The Ramsey Show - App - Practical Help if You're Drowning in School Loans (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 2, 2018

The show about you

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home market has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. We're glad you're here america open phones at 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 sean starts off this hour in chicago hey sean how are you i'm good how are you doing today better than i deserve what's up okay so i just graduated, and I'm about to move to California, cross-country. I'm from Chicago to start my job. I took out $126,000 in loans. At this moment, I owe $140,000 because of interest and stuff like that.

And if I pay for 12 years at a steady rate, I will have paid over $200,000 with interest and stuff like that. My starting salary is $75,000, and I'm looking at the payments that I owe, especially for my new car in college, and I'm starting to stress out. And I was wondering if you knew how I could basically take my first step into financial adulthood. Sure. Cool. What are you going to do for a living? I'm an aerospace engineer.

Okay. That's my major. So you're good at math, and that makes this overwhelming, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. So what part of this formula made buying a car a good idea? Because it's not Chicago and it's not New York, it's L.A., so no matter what, I will have to drive to my work and I don't have a car. Yeah, but what did you buy?

I got a Kia N nero um brand new it is brand new yes yeah and so you went and spent a bunch of money on a car when you were already over a hundred thousand dollars in debt okay what do you owe on your kia um 27 28 okay 27, 28. Okay. All right. I got it. Oh, sorry. Well, number one, I cannot imagine a world in which I would accept 12 years of servitude as my future. Yeah. And so I'm a rip the Band-Aid off fast guy, not pull it off one arm hair at a time for 12 years. Okay?

Yeah. That just sounds excruciating to me. And truthfully, the best results we've had getting people out of debt is a rip the Band-Aid off kind of guy. But what that just described was a young guy who just got his first job in freaking Los Angeles making $75,000 a year who's getting ready, if you do what I tell you to do, to have no life. Yeah. Yeah. And that means you've got to sell the car because you shouldn't have bought it.

It's a disaster. And get you a cheap car, like a $5,000 car to drive to work. And then keep living like a college student, because you never made $75,000 in your life. You probably had never made $7,500 in your life. Nope. Okay. So you've been living on nothing.

Well, sort of. You've been living on student loans. But you've been living on a very, very sparse lifestyle. So I want you to live on beans and rice, rice and beans, a scorched earth deal. And let's just do some simple math here, okay? If the car is gone and we got a $5,000 car, which you've got to do, that was insanity. And then we said, all right, out of $75 of 75 000 we're going to live on nothing so we're going to put 30 000 on the debt that's four years you're debt free in four years you're debt free

and that's if you don't get a raise if you put 40 000 on the debt which is really extreme that means you're probably working an extra job in addition to the new job you've got. But you can work. The good thing about working all the time is you don't have time to spend money. And so you don't have time to go to the club. You don't have time to go out on a date. You don't have time to do anything. You're just getting out of debt. That's all you're doing.

And if you do that and put $40,000 a year on this, you're done in three years, three years my man now that sounds like a pretty much better life because here's the thing can you imagine being the other side of this and by then you're making 85 or 90 you're three years older which puts you at what 28 years old probably right uh 25 now three more would be you'll be you'll be 25 at that point you're at 22 be, you'll be 25 at that point? You're 22 now? Yeah, I'll be 25 at that point. Okay, all right. So you're 25 years old, you don't have a payment in the world, and you're making 90 grand.

That's the future you, but between here and there is hell. Yeah. You're going to walk across hot coals, my man. Or you can do the 12 years of servitude and keep your car payment because your friends think you're cool because you bought a car and got a new big job. And that's just normal and broke. And you're going to look like everybody else in L.A. They all look nice and broke. By the way, it's true of every city in America, not just L.A.

So you pull up at a stoplight, man. You can count the payments around you is what you can do. That's most people. And if you want to the stoplight man you can count the payments around you is what you can do that's most people and if you want to be most people you can do that but you didn't call me to be most people you call me to not live 12 years of crap so i would just go down in the hole and not come out for three years and when you come out you'll be a whole new person, completely clean and be done. And that's going to be very hard to do. I'm asking a lot of a 22-year-old young man. But the more you do that, the more maturity you're going to show. That's living like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else.

I know mathematically you can do it. The question is, do you have the backbone to say no that many times to everything around you that is glittering in L.A. for three whole years and work an extra job and sell the car you just bought? See, I'm asking you to do a lot of hard stuff. It's not going to affect me. I'm not getting any of your money. The only person that's going to affect me. I'm not getting any of your money. The only person that's going to affect you. But if you were my son and you were 22, that's exactly what I would tell you to do. Knowing what I know

about building wealth, that is your shortest path to becoming wealthy. And if you do that, you'll set yourself in a position in character and habits and processes in your life called budgeting, and you'll set yourself up for a lifetime of success. But you can just wallow around in this and blame everybody else for you going $120,000 in debt plus interest plus a car and blame everybody else if you want. That's what some people do.

They blame everybody else. I was reading a thread this morning. This millennial was whining about how society had beat them up. And I'm like, I never hit you once, kid. I'll just show you how to get out once you dig your own stinking hole, whether you're 25 or 35 or 55. We've all done stupid, and you've been doing it a lot lately, so it's time to turn it around.

That's the thing. So hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of Graduation Gift. It's called The Total Money Makeover. It's a book that sold 6.5 million copies. It's on the bestseller list every week for about 10-plus years, and it'll show you exactly what to do step by step to get out of debt. And I'm here to help you.

If you need help as you go along, Sean, you just let me know, man. You call me anytime. If you're working on this stuff and you don't understand something or you just need some encouragement, I want you to go win. I think you've got the mental capacity to go win. You wouldn't have gotten the degree. Dumb people don't get the degree you got. You're obviously a smart guy.

Now, the question is, are you going to be wise? What's the difference between smart and wise? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, I need you to listen to this. Because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home, you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit and every search you're doing online.

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Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to hotspotshield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, number one bestselling author, Rachel Cruz, one of our Ramsey personalities and my daughter will join us. If you've got questions for Rachel about budgeting or you watch her on the Rachel Cruz hit show on YouTube, maybe you just want to say, hey, you can do that. We're going to open up some phone lines right now for Rachel. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions are Brian and Jennifer.

Hey, guys, how are you? Good. How are you? We're great, Dave. Welcome. Good to have you. Where do you are you? We're great, Dave. Welcome, good to have you. Where do you guys live? Chicago, Illinois. Cool, welcome to Nashville. And here to do a debt-free scream. Yes. How much have you paid off? $56,000. All right, and how long did that take? 11 months. Good, and your range of income during that time?

$130,000 to $180,000. Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a registered dietitian. I manage a school food service. And I'm a union elevator mechanic. Very cool. Good. So what kind of debt was the $56,000? So $30,000 was a brand new car. Uh-oh. $20,000 was student loans. And $6,000 was personal loans. Gotcha. How long how long you two been married four years the other day okay cool so what happened 11 months ago because you guys went

pretty crazy here i mean you knocked this out fast yeah so i've always been a worker i've always worked a ton of overtime and uh i made too much money to be this broke and i was looking at a pay decrease i was changing positions in our company and I saw that we had to do something. So I started following you. I started listening. I got you on board, and here we are. Okay. So, what, you jumped on the podcast or what?

Yeah, I was doing some crazy hours. I was working 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. seven days a week during Christmas and everything else. And so I just started listening. It was on in the middle of the night. And, yeah, so here we are. Very cool. Very cool. So, Jennifer, he comes home and says, I've been listening to this guy in the middle of the night,

and I think we ought to get out of debt. What did you say? Well, he said the word budget. Oh, he c the word budget. Oh, he cussed at you. Yes, basically. That's how I felt because I was never one to really worry about what was in my bank account. I had an okay job.

I was never a big spender. I was pretty good at paying all my bills. And he said a budget. And I'm like, what for? Why? And what do you mean? And he got me to listen to a lot of the debt-free screams and um that's those really they touched me they that's when you know I sort of felt like okay this is a good idea we can do this how do we do it what do we do okay so yeah

you got hooked on the youtube then, on the YouTube screen. I had no choice most of the time. Yeah, we started watching it when we were cooking dinner. You know, I'd have him playing, and she was just listening in the background, you know. And there we go. Very, very cool. So, what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt was? You paid off $56,000 in 11 months.

You did it, guys! Yeah. We, I mean, communication. We were married for a couple years and we really didn't have our money together. It was separate. How weird was that to put it together? It was really weird.

It was him who didn't want it together. He was making more money than me, obviously, and I was like, well, we're married. We need to put our money together. We've got bills together. And I had to convince him of that after we started this journey. So I was the one who started kicking his butt like, no, we have to do this.

Well, you started this, buddy. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Very cool. So communication and working together. And definitely the key is the budget, Dave. I mean, I know everyone says it and talks about it all the time, but it goes with communication. You know how much to spend. You know what you can't spend in.

And you talk about it before the month begins, and then you know what you're doing for the next 30, 31 days. It's your roadmap. Yeah. You've got to have a roadmap if you're going to get there. It was just a time to connect, too. We had just had our son, um we weren't making a lot of time for each other he was working like crazy so it was like we have to sit down we have to have this you know budget meeting we called it and it was just a good time to sit down connect and you

know figure out what we were going to do so what was the hardest part of this 11 months for you guys for me it was the the started. I think it took me three or four months to actually, you know, get on board with the budget. I mean, we had started, but I really wasn't, I really wasn't following how it, you know, was going. So when we first started with the budget, I just approached her and said, hey, let's just do a budget. We don't have to cut anything. We don't have to trim anything. Let's just see where we're at.

And then once the numbers came out, she jumped right on board. As soon as she saw how much we're spending on groceries, how much we're spending on this, it became obvious what we needed to do. It kind of became a game for me. Like, oh, we can do a little bit less here. We can do a little bit less there. And then I was the stickler for the budget. He bought me flowers once, and I said, were those in the budget? Like, no, don't do that.

So, you know, it became like a challenge for me to stick to the budget or be under budget. I was really big on being under budget on different categories. Yeah, I love that. Very cool. Did you have people cheering you on or saying you were crazy? Brian has some cousins who are a little bit older than us who actually started budgeting after we

talked to them, but they were our biggest cheerleaders, the Robertsons. And we just spoke the same language. They're the only ones we really knew that knew Dave Ramsey, knew the baby steps. So it was the only ones we could actually talk to on how things were going, what we were doing. And then we did have, I wouldn't say detractors,

but some people just made light of it, kind of like it's silly, you know, kind of like undermined it. I wouldn't say they, you know, didn't support it, but they just, they thought we were out in left field. Yeah, you are, you're different. Yeah, it's okay. You're weird, you're debt free. You can't donate, you know, $40 for this, or why aren't you coming out?

You know, people would laugh at us a little bit. Yeah, well, you're debt free, so you people would laugh at us a little bit. Yeah. Well, you're debt free, so you're weird. Yeah, that's good. I like it. Congratulations, you guys. And you brought the young man with you? Yes, we did.

Henry's right over here. Mr. Henry, how old is Henry? He just turned two. All right. Very cool. Very cool. Very neat. And we'll appreciate you guys being here.

We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book, Retire Inspired, for you. You've changed your family tree, guys. That's the next chapter in your story to be not only debt-free but now be millionaires. So congratulations. All right, it's Brian and Jennifer and Henry from Chicago. $56,000 paid off in 11 months, making $130,000 to $180,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Henry, that just happened, man. That just happened, buddy. I love it. Well done. Well done. You know, we're just running into this more and more and more.

The longer I've been doing this, the more evidence has piled up in people's stories and people's lives that if you're going to change something in your life, you're going to have to submit to a proven process and you can do ish if you want ish does ish gets you ish results doesn't it we're going to do dave ramsey stuff ish ish dave ish yeah i mean you can you can do whatever you want to do. It's a free country. Stupid is not illegal. You can do whatever you're going to do. But submitting yourself to trying something different, give it 90 days. You and your spouse say, for 90 days, we're going to be different. We're going to be weird. We're going to submit ourselves, and we're going to do weird we're going to submit ourselves and we're going to do exactly word for word line by line what financial peace university what the total money makeover

what the dave ramsey show says to do we're going to we're not going to argue about our theory about money since we're broke it makes you look stupid when you argue about money and you're broke i've got a theory about money and you're broke. That's like a fat person telling us how to work out. Really. I mean, I'm not mad at you if you're broke, but don't try to tell me that you know something about money because the evidence indicates otherwise. So submit yourself to something different.

Try something different for 30 days. Go for it. Go crazy. If you've got questions for Rachel Cruz, we're going to open up a line or two for you. She's up next right here on The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and has struggled to make ends meet.

But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance and the other doesn't. Big difference. If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to ZanderInsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and star of the very popular YouTube series, The Rachel Cruze Show.

Rachel Cruze joins us this half hour answering your questions. Welcome back. Thank you. Thanks for having me back on. So we launch a new episode today on The Rachel Cruze YouTube Show. That's right. It's all about how to have a great summer on a budget. So we're like thick in the summer.

It's hot. Kids are out of school. We're like in the middle of it. But the summer is a big time where a lot of people tend to overspend. They don't stick to their budget. And they kind of just spontaneously do things randomly. And they end up spending a ton of money during the summer. So this episode is gearing everything, parents, whether you're single,

no matter who you are, to stay on budget and how to do summer well with your money. I got to tell you, the chicken recipe, I about pulled over and started cooking chicken. Oh, my gosh. That guy is so good. You had a serious guy on, a serious chef on. He owns a hot chicken place here in Nashville. Which is famous. World famous hot chicken here in Nashville, right?

So he came on and... Everybody talks about Nashville hot chicken, right? But he comes on and does a hot chicken recipe. No, it wasn't hot chicken. But it's just chicken. Just chicken. And I'm not even a big... I'm a beef guy, but man, that made me want some chicken.

That guy was good. Oh, he's so great. And it's so easy. The whole thing, I think, costs... We said a family of four or a family of six, under 20 bucks or something. Because it's so great. And it's so easy. Like, the whole thing, I think, costs, we said like a family of four or a family of six, like under 20 bucks or something. Because it's like corn. It's like your chicken thighs, which I learned, chicken thighs and chicken legs are cheaper than a boneless chicken breast. So, like, you know, how you kind of cut corners in the grocery store with a watermelon salad.

I won't give it all away. But it's fantastic. Oh, it's worth giving away i'm telling you it was really good and uh and the young couple with the new budget you're putting together right there live on the show that's right we had a newlywed couple on and they had never done a budget together they've been married like three weeks i think when we shot that they look pretty clueless yeah they did they look like they had no idea what they were getting into i know they were sweet but they look like not clueless dumb but i mean just like they're looking at each other

going they i have no idea totally yeah so it was good so we walk through how to do how to do a budget because we talk about that so much right get on a budget get on a budget but the tactically the tactical standpoint of it and how you walk it through uh look at it and then how that determines a lot of your life choices like she wanted to go take out some student loans and go to school but we had a different conversation when that came up so imagine that it was good wow very very cool it's a great episode great episode the rachel cruz show and of course you jump on the rachel cruz show um or the rachel cruz youtube, and you can subscribe there. Of course, it's also on Facebook as well.

That's right. And you can see how much fun budgeting and saving can actually be during the summer. And we're doing a Rachel Cruz show takeover of the Dave Ramsey Show YouTube channel at 3 p.m. Central today. That's right. Yes. So we'll be back on the Rachel Cruz set. So all of you watching on YouTube, you're going to take my show out.

Well, all the break. Just the breaks. Father preempted the breaks. I'm getting it. We know. We know who's the star of the show. Don't worry. It's called the Dave Ramsey show.

The small takeover of me. No. So I'll be back there with George. And so during all the breaks of the last hour of the show, we'll just be showing clips and having fun, taking your questions, too. So YouTubers out there, ask your questions, and we'll be answering them. Hey, that'll be fun. Yeah.

That'll be fun. All kidding aside, I'm glad you're doing it. It's a great idea. What if I did say, oh, actually, yeah, the third hour. You're not on from three to four. Did you not know that, Dad? You didn't know that? I'm taking it over.

Don't worry. Hey, I'll head out. It's all good. Early retirement. I'm in. over. Don't worry. I'll head out. It's all good. Early retirement. I'm in. They're taking over, people. They're taking over. Not yet.

These Ramsey personalities. They all have personality. Oh, they're a problem. It'll be fun. That's great. Well, when I've been gone so much this summer, you guys have jumped in and done this show. Yeah, totally. You have done takeovers on the show, so it's all good.

It's all good it's all good so seven affordable ways to have fun this summer with the whole family what was your favorite out of those seven um my favorite was one because i legitimately just did it with my two girls last week so the library is a place that we like i sometimes think about but the but during the summer i was like we'll just go to the pool we'll go to like a you know a splash pad I kind of always think of outdoor things but I don't know where you are in the country but here in Nashville it's miserable like it's so hot like you walk outside and it's not a dry heat oh just humidity everywhere it's terrible it really is and so I remember the girls last week were like well you know we want to stay inside we want to stay inside and I was like okay but we got to get out of the house what do we do

and we have a great local library here in Brentwood, right outside of Nashville. So I took them and we did story time. They have computers. So it was like Amelia played like an ABC game. Caroline could crawl around. We read books on the floor. We were there for almost two hours right before lunch.

And you moms out there that have little kids, you know this. Do something right before lunch. Go home, eat lunch, put them down for naps. And it was like, oh, that was wonderful. So we just give you ideas. Completely free. Of what you can do, yes, with your family or really, really cheap. So there's that.

And then we also were talking about, and we say it on the show, too, but even like a local drive-in. We don't have one here in Nashville. Our closest one, I think, is like an hour away. But things like that because you can watch two movies for the price of one. The food is really cheap. And so just kind of sparking those ideas for you to do fun things in the summer because there's a lot of things you can do. The Rachel Cruze Show episodes air on Facebook and YouTube.

We put a new one out every two weeks, every other week. So if you miss one, you can watch it on demand anytime at RachelCruze.com or you can subscribe to her YouTube channel. Be a subscriber. For those of you not up on that, once you subscribe to her YouTube channel, be a subscriber. For those of you not up on that, once you subscribe to her YouTube channel, what happens is anytime we post a Rachel Cruz video of any kind, but certainly the show itself is posted there, it sends you an email and says, hey, ding, ding, you can watch it right here.

Click, and it makes it real easy. Got a little reminder there for you to not have to remember to go back and search something and all that. It's very handy. I'm a subscriber. I see it when it comes. I see the shows when they come up as well and that kind of thing. So it's a and search something and all that. It's very handy. I'm a subscriber. I see it when it comes. I see the shows when they come up as well and that kind of thing.

So it's a very easy way to do that. Just go on to rachelcruz.com or go to YouTube and just search the Rachel Cruz channel, and you can do that as well. Again, a new one every two weeks or so. So if you're looking for some practical ways to save money this summer, you need to check this out. It is the How to Have a Great Summer on a Budget. And I will say one more time, you've got to watch it just to get the chicken recipe. I know.

And it's not that hard either because I'm not a great, I mean, I'm not like a naturally great cook. I don't just thrive. You did it on the grill, so I figured Winston was doing this. I know, yes. So all of it. And it's just super easy, the whole thing.

That's what that's called. Yes, yeah. Living in your strengths. That's what that's called. Winston will be on the grill. I can see this coming. It's going to be great. Very cool.

Now, three delicious budget-friendly recipes that you can make on the grill. How to avoid some common summer budget busters. What are some of those? A lot of them are vacations. So four out of five families, we saw in a recent stat, say that they go on vacation and will spend on average $1,000 on their credit cards.

So average family in America, that's the average of what they're going to spend into debt when it comes to vacations. And it's hard. I mean, we just got back from a trip with Winston's brother, actually, and sister-in-law went to Boston just for a long weekend. And, I mean, it is. I mean, we were going through it. I was like, okay, this is exactly what we talk about on the show, is that it gets expensive.

You have to be very aware of what restaurants you choose. You know, are you going to do a taxi and Uber? Are you going to walk? I mean, just thinking of vacation in general, things add up very, very quickly. And so that's a lot, a place that a lot of people overspend. And a lot of people do spontaneous trips as well. Like to the beaches, like, oh yeah, we weren't planning. We'll go for a long weekend near there.

And they book it almost in a flippant thought. And then when it gets down to it, there's not enough money there. And so that's a big part of the budget buster and kids as well. And we found this, a lot of moms. I have a Facebook group of probably 15,000 people in it. And they give me just some great ideas. I'll go in there and talk to them, you know, and ask questions about their life and everything. And they said to food in the summer goes way up because your kids are home from school.

And when they're bored, they just eat. And so it's like they look up and they're like, oh, God, it's been three days, and all the snacks are gone. Like, where'd the snacks go? And then you've got to go buy more. I mean, so the food budget in particular is. So there's things that you can look around on your budget and say, okay, what categories can we lower?

Because usually gas goes up in the summer, food goes up in the summer. And so what are categories? Maybe like clothing that you can go down during the summer months to adjust for the categories that you will tend to overspend on. Somebody wants to join that Facebook group. Can you join it? Yes. Yeah.

On the Rachel Cruz show. I'm sorry, the Rachel Cruz Facebook page. I think it's called the Official Rachel Cruz Facebook group, maybe? Yeah, something like that. Something like that? That sounds nice. On the Facebook page, you can find it then. She's like, I think that's what it is.

Ish. Ish. Yeah, it's somewhere around there. Yeah, you can totally join that because we're in there chatting with you a lot. So, that's good. Number one bestselling author of the book, Love Your Life, Not Theirs. And Smart Money, Smart Kids, Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personality, joins us this half hour answering your questions. We'll be back with those, your questions, that is, here on the Dave Ramsey Show. There are few things in this world that irritate me more than when people pay too much for their mortgage.

So many of you are paying way too much, and you don't even know it. I've got my good friend Mike Hardwick with Churchill Mortgage here. Mike, how do you help these folks? It's unbelievable, Dave, how much people can save if they just make a simple call. We've helped thousands of your listeners save hundreds each month or take years off their loan, helping them to save thousands of dollars in interest over time. Folks, do yourself a favor. Make a quick call to Churchill Mortgage today.

I'm telling you, if you're paying a mortgage, you're potentially throwing money away that could be piling up in your savings account. It's true, Dave. With the rates the way they are right now, if you're making any mortgage payment these days, you're probably paying too much. Call Churchill Mortgage, guys. It's well worth a few minutes of your time. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591.

Equal Housing Lender 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. A new version, a new episode of the Rachel Cruz Show hits YouTube today, and Facebook for that matter. Be sure you jump in and check it out. The show comes out once every two weeks. It is a massive hit, and when you watch one of them, you will know why. Rachel is with us this half hour answering your questions and commenting on the show. Alicia is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Alicia. How are you?

Hey, Dave. I'm fine. How are you? And how are you, Rachel? I'm doing great. Thanks. How can we help? Yes.

I wanted some help. Me and my husband, we are about $178,000 in the hole. 172 of it is from school. I have a master's degree in nursing. I currently work in maternal health as a registered nurse. We have about $6,000 in medical bills and about $1,100 on a credit card. My husband was laid off over a year ago from his HR position, and right now he is working part-time, only brings in about $400 a month, and I currently make about anywhere from $45 to $50 a year. So we came across you about the end of last year on YouTube, and we're just sick and tired of being broke and being in debt and just really want to get out of it.

So we're not sure what to do. My husband has been on the job market, but because he's not worked so long, I believe that's hindered him from jumping back into the workforce. And why do you only make $50 with a master's degree and an RN? The master's degree was a waste of time, honestly. The master's degree is in clinical nurse leadership so i really can't do a whole lot with it i wish i had known i should have just went to school for a bsn a bsn and got a bachelor's degree in nursing because i'm doing the same job that

associate's degree nurse is doing at the bachelor's degree nurse is doing it, at the bachelor's degree nurse is doing it, but I just have a master's degree. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, in Atlanta, Georgia, for an RN, you're underpaid at $50,000. That's under the market. Well, part of it, too, may also be we have a two-year-old daughter, so I pretty much work about one to two days a week, and I'm at home with her. Oh, I see.

Okay, and he's at home, too. He's working part-time y'all have a y'all have a an income problem is what you have and i'm going to put both of you to work uh 80 hours a week as soon as i can and get your income up to about 150 000 a year and this will take care of the 172 you're000. You're not going to get there at $400 a week plus $50,000. You're not going to get there. That's a horrible mathematical situation for you. It's got to be really scary. But, yeah, you're going to have to be working like double, triple shifts,

and he needs to get six jobs. One little $400 a month sucks. I don't care if he's delivering. He can make $1,500 a month delivering pizza at night while he looks for a job during the day and go do something else during the day, too. I want both of you working all the time. You need income. Rachel, what are you seeing?

Well, that's what I was going to say is usually the perfect formula to get out of debt is raising the income and lowering expenses. But you guys are living basically nothing. I mean, it's very, very low. But the fact that you're making 50k a year just working one to two days a week is really encouraging to me because I'm like, okay, well, if you double triple that, then that income should be doubling, tripling, right? You should be able to see the progress of that very, very quickly. But also, the strain and the stress of what you're feeling, I can't imagine. And so making sure that you guys, I hope he's on the same page as you,

you guys working together with us is going to make that that much faster because we find that couples that are on two separate tracks, they have two different goals in mind, it's almost impossible to win financially. And so I think it's very, very important that you both come in, you shake hands, and you say, okay, this deal is going to happen. And for two, three years of our lives, we're not going to have a life. We're going to work. We're going to find child care. We're going to do what we have to do to get out of this mess.

Because the beautiful thing is after all of that intensive work, then you're out of debt. And it's like, OK, now you get to go back and choose what do you want to continue to do? Maybe you decide to stay home or maybe you decide to go back to one or two days a week. But those options are there for you. But it's going to be a big season of sacrifice for you guys yeah and i i gotta tell you i think your husband's job search process needs to change yeah so uh have him jump on uh ken coleman's site the ken coleman show our ken coleman show.com and uh ken just put up a fresh thing on how to do your resume properly

it's 15 pages long it's a great PDF. It's completely free. He can get that. He needs to rework his resume. He needs to start listening to the Ken Coleman Show podcast every day and maybe even call in and talk to Ken. But I want him to take something. Whatever he was making before, if he takes a pay cut, fine. But he's been on the saddle too long.

It's time for both of you guys to kick it into gear income-wise. As an employer, I want to debunk an excuse I heard her say. He's been out of the workforce for so long, so that's probably hurt him with his resume. Would you say that's true for you? Like if you were looking to hire someone? I would want to know why he hadn't been picked up. If he was prime fruit, why didn't somebody already take him off the tree before I got there? Why has he been sitting on the sidelines that long?

I wonder if I'm missing something that other people saw. And so it's kind of that you might get a little spooked, but it won't keep you from getting a job. But you need to change your interview technique, your job process, maybe broaden the he does, broaden the thing. Because this is all about income because this is all about income. This is all about income. The hole that you're in, you're in one hundred and seventy eight thousand dollar deep hole. And then you've got a big hole and a medium to small shovel right now. The good news is both of you kick this into overdrive.

I can see you at one fifty north of one fifty income. And all of a sudden this this debt starts to go away really fast, and that's the direction I would go. Cassidy is with us in Las Vegas. Hey, Cassidy, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Your question for Rachel Cruz and me. Thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it.

So my husband has been active duty Air Force for about the last 11 years, and next year we are possibly getting out of the Air Force. And we are just so excited to actually live close to family. And I just want to know if we should start the process of looking for a house now, such as like a new build versus waiting and staying put and looking for like a resale home next year. I would buy a resale. I would not build when your life has this much transition already going on. Building a home can cause a divorce.

Well, it just becomes a hobby and a second job. You've got so many other things going on, including all this emotion that we just heard and everything else with the transition out of the Air Force, a move to a different city, all these other things going on. That's usually not the time to build a house because you've got to pick out things. You've got to go. You're going to get, you know, it's a process, and you just need to move into something. And then in a few years, if you want to, you know, talk about building something in another move, that's fine. Homes are not forever. People say, I have my forever home.

There's no such thing. Your life changes, and you're going to move and change anyway. But the good news is it sounds like you guys are making a transition that you really, really want to make, right? Oh, yeah, for sure. Are you guys moving out of Vegas, or are you going to Vegas for family? We are living currently in Vegas. So we will be moving hopefully back to Houston. Okay. Okay.

How long has he been in the service? We're going on 11 years this year, and then next year is his first time to actually be able to get out. He's a pilot, so they carry a 10-year commitment. Well, he's got his hours. He's got his, you know, so he's completely marketable now coming out. Which branch of the service is he in? Air Force. Air Force.

Okay. All right. Well, thanks. I didn't know if he was an Army pilot or what. But anyway, so thank you for serving your country, both of you. We appreciate that. Absolutely. Yeah, I would just keep life as clean and simple as you can

because there's enough other things happening. And truthfully, you get more square foot for the dollar most of the time, depending on all things being equal. I mean, you change neighborhoods, it's different. But you get more square foot for the dollar buying used than you do new. New is the top of the market. It's the most closest to retail pricing as there is because it's a formula. It's the cost of the materials plus the builder's profit and the cost of the lot.

I mean, it just is what it is. There's no real haggling or fooling with it. Where a used home, they almost never are selling it at a loss, especially in this marketplace. So, Rachel Cruz, the Rachel Cruz Show is available, brand new today, a new episode. Be sure and check it out. Congratulations on all the success. That thing's been wildly successful. Well, thank you.

Thank you. It's been fun. Thanks for having me on. It's a lot of fun, folks. Check it out, The Rachel Cruz Show at rachelcruz.com, Facebook Live, and subscribe to the YouTube channel. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly Daniel, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million of debt?

That's pretty impressive. And it could be you this year. Keep listening for more inspiration. Hey, this is Dave Ramsey. You know, most of us have gotten behind on our bills at one time or another. That's nothing to be ashamed of. It happens. And many of us know the embarrassment that comes with those harassing calls from collectors.

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