The Ramsey Show - App - Is Your Money & Marriage Issue Really a Pronoun Problem? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. Sitting in for Dave Ramsey, I'm Chris Hogan. And America, I'm excited to be with you, and I cannot wait to talk to you about the money questions or the things that are on your mind. So if you have a question, I want you to give us a call. That number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. There's a lot going on, and I know people have questions.

So do me a favor. Pick up the phone. Give us a call. Or you can find us on social media at Dave Ramsey Show. And we would love to be able to talk with you. And for those of you that are watching on the YouTube channel, we appreciate you and welcome your questions as well. Well, I'm going to get to the phones.

I've got Don on the line out in Traverse City, Michigan. Don, how can I help you? Hey, Chris, how's it going? Oh, my friend, I'm doing pretty well. What's on your mind? Hey, just finished reading your book retired inspired very very good stuff really uh motivational and educational so appreciate that well thank you sir i appreciate that that was definitely the goal um so we are in like in

between four or five and six in our baby steps. We've got our six months saved in expenses. Good. I got like $5,000 left on our Jeep, so we're kind of a little out of order. We were out of debt and went back in. We'll be out in September. So October, essentially I kind of got to decide what's the next step. So our annual income is about $160 a year, and we have about $130 saved in retirement so far. We have a home mortgage.

It's a 30-year, but we're paying it off on a 12-year plan, so we owe about $177 on that. My question is, so I'll have, you know, right now I'm putting $1,700 a month towards the Jeep to have it paid off. So basically $1,700 a month of unplanned income. But I'm also saving, I'm maxing out my Roth 401k at work, and we're saving about $4,000 a year in our Roth IRAs. So I'm saving over the 15%. I guess my question is, am I better off taking that $17,000 and start putting it towards retirement, or should I stop the Roth 401k outside of work and then take all of that $17,000? I'm also saving, maxing out our HSA. So we're saving $6,000 a year in our HSA. So I'm saving way more than 15%. Should I pull back those contributions and focus on the house to hammer that out? Okay, very good. Don, answer this for me.

You said your income's around 160. How old are you? I am 44. Okay, 44 years young. You are investing right now. You've got money going, this Jeep. Now, listen, you're not going to go back into debt anymore, are you? No, no, sir.

My car was, like, eating us up, like like hundreds of dollars every month so yeah i made a decision i know but the decision moving forward is we're going to save cash right and pay cash that's right yeah we're not going backwards anymore don't do that okay my hair on my head stood up when you said that i got riled up but i love three quarters of it saved i know but i love how you're being intentional and you're throwing the money at that jeep to attack it now based on what you're investing and where you are obviously at 44 you got 130 000 saved uh you tell me right and so but but listen you're attacking this mortgage i like your mindset i like what you're doing how long ago did you buy this home? We bought it in 2016. Okay.

2016. Do you know your rate? Yeah, 3.75%. Okay. So, and you said you've got a 30 and you're paying it like a 12. So how much are you paying each month toward this? $1,500. Okay. All right.

So here's the deal. To answer your question directly, once you get this Jeep paid off, and we're not going backwards anymore, I want you to take the $1,700 and definitely pay it toward the house. Okay. That's going to be the better route. Now, you said you guys are paying it like a $1,200. I would reach out to your bank, and let's go ahead and get a refinance estimate on this, so you can go ahead and put it like a $1,200, so you have to pay it that way.

Okay? Right now, you're on a 30. And so this thing is just hanging out. And so whenever people tell me they're going to pay it like something, that means they've got some flexibility. They can have some months where they decide they're not going to. So let's get a little bit more serious on it. Now, let me ask you, do you all have any kids? Yeah, I have three, a 30-year-old, a 22-year-old, and a 6-year-old. Okay, all right. And so are you doing any college saving for the 6-year-old? So the 22-year-old currently lives with us, and he's working full-time, he's taking classes, and he's cash-rolling, and we help him out.

We are putting $100 a month in a 529 for the 6-year-old. Okay. All right. You said the 22-year-old is working full-time? Yeah. What are you helping him with, then? Well, just to help keep him going with it. Okay.

All right. You're plugging it in. That was the agreement. He's staying at home. If he's working full-time, he's taking part-time classes. So it's not huge. It's's taking part-time classes. Okay. So it's not huge. It's a couple thousand dollars a year.

Okay. I got you. So you're helping him get moving. So I like that you're, like you said, baby steps four, five, and six. Remember, we're doing those all at the same time. And so you all are focused and you're moving down the path. But take anything extra, throw it toward the house. Look at getting it refinanced down to a 12, you know, hanging out on a 30. All you're doing is making the bank money. And I know people tell me they intend to pay it like, or I'm going to do X,

Y, or Z. But at the end of the day, when the pen meets the check, it's typically the amount that's required that people pay. So be very intentional, be very focused, and keep moving forward. We all can stumble at times and make a mistake. But for people that are out there that are serious, they'll tell me, well, Chris, I'm making this auto repair. It's a couple hundred dollars a month. So I'm just going to go get another car. Well, no, no, no. Don't justify a payment and go backwards. What I want you to do is in your budget, I want you to budget for car repairs. If it's a two to three hundred dollars a month, imagine putting that off to the side in an envelope or into an account. The next thing you know, you've got a car replacement fund.

See, that's how you do it and not end up going backwards. Car lots love for people to go look. And I'm not going to take a poll, but I'm going to tell on myself. I went looking once and I was just going go look. And I'm not going to take a poll, but I'm going to tell them myself. I went looking once and I was just going to look and guess what I came home with an SUV payment that almost had a comma in it. All right. For those of you out there doing math means the payment was big and I was just looking. I didn't intend to buy. And I got in there and started smelling the new leather and, and seeing all the new buttons and things. And I just got all happy and I got stupid financially. And I let my guard down for about 32 minutes and came home with the payment. So America,

learn from my mistake. There are some things you don't need to go look at. Don't go look at boats. Don't go look at motorcycles and don't go look at cars unless you have the cash. All it's going to do is cause you to start to question if you're focused. And remember what you've come from. Remember the mountain you've been climbing. And I'm here to tell you something. That climb is worthwhile. But what you have to do is stay focused. Don't let your guard down. And some of you might have friends that are doing some financial crazy. Stay away from them. OK, just visit them. OK, don't don't hang out too long because you don't want that to crawl up on you. You got things to do and places to go. You know why? Because you've got people

that you love. This is the news, guys. You need to stop and listen. The Fed decided not to raise interest rates. That means you've got a small window of time before rates rise again. Here's the deal. Most people are paying too much interest on their largest expense, their home. So you're freaking crazy if you don't take 10 minutes to call Churchill Mortgage right now and see if they can save you money before rates rise again.

A mortgage through Churchill could save you thousands, or better yet, reduce the time until you're debt-free. Can you imagine how it would feel to no longer have that payment looming over your head every month? Just go to ChurchillMortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200. Their team of experts will give you more clarity about your options and more peace, knowing you're saving significant money in the long run. Call 888-LOAN-200. That's 888-562-6200 or churchillmortgage.com. Hello, America.

You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I've got a fantastic audience here in our lobby. I've got Kansas City. I've got Iowa. And I've got a couple that are here. I learned a new word today. Baby moon. Okay?

They are here on their baby moon, which is, you know, it's when they're having their first kid. And so they're coming out to hang out and have some peace and quiet before they get invaded. Congratulations. That's really, really cool. You better take her somewhere good to eat, dude, or you're going to have issues. Glad to be back with you. I don't know if you've all seen this or not, but everybody is so enamored right now with these digital apps and Venmo and all the things out there.

But did you hear target had a situation uh they had a register outage and they couldn't take any form of payment other than cash uh they couldn't take a debit card they couldn't take anything and so lo and behold paper money still has a place in our culture today i mean everybody tries to tell me and it's a there's's a new cryptocurrency out called Libra, which is, you know, it is just as ridiculous as Bitcoin, right? Bitcoin is this currency. You can't touch it. It's not regulated, but somehow it has value. Yeah, no.

I'm old school, people. Okay? I am. I like paper, money. I like coins. And cash is always going to have a place, right? Dave got it right when he said cash is king. And so looking at this and being aware, it's okay for us to be able to utilize technology.

Don't hear me wrong. I'm a fan of every dollar. That's the best budgeting tool on planet Earth that we have here. But I'm telling you something. Our young kids still need to learn how to deal with money. I'll never forget not long ago, I was at the mall and I bought something and they had a register outage. And I don't know if you all have seen it or not, but some of the registers now will just give you the change. So people don't even have to count anymore. It just spits out coins at you, you know, like it's a slot machine or something. I've seen those online.

And so you just grab it. But now if they don't know how to utilize money and don't know how to count, I think we're missing out on a true life skill. And so if you haven't read this, this was an article that was in the USA Today, and it's entitled, What's the Future for Cash? Target Register Outage Proves Physical Loot Still Has Its Place. Well, we already knew that. And so it's really important. So be sure, do me a favor, teach your young people how to deal with money, how to count, and how to be able to make change so they can move forward in life and have that skill. Again, digital tools are necessary, but I think those old school roots of learning how to count and knowing how money works will always be there. All right, I'm back on the phones.

I've got Nick in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nick, how are you? I'm doing excellent. And yourself? Oh, I'm focused and not finished, my friend. How can I help you today? Yeah, I have a question regarding 401K and my Roth IRA. So I recently changed positions in employers, and I 401K, I rolled over into, now I work

for a nonprofit, so it's a 403b, but they don't do the company match until having two years of service, and my wife and I are working through maybe step two as far as we're just hammering out debt right now. My question is, is once that match becomes available, obviously I don't want to leave money on the table and at least put in to get the company match. But then my question is, would you recommend maxing out the 401k contribution as far as the federal match of like $18,000? Or would you just do the company match and then max out like a Roth IRA prior to maxing out the 401k contribution? All right. I like where your head is, my friend. How old are you? I'm 30 years old. 30 years old, and what's your household income?

$125,000. $125,000, and tell me about the debt that you have remaining. So the debt I have remaining is my student loans from pharmacy school. Okay, how much is it? I have about $145,000 remaining on that. Okay. And my mortgage, I have $70,000 remaining on that. Okay. And my mortgage, I have $70,000 remaining on that. Okay.

So you just have the student loan and the home, right, Nick? Correct. Okay. And you're 30 years old? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. And so are you currently investing right now?

At this point right now, or I was when would just was with my previous employer so i was putting in to get the company match i have 70 000 currently in my 401k okay i rolled over into my 403b but at this point i am not contributing anything because i'm trying to put everything down on the debt right since i'm not getting a company match at all and that's i guess maybe a second question is should i put in some amount even though i'm not getting the match versus paying down the debt? Very good, Nick. Okay, listen.

Thank you, because I was about to get riled up. Okay? I like that. No, I'm serious, because what it tells me is you understand that right now what you want to do is to be able to get your money back from the debt. And so we want to attack debt, because interest that I pay is a penalty. Interest that I earn is a reward. So I like that you're focused on attacking the student loan debt. And then once you have that paid off, then yes, by all means, you'll move to then baby step three, which is to save up to have three to six months

of expenses in place because Nick life happens. And if you don't have a cushion there, you end up reaching back out for debt or, or for something that's not going to help you. So follow the baby steps. Okay. Once you get that three to six month of emergency fund in place, then you can look to invest. I love that you rolled it over and you've got that money now following you. I want you to reach out to a smart investor pro to look at it and make sure you don't need to make any kind of tweaks or adjustments. But once you have the debt paid off, I would definitely max out the 401k or the 403b that you have now working for the nonprofit. And so that's the way to go about it.

And for people that are out there, if you're serious about working the plan, please follow the plan. Okay, nobody told Betty Crocker how to make a better cookie. Okay, they didn't tell her to add some stuff or delete some stuff. You follow the recipe. Well, guess what? It's the same with the baby steps. Right.

Don't just follow the recipe. I promise you it's going to lead you to the place you want to be, which is, you know, having financial freedom, being able to breathe a little bit better because, you know, your money is going towards something and you're making some progress. So thank you again, my friend, for your call. And I wish you well as you all continue this journey. All right, next up on the line, I've got Sean in Gainesville, Florida. Sean, how are you? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Mr. Hogan? I'm doing well. I'm focused and not finished. I'm just Chris. So you just call me Chris. How can I help you? All right, Chris, check this out i've got 150 000 in debt and um my wife owns 20 acres out in montana property wise no there's there's no debt on that whatsoever it's

completely cash outright she acquired it through a divorce okay and um just trying to figure out i'm trying to convince her to sell the property so that way we can pay off the debt and that way we can be completely debt free okay um so i'm trying to figure out how would be the best way to go about you know because she's fighting me on it i don't want to sell it and like, well, we're never going to live in Montana because it's too cold. So how can we go about doing this? And money-wise, we make a lot of money. Well, how much is your household income? I gross about $200,000, take home about $100,000 of that.

I'm an owner-operator with a car-driving company. Okay. And is she working outside of the home or inside of the home? She works outside of the home. She's a registered nurse. Okay. And what's her income? About $50,000 a year.

Okay. So you guys are around $150,000 household income. How many kids do you have? All the kids are grown. Okay. Empty nester. what's your ages i'm 31 and my wife is 49 okay gotcha and so she's got this property in montana was this looked at as an investment property uh i i believe she was looking at it to be a property to live on um with her with her ex-husband.

Okay. But she just acquired it through the divorce. Okay. Sean, how long have you all been married? About three years. Okay, three years. How long was she married prior? Sixteen.

Okay. And so you're calling in because you're wanting me to team up with you to get her to sell the property. Either sell the property or figure out how we can knock this all out. Right. Well, I'm going to tell you something. This is one of those scenarios. You guys have been married three years.

She's had some long-term plans and dreams for this property. So I think leading in trying to get her just to sell it, I think we've got to walk through this and begin to get clear on what you guys are doing all as a whole financially. Being able to understand the path that you're on. And so with your income, what I think she would love to see is you being intentional, right, and leading the way. Don't have any other debt. This is, you know, you can attack this 150,000. But get focused. So start to dream together. Start to use more we.

You were saying I and her. And I want you to fix your pronouns. Speak French, my friend. Say we. Get on the same page. You guys talk this out. And I'm sure you can reach consensus eventually. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave. And I'm so excited. We've had some fantastic callers thus far. But a lot of you may not be aware that 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And our coaches come from all different backgrounds. And we're looking for people who have a willingness to learn and a heart to be able to serve others. And our financial coaching team is giving away one free enrollment during the next webinar on Wednesday, June 26 at noon central. Let me repeat that this next webinar is Wednesday, June 26 at noon central. All you need to next webinar is wednesday june 26th at noon central

all you need to do is to register to be able to win it's super easy to register for the june 26th webinar all you have to do is text the word coaching to 33789 that's coaching to 33789 it's a great way to be able to get plugged in and get trained, to be able to meet people kind of right where they are. What you hear Dave and I do on air, you'd have an opportunity to sit with people and truly show them how to take control of their financial situation. So it's a great opportunity, and I want to welcome you to go to DaveRamsey.com, learn more about financial coach master training. All right, America, we're taking your questions about money. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or you can hit us on social at Ramsey show. Okay. I'm back on the phones. I've got Jessica in St. Louis. Jessica, how are you today? Oh, I'm a hot mess, but I'm clearing out the clutter more and more each day.

Uh-oh, what's going on, Jessica? So I have a 30-year FHA loan with 20 years left, and it's got a 5.5% interest rate. Okay. I'm on Baby Step 2, and I wasn't sure if I should include this in Baby Step 2 or if I should keep it at baby step six because of what I got the loan for. I inherited the house and my dad, I needed some improvements and I was young and my dad was like, well, you have all of this equity in this house you just inherited so you can take out a loan to pay for the improvements. And I was like, okay, Dad, you're smarter than I am.

That sounds like a great idea. And so I got a loan to fix improvements. I took care of a student loan with it. I paid off a car with it. I rolled my ex's credit card debt into it. So now the house is on the line, but it never should have been. Right. How much did you end up borrowing on this inherited property?

I want to say it was at $57,000. And I have $49,938.74 in principal left. Okay. So you essentially had a shop-a-rama using the equity in the home. Pretty much. Yeah. And what I hear in your voice, Jessica, is called wisdom, honey. Because you know, looking back on it, it's something you wished you hadn't done.

You got some bad information. but now here's the deal. Okay. Looking at this right now with that, is it a HELOC, a home equity line of credit? No, it's an FHA loan. Okay. It is an FHA. And what about the first mortgage, the $49,000? What kind of loan is it?

Oh, that's all the same loan. The $49,938 is the FHA loan. Okay. And I paid off student loan debt, a car, my ex's credit card debt. I got you. And did home improvement. So all you owe on this right now is the $49,000? Yes.

Okay. On that. I'm still baby-stepping my way through some other debt. Well, what else do you have, young lady? Well, I have some credit card debt and an attorney that I have to pay off and, of course, a car loan. Okay. All right. How much in credit card debt do you have? In just the credit card debt, it's about $8,000. Okay. Is that on one card or is it multiple? Multiple.

How many do you have? Five. Okay. Now, attorney's fees, how much do you owe? About $4,000. Okay. And on the car, how much do you owe? $11,643.

Okay. Okay. I like that you know the dollar amounts. What's your household income? Oh, I've been keeping track of it every single43. Okay. I like that you know the dollar amounts. What's your household income? Oh, I've been keeping track of it every single day. Okay. What's your household income? I make $40,000 at my day job, and I picked up a second job one night a week. And last year, I brought home about $6,000 for that, so about $46,000 a year.

Okay. Why did you take on the second job? Well, because my oldest daughter was now old enough to kind of watch the other kids. She's 13, almost 14. And I wanted to be able to buy my kids Christmas. Okay. How many kids do you have, Jessica? Four.

Okay. How old are they? 13 8 and 6 okay are you married no divorced okay okay so you young lady have been swinging for the fence to to do this stuff on your own and you are feeling the weight and the obligation of trying to provide for your four kids. And so, you know, the situation with this house, it is what it is. And we've got to let that go. You look at it, you learn from it, you know, consolidating number one is never the route you want to go. And we never want to take unsecured debt and secure it with a home. It is what it is. We're letting that go. But right now, I'm going to have you just make your payment on the mortgage. That's not what we're focusing on right now. You're going to look and you're going to turn your attention. That's no ball. Smallest to biggest.

The $4,000 in attorney's fees, $8,000 in credit card debt, then to the car. And there's a couple of things you need to do because you need some breathing room. OK, you're trying to make ends meet. But what we have to do is understand what are the ends that are necessary and what's not. And the first step is acknowledging you can do this. So let me tell you that you can do this. It's tiresome right now. It's frustrating right now. But I'm telling you, you can do this.

I'm also hearing you having some stings of the relationship that you were in that didn't work out well. And that also is what it is. You've got the four kids that you're going to take care of. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to gift you Financial Peace University. And I'm also going to get you connected with one of our financial coaches that's going to kind of help you walk through and navigate this so you can see exactly kind of where you are. And the main thing you have to do, Jessica, is to keep your focus on the next thing in front of you. And that's why we do the debt snowball, smallest to biggest.

So you're going to make minimum payments on everything else, but we're going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the smallest debt, which happens to be for you, the $4,000 in attorney's fees. And by keeping your focus on that, you just take it one step at a time. And I love your spirit that you're willing to work extra to be able to make and provide and do the things that are necessary for your kids. But you're also going to have to tighten the belt and look at it and only take care of and pay on the things that are necessary. And so you're going to have to learn to tell your kids a word. And it's a full sentence and not a lot of parents out there use it a lot, but I'm going to teach it

to you. It's no, because you're telling yourself no to some things. They're going to have to learn it and understand it as well. That happiness doesn't come from stuff that comes from mom and dad and spending time together. And so walking through this, I just want to encourage you that you can do it. Also, I want you to go over and get plugged in. We've got a Facebook community, the baby Steps, the Ramsey Baby Step community. Go to Facebook.com slash groups, and it's the Ramsey Baby Step community. You getting plugged in with them, you're going to run into other people that are in scenarios just like you.

Some people are worse off. Some are better off. But the bottom line is it's a community, and you're not doing it alone because you've got other people around you to be able to cheer you on and to be able to encourage you as well. Jessica, you can do this. Looking at your income and where you are, you've got a few moves, the attorney's bill, and then the credit card and then the car. Now this car, you look at this and one of those, you'll talk about it in the community, but you might look at, do I sell this thing? What's it worth? Go to kellybluebook.com and understand what it's worth and what you could sell it for and you start to understand and understand options and when we

have options we can make decisions and those decisions lead us to better i had a football coach tell me years ago he said chris you're either getting better or you're getting worse nothing stays the same well i think if we think different and we believe in ourselves and we get people around us, we can start to do more than people think we can because you need the encouragement and you've got four kids. So you've got four reasons, Jessica, to stay focused because you need to understand that you're not finished and you can do this. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave.

And we're taking your money questions. And we've had some fantastic callers thus far. If you've got a question and you want to talk about it, call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. I have Lynn Slay on the line in Indianapolis, Indiana. How are you? Hey, I'm good.

How are you? Oh, I'm focused and not finished, my friend. How can I help you today? Hey, so I'm 19 years old. I'm currently in school and working as well. And my question is, finished baby step Baby Step 1, I have an emergency fund, a $1,000 emergency fund set up. Good. And I'm looking at Baby Step, yeah. And I'm looking at Baby Step 2, and my parents decided that they were going to pay for my schooling. But the way

that they're doing that is taking out loans to do it with my name on it. And so should I consider that as my own debt and work to pay that off as well? Or should I take the blessing and move on to maybe step three? Lynn, let me ask you this. You're working. Are you going to school full-time or are you working full-time? I am going to school full-time and working part-time. Okay.

But it's the summertime, so right now I'm full-time working. Right. And so you're about to enter what year? Your sophomore year? Yes. Okay. And are you going to a public school or a private school? Private school.

Okay. Don't tell me the name of the school, but how much is it per year? Before or after my scholarships? Let's say before scholarships. Before scholarships, you're looking at about $36,000. Okay. A year. Yeah, $36,000 a year. Okay. And how much are you getting in scholarships, my friend? I forget the exact number, but it comes down to $12,000 that my parents are pulling out each year. $6,000 a semester, about. Okay, okay, gotcha. And so do your parents, they don't have this money, right?

No, not to pay it out front. Okay. And so what kind of scholarships are you getting? Are they academic, athletic? What type do you have? Yeah, most of them are academic. Okay. So you got pretty good grades?

Yeah, yeah, I do. All right, what's your GPA? What do you call good? What's your GPA? What do you call good? What's your GPA? Currently, I'm sitting at a 3.6. Oh, that is good. Okay. All right, that's better than mine.

Yeah. All right, my bad. All right, we're going to talk about something else. We're going to talk about something else. No, I'm proud of you. Here's the thing. Why did you call in? You're not calling because you want to know if you need to pay it or your parents.

I think there's something more to it. I think you want to know if you need to pay it or your parents i think there's something more to it i think you want to know is there a better way and i think for sure yeah i think with the academics that you have the progress that you've made at a three six i think there is a better way that neither you or your parents have to go this route of having to deal with student loans, but it's going to require some work. See, you already have this mindset that's a little bit different. You're getting a great GPA. You're working and you're going to school. So what I would do is let's take it a step further. Let's look for the scholarships that the remaining 12,000 you need right now, you know, and that's

going in and that's talking to people. That's getting some guidance lindsay and really walking through and understanding what are the options ahead of me because your parents don't need that they don't need the 12 000 a year in debt and there's no reason for it and our culture has this mindset that we'll just take on debt and just hope everything's going to work out later thus we have the predicament we have. $1.5 trillion in student loan debt is what we have right now in our country. And we've got around 1,200 people that are defaulting each and every day. So, Lynn Slade, do me a favor.

I want you to get intentional. I want you to look and really start to understand the options that are ahead of you. With that GPA, you qualify for scholarships. And there's grant money out there as well. It's going to require some work. It's going to require you doing the legwork, but I don't think you're scared of hard work. And let's save your parents the burden, but let's also save yourself the burden. To any young person out there that's going to school, I want you to hear this advice

and really start to think different. You see, young people, this gets me riled up because young people have no idea what they're signing. They have no idea the number of years it's going to take to pay off 40, 50 and 60,000 in student loans. They just feel like this is what everyone's done. So this is what I'm going to do. Well, we got to stop the madness and someone's got to shine a light on this to be able to guide these young people to prevent them the years of bondage of taking on student loans. Listen, you can go to school at night while you work during the day or vice versa, but we've got to begin to think different. That's only where we're going to change this process.

And we all know we've all gotten out of school and started our jobs and done our own version of financial crazy and made mistakes. But the stakes are higher now. These young people are taking on larger and larger amounts and we've got to help them. That's why we have the foundations and personal finance. So young people understand how money works. See, back in my day, we had a home X class. We had to learn how to sew a button on and to write a check. Okay. Seriously, we had to do both of them. And, uh, you know, it it was it was interesting that I learned that in seventh

grade because those became life skills. Just sewed a button on the other day. Right. That button is never coming off again. I assure you there's enough thread in that thing. OK, we could have an atom bomb hit and that button is right there. Solid. But the stuff I learned about money in that seventh grade class is also rock solid. It was a foundation. So parents, let's teach these young people. Let's talk with them, not foundation. So parents, let's teach these young people. Let's talk with them, not at them. And remember, one conversation is called an introduction. Working with them helps them walk through it. And let's stand beside them and help them understand just how important this is. Lindsay, thank you, buddy. I appreciate the call. And I'm serious about this. I know with your GPA and your mindset, you can find that other scholarship money

that's out there. And also going into your sophomore year, if you look at this and you can't find the extra money, I want to encourage you to look at a public school. You know, at the end of the day, businesses are looking for people that start something and finish it. I don't, I've never looked at a, at a, at a resume and wondered what school they went to. And it doesn't matter. It's a matter of starting and finishing. And so you're going to a private school right now. You can go to a public state university for a whole lot cheaper and probably have a little bit better quality of life.

All right, I'm going back to the phones. I've got Mia in Boston. Mia, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Oh, I'm focused. Thank you. I'm focused and not finished.

How can I help you? Oh, I'm focused. Thanks for taking my call. Thank you. I'm focused and not finished. How can I help you? So I am 30 years old, and I still have about $7,500 in student loans from undergrad. Okay. And I've been thinking about going back to school for nursing because I'm one of those that don't use my undergrad, unfortunately. And I'm new to the Dave Ramsey show and the debt snowball and all of that. So I've always kind of thought like, okay, go back to school, just take out more loans. So now that I've started to learn, I'm not sure what my next step is. Like, I want to cash flow going back to school, but I'm not sure if I should keep the savings I have and do that or just chunk out and pay off the rest of my loans and start fresh.

All right, Mia. Bump the brakes right here. Tell me real quick, what's your income right now? About $50,000. Okay. And you owe $7,500 on the student loans from undergrad. What else do you owe on? I believe a $600 medical bill and like $300 on my phone.

Since discovering you guys, I paid off five credit cards, like $5,000. Oh, good job. Did you pay them off and close them out? I haven't closed them, but I... Mia, get to closing them. Get things out of your life. If you let them hang around, they'll come back. Okay?

Okay. What line of work are you in right now? I work in the service industry. Okay. So I wait tables, bartend, and manage at the restaurant I work at. And when did nursing pop in on your radar? Two

falls ago. I also have a part-time job as an LNA. Okay, gotcha. And on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being don't like it, 10 means I wake up thinking about it and go to sleep thinking about it. Where would you rank nursing? Like an 8, probably.

Okay. All right. That's pretty high. And I'm saying that because this is not something you want to tiptoe around with. Nursing school is a serious commitment. But here's the thing. We're not going into student loan debt. I mean, Mia, you know.

I mean, you know, this is not an option. So what I want you to do is have some conversations with some nurses. Start to get plugged in. I want you to think a little bit different. Let's finish cleaning up the undergrad student loans. Let's get serious about what it is we're trying to accomplish. All right? You can do this.

I believe in you. I want to thank James Childs, our producer, associate producer Kelly Daniel, and of course you, America. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.