The Ramsey Show - App - My Daughter’s Boyfriend Is a Negative Influence (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 29, 2021

Career, Debt, Home Buying, Education As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the 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'm Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. He's the host of The Ken Coleman Show, heard on over 75 radio stations, Sirius XM, and a very popular podcast all across America, answering your questions about jobs and career

and finding that paycheck with a purpose. So thanks for joining us. The phone number, 888-825-5225. John is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, John, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, nice to talk with you. Long-time fan, first-time caller. Actually attended your Financial Peace University at our Methodist Church a number of years ago.

And really, really enjoyed it. Glad to say that my wife and I are now debt-free. Good for you. And have been for some time now. So you've really helped us out in our finances over the years. But I did want to call in because I've got perhaps a common problem with college-age kids, and I think you've touched on this in the past, but we have three daughters. Our middle daughter is a freshman at a university two hours away. Great kid.

She was senior class president, athlete of the year in high school. She's got final exams coming up on her first semester, and all indications are her grades are going to be good, but she's got her finals here in the next few weeks here. But she's had a longtime boyfriend that's back in our hometown. He is two hours away from her, and we are concerned about him, particularly the influence that he is having over her. This is a kid, the boyfriend that has not graduated college or high school.

He stopped going to school and doesn't live at home with his parents anymore. He's sort of out on his own. And there's been talk of our daughter coming back home and not going to college two hours away because of the normal, hey, I'm in love with the boyfriend. And over the years, the last couple of years, there's been some negative influences by him. Alcohol a little bit, him, not her, him having his license revoked for a little bit, those kinds of things. And I have a lot of older buddies, I'll say, that are 10 years older than me

and trusted friends that I've bounced this off of, and I'm getting a lot of different opinions on how to handle this. And I think in the past, you have mentioned, hey, there's a couple of levers you can pull here, persuasion or the economics or financial aspect of it. By the way, my wife and I are paying for everything for the daughter, car, vehicle, food, tuition, everything everything and we plan to do that for four years but the the boyfriend is just a bad influence and um if we clamp down on our daughter we are almost certain uh that she's going to pick the boyfriend over over us and supporting us through college. And just not sure how to handle it.

What gives you that belief? You guys, there's something in her life and her personality that makes you feel that, or is it just straight-up fear? Any evidence that she would do that? She is strong-willed. Where her mental state is now is that she wants to graduate as fast as possible so she can earn a lot of money because she knows that he is not going to earn a lot of money

because he does not have a high school diploma. And so she's obviously in love, and she's doing everything right, except for the boyfriend where there's a problem. Now, here's one thought that is going through our minds, and this is a little crazy idea, but maybe not. It's supporting the boyfriend. In other words, being able to prove himself.

Okay, hey, come on over to the house for dinner, and let's have a conversation, and we would like to support you in getting your GED and seeing if he takes us up on the offer. And if he doesn't, perhaps that proves something to our daughter and she could see, Hey, he's not going to really do what he's supposed to, or a positive benefit to it is, Hey, we've supported him. Even though his family hasn't supported him as much through the years and we're helping him. Our daughter sees that, hey, he gets a GED,

and perhaps he's got the ability to get a decent job. She, your youngest? Middle one. Okay. What's her sister say about all this? The older sister is a senior in college um she's about to graduate she doesn't like the boyfriend okay that's what i was asking yeah it's simple yeah yeah yeah and then the youngest turn her loose on her sister yeah yeah um i can tell you my three have policed each other at that age group,

when they were in that age group. They don't now because they have separate households now, and they're all stand-alone adults, and they respect each other's boundaries now. But if both my daughters were in college at the same time, if this had been going on, one of the other ones would have said, hey, you've got to be kidding me. This guy's a loser.

And she would have called it out that way. You've been real nice, but that's what you're saying. So I think the only other thing I can tell you is you probably – you, more than your wife, probably have more influence with her than you think you do. And I get that from Dr. Meg Meeker. And I would pick up the book. As a matter of fact, I'll send you a copy of it called Hero. And it's all about how dads are a hero, that good dads are a hero in their daughter's eyes.

And you probably can, you're very even-tempered. You're not saying anything flamboyant. You're not going over the top one way or the other here. You're not abandoning this. You're willing to stand in the gap for her. You're willing to make it difficult for her for her own good. But you're trying to just be wise about how to get at this whole thing. And that tells me you're probably going to find the right equation because of who you are.

And I think she knows who you are. And I think the guy I'm talking to is a guy she'll listen to. And it might be you just make a couple trips over there for a Saturday morning breakfast. You make the two-hour drive and just start speaking into the situation very bluntly and say, you know, I've known guys like this my whole life and we love you and we're going to walk with you. We're not going to abandon you. But this is a bad situation and I'm worried about you because I love you.

I think she'll hear you more than you think she will. Yeah. And real quick, John, I want you to try smothering this kid with kindness. Ask him what is he planning to do? Put some kind pressure on him. See if it freaks him out, gets him to leave. It'll run him off. I saw some recent financial statistics, and there was some pretty troubling news.

When families were asked how long it would be before they faced financial hardship if a spouse died, nearly one-third said they'd be in trouble immediately. Another 44% said they'd be financially drained within six months. People, it does not have to be this way. Term life insurance plans are just plain cheap, and companies have made it even easier by not requiring exams in many cases. There really is no excuse to leave your family in this situation by not having life insurance. This is why I talk about Zander Insurance every day. They're committed to protecting families with the only products that I recommend, and their team keeps the entire process simple and affordable. Go to Zander.com for quick online pricing or call 800-356-4282.

This has to be a priority. If your family is in this situation, you need to get this done. All right, listen up, everybody. I got a secret to share with you. You ready? Christmas is 27 days away. 27 days? Hold on a second a sec i gotta write that down that's a it's a breakthrough information right there colman you didn't have it uh they put it on the calendar every year and yet it sneaks up on us every year uh we know you're planning to do a lot of giving and that's why our team has put everything on sale

we're having our biggest cyber monday sale ever right now we even added to it because we had a downtime on friday with the website yeah they gave us the opportunity to beef up today a little bit so today only we have special deals from all of our ramsey personalities the perfect day to get christy wright's 2022 gold planner rachel cruz's money assessment ken coleman's career assessment lowest prices ever to date on all of those. Get your gifts for your family, your friends, even yourself up to 79% off. Our biggest Cyber Monday sale ever at our online store at RamseySolutions.com. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. Because they're the best. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. It's a great American company. Be sure and check them out if you need window blinds. Use the promo code BRAMSY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Dawn in California. What advice do you have for stay-at-home moms who want to reenter the workforce? the promo code bramsey to get the best deal today's question comes from dawn in california

what advice do you have for stay-at-home moms who want to re-enter the workforce i have only had one job and it was many years ago when my firstborn was little i feel completely unqualified to go back to work but would like to get a job so that we can pay off our debt more quickly should i go back to school for training or just jump into something entry level well there's a lot of advice that I try to give to stay-at-home moms. And the first piece of advice is to always look towards the talent you have. You haven't lost your talent. Could you go for some new training and polish those skills? Absolutely. But in this situation, I want to focus on the debt first. And here's why. When you all want to get out of debt, and that's the primary motivation behind this question,

that tells me we've got some gazelle intensity, and it also tells me that you're going to be a little bit more clear, a little bit more confident on finding out what you'd like to do, or not even go back to work once the debt is paid off. So I think the debt is the number one priority here. I would go get a job, a good paying job, because there's a lot of them right now, that allow you to just simply do something that you're good at. This is talent only here, because our primary motivation is more money, bigger shovel to pay

off the debt. Now, as you get back into the workforce, you're paying off the debt, you get some motivation there. Before you know it, you're going to be in baby step three. I'd keep working there, and I'd get that baby step three fully funded there. And then I'd begin to think about, all right, what is it that I would really like to do? What's the work that I would love that would create a result that matters to me? That's if you decide to stay in the workforce. So in this situation, Dave, I'm always going to tell somebody, let's not spend extra money on training right now. Let's go get a bigger shovel, knock the debt out.

Then that gives us more options. Completely agree. Just go make some money. Go make money. And the other thing is, is a body in motion is easier to redirect than it is to get one in motion. That's right. So while you're out there moving around, you may bump into the thing that lights up your

life. That's exactly right. And you go, well, that's so fun. I like doing that. Or I hate this thing. I hate numbers and details. Okay, well, you're going to learn some things that's going to direct you one way or the other through whatever you're doing.

So there's no lost motion in this as long as you don't feel like you're stuck in whatever it is. It's very interesting that you use that lost motion. I think that's really deep. The inertia that we see when we listen to debt-free screamers or we watch them, however you engage with this show, and you watch the stories and you see how their dreams evolve, you see new things come to life, discipline grows, that's what's going on here. And it's going to set you up if, as a stay-at-home mom, you want to stay in the workforce.

I think the inertia that the debt-free journey provides is invaluable beyond living like no one else. Now you can work like no one else, give like no one else. I mean, there really is tremendous motivation that comes from accomplishing something like that, because then you go, if I did that that what else do i want to do but it's funny how many times in our life that we were in the process of movement towards something and that's when we intersect yes something that's life-changing whether it's whether it's actually a career thing it could be you meet your spouse or she's already married it could be right you uh you meet a mentor it could be that you uh i don't know you you stumble across things if you're stumbling and they're true forward yeah moving forward just

keep moving just keep moving just keep moving and so there's some value in doing that you know you might you may want to make it a little bit more refined than all of that though and just go ahead and take the coleman career. Well, I'd love for her to do that. That would help her, you know, give you at least a general idea of where I might find some joy instead of just going back after the month. Well, it's exactly right. And I think, you know, I'm answering the question with singular focus, but I think it's a very good point because here's the deal. While I'm getting out of debt in just a J-O-B, while I'm getting out of debt,

I'm doing the work of discovery. I'm taking the Get Clear Career Assessment. I'm getting from paycheck to purpose to see what does it take to actually reach the professional pinnacle. Is it possible? It's why we write books like Baby Steps Millionaires and From Paycheck to Purpose, so that we can show you a clear path. Hey, this is actually possible.

So there's no question that while I'm getting out of debt, I can begin to see some things that maybe I never saw before. And that's what's so exciting. Sherry is with us. Sherry is in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Sherry. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? up um well i need some advice um so i make about 42k a year um i've been off work a couple of months i just started back working i was out um because i uh gave birth um i had a son but unfortunately he passed away so i was off for a postpart, and I wasn't receiving any paycheck. Your husband passed away after you had a baby? No, my baby passed away. Oh, my gosh, honey.

I'm so sorry. Yeah, thank you. So I was off work. I just started back working for the same company, but I wasn't getting paid because I didn't have any more sick time available. I had about $10,000 saved up, but right now I'm at about $5,000 with all of my bills. So my student loans, I have about $75,000. I have a couple of credit cards, so I maxed out one of them, which is about $25,000. I have a truck payment, which I pay about $628 a month as well as my monthly rent.

What do you owe on the truck? I owe about $26,000. Okay. And I have my rent is $1,700 a month. And I'm trying to get out of debt. Are you married, did you say? No, no, we're not married, and we just recently separated. So all the income now is just coming from me.

And so I'm just trying to figure out a way that I can come out of debt and pay these bills down. With my student loans, I'm on an income-driven, and so I've been paying zero for that, but I still have my living. What do you do for a living? I do medical billing for a pediatric company. Okay. Cool.

All right. How old are you? I'm 38. Okay. Cool. All right. How old are you? I'm 38. Okay. And this child that went to heaven was your only child? No, I have a son who just graduated and recently went to the Navy, and I have a daughter. She's 16. Okay. All right. Okay, your math, the math that you gave me is very stressful. Yes. And you're pretty scared.

Yes. And you've just been through hell this year. Yes. Yes. Okay. So what I'm going to do is is i'm gonna bust into this really hard to help you clean it up as fast as you can so i'm gonna be real blunt you ready yes i am all right your truck's insanity it has to be sold you can't even come close to keeping

a 26 000 truck number two you're gonna take six extra jobs you're gonna work all the time number three you're gonna cut up all extra jobs. You're going to work all the time. Number three, you're going to cut up all your credit cards and attack them with a vengeance. Number four, we're going to walk with you and help you with a financial coach and with Ramsey Plus going through Financial Peace University and with the world's best budgeting app. And I'm going to pay for all of it and give it to you because I've been scared like you're scared right now. And I know how it feels.

So you hold on. Laura will pick pick up we'll walk with you kiddo so Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Christopher and Amanda are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi. Great. Good to have you guys. Where do you all live?

Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Cool. Welcome. It's good to have you. And all y'all live winston-salem north carolina cool welcome it's good to have you and all the way over to nashville to do a debt-free scream that's right very cool how much have you paid off fifty five thousand four hundred and forty four dollars all right very cool and how long did it take one year 10 months and 26 days one year 10 months and 26 days so 11 months all right good and your range of income during that time started at 92 000 combined and ending at 107 ended at 107 what do y'all do for a living i'm a pastor i'm an executive assistant okay cool very cool so tell me about the 55 000 what kind of debt was this mostly credit cards some car loans um some personal family loans um yeah just the kind of

normal yeah kind of normal all right cool so what happened uh two years ago approximately were you guys running to this ramsey stuff how did this all happen well i i took ramsey uh fbu gosh 14 years ago oh okay so i knew better but he jokes that I'm a lifelong learner, which really just means it's slow. So I knew what to do, but that didn't always mean I did what I should do. So yeah, I just racked up some credit card debt and things, just trying to make both of our dreams and what we wanted to do happen rather than, you know, planning and budgeting and doing what we needed to there. So what was the wake-up call two years ago?

She was the wake-up call to me. I had no clue that we were in any serious debt. I thought maybe $10,000 or something. So I was shocked when she said, it's over $50,000. We've got to do something about this. Yeah, well, all of a sudden one thing had been, a credit card

had changed the number, and then it went to collections, and then everybody started calling and sending letters saying, your limit is dropping, you're above your limit now, your interest rate is increasing. And it was like, you know, on like seven different cards.

And it was like, oh, we got to get out of this. And, you know, I just got angry when I saw that one of them was like 25% interest. And I was paying, you know, hundreds of dollars every month you know they've been smart if they left her alone and kept charging her interest but then when they when they made her angry she got out of debt yeah yeah so christopher she comes in and goes it's not 10 000 it's 50 000 what'd you do i said tell us what we need to do i'll go along with whatever we have to do she had all the plans laid out oh you already had it out. She had it figured out when she presented it to me. And I said, absolutely, let's get it done.

Okay. Never present a problem without a potential solution, right? Wow. I like this lady. Very impressive. I like this lady. So what'd you do? So I know you laid the plan out.

How intense? What were some of the big major adjustments, if any, that you made? Well, I mean, just even looking at everything that we had, we mapped it out for three years. It would take us to pay off everything. And we just, I got to the point where once we got that first ball rolling and then the car loan was gone, and then it was like, we just have to find money in the woodworks to pull and pay towards this. And then with the pandemic, with the stimulus money, all of that went towards debt.

God was very gracious to us in the pandemic. It turned out to be a real gift for us. Yeah, my job continued. I got a promotion during this time, and we just took every spare penny that came in and threw it at it and came out a little over a year ahead of our schedule. Wow. Yeah, you just got after it.

Knocked it down. How does it feel to be free? Grateful. I'm just so grateful. Wonderful. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool.

Now that you did it all and you brought the plan, what did you do? Tell folks what the key to getting out of debt is. To communicate with each other and to be diligent like you just have to keep doing it there were so many times that i started and stopped and started and stopped but you know once we finally got that momentum going don't don't let it go right um yeah okay lean in and knock it all the way through. Yeah. Excellent. Well done. So, Christopher, how long have you been pastoring? About 30 years. Okay.

All right. So these were some scriptures you hadn't brought up before, huh? Tried not to talk about it too much. Do as I say, not as I do. But now you're free. It opens up a whole other section of scripture, huh? Absolutely. Yeah.

Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. So we have to ask, do you personally know Santa Claus? I do not. I've never met him. You never met him. Okay. I thought maybe you had.

Okay. Trying to replace him someday. Okay. Do you do this? Do you do this on the side? No, I don't. This is just a COVID beard that started with the pandemic. I thought, well, I'll get rid of it when the pandemic ends, and it won't go away.

And this just keeps getting longer and longer. Well, it's perfect. It's perfect for the season. Thank you. I mean, your conversation piece, for sure. For sure. I got to tell you, I've never seen a beard move with a person like that. I don't know what you're doing to it, but that is aerodynamic.

It's alive. I mean, you put a lot of time into that, don't you? It does take a lot of time, yes. Yeah, all right you got it you have to at least keep it until january absolutely you got to at least do that oh my gosh that's wonderful well done well we're very proud of you guys congratulations thank you very very well done i love it we've got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you that's your next chapter to become uh outrageously wealthy and outrageously generous uh along the way those are the two things that go together and uh very very well done and that's a pre uh advanced copy of baby steps millionaire the book actually comes out in november in this is november's over in uh january the 11th i'll get

it out in a minute anyway we've also got a copy of total money makeover for you to give away to somebody and minister to them and give them a chance to learn this stuff and actually start doing it so very very well done good stuff you guys other questions no i mean you know i i wanted to ask i did want to know because the way you answered you're like okay here's what we did i came in and we just started pulling money from the woodwork. I want to know, was there a tough, tough, tough sacrifice, something where you didn't want to do it? He's looking at you with the hand up. What's going on there? Nothing?

Well, I mean, we just started going through and cutting out the stuff that we didn't have to pay for. Which is almost everything, really. Right, right. the stuff that we didn't have to pay for um which is almost everything right right like keeping food um internet and you know that wasn't unnegotiable but cable is not negotiable for him so trying to figure out ways around that um and then you know we in fairness it was much easier than i ever imagined it never felt really bad to be honest's a matter of getting, once you get intentional, it moves the needle. Right.

There you go. It's just this living by accident thing. When you get on a budget, you feel like you got a raise. You're like, where did it all go? You know, where did it all go? So, well done. All right. Christopher and Amanda, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Count it down. $55,000 paid off in one year and 11 months, making 92 to 107. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Praise God. Yeah!

That is how it's done. Well done, you guys. Very, very cool. So today's three hours of debt-free screams are interesting. $33,000, $59,000, $55,000. Not huge, huge amounts, but all done in 13 months, 6 months, and one year in 11 months. Yes. So all done in under two years.

All done in very short periods of time, very quickly. Yep. All making, looking down the incomes, roughly around $100,000 range, so nobody making $500,000 a year and nobody making $30,000 a year. But in every case, incomes went up during the time that they're working on it, which usually happens because people start concentrating. And in every case, there was credit card debt. There was student loans.

There was car payments. There was just the normal debt that's out there. The bottom line of the story of the debt-free screams on today's three hours of shows has been that you can do it. Yeah. Because these people are you. That's right. And if we walked out on the street today with a camera and a microphone and said, do you think you could pay off $55,000 in 11 months, a lot of people would look at us like we're aliens.

The fact of the matter is you can. But that's a staggering number to most people on the street. They don't think. They think $55,000 in 11 months? Well, it's actually extremely doable. Yeah. It's beans and rice. Yes.

Rice and beans. And it can be done. That's right. That's the trick. It can be done. And that sets you up then to become wealthy and rice. Yes. Rice and beans. And it can be done. That's right. That's the trick. It can be done. And that sets you up then to become wealthy and outrageously generous. This is the Ramsey Chef. Our scripture today, Philippians 419, My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Les Brown said, Too many of us are not living our dreams because we're living our fears. Ooh, Les. He's the man. You've got to love it. All right. Up next is Mitchell in Chattanooga. Hi, Mitchell. He's the man. Yeah. Gotta love it. All right, up next is Mitchell in Chattanooga. Hi, Mitchell. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. Just a quick question for Dave. So, I've been listening to you for a while, and I know that you're against the traditional VA home loan, but I'm a disabled veteran, so I wanted your opinion on if you know anything about the disabled uh va home loan yeah they waive a bunch of the fees they waive a bunch of the fees

and the interest rate is better if you have full disability so that makes the va loan much much better uh in your situation okay yeah and would one of your elps know more on it well churchill mortgage can walk you through it that's you know they're the people we've endorsed for 25 years on mortgages, and they can walk you through what the differences are. But what you'll want to do is just compare a Fannie Mae, a conventional loan, the cost of closing, and the cost of interest rates, and total fees up front, and total interest rate, and compare that with a VA total up front. And you may find the VA with a disability may have a slight edge. It may be better. Okay.

But that does not give you an excuse to buy a house with nothing down. No, that's not the plan at all. Yeah. It's just a matter of interest rate and fees is all we're talking about. And still on a 15-year fixed and still where the payment's no more than a fourth of your take-home pay. But the discounts over the standard VA loan are pretty substantial if you're a disabled vet. So it's something definitely to look at in your case. Awesome. Thank you.

Thank you, man. Appreciate the call. Brandon's with us in Rapid City, South Dakota. Hi, Brandon. How are you? Good. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I had a question about a Parent PLUS loan.

So on the Parent PLUS loan, as a primary, the parent is, and then the student would be the cosigner. If the parent were to pass away, does the loan go away? Wow. if the parent were to pass away does the loan go away wow i do not know the answer to that question it would be logical that it does because on a traditional student loan not a parent loan uh if the student passes away the loan goes away and it does not hold the cosigner liable. So if you went and got a student loan and your grandmother cosigned and you died in a car wreck, the loan goes away. Or you become disabled and qualify for SSI, the loan goes away. You're declared fully permanently disabled.

On a traditional student loan, on a Parent PLUS loan, I don't know the answer to the question. It would be logical that it does based on the other program, the way the other program works. But I would have to get into, you know, do a little bit of research to be able to answer the question well. But that's a really good question. Have you looked at it? Have you looked it up? Yeah.

So my girlfriend, she's the one that has this loan. And her dad was the primary on it it and he has stayed for cancer so she's waiting to see he's in chemo right now so she's waiting to see the prognosis after this of kind of what's going to happen and what she should do if she should pay it off or yeah oh well i mean has she looked it up and they do forgive it is that she found that found the regulation yes so yes the student loan that she's under she that's what they had told her but we were under the agreeance that we should just pay it off or her and I both agreed is what I'm trying to say because she has the money to do so but felt like she was you know she might have been being lied to

well what I do is I want to get the regulation in writing just send me the website but felt like she might have been being lied to. Well, what I'd do is I want to get the regulation in writing. Just send me the website. Send me to the regulation in the subsection so I can print it off and date it, not just some goob on the phone. I don't trust a goob on the phone with Sally Mae. They make up crap for a living. But, I mean, Navient is known for –'s greek for lying and so um but the uh but yeah you get in there i would get in there and find something in the regulations you probably

can download the actual regs off a dot gov site um i've just never looked it up i never wondered about it now you got me wondering about i'm gonna look it up but um okay that's how i learn stuff on the show every week. Some question I have to go, I don't know. But, yeah, if I were in your shoes, I would dig into the.gov stuff on the student loans. It's a pretty extensive site. And find it. Or if you get somebody on the phone that's telling you it is forgiven, great.

Give me a reference point in the regulations so I can print them off. A verbal confirmation of that with sally mays not enough but once i've gotten that if i get that confirmation in writing i've got an actual copy of the regulation um you're trying to look it up yeah i mean but i wasn't going to dive into it without reading it unless it's very obvious yeah but the uh yeah but what i would do is if um i would wait on the prognosis as cold as that sounds uh to pay it off if you've got the confirmation that the loan is forgiven upon his passing um but um there are a couple articles here uh so i would do some research. The Google Meister?

Yeah, it does say that federal student loans are discharged upon the borrower's passing. That's a standard federal student loan, though. I don't know if that's true on Parent Plus. That's what I'm wondering. But, yeah, I'm going to get my hands on, again, something more than an article, too. I want to actually see the reg, and I want to have it in my hands, because it's going to come up later, and you're going to have to present death certificates and other stuff to get it forgiven. It's a process, and getting the whole process forgiven if there's a permanent disability is a lengthy process, but it certainly can be done, and it's what I would do if I were in those shoes.

So, hey, good question. Did you find it? Yes, studentaid.gov. That's the government site, and i would do the homework there but it does say in fact that with doc acceptable documentation the federal student loan parent plus will be discharged if the parent dies but okay do your homework on that that's fresh from google yeah exactly yeah everything on the internet's true so yeah and ken coleman's an expert at looking up stuff on Google. Never done that before.

I just thought, well, I'm going to look it up. Hey, you pulled it off, man. It's a tag team right here. There it is. So that's the Federal Student Aid website. Apparently, the information you were given is right. But I would get that website then, federalstudentaid.gov, and I'd download not just the Q&A. I want to see the reg.

I want to pull the reg and the section 11.465C or whatever the crap it is. That's right. I want that in my file because I don't trust these people. All right. Another Brandon is with us. This time in Baton Rouge. Hi, Brandon. How are you?

Hey, Dave. How's it going? Great, man. I'm real short on time. Ask your question quick. Okay. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Great, man. I'm real short on time. Ask your question quick. Okay, so could I leave my small business as a contractor, $25,000 this year, second year in business, take a job, $75,000 a year, travel and superintendent? What kind of contract work? Commercial.

So construction? Construction, yes, sir. work commercial go say so uh construction construction yes yeah i think i would lean towards the 75 now but could you keep the small business open on the side i can keep my license probably wouldn't have time to do both but i could definitely keep the license yeah uh how bad of financial shape are you in well i'm 32 with no debt, probably $10,000 in emergency fund, like to save for a house. Let me ask you this, Brandon, real quick, because we've got about a minute, so I'm going to ask real fast, okay? If you had made $75,000 last year for yourself, would you be calling us? Not at all. So here's where I'm going with that question.

What's it take to make $75,000? What's it take to make $75,000 or make $50,000? Can you work a side hustle to get a little bit more money in? I know you want to save for a house, but the fact that you're in decent financial shape. What does it take to get your business to go from 25 to 75? Just keep grinding, doing things I've been doing. I think it'll get there. Yeah, you're brand new into this.

No, I think you've got to keep grinding ain't 3X. You've got to do something to go 3X here. We've got to shock the't 3X. You've got to do something to go 3X here. We've got to shock the monkey. Okay. You've got to do something big. You need a big plan or you need to take the job. Yep. And if you take the job, Brandon, you can lick your wounds on this and go,

Hey, I wasn't a failure. I just got to learn now. And I pay somebody else. Excuse me. Somebody pays me to learn the business and I can adjust and come back another day and start your business back. This is not a be-all end-all here. Hey, jump into Entrez Leadership on the website. I'm going to send you a copy of the book before you make the decision if you can and talk to some other contractors there because you're probably really good at your trade, but you're not yet good at marketing and running your business. And if you can get that solved and stay in business

and that's what you'd rather do, let's solve it. But just keep doing more of what you're doing, and you only made $25,000. No, you've got to have something. You have a big plan here because you've got to get it to $75,000. It's not you need to go up $5,000. You need to go up $50,000. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show and the books. We'll 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, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.