The Ramsey Show - App - I'm in College and Trying To Graduate Debt-Free (Hour 2)

Episode Date: April 16, 2021

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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 your boy, Anthony O'Neneill and co-hosting with me is none other than the one and only christy wright a host of her popular podcast and youtube show the christy wright show and also the founder of business boutique academy that's opening up next week and i'm really really excited about that we'll talk about that a little bit later on in the hour but give us a call 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 christina has her business head on today so if you are a young lady or even a young man and you have some business ideas or business questions uh give the expert a call i'm not an

expert in that field but if you want to talk about, but if you want to talk about your money, if you want to talk about your life, I love to talk about that. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. And to kick off this hour, Mitchell is with us in Dallas, Texas. Good afternoon. How can we help? Hey, Anthony. Hey, Christy. Hi. I love listening to you guys. I listen to

A.O.'s The Table all the time. Awesome. Appreciate you, man. It's great. I love it. I'm going to give guys. I listen to A.O.'s The Table all the time. Awesome. Oh, man. Appreciate you, man. It's great. I love it. Yeah, I'm going to give you a good answer now. I appreciate you.

Good start, Mitchell. Good start. All right, now that I've buttered you up. Yeah. I am in college, and I'm living with my parents at home still, going to a community college, trying to get my degree debt-free. Awesome. You're going to get it debt-free.

Yes. Yes. Well, I'm wanting to work towards a little bit of independence. I'd like to move out and get an apartment with a friend my senior year. I'm wondering if that's a good idea and how do i work towards that while in college are you working uh only during the summers what would it look like for you to work all year long to make this happen if you want it to happen uh probably part-time uh i could i could find a part-time job somewhere.

Yeah. Well, I just, I mean, I think that's, that's a piece of the equation for sure. Um, there's, there's going to be a cost, not just financial costs. Like you've got to, you've got to weigh out your time, you know, that type of thing. But, um, I don't know, Anthony, Anthony seems against this idea, but I'll just chime in and say, from my perspective, if you set a budget, and many people do this in college, you set a budget, and you work, and you make enough money to pay for your school, and pay for your living expenses with a roommate, or whatever you're doing, you can make that work financially. We just don't want you going into debt. Now, can you save more living at home? You sure can, but you also gain something, to your point, in independence, and going out on your own, and paying your own bills and making your own way we just you just need to be able to do it you got to be willing

to work and not have this free time or parties or whatever you're doing i mean whatever your free time is going to now is now going to go to work so you need to think about is that worth it to you because you're going to have independence of having a roommate and having living on your own but you're not going to have a lot of free time because between school and working you're not going to have much of a life so you just have to think about if it's worth it to you i don't know anthony you still don't like it even if he can pay for it it's not that i don't like it i my question is why i mean if you're telling me i want independence i want i want to know why like why do you want it i i do but i'm 37 years old but when you were in in college, you didn't want to? Absolutely. Because I mean, I lived with my mom for a season after college and we drove each other crazy.

Yeah, yeah. But I think at this time, if Mitchell was a good steward and people just like, all right, let me sacrifice one more year, stay at home, work my butt off, graduate school, stack some money. And then when I graduate college for one more year, I can be further ahead financially than a lot of my peers. That's what I would challenge for Mitchell is to not just think about the independence because independence will come. But how can you have independence plus financial security plus a little bit ahead of the game at the process as well? I'm not saying if he goes out, Mitchell, if you go out and do that, you're wrong.

No, I agree with Christy. If you do it and you don't do it with debt, that's cool. That's great. I would just say on the flip side, think about what can you gain by spending one more year at home, graduating debt free. It is going to be uncomfortable. And let's be real. It may suck being at home with your

parents and your parents being on your business. But I will ask yourself, what do you gain from that? How much more money do you have in your savings account? You know, and so and you said try to graduate college debt free. I want to I want to I want to call that out. So if you're saying that, you know, if I move out, I may have to borrow five thousand dollars or two thousand dollars it's not even an option uh but for me man i would definitely say uh if i was in your shoes if i was your son i mean your father i would say hey son stay home this last year i get it i want you out of the house trust me but when you get out the house i want to make sure you get out of the house and you stay out of the house and you have a head start. I'll add one thing to that. I'll say if you do decide to live at home

for another year, like Anthony's saying, I'd say still work more. Absolutely. Then use that time to save that money. Because if you stay at home and have all this free time and you don't save, you don't use it to your advantage that you have no expenses to save all this money, like he's saying, then you're ended up at the exact same spot. You could have had a year of independence and the same amount of money. So make sure you take advantage of this time. Yes. Still work more.

I would still get a job year-round, part-time. You can choose how many hours to be able to get ahead like he's saying. I would add that. Well, I think there's another piece of the puzzle here. I have saved up money so far. I have just about $30,000 in savings and I haven't tapped into any of that through community college. That's amazing. I've just paid for it so far. That's amazing.

But I'm going for engineering and that's almost full time during the semester, you know, just taking classes. Stay home. Okay. Stay home. You can't work. Stay home, man. Stay home. You can't work.

Stay home, man. Don't stress yourself. Graduate college at the top of your class. You're going to graduate an engineer. You're going to be making six figures. You're going to have some money in the account. Stay home, man. Don't rush to be on your own. When you get out, do it right.

All right. All right. Sounds good. Do it debt-free. Yes, you will. Yes, do it debt-free, man, because if you don't, I'm going to find you. Hey, you're already doing awesome. Pay in your way, debt-free, living at home, $30,000 in savings. You're doing awesome.

You're doing awesome. Well done. Just stay on that track. You're doing great. Absolutely. And you've got options. If you change your mind, six months or a year, you want to do something different, you've got some savings. You can get a got options if you change your mind six months or a year you want to do something different you've got some savings you can get a job you can change your mind but i i like the fact that you're already set up so well you're not coming from

behind you're desperate making you know decisions from that place you're in a really strong place strong place in america me and chrissy didn't disagree i'm just adding stuff on top of what chrissy's saying because if he would have left out and he could do it without racking up debt and he can afford it, cool, great. But I'm thinking about how do you get ahead of the game? Okay. You know what's so interesting? This is an interesting point that I think is good for us to call out explicitly for everybody listening today. And you've said this before when we've hosted before, but I think it's good to remind people. Money is a reflection of your values. Yes.

And how you spend money is a reflection of what you value. Yeah. In the same light, our answers reflect what we value. I value independence. I do. I don't want anybody to tell me where to be, what time to be home, or where to put my bread. I value independence. So I'm going to work my bee hunt off in that second job.

You want to secure the bag. I want the bag. You you want to you want to secure the bag. I want to stay home to secure the bag. Build well. It's just different. It's OK. It's what you value. Yes.

I'm trying to I'm trying to buy lake houses. Hey, America, we'll be right back. This is the Ramsey Show. People all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs through Christian Health Care Ministries. Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, is a nonprofit organization that helps members

carry one another's burdens with healthcare expenses, and they have successfully shared each other's medical bills for nearly 40 years. See if CHM is right for you by visiting chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. So April is Financial Literacy Month, Christy, a nationally recognized month dedicated to talking about the importance of knowing how money works. We've seen over the last year why it's so important that we all, including our teens, know how to handle money the right way.

If you don't know already, we created a high school curriculum called Foundations in Personal Finances that teaches students the important stuff like how to build an emergency fund, which I really wish I knew that, Christy, how to pay cash for their very first car and college, build wealth, give generously and so much more. And, you know, I believe they have one of the best teachers in the personal finance this curriculum. I heard there's this guy named Anthony O'Neill that's teaching a good portion of this curriculum. Nearly 45 percent of the high schools around the world get to see this good looking brother. Nearly five million students get to see some comedy while they're learning about money. But this honestly would not be possible without the incredible work of our teachers. So this month we're celebrating teachers.

They've had a year full of unexpected changes and a ton of stress, but they're unstoppable. They keep going and they keep serving our young people. And we're not just talking about foundations and personal finance teachers. It's been stressful a time. It's been a stressful time for all of our teachers all over. So to say thank you to all of our teachers, we've um something called the teacher appreciation giveaway and this giveaway is sponsored by mint mobile the affordable premium wireless service our giveaway has some incredible prizes like five thousand dollars cash and more man i like that teachers don't hear thank you. They do not hear it enough. So help to help us celebrate teachers, you know, by telling them.

I want you to enter in at Ramsey Solutions dot com forward slash teachers. Again, that's Ramsey Solutions dot com slash teacher. It's no purchase necessary. The giveaway ends April 30th. Again, that's RamseySolutions.com forward slash teacher. And I'm excited because we have Aaron from Mint Mobile. He is with us to help us thank our teachers. And so I'm so excited to have him on with us. He is the chief marketing officer at Mint Mobile. Hey, Aaron, thanks so much for joining us today, man.

How are you doing? Hi, Anthony. Hi, Christy. And I think before we get going, a thank you to all the teachers listening is in order. So thank you very much for all you do. No, thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you to Mint Mobile for partnering with us to celebrate these amazing teachers. So Aaron, real quick, why is it so important to sponsor this teacher appreciation giveaway for you and Mint Mobile? Well, I think it's, well, one, teachers have been such a critical part of just how we grow, how we learn. Combining them with financial literacy is just, it's a fantastic idea. We're excited to sponsor.

And I think, you know, one of the great things about our brand is that we have a lot of these things built into what we do. So it felt like a natural fit and a way to give back and very, very appreciative to be here. Thank you. Oh, no, I appreciate you for helping us. So I got to ask, you know, what was one of your favorite teachers back in the days? And why did you like that teacher? You know, in advance of this, I actually pulled out my old yearbook and I was able to remember every single teacher from first grade through eighth grade. And it was impossible for me to pick a favorite because, you know, they all have these impacts. And when I saw their

pictures and my young picture, I remember the things they used to teach us. And I remember these moments. So I don't think it's fair to pick one when I just think education and the teachers in my life have made such a pronounced and dramatic impact. You know, one of the things, Aaron, that I always said in high school, and I'm sure most students do, you'd be in those classes that either you didn't like or you weren't good at or maybe both. And I think, oh, I'm never going to use this. I don't want to learn this. I'm never going to use this. And that's one of the reasons I'm so thankful because even though we may have to take classes throughout our childhood and high school that we don't like or are good at or use, Foundations is one of those classes that is so

practical that equips students with how to handle money that they're going to deal with every day for the rest of their life. And so I'm so thankful that you guys have partnered with us to celebrate the teachers, especially these teachers that are on the front lines teaching this foundations, because it's such practical, applicable content and lessons that these kids will actually use in their lifetime. Yeah. So, Erin, let me ask you this question. From your perspective, as you think about families across the country, why do you care so much about financial literacy?

Well, financial literacy, I mean, let's start with just what we're standing for, right? Like this is about managing and understanding our financial lives, right? So living on a budget, I think what's really great about this is the connection to our brand and our DNA, right? Living on a budget, having expenses that are fixed or known allows you to plan better. We've constructed our brand

that way. Not only that, but we also have things built into our system that feel very close to the financial literacy programs you have. And it's not paying for things you don't need. So with us, if you sign up for Mint Mobile and try the service, at the end of your first 90 days, we actively let you know if you should pay us less. And it's unheard of in this space because we monitor, you know, just here's how much data you used each month over the first three months. It looks like you're overpaying. We recommend you switch down. And if at any point you need more, you can always switch up. So to me, like that helps people create their path to financial freedom is to be able to better manage their

budgets. And that's just one of the things that when you at least have a plan for financial freedom, it helps me sleep better at night because it's going to take a while to get there. But if I have a plan, I feel better about it. It's not just hoping that it's going to happen. And you know, it's so funny as I'm listening to you talk, man, it really sounds like you all have a lot of things. You all are shaking up the wireless service. I've never had a wireless company call me and tell me, hey, you should pay us less. I've never had any company, any company. I'm like, what? Not wireless, not cable. Nobody's calling to tell me to pay less. Listen, y'all wireless companies out there, y'all need to listen to Mint Mobile. So Aaron,

what are you guys up to these days, man? Well, I think you're going to like this too. So the thing we just launched, and one of the challenges we have is that people don't believe our wireless service is any good because it only costs $15 a month. But the reality is it's amazing for $15 a month. And there's just this hurdle to get over. So we announced last week that we are now giving away the service for free. So we have a seven day free trial and that will allow anybody who has an unlocked phone to try Mint for free. And we're happy to do it. You get a week of it. And I know with you guys and our partnership, we've even created a special link of mintmobile.com backslash Ramsey, and that gets people

access to that free trial. You know what I like about that right there, and you all's premium budgeting thing is we teach young people how to make a budget, how to save money, okay, and research options, and to be a really wise consumer. So I want to thank you, Aaron and Mint Mobile, for what you all are doing. We really appreciate you coming alongside us to sponsor the Teacher Appreciation Giveaway this year. And it's been great learning more about Mint Mobile and what all you all are doing over there to partner with us.

And so I am I am extremely, extremely excited. So, again, you guys, to say thank you to all of our teachers. We're celebrating Financial Literacy Month with our teacher appreciation giveaway. The giveaway is sponsored by Mint Mobile, the affordable premium wireless service. OK, our giveaway has some incredible prizes like five thousand dollars. So teachers don't hear thank you enough. So to help us celebrate the teachers, you know, I want you to tell us who you know. Or if you're a teacher, go to Ramsey Solutions dot com forward slash teachers. Again, that's Ramsey Solutions.com forward slash teachers. Again, that's RamseySolutions.com forward slash teacher. No purchase necessary.

We just want to be a blessing and just celebrate the hard work these teachers are putting in for our young people. Because I know, Chrissy, to be honest, I was a knucklehead. What? No. No, I don't believe that at all. My teachers, she does. Ray Glendini. You need to go back right now and apologize. Oh My teachers, she does. Ray Glendini? You need to go back right now and apologize to them. Oh, listen, she deserved $5,000.

I ain't going to lie. She probably deserved $50,000. Oh, man. Thank you, Mint Mobile. Hey, we'll be right back. christy wright and myself anthony o'neill ramsey personality is taking over this hour right here on the ramsey show and you guys guess what our famous ten dollar sale is back get the tools and resources you need to make real progress with your money and life goals all for just $10 America. So that means saving up to 60% on over 40 bestselling books,

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Is debt-free degree $10 too? You know what? I think it is. Business boutique is. Business boutique is? There you go. Okay, then. Listen here. Go to college debt-free. Business boutique is. Business boutique is? There you go. Okay, then. Listen here.

Go to College Debt Free. Start your side business. $10. Yes. I love it. Man, if y'all are not, text the word cash to 33789 and head over to ramdissolution.com slash store to get some good gifts, get some good material to help you change your future. Nathan is with us in St.

Louis. Nathan, good afternoon. How can Christy and I help? Yeah, thanks for taking my question. So I've got a question about how to handle a situation with my two sons. I've got a 12-year-old son and a nine-year-old son. My 12-year-old loves the idea of saving. You know, we've talked about interest and compound interest. And he actually started a little business last fall, and it's somewhat exploded. And he's absolutely killing it right now. That's awesome. And he's funding a Roth IRA. And he is set on retiring when he's 50, and I totally believe he will as a millionaire.

And then I've got my 9-year-old who, when he has $27 in the bank account, he's looking up toys that cost $30. Sure. He's the second child. Just the complete opposite. And so I'm sitting here and talking with my wife, you know, should we be doing something for my nine-year-old? I just envisioned this scenario 20 years from now. My, you know, my 12-year-old at that time is going to be killing it. He'll be a millionaire. My nine-year-old's not going to have anything. And he's going to say, why didn't you make me save? Or why, you know, why didn't you help me save? And so I don't know if we should be doing something for him, even though he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to save or do anything. I don't know. I'm just kind of worried about what that's

going to look like in, you know, in 20 years when one of my kids is significantly better off than the other. Well, here's the thing, Nathan. The thing that you're doing is something that I do and lots of parents do, and you are making long-term assumptions based on a child's very young age and season. Now, there are aspects of this that you're probably right. It's personality-driven. They handle money differently. They're wired differently. Rachel Cruz talks about this in her book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money.

We're all wired differently, savers, spenders, and that type of thing. But to your point, you can shape and help facilitate good money habits at a very young age. The difference is while your older son is very self-motivated to make money and save money, your second child, like a lot of second children, I will add, I've got one, isn't so self-motivated in that particular arena. So what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to create some external sources of motivation. So for example, if he never has to save money to pay for something that he wants, then he's never going to save money. Whereas if you put some type of limits, and I don't know what this looks like

when they're nine years old. There's some examples in Smart Money, Smart Kids of age-appropriate examples. But like with my kids, my children, Carter and Conley are six and four and a half. I will get them presents on holidays, Christmas, birthday, that type of thing. Outside of that, I don't buy them toys for any reason.

If they want a toy, they have to do chores and they earn commission and they save up their money and then they can buy that toy. They do not get the toy unless they work and save the money for it. So I think for you, it might look like figuring out what motivates your second child and then leveraging that in a very healthy way, not in a manipulative way, but in a healthy way to show, okay, there's going to be some consequences if you don't save and there's going to be some reward if you do save. And when you start putting that in place, I think it will force him to go against his

nature a little bit more to learn these money habits. Because I'll be honest, I have your second son's tendency. I tend to, I'm the spender. We were talking about this, Anthony. I'm the spender. So I have to force myself with the disciplines to stay on track for what I want to do. So I don't want you to be discouraged. There is an aspect of their personality that you're right on point, but it doesn't mean

he's never going to have money. He's going to be broke while your other son's a millionaire. I think it might just be you have to facilitate that motivation a little bit more than your older son who's more self-motivated. Anthony, you work with teens all the time and youth. I think what you said right there, Christy, is so good. You know, Nathan, I would just definitely say on top of that, on what Christy said, and you may just have to step in and be the father and say this is what you're doing. You know, you're going to save. You're going to have to step in and be the father and say, this is what you're doing. You know, you're going to save. You're going to have to do this. Now, you can spend a little bit, but hey, in this

house, we save so we can build wealth. And this is what you have to do. There's a proverb that says, train up a child in a way that he or she should go. And so I just want you to train your sons in the way that they should go. Sure. The other thing, and you probably already know this, Nathan, but I would just say pay very specific attention to it. Your sons are probably motivated by very different things. So if you're anything like most parents, you have one child and you know that child and you figure that child out as best you can. And then you have a second child like, oh, I totally got this.

I know exactly what to do. I remember when Conley was born, we're like, I know exactly how to do it. Swaddle him, give him a pacifier and put him to bed. And he hated swaddled and he hated pacifier. You're like, oh, you're a different person, even from an infant. And so just think about what excites him, what motivates him, what does he get excited about? And how can you use that to teach him in the direction you want him to go, but not forcing him to be like your older son

or be motivated by the things that your older son is motivated by because he's a different person. So it's this lifelong journey of customizing your parent for the child, which can be exhausting, but worth it and pays off as your children are so different. I love it. I love it. Doug is with us in Kansas City. Good afternoon, Doug.

How can Christy and I help? Hi, guys. So I have reached a pretty unfamiliar point in my life with my money. And I am very addicted to spending money. And I found that I don't mind if I'm paying bills, saving it, whatever. So we have one debt left, and it is our house. Okay. We have a plan to have it paid off in seven months max,

but six months looks very doable for us. Okay. So my wife and I were discussing about what we were going to do after that, and we started discussing investing money, and that opened up a lot of options for us that we're not sure what we want to do. We have two little girls. So we would like to have an investment for their weddings that we'll have to pay for. And college.

How old are they? College is kind of. Yeah, how old are they? Eight and 11. Okay, eight and 11. So they are they? Yeah, how old are they, Greg? Eight and 11. Okay, eight and 11. So they're still fairly young. Now, the college is kind of a trick for us because we want to offer them the option

to have us help them pay for college, but in return, they have to help pay for college, hold their grades, and if they have time for a job have a job okay so we're not giving them a free ride to college they still have to earn it but we want to have the option there to give them a debt-free scholarship yeah yeah i love it so let's do this and then the third thing obviously is uh a retirement an extra retirement so gotcha well hold on a line we're about to go to break i don't want to rush this answer so uh when christy and i come

back we will allow you to complete your question and then we'll have a conversation about some options for you all right so uh just sit tight we'll be right back. Before we went to break, we were on the line with Doug in Kansas City, and he was asking some pretty good questions, and I didn't want to rush an answer and pretty much leave him with not a good answer. So, Doug, how about you remind us of your question so we can best serve you on this call? Okay. Well, we are planning on paying off our last debt, which is our house, in six to seven months, and we were looking for somewhere to put our money after that.

We've started looking into investing, and we've decided that we would like to start investing for my two little girls that are eight and 11, their weddings, and for their college, and a second retirement for me and my wife. Okay. Awesome. All right. So let's talk about the basics real quick, man. What's your household annual income right now?

It's about $160,000. $160,000, which you all make annually. You're 100% debt-free. I just want to confirm this correctly, right? No consumer debt. So no car loans, credit cards, student loans, none of that. All right. Sounds good.

And then how much is your mortgage right now? I mean, how much do you have left on the mortgage? $49,000. Oh, wow. Yeah, so you should be able to pay that off this year, huh? He said seven months, yeah. Oh, yeah. Seven months is what our safe number is,

but I'm thinking we can do it in six, and that's why we're going to hold off investing until after the house is paid off. I'm curious. How much is the house worth? About $250,000. Cool. How much do you have in your retirement?

I have a pension through my employer, and I have about $310,000 in there right now. I'd have to see the new statement. Okay. Anything else? No. Okay, cool. So you're looking at over half a million dollars in retirement right now. Cool. Are you already investing 15%? I am not. I'm just, what I get through my pension,

through my employer is all I'm investing in retirement right now. Okay, cool. Great. So I do want to add to that. All right. Sounds good. And you're not doing any investments into like a 529 currently right now, right? No. And we were wondering about the 529 since it's specifically for school. If something were to happen and my kids did not maintain their part of the deal, I am the type of parent that is going to hold true to my word and not support them in college. I totally understand that.

So what, what specifically is your question for Christina? Where to put your money because you've got all these options? Is that what you're saying? Yes. Well, I mean, we have the baby steps for a reason, and you're obviously on track with that with your paying off your house and your investment. You're doing it a little bit different,

but you've got that pension and stuff going on. Here's the thing. I tend to look at things not as black and white as either or. I just like combination options. And so I think that you can save for all of these things you're talking about because none of them are that urgent right now, it sounds like. Your daughter's wedding, your daughters are little, and some of these things you're talking about.

You can start to put a percent away for each of those and let that money grow. That's what my go-to would be. Anthony, what would you say? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to go ahead and get on a baby step four, Doug. I'm going to go ahead and max out 15%. So I'm going to keep doing your pension. And I'm also going to open up a Roth IRA for,

well, your income is at, yeah, so you're right there. So I would do an IRA so that way you and your wife can have that. I still would open up a 529, Doug, and I'm having a conversation with my kids saying, hey, you are still responsible to getting into school. OK, your grades are going to have to be important. You are going to have to get some grants and some scholarships. But your mom and I are being intentional and making sure that, hey, we help you get through school. The key word there was help, not pay help. Yes. Okay. We're going to help. And then also, man, I love your idea. One of the key things that I'm really excited

about for my future, and Dave has done this, you know, Dave has sewn into his kids' weddings, and I plan on doing that. So if you want to part some funds into a mutual fund for your kids' wedding down the road, I think that's great. One of the things that I'm even starting to do this year is part money in a mutual fund for my kids' first house because I want to just start doing that. So I don't want to lock it up into a retirement. So I'm just going to put it into a mutual fund, and whenever that happens, it's going to grow some compound interest and I can have that conversation with my kids and say, here you go.

So I would definitely put your money into the baby steps, max out your baby step number four at 15%, going ahead and put a little bit into your, not a little bit, but go ahead and put some into the five 29, whatever's comfortable for you and your wife going ahead and finish paying off this house because that's going to help you get closer to your net worth of a million dollars. And then also, if you have some leftover money, definitely, man, I will go ahead and start looking into a good mutual fund that's not covered up underneath retirement.

So you can start saving for the wedding if that's something that you want to do down the road. Okay. I really like that answer. I guess we lost you right there. Sounds good. He liked it. Before we lost him, he liked the answer. Absolutely.

You're two today. That's two people you've made happy today. I mean, Chrissy, I feel like you're doubting my capabilities on being a Ramsey personality right now. I just want you to know that. No, I'm just super, super sure of your ability to make people uncomfortable if needed. Hey, to get to the result they need.

You're absolutely right. Hopefully I can go for three because David is with us in Phoenix, Arizona. What's going on, David? How can Christy and I help? Hi. Hi. Well, nice to meet you guys.

I do have some questions. I'm 25 years old. I'm in school and I'm pretty much trying to figure out like, what do I focus on right now as far as where my money is going? So right now I'm in school. I'll be graduating in May. And I'm thinking of going to medical school after that. I don't really have debt so far. I have about $5,500 in debt that's interest-free that I plan to pay off as soon as I graduate. What is it? I forget the exact term, but it's basically the subsidized loan.

Okay, soized loan. Okay, so student loan. All right. Yeah, student loan that's subsidized. About $11,000, or I'm sorry, $17,000 in investments, probably about $2,000 in cash, and then I make about $60,000 to $100,000 a year when I do sales work, so it's kind of variable, and particularly since I'm part-time at school. Where is this $17,000?

Is this in single stocks or is it in mutual funds? Where is this $17,000? I have a maxed-out Roth IRA. I started this past year, 2020. Okay. I got about $6,000 in it, and then I had about 11,000 in metals. And what?

And 10,000 in plastic metals. Hey, David, real quick, bro. Can you speak directly into your phone? So move the phone away from you, then bring it right back to you, because I'm hearing you kind of muffled a little bit. Can you hear me better now? Ten times wow there you are yes there you are david all right so where's about that where's this other eleven thousand dollars invested

on precious metals oh metals okay so about 17 in investments then and about $8,000 in cash and then making about $60,000 to $100,000 a year currently. And so kind of I'm in school, I'm working, and I rent a house. I don't own real estate. I'm just kind of wondering, do I focus right now on just doing what I'm doing and just save money? Do I invest? How are you planning to pay for medical school? Well, I have two options, really. One is to go to school here in Arizona, likely U of A, and get, obviously, in-state tuition and work. I'm planning to take a gap year between

finishing my prereqs and so on and so forth and then getting into medical school. So I'll work during that period of time. And I don't really have a complete plan yet on what, like I don't have the everything everything funded i just plan to work and try and save up as much as i can during that that's what we need david studying i can answer your question right there before we get into any kind of fancy things we could do with our money at 25 if you want to go to medical school that's your a1 yeah you don't have a plan and you need one you need to price out the options of where you could go where where you can afford, how much it's going to cost, and what frequency you need to pay it. Put it on paper, in a budget, in a plan, and make sure you get your debt paid off and save up that money before you go. Now, if you're taking a gap year,

you can do it, but you need that plan. That's your answer to your question is you need a plan for what you want to do. Ladies and gentlemen, that was Christy Wright, and this is the end of that hour. This is The Ramsey Show. Did you know you can listen to The Ramsey Show on your smart speaker? Just tell Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to play The Ramsey Show podcast. Check out all Ramsey Network shows on your smart speaker today.