The Ramsey Show - App - Make a Game Plan Now to Pay Cash for College (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 5, 2018

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Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jake is in Starkville to start off this hour. Hey, Jake, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, how's it going, Dave? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? Hey, so I'm a newbie to the Dave Ramsey Show. And first of all, I just want to say great work with everything that you all are doing. Thank you. My question is, okay, I'm 25. I'm married with two kids.

And right now, my salary is kind of kept off at around like $35,000. And between my wife and I, we have about $90,000 in debt. Like 95% is through the loans. And I wanted to know, I only have 30 hours left to complete my degree. But I don't know how I would pay for it. So I'm trying to see, you know, would it be a great idea to go ahead and, you know, take out those other student loans and finish it off? What's your field of study? Accounting. Oh, that's very good.

Okay. So 30 finishes your undergrad? Yes, I'm an undergrad. Okay. And what's your plans to do with your accounting degree then? I don't have any long-term plans. I was just trying to pretty much just get – I know I can get a better-paying job in $35,000. $35,000 is a pretty good job without a degree, but that's kind of my cap in my area. So, I mean, I know a few people, you know, in accounting,

but it's hard to kind of get a job without that degree. And so I was just trying to get your perspective on that. All right. But you have all but 30 hours done toward an accounting degree. And what do you do now? I work in accounting now. You do? Because I have the experience.

I've been working in accounting for probably three or four years. What size company do you work for? It's a multimillion dollar company. Do they have any kind of tuition plan where they pay for it? I'm pretty sure they have tuition reimbursement. Okay. Well, let's learn about that. Let's get the details on that and find out exactly how it works.

Okay. And then let's lay out a game plan to use that to go to school for free. You don't have to go on student loan debt to go to school. Yeah, so. Why was that hard? I mean, you know, you hesitated like that's not doable. It is doable, just the amount of time it would take to. Have them pay for it?

Go about. No, they won't pay for it up front. I would have to put up the money up front. They'll pay for a semester at a time. Not up front. Yeah, they will. They'll reimburse one semester at a time. You don't even know how your tuition program works. I'm pretty positive they won't

pay it up front. I will have to pay it. No, no, you're not hearing me. You're not hearing me. Listen. You don't have one semester of work to do. You have several semesters of work to do. You have 30 hours remaining. Okay? They will not pay the first semester, but at the end of that semester,

they will reimburse you, which will pay for the next semester. Do you understand? So I pay the first semester. They reimburse me. And that pays for the next one and it keeps going in a cycle until i'm done there you go man we're priming the pump and get the pump going but we got to put the first cup of water in and so you need to take an extra job and come up with the first semester's amount well i can't take an extra job because my wife she works um when i get off work what does she earn she just has a little part-time job maybe like five hundred dollars a month but she's a

she's a homemaker she homeschools our kids so kind of hard for her to get a job and do that okay well maybe maybe she quits her part-time job and you get a good one, like delivering pizzas every night, which is $1,500 a month if you do that five nights a week, and you do that for two months or three months, and then you'll pay cash for your first semester, and then we'll get your degree. Let's develop a game plan here, dude. That's all I'm doing. I'm just done. But the game plan can't be more student loan debt.

You got freaking $95,000 already. You know, the last thing you need is more student loan debt. You've got freaking $95,000 already. The last thing you need is more student loan debt. You're drowning. So we've got to do something to temporarily get the income up. We're going to pay a price on the short term to win. What we tell people all the time is live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else. But you're going to give up some sweet moments.

You're going to give up some time. You're going to give up some you're too tired and don't want to screw with this while you go to school and finish your degree and while you work extra to get that first money to pay for that first semester. And you've got to go in there and find out how your whole deal works. And, oh, by the way, I would go ahead and ask them, because the worst answer they could give you you is no to go ahead and pay for your first semester so you don't have to do any of this except just go to school they might say no they might say yes but they're never going to say yes if you don't ask so i'm going to go in there and present my case hey i got babies at home i really want to do this i want to add value to this company please make an exception if your normal

rule is you pay for it as a reimbursement please front me the first one and i promise you i'll come out of there with straight a's i'll come out of there with a you know a 3.5 or whatever you got to do man i'm gonna go in there and make a sale and get your supervisor to get a waiver done an approval done and get the money and go get this job go get this degree because i think it's a great degree and to answer your question i think you should go back to school, but no, you should not borrow money to do it. And you're in a perfect position to do that. And is it going to be pleasant?

No. But as you've already figured out, living on $35,000 isn't pleasant either. Living on $65,000 is a lot more pleasant, and $165,000 is even more pleasant. So we're going to go try to do the things we can do to get our income up long term. That's how we think around here, dude. You said you're new to the whole Dave Ramsey thing? It's develop a plan and execute it. Almost always people go into debt because they do not look at all the things they have available to them

and execute to go do those things. Instead, fall back on debt. And that's how you got $95,000 in debt right now. No more debt. And that's how you got $95,000 in debt right now. Ha! No more debt. Chris is with us in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Chris. How are you?

Hey, Dave. I'm doing good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so I'm trying to get some help deciding between a 529 and an ESA for my two young kids. If you pick the proper kind of 529, they're almost exactly the same thing.

They both grow 100% tax-free like a Roth, and the ESA has a $2,000 a year cap. The 529s have all kinds of different caps depending on which one, but there's some around $10,000. That's where most of them are a year. But the kind of 529, the only kind you want to pick, is one where you control the investments and the investments do not automatically move unless you move them. And if you get that, that's what you've gotten in the ESA. Educational savings accounts, it's an entry point. If you want to only do $2,000, it's an easy, no-brain way to do it.

You go pick good growth stock mutual funds with long track records and you put $2,000 a year into it. If you want to put more than that, then you've got to pick a 529 that allows you to control the investing, not someone else. No auto-adjustments, age-based crap. You pick the mutual funds. You keep your finger on what's going on with the investments. You watch the investments. If you do that, the 529 works exactly like the ESA. For years, I've been telling you to get Zander's ID Theft Protection Plan because it covers all types of ID theft. But if you've never been a victim, you have no idea the nightmare you could experience. Well, with the recent Equifax breach, a lot of people are going to find out. Today, thieves steal your info for not only financial fraud,

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Call them at 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com. It's just a smarter, more affordable way to protect yourself. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thanks for being with us, America. We're glad you're here. Did you know that we have over 725 team members now? And we've got a lot of digital products, a lot of digital properties that are coming out. Ways to serve you guys online. All kinds of things. We're on the hunt for several key digital folks right now.

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side of the homepage, spread the word. We're hiring. DaveRamsey.com. Click Dave's Hiring on the right-hand side of the page. Austin's in Chattanooga. Hey, Austin, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Hey, what's up?

So I just graduated physical therapy school, and my wife and I just finished the complete guide to money. And so we've got our emergency fund, our $1,000, and we're about to begin baby step two. We have $135,000 of my wife's loans are in Parent PLUS loans that are in my father-in-law's name. And they're such high interest. Our plan is to get this paid off in three years, but still I'm just wondering if I should even consider putting those at the top of the debt snowball or leave them down at the bottom where they are. You should leave them at the bottom where they are.

They're not your loans. But we have agreed to pay them. No, I'm talking about legally they're not your loans. Okay. And so, you know, the last thing you take care of, number one. But number two, they're the largest loans. And you're going to pay them off so fast, the interest rate's almost irrelevant. Okay.

I mean, we're talking about, what, $30,000, right? Sorry, $100,000 or $46,000. $135,000 total, but how much of the Disparent Plus? $46. Oh, $46. Okay. All right, so $50,000, and they're at 7%. And your other loans are at what?

They're between $3.50 to $5. Okay, so 2% spread on $50,000. Mm-hmm. You following me here? Yes. $1,000 a year. Okay. Over, what did you say, three years? Yeah, you're going to do it in three years.

But it's not going to be a full $1,000 a year because you're not going to be in debt the whole debt the whole time. So we're having a $2,000 discussion about a $ thirty five thousand dollar problem gotcha yeah that's not your problem the problem is getting extra income working like maniacs to get your income up as fast and as aggressively as you can good news about pt is you can pick up all kinds of side gig stuff and you need to okay whether it's er or whatever it is wherever you got to whatever you've got to do to add to your base pay. I mean, you probably have 50% of your income, but you're going to be working 80 hours. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you've got the best part-time job in the world.

It's more of your regular job. Yeah. And you can probably land that in Chattanooga. It's a big enough market. You can probably find the work. So that's what, you know. Yeah, I can get PR and work. Exactly.

And so you're already on track. So, again, I don't want you to live like that for very long, but if that turns three years into two years, what I just described, then I would. I'd go crazy for two years and get a year of my life back and the rest of my life. And, you know, that changes the equation we were just discussing on the interest rate spread even more if you did it that fast.

So you're on track, but you cannot fix – well, it's not a math problem as often as it feels like it is. It's more often an intensity and a focus problem than it is a math problem. And that's what we just illustrated by walking through your situation. Get after it, dude. You can do this. You got this. And I'm here if you need some help.

You call me. You get a little tired one day, you call me. I'll jack you up. Let's do it. Let's do it together, man. All right, Josh is on in Indianapolis. Hey, Josh, how are you? Hi, how are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have a question about how I should budget my money. I'm 16, and I don't know how to start, like, where should I start investing and putting my money to save for when I'm, like, older, I guess. I wouldn't. I would just save right now. And who's paying for college?

My parents and myself. Okay. So that's what you're saving for. Okay. That's your main thing. Get through school debt-free. Make the main thing the main thing. Any money you can save is the Josh Goes to School Debt-Free Fund.

And just pile up the money in there, and it doesn't have to be invested in some super fancy investment. I mean, you can put it in a piggy bank, you can put it in the bank, you know, you can do whatever, but the interest rate or the rate of return you get on it in the next 18 months before you go to college isn't going to be enough to spit on. So the big deal here is Josh Goes to School Debt-Free Fund. That's what we're after.

And any dollars you can squeeze out of your income, your personal income, to do that, that's how you budget. And all a budget, Josh, is is telling your money what to do before it comes. So if you're working and you know you've got some money coming, write that number that's coming at the top of a page and make every one of those dollars have an assignment down the page.

Make a list of what you're going to do with that money. And Josh's Going to School Debt Free Fund is the most important thing on that list, by the way. There's nothing you can buy at 16 years old that's more important than Josh goes-to-school debt-free fund. Sharp dude, man. Thanks for calling me. Cody's in Chattanooga as well. Hi, Cody. How are you?

Pretty good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so my wife is setting up a cleaning business, and it's already growing. She's only been going for about two weeks, and we're trying to figure out what we need to do on the financial side because, like I said, the growth is not the issue, but we don't know what to do financially with the revenue coming off from it and the legal way

to set up a small business. Okay. And so she's cleaning houses. Does she have employees? No, it's just her right now. Okay, cool. She just cleaned her first three, and she's got three, I think, more on the schedule. She's making some good money.

That's good. That's good money. What's she charging an hour? Right now, $25. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, I thought you could get that or more probably. Good.

Well, here's what you do. I would not set up an LLC or a corporation at this stage of the game. Too expensive. Don't spend your money on that. Let's just put this money in the household. You need the money, okay? But you do need to set a separate checking account to help you track the progress of the business and also be prepared to pay your taxes properly.

Let's walk through that. So she can go or you can go to the bank and open up a bank account that is called Wife's Name DBA Doing Business As Wife's Name of Company. Okay? Sally Smith Doing Business As Sally's Cle of company. Okay? Sally Smith doing business as Sally's cleaning service. Okay? So it's a DBA account, it's called. Doing business as.

And you can open that in her Social Security number, and you can be on the account as well. And I would put both of you on the account. You do not need a special ID number. You don't need anything. You simply do that. Boom. You are done. You don't need anything. You simply do that. Boom. You are done.

You're now in business. Now, what I would do then is take all of the income from Sally's Maid Service and put it into that account. Never put it in your personal account. Always put it into that account. Never buy anything out of Sally's Maid Service checking account except business items, things she needs to run her business, cleaning supplies, business cards, whatever she buys, website set up, whatever she buys.

Pay business expenses only out of there. So if the income that's going into that is the income from the business, only the expenses are coming out, by definition what's left in there is called profit because gross revenues minus expenses is profit. And you're supposed to pay taxes on that profit. When you pull that profit out of there, set aside a fourth of it for taxes and put the rest of it in your personal account to pay bills with.

That sets you up in business and gets you going. Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of the Business Boutique, Christy Wright's number one bestselling book. For years, I refused to endorse any company that claimed to get people out of timeshares. I told my listeners it's a horrible product and that, unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of options. Then a few years ago, I sat down with Brandon Reed, the owner of Timeshare Exit Team. Brandon walked me through the timeshare industry, and I learned that you can't sell them, and you can't even give them away.

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They will get you out, or they'll give you a full refund. Call 844-999-EXIT online at timeshareexitteam.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Marcus and Shannon are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Try again. How are you? Hi, Dave. Awesome.

Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Lexington, Kentucky. Oh, very cool. And here to do a debt-free screen. Yes, sir. And how much have you paid off? We paid over just a little, over $72,000.

Very cool. And your range of income during that time? you paid off we paid over just a little over seventy two thousand dollars very cool and your range of income during that time about 130 to about 160 000 a year okay and how long did it take 19 months and six days hey i love it very cool what kind of debt was the 72 000 student loans oh sally may yeah give the old woman her walking papers. Yeah. You are evicted from this house in Lexington. You cannot live here. That is correct.

I was around long enough. I think I was going to have to take her for a driving test soon. That's fun. How long have you been out of school? I got a second master's degree when we were married, and I finished that in February of 2015. How much of that was this month? $25,000. Okay, so there's still $50,000 from way back.

Uh-huh. And how far is way back? I graduated my first master's in 2009. Oh. And mine started, I started borrowing money in 2000, so I guess actually Sally Mae could vote if she was still around at this point. So some of both of you then. That's correct. So what do y'all do for a living? I'm a sergeant with the police department. And I was the chief clinical officer for a substance use treatment program. But four weeks after we paid off our student loans, we found out our company was closing. So I've been at home for a little bit,

but just accepted a position yesterday. So I've been at home for a little bit, but just accepted a position yesterday. Awesome. So I'm very excited, yes. With a master's degree. Yes. And your master's is in what? Your second one? I have an MBA. Oh, an MBA.

Okay. Very good. Good for you. Thank you. Very cool. At UK? I'd be working for our church. I'm sorry.

You got the degree at UK? My first master's was at UK, and my MBA was from Indiana Wesleyan University. Oh, yeah. Very nice. Good, good. Very cool. Both good schools. Very good.

Fun. So what happened 19 months ago? So I think 19 months ago, our income had grown since we had gotten married, and I was looking at our tax return from that year, and I was looking at our tax return from when we first got married, and I'm like, where did the money go? Because our bank account stayed exactly the same during that time. We didn't live paycheck to paycheck, but we sure weren't piling up any money and that debt was just sticking around. And luckily, whenever we first got engaged, a couple that Shannon had a baby set for when she was in college, they gave us a total money

makeover and we put that on the shelf and it stayed there for quite a while until I had this one day where I realized we're making way too much money to be broke. And I sat down and over the next couple hours, read the book and made a budget by myself, which was a terrible idea. And I went to Shannon and said, hey, look, here's the budget. We can be out of debt in two years. All we have to do is we can't eat anything fun, and we can't do anything fun, or we can't go anywhere fun. And we're not going to be fun. And we're not going to be fun. It didn't go well.

And so that wasn't fun. No. No. I told her that I think our first budget meeting was more like a treaty negotiation than like really a budget meeting. And so luckily, we had a couple at at work and I was talking to him about this situation and they were completely debt free, including their house. And they invited us over for dinner and kind of really challenged us. And I told him about my great budget, which was two years. And he even challenged us and said, you guys can do it faster than that. Whoa. And so

we're really thankful for them. It turned out that couple was right. And they really inspired us to get on the journey. They presented it a little bit nicer than he did than the police sergeant they had a much better view of like where it could be and what it would lead to and all the freedom whereas i was just like you can't spend any money and well and they're they're coming from the position of we've done it and that you know that there's nothing like having an experience you know that changes everything that for me that gives them credibility you know that there's nothing like having an experience you know that changes everything that for me that gives them credibility you know if i'm in your shoes it's a lot easier to hear it from them yeah so but that got it all started then huh so you use the budget from the total

money makeover book and the couple helped getting you going the mentoring couple and that did it it did we used the every dollar app okay And so every month we would sit down and just kind of go over what it was. You know, in some months I had different expenses than others. And so every month was really unique. And it was just really fun at the end of every month to be able to make that large payment toward that student loan debt. And it was fun to kind of watch that balance do dwindle down over the months. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and when it hit zero, oh, boy. Absolutely. How fun.

Yeah. Well, very well done. Very cool. So how does it feel now that you did it? It feels amazing. You know, I would never wish losing your job for anyone. But, you know, and, of course, I grieved that for sure. But it was so wonderful to experience that and not have to panic yeah

honestly and so i am so grateful um that we are blessed and we're able to handle that situation and and we're okay yeah and it makes you take a better job on your second you know the job you just accepted is a job that is good for you not desperate that's exactly right we were able god was just able to give us this time to be patient yeah and um that we could not have asked for anything more exactly wow very cool congratulations so other than the mentor couple do you have people cheering you on or are people saying you're crazy not to our face they probably said we were crazy a lot behind our backs sure we also had some cheerleaders in our corner, too. Yeah, for sure.

I think the big thing for us, honestly, and the way she taught me to come in here was one of our biggest cheerleaders every morning was when we were getting ready, I'd be shaving and she'd be putting on makeup. And we're listening to other couples doing their debt-free scream every day. And I think listening to the show all the time is what helped me out a lot. Yeah. Yeah, very cool. Well, congratulations. Now you're an inspiration today for someone else.

That's what we can hope for. So proud of you. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's number one best-selling book, Retire Inspired. That is the next chapter in your story, to be millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along. You'll be there before you know it. Very well done, you two.

Marcus and Shannon, Lexington, Kentucky, $72,000 paid off in 19 months, making $130,000 to $160,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! That's how it works, folks. That's exactly how it works. There's two sides to this equation, the income side and the outgo side, and you have to make both of them behave. You'll notice that a lot of people get an increase in income while they're getting out of debt.

But it's because they're concentrating on it. They're trying to get out of debt. And they think about, oh, I need to ask for a raise. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, they think about it, and that's what you need to do. And they think about their expenses. You know, the everyday millionaires that we work with all the time have worked too hard for their money,

and they don't leave their money exposed to risk. They have the right kinds of insurance, not gimmick insurance, but the right kinds of insurance, like a quality umbrella policy is an example. A lot of people ask me, what's an umbrella policy, and when do I need it? Well, you need an umbrella policy if you've started to build up some serious assets. You start to have a target on your butt as soon as you do. An umbrella policy covers you from all kinds of major claims and lawsuits. It tacks on to the top of your homeowners or your car insurance

and gives you extra umbrella, an extra coverage for liability. And so if the car wreck is your fault and it's a bad wreck and it goes beyond the coverage of your car insurance because someone decided you had some money and they wanted some of it, maybe it was valid, maybe it wasn't. But either way, you've got another million dollars. And you can get a million-dollar umbrella policy in most states, additional million in liability, you know, somewhere around 300 bucks a year. It's nothing.

And so, you know, I carry like a $10 million umbrella just to have extra. It just doesn't cost that much for what it is. So if you really want some help with this kind of stuff, just go to DaveRamsey.com, click on the ELPs, the endorsed local providers for insurance, and they will shop your car insurance, your homeowner's insurance. Explain an umbrella policy if you've started to build some wealth. If you're getting there, like that couple right there, they're getting there. A couple in the last hour that paid off their home in Denver, remember?

They're getting there. And you need to start talking about stuff like the basic kinds of insurance. Umbrella is a good buy. It's a good buy. I buy it, as I just told you. And it's a good investment in risk management, the transfer of risk, which is what insurance is. Click ELP for insurance at DaveRamsey.com. okay i need you to listen to this because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life.

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For everything that's taken away, something of greater value has been given. Brett is in Wichita, Kansas. Hey, Brett, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Pleasure speaking with you. You too. What's up? Well, I am a recent college graduate who pressed pause on baby step number two back in January to save up some cash for an engagement ring. But now it's graduating.

I'm going to be relocating to St. Louis, and I am needing to front the relocation expenses and then later will be reimbursed. And so I was able to save about $4,500, obviously have the $1,000 emergency fund that I'm not wanting to go into and just wanted to ask, how do I go about prioritizing these kind of two situations? Okay, so the $5,500 you have, including your $1,000, includes the ring budget. Correct. That's what it was meant for originally, but then now after getting hired on,

knowing that I'm going to have to front these expenses is what I feel like. I'm going to have to dip into that for that. Okay, and so you're moving from Wichita to St. Louis, and do you have a lot of things to move? Yes, I got all the furniture and everything. I mean, it's just going to take a U-Haul truck, and that's it. Oh, okay. So what is that?

Have you looked at the budget on that? I expect with fuel and everything, no more than $1,500. I wouldn't think, yeah. Okay. And have you got the place lined up where you're going to be living? Yes, but I don't know exactly when I'm going to start because we're waiting on the background check process, and so it may be mid-July. Okay. All right.

Are you working now? I am not. Why? My internship ended at the end of the school year, which was back mid-May, and I accepted the job before then and did not expect for it to take this long for the process. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. Mid-July, so I've got 30 days it could be, right?

Correct. Okay. All right. And have you scoped out a place to live? Yes, I do have one lined up. Okay. And what is that going to take, money-wise, to get into? I've already paid for the deposit and everything.

And you don't have the background check cleared? For the company. I know. But what if you don't have the background check cleared? For the company. I know. But what if you don't get hired? I don't foresee anything in my background that's going to not allow me to be hired. Yeah, but what if they decide not to hire you anyway? They haven't given you a complete, you're not done. I mean, let's not put any more deposits up until

you are moving there. Lots of people have had things like this get this close and then not occur. If it takes five months, you're not going to take this job. If it takes five months to get the background check done, what's your degree in industrial engineering okay so you could land something else all right uh if this goes any more than 30 days you start looking again okay uh and don't put any more deposits down so all right so you can you can kind of move in on a shoestring and they're not offering you any help at all to move you?

Not up front. It will be reimbursed afterwards. Yeah, but they're hiring a broke college student. I mean, how do they expect you to move? I don't know. Yeah, I don't either. So I might ask about that and go, is there any possibility that I could get advanced some of this to help me move. I'm a broke college student.

This is my first job. You knew that when you hired me. And, you know, just ask for it and see what you get. Even if they go, okay, we'll front you a couple grand. That would change your whole equation. The ring is on hold until you get this deal done. I mean, you don't have room for everything. You either don't take the job and buy the ring, or you don't buy the ring yet

and take the job. And then when you get the reimburse, or you don't buy the ring yet and take the job, and then when you get the reimbursement, you can go buy the ring. Agreed? Yes. Yeah, sorry, but I mean, you know, you've got to choose something here. So it's not we're not going to marry the girl, it's we're going to delay it just a little bit on the ring that goes on the finger.

Or you go get her a $50 ring and replace it later if you want to, if you want to go ahead and get engaged. I don't care however you want to play this, but that's how it's going down. Hmm. Yeah, and during the interim, like by the end of today, I'd be delivering pizzas every night. And see if you can't come up with another $1,500 or $2,000 all day and every night.

I mean, let's just work all the time, get some kind of quick, easy job, like delivering pizzas or something else, and start immediately and work your tail end off between now and the time you go to St. Louis. You could put another $2,000, $3,000 in the bank doing that. And I would. You need it. Five grand would change your life right now. Agreed? Agreed. Yeah, five grand would change your life right now. Agreed?

Agreed. Yeah, so that's what I'm looking at. I want to make sure that, you know, you can do anything you can to create money. And if they call you tomorrow and say approved, come on, then, you know, you just tell the pizza folks we're going on. But, I mean, the truth is I think I'm going to be moving, but I don't have everything set up yet. And if I do, it's going to be a little while. In the meantime, you've got the best pizza driver you've ever had in your life,

and I'm going to kill it or whatever you want to go do. I don't care whatever your best idea of part-time job is, but I want you working all the time right now to make some money, put some money in the bank. Sitting and waiting on these people is scaring me to death here. I put you in a position of weakness that I don't like and you're cash poor. All right, Sherry's with us in Detroit, Michigan. Hi, Sherry.

How are you? Hi, I'm well, Dave. How gratifying it must be for you and your team to be such a blessing to the body of Christ and everybody else for that matter. Bless your heart. To really be walking in your purpose. Listen, I'm 59 years old. I have no savings.

I also have no mortgage. My 30-year-old daughter, yes, told me about you, and you would be so proud of her. I'm doing Baby Step 2. And two quick questions. I know we're probably up against the clock, but I wanted to have you some encouragement. Is it too late for me to, you know, what can I do in terms of my retirement savings? And then also, I'm helping my daughter to send my granddaughter to Christian education, to private school. Should we pull her out and send her to, you know, a regular school?

What do you make a year? I make $50. My daughter makes $40. Your daughter's a grown person. You make $50, and you're not ready for retirement. That's what we're dealing with. Okay. And you have an expense where you're assisting her a little bit. Is she living with you or something? Yes, she is. Okay. All right. You make $50,000 a year. How much debt do you have? Oh, Lord, $114,000 student loan debt.

I went back to school late, and then I'm on this income-based thing, and, you know, that just keeps going up. Yeah, not anymore. You've got to go get it cleared up. And so is there anything you can do to create extra income? I am doing it. I'm a music teacher, so I also teach piano lessons. I'm just trying to get as many students as I possibly can.

Yeah, you'll probably make another $50 doing that if you really load that book up. Yes. And, okay, I don't want to be unkind, and like you said, I'm a little short on time, which makes me seem unkind. But here's the thing. I know. You have $100,000 in debt. You're 59 years old. You've got a paid-for house.

You make $50. You have the potential to get that up by doing tutoring and other things. We've got to clear this debt. It's your best hope to getting you into retirement solid, because if you could be 100% debt-free, you could save some serious money. And the luxury of you paying for things for your grandchild right now, you're too broke to do that, hon. I know.

I'm so sorry. I know there's a whole lot of discussion you can have around you know the education issue and how to do it how to how to get out all that um but you guys are going to have to have that discussion under your roof but you've got to clear this debt up or you're going to have serious problems when you're 70 i mean you do not want to wait around to do this so i would do it right now and yes you can do this it's very doable but you're going to be working a lot and sacrificing to clear that debt and then using that same mentality to build wealth, and you're going to be able to do it. I think you can do it, and I know who can help you, and that's a guy named Chris Hogan.

The book is Retire Inspired. I'll send you a copy as our gift, and you keep listening, and if you need some more help, you call me anytime. That's what we're here for. I think you can do it. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey show in the books. We will be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey guys, this is Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month.

You can find debt-free screams, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out. By the time I was 26, I had $4 million worth of real estate, and then I lost it all because I didn't do it the right way. That's why I feel so strongly that buying real estate is an incredible way to build wealth, but only when you're debt-free and do business with people who have your best interest at heart. My friends at Churchill Mortgage have been showing people how to build wealth through real estate for over 25 years. Their whole program is engineered around having better information so you make smarter decisions for your family.

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