The Ramsey Show - App - I Have a Moral Dilemma With My Career (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss: Dealing with moral conflicts in a career, Whether or not to quit college, How to pull money from a 529, College vs. apprenticeships. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Thanks for joining us. We're people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Thanks for joining us. We're so glad you're here. Luke is with us in Jackson, Mississippi, starting off this hour. Hi, Luke. How are you? Good. How are y'all? Great. How can Ken Coleman and I help? So I'm currently in a job. I'm 22 years old, and I've been in this job for

about two months, And I've quickly found out that I'm not really passionate about it. Why? Well, I'm in the wine and liquor industry. I'm a sales rep. And it's just, it's pretty difficult to watch people come in a store who already have a pretty difficult life and walk out with your products. It's just a hard thing to deal with. Hard to see that happening. So it's a values disconnect. Yes, for sure. Everyone that walks into a liquor store and buys wine is not having a bad life.

Yeah, I know that, but it's the ones that are, I'm in a pretty poor area, and so it's the ones that are coming off the streets, like just pennies in their pockets coming in and buying the cheapest things on the shelf just to get a drink. Why'd you get into this? You work in a liquor store or you're a salesman for a distributor? I'm a salesman for a distributor. So how are you dealing with the people coming in off the streets?

Well, so I've got to go into the stores and talk to the people to try and talk to the liquor store owners to try and get them to get my products, which a lot of them, we have some high-end products, but a lot of them are to target those cheaper customers that are just trying to get a quick drink. Okay. I'm just curious, get a quick drink. Okay. I'm just curious, and I understand all of that. I understand it's very personal for you. What I'm curious about is how did you make this decision to get into this two months ago? Well, I wanted to originally get into medical device sales, which is a difficult field to get into without sales experience. And so my original intention was to just try and get my foot in the door

for the first couple years and just get some sales experience under my belt so that I could then move into that other field. But it's just right now it's getting pretty difficult to keep going because it's just a moral thing. Sure, I get it. But you took this opportunity just because it was I need some experience, I've got to sell something, and this presented itself and you jumped into it. That's what I'm it. I keep going because it's just a moral thing. Sure, I get it. But you took this opportunity just because it was, I need some experience, I've got to sell something, and this presented itself and you jumped into it. That's what I'm understanding.

Exactly. All right, so here's the deal. Stop overthinking this. You're going to stay in this role, and you're going to have to suck it up a little bit, and you're not doing anything morally wrong. I understand your feelings. I don't want in any way to discount what you're feeling, convictions, all that. But the fact is you're not doing anything wrong.

And so sit still and keep doing the job until you find another sales job to replace it with. That's the advice. And I appreciate what you're trying to do. Get some sales experience somewhere else. But now you've got to learn from this and go, wait a second, I'm not just going to take any sales job. I need to make sure that I'm going to sell a service or product that I'm okay with. And you can't overthink this, you know, because, again, there's nothing wrong with distributing alcohol or selling alcohol. But in your situation, this is very, very personal.

So I wouldn't overthink this. Let's make the move. How much are you making? $45,000. Okay, so find another sales job making $45,000 to $60,000, selling something you're proud of, and then change. That's what Ken's saying. That's right, but then get in proximity if you can. If you could get selling something that's near or around that medical field,

I would try to look for that first. You understand what I'm saying? Because it's connections at this point, not just experience, but connections. Okay. first you understand what i'm saying because it's connections at this point not just experience but connections okay and and make sure that as you're doing that that you're taking on something you can be proud of everyone in sales needs to remember it's very difficult to be a great salesperson selling something you don't believe in yes yeah and that's that's the thing that i've been i've been struggling with because yeah i've got alcoholism on both sides of my family um from both my parents sides um so it's that that's been the hardest part is just not really um care and i don't really believe in

the products that i'm yeah that i'm selling and that's been the hardest part and so if an opportunity similar to this presents itself, don't take it. For sure. There's something else. Because you had red flags before you took this. Yeah. You're only two months in. So I know you did.

And now it's manifested, and it's actually worse than you thought it was going to be in terms of convicting you. Yeah. And, you know your your morals are saying ding ding ding ding ding the alarms are going off get out of here so yeah go find something else as soon as you can and then quit but don't just quit every time you have a uh adversity uh a situation you know so again i don't want you there six years from now i don't want you there six months from now you ought to be able to find a sales job doing that. So doing something that you actually believe in. You know, Ken, here over the

years, we've developed products, books or software or apps or classes or whatever. And one of the biggest challenges is to make sure that we're all proud of what it is we're putting out. The instant we're not proud of it, we can't ask anybody, including me, to suggest it to someone, sell it to someone. That's what sales is. It's suggesting you do something, right? And you can't suggest buying a car if you hate that brand, and you think that brand's a piece of crap, and then you're going to go to work for that dealer.

And so, yeah, that's going to be a problem. So don't take a position where you're not proud of where you work. So true, and specifically in sales, because sales, you know, Period, but true. And specifically in sales. Because sales, you know... Period. But it's very difficult. Very difficult in sales because you're an evangelist, right? That's your role.

And people can fake it, and there's a lot of fakes out there that hit their sales numbers. But if you are a person of conviction and you've got a true ethical code to you, it will wear you down if you can't get excited to the point of evangelizing

on behalf of the product or the service that you're selling it's absolutely it will cripple you it just will yeah it's it's very difficult because people can your body language changes that's right changes your facial expressions change all your non-verbals are are just not there that's correct you know when you're doing that. And so, I mean, if you're selling, in his case, a line of whiskey that is, you know, the bottom of the barrel, no pun intended, and it's designed to take advantage of the homeless, then you're not going to be fired up about that. Yeah. You know, the drunk homeless guy, right? So you're not going to be fired up about that, you know, the drunk homeless guy, right? So you're not going to be – nobody's going to be excited about that.

Now, you know, but – so you just got to find a way to do the thing you do that is not a violation of your morals or find something, period, that isn't. But don't be just after two months jumping out without having something to jump to that well that's right that's why the first thing i said was hey you're going to stay put and you made this decision so you're going to be an adult about this until we find something to replace that income you don't just say oh i don't like it i can't do it anymore and he wasn't saying that but gotta be careful you careful, you know. Well, I mean, there's a. That's honorable work, you know, for a lot of people. Yeah.

For him, it's not a good fit. Exactly. This is The Ramsey Show. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us. We're glad you're here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. We're halfway through August.

Can you believe it? Next week, every store will probably have a freaking Christmas sale. That's true. If fall means planning to go broke until tax season, make it this year the one you say, no, I'm not going to do that. Enough is enough. The Ramsey $10 sale is back for a very limited time. If you're ready to say enough, we're here to help you.

And our team isn't stopping there. We're going to help you solve your money worries by offering free financial coaching with any purchase. You can talk to a Ramsey Preferred Coach about your specific money question, and you're ready to say, I've had it, and then you can learn to say, I've got this. We know $10 can't get you much these days, but at Ramsey you can. Any one of our best-selling books is on sale for $10, or virtually all of them anyway. Check them out at RamseySolutions.com. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings.

You get free samples, free shipping shipping new promos all the time now use the promo code ramsey to get the best possible deal today's question comes from kendall in california i just graduated high school and i'm wondering if it's right for me to go to college this year my school starts in two weeks and i have a full ride i would be studying economics in hopes of going into investment banking this past past year, I discovered I have a knack for drop shipping, and I'm making $6,700 a month in profit. I'm seriously considering withdrawing from college, but don't know if that's the right move.

Well, that's loaded. And I don't have the opportunity to go back and forth there, but I'm always going to look at the long term. So the long-term dream, if you do want to go into investment banking, certainly the economics degree is going to help. I think it's a good degree to have. You've got a full ride. That's a tremendous opportunity that a lot of people don't get.

I'd be talking with mom and dad about the long-term, and this $6,700 a month that's probably going to grow in profit, that to me would be I'd be saving up for big life expenses, the house and investing long-term. So I would not drop out of this path of college towards investment banking just because you're making so much money with the drop shipping side hustle. I think it's a great side hustle. I think you'll learn a lot from that. But this is a big picture decision, and you need to surround yourself with wise counsel and make the right decision based on the long term. I don't

know enough more in that question, Dave. I'd love to talk to that young man in person for the long term. Well, I mean, you just graduated from high school. $6,700, you feel like you're rich. Exactly. You're not rich. Yeah. $6,700 and rich. You're not rich. You need to go get that economics degree and become an investment banker. Then you can get rich. And in the meantime, while you're going and getting the degree, go ahead and work the drop ship. Yeah, that's fantastic.

You know, I don't care if you make $10,000 a month out of your dorm room. It doesn't make me mad. That's good hustle. It's a great hustle for a young man straight out of high school. But don't confuse the short-term, Ken's exactly right, with the long-term play just because you feel rich. I mean, I won $10,000 on the lottery. I don't have to work. Yeah, you got to work.

That's right. You're not rich. Yeah. And so you still got to work. You're not done. And that's the thing. So, yeah, go for the long play. What's going to take you where you want to be when you're 40?

What's going to make you, what's going to, you know, the 40-year-old version of you is not wanting to kick the 18-year-old version of you's butt for doing something stupid. Think about it. When you think about that guy, who's that guy? And where's he going to be happy? Which one's he going to be happy he did? So I think you do both. Go to school and keep running the drop ship drop you're not carrying inventory you're

just you're just you're manipulating the uh the wholesaler with the buy with the retail buyer and you know pulling the plug out of the middle and that's all you're doing so it's uh if you got something working that well i think you can still pull that off. Hey, thanks for the email in. We appreciate it. Emily's with us in Casper, Wyoming. Hi, Emily. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave and Ken. It's a pleasure to speak with you. You too. How can we help? Well, I'm calling for strategy for starting to withdraw from our 529 plan. We're in Baby Step 7, and our oldest is starting college, and then we also have a sophomore in high school that could be attending college in three more years. The current value is $37,000, but this past December it was at $50,000.

We are prepared to cash flow about half of the expenses, but I'm wondering about strategy for... We have two kids. No, no. You said half. prepared to cash flow about half of the expenses, but I'm wondering about strategy. One kid? We have two kids. No, no. You said half. Would half be one kid? No, half monthly each year.

So for her total expenses, we're prepared to, if we need to, we can cash flow half of it and withdraw from the 529 for the other half just to leave some in the fund so that we can. I would leave it all in the fund and cash flow the whole thing. What are you spending on school? It'll be about $15,000 a year. What do you all make? $120,000. And you don't have a payment in the world your baby step seven

correct okay well you can cash flow 15 000 a year then yes we could yeah okay yeah i would leave the 37 for the second kid and let it grow tax-free and then just pay this one okay pay for this one and yeah i mean it doesn't matter but um you know because here's the thing that the growth in the 529 is 100 tax free the more of that you get tax free that you did not do anything for except parking the money is good and so leaving it alone as long as possible to get that as much tax-free growth as possible is free money okay is that logical it is yeah funny i didn't think about that i just thought we would start with drawing uh do we still keep contributing or we just stop contributions and then just let it grow? I wouldn't contribute beyond what you think you're going to need for Kid 2

if you're going to cash flow Kid 1. Okay. But I would contribute up to Kid 2's limit. I mean, if you're doing $15,000 a year for four years, that's $60,000. You've got $39,000 now. Once that thing looks like it's going to be at $60,000 by the time Kid 2 gets there, I'd stop adding. Yeah, as of December, we were almost there.

Yeah, so it could come back to that pretty easily so i don't know i don't think i'd put anything else in it i think i cash flow kid one and if it doesn't ever come back then you're going to cash flow part of kid two and empty the thing out on kid two but i suspect it's going to come back yeah and then i guess we could also use it as an emergency fund for education that if we did have a month where we had an emergency, we wouldn't have to dip into our emergency fund. We could dip into our 529 if needed. Yeah, if you're getting a cash pinch because of the timing of when a tuition payment's due or something,

you can reach over there and grab it. And, of course, the other thing is if the kids go get scholarships of any kind, you can withdraw up to the amount of the scholarship from the 529 with no taxes at all okay so if they get a two thousand dollar scholarship pluck two thousand bucks out of there and just put it in something else and and just even if you're going to run use it right then but it's completely tax-free um you don't have to do anything there's no no obligation that it be spent on education at that point. But that's not your problem.

You haven't got too much in there. You've got too little in there. So, yeah, very cool. Very good. I'm glad to think through that with you. That's very interesting. So it sounds like I've got an affordable school. It's a good school.

Good buy at $15,000 a year for higher ed, four years 60 grand yeah that's a that's a play it is and i you know i it's going to be interesting to see what shakes out over the next five to seven years for parents that are listening with younger kids the the tuition game i think is going to change i think it's gotten overheated just like a lot of things in our economy and i don't have any predictions here i'm just saying i think it's going to be very interesting to see how the world of college tuition and higher education shifts over the next five to seven years. I predict higher ed is not going to get the memo soon enough

to keep some of them from really taking it on the chin. They sit in their lone little ivory tower, no pun intended. That's right. Too many of them in that world have not woke up and smelled the coffee yet. Tuition rates cannot continue to rise. It's not sustainable. People are no longer willing to pay. That's exactly why. You want to charge me the same and let me sit

at home because of your masking policy on COVID? I don't think so. That's called online classes. They're cheaper, bubba. This is The Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. We're so glad you are with us bill and sherry are with us there in fort myers florida says on my screen you guys are debt free congratulations yes thank you way to go how much did you pay off we paid off 438 806 dollars and $38,806.32. Wow. How long did that take?

Well, it took 13 years. Okay. But I wanted to be on the show to let others hear a perseverance story. I hear you. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? We started out at zero, and then we quickly grew that to about 80, and we're currently sitting at about 225.

Cool. What do you all do for a living well i'm an elementary school teacher and i work for siemens i'm an uh electrical sales engineer for them very cool what's the house worth i'll take it you paid off your house oh yes absolutely way to go weirdos i love it Y'all are excellent. How old are you? We're 58. And what's this house worth? Well, it wasn't just the house. We have a strange story, Dave. We got started in real estate a little bit like you back when we were 28. That was 30 years ago. But we had subscribed to this mail order real estate course called Carlton Sheets. Oh, yeah.

No money down guy. Remember him? I remember Carlton, yeah. Don't ever do that. Anyway, he was like, buy this one and then borrow from it and buy the next one. So we had 10 apartments. We paid off a motor home, 10 apartments, and then our home, our home in Florida that we live in now.

So you own all of it free and clear? Free and clear. What's it all worth oh i guess all the assets together would probably be in the area of two million way to go guys i love it that's excellent baby steps millionaires well done well done good stuff man i'm so proud of y'all good Good, good work. So what put you on this whole Ramsey way of doing things? Well, believe it or not, back in 08, we had one of those life moments. This is why you want to always have an emergency fund.

We didn't have one. We had all these apartments. We're paying on these apartments. And if there's a vacancy, it's a real problem. Yeah. But I was doing great in my career. I was having a great sales year, and my wife was teaching. She goes, you know, our son's going into high school. I'd like to be home so I can be involved in that.

I said, do it. And I said, I'm having a great year. Well, you know what happened? Six weeks later, I was laid off. Oh, my gosh. So we went all the way to zero, and one of Sherry's teacher friends, Melissa Weigel, gave us your book. And I read it in one night one sitting and i said geez i wish i'd learned this in high school i said we're doing this and we just took off from there wow so sherry you didn't have to be talked into it at all

oh no no i was like oh i i am the thrifty shopper you know. You know, I like consignment shops, and so I was all on board to begin with. I wanted to get out of debt and start a free life. Yeah, I love it. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. Thank you. What do you tell people the key to persevering for 13 years is?

Well, you know, certainly you've got to get that budget out and talk about it once a month, even if it's painful. But you got to review it. You got to be in sync with your spouse. My wife and I still have the $50 rule. I'm hoping that'll go up here soon. We don't let either the person spend $50 without checking. So that seems to really help. I feel like we got to dive in on that with Sherry. How do you feel about raising the $50 limit? He brought it up. People want to know. Well, listen, I'm still very conservative. I like to have a nest egg and know it's there for our future and not to touch it.

And, you know, I kind of had to keep him on a budget, but he's doing really good. I have to say that we're both kind of on the same page, and that's so important. Sherry, you've got $2 million. I know. It needs to be a $100 rule, okay? Yeah. Come on, Sherry. Okay, maybe we'll go up to $100.

There we go. Wow. Oh, goodness. Hey, Bill, you owe Dave and I on that one. By the way, Sherry, you answered that one like a politician on a Sunday morning show. Oh, you guys are fun. Very well done. Very well done.

Okay, so for 13 years, you've persevered from that zero, both of you, her quitting, you losing the job, we go to zero, scares the crud out of us. For 13 years, you've leaned into this. Now, when you look look back was it worth it

oh my gosh the feeling is absolutely incredible god is so good and and we are just very blessed absolutely we worked hard but i wouldn't have changed it at all yeah way to go well i got to tell you we're proud of you you're pretty amazing so a couple million dollars worth of real estate there and and uh net worth in excess of that and uh a good household income and you know you're not even 60 so you got lots of time to enjoy this lots of good stuff ahead very very well done so um if you had it to do over again what would you do different anything oh i think we would have started off when we were like 25 when we got married yeah and maybe we wouldn't have had such a huge wedding and maybe you wouldn't have bought nothing down apartments yeah maybe you

wouldn't have bought nothing down apartments all right that's right yeah okay wow good for you guys good stuff good stuff hey we got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. You are one, and that's very, very cool. One-year membership to Financial Peace University for your use, or you can give it to someone who runs into your story and is inspired, and you want to help them. Same thing with the Total Money Makeover book. Eight million people have now read that book.

Well, eight million people bought the book. We think most of them read it so um there's that so hey guys way to go very very proud of you excellent excellent job bill and sherry fort myers florida 439 000 housing apartments and everything in 13 years making zero to 80 to 225. Count it down, Baby Steps millionaires. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. Thank you, Jesus. We're debt-free.

Yeah. That is how that is done. Well done, you two. Very is done well done you two very very well done man so there is a principle here of um diligence the bible says the diligent prosper diligence is excellence in the ordinary over time doing it every day well with and they prosper as opposed to what are they calling the thing on tiktok quitting while you're quiet quitting yes quiet quitting like being at work and not working yeah is that the idea the idea is i'm not going to do any more than it's expected of me i'm

just going to do the bare minimum go home and uh not going to get any i would agree with that if you signed up for a 40-hour work week and they're trying to work you 80 oh sure you know and you're like okay i'm going home you you know at five because we go home at ramsey i mean we close this place down and yeah we go to home to our families at night but we work hard while we're here if anybody quiet quitting quiet quits while they're here during the day i'll quiet fire them yeah it'll be very quiet that would be quiet i love that that would that would like you're not working while you're at work that's called lack of diligence well yeah lack of character kind of like stealing yeah but i don't can't tell some of the stuff seems to talk about that like don't don't work while you're at work

like some kind of like i'm on strike in there together i'm a millennial or whatever i am or i'm a whatever some kind of snowflake and i don't want work, and you're going to pay me anyway. Well, I'll just fire your little butt. Yeah. I can fix that. But, you know, but if you just are, if you're instead saying, oh, I'm going to do the work that we agreed I was going to do, and I'm not going to work 80 hours a week, then that's fine, because I didn't ask somebody to work 80 hours a week here.

We don't do that. Now, occasionally we have to because something's messed up. We to get you know we got to get something done but it's a short-term thing because it's a small business we have to get our work done but this idea that i'm going to quietly not work which a lot of people were doing that anyway they're just sitting on their facebook account while they're at work. And unless you work in social media, that's not working. Well, listen, Bill. And that's diligence. These guys on the other side, this call we just took was diligence.

Baby steps millionaires versus average. Yeah. What do you want to be? Average, mediocre, go quietly quit. This is the Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Romans 15, 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy spirit you may abound in hope bobby knight said nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm oh that's the truth wow good stuff ken coleman ramsey personality

is my co-host today he's the host of the ken cole Show, now heard on over 75 radio stations and as a podcast and a YouTube show, audience increasing every single month to that show. Lots of you tuning in to learn about and talk about how to find career work that matters, work that gives you a sense of joy, a sense of traction. And, hey, also check out his number one bestselling books, including The Proximity Principle and Paycheck to Purpose, the big dog book. It's helping a lot of people walk through the seven-step process to finding work and doing work and giving it away that they love.

Again, Ken Coleman, my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Shade is with us in Wisconsin. Hi, Shade. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? So I am 28 years old. I am about to have my second child up in April. Yay! I am trying to go back to school to find a better paying job. I have a couple options. I'm trying to go for an operating engineer. One of the options is staying here where I am and just going to the tech school and getting my CDL.

The other option would be going down to Sun Prairie for a school that would cost roughly around $10,000, a little bit more than $10,000. There is financial aid involved in that. And then the third option is being an apprentice, but I do believe that would be traveling. Okay. If the apprenticeship opportunity did not involve travel, how open to that would you be? Seeing that it's still paid, I'd be very open. Yeah, that's what I heard in your voice. I'd get absolute clarity on that. Was that just the way you said it with your voice, or do you're not quite sure you've heard something, but you're not quite sure how much travel, if any, is involved? I'm not sure. I'd find out. Let me tell you why. Because of A, how you reacted, that's the best option for

you in your life. But I also love the opportunity for the apprenticeship. This is doing two things for you, experience and connections, and you're getting paid for it. So I really like that option. Do you have any cash set aside for the other two options? I do not. I just got a brand new job starting at like $17 an hour. So that's going for me, but nothing so far. What, besides your heart hurting and being away from, what I mean by that is you being away from your wife and one child and the other one on the way, what besides that makes the apprenticeship with travel not so desirable for you?

Anything else besides that? Just not knowing, you know. I do have a car that I'm still paying on so not knowing what just what it all involves you know not yeah so here's the deal i want you as soon as this phone call is over at least make a phone call an email get some information on this because if this apprenticeship pays you $17 an hour or more, and it's going to involve some travel away from the wife and the little ones, and they're so little they'll never know, I'm just going to tell you of the three options that I've heard, it's the best option on the table.

I understand there's some sacrifice involved, but that's part of the journey. You're going to sacrifice one way or the other, and you don't have the money to take on the schooling now anyway, and we don't want you to go into debt for it. So you're going to sacrifice time by saving, and you're going to have to work harder, stack up the money to pay for this path versus get paid to be trained. And so I really would look intensely into what would it take to win in that apprenticeship. I would. Okay. That's what i would do yeah that's exactly what i would do um and uh what are you making now i just i don't know

the total but i know it's like seven 17 17 you're making 17 now 29 yeah no i'm making 14 now okay oh okay i thought and what is it you're signing up that what is it you want to become an operator what operating engineer so for the rest of the guys that drive the big old like construction equipment oh okay all right all right yeah i'm to do that the cheapest possible way and the fastest possible way, just to get trained to operate the equipment, whatever that is. And that's some good money once you're certified, right? Yes. Like what kind of money once you're certified?

I could be making, do believe like 36 dollars an hour yeah or more yeah okay yeah all right and uh well that that's exactly what um that's exactly what you do yeah you get the fastest least expensive way with the least trouble and so like my um when we when i graduated from college my wife lacked uh four or five classes finishing her degree and we moved away from knoxville where we were in school to nashville in those days the uh college in the area mtsu didn't match up with the it was one was semester one was quarters and it was going to end up taking a year and a half for her to finish what was otherwise three or four classes and we discovered she could take the three or four classes if she went back to knoxville for six

weeks and we had just had our first child and so she drove to knoxville every weekend without my brand new daughter for six weeks and she cried and I cried more every time she left the driveway for six weekends and went to class six weeks, put the kid in daycare for six weeks to finish the degree and drove back. It was the longest, most horrible six weeks ever. But in the scope of my life, it really didn't amount to squat. It was worth it. You know, we sacrificed for her to finish the degree um and it did not it was

not a degree that she needed to finish uh to be able to do the career that she wanted to uh to do and um you know but it was the best way so i'll tell you what you hang on for a second here i'm getting a call in brian's in owensboro looks like he's got the better advice than ken or me so brian it says on my screen you're an operating engineer and you've got advice for shade i am an operating engineer out of local 181 here in owens and henderson kentucky i live in owensboro but um i have been an operating engineer for 27 years and my best advice to you young man is take the apprenticeship program in the operator's union. Ken Coleman.

There it is, ladies and gentlemen. Good. I have been debt-free since I was 18 years old. Wow. What do you make in an hour? I make, right now, different contracts are different. I just got off a job making $34.80 an hour. If I work in southern Indiana, it's $37.40 an hour.

And I usually average between right now between $90,000 and $130,000 a year depending on because I also run cranks. Wow. Good for you. Well, there's advice shade from a guy who really does it. You can't beat that. No. You've got to love that. Come in and give it know there's a guy in the field says do it and uh so your instinct

was correct ken well only because the apprenticeship is is really what the american economy was built on number one and it's just simply i get paid to actually get experience and that's the best of both worlds you know uh because what he's going to learn in that apprenticeship so if you want to sell real estate go to work for a high producing real estate person as and get their coffee yeah that's exactly right and learn how to do it for create your own apprenticeship is what you're suggesting exactly uh yeah i think it's the it was the right route based on those other two options because he's going to spend money to sit in the classroom or he's going to get paid to actually get in the truck yeah i mean you know what i mean like if you just think about it the the old days you know

you lived above the the the shop for the guy you worked with you know you know the old blacksmith or whatever that kind of a thing yeah that's a different deal but but this is a high tech here i mean oh yeah but the apprenticeship is a real opportunity in today's world it really is it's coming back you trucks and the major dozers or whatever they're good stuff very interesting very interesting good stuff well that puts this hour in the books our thanks to james to andrew zach ben and austin in the booth in coleman good hour i am dave ramsey your host we'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, folks, Ken Coleman here.

Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.