The Ramsey Show - App - Navigating Family and Money (Hour 2)

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in life, winning with your money, winning in your work, and winning in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. That's 888-825-5225 is the phone number. That's 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by the incomparable, the glowing, the graceful Rachel Cruz. Why is she glowing? Well, it's her birthday today. And making sure America knows.

She is America's... Feeling older and wiser. You know who you are? I'm giving you a new name. I'm going to give you a moniker and you can shoot it up or down. This is my birthday gift from Ken. It is. Words of affirmation.

You are America's financial sweetheart. Thanks, Ken. I think that's probably true. I'll take it. I don't know anybody else that could knock you off that pedestal. You know? Yeah. I'm going with it.

I'm staying with it. I'm going to say it. Yeah. You like it? I like to be, you know, I'll be stern when I need to be stern, but I'm going to be kind. You're very kind. Yeah. Very kind. So we are kind. Yeah. Very kind.

So we are here for you. She'll answer your money questions. I might chime in. I might not. It depends if she lets me. Let's be honest. And I'm here to help you with your work questions because if you're winning at work, you got a chance to win in your income.

You get better. Your paycheck gets bigger. That's what I do. I want to tie that professional growth to financial growth. So I'm happy to help with any of those questions because we need to get more income many times to get through these baby steps. In fact, most of the time. So that's who we are. That's what we're doing. We're here for you. Randall's up in Birmingham, Alabama. Randall, how can we help? Rachel and Kim, thank you so much for having me. I'll tell you, I'm a longtime

listener, but this is my first time calling, and I'm just honored to be amongst you. I had a question. I need some more paycheck in my pocket, like you said. Come on. I think I got myself in a little bit of a pickle. See, my wife's actually, her birthday is actually today as well, and I didn't know that Rachel's birthday was today.

Oh, my gosh. Randall, what is your wife's name her name is vivian vivian happy birthday happy birthday vivian hey april 25th it's not too hot not too cold all you need is a light jacket name that movie i have no idea uh i i you know i don't know randall i don't know anyone anyone anyone, neither one of us knew. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Miss Congeniality. Okay, we'll get to your question, Randall. I promise you Randall's never... She's a little more cultured than I am, I guess. I'm in a little bit of a pinch here.

I didn't quite budget the right way for my wife's gift. She likes nice things, and we've been working the program. Winston? Is this Winston? We've been working the program, and then all of a sudden, she wanted this nice gift. So I pulled out kind of this emergency credit card, and I'm a little bit afraid that it's going to ruin the experience for her. Okay, hold on. What's the gift? Well, it's this purse that she wanted. Now, Rachel's the problem that my paycheck's too small.

She starts putting all of her outfits on Instagram, and my wife just goes on there and tries to start clicking on all of them, and so our budget's upside down are you okay rachel you think this is a prank call are you for real hold on i think i think randall's for real i'm sorry is she really buying would you well i bought a purse for my birthday randall i'm like there's just too many coincidences you just bought a purse i got a purse for my birthday what'd you get when i was in la what'd you get she is she is devout she is a devout rachel

cruz fan oh does she have the rachel cruz. Wow. And my credit card is back in the back drawer, and I screwed up. So have you already purchased the purse, or are you thinking about it? Oh, you did? No, I charged it. I'm giving it to her tonight, and I'm scared she's going to see that bill. Right. Take it back. Right.

It's not been used. Take it back. Right. It's not been used. Take it back. If she's going to be upset that you charged the purse, then she'll be okay if you take it back. Here's the problem. I can't take it back. It's a really nice purse. No, you can't. No, I got this purse.

I had to go all the way to Los Angeles. Okay. All right, there it is. Randall from Birmingham went to Los Angeles. Okay. All right, there it is. Randall from Birmingham went to Los Angeles. This is really good. Happy birthday, Rachel. That's your husband, Winston. I literally was like this.

I was 50-50. I was trying not to disrespect you, Winston Randall. Wow, what an honor. Can I also say... That was a really good impression. That's actually good. I didn't know you had ashen chops. Winston has good impressions. Folks... I bet you can do Ken. Do Ken,

Randall. Oh, gosh. I don't know if I can do Ken right now. Let me just say this. America? I have to be looking at a picture of Ken to do it. Yeah, well, that's true. Hey, folks, America, this is the one, the only Winston Cruz, Rachel's beloved.

And I did not know my friend. I've known you a long time. I did not know you had those kind of acting chops because you sold me. I was now convinced. Did you know he was calling in? I did not. You little stinkers in the booth. I literally thought this was a real Randall from Birmingham.

I was convinced because he kept going at it. Now the Los Angeles thing, that's when I figured something's a little fishy. Boy, I'll tell you what. My jaw, my cheek's hurting because of the hook Winston just put in. Winston, that's no joke. That's actually very, very good. And then I started to, well. She sniffed it very first.

I went on pretty hard. Yeah, yeah. When you said about the linking, I was like, someone's making fun of me. Vivian is definitely linking. Are we allowed to know what kind of purse this is, or is this private? I was going to get to that part, and I was going to say Goyard. It's a Goyard purse. It's a Goyard purse.

I know what it is. I know. It's a very nice purse and I'm wearing a Walmart dress with a designer purse, people. That's what I do. There you go. You don't have to justify it with your Walmart dress. I don't know. It's just a nice purse.

Is that really a Walmart dress? I'm distracted. Yes, it is actually. I linked it today. Wow. Who wants to see it with your Walmart dress. I don't know. It's just a nice purse. Is that really a Walmart dress? I'm distracted. I linked it today. You linked it. I don't even know what that means. No, it was a very nice gift. It was actually his idea.

Vivian already bought it. Vivian. Vivian. Vivian. By the way, Randall and Vivian from Birmingham feels right. I didn't have a job picked out yet or my wife's name, so that was off the cuff. Wow. Very impressive.

We really, you were very confident in the lie. I do have to ask a question now that we have Winston on the phone, because America wants to know this, I feel. Did you suggest said purse, or did he know that you wanted it and he popped for it? I'll let you say, Ben. I have two ears and one mouth. And so they're always listening. Atta boy. So you knew she wanted it. They're always listening. Yep, yep.

And you guys were in L.A. for her book tour together. Exactly right. They don't ship anything, so you got to go in the store and do the dance. There's no e-commerce. Did you take her in there and tell her, or did you get it and then present it? I said, we're going to Rodeo Drive when we go out there.

Rodeo? What did you say? You didn't call it Rodeo. Total Randall fashion. Randall would say it's Rodeo. That's how you spell it. Let's go to Rodeo Drive, babe. I was like, Winston, don't say that in the store, please.

I am so sad that I missed this expedition. Love you, babe. Thanks for calling in. Happy birthday. Thank you. Oh, man, what a prince. What a prince of a guy. He doesn't like doing that kind of thing, but he crushed that.

Man. Boy, I am gullible, James. I was on the hook with Randall until the very end. I need to wake up, folks. I need a cup of coffee. I'll do that on the break. Randall until the very end. I need to wake up, folks. I need a cup of coffee. I'll do that on the break. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show.

I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. So excited that you are with us. You know, for decades, Dave has said that your income is your greatest wealth-building tool, and to the extent that you can increase your income, then you can increase your wealth. And I'm so thrilled to be a part of the Ramsey personality team and a part of this great company, and I'm focused completely on that area of helping you make more money. If you're winning at work, you've got a chance to win financially.

The more you win financially to get debt-free, to build wealth, the more freedom you have, and everybody longs to be free to live the life they want to live. And so part of that equation to winning professionally and winning financially is to figure out the work you're wired to do. And so I've written a short book called Find the Work You're Wired to Do, and it comes with the Get Clear Career Assessment, which is a self-awareness tool. It's not a personality profile. It's going to measure three things, what you do really,

really well, the work you really enjoy doing, and the results that motivate you to actually show up and do great at work. So it's a combination assessment and book. Fabulous, fabulous tool to help maybe the graduate in your life, high school or college graduate. So you can get it right now by pre-ordering it. It comes out May the 7th. You can pre-order it right now at ramsaysolutions.com. When you do, you get the hard copy and an assessment link, plus the e-book and an assessment link, and the audio book and an assessment link. So the e-book and an assessment link, and the audio book and an assessment link. So it's three books, three assessments, one price, ramsaysolutions.com. And it's a great assessment. We've known multiple people,

even within our family, have taken it. And it's really, really good, you guys. It's very accurate. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think it's one of the best products that we have. So it's incredible. And the bottom line is this, is the reason it's powerful is because it's you are answering about you. And you get a mirror and you go, okay, now I see who I am and it allows me to figure out what I want to do and where I can do it. So get that at ramsaysolutions.com slash store. All right, to the phones we go. Ann is up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hey, Ann, how can we help? Hi, yeah. So I'm looking for some guidance and help about the potential purchasing a family home

that is in my dad and aunt's name, like the right paperwork or the right way to get the right price and without ruffling feathers. Okay, so what's the situation, Ann? Tell me kind of how this came about. Yeah, so it's my grandma's house. She passed away about four years ago. The house is in my dad and aunt's name. We have been living, me and my family, have been living in the house for the last three years, kind of helping just with snow removal and lawn stuff. And we've been paying not necessarily rents, but enough to cover the property taxes, the insurance, the utilities.

And they're looking at selling now in the next kind of over the summer, probably in the next two to five months. So we're considering buying it from them and just a little trying to figure months. So we're considering buying it from them and just a little trying to figure out how about the ruffled feathers. When you're saying whose feathers

would be ruffled because you guys have been living in the property and you're wanting to buy it you're not expecting it as a gift. So is there other family that may want in on it or well i think that um probably my aunt would like to get the most money she can out of it so i guess agreeing upon a purchase price is going to be big yeah yeah has she floated a number? She hasn't. No.

Have you run cops? My dad mentioned it. The area? What it would just sell if they just had a listing? Traditionally? I think it would list at like 130 or something. You say, I think. How do you know that?

Yeah. Is it? Well, we live in a small town where like pretty much all the houses were built at the same time and they're really similar. But most of the ones that get listed are between, I'd say, $100,000 to like, some have been up to $150,000 if they've been remodeled a bit more than that. Sure, but Anne, Rachel's making a very key point here. You need to get a real estate professional and maybe two different real estate pros who can come in and run cops on this and show you, and they literally can print this out or email this and say, this is the range based on

real real estate numbers, not your opinion. And you're going to need that if you're going to sit down with the ant because you're worried about ruffling feathers. So we're going to take out all opinions here. This is not about opinion. this is about what the market says the house is the range for this is then the ant based on that information she can give you a number but it should take away all of the weirdness intention is all we're trying to suggest here and so now we go all right this is the number this is the range because you're you're going to get a range. And then the aunt gets to pick a number, and then you guys can go from there. But that's where I'd start.

Yeah, is anything owed on the house, or is it paid off? Yeah, so nothing owed. And we'd be coming in with enough. We plan to pay cash for it, me and my husband. Yeah. So I don't know if that that yes we're trying to avoid real estate and that part of it we think would you know if we could all agree we can probably save everybody a little bit of money yeah for sure for sure yeah i mean i would definitely still

um have a professional at some capacity because yeah yes yeah. Do you know a realtor in your area? Yeah, I know some real estate people. If they start to get involved, they won't just expect that they're the real estate agent, though you can be pretty upfront about we just want a place. And this is easier than you're making it. Just if you know somebody and they're a friend, go look. This is all going to be a family deal, but I just a pro tell me how to run the comps and i'll be honest with you um i actually think you can figure this out on your own i i'm not going to go to the wall that i know this for sure but i think

if you go to like realtor.com which is actually run by realtors and i'm not endorsing that site but if you go to a legitimate site like that i I believe you can run comps on your own. The point is, you need to get away from opinion and feelings when you're dealing with family, and it feels like there's already some fear that this could get weird. And so we just need to create a very clear boundary on what this price is going to land in, high to low, based on real comps. That's what we're trying to get you to understand. Then it takes all the weirdness out, or it should. Great. If we end up not using the real estate in things,

are there paperwork aspects? I guess I don't know the next step with that. Yeah, I would probably get a real estate attorney. Yeah, I would probably just get a real estate attorney. And, yeah, a couple of hours of work. It won't be that difficult, but you just want to make sure that the title and everything you know is transferred properly um i don't think there would be any you know capital gains um at that point if you just write outright buy it from them

yeah i mean most of it should be a pretty smooth process so it shouldn't take that much but i would get some legal opinion around it just to make sure that it's great and and again it's a um when it's family like this you know some cases you know it sounds like the aunt's gonna want every little penny she wants and some families you know we talk to and they do kind of a family discount because they want to keep the home in the family you know what i mean so having all of those conversations up front and as non-emotional as possible because you want to keep the relationships intact, right? I mean, like that's a goal in this for sure. Yeah, I think that's a big part of it.

Yeah, and again, and she'll be able, and she'll come away with some money, which is great. You know, I guess her and your dad will split it 50-50 when you guys buy it for what you get. But I would, yeah, I would get a real estate attorney and pay just a couple of hours probably of their time just to look over everything and make sure that everything is titled correctly and all of that, the deed, everything. So make sure that that's all smooth.

Yeah. All right, Ann, thank you so much for the call. Appreciate that. You know, it's always best to just remove emotion and opinion when doing any transaction with family yes and certainly in this case a house so because it's emotional as much as people like you know and if it's been it's the grandmother's house yeah right and so um and i don't know their relationship but yeah i mean like people there can be some things that go sideways if you don't do it well. And did you have a sense, didn't you feel like maybe she was worried about the aunt? It was the aunt, yeah, asking too much for it or more than they were willing to pay.

And that's the other thing, Ann, you don't want to overpay, or not Ann, I'm sorry. You don't want to overpay for, no, it wasn't Ann. That's right. Overpay for it either. So if Ann is like, no, I want to make sure I get 100 grand out of this, so, so we're going to sell it at $200,000, I'd be like, well, I'm not your buyer. So you don't get emotional on your end either, Ant, even though you guys have been there for three years keeping it up. You want to make a smart choice for you guys, too, as your family. Yeah, great advice.

All right. Phone number is 888-825-5225. Quick break, and we'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me, and we are thrilled that you're here. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

It's Financial Literacy Month, and one of the ways we're celebrating that is taking questions from students at high schools where our Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum is taught. And today's question comes from a student at Fidelis Christian School. I know that going to college debt-free for your first four years is possible, but is going to grad school debt-free possible as well? Becoming a doctor, for example, would you still have a large amount of debt? Yeah, I mean, this is a hard one when you get into, you know, being an MD or law school. I mean, it's obviously a pretty penny. I can speak to the law school. I'll bet you didn't know this. Do you know that you, now I know this is, I don't believe this is true for medical school, but I know for a fact this is true for law school.

There are law schools around the country, not the prestigious big name brands, but law schools around the country that if you score high enough on your LSAT, which is the law school entrance exam, you can, in fact, get a free ride. Really? This is an absolute fact. So you can take the LSAT as many times as you want. It costs you money. I don't recall.

Maybe it's $500, $600. I'll check that out. But you can as it relates to law school. If you're willing to go to a school that's not a big name, by the way, nobody cares. Which we'd probably say to do that anyways. That's right. That's right. You can actually get a free ride, full ride, based on your LSAT score for law school. I do know that for sure. Yeah, that's amazing. So I wanted to point that anyways that's right that's right you can actually get a free ride full ride uh

based on your lsat score for law school i do know that for sure yeah that's amazing so i wanted to point that out i'm sorry i interrupted no no well i was gonna say because that you know we find it's interesting hearing people's stories where we talk to people that are like yeah i i had my tuition and got cut in half because i did x y, right? Like whether it's like working for a certain, you know, medical group or whatever it may be, there are hoops that you can jump to. It's hard and they're not like out there obvious. You really do have to do some research. But I think doing that front end work when it comes to a degree that is so high priced, it's worth doing. It's worth looking or it's even worth

taking your time through it. You'll be older when you get out, obviously, because it takes a lot of years when you're doing this kind of thing, especially in the medical world. But taking your time, because what we see on the show too is the other end of it.

We either see like, oh yeah, they got a ton of debt, six figures, but they're making good money. They're gonna pay it off in relatively a short amount of time, two to three years, which is great. But then you hear the calls, you know, where, you know, she gets pregnant and their baby has special needs and she wants to be home or what. I mean, you have no idea. You have no idea what life's going to throw you or, you know, something happens to one spouse and they pass away. I mean, like we just,

we hear every scenario you can imagine. And what happens with debt is you just take on risk, regardless of its school debts, personal loans, whatever it is, you just take on risk. And all of that is really mitigated when you just say, hey, I'm going to just go a different way. So it is more difficult. I'm not saying it's easy, but I would be,

I would be looking all around. Yeah, it's absolutely great advice. All right, to the phones we go, 888-825-5225. Gainesville, Florida, actually, is where Michael is. Michael, how can we help? Hi, how are you? My name is Michael, like you say. I'm calling because me and my wife, we are looking to purchase a house in the near future.

We have around $10,000 in the bank right now. And I was wondering if it would be wise to move that money to the high yield savings account. Yeah, I would think so for sure. How long do you think it'll be till you buy a home? Do you know, Michael? Okay. Right now we're able to save around $3,000 a month, me and her. We have no debt. We pay little rent. And I'm thinking saving for a year and see how the markets react in a year from now. But if the opportunity comes before that, at least, you know, my money's not sitting in the bank earning any interest. Yes. Yeah, for sure.

Well, I was going to say, if this was any time, five years or more, I didn't know what your situation was. I didn't know if you guys were working your way out of debt or where you were financially. So yeah, I would definitely move it to a high yield savings and I would go online. And what's great about high yield savings, most of that are with online banks. And you can do really easy research to see who has the highest rate of return and do that. My husband and I, we have one in Ally. We have Ally Bank. That's not a sponsored thing, but just that's what we use and it's great. So with high yield savings, you do need to know that it is a little bit more difficult to get your money out. Just meaning that you have to usually transfer it online from account to checking account if you ever need to use it but i think if since you're saving it just for one purchase like that um i think it's yeah i think it's a great option and and the rates right now are i mean four or five percent it's great yeah i did open my i did open one a couple days ago with american express was the one that actually i like it the most. And it's yielding like 4.25% right now.

And I wanted to know, I mean, that was a good idea instead of being sitting in the bank, you know? Yeah, I probably wouldn't go through American Express. I don't know. I would just do an online bank personally, if I were you. Online bank? Yes, that's where I would put it. Yeah, I wouldn't put it with a credit card company. Okay, I understand your point. Yeah. So yeah, look for an online bank, Michael, and I think that's a really great option. Yeah, absolutely. And congratulations. That's a great amount of savings, and you're on your way. I love how much you're putting away each month as well. It's awesome. So you're going to make some real hay. And here's the other side, and I love what you said, Rachel. The other side to the interest rates, which are much higher, is that you're getting much more for saving. And I think

once people realize that the 2% and the 3% mortgage rates are not coming back for a very long time, if even in our lifetime, I just don't see that happening if it does i think there's going to be greater economic problems well what's crazy is i think i saw one it hit up to seven percent recently like it's gone up a little bit and uh and i'm like it's wild how our perspectives change so quickly because if it went down to five percent oh it'd be like oh my gosh that's insane right for so long that's right when it was at that point, it was like, what is happening? It's not at 2% or 3%. And yeah, it is wild though.

That's right. And historically, 7% interest rate on mortgage is fantastic. And I know people are like, what are you talking about? But I mean, just look at the numbers. It's true. And so, but the good news is, is Stacey and I have a fabulous, fabulous account, money market account, and we're getting a really nice percentage. Yes. And I'm sitting there going, yay, I love this.

So I'm not looking for those interest rates to drop at all. Yeah, on that side, for sure. For sure, I know. And I just think the only reason they would is because we've got a really rough economy. Yep, yep. So I don't want to see it dip. I don't want us to get into stagflation where we've got inflation going up and a recession happening yes and and you know we're not far from that and it could happen and so you just don't want to be in that situation yeah and you brought up a

good point so a lot of people have been asking about high yield savings accounts recently because of the high interest rates and money market accounts so they're both very similar accounts usually online banks are great options to to either route, you know, and money market accounts are great. We had that one for, we had a money market account for years. And what's great about that is you get a debit card with it, a checkbook. So yeah, you can make some withdrawals from it very easily out of a money market account. Sometimes you do have to have, there's a limit of how much you can have in it or even starting out. There's sometimes a higher dollar amount there where a high yield savings, again, like I said earlier, it may take one to three business days to transfer the money

from the high yield savings to your checking. But there is no minimal that you have to start with. You can start with a dollar on the high yield savings. So both are great options when it comes to saving long term for sure versus just a traditional savings account. So yeah, and they're really easy to set up, you guys. Just go online,, do an online bank and yeah, it's worth it. If your money's going to be sitting there, let it earn four to 5%. It's great. And the thing I like about that is that money, we know it's over there, but it is a bit out of sight. And that's also good too. It's like, let's just leave it over there. We don't need to operate out of that at all. And I think that's wonderful for discipline too. And it's just, and then stacking,

stacking, stacking. I mean, anytime there's surplus on anything outside of our normal budget, it's like, I love stacking the cash. And that never hurts. You know what I mean? Because cash is still king and the discipline there is great. And so anyway, fabulous. So I'm glad you made the point, the distinction between the two, the money market and the high yield savings. Yeah, because they are very similar. There's a couple of differences, but not really. That's one question we've been getting so much, Ken, because people are looking and saying, oh my gosh, yeah, the interest rates when you owe suck. It's terrible because they're so high. But gosh, we're making historic on the other end, which is fabulous. It's a great time for savers. Yes. And saving is always good. So good stuff there. All right.

We've got to take a quick break. She's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. Don't move. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is with me this hour.

888-825-5225. Lansing, Michigan is where John is waiting. John, how can we help? Thank you for taking my call. Appreciate you. I went back to school less than a year ago at a community college and enrolled there because I would like to, for the future, get into marine biology. And since that's going to take quite some time to get there, I had another brainstorming idea of, well, why don't I get into nursing? And after nursing, then continue with marine biology. Because the way that I look at it is that I'm going to need to keep working, no matter how I look at it. Next year, two years from now, I'm still going to need to be working. And I'm not making ends meet right now. I'm working two jobs, minimum of 60 hours,

maximum about 75 hours per week. So that's what I'm calling for, that if I choose to go into nursing, would that be a smart career move for the moment to bridge the gap financially in a job that I would also like to? I had two picks, marine biology or nursing. It's no, considering it's debt and it's a career. A buddy of mine was telling me, well, why are you going to get into nursing? Because that's another career that's different from marine biology because of certain job opportunities. It pays more, and it helped me get possibly to that point of marine biology. So what is your take on this? Well, I've got to ask several questions, and then I can give you an opinion. I'm sure Rachel will weigh in as well. Between the two, if I give you either one and you get to start tomorrow, which one do you pick?

Marine biology. Yeah, that's what I thought. And what's the path look like? You know more about that field than I do. So let's play this out. 10, 15 years from now, you're very successful. What are you doing in marine biology and what's the range of income doing that? The range of income? No, what are we doing? Give me the ladder. We're further up the ladder. 10, 15 years from now now successful. What is that role? Then tell me the range of income. Correct. The role would be that I would like to see myself on a boat, studying oceanography or fishing the sea, basically environmental,

the aspects of that. That's what I would like to be into. However, most of these jobs require a master's or a Ph.D. A bachelor's, you could get into it, but it's mostly like a lab work. It does not pay well at all. I've spoken to other marine biologists with just a bachelor's degree, and they're making, let's say, for example, in Florida, they're making about $22 an hour in Florida, and they have a bachelor's degree. All right, so let me ask you this. Then let's add the master's or the PhD. What's the range of income once you've reached that level in marine biology? Does it go up immensely?

It could range somewhere on the 70 figure. It depends on which degree we're talking about. 70 what? $70 an hour? 70K. Or 70K? Yes, 70K. All right.

So let's call it 70K. And is that the low, medium, or high end of the range? That would be more of the low range starting off about that range. And then what could you get to? I've seen it as over 100,000, but that's a very low percentage. But there are biologists out there that make $100,000 and more. All right, you're helping me. You're helping me form an opinion here.

How much is it going to cost you to get the master's, and then how much would it cost to get the Ph.D.? Give me the two different numbers. Well, that I have not looked into in depth with at the moment. Got to go. You've got to find that out. Yes. Because I can't give you a really informed opinion here, but I can give you a theory, okay?

So to me, it's not, to me, based on your needs and what you're presenting today, it doesn't make a lot of sense to just get the bachelor's in marine biology and make 22 an hour. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And I also don't think it allows you to reach the level that you want to reach. I think that was obvious. Is that correct? Correct. All right, so now you don't know what it's going to cost for a master's and a PhD,

but you don't have that money right now. You don't have that saved up either, do you? No. And you're already going, I need money. All right, so I just don't know if the marine biology situation for you is realistic in the next three, four years. It may be a seven- to ten-year play. Now, I'm the first person to tell you, and Rachel knows this,

I started into broadcasting at 31, 32. It took me nine years to land the gig, the dream gig. I'm willing to wait that long. Most people are not, to be frank. And so if you're willing to wait seven to 10 years, meaning you're busting it, you're hustling, you're living on way less than you make, you get rid of any debt you have now and you start saving, you're doing multiple jobs. Do I think you could get there?

Yes, I do. But I also don't know how much it's going to cost and you don saving, you're doing multiple jobs. Do I think you could get there? Yes, I do. But I also don't know how much it's going to cost and you don't either. So we got to go get an answer on what's a, and by the way, what's the lowest barrier degree and then master's program? Not the fancy big name because the fish don't care and neither do anybody else how fancy the degree is. Now, let me flip it, Rachel. I'm sorry I'm talking so much, but I want to walk through this logically. Getting a nursing degree is also expensive, and you're probably going to start out somewhere between 60 to 80 in nursing as well. Am I right, roughly? Correct. Currently, with my jobs right now, I only make $40,000 with working that many hours. I agree, but I would rather guide you, and I'm going to guide you to making more money

that doesn't require a degree because going to school and spending money you do not have, it's not an option right now. You don't have the money, and we're never going to tell you to go get a loan to then make $20,000 more than you're making right now. you don't have the money and we're never going to tell you to go get a loan to then make twenty thousand dollars more than you're making right now i'm convinced that i can help you make twenty thousand dollars more than you're making right now without getting a cent borrowed and so you're working too many jobs right now so what we've got to do is start looking at the trades we've got we've got to start looking at maybe some technology jobs that you could learn you could take a boot uh

you could take you go to bethel tech bethel, I endorse Bethel Tech. You ready for this? We hire people at Ramsey Sleuths for Bethel Tech who've never been in tech before in their life. And it's a nine-month program and it's less than 15 grand. You could scrape up 15 grand together a lot faster. That's one option is tech. And you could start making 75, 80 in tech with a path to six figures quickly that's just one option the trades if you're handy at all you can go into electrician plumbing carpentry and be making 40 50 60 bucks an hour somewhere in that range and i may be a little bit low on that i'm just kind of speaking in general across the country John, you've got to increase your income to stabilize yourself and be able to find a path forward on the marine biology. It's not nursing school.

And I wonder, John, too, if there's a way to take your passion and what you love about marine biology, and is there a way to do that that's going to probably look different it won't be maybe as formal as a role as a marine biologist but are there sectors of you know different you know jobs in florida that you're like oh my gosh john what's your you know i could go and assist i don't know a famous photographer and get the scoop but you know what i mean you're down like you're able to do what you want to do to a degree without having to have the formal title and working for the formal marine biologist does that make sense like is there is there something that you could do that is like it that you still would enjoy and love but it doesn't cost you to have to go and get a phd in marine

biology uh yes and there's other disciplines of course with with by with marine biology? Yes, and there's other disciplines, of course, with marine biology in itself, but that's the question I've been, the answers I've been yearning for to get is that I was thinking, well, why don't you get into nursing, because I'm looking at a seven, possibly a 10-year journey here for marine biology. With nursing, two years, I could be earning some decent money. Yeah, but you can't afford nursing school right now, so you're going to have to wait maybe a year or two to be able to pay for nursing school is what I'm saying. I'm fine with you going the nursing route. I just don't think it's worth the effort that you're going to have to put into it.

I'm with Rachel. Go start working in that field. Maybe you can get a job making $35, $40 an hour or whatever. You've got to increase your income, remove any debt at all in your life so that you can stack cash to pursue

the marine biology. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I'm just saying you're not there yet. It's going to take some time. Appreciate the call. You've got some tough decisions to make, but I know you'll do the right thing. This is The Ramsey Show. Take care.