The Ramsey Show - App - Is Grad School Worth It? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

Ken Coleman & Kristina Ellis answer your questions and discuss: "Should we pause retirement to pay off our house?" from the blog: When You Should Stop Investing, Pausing the debt snowball for a baby, from the blog: When to Pause Your Debt Snowball, "Should I go to grad school?", Renting vs. Buying, What to do with money after a divorce. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: 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

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is the Ramsey Show where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman and joined in studio by my colleague and Ramsey personality, Christina Ellison. Christina, this is our first time in our little duet here, so this is very exciting.

Yes. Are you ready to sing? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No singing today. I don't know about that. Yeah, no, I couldn't do it if I tried because my voice is trashed from allergies. And I might have gone to a piano bar at our Austin event last week and sang too loud,

and I don't know if it's recovered since. I might have. I am so sad I missed that. Yeah, well, believe me. Believe me. We're going to need a repeat someday. Oh boy. Well, let's get to it. The phone number, as I said, is 888-825-5225. Brielle joins us in Sarasota, Florida. Brielle, how can we help? Hi. So I'm a newlywed. I'm 25. My husband is turning 28 this year. And we recently bought a house. We owe $400,000 on it. We make gross $150,000 a year. And I have a very large stretch goal of paying off our house in about five years by the time I'm 30. So I wanted to get your opinion on if you think it's okay if we were to pause contributing and maxing out our Roth IRAs so that we could put that money towards our mortgage

and pay off our house within our goal. Well, I love this goal. I love that you guys are so excited to pay off your house by 30. That is so, so exciting. But I am wondering, so would that be pausing all retirement? You wouldn't be contributing anything. You would just be putting everything on the house. Correct. So currently I have about $55,000 in a Roth IRA, and my husband has several thousands in his Roth IRA.

And we don't have 401ks. We just currently contribute to Roth IRAs. So we would be stopping that. Okay. Well, I can see the temptation, and it's like, I don't want to kill your motivation because that's super exciting that you're stoked about it. But we have the baby steps in order for a reason. So retirement is going to come someday,

even though it seems far out at 25 years old. But the beautiful thing about investing for retirement right now is it's going to build compound interest over time. And it is just amazing when you look at the retirement calculators and you see if you save aggressively in your 20s, what that's going to be in 25 years. That is amazing. And the house is great, but we also want this money growing at the same time. So I would not say to pause your retirement. I would keep investing 15% like baby step four, doing the baby steps in order and trusting the process. Now on the flip side of that, if you still want to hit it by 30, I would encourage you to start being creative on different ways that you can get more money to add to the house. So I don't know, is that 150? Is that just your full-time

jobs or is that side hustles? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We are both venturing into side hustles as well. So between that and the increase in our salaries, we, you know, they'll continue to increase over the next years to come for sure. So I would challenge you to take what you were going to get from that retirement investing that you wanted to throw at the house and make that money additionally. Try to earn that money through side hustles and see if you can get that extra money to throw at the house. So you can still do both. So you can still invest towards retirement and also hit that amazing house goal. That's right. And Brielle, Christina's right. And you're going to come out better financially So you can still invest towards retirement and also hit that amazing house goal. That's right.

And Brielle, Christina's right. You're going to come out better financially if you walk out the baby steps. And that is going to look really, really beautiful when you've been investing that entire time that you've been attacking paying off the house. And you wake up on the other side of that one morning and you did what Christina told you to do. And now you're on your way to being truly a Baby Steps Millionaire. And that's why Dave wrote the book, Baby Steps Millionaire. So I'm going to give that to you as our gift

just to reinforce what Christina told you. So hang on the line. We'll get you a copy of Dave's best-selling book, Baby Steps Millionaire, and this is going to reinforce and give you that clarity that you need so that you're not tempted. Because on paper, it seems to make sense, but we want you winning completely. So thank you so much for the call. All right, let's go to Allie in Baltimore. Is it Allie or Ali? Do we know? It could go either way. Thank you. All right,

Allie, I was right. I am hooked on phonics today. Very exciting that those courses paid off. Baltimore, Maryland. Allie, how can we help? Yes, so my husband is transitioning out of the military, just got a new job, and it has a very high deductible insurance, medical insurance. We have a lot of thousand dollars in credit card debt that will

be paid off this month and we owe $7,000 on our vehicle. We currently have the money from our tax return to pay off the vehicle in full, but I'm going to be having a baby this year and our medical deductible is $5,000 that we'll have to pay before the insurance kicks in. So I'm just wondering if we should save that money since we know we're going to have the medical bills coming, pay off the medical bills and then continue to pay on our vehicle or just pay off the vehicle and then work on the medical bills as they come. Well, congratulations on all of that. Is this the first baby? Third. Oh, you're an old pro now.

Okay, very exciting. And also very busy. Yes, and tired. Very. Well, that's all very exciting. So you're in what we call stork mode. So this is the time where it is okay to pause the baby steps and save up money. Because, yes, you need to be able to cover that deductible and we don't want you to go into more debt for that so um yeah this is one of the very

few times we would say to pause the baby steps but um you're in that season and you know that money's coming you're gonna owe that money for the birth and so taking a pause as weird as it feels right now because it does seem like you guys have been super motivated with paying off what you have and the thousand dollars this month but just for this temporary time yes we would say pause okay very that's gonna help me sleep better at night that's right and of course once you're past this phase i can i it feels like you're motivated you've been motivated we'll want you to pick it back up that's you know some of the dangers uh of pausing at times is, you know, keeping that. You stop the momentum.

Dave talks all the time about momentum theorem. So, you know, don't let this be something where it's like you stop it and then you forget and then you get into mom mode and you're exhausted postpartum and, you know, and so on and so on. But for now, yes, take time. Okay. Enjoy prepping for that sweet baby coming. Yes. And then get back on it and you know it's

really fun to hear Allie's shoulders drop right there when you just kind of you know it's like she didn't need permission but what's great about this process for those of you that are new to the program and you're hearing this you're going how do we take all of this baby step stuff and how do we apply it as real life happens and this is is a great example. And you got a mom right here going, okay, I could still be disciplined and get out of debt, but I got to take care of that deductible and now I can sleep at night. And that is really the piece

that we talk about so much here with the baby steps leading to financial peace. So to that end, if you're new to the program, you've been listening, watching for some time and it's helping you and encouraging you and you think that it could help others, if you're new to the program, you've been listening, watching for some time, and it's helping you and encouraging you, and you think that it could help others, will you help us spread the word? Subscribe, review, and share, because we want to help as many people as possible learn how to handle money so they can live and give like no one else. She's Christina Ellis. I'm Ken Coleman. Don't move. More of The Ramsey Show coming up.

Welcome back, America. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, Christina Ellis. We're here for you this hour, 888-825-5225. Taking your calls, of course, about money, but also about your work and your relationships. And I'm the Ramsey personality that's dedicated to work. Simply put, I believe that everybody wants to make a difference. They want to make their mark professionally. It has tremendous personal benefits and the science proves that. And so I want to help you discover and do that work that you were born to do. And that involves walking through, getting clarity on what that is, how do I get qualified to do it. And with Christina in here today, we'd love to

take your getting qualified, what do I need to do from an education standpoint to be able to do the work that I want to do. It's a great little combo today. And we're going to talk about that this segment because Christina on the Ken Coleman show, I get this question all the time. Someone calls and they want to pivot to something or they're thinking about pivoting and they are immediately going, do I need to get another degree? Because I can't afford it right now, or I don't have the time or the combination of both. And what I love about what you're doing and what I'm doing is we dovetail together very well. And so we're going to walk through some common questions in this segment because I think it will help people begin to take this big, giant, scary, unclear destination

and begin to go, oh, wait a second. I can actually get there and I can get there in a non-harmful way, right? Meaning not sucking all my time out and thus hurting my family or spending money they don't have in the form of a student loan. Yeah. And that's what I was going to say is that I talked to so many people who chose to go to grad school because maybe they were confused about what to do next in their career, or maybe they felt like that was just the next step. And so they went to grad school without really thinking through it deeply.

And then, you know, they may have avoided debt in undergrad and then took on a bunch in grad school. So I think it's really important to ask some hard questions before you just decide to go to grad school because maybe it's the right decision, but it may not be. So yeah, I kind of wrote out some questions. I love this. Hit me with the first one. This is really good. Question one. Okay. So if you're thinking about grad school is the next step. Okay. One question you should ask is, is this just a check mark? We took a call from somebody, I think it was last week or two weeks ago, where she was thinking about getting an MBA because she had a professor tell her that that's what she needed to be successful in business. That if she just had an undergrad in business, then she wouldn't be successful. So she needed to have that checkmark in order to have the right opportunities.

Now, mind you, she was already working in a job that was business related and really loved it and didn't actually want to get the degree, but she felt like she had to in order to be successful. So I got to jump in here because this is the kind of stuff that makes my blood pressure get to unhealthy levels. But we live in a world where I could say the sun is hot and somebody would misinterpret that. So listen very carefully, some of you who are borderline snowflakes and you love education so much you can't hear anything else.

How's that for a setup? We live in a society where this example, this call you're talking about, is the norm, where a professor said to a young lady, in order to be successful in business and maybe run a business one day, you need to get an MBA. Well, that is a big crock of crap. There are good things that you can learn while pursuing an MBA. But the reality is you can take your shiny new MBA, Christina, and you are still going to have to get in business and learn business by following first. In other words, in order to be a good leader, you must be a good follower. Well, I got to tell you something. The only way to learn how to be a good follower is to actually get in on the ladder and begin to work your way up. They're not going to teach you how to be a good follower in an MBA program.

Right. And you can learn a lot of great things, but it may not be necessary. And like with this girl, she was going to go to an MBA program that had no track record. That's right. It had no history. It was just simply. But here's why. The narrative is, is you get the MBA and you're going to be more successful because they're going to pay you more. But here's the thing. You can take your MBA, but you're still gonna have to get out there and compete and beat somebody. And I will take the kid who doesn't even go to college at all, who starts out in a small business and starts in a grunt job and works his or her way up the ladder. I'll take that person every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I would. That's me. Because your MBA doesn't prove anything to me other than you were a good student. Right. So for some people,

if you want to get an MBA, if you can afford it, that's great. And for some careers, you do need grad school, but make sure you're asking yourself before you go to grad school, is it a check mark? Another question is, is there another way to get the training you need? And I know you talk about this a lot. There's a lot of people getting master's degrees and PhDs in digital marketing, and maybe they could have just gone through a certificate course on how to do social media. Is there another way? I think this is good, and you and I have talked about this a lot. I have a two-part question that allows us to get to the heart of what Christine is saying here, and it's this. Is it the only way to do what I want to do? In other words, if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer for two very simple examples, you have to get the

undergrad degree, and you got to get the grad degree. That's just the game has been defined for you. Now you got to play by the rules. But by asking that question, is it the only way? What if we get a, no, it's not the only way. Now the secondary question is,

is it the best way? And so now we can actually look at it and go, oh, if it is clearly and statistically, socially, culturally, whatever the best way, then yes, go get the degree, but do it the way that Christina teaches you to get it. Let's pay cash. Yes. And that's the next question is, can I afford it? Oh boy. Can I afford it? There's not as much scholarships and financial aid for grad school. That's just a fact, but that does not mean that you should get student loans. If you got to get student loans and you can't afford it. So, you know, you can either wait and save up. You can find a cheaper program. You can apply for scholarships and fellowships. You can use tuition reimbursement programs. There are ways to pay for grad school. But just because it's a little bit harder doesn't mean that you should just throw caution to the wind and just take on debt. And another question is,

is this actually what you want to do long-term? I really encourage people, don't go to grad school just to find yourself. Like that is such an expensive way to do that. I'd rather you go to Italy and eat, pray, love for a few weeks, you know, rather than spending thousands of dollars on an education that you're not sure about.

Hey, I'd rather you spend $30 at ramsaysolutions.com and get my Get Clear Career Assessment. Woo! That's good. Why don't you just get self-aware for a moment? Why don't you read my best-selling book, From Paycheck to Purpose? Yes. And actually explore and do what I call clarify and verify. If I wonder about being a nurse, here's an idea.

Why don't I sit down with some nurses in all walks of nursing? You got your labor and delivery nurse. You got your emergency room nurse. You got your pre-check nurse. Here's what we're saying. Go get some actual information with your head, Christina. And here's what I found. When I go and I clarify what is involved in something that I'm interested in, one of two things will happen. I will verify that, yes, I want to do it, or I will verify that, no, I don't want to do it. Yes.

But instead of finding yourself, to your point, over a very expensive and arduous graduate degree, why don't you hang out with some people who do it and find out the good, the bad, and the ugly, and your heart's going to tell you, yay or nay. That's so wise. It's sad because I've met so many people who have $50,000, $100,000 in student loan debt from grad school, and they're not actually using that degree. Oh, and then they're dealing with guilt. Right. They feel like they have to stay in the career for five to seven years. I hear this all the time because they feel like they have to justify the degree so you're now imprisoning yourself over pride but what are people gonna say and so take the time to do the legwork on the front

do the legwork do the do the assessment get clear before you start and then one more question is this is a hard one because i know a lot of people who are feeling all the feels about grad school and they love education they're not not really going to love this question. But ask, will it ROI? Does it make financial sense to go get a grad degree? Will you earn more in your career? Does it make sense to actually, one, invest what it costs to get the degree? So let's say, for example, it's $40,000 a year to go through a two-year master's program.

So you're paying $80,000 just for the program. And then if it's a full-time program, you're taking two years off work. So let's say your salary is $50,000. That's $100,000. That's $180,000 investment. Is that worth it? Will it ROI? It's hard questions. It may be worth it, but ask it. Explore it. It exposes the nonsensical cultural pressure that has been fed to us through great marketing. Oh, you're smart. You're successful if you go get that degree. Oh, it'll pay off. It'll pay off.

The evidence says not always. It might. It might. But ask the hard questions first. All right, don't move. More Ramsey Show coming right up. The Ramsey Show continues from our Ramsey Solutions Worldwide Headquarters in the shadows of Music City, Nashville, Tennessee.

I'm Ken Coleman. Christina Ellis joins me this hour. We're here for you, taking your money questions, your work questions. How about you're getting qualified? Do I need a degree? How do I pay for it? Is there an alternative? We'll take your work questions as well and your money questions around getting qualified in that school area. Christina is the expert there and I'm the work expert. So we love to combine on those questions. So parents, as we are in literally the lead-up months to millions of Americans, Christina, walking across the aisle, or actually the platform rather, and moving the tassel.

Which way does the tassel go? It's been so long for me, I can't even remember. Gosh, I don't remember either. I feel like it's on the left and you move it to the right, but I probably said it wrong. It doesn't matter. It's a very exciting time for parents, but also a lot of anxiety. Yeah. Right. Where's my kid going to go? Some kids are still making those last minute decisions. And so we want to help you. So special call out to you parents or young people or even adults who are thinking about pivoting, let Christine and I walk you through that process today, 888-825-5225. All right, speaking of time flying and things happening in the spring, we're just two months away from the SMART Conference, actually inside of two months now, my goodness, the SMART

Conference weekend, which is an extended SM Conference, for those of you that have been to our events before or the Smart Conference, April 14 and 15, right here at the brand spanking new Ramsey Event Center here on our campus. Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, Dr. John Deloney, George Campbell, Christina Ellis, Jade Warshaw, and yours truly are combining for what will be a powerful weekend. It's our first event at the brand-new event center, as I mentioned, and we're going to do some fun things. And it's a weekend-long event. So every ticket includes a commemorative badge.

By the way, that's a hard word to say. Try to say commemorative more than once in a sentence. It's a tough one. I got through it there. Your phonics are still working well. Thank you. Thank you. Very excited. And throughout the weekend, there's going to be a lot to do, chances for you to get

a book signed, get pictures with all of the crew. We're going to have some incredible live music because it is Nashville. So you don't want to miss this. A few tickets left, and they're only $119 each, again, for a two-day event, Friday afternoon into the evening and then Saturday. So don't wait. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash events. That's ramseysolutions.com slash events and grab your ticket today. Going to be fun. Going to be fun. All right, let's get to Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon is there. Brandon, how can we help? Hi, I was hoping for some help with a tiebreaker between my fiance and I.

Oh, I love this. I don't shy away from this. I've got to vote. I just don't know which way it's going. All right, set us up. What is the case? Essentially, we're talking about where we'll be moving to after we get married which would be in the upcoming summer and i am thinking it's a good idea to rent for at least one maybe two years so that way we make sure we're stable like job positions all that kind of situation

but she is really excited about buying a house, and I don't want to be someone that destroys her dreams. Long term, I think that's the right decision, but I'm not sure if it's the right decision today because she's going to be getting out of school this year, so she still hasn't worked at least fulltime with her career path and all that. All right, so let's do this before Christine and I weigh in, because I'm already ready to vote.

I'm already ready, but it's based on Stacey and I's journey, so I'm a bit biased. Let's look at the facts and get the emotion out of the way. That means on your side and her side, because you're a little bit worried, a little protectionary. She's excited. She wants a nest. I mean, that's a normal thing. So let's remove the emotion. Let's walk through the numbers. Do you guys have debt separately? And walk us through if you do. No, we do not have any debt. So no debt. And when does she graduate? She graduates in May. Okay. And what kind of money

does she think she's going to be able to make? She's told me probably around $40,000 a year is what her ID is. And what do you make? I currently make $80,000. Okay, nice. Oh, I like six-figure double income, no kids. Hello. We can make up some real, yeah, is that what they call it? I forgot that. Dual income, no kids. Oh, it's very exciting. And do you have any money saved, either one of you?

Separately, what do you each have saved? So, like, we both live pretty frugally, but I'm a little bit more of an investor on my side, so it's like on cash. Yeah. but I'm a little bit more of an investor on my side, so it's like on cash, I have probably about 10-ish saved. She probably has around 40 saved. So it's like down payment-wise combined, that's not as much of a problem. How much of that is allocated for the wedding, or is that not going to be used?

Well, she wants to just do a courthouse wedding so basically zero hey can i just tell you if she wants a courthouse wedding as a dude you need to go oh yeah babe i mean yeah and if you're the frugal one like i mean that's great every guy i know would pass up the frilly wedding for the courthouse oh yeah no that's that's the plan yeah all right well that's great news okay so uh what size house is she let's be honest here what is she looking at what are we talking about price wise like i've tried to keep things below like the 300 ish mark and is she good with that but that's like absolute max for me like my goal would be probably closer to the 200 or at least under 250 oh i know but what does she want what does she want she was the very top of the budget bless her heart whenever i

think about everything that she really likes so what is she thinking 600 500 what are we talking about uh well not really that far because for me it's like it's more of just thinking about like technically to look at what we can afford probably more than what i'm capping it out as but for thinking about the future like i prefer it to be under 250 but right okay things that you really like so it's usually close to the like 300 isish mark. Okay. And y'all, are you moving towns, or are you going to stay in the same city you're in right now? Staying around the same area that we're in right now. Okay.

You already have jobs after graduation, everything's set up? She does not. Like, I've been working full-time for a few years now. It's just like I don't have, like, I have no problem with that, but she doesn't have a job. All right, Brandon, I've got to ask you this real quick so we can render a judgment. How much of an argument is this? I mean, is this just a playful – when you say settle the tiebreaker,

is this digging some heels in on both sides, or is it just we're expressing our preferences and we're not on the same page yet where are we at relationally on this oh it's not like a huge argument or anything it's more of just from her end yeah i think it's like a really big excitement so it's partly like it's just going against that so it's difficult all right ken's just making sure we're not going to start a fight tonight yeah i'm trying yeah because this is i'm aware that you could roll this back on YouTube, and I kind of want you to.

I want her to watch this. I want Christina to weigh in, because I think it's fun that we got the male-female opinion here. I don't know what you're going to say. What say you? Okay, this may surprise you. Okay. I'm on Brandon's side.

I would wait. So am I. I would wait. You and I are in agreement. Okay, yeah, there's so much transition happening. Just in general, when you first get married, it's nice to have a little bit of time to rent and Dave often says to figure out how far you want to live from the in-laws yeah um it's gonna be your first time living together and really seeing each other's preferences and all of that you don't know if you like what

you want in a house exactly you don't know how that's all gonna mesh what floor plan you want um and just in general like 50,000 is a good amount to have saved up. I'm glad you have that, but you do still have a wedding ahead. Part of that's going to be your emergency fund. So that doesn't leave much of a down payment. I know you do still have time to save, but with the house that she wants, it sounds a bit like she would feel like she was settling if she got the house now. I agree. And while they've got 50 collectively, 60 is that 20% down payment at the top of his range, right? And I just know from experience, the dude's going to land a little bit closer to what mama wants. That's just the deal.

And so what I would say is I'd rent a minimum of 12 months. And let's see if we can go above and beyond. Let's have that emergency fund that we go into marriage with. Let's get a fully funded three to six months of emergency fund based on your two incomes. And let's save the down payment above and beyond that. Let's rent for a year, two years. You're not throwing money away. You're just getting settled, as Christina said.

And you're not destroying her dream. You're delaying the dream to do it the right way. I'd have her watch this back so that we can be the bad people. But hey, you're a good dude, Brandon. Congratulations. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Christina Ellis joins me this hour. It's a free call to jump in. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And I want to say a big thank you and welcome to all of the new listeners

and viewers who join on all the different platforms. Of course, we've got Talk Radio, SiriusXM, Podcast, wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. And then YouTube is exploding as well. And so if you're new and you're hearing things like baby steps and which one and all this kind of stuff, a lot of jargon you're not used to, we've got you covered. Go to ramseysolutions.com and click on the get started button. And it's just a couple of quick little questions that kind of gives us an idea of where you are on your financial journey,

why you're listening and watching the show, and kind of those pain points. And then it's going to plug you in so that you begin to understand where you are on the journey that we call the baby steps, the seven baby steps that lead to financial peace. So it's a great way to really get plugged in, RamseySolutions.com, and click on Get Started. All right, let's go to Ryan in Erie, Pennsylvania. Ryan, how can we help? Yes, so I'm Ryan. I've recently gone through a divorce.

I'm so sorry. How long ago did that happen or finalize? It got finalized last month. I've been going through it for a little under a year now. Yeah, so just kind of restarting now and just trying to figure out where my financial focus and kind of my goals should be at. Well, can you give us a picture of what your financial reality is? Do you have any debt?

What's your payments as maybe a result of the settlement? Absolutely. So I'm only 25, so we didn't have any kids. My income, I make about $90,000 a year right now. My student loans, I have about $5,000 left of student loans. And I am left with the house in my name. And there's about $112,000 left on the house. Okay.

And no other debt? No other debt. My vehicle is paid off. Good for you. So how are things in the divorce right now? Is it finalized? Is it still kind of ongoing? Yeah, it is.

Everything is finalized as of last month. So everything is paid for in the divorce. So I'm done with that and just kind of ready to move forward now. All right. So that's a nice situation in that you can get out of that student loan pretty quickly. Are you planning to do that? Yes. So I have a little over $10,000 left after everything right now.

In cash? I think I could, in cash, correct. Pay the loan off today. Okay. While we're in this new season, let's go ahead and pay that off. I mean, today. Like, within five minutes of you hanging up this phone call, call the bank, call the student loan, and let's get it paid.

Now you're left with $5,000 in cash, and the only debt you have is your house. How familiar are you with our baby steps? So that's kind of the approach we took when we were first ready to get married. We kind of snowballed our debt. And then after this all happened, we were snowballing kind of our student loans, and I'm left with five grand left. So I'm fairly familiar with the baby steps. So here's the deal.

You pay off the 5K today. You had any challenges with that? Are you okay with that? You understand that's the play, right? Yeah. I mean, of course, there's a little bit of worry having five grand left in the bank, but I just started a new job, actually. Dude, you're 25.

You're 25. You have no expenses. You have no kids. This is not an issue. And you're making 90K a year. You got a good income. Nothing to be afraid of, right? Yeah.

All right. So that puts you $5,000 into what is your three to six months emergency fund. And I can't think of a better way to kind of come out of a divorce than to just get some type of really serious personal goal. And your big-time personal goal is financial and getting baby step three done and get that emergency fund fully funded. How's that going to feel just from a financial standpoint? Yeah, correct. How quickly could you do it? Be realistic. A couple months.

A couple of months. Now you got the emergency fund and now it's getting your retirement set up and investing set up at the age of 25, Christina. Yeah, that's incredible. I'm also curious, how much equity do you have in your house? What's your house worth? My house worth about $140,000, maybe $150,000. Because I'm also just getting excited with the fact that you only have $112,000 left on the house. So it's like you're going to have this fully funded emergency fund done in a few months. You're going to be investing for retirement. And I think you can pay that house off pretty darn quick, probably within,

if you're really serious and this is a big goal for you, you could do that for sure within five years, I would say. Oh, easily. I'm even thinking if you got really gazelle intense, not that you have to be gazelle intense in four through six, but if you really wanted to knock that out, like you could have that done quick. And could you imagine being under 30 with a paid-off house on baby step seven?

Yes, that would be great, definitely. Now, do you plan to stay in that house or do you want a fresh start? Because the other side of this is, you know, you could sell it if it's got bad mojo, right, and bad feelings and all. Who knows? I'm just being realistic. I mean, because you now have an opportunity where you can completely start fresh financially and walk through the baby steps, pay that house off.

You have no debt. And after we're investing that 15% since you don't have kids, you're moving towards a house down payment to where eventually, hopefully you meet another person and give love another shot. And now you're just moving forward in just much better financial position. I would not be opposed to you selling your house given that situation. But as Christina said, if you don't need to get out of it, it's a great asset that you can pay off.

What are you thinking? What are you feeling? Yeah. I understand the bad mojo part. And I really was considering it at first. I'm doing a little better now. Good. So I'm okay with staying here at the moment.

The reason I want to stay is I have a little bit of equity in the house and my mortgage is pretty low. By the way, that's a no-brainer. It's incredibly low. Yeah, it's a no-brainer. I just wanted to give you permission that you were in a position to start over if you wanted to, but I love the play. And I love what Christine is telling you. Just get gazelle intense. I think it will give you something to focus on as you heal, and you're making great financial progress,

which means you're making great personal progress coming out of something like this. Yeah. I'm so sorry for what you're going through because it's like I can hear it in your voice. It's just it's so much pain. But financially, you're doing really well. And I think especially in a couple of years, you could be in a really, really great spot. So I'm excited for your prospects in the future. The fact that you're still so young and you can be killing it financially and also still reach whatever goals you have. If you want to have a family or just whatever personal goals, you've just got a lot of time.

But we're going to gift you a copy of Own Your Past, Change Your Future, which is Dr. John Deloney's book. That's good. Hang on the line. Austin will pick up. And that can just help you process the grief because I think that's your biggest challenge right now. Money wise, you're doing great. Like you're going to, the sky is the limit for you. You're going to be a baby steps millionaire. If you take this advice today and you just walk the plan, like you're going to be rocking it in your thirties. But I think right now the biggest thing

is just really working through the emotional, sticky, messy, hard stuff. And Ryan, do you have, have you connected with one of our smart investor pros in your area? I haven't, no. All right. I really want you to do that. I want you to, after we give you, so we got some homework assignments. Hang on the line. Austin's going to get you John's book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future. You are also going to hang up and you're going to pay off that $5,000 on that loan. And then you're going to go to RamseySolutions.com and click on the SmartVestor Pro button, Christina, because I want him to interview three or four SmartVestor Pros in his area because he's already needing to have these conversations because he's going to have that emergency fund fully funded in two months, which means we want to make sure that that 15% in Baby Step 4 of his income

is being invested wisely, because at the unbelievably young age, my goodness, of 25, he is on his way to being a Baby Steps millionaire. So those are your homework assignments, Ryan. We're so sorry that you're going through this tough time, but I want to tell you something, my friend. Joy comes in the morning. You're in a storm right now. You're coming out of it, and it's going to be okay.

So do those things, and I think you're going to look back many years from now and say, hey, the best is still yet to be. She is Christina Ellis. I'm Ken Coleman. I want to thank our team, James Childs, our fearless leader behind the glass that keeps us on the air. I want to thank you, America, for listening because this is about you. This is your show. It is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Ken.

If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Go to ramsaysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsaysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.