The Ramsey Show - App - More Could Go Wrong Than Will Go Right (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Thanks for joining us, America. We're so glad you're with us. Rachel Cruz, number one bestselling author, Ramsey personality, and co-host of the Smart Money Happy Hour Ramsey Network production that is super popular. My daughter is my co-host today.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jacob starts this hour in Oklahoma City. Hi, Jacob. How are you? I'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So I'm 25. My wife is 28. We have about $13,273 in debt. We are going to pay that all off by December. In July, we will be moving into my grandfather's home where he is going to let us pay rent to him. But we will basically be able to take all the money that we pay in rent and put it back into the property. The property sits on about an acre and then has surrounding 40 acres of pasture. And we would like to start farming and ranching sometime next year.

Currently, we make about $92,000 a year. But sometime next year, my day job will give me a raise to about $100,000 a year. Um, but sometime next year, um, my day job will give me a raise to about a hundred thousand dollars a year. I worked for my parents' roofing company and I will basically be taking over the company. Um, so at that point, I'm, I'm just kind of baffled because I've got so many blessings going on in our life. Um, It's a lot of responsibility to take on. But my big question is, what should I do with the extra money that I'm going to be making? Should I put that toward the ranch? Should I put that toward, you know, after, of course, I follow through with the rest of the baby steps?

Let me make sure I understand the deal. You're moving into property that is not titled to you. Of course, I follow through with the rest of the baby steps. Let me make sure I understand the deal. You're moving into property that is not titled to you, and you're going to invest money into property that is not in your name. So it's in our family trust. I don't care. It's not in your name. Why is it in a family trust?

Well, my grandparents are still alive. They have it set up in the family trust to where it goes to. The trust will basically have my dad as the executor when they pass away um but the trust has a trustee today who is the trustee today so the trustee today would be my grandmother because i believe it's the trust name is in my grandpa's name okay um and then once she passes away, it would go to my father's, the beneficiary. Um, and then it would go, I would assume to me. Um, but we've got a meeting with the lawyers that we're supposed to have set up. Let me tell you, there's no possible way. These people are trying to be sweet.

They're trying to plan well, and they're trying to be generous to you, but there is no possible way you should put money into this property unless it's in your name on the promise that three generations from now, it's going to land in your name. No way more going to go wrong here than go right. And, well, and because to,

you know, Jacob, this could be money that you're putting in, in your own, in your own house, right, and building your own equity for your own family. And, I mean, talk through the why. It sounds like their intention is to give you the property. Yes. Okay, so they should just, my point is they should just do that.

Okay. It needs to go into your name because it's unwise for you even though the current set of players the current set of actors are all good people and they all have good intentions it is not in your name and the things that can go sideways are too numerous to count 35 years of doing this show i I've heard them all. Okay? And, you know, somebody, you know, your dad decides he's going to have an alcohol problem or he decides he's going to whatever or your mom accuses him of something he didn't do or I don't know. I mean, oh, crap, man.

Crap hit. And then he's in control of this blessing that you now have invested $100,000 into something that's not in your name, you're going to lose it all. Do not do this. It's okay if you want to live there, but don't improve the property unless it's in your name. And if their intention is to put it in your name, there's no reason they can't go ahead and do that.

Okay. There's no estate tax planning. Is your grandfather's estate worth over 27 million no okay then there's no reason from an estate planning perspective that they can't go ahead and move the property into your name it does not have to stay in a trust and um it's just not necessary this particular piece of property it sounds like there's a whole difference of putting a name on a deed of the person that owns the home that's still living versus it passing like like capital gains tax i mean like is there any like doesn't matter because if grandpa if it was just in grandpa's name and grandpa has a car wreck and gets sued for a half million dollars

because he accidentally kills somebody in a car wreck and you know he gets uh you know a 10 million dollar judgment against him then they've lost it yeah and it because it wasn't in his name and so you just you there's all these things that can go wrong and nothing that goes right here there's no and there's no reason for it so that's what i would do and as far as your long-term investing you've got a lot going into family business and a lot going into your uh land and property hopefully it's going to be deeded to you so you can do that so you need to be doing for sure some other stuff like a standard retirement program get you a couple roth iras going um and you know get some stuff in mutual funds where you're not all in uh oklahoma farmland not that there's anything wrong with oklahoma

farmland but you don't want all your eggs in one basket. That's what I'm saying. So you need a good retirement program going. So be putting 15% of your income away like standard baby step four for that. And if you want to do more real estate and stuff later, you do that with money you save up and pay cash after you get this other thing worked out. But we're not living in grandpa's house for free and then go buy rental property.

You need to work through this. You need to work through this with them because it's not setting you up in a position of reasonable strength and reasonable dignity. So it's unreasonable for you. It's not unreasonable for them. It's their property. They can do with it what they want to do. But I'm not saying they're doing anything wrong but i am saying if their intent is to go ahead and give it to you they can do it now yeah well and i think that's what's difficult

sometimes like with jacob you know i'm like i don't know how old he is but 25 oh 25 yeah so i'm like that's that's that's the hard lessons of life that, you know, in his perspective, it was perfect, right? The dominoes will fall perfectly right in a line. This makes sense, right? And then that's where, when it comes to this money stuff,

being extra formal in it, meaning documentation, contracts, right? Will, I mean, like all of that, it's just to cover your bases.

And I feel like sometimes we tend to not go as formal with family. That's where you get burned. Exactly because you just assume everything's going to fall into place as it should. And to your point the hard part is we've seen it all, heard it all and I think it's reasonable Jacob for you to go in and say that because they actually could say that's a great idea.

Maybe they hadn't even thought about it. I don't know. And go ahead and deed it to you and then you guys get the benefit of it all. It's just seeing the back end of it that's always difficult, which is what we see sometimes. It sounds like they see your potential and you moving into running the family business and you taking the helm of the family over time. And so they obviously have great respect for you by all the things you're telling me. But this deal here is a little weak, and y'all need to work on it.

This is The Ramsey Show. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Kimberly's in Colorado Springs. Hi, Kimberly. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How are you? I'm hanging in there. Cool. How can I help?

Okay, so I called because I recently got divorced. I have three children and my former spouse, when the court ordered all of the debt and all the things, my former spouse was court ordered to pay off a credit card that's in my name. Now, we sold our house. I got all the money from the house, paid the lawyer, paid all of my other debts except this one credit card. And so my question is, so I got a decent tax return, and so I was wondering, do I go ahead and just pay it off with the tax return from my money, or do I just let him pay it as he is able to? He just got the money from the house.

Why didn't he pay it off? He didn't get any money from the house because that's how much was back owed. He actually still owes me another $14,000 that's coming out of his 401k that hasn't come through yet. That's still being worked on. But he didn't get anything from the house because of the way the situation is. What's the balance on the credit card? It's about $2,200. What do you make? I am a stay-at-home mom, so I get about $1,900 in child support. I have a 3-year-old and then a 9- and an 8-year-old,

and so I stay home with them, and I use the child support and alimony to cover our bills. And then once my 3-year-old goes into the preaching. 1,900 is the total you're living on? Yeah. With three kids? Well, I'm selling everything I can and I have a small, tiny, teeny, tiny pottery business. You know the math on that doesn't work, right? Yeah.

God has continued to provide. I got about 10 grand back in taxes. God can do math. That's covered me. He can, but he's continued to provide, and I haven't had to use credit cards or anything, but this is the last one I'm trying to pay off. Kimberly, where are you living? I'm just curious what your rent situation is. I'm in Calhoun, Colorado, which is about 40 minutes away from the Springs.

My rent is about $1,150 a month. And you have $1,900 coming in and you have three kids to feed. Correct. Are you planning on going back to work? I am. So we have summer coming up and then my three-year-old should be going to school next semester or next in the spring. And so once she goes back, I'm going to go back into the workforce.

But I got to stay home with my two big ones. And so I wanted to continue to be able to do that with her. So I've been selling everything I can. I refinished furniture a little bit too. And so I've been doing that and then pottery and then selling all the things that I can find to sell. But you said in the spring, do you mean the fall, you'll go back to work probably in August,

in two months? No, she's talking about next spring. No, I don't know if she misspoke. Yeah, when she's, so the school year coming up, so we're going into summer now. Oh, September. Yeah, so August.

August, September. So August, September, you'll go back in the workforce. Making what? Hopefully, I was a stay-at-home mom for nine years, so I'm hoping to make at least $30,000 a year. That's the goal.

I have a degree in graphic design, but I kind of hate it with a passion. And so I'm wanting to probably do something in sales or something like that. I don't even know what I'm going to do. I'm just trying to get through the next few months doing what I can. Yeah, considering where you're at financially, I wouldn't pay for it right now. I mean, the hard thing is, is that it's a little bit of a gamble

that it's in your name. So if he doesn't pay, right, then it's all liability. But for right this moment, I don't know if I would. I mean, Kimberly, there'll be a place that there's nothing else to sell, right? I mean, you're going to get to a place that like I'm more concerned about your kids eating the MasterCard getting paid right now so um okay and you as long as you understand that the divorce decree says he's supposed to pay it but that divorce decree does not have the power to take your name off of it and so if he doesn't pay it it's going to be you that gets dinged yeah and that's my thing so at some point at some point if he doesn't pay it it's going to be you that gets dinged yeah and that's my thing so at some point at some point if he doesn't pay it you're gonna have to drag him back into court

and or you're gonna have to pay it but that 10 grand i would keep for it's 2200 right this second i want to make sure you know that i don't want going out the door to a credit card company okay all right perfect i appreciate your wisdom i'm sorry kimberly you're going through this yeah um i i feel like i would not have loved you well if i didn't say i think you need to lean in on this income side harder um i'm a person of faith also and i believe i do believe that god comes through but i have noticed that no corn grows unless I sow corn. For sure. I have to put corn in the ground and then God brings the rain and God brings the sunshine.

But if you sow sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly. And going along saying God has provided, God has provided, and it's going to be okay. And I don't have any idea what I'm going to be doing in August. I'm going to love you enough as my little sister to say, you need to focus in on this career piece and you need to really start thinking about what you're going to be doing in August. I'm going to love you enough as my little sister to say you need to focus in on this career piece and you need to really start thinking about what you're going to be because you're hurting and you've been wounded by this whole process. Terrible. And you didn't expect to be here. Yeah. And it's caught you off guard. And I'm sitting the other side of it. And the math is scaring me for you. And so I want you to – I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's book, From Paycheck to Purpose, and I'm also going to send you his assessment to start figuring out what it is you want to do.

And let's start thinking about 10 years from today, what is the glorious, most prosperous career that you're going to love and make a lot of money doing that you start working towards now and actually engage in in August rather than I think I'll maybe go into sales because I'd hate graphic design. That's I want more thought into this for you than that, if I'm you. So hang on. I'll give you those two things as our gift. And I'm not trying to be offensive. I know you're hurting, but I'm also not going to let you just sit there because your numbers are really scary, really scary. So I want to see some income coming your way for a long-term sustainability for you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. It's awful.

When somebody in her situation, her whole plan was to be a mom with those kids. I got to stay home with the other two. Now I want to stay home with this last one. But all of that changed with the divorce. You don't get to make the same choices because of what's going on. Yeah. And I think, you know, she said through the summer.

Yeah, I know. I'm not saying she's bad. No, no, no, no, no. But it's, well, what. The game has changed. It's a new script. Yep, yep. And that's what is so, I mean, I'm sure for her, it's so painful.

Oh, it is. It's awful. I mean, just not only the divorce aspect, but, and I think that is hard for a lot of women. It's hard for everybody. That maternal instinct is so strong. And for so many women, they, you know, and choose to and want to desire to dream to stay home with kids and do all of that. And then when that is taken from you and you're forced back into something like this, I mean, it's just, it's terrible. It's terrible.

But Kimberly, I really think, yeah, I'm glad you called in though, because I hope that this gives you some direction, maybe a little bit of motivation, but also it just sucks. I'm like, this is one of those grieving things that Dr. John Delaney talks about. You grieve what isn't true anymore, right? Yeah, it's gone. That dream is gone. Now we need a new one. So, gang, in 2003, we launched a book called The Total Money Makeover, late 2003.

So it's 20 years old. We're celebrating with a 20-year anniversary, the 20th anniversary edition of the Total Money Makeover. The humorous thing is the Total Money Makeover has had several makeovers. This is the, I think, fifth revised edition over the years. And it's now over 10 million copies have been sold and are given away out there that are helping people. It's the simplest, most straightforward and proven plan to change your finances. It's been working since Taylor Swift started her career. What?

She was brand new in 2003. She was a teenager. I am so proud of you. How did you know this? The iPhone was not going to be out for two years. Oh, you Googled the year and found all the important things of course it was there okay i was like how did you know iphone was not going to be here for two more years when this came out so um you know and just think of all the other things like some of

you weren't born yet when this thing came out it's 20 years old i mean oh my gosh so there you go or at a minimum you were running around in your little pampers. So there you go. Name Taylor Swift's first song, Dave. I can't. Was that a song? No, that wasn't it. Tim McGraw.

That's fine. Tim McGraw was the name of the song? Mm-hmm. Oh, that's great. Okay. And now we understand how she's successful. Okay. Ramseysolutions.com slash store.

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reviews are just sweet and helpful. Thank you very much. Ryan's in Pittsburgh. Hey, Ryan, how are you? Good. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right, so quick question. My wife and I, we are newly married, and one of our cars is about at 100,000 miles.

My question for you is when is the best time to trade in the car to get a new car? For quick, brief context, we have no debt besides a mortgage and we do have some money set aside for a car. Okay. For a newer car. Good for you. Is it breaking down on you, Ryan? I know $100,000 is a lot. Yeah. 100,000 miles. 100,000 miles, yeah, that's what I meant. But is it still in good condition still driving it is still in good driving condition okay who's driving it uh my wife is okay it's time to upgrade federal law his wife gets the good car so um okay yeah the uh and So, yeah, and, you know, newly married, they may not have told you about the law. But so rule of thumb is this.

Number one, always pay cash. Correct. For whatever you drive. Yeah. Number two, I would not buy a brand new vehicle unless you have at least a $1 million net worth. Because they go down in value so quickly, you really can't absorb the death blows that the mathematics give you. Unless you've got substantial wealth to absorb those blows. So we're going to limit that damage. And then the third thing that helps us to do that is never, really, I can think of very few times in your life like almost never that you would add up all the things that you own with wheels and motors

and it should not equal more than half your annual income because if it does you've got too much stuff going down in value for you to mathematically get ahead so i mean if you got a twelve thousand dollar lawnmower you know that's part of the equation right and the people do god help us but they do and so um you know and and so you know if you've got a seadoo and your seadoo has a sister and so on uh these things all go down in value and and so and you know, I own a bunch of them too, but it needs to be a small percentage of my world that's going backwards if I want to go forwards.

So as long as you're those three things, you're not buying new and a millionaire, you're paying cash, and you're not more than half your annual income, and you want to move up in car, I'm fine with you moving up in car. How much do you guys make a year, Ryan? Combined net right now is 70. Okay. And the price range of car would be what? Right now we have 20 set aside.

And what's your other car worth? For a used car. It's probably trade-in value right now around $15,000. Okay. So you have $35,000 and you make $70,000. That's about the max. That's half your annual income. That's what I was just talking about.

Okay. So you don't need to be driving two $40,000 cars when you make $70,000 because they're losing $10,000 a minute, and you can't get ahead. So that's about the most you ought to be driving, making $70,000. Now, I think you said 70 take-homes. I mean, we're talking about gross revenues, gross income. But still, you're right in that range. So that's fine.

What you're outlining makes sense, and it's okay to do that. But that's some good guidelines. And, folks, it's real simple. It but that's some good guidelines and folks it's real simple it's not because i hate cars i actually love cars i've got a bunch of nice cars i like cars but they the they i hate what they do mathematically and i certainly hate when you're going when you're losing 60 of the value in five years if you buy a new car you buy a new car, you buy a $40,000 new car, you lose $24,000 in five years. You can't afford to do that if you don't make a lot of money and get ahead, not in, not in make progress.

And I'll say this too. I was interesting. There's a account on Instagram. I've gotten to know her name's Kelly, but she's called the car mom and she goes through and reviews cars. It's like her big thing. And she's become an expert. Her, I think her dad, I, but she's called the car mom and she goes through and reviews cars. It's like her big thing. And she's become an expert. Her, I think her dad,

I think she's in like the car business. Her family has been, but it's been so interesting. I talked to her on my show. I had her as we're talking about used cars. And she was saying though, how cars today, we used to say the a hundred thousand mile rule.

And she's like, but the way they're built now, they last longer. So that was a little bit too, why I was kind of pushing on it again. If you want a new a new car mathematically you can but don't just assume you guys these days that yeah just because it has a high mileage that it's done right like if it's not giving you trouble and you're content in it then if it's a dodge neon it's probably done but it was done when you drove when you bought it so you're already screwed up but i know but there are some most of the cars but most cars you're right most of them are great vehicles the way that they

make them now they do last i mean a dadgum camry or a honda a corridor run 300 000 miles without an eye blink yeah so you can great vehicle yes she's right she's right i agree with her yeah so you can go upgrade right in the math and everything we just talked about but also um just remind yeah in the back of your head that, yeah, you may, you know, maybe high mileage. The first guy that ever worked here was named Russ Carroll that helped us do and did financial counseling here. And Russ always would sit with clients and say, okay, want or need? Is this a want or a need? Here's your need.

Your need is transportation. But everything above something that provides transportation is simply a want so and and but we justify it it needs an airbag it needs this an airbag yeah probably well it needs to be my little children are going to die and you know all this crap and no they're not okay and so um that's just bullcrap uh and so but this thing of you know i we we we justify our ego asks and call them needs when they're actually wants anything above the basic service of transportation so ryan moving up out of a hundred thousand mile car in his that's not giving him trouble that's not giving him trouble is a want yes and it's an okay to spend money is fine yes okay to spend money on once i gave you the guidelines

to spend money on once but we don't and he didn't he didn't yeah but don't call up and don't more importantly than us don't tell yourself that somehow this is a need oh god we're dying and all this drama queen crap in your head that people do in order to justify buying something that they just simply wanted and they couldn't just own it just i wanted it why did i buy i wanted it okay i i don't have a single vehicle today that isn't 90 of the reason i own it is luxury 10 is transportation i mean because i'm they're ridiculous cars and so it's just it but it has nothing to do with nothing it's not not that i need to impress you with the car that's not the point because i don't buy it for you i bought it for me but um and what you think of stoplights irrelevant to me but but the thing

that but this thing of i i want the prestige of a car yep yep this sense of security which is false to her point a hundred thousand mile car so all of that that these are wants and so be careful is this a need or is $8,000 purse is a want. And there's nothing. $800 purse. You added some zeros. That's a really nice purse. I've seen a lot of, what are they, Coach or whatever,

Louis Vuitton stuff, whatever. I mean, this crap. This is all, there's nothing wrong with it. I mean, one gun is a need. Oh, my gosh. A closet full of guns is a want. That would be me. Okay, I'm picking on your purses, so I'll pick on my guns.

All right, so it's a want. And so I can't use them all at once to protect my family. So it's a want. It's a luxury. Yes, and needs versus wants. It is, though, a real conversation because the expectations of lifestyle within those categories is so high. The norm already is high.

And so challenging yourself a little bit on that, I think, is healthy and good. So, Ryan, yes, y'all can upgrade a car. You got cash. It's within the mathematical limits. But just because it hit 100,000 miles doesn't mean you have to if it's not breaking on you. Yeah. There you go. I'm going to close this out.

This is The Ramsey Show. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Leslie's in Hamilton, Georgia. Hi, Leslie. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, I am so glad I get to talk to you.

So my question for you today, I am 27, and I just started having like any sort of concept about money maybe, you know, three, four years ago, and I've been trying to crawl my way out of debt ever since. Well, I went into business for myself about a year ago, and I want so badly to be able to have a budget that, like, I can write down and follow. But my husband, he has, you know, set income, gets paid every two weeks. But for me, my brain, it doesn't't I don't understand how I can make a budget for myself not knowing week to week how much I'm going to make I don't even know where to start yeah so that's an irregular income Leslie and a lot of people they deal with that whether

they're on a commission system or they own their own business or whatever it might be so the way we teach people is to say okay so you have your husbands that's consistent and then honestly and i have to do this too leslie for mine you kind of guesstimate is what we say that you kind of look ahead because you want to do the budget before the month begins so you'll look ahead using the every dollar app will the paycheck planning feature help rachel well not not necessarily depending on her income i mean her total income is going to be changing possibly so so yeah so i always just tell people to say hey um yeah i think that comes into play second but to say look ahead and say okay here's what i think i'm going to make and

i always kind of go on the conservative end just to make sure that all of your main bills your four walls food shelter utilities transportation all of those are covered, your four walls, food, shelter, utilities, transportation, all of those are covered. And then in your every dollar budget, prioritize even visually the list of, okay, here is what we have to have. And here's what we have to get paid. So once we're paid, then we know here's the categories that we're going to have. And if the end of the budget, if those last few categories, you know, if you don't have the money for it, because you made a low income, that's okay, because they're not necessities, if that makes sense. But yeah, the paycheck planning action in the EveryDollar app, you're able to say, okay, if my paycheck hits on the 15th, here are the bills between the 15th and the 30th that have

to be paid. So you're able to make sure that your income is spread out evenly throughout the month as well. So Leslie, what does your husband bring home? I think last year it was like right at in between $60,000 and $70,000. Okay, so let's call it $5,000 a month, okay? And what is your worst month? What would you bring home? Oh my gosh, December, I think I've maybe made like $100 the whole month. Okay. Does that happen very often?

I just hit my one year. No, so I opened my business March of last year, and I was doing great all the way up until I would say about November, and then it went dead all the way up until it maybe started picking back up the first part of March, and even now I wouldn't say I'm doing great. So what are you making now? What are you making in March? Probably $1,000 all month.

Okay. Okay, so you're going to have to get this business moving. It's not working very well. Well, and I do plan on that. So right now, I only do nuisance wildlife, but I actually take my pesticide exam next week and if i can get that having you know routine places that i go and spray for bugs that you know every month every other month i have like set income whereas right now i kind of just wait on someone

to have a wildlife problem and i go take care of it and you know yeah okay and you got to have a whole bunch more people calling you they got problems and that's half the problem is like i can't afford advertising because i'm barely making my bills yeah but it's not advertising you you got to get word of mouth out and you got to go talk go talk to builders you got to go talk to people who are property managers and say when you have a, call me and here's a card. It doesn't cost anything to get out there and put some shoe leather in your marketing. So you need to get your income up because you're not making enough as part of the problem. But that's a side issue.

Okay. Now, if you are going to do that, you know, if you can become an exterminator while you're also working with the problem wildlife, then you've pieces of your business model then you can put together maybe you can turn this into a actual job uh at least an income that looks like a job so okay so what rachel's saying let's pretend your your worst month was a thousand dollars a month on average okay which that sounds like you've made more than that a lot of months and this is just not it's just been a dry spell so let's call it let's say then you would budget for with his five thousand and your one thousand and then you would make a list of things you wanted to do that you did not get into that six thousand and that list is prioritized from the very first thing i want to do if i get one dollar more than six thousand and then once i get that thing then what's the very first thing I want to do if I get one dollar more than six thousand and then once I get that

thing then what's the very next thing number two and the very next thing number three and that prioritized spending plan then applies to your every dollar budget and then you can get that moving and that'll that'll drop into that paycheck planning part of the every dollar app and start to work for you yeah but really what we're revealing more than anything else here is you don't really have a budgeting problem. You have an income problem. If you were making $8,000 a month and your worst month was $8,000,

you probably wouldn't have called me saying I have a budgeting problem because you're just starving. You're not making, I mean, you're making $100 and it was, and, you know, and then $1,000. You're not, I mean, you're not making I mean you're making a hundred dollars and it was and and you know and then a thousand dollars you're not I mean you're not even making wages you could make more than this working down at Target you know and so that's what your main issue is but this and you're calling it a budgeting problem but it's really an income problem. Yeah and I would say too Leslie like if you start getting this up, we call it peaks and valleys seasons of income too.

So if you went and made 4,000 one month, we'll put 2,000 aside in a completely separate account. I would open up one if it's gonna be this fluctuating this much. And then on a down month that you have 1,000, you can pull 1,000 from that account from the previous month to get what you guys need, right? To kind of make it a little bit more consistent.

But you have to be disciplined in that. Or if you're just living on your husband's income yeah and yours is just extra then the hills and valleys won't matter yep but they just matter how much you can apply to other things that advance you uh matthews in south bend indiana hi matthew how are you hello thank you thanks for taking my call sure what's up doing good um how would you recommend paying for dental school when I don't have enough money to cash flow the entire amount? The first thing is that dental school, medical school, nursing school,

law school, what people the what they fall for and when they're pursuing one of those lofty degrees is they're just so thrilled if they get accepted somewhere that they don't even look at the price and so the first thing is look at the price because there's a vast spectrum of dental school. You can spend $600,000. You can spend $200,000 to get through. It is very expensive. Dental school is expensive. It's inordinately expensive.

It's more expensive than getting an MD is what we run into. But even then, I'm going to look for the cheapest possible dental school, number one. Number two, I'm going to start studying the dental industry, the labs, the suppliers, the vendors, and find who's got scholarships. There's not many of them, but there are some. And I've heard some wonderful stories of people going and doing that. And I've heard, I actually ran into a lady in the Cracker Barrel restroom.

True story. True story. More information than I needed. Well, we went to Cracker Barrel and I went to the bathroom. This lady stopped me. She was like, are you Rachel Cruz? I said, yes. She said, come here.

So she went on. And she said, I just graduated. True story, Matthew, from dental school. She said, I worked for the college and she's graduating debt free. She worked for the school. If you work for the school, you get free tuition. And I was like, no way. And she was like, yes.

I was like, because I hear these stories, right? Every now and then we'll hear it. So I remember tucking that one away. I was like, I'm going to remember that next time someone calls about dental school because that was her. She was right there. And she said that she graduated and completely debt free. So there's these other avenues yeah just be thinking about a different

matthew than the way the standard dentist thinks about it because they come out with five or six hundred thousand dollars instead of loan debt and it is a long hard life if you do that um and if you don't believe me go watch our uh borrowed future documentary you'll see a dentist there that's a million dollars in debt and you'll see a dentist there that's a million dollars in debt, and you'll see a grown man cry. It's really distressing. The good news is that guy's worked his way out of it. But, wow, it was a mess he was in.

So, yeah, go watch Borrowed Future, and that'll scare you straight. This is The Ramsey Show. I'll see you next time.