The Ramsey Show - App - I'm 22 and Make $85K...How Do I Manage That? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

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Thank you. 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. I am bestselling author of Ramsey Personality, Rachel Cruz, hosting today with my good friend, bestselling author and host of The Christy Wright Show, Christy Wright. This is so fun. I love this. Good to be back with you. We are hitting the phones this hour, you guys.

We're talking about everything from, yeah, everything that involves your life, whether it's your money, it's your work, it's your, whether it's your money, it's your work, it's your kids, it's your schedule, it's your balance, anything, all of it. We are here to hang out and talk about it, which is just so fun. I love this show because I just love diving into people's lives for about four to five minutes, depending on how long we have with them, because everyone has a story. Everyone has things going on in their life. And Christy and I are sitting here in the studio in Nashville, Tennessee,

just here wanting to help direct and guide you on everything that, everything we know. I don't know. You know what's so funny, though? This is so known as a money show. You know, it's been a money show for over 30 years. And people often think they're calling in with a money question. And it's as a money show. You know, it's been a money show for over 30 years and people often think they're calling in with a money question and it's rarely a money question. Sometimes it is.

Sometimes it's as simple as we're going to move this investment here or we need to save this amount of money. Sometimes it is. A lot of times it's a deeper conversation and we had some of that in the last hour. You guys call in, you know, we'll have a here's the conversation. My spouse and I can't agree on this that or the other and it's really a marriage question it's a it's a communication question it's a relationship question it's a boundaries question and so we love to help you look at this

through a different lens and peel away the layers of the issue below the issue and talk about it there and oh by the way of course that does have an effect in your money decisions and in your bank account but um yeah that's the reason we like to let you guys know we're not just talking about money. If you have a question about something else, we're here for you. But often the money questions are actually a different type of question camped in that. So we're here to help you. Absolutely. So again, 888-825-5225.

Okay, we have Ruth in Seattle up next. Hey, Ruth. Welcome to the show. Hey, you two are amazing. Thanks, Ruth. Okay, I'm pretty sure this is a money question. All right, we're ready. My question has to do with how exactly to calculate the emergency signs. I'm in baby step three and we'll probably make about

45K this year between Instacart Shopper and Uber Eats. And I'm trying to figure out does the three month, well I'm kind of on the fence about three or six

months, but when it comes down to the numbers, is it three? Let's go with the three months just for example. Is it three months of everything, including lifestyle, just any and all bills that you've got, or should I chisel down to say the other day I kind of pretended I, you know, pretend you had a car accident and just figure out what you would be paying for and what you would cancel out for three months type thing. How would you, which one would you go with? Yeah, that's a great question, Ruth.

You know, you can go about this kind of both ways, honestly. I talked to some people and they want the three months emergency fund where their life doesn't change that if they lose a job or a spouse loses a job or something happens that they don't have to shift their lifestyle much that they have three months that they can live consistently on uh as is now other people it is more of the bare bones it's more like hey to not be late on bills electricity cell phone cell phone. It's more those four walls, making sure we're eating, where we get the mortgage paid or the rent paid. It's really the bare bones and calculating that. And so in that instance, you're cutting out things like out to eat, you're cutting out shopping. If you have a clothing thing that you can do without

that for a few months, more of that bare bones. So it's kind of how quickly you want to get to it and then to decide, okay, is it three or six months? So I would lean on the three-month side. If someone is out there and they're single, if they have a pretty steady income, a job that's pretty predictable, you could probably live on a three-month emergency fund. Now, if you have kids, a lot of dependents, if you're married, if you're on commission, if it's not really a very stable situation. Like you said, for yours, for instance, Instacart and Uber Eats. Is that what you're saying you do? Yeah. So for that, that's a little bit more volatile in a sense. You're not just on a strict salary. So in your case, I would probably lean closer to a six bit more volatile in a sense. You know, you're not just on a strict salary.

So in your case, I would probably lean closer to a six-month mark in that. But whichever one you take, and for you, because you're going to be on that six-month, I would almost do a bare-bones budget to say, okay, if I cut out all the fluff of my lifestyle and really have to stick to my bills, I would have that as your six-month if I were you, Ruth. Are you married? Do you have kids? No, but it's just me. Okay. Okay.

Awesome. So, yeah. Well, I don't know anyway, I hope. Yeah. That's great. So, yeah. So, if I were you, I mean, well, yeah, now that you're not, I mean, you could probably do closer to four months if you wanted.

And again, it can be the bare bones budget or you could say i just want to be comfortable um and have that that budget i want to get to the next goal huh what'd you say i want to get to the next goal basically yeah it is that but i think that's the reason i mean the way that i've always looked at it ruth um and i don't know that anyone's ever told me this i think i've just kind of looked at it this way. The reason we give that range is for that reason. We give a range of three to six months. And I've always looked at it as if you're going the three-month route, it's probably going to be a three-month, you're not changing your lifestyle. If you're going the six-month route, it's probably six months of bare bones.

But the number could be defined either way. It's our three-month if we don't change anything, or it's our six month of bare bones. You know, if like in my case, having three little kids, I want a more full emergency fund for peace of mind because I have more people I'm responsible for. In your case, I mean, yeah, like if you're like, yeah, I feel good on four months of, you know, middle of the ground, you know, middle road, whatever. I think you're fine. I think we give you that range for some freedom and flexibility with your comfort level. Probably all of our savers and our nerds are going to have a six month and all of our spenders like, ah, I'm fine on three months. So there's a little bit of flexibility in there for you to adapt it for what's right for you. Yeah. I think that is so

true that when I first got married and we were going, we were doing the baby steps, we did it. And it was like, okay, we had the emergency fund and I had some money that I brought in. He had a little bit of savings. So we were kind of like, you know, I was like, oh yeah, definitely three months bare bones. Plenty. Let's move on. Let's move on. And then once I had kids and we have a family, I went back. I mean, it's probably been five years now or so.

But I was like, hey, let's like really beef up that emergency fund just so I know. So I know. So I know. So I know that's in there if something happens. And that's the beautiful thing you guys about this. I mean, and I know that that's in there if something happens. And that's the beautiful thing, you guys, about this. I mean, and Ruth, congrats on being on Baby Step 3. That means that she's gotten out of debt. That's right.

And now you're moving on to that. And Ruth, I'm excited for you to hit that Baby Step 3 because there is this emotional piece that you get when you're like, okay, I don't owe anyone anything. We have money saved. So God forbid I lose a job, something shifts, another pandemic, like whatever happens, there is that safety net and there is something to that peace of mind that is priceless. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's why it's there. It's not just about the money. It's about the peace of mind. Absolutely. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. You know, I heard a sad and touching story recently.

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I guess my question would be, I'm 22 right now, making about a little bit over 85K. I guess my question would be, what 85K. I guess my question would be kind of what exactly with being 22, some steps that I can take to make sure that I'm managing my money properly with making this type of money being this young?

Yeah, that's a great question. Great job, first of all. Yeah, what do you do? I'm a cloud engineer. Great. So, so awesome. Oh, man. Okay, 22 making $85,000. Do you have any debt? Right now, I have about $9,000 in student loans, but I still have about a semester left.

So, I'm debating about just go ahead and pay it off. And I have about $40,000 saved up. Wow. That's awesome. Well, to answer your question, yes, I would pay off that student loan. I mean, that $9,000 for sure. I'd pay that off in the cash flow that last semester of school, which is absolutely incredible. Well, I'll give you my top piece of advice and then Christy, you can chime in.

So at 22, I mean, you have so much going for you. The fact that obviously your income is amazing. You're going to be debt free by the end of today. If it were up to me that you just write the check and you do it. But I think the biggest mistake people make, Christopher, that we see all the time is that they're just not intentional. And I know it's a really broad piece of advice, but people really do, they float through life, they make great money, just like you,

and they just spend and go, and they look up at 40, 45, and they realize, oh gosh, you know, I've tacked on some debt here. I don't really have a lot in retirement. And they feel themselves realizing, wow, I was not intentional with this money. And so if you really do kind of buckle down, live on a budget, which again, where you're at, a budget does not mean that it's going to limit your lifestyle. In fact,

it's going to give you a lot of freedom to enjoy your lifestyle. And I'll have you hang on the line when we get off the call here because we'll give you a subscription to Ramsey Plus because EveryDollarPlus is our budgeting app that helps with this and helps you budget and know exactly where every dollar is going. And there's something powerful about that.

And then from there, being able to walk the baby steps. Again, with you, you pretty much are on baby step four, five, and six at this point, meaning that you'll be out of debt. You have a fully funded emergency fund. You're going to be able to start investing into retirement, saving up for a house if you haven't bought a home and that's something you want to do in the near future. You're going to walk this path so fast, Christopher, which is amazing, and to be able to just be extremely generous as well.

And that's another piece of that puzzle I would put in. But all of that to stay under the umbrella of just do things on purpose. Be intentional. Don't just float through life with your money. Yeah, the only thing that I would add, Christopher, just in consideration of the overall plan that Rachel just laid out for you, the one thing that's specific to you is your age. And so you are at such a young age and coming into a season of life where a lot of people experience a lot of transition. So I love how much money you have saved.

I would just continue to add to that in addition to you know paying off the debt like she said and cash flow in college and starting investing and all that just continue to stockpile cash because if and when you're ready to buy a house you've got a down payment if you decide to get married you've got some money for a wedding a honeymoon whatever and so there's a lot of people experience a lot of very expensive life changes between 20 and 30 in a lot of cases. And so you're already on that track. Just maybe go above and beyond your three to six months expenses from a saving standpoint, because you may want to access that money for a house down payment, that type of thing. And you could start now and then, gosh, you have that much more to put down when and if

you're ready to do it. Yeah, you're doing awesome. Yeah. Christopher, can I ask you, you know, what was your upbringing like? Did your parents like talk to you about this stuff or you just kind of happened to not have a ton of student loans but great income? Or kind of what's your story? It's kind of a little difficult to explain. I came from, you know, went ahead and got adopted at a young age and got into a couple situations.

Actually, I have, very young, and that's kind of what really made me kind of start focusing and so on. And since then, I just know that I want to be ahead in life for them and so on. And I guess just wanting to go back where I came from and starting an orphanage, opening something like that. And I know that I have to work hard from a young age to be able to do that. I guess that really was my upbringing, just making sure that I can get ahead as young as possible and to be able to do all the stuff that I have planned and making sure my kids

have a good life ahead of them. Yeah. Wow. Absolutely. That's amazing. I love that. And you are. Oh, oh, absolutely. I mean, just obviously calling in and being aware of the responsibility that you have, because that is one thing, you know, you consider. We talk about money here a lot, and money, I always say, is a tool to create a life that you love. You want to take control of it, but it is a tool. It's not the end all be all. It's not the thing that the number one goal that you, you know, you're working towards is just, it's just cash and money.

It is a tool to do life with. I mean, it is a tool to create a life that you want. It's a tool to be able to help people. And so making any kind of money, I mean, you know, if you, what is it? If you have two cars and food in your refrigerator, you're like in the top 2% of the universe or something, right? I mean, like, so there's just a level of responsibility that we all have and that we carry to do this well, to do this well and not let the money ruin us from an emotional standpoint or a

financial where you go into so much debt and it's stressful and, you know and you're working a job you hate to pay bills, all of that. But really seeing this as, okay, this is a responsibility. How do I do this well? Yeah. And it was like you were just talking about being intentional. I mean, you already have been, Christopher, with having $40,000 in savings. That didn't just appear in your bank accounts. Yeah, that's right.

You have been intentional and worked really hard to get there. I think just following those baby steps and continuing that, you're going to be able to set yourself up to do those things you just described for the legacy you want to leave, to be the type of person you want to be, to help the people that you want to help. And I think that's awesome. And when you have a deeper why, that is what fuels you way more than anything at the surface. And you do, Christopher. You do.

Well done. Absolutely. And to show that your past does not dictate your future. Your past choice is you can make decisions today to change not just who you are, but even your money habits and what you're doing with this.

So well done, Christopher. Very, very awesome. Well, this is The Ramsey Show again. We're taking your calls. America, 888-825-225. Well, in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, we have Nick and Ashley. and you're on the stage for a reason. I know that. You guys, welcome to the show. Thank you. Where are you guys from? Minden, Nevada. Okay, Nevada. Great. Okay, so you guys, you're here to do your debt-free scream.

Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. So how much debt did you guys pay off? $36,183. Awesome. Counting, counting the dollars. I love that. $36,000. And how long did it take you? 10 months.

10 months. Making what kind of money? We started at $48,000 and got up to $104,000. Whoa. What? Quite a jump there. Tell us about that. We both switched jobs, which was part of it.

The first month was just on her income because I was in between switching jobs and then with the job I went to, I got in a much better spot and then she switched jobs as well. Awesome. What do you guys do? I'm a service writer for Hyundai. Okay. And then I work in a dental office. Yes. Awesome. Amazing. Okay. And how long have you guys been married? Three years.

Three years. Okay. So, what happened 10 months ago that you said, awesome amazing okay and how long have you guys been married three years three years okay so what happened 10 months ago that you said oh this this 36 000 is just we're feeling it we originally did this it was a prerequisite by her father to go through financial peace before we got married oh okay me too we went through that and we're like, oh, we don't have that much debt. And then a couple of years into being married, we switched it up and it was like, okay, it's time to do this. Yes. Well, and I think when he was switching jobs, we were going to go a month where it was just my income. And we looked at our budget and we were like, we're not going to make it.

And that was a point for us where we're like, we don't have anything in savings. We don't have like any extra money. I don't know how we're going to get groceries for like this next month while we're just waiting on like my income. So I think that was like our low point. And we're like, we can't do this. Yeah. So what was the 36,000? It was cars, credit card, and then an old car loan that we didn't even have the car anymore. Anymore. So it's just kind of normal. So I so i mean you are the classic you kind of just are living paycheck to paycheck if something happens you're like oh gosh what do we do we can't we can't make it so what was the conversation like then when you realized okay we are not gonna be able to make it on just my income i'm we're starting to kind of freak out we're starting to see the reality of this debt and the

bills who came to who How did that conversation happen? She came to me. I am 110% free spirit here. I have very expensive tastes in a lot of things. And she was like, hey, I want to get out of debt. And I was at one for a while. I was like, we'll do it over time. It's fine.

It'll go away. And then it never went away. And it got to the point the month I was switching jobs, I'm like, wow, I don't want this anymore. Yeah. Sometimes that freak out that you guys described is incredibly motivating to change. Like you almost need this freak out moment where you're scared enough to consider doing something different and doing something hard. I think it's funny that you said you were the resistant one because I've noticed a consistent pattern that the resistant spouse is always the free spirit.

It's never the nerd that's like, I don't know if we should save money. It's like they're always the one that's on board. The free spirit's like, no, don't box me in. It'll be fine. It'll just go away. I love that. I love that you said that. It'll just go away. It's so true. She just kept sliding me

brochures. Conveniently, I'd find her old financial piece back and I'm like, oh yeah, it'll just go away. Exactly. And you know, she just kept like sliding me brochures and like conveniently I'd find her old financial piece back and I'm like, okay, I get it. I get it. I get it. Okay. So what did you guys do? I mean, obviously you switched jobs and the income helped tremendously, but what else, what else did your, did your story look like through this? I can't believe I'm going to say this, but COVID actually helped us with, cause you know, you don't want to go out and do anything. Well, with COVID, you can't go out and do anything. So it was one of those that helped. And, I mean, you know, just sacrifices all around.

Well, and you picked up pizza delivering, too, for a while. And he was working six days a week. And that was like our new normal was I would barely see him. And then when I did see him, he was doing pizza runs and all that yeah i went up to my boss it was like my second month i was like hey i know i'm supposed to work tuesday through saturday but i'm gonna work mondays too and he's like okay so amazing isn't that crazy i'm like the two elements of people's money it's your expenses and when you cut that whether it's the culture has cut it for you because of covid and there's nothing to do and spend money on, and you raise that income, how drastic those two elements, if you can get those under control, how much you can see that progress.

Oh, it's huge. So what would the key be? Someone listening right now and they're thinking, okay, these guys got out of $36,000 worth of debt. What would you say like the secret to getting out of debt is? I heavily relied on my nerd. I'll 100% admit it. But no, I mean, just be a team about it. Communication and everything is huge.

So what did marriage look like for you guys? Because I mean, this is a big, it's a big struggle for people, money, and getting on the same page. And I know, I love that you're just so, you just raise your hand and say, yeah, I'm the free spirit. I'm the one that pushed back against it.

But what did those conversations look like at the beginning versus now? A lot of them were, let's sit down and talk to the budget, and I'd say, maybe later. And, you know, eventually it got to I wanted to talk about the budget, but, I mean, it was a lot. You know, there was the tough times. I mean, you know, we used to go on road trips to go visit family and we'd just listen to the show over and over and it was just, it was driving. It was huge. Yeah. It's amazing too, because you guys had to

make those sacrifices and now you get to experience the reward of it, not just financially, but even just, oh my gosh, we were a team. We didn't see each other a lot when we were working those jobs. And now it's like we get time together and you can take your foot off the gas a little bit and enjoy the fruit of your hard work i think it's so interesting when people sacrifice so much they appreciate it that much more because you work so hard to get there yeah so who were the biggest cheerleaders in your life during this time like our parents yeah yeah our friends didn't really understand they like, why can't you hang out? They thought you were crazy. Yeah, exactly. That's what it came down to, yes.

Oh, that's amazing, you guys. Well, you've done an absolute incredible, incredible job. So how does it feel? How does it feel standing there without any payments? Surreal. I remember sitting in my car at lunch breaks and listening to the show and being so frustrated. Because I'm like, we're never going to get here. It's taking forever.

We only have like 50 extra dollars this month or whatever. And so it's so surreal being here and being able to be where we are now and not have that weight or anything. Yeah. It's freedom. It is. And the beautiful thing that I love that you just said is I'm like, there is hope that it is possible because people people right now are sitting in their cars thinking the exact same thing. And you just gave them that green light to say no, even though it's an up and down journey, right? It's not this like straight up. There's good days. There's bad days.

But as you continue to be consistent in it and you get the reward and you guys did it, congratulations. We are so, so excited for you. Well, we're going to give you a copy of The Legacy Journey because that is your next step and the total money makeover so you can give to someone to pass on. But I'm so excited for you guys. Nick and Ashley from Carson City paid off $36,000 in 10 months, making $48,000 to $104,000. Let's hear a big debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! I'm thanking you. I love it. I love it. I love their story because I'm like, this is textbook. This is exactly it. I talk to so many women who are like,

I can't get my husband on board. He's the free spirit. And then you're feeling this tension. You feel like it's not going to happen. And then you're working it. And it's like, oh, some weeks or some months we only had $50. And it feels like we're never going to get there. And they did.

I just love Ashley's persistence, too. Because there's a lot of people listening right now and the spouse listening to this show is thinking I want so bad for my my spouse to get on board whether it's the the husband or wife or whatever I want so bad for my spouse to get on board but I just love Ashley's persistence and it paid off like it you know your spouse better than anybody you know the best way to go about it how to have conversations how to connect there on things that you guys disagree on and this is one of those things that it's worth it to be persistent it's worth it to keep on talking until you can guys guys can get on the same page because you're

not going to make progress until you're on the same page and i love that they got there and and now they have this to show for it yeah and and and i feel like consistently two people's income goes up usually when we do this call they say well started here, but we ended here with a big jump. Because something does unleash. When you have a goal that you're working towards, something as big as being debt-free, you're looking at every avenue. You're picking up. You're saying, I can work extra. I can do what I can.

And it just shows the beauty of like, yeah, when you put your mind to something, it can happen. That's right. I love it. So great. Well, again, congratulations, Nick and Ashley, for being debt-free. So glad that they're here with us. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back, America. This is The Ramsey Show.

I'm Rachel Cruz, hosting with Christy Wright, and we are here to answer your questions. All right, we're going to go over to Ian in Baltimore. Hey, Ian, welcome to the show. Hey, Rachel and Christy, aloha. So I have a huge dilemma to face. My wife and I work on a baby step 3D. We have our 360 emergency fund and we have two kids under three our huge dilemma is should we travel nurse as a family to either guam or move back home to where i'm from in hawaii um and that's just part a because part b is is it is it even worth it financially to do it right now with the times with you know travel nursing being um a hot. Is it financially smart for us to move as a family? This is such a small question, Ian.

I mean, this is just a tiny little question. Make the decision, Ian. It's not that big of a deal. Nothing really on the line here. I don't know. Okay. So, Ian, how much extra would you guys make? Because you would do this strictly out of a financial reason,

not because you just like long to travel as a nurse with your family. Well, so my wife is the nurse, actually. Okay, okay. So, I mean, you know, we have enough money to where we can use it up, but we want to buy a house. But at the same time, we don't know where we want to end up because we've been living a nomadic lifestyle, moving from Utah to Texas.

Now we're in Maryland. But we kind of have that itch to move again, and we don't know where to settle. But we want to travel right now where the kids are still young, they're not in school, and we want to live the life, you know, kind of like what you're doing, going to Disneyland on a random weekend so um but we we want to have that kind of lifestyle as a for for our kids um but at the same time we want to you know eventually settle down but child nursing has always been on top of my wife's list and I want to make it possible for her but

I don't know financially for us we're kind of country to numbers. It's going to cost us like six grand to fly to Guam, and then, you know, we've talked to several nursing agencies, but it's just, I don't know. I mean, I don't know what to do. I'm curious about the choices here. Did you say Guam or Hawaii where someone's family is? Yeah, I'm from Hawaii.

Okay. So you'd be settled. If you went to Hawaii, you'd probably be there. That's kind of like planting roots. We're going to plant roots in Hawaii probably. I don't know. That's the thing. I moved to Hawaii because I moved out of Hawaii to have a better lifestyle, I guess, more opportunities.

I mean, I can't see my kids being raised there. So why would you go to Hawaii? Because we want to be close to my parents, and my wife has never lived there. She's only visited it, but she's never lived there like I have. Man, y'all are adventurous. She wants my kids to have that experience. Yeah, y'all are adventurous. Like I said, that nomadic lifestyle, I don't know.

It is. I just don't know what to do because we don't want to settle, but we want to travel. And so I don't know. And can you give us some, like, what would you do in your situation if you guys were two kids under three, you had an opportunity to travel, you had nothing, no ties? Ian, can I tell you what I would do with two young kids in terms of traveling? Traveling is the last thing I would want to do with two children. So I'm having trouble relating because travel for me is zero fun with small children.

Like it's the most stressful activity I do with my kids. So I can't even sort of relate. But here's the good news for you that I will speak to. You call and ask if it's a financial decision. And because you are debt-free and because you're on baby step 3B and you're in a good position, you actually don't have to make this decision based on money. You're not asking about some massive expense because you'd be making more money. So I know that this is not maybe what you wanted to hear, but you can kind of do what you want to, which is why we tell people to get debt free in the

first place is so that you can do what you want to. So is why we tell people to get debt free in the first place, is so that you can do what you want to. So if you're the kind of people that travel excites you in a new place like Guam, I don't know what's going on in Guam. I don't know. Let's go move there and find out with our two small kids. If that is fun for you, I find that crazy, Ian, but I think you should do it. I think you should do what you want to do because you've earned the spot financially to be able to do what you want to do, even if I don't get it and somebody else doesn't get it.

It's your life, your kids, your family, your money, and you can. And that's the coolest place to be. So I think if you want to go, you go. Go to Guam, Ian. Go. Amen, Sister Christy.

I will. I'm like nodding along. I'm like, I cannot relate. I would never want to do this. I left my two-year-old with grandparents so we wouldn't have to be on a plane with them. A hundred. So me and Christy, we don't get it. But for real, Christy's exactly right.

It's what you guys want. I mean, literally, we had friends. They sold their house, put all their stuff in a storage unit because they had no debt. They saved up a ton of money over three years. And their goal was to travel for six months around the world with their kids. And they did it. And they paid cash. And they did it and they paid cash and they did it. And that's what you can do. It's what you guys want.

So, um, yes, understand and know that each of these scenarios, the Hawaii or the traveling nurse, maybe not to go on, but somewhere else, it's always going to be available.

So if you guys choose one and say, Hey, we're going to move to Hawaii for a little bit. I would not buy a home in Hawaii. If you're not not going to be there more than five years just that's a little financial advice i'm going to give you um but yeah maybe you go rent there for a year and your wife's like perfect i got the experience right now i'm done and then maybe you say all right we're going to go back to the the big land of north america i guess hawaii is in north america go back yeah and you know be have a more predictable lifestyle in a sense that we're going to buy a home and settle down.

Or maybe you leave Hawaii and you say, we want to go travel and be a nurse. And now you can. Like these options aren't, there's not going to be closed doors, I don't think, for you guys coming up. Does that help Ian at all, us just kind of talking through it? Yes, it does. It's just like, you know, like the living situation. We know like the market is so volatile right now. And it's just, I guess, financially we're thinking like,

is it worth it to, you know, pay for our flights here and there to live for that, you know, contract that she's, you know, what if it's six weeks or 13 weeks? I'm not sure if you guys are from like travel nursing but like you know it's very it's unpredictable uh nothing is guaranteed there so you could have a contract that you know it'll expire and then oh you need to go find another one so you will have to move you know right but you make more right you make quite a bit more okay so here's the thing i just want to remind you you're not considering going to guam for nursing you can nurse right where you can have nursing the nursing job right where you are you're going for the experience

one of the things you said on this call that i think is so important to pay attention to is we have the itch rachel and i don't have that itch we don't know that itch that you're talking about but if you have it that's why you're. You're going for the experience of experiencing nursing somewhere else. Yes, you're going to make a good income that will offset the cost to get there. But you're not going because it's a financial move. If you think of it as a financial move, then it doesn't necessarily make sense. You're going because you want to have the experience of going somewhere you've never been. And you're perfectly able to do that.

And that's totally fine. I think it just comes down to you figuring out what this looks like for you in your life. And it's okay if it looks different than someone else. It's okay if it doesn't look like your neighbors or what your parents did. That's what's really cool about the world we live in. You have put yourself in a position financially to look at that and say, where do we want to work? Where do we want to live? And maybe we're going to be nomads forever. And that's cool. You can do that. Yep, absolutely. And I think that that is the key part that I want people to hear about this is that they are in a place that they have no debt. They have a fully funded emergency fund and they're saving up baby step 3B, which is for

a down payment on a home. And again, Ian, I would not purchase a home unless you're going to be somewhere for five years or longer. So just keep that savings going if you want. But don't feel the pressure to put that down for a down payment on a house that you're only going to be somewhere for a year or two. But they have these choices. They have the freedom with options and choices of what they want to do. And that's the power of this, you guys. When you are intentional with your money and you don't owe anyone anything and you

have a safety net of a savings account like you get to make these decisions so yeah maybe our parents generation thinks that we're crazy and you know but but i'm like you can you can go travel you can go live in hawaii for a year or two rent and why not i mean that's what you're choosing to do and that's what that's what's fun for you guys and as a family that's something you guys value there's nothing immoral about that you can you can live that out well that's what that's what everything that we teach is about it's not about the money it's about the options it gives you when you have money you have power when you have money you have control when you have money you have options you could move where you want to move cover expenses you want to cover do what's right for

you and so that is the purpose it's it's it allows you that and and you've got that and you've done great absolutely absolutely well as we close out this hour i want to thank producer ben hill and purpose. It allows you that. And you've got that, Ian. You've done great. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, as we close out this hour, I want to thank producer Ben Hill and associate producer Kelly Daniel and you, Christy, for being on with me and you, America, for phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.