we help people get out of debt. And we start seeing their kids come up with no debt. And now they're saying, hey, I was set up right. I just landed my dream job, Ken. Thank you. Hey, Anthony, how do I do this over here? So I really want to encourage you to give us a call. We have two phone lines open here at the top of the hour, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Kelly is standing by. And I'm excited.

I really am excited. You excited, Ken? I am. You know, I love what you just said. I think that one of the other things we'd see happen as a result of that vision you gave us is, you know this well, the Mosaics, Gen Z, the Millennials, Gen Y yeah they are a very socially aware generation and i think we'd see people doing more with that money as well um that would be so missional you know people doing things to help others uh starting non-profits or starting causes you know or uh just i that this generation really is uh well these two generations that I mentioned really are socially aware.

And I think that when Dave says and has said for many, many years, live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else, that give like no one else, I think those two generations could do some amazing things with that money. So I love that vision, and I think I'd add that one little thing right there because I think it could be extraordinary. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with you, man. Well, hey add that one little thing right there because I think it could be extraordinary. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with you, man. Well, hey, Skyler is with us in Iowa. Good afternoon, Skyler. How can we help?

Thanks for having me. I guess I kind of got a late listen to Dave Ramsey's show, and I did stuff backwards from, I guess, the baby steps. And we have a lot of money, me and my fiancee, in savings account. But with her only working part-time, going to school, being a nurse practitioner, she gets very anxiety about paying off some of the debt with that just because she doesn't work as much. I guess I just don't know the way to help get her over that to get a couple of our debts paid off. So when you say your fiancee, right? Now, when you say help her get over it, a couple of our debts paid off. So when you say you're a fiance, right? Now, when you say help her get over it, a little bit more specific.

She just gets anxiety about spending that money just because she's only working part-time. Okay. And she just, I guess, doesn't, she likes having that safety net there, even though it's a lot of money just being set there. How much is a lot of money just being set there. How much is a lot of money? We got about $75,000 in savings and then another $13,000 in our wedding fund for May. How much money do you owe in debt? I owe $16,000 on a truck, and we have $8,000 on our student loans is all we owe. So you owe $24,000, and you got $75,000 or $78,000.

Is that what you said, $78,000? Yep. So you owe $24,000 and you got $75,000 or $78,000. Is that what you said, $78,000? Yeah. Yeah. And that's about $10,000 a semester for a school that we've been trying to pay up front. And you guys are cash-filling that together, right? Yes. I think you just have to sit down with her and walk her through it and go, look, if we pay my truck off and we pay your loan off, okay, that's $24,000 if I got the numbers right.

Is that correct yep all right so show her what's left it's the old math problem okay and you show her what's left after that and you go we still have our 13 000 in our wedding fund we still have uh 78 and 24 what is that 58 58 and 54, right? Yes. And we both have good retirement funds, too. Yeah, but I'm not even talking retirement because we're not going to touch that. I'm saying you still have over $50,000 in savings plus the 13, and you guys are debt-free.

You got your three to six months already fully funded before you ever walk down the aisle. There's nothing for her to have anxiety over. Help her see how much money you guys are going to save per month off of those debt payments. Show her that number. Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask you this. When are y'all getting married?

May 1st. Okay. So it's right around the corner. Okay. So March, April, May. Okay. Okay, cool. Typically what we teach on the money side of things is we don't combine income other than savings account for the wedding until we are actually married.

That's true. That is correct. So I would definitely say I would wait to combine your income to pay off debt. You could take your money and pay off your debt. She could take her money and pay off her debt. How is that savings broken down? Thank you for saying. I was under the impression it was your debt. She could take her money and pay off her debt. How is that savings broken down? Thank you for saying that. I was under the impression it was your money. That's a very good

point. Thank you for clarifying that. How much of that $78,000 is yours versus hers? She's got about $44,000 and I've got about $34,000. Okay. So everything I said, except that I missed that. Thank you, AO, for bailing me out there. We don't want to confuse folks. But she could still pay off hers.

Yeah, she still could. She's only got eight. She's still going to be in great shape. So, I agree. She could pay off hers. You can save some of yours to pay for the wedding, or y'all can do that together. But the key thing here is... That's what's in our savings. The wedding stuff

is all separate from that. Okay, perfect. Then, yeah i i agree with ken she can pay off hers you can start attacking yours and go from there but i i would not combine bank accounts until the day after your marriage um and but i mean what you all are doing right now is is is it's great you have the money uh to take care of that i will go ahead and take care of it um and i definitely want to. Let me ask him real quick. Skyler, what does she say?

What is her anxiety? That's just a fancy word in this situation for fear. What is she afraid of if she spends that $8,000 of her $44,000 taking her down to $36,000? What is she scared of specifically? Has she told you? Not really. I'd start with that. start with that worries about it

well but so here's the deal so you started off the call saying how can i help her i think you got to have a conversation with and say hey what are you scared about if you cut a check today for 8 000 you are debt free and i'm going to cut a check on my side you get to decide so by the way ao is right you need to lead you need to go ahead and pay that truck off. Yeah. And show her. Show her how much you still have left over and say, what are you scared of? Because look at how much money I saved a month to show her that car payment and just show her how that plays out on a depreciating asset, by the way. So just show her some real numbers, but then say, hey, what are you scared of?

Let her tell you. Once she tells you, why don't you listen to her? And I know you're not going to belittle it, but don't try to tear it apart. Just let her voice what she's scared of and then go, hey, but you don't have to be scared of that. Here's why. And let her see how big picture,

hey, do you want to be on the same page? We've got to be on the same page before we get married. We've got to get on the same page on the money stuff. Yeah. And I try to show her, like, we looked up jobs

and what she's going to be making when she's done. I'm like, you know, if you're debt-free coming out of it looked up jobs and what she's going to be making when she's done. I'm like, you know, if you're debt-free coming out of it, that's even going to be there in a year. Yeah, this is a math problem. Show her how the math actually adds up. And you guys are going to be in great shape. Wow, what a great way to start your marriage. I love it.

I love it. This is The Ramsey Show. Connor is with us in Youngstown, Ohio. Good afternoon, Connor. How can Ken and I help? Hi. So I'm 19 years old and newly married. I was never really afforded the opportunity to go to college based on my circumstances. And I just I needed to support myself and be able to pay rent after high school.

So, well, while I was in high school, I got a trade school degree and currently I'm working as a machinist. So I just just recently got married and I got myself in a little bit of a mess during covid um but i'm working on baby step number two i have two credit cards paid off and just uh i married some student loan debt but so i i have to pay that down and then i have a personal loan that i have to take care of but um other than that, everything's going well, getting the debt paid down pretty quickly. Ultimately, I was just wondering, since I have to work full-time and I have another mouth to feed now,

I was just debating on whether or not college would be worth it because, I mean, I wasn't able to go out of high school but um and I know you guys teach the student loan debt isn't a good idea obviously so um what do you want to do you're 19 so you're really young but you've already been in the trades long enough to get a good sense of what that's like what do you want to do? Well, I worked in a machine shop through high school, too, part-time. So, I mean, this is about my fourth year doing it. I'm making almost $45,000 a year. Good for you.

I usually go over with overtime. Good. So, I mean, we make ends meet just fine. Cost of living in my area is low. What do you want to do? You're 19. What do you allow yourself to dream about when you're stuck at the stoplight or you're mowing the grass or you're working? What do you want to do when you're 39, 49?

What do you want to do? Successful. Picture yourself. What are you doing? I want to own my own shop someday. So you're doing the work. You're doing the work. You're getting paid, Connor.

You're getting paid by somebody else to learn how to run a shop. So while you're doing one role, your head needs to be on a swivel, and I'm guessing it already is. You sound like a really mature 19-year-old. But you're just paying attention to everything you can pay attention to, and then if you're in a good relationship with your leader right now, eventually you're taking him or her to lunch, whoever's running the shop over there, and you're saying, hey, how do you do the books?

How do you pay? How do you save money on parts? You're learning everything you can, because one of these days you're going to do it for yourself. So do you need to go to college? I'm going to flip the question on you. Do you need to go to college to eventually become an entrepreneur, owner of your own shop business? Do you?

Well, I mean, I suppose I wouldn't. I mean, I would like – I've definitely thought about getting my mechanical engineering degree because I love mechanical systems and design and just figuring out how things work. How would that help you achieve your dream? You tell me. Ultimately, I mean, for customer service-based, as far as designing, re-engineering different parts and things that they need made, I mean, most machine shops hire an engineer. Okay.

But, I mean, ultimately, it comes down to whether I want to shoot for the stars and just bet on me doing that or going to college, sort of a safer route to just make a higher income as an employee. Wait a second. Wait a second. See, now this is A.O. I'm getting all fired up. You have been taught, Connor, the culture has taught you that going to college is a safer route.

Let me remind you, you're already in the industry. All you've got to do is keep doing a good job and acquire some skills in the actual shop and you can keep moving up. Is that true or false? And I don't mind if I'm wrong. Tell me if I'm wrong. I'd say it's true. Absolutely it's true. So again,

your income is based on your output, not the degree. Am I right or am I wrong in this particular business? So if you want to go get a mechanical engineering degree just because you want to have it, great! But wait until

you and your bride pay off that debt and you save up money and my friend here can take over and tell you how to do the degree debt-free. He'll give you his book. I'm just volunteering you to give this young man the book. But here's the point, free. He'll give you his book. I'm just volunteering you to give this young man the book. But here's the point, Connor. That's up to you. But I'm answering your question. Do you need to go to college? I don't think

so. I think you answered it. Do you want to? If you want to, great. But you better cash flow it, Ayo. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you, Ken. I really don't even want to talk about college. I think that, I think, Connor, what you need to do is just focus on your sweet spot, like what you and Ken just talked about, and maybe go to trade school so you can learn some particular stuff around that. But I would not go to college, man. I mean, I can I can give you a copy of my book. No, I'm not gonna give you a copy of my book. What I want you to do is connect with Ken. I want you to listen to his show.

And I really want you to learn more and more and more about his content, because I think your path is different and there's nothing wrong with your path being different. And I think you just have to accept that. Making $45,000 right now, if I'm not mistaken, that's what he said, right? The average single person is making $48,000. So you're only $3,000 less than the average person in America right now. So you're doing very well. Yes. And you and your wife, double income, pay off the debt. Walk out the baby steps, pay off the debt, get the three to six months

expenses in the bank, start saving 15% of your income towards retirement. You guys are going to be net worth millionaires starting as early as you are. And then, listen, you're being trained. You're being paid right now to learn how to run the business you eventually want to run. Absolutely, absolutely. Nick is with us in Atlanta, Georgia, where the NBA All-Star was.

Yeah, last night. Last night, yeah. Nick, how's it going, man? How are you guys doing? Doing good. How about yourself? How can we help? Doing good.

So long story short, I'm turning 28 on Wednesday. I'm getting married in July. Congrats. My fiance is going to be 26 in July, and we're going to be projected to get onto baby step four by year's end, I would say. Great. But my question for you is more career-based.

I'm a full-time teacher. I've been teaching for five years now, and this year I've been really thinking about long-term in terms of if I want to take the administrational step forward and get this route, I'll probably need more schooling. I just wanted to get your thoughts if you think what your thoughts are with that. The question is, do you want to be in educational leadership, yes or no? I think I do

because I didn't really think about putting myself in this position when I first started teaching. As years have gone on, I've taken more leadership roles as a teacher. Now, when you say, now, Nick, I'm a words guy, because usually words matter, and I'm just curious, when you say, I think I want to, is that because you're still not 100% sure? Are you 80% sure?

Are you 50% sure? I want to know a real accurate answer. How sure are you that you want to be in administration in education? I'd say it's a little over 50%. I mean, I wanted to be a teacher since I was like in fifth grade. It's my passion, and I love it. But I also, I'm thinking just long term, and right now I'm making $54,000, and I do, not for the number, but I would like to get in the three-figure range

just to support my family. Okay, so here's the deal. All right, Nick, this is a potential trap. I get this call all the time on the Ken Coleman Show. Ken, I took a promotion. Ken, I changed careers to make more money. I'm six months in. I'm a year and a half in.

I'm three years in. I'm not happy. So, Nick, you're 50% sure. You have got to practice the proximity principle right now. And that says in order to do what Nick wants to do or thinks he wants to do, it's got to be around people that are doing it in places where it's happening. Here's my homework assignment. You need to get on the phone or in person with two to three people that are in administration, in education,

and you do like a college term paper on them over coffee or lunch or over the phone. And when they fill in everything that has to be done to get there, what it looks like during the day, a week, a month, a year, several years, your head and heart are going to get aligned. When the head gets the knowledge, the heart will then confirm or deny the idea. You need to be 100% sure, not 50. And don't pursue this just for money. I'm going to tell you right now, there are plenty of teachers out there that are net worth millionaires.

Chris Hogan's Everyday Millionaire Study proves it. Absolutely, absolutely. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. We have this segment and one more segment, so we would love to take your phone calls. Ken Coleman, your career expert, and myself, Anthony O'Neill, life and money guy, is here to help you out.

We would love to have a conversation with you, so give us a call, and we'll help you out as much as we can. Before we get to the phones, you need to find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll

save even more. Use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Rules and restrictions apply. So, Ken, today's question comes from Tamara in Connecticut. She says, my daughter wants to go to school in South Carolina for $40,000 a year. There is a school here in Connecticut that she has been accepted to as well. And the cost is approximately twenty thousand dollars a year. Huh. OK, how do I get through to my daughter that taking out loans to go to school is not a good idea?

I have told her that we can pay for her to go local without her taking loans, but she insists on going to this school that is double. She didn't put that in there. I said that. I have shown her the interest calculator, and she doesn't care. Do you have any tips on how to get through to her? Yeah, I have a tip. Tell her. I was waiting on that i just had to say i had to say it in a respectful way tell her your 18 year old daughter is not old enough to make wise decisions especially

financial decisions uh right now you're going to tell your daughter hey listen you're going to go to a school that we can't afford because you can't afford nothing. We are not signing. We are not taking out any student loans, especially when you can get the degree here for half the price. So right now, there's really no convincing. It's a daughter. This is what we, me, your father and yourself can afford and we are going to pay cash for this school so this is the school you want to go to now if you want to go to another local in-state school we are more than welcome to have that conversation but what we're not going to do is pay twenty thousand dollars more to get the education, to get the same degree just at

a different school. Because right now your daughter's excited about going to her school that her friends may be going to or the school that may have some good fraternities or sororities or known for good partying or known for this. No, tell her your dream school is a school we can graduate from debt free and this is the school you're going to. And so for me, that's how i'm having a conversation now i'm not going to go that aggressive but i am going to say hey daughter no that's off the top but here's why i'm saying no and i know you may not understand it today

but when you graduate high school and when you walk in a high school when you graduate college and you walk across that stage stage you have a debt free degree and when you meet your peers and they're saying man i'm i'm at fifty thousand dollars worth of debt i'm at 125 000 worth of debt i'm drowning in student loan debt i gotta move back home you will then thank me for saying no so that's just my answer on that am i wrong there ken you have you have a daughter no i think you're spot on. She has an assumption problem. She's assuming that's her decision. It's not.

She plays a role in the decision, but she doesn't have the final say-so. Yeah, I'd have a little fun with it. I wouldn't even make it a big discussion. I'd be sarcastic and go, have you lost your mind? I'm in charge. And these are all the reasons why I'm in charge. i have some fun with it and just take the oxygen out of it in my house i mean when my kids think when they start making decisions tell me they're gonna do stuff i go well then we we have a role problem let me remind everybody of your role in

this house you know oh man that's what i like to do hey man listen my parents were they weren't even like that i said mom i want to do this She would just ignore me like I never even said nothing. Right. Yeah, like what? Well, it's great that you want to. I'm glad that you want to. Hey, there's things I want to do as well. Hey, I want to drive a Lamborghini every day.

Right. I'm unable to do that. Hey, man, listen, me too. Okay. I can't afford that. I can want to do something all day. All day. But if I can't afford it, I'm not going to do it.

Yes. So there you go. Pretty simple stuff. Pretty simple. Pretty simple. I'm not going to do it. Yes. So there you go. Pretty simple stuff. Pretty simple. Pretty simple. Ike is in Pensacola, man. Hey, good afternoon. How can Ken and I help?

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, I guess I have a question about church. Oh. Yeah. The pastor is in. Anthony awaits your question. Good. Yeah. The pastor is in. Anthony awaits your question.

Good. Yeah, I'm debt free. The church out of 10 pay 10% times each month and have done for years. Okay? The church out of 10 now do not give us a feedback on where the money is going. So am I supposed to be happy with just paying 10 and leaving it up to them to make decisions on the money? Or should I know where my money's going? Am I being a good steward? I mean, if you want to go biblical, yes, you give 10% because that's biblical. So you're not really

giving it to the church and giving it to God. Then the church is going to be responsible to how they're dealing with the funds with God. Now, if you know for sure that the church is doing something irresponsible, they're not being good stewardships of the money, then it's not even about giving money to the church. It's about leaving the church, period. Okay. So that's what I would say. But if I am at the church, it's not my responsibility to question how the church is dealing with the funds my okay my personal beliefs and i want to make sure i'm being careful here uh because this is my personal conviction i'm not giving money to pastor ken per se if he was a pastor of my church i'm being obedient and i'm just i'm just setting

myself up to receive blessings from god the church is not going to give me a blessing the church is not going to uh give me a miracle i'm i'm OK, God is saying give 10 percent because 10 percent back in his hands is much better than in my hands. And so I'm activating faith. I'm activating God so he can know he can trust me with more. Now, from there, it's between the church and God how they deal with those funds. But if I publicly see and I know for sure that they are not being good stewards with the funds, then it's not about me giving tithes. I'm finding a completely different church. And so, yes, if the church is still in debt, if you do not know where the funds are going, you know, I'm not really too concerned. I don't know where my funds are going inside my personal church. They do have like a yearly update on what they did the previous year and how many mission trips. And I don't even go to those meetings because, again, I trust my church. And my church is still in debt.

So to answer your question, yes, wherever you're getting fed at, you should be sowing into the church. But if you feel the church is doing something wrong, leave. Ken, you want to add something to that? I would not add anything. Very good. Such a good question, man. Thank you so much for calling in on that one. Ashley's with us in Detroit.

Good afternoon, Ashley. How can I help? I'm sorry. I hit the wrong. There we go. Okay, there we go. All right. That was weird.

I hit four, and it went back. Okay. Hey, Ashley. How can we help? Hey, guys. I was wondering. so I'm kind of in a pickle. I'm in the process of I want to buy a house, but I also want to go back to school and get my degree. Okay.

Why do you want to get your degree? Right now I'm a CNA, and I just kind of want to go back to just get the full RN. Okay. And how much schooling do you need? Is it a two-year program? Well, with my past credits, I will probably have to redo more classes because it's been like 10 years since I've been in school.

Okay. So I would want to just start fresh, honestly. Okay. So how many years are we talking about? About four years. Okay. And are you going to cash flow your way through it? I'm hoping to.

I don't want to do any credit at all. Good. Well, you said hoping. Hoping is still a possibility. So we're not even having a conversation going back to school, Ken, unless we know for sure, Ashley, we're not going to borrow any money. Yes. No, I've done the student loan thing paid it off right now i'm about two thousand dollars in credit card debt okay and that's just only because of last year

you know through due to covid okay well i want you to hold on uh because we're about to come up on the break and i want to make sure that ken and i can definitely help you walk you through this process because ken is he's a career expert um and i think your question is important but then also i want to hear about your dreams about purchasing a home and we need to figure out what's what's the best move yep going back to school or purchasing a home so stay on the line uh ashley and we'll be right back after this uh commercial break all right okay all right All right. Yeah, I like this question. This is good. There are some steps she needs to take,

and I like that we're going to kind of come back and reset for her, help her figure out, what do I do first? What does that mean? How long will it delay the house purchase? So good stuff. All right, so when we come back, we'll pick Ashley back up.

He is Anthony O'Neill. I'm Ken Coleman, and this is the Magic Show. today's scripture and quote comes from second corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the lord who is the spirit coco chanel once said don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door before break ken and i were talking to ashley out of detroit and she has an amazing question that I think is very important for us to dive into. And I didn't want to rush her off the line. Ken and I both didn't want to do that because it's a hard decision.

Do I go back to school at 32 or do I go purchase a home? So, Ashley, where what's your exact question for us how can we best help and serve you um right now okay right now um i was just wondering did i going back to school what would be a better like option for me i know both are pretty adamant to me right now but what would be better like i don't want to get into any more debt i've literally gotten out of debt i haven't used any debts in the last what five years until you know covid hit but i just want to know what will be better for me in that in this situation are you prepared to buy a house right now do you have the the at least 20 down payment no i don't have the least 20% down payment? No, I don't have the 20% down payment.

But I have the 10. So it's like depending on right now my range will be between 80 and 100,000. So I do have that 10% to put down. But I don't know, like, am I making the right decision when it comes towards this? Because I do have kids too. But I also kind of want to just kind of further my career. And I don't want to like be in one of those dead-end careers where you're just actually just stuck in. How much are you making right now, Ashley, annually?

A year, I make about $40,000. Yeah. And then if you go to RN, I think you'd be making right at about $80,000 to $100,000? Yeah. Okay. Can you cash flow this? Go ahead, Ken. Well, yeah, answer that quick.

Can you cash flow your way? We were talking about this before, but you feel like you can cash flow your way through nursing school? No, not really. Not if I use what I have because my savings is pretty much 10%. Oh, for the house. Yeah. So you have $10,000 pretty much in your savings, right?

Pretty much. How much is a four-year program? I would say about eight. Eight, okay. How much would the program cost you? It depends because I kind of wanted to, like, start fresh and go through community college before I actually get into the program.

Yeah. It's going to be about $40,000 on average. Yeah. Well, look, Ashley, I mean, you get to decide. I mean, and I think he and I are probably on the same page here. I mean, look, you are pretty much capped out financially in the current field that you're in. You could work a second job to help cash flow your way through and save,

but you've got kids. I mean, there's a lot of sacrifice ahead for you regardless. So whether you choose to buy the house first and then eventually go to nursing school, there's sacrifice. If you choose, I'm going to rent and I'm going to go to nursing school and then put off buying a house down the road. There's a sacrifice there. So there's no getting out of you sacrificing something. And then to save up more money to put down on a home, to save up the money to cash flow through nursing school,

either way you're going to have to really get after it. And you're going to have to sacrifice, say no to some things. You're going to have to sacrifice say no to some things you're going to have to work really really hard and and in my opinion uh based on what i do every day talking to men and women who are trying to figure out what they want to do with their life i think you really really want to be an rn not just because of the money but because of the work itself i think it's really important to you so based on what i'm hearing you say and you can correct this but what I'm hearing you say. And you can correct this. But what I'm hearing you say is that that really matters to you. And so I would put off buying a house. There will always be houses.

And I know that some people look at, well, I'm 32. I don't own a home yet. I just wouldn't allow that narrative to kind of hit you in the head every day like you're some sort of less than because you don't own a home yet. I mean, your reality is your reality. And to make the future better, I think a big part of that is cash flowing your way through nursing school. So I would not spend any money on a home right now. Yeah, and I just did the research for you.

I just want to make sure my numbers are right. So, yeah, on the low end, it's going to be about $40,000 up to $100,000 to get that degree. So you will go definitely to the low end to get that degree. But here's the thing. RNs are starting off on ZipRecruiter, starting off at about $50,000 to about $94,000 a year. So I think the question is going to be like, hey, you got to look up in your particular city, okay, what are RNs making?

If they're only making $50,000 a year, $54,000 a year, and you're already making $45,000, is it worth it? And then am I willing to move to make more money? So right now, I think you have to really step back and ask yourself, Ashley, okay, let me do all the research. This is what I want to do, like what Ken teaches, what I teach, and then figure out, okay, what can I make? And then scale, not scale, but once you do the proper research, put them side by side. What's the best move for me and my family? Here's the other thing, Ashley.

You said something twice. You said, I really want to start from scratch. Well, you know, I want to do a lot of things, but I just don't think, you know what I'm saying? I don't think you need to do that. You don't need to do that. Don't do that. That's some sort of honorable thing.

You're an awesome rock star, okay? Ashley, I'm not picking on you. What I'm saying is that's a purist, and I appreciate that as much as anybody. But I'm just telling you, don't start from scratch just because you want to. If you've already got credits, let's start where we left off. That's going to save you time and money, Ashley. Time and money. Man, thank you so much, Ashley, for calling in. You got this. Don't quit. Don't quit. You got this. Adam is with us in Chicago, Illinois. Good afternoon, Adam. How can Ken and I help? Hey, guys. I'm calling in. I got kind of myself into

a financial situation. So I'm just about to finish med school. And before this, I worked really hard. I got out of undergrad with no debt. Okay. There we go. With med school, I couldn't, you know, land that. And right now, I got $420,993 in med school debt. $420?

You wish. $420? You wish. $420,000. $100,000. Yeah, I wish. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wow. You graduated with your bachelor's with no debt. Now he's in $420,000 in med school debt.

Okay, how much do you make a year right now, Adam? He's not out yet. Zero. I'm graduating right now. How much do you think you will make a year? An intern, depending on where you're working exactly, can be anywhere between $52,000 to $60,000. Oh my goodness. And what's the eventual goal, the eventual destination? The eventual destination is interventional radiology. Which is going to pay what range?

Very well. Depending on where you work and the type of practice you're in, anywhere between $350 to $800. Cool. So what's your question? We've only got about a minute and a half. Okay, so my question for you guys is, I know that the public service loan forgiveness, those guys are not getting their loans forgiven. It's only like 1%. I ran the numbers, and with what I'm taking home, if I'm able to tutor a little bit throughout the week, I can augment that enough to where I'll barely be able to make the payments to pay, you know, this off

theoretically in 10 years with the graduated plan. Would you guys suggest that over, you know, making the bare minimum loan payments that I see, you know, so many of my colleagues make and then, you know, it's 20 years post-med school and they're still, you know, paying this thing off. Adam, how old are you, man? I'm 30. All right, cool. Great. Here's the thing, Adam, you're going to be 30 for the rest of, for the next 10, 15 years. You're going to work like you're 30. You're going to live like you're 30 for the next 10 years. You do not have time for luxury. You do not have time for fun. You're in $420,000

worth of debt right now. Yes, you're going to work your behind off. You're going to make extra payments. If your girlfriend comes up to you and says, hey baby, can we go out to eat? You're going to tell her, no, we can have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the house. You're not getting a nice car.

You're going to get an ugly car. You're going to get a car that you can pay for cash. I'm sorry, but that's what you got to do. I'm sorry. Ken, thank you so much. Yeah, always fun. James, Kelly, thank you all so much. America, thank you so much.

Don't forget, the caliber of our financial future will be determined by the decisions we make today. You made the right one by listening to The Ramsey Show with Ken Coleman and myself. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.