The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Be Looking for a Job Right Now? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

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Thank you very much. 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 choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host.

This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Ken Coleman Ramsey Personality is my co-host today, here to talk to you about your careers your jobs doing work that you love the clear path to doing work you love from his new book from paycheck to purpose available on pre-sale right now at ramsey solutions.com herbert is going to be up first this hour he's in guatemala hi herbert how are you hi dav, David. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help?

Listen, here's the thing. I'm 30 years old. I'm from Guatemala. I just got engaged with a beautiful lady. She's 28. Congratulations. Thank you. We're both debt-free engineers. I'm a sales manager, and she's a finance manager. Right now, I have around 200 grand in savings, and she has around 50K. So each year, we make around 160 if we should rent for maybe four or five years and invest the money we make in that time to pay cash for our house.

What will a house cost? Maybe around 400 grand, 500 grand. You can't buy one for 250? Maybe around 400 grand, 500 grand. Mm-hmm. You can't buy one for $250? Yes, we can. And the thing is that we were thinking about buying, like, a house that we will be there forever. And you know what I mean? There's very few people stay in a house forever.

Okay. The a house forever. Okay. The forever house thing. Are you talking about in Guatemala or talking about in the States? Yeah, in Guatemala. Okay. I do not know anything at all about Guatemala real estate. Not a thing. Okay?

Okay. Most people here stay at their home, like, for life. Yeah. Okay. Can't. Most people here stay at their home, like, for life. Yeah. Okay. Because the average home in America in the U.S. sells every 5.6 years. Okay. So when people in America say it's their forever home, I laugh at them. Because it's not true, okay?

Now, it might be more culturally true there, okay? The second thing I don't know is I don't know if you bought a $250,000 home now and paid cash for it. Meanwhile, you have no rent because you have a paid-for home. You could save that much more. You'd be able to save more because you don't have any rent cost. How hard would it be to sell the $250,000 home when you saved up another $200,000 to move up to the half-million-dollar house? Is the market viable?

Can you sell something fairly easily? Yeah, yeah, you can do that. Okay, so if you moved in a house for $250,000 and lived there three years, and during that time you saved up another $300,000, and then you sold that house for $300,000, you'd have $600,000 and lived there three years, and during that time you saved up another $300,000, and then you sold that house for $300,000, you'd have $600,000, right? Yeah. Meanwhile, you had no rent. Yeah, that's right.

Now, that works if the real estate market is viable enough that you feel sure you can sell this starter house when you want to move up. But if it's very, very difficult to sell a house, then maybe this suggestion is not a good idea. Okay. And should we invest that money during that time? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Into something.

And again, you've got to choose a vehicle that fits your situation. And I and I'm not an expert on what's available to you for all of that. So. You know, that that that's the thing I'm I'm nervous. You can tell I'm stammering around with my verbiage because I just don't know that your your cultural norms, number one, well enough. I mean, I have a vague understanding, but well enough. And I certainly don't know the real estate market well enough to where I can say, this is what you ought to do. So you've kind of got to use some judgment with the knowledge you have of the world you

live in, which is different in some respects. And so you've got to make those calls. Interesting discussion, though. It is. I would just caution, you know, just because everybody else does it or a majority of people buy one house and stay in that house in Guatemala doesn't mean that you have to do that. I mean, it could certainly be a cultural norm. But what do you two want as a young couple?

And I've got to tell you, I don't care if you're from Guatemala or the United States or anywhere else in the world, a young couple, life is so very different in those first couple of years. And as you begin to move through the phases of life, whatever that's going to look like for you guys, things are going to change dramatically. So having this mindset that we've got to come out of the gate and buy our forever house, I just think it in some ways can lock your dreams and lock your future up a little bit. So I would just caution that. Just because everybody else does it doesn't mean it's the right thing for you. Yeah. Hey, good call. Thank you for joining us.

Mary's with us. Mary's in San Jose, California. Hi, Mary. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. So my situation is I'm 58 years old. I lost my job last year, so I decided to take early retirement. I'm living off passive income of my rental.

I have no consumer debt, but I still have a mortgage payment. I refiled last year, so I got the 1.99%. So about a month ago, I found out about your principal, and so now I'm so fired up to pay off my mortgage. Cool. So, yes. And so, shall I start collecting my pension? See, the thing is, the reason why I postponed it was, if I collect now, I will get only $4,600 a month. If I wait until I'm 62, it's going to be $5,500 a month.

And if I wait until 65, it's going to be $6,000 a month. If I wait until I'm 62, it's going to be $5,500 a month. And if I wait until 65, it's going to be $6,000 a month. So what do I do? Do you have a lump sum option? No, unfortunately not. Okay. All right. Well, obviously the pension dies with you, right? I'm sorry? Yes, of course. And so the money you collect between now and the time that it would go up, if we ran the math figures on just for the fun of it, it's not what we're going to do. But you said it goes up at $62,000 to $5,500? $60,000.

That's $60,000 in two years. It's going to be $55,000, yes. Okay. All right that's 60 in two years it's going to be 55 yeah okay all right but you have two years no actually it's four because i'm 58 now so at 62 it will go up to 5500 okay so four four times five yeah four times 12 48 months of collecting 4500 that pile of money invested would likely make you more than the other thousand that they're going to give you for waiting. Does that make sense to you? Yes.

I'm taking it. I'm not going to do that with it. I'm going to take it now and pay off your house. But that tells you that you probably ought to take it as quick as you can take it. Because the more years you're getting money, I understand the monthly changes on it, and the other thing is you're probably going to do some kind of encore career. You're probably not done at 58.

You've probably got some other stuff you're supposed to do yet. You don't have to, but it'd be cool if you went and made another $80,000 a year just doing something you love. Yes, absolutely. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Christi Wright. Y'all, let's be honest.

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It's that simple. So you can restore your confidence. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor. Check in with one of our SmartVestor pros. Have them get in your corner and help you out. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that means even if you mismeasure or you

pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Rhonda in Florida. My husband has served in children's ministry leadership for over 30 years.

Our church recently went through some financial difficulties, and the pastor asked if any staff would be willing to step down. My husband decided to opt out and was given one month severance. Prior to working at the church, he had started working on his associate's degree and now has gone back to get his AA in business administration. At age 57, is it worth finishing up this AA? Is there a field for someone with 24 years of experience in managing a large ministry? Let's take the second question first.

There's absolutely a field for someone with 24 years of experience in managing a large ministry because that is a leadership position. And there's always a need for leadership in the workforce, certainly in corporate America. And so what has to happen is it's less about the ministry specifications but more about the leadership experience. As far as the first question, if the AA in business administration helps add a little bit of juice to his resume and gets him a little bit more on the resume

besides the ministry experience and you can afford it and it's not in any way causing you guys to struggle financially, yes, I'd go ahead and finish it. And the reality is that this is where relationships come into play, Dave. You've got somebody who's been in one industry for so long, 24 years,

and then you're looking to switch gears into another industry. The transferable experience is what it's all about, but it is more about the relationships you have that will open up doors. Think of all the people that your husband knows through those years of ministry and living in this community. Right now, this is the hottest hiring market we've ever seen, even hotter than pre-COVID of February of 2020. 10.4 million jobs, the latest job report. And companies need good experience and good leadership.

And at 57, though, you will face, this is just the reality, you will face some people kind of looking at his resume or looking at him going, oh, he's 57. And so this is where relationships come in. People that you know that know other people, and those doors get opened that way to where you're coming in already ahead of the competition because of the credibility of the relationship to say, I know this guy, great leader, a lot of experience,

got the talent to be able to come in and help us. That's how you win this game. My mind as a salesman always goes to how does he sell himself? Yes. What's the narrative that he brings to the company that he's interviewing with? And the product is him. Yes. And he has to sell that product.

It's a little uncomfortable, a little awkward to sell yourself. But here's the thing. If for 30 years you can survive the parents while you run a children's ministry, you have people skills. Oh, yeah, yeah. And think about how many volunteers. You know how to herd cats. Yes.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Unbelievable. Yeah. And church leaders almost always, even in the large churches with large staffs, almost always rely on volunteer help. And if I'm a hiring manager or a leader looking to hire another leader, I would lead with, hey, I've effectively led volunteers, people who don't have to show up.

Yeah. I get people who, to care, I get people who work because they care. Yes. Not because they're being paid. And I've managed all of these relationships around all these kids, parents, helicoptering in and everything else for all these years. And I think you build a narrative around that. And otherwise, if you don't position yourself in someone's mind, they may say, oh, you've been a babysitter.

Yes. You've been a babysitter for 30 years. And that's not what this got at. That's exactly right. It's a great point. If you don't position yourself well, guess what? They will position you. They're going to position you somewhere.

Yeah. In their head. Yeah. They're going to pigeonhole you because we try to go, okay, what's that mean? What's this guy do? How does that fit what I need? How can he do that? And if you don't go, listen, I know how to lead volunteers.

I know how to deal with difficult relationships, highly emotional situations. Yeah. I mean, this guy could run a customer care center. Easy. Where there's complaints coming in. That's exactly right. Because that's what he's been doing. Yeah. I mean, this guy could run a customer care center. Easy. Where there's complaints coming in. That's exactly right. Because that's what he's been doing. Yeah.

And to your point, if you're applying for leadership positions, look at the job description and then fit your experience into that and go, hey, you're looking for this. This is how I did this, this, and this. Yeah. I can add value for you guys. And I did it before. Yeah. In a different setting, but a very similar transactional process.

Julie is with us. Julie is in Tampa, Florida. Hi, Julie. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, guys. How are you doing? Better than we deserve. What's up?

Awesome. So, yeah, my name is Julie. I am 24 years old, married. My husband and I both work full-time. He's also a full-time paramedic student. So my question is, I am, I'm at risk of losing my job by Thanksgiving. They are requiring a COVID vaccine for in-person work by then. And my husband and I have kind of just opted out of getting that. I'm on baby step

number two. I have two more credit cards up to pay off. But my concern is if I'm out of work by Thanksgiving, will I want to put a hold off on paying off debt and save every penny I get, or do I want to pay off more debt but have less really wiggle room if I were to lose my job? You need to put your total money makeover on hold, and you need to go get a new job today. Yeah, start looking right now. Don't even wait for that shoe to drop it's coming it's coming and you may and you've already made your decision and so you just need to act today don't wait the the thing that can happen is is that we live in uh we think that uh that the calvary is coming and someone's going to solve this for us and they're not they're not coming yeah you know you really do know what's going to

happen so don't walk around acting like it's not going to happen yeah and so it's time it's time for you to go on and you need to go on today yeah you don't need to wait till thanksgiving yeah and by the way julie this is a great job market right now yeah it's perfect timing i mean you're going to get an upgrade what do you make now uh so it's funny is I've been working at this company for two years, but this month I got promoted into a new role, and I make about $47,000 now with my raise. Cody, what kind of work? I was an executive assistant,

and now I kind of work as a low-level consultant, I would say. Within the organization? Correct, yes. Okay. Specializing in what? Operations? Marketing? Administration.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, look, you know how many companies... So you were such a good administrative assistant that you're teaching the rest of them now. Yeah. Yeah. Is that what it amounts to? Yeah.

Yeah, I would say so. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah, so you probably can land so. Okay. All right. Yeah, so you probably can land a position at making 60 as a high-end administrative assistant if you want to do that again. Yeah. Because you've not only been a world-class assistant, you've also taught them.

My fear is that a lot of companies are going to be moving towards this new in-person hybrid model, which is totally fine, but having the mandated vaccine within that is what scares me. There are some that are the big ones, but most of us aren't. Do your homework on the front end. You can ask around town. Just because you've had this experience at one place does not mean it's going to be the norm. That's just not happening. It's only the big companies that are optics concerned that are the huge mega companies that are doing this stupid butt stuff and the rest of them are going no people are grown-ups they get to use our own identities against us. Not only do they commit crimes related to financial fraud, medical ID theft, and insurance

benefit fraud, but now we have to deal with home title fraud. Thieves are using your own personal info to take ownership of your home so they can take out loans and you end up with a pile of debt and foreclosure notices. Over 4,000 data breaches happened in 2018, exposing 3.6 billion records. So thieves have plenty of identities to use and there's a one in five chance it will be yours. That's why Zander Insurance is the only program I use and recommend. Their plan covers all types of identity theft, and it takes over all the work if you become a victim. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Tony and Ruthann are with us.

Hey, guys, how are you? We're doing great. How are you, Dave? Welcome, welcome. Good to have you. Where do you guys live? In Delafield, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee. Milwaukee area. Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way downield, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee. Milwaukee area.

Welcome to Nashville. Thank you. And all the way down here to do a debt-free scream. We are. How much have you paid off? $346,000. Wow. How long did that take?

34 months. Wow. You kicked it. That's amazing. And your range of income during that time? We started out right around $180,000, and we ended about $250,000. Wow. Nice job.

What do you guys do for a living? I'm a sourcing manager for a large tool company. And I'm a swim coach and health coach. Okay. Wow. Good stuff. What kind of debt was the $346,000? It was our mortgage.

Yay! House and everything! Yes! Looking at weird people! Yep. Way to go, guys. You have a paid-for house. We do.

That is so cool. What's this house worth? About $600,000. That's so fun! Yeah. So what made you decide to pay it off 34 months ago? Well, back in 2005 2005 we moved back to wisconsin i retired from the military and uh we bought the house and in 2014 my daughter and i

my wife talked my daughter and i into going to fpu with our church so we went and we didn't have a lot of debt at the time so getting through the first couple baby steps was easy. Then we built up our emergency fund. And then in 2018, we refinanced our house to a 15-year following your plan. And we said, all right, no more, enough's enough. We want to be completely debt-free. So we went after it. Every extra dime we got

we put toward the house so the whole financial peace university thing tripped you up made you do it yes exactly eventually well you went right down the baby steps it sounds like absolutely well done yeah i gotta ask when we see this kind of a jump in income what what allowed for the $70,000 bump? Well, mainly it was me taking a new job and also bonuses thrown in there as well. Nice. So you got a new job. Did you look for that? Did they come after you? And what was the intentionality there?

It was a little of both. Nice. It was great timing. Good for you, man. Dave, that's the bigger shovel. That's one way to get a bigger shovel is to get promoted. Ding, ding. Nice.

34 months later, the house is done. It is. Very cool. Thank you for your service, by the way. Yes, sir. You're welcome. And so, wow. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?

You guys did it. I'm going to take this one. I'm the free spirit. He's the nerd. But it was his spreadsheets, and it was working as a team because there were some times when we had to say no, and our friends just thought we were nuts because interest rates are really low on mortgages,

and we were really intentional. Every extra dime went to the mortgage. We didn't even think about using it for anything else. So we have a lot of household updates that we need to do that we have put off. Now you're ready. We're ready, yeah, and we can pay cash. Make you a little list of them and start plowing through them, huh? Yes, and you know what?

You're never too old and it's not too late because I know we're a little bit older for this debt-free scream. How old are you? Late 50s. Okay. So, you know, we hear a lot of stories of younger people that are amazing, but it's never too late to start this, and the grass does feel much better under your feet when that house is paid off.

Yeah, so you were like 55 years old when it started, or 54 years old when you started this. Yeah, and now we have lots of options, and I would have to say that discipline is freedom. And a lot of people don't look at it that way. Ooh. Yeah. That's a line right there.

That's a line from the health coach. Yeah. No joke. Good. It is freedom. You're right. That's very good. How's it feel?

Very liberating. Yes. It feels awesome. To know that we're in charge of our future, financial and otherwise, I mean, we're very excited to be in the position that we're in. We became everyday millionaires about two years ago during this process, so that helps. So you've got how much in your nest egg right now in your retirement?

We're at about 1.6. And then the house is worth six. Correct. So about 2.2 anyway. Total? About 1.6 total. Oh, total. So about a million in the retirement accounts.

Right. Exactly. Wow. Look at you. And how much of this did you inherit? Zero. Zero. Nothing.

Precisely nothing. Zero. Nothing. Precisely nothing. Yes. Yeah. And you're probably, like me, you want to be nice, but when people say stuff like, you're so lucky, you want to strangle them. Big time. Luck had nothing to do with it. It didn't. It didn't.

But you know what? Luck seems to follow people that work the plan. Yeah. I do have to say that. Well, I mean, and discipline is freedom. Yes, it is. Luck follows people who have some discipline and do hard work and all those kinds of things. Yeah, the harder I work, the luckier I get, I've heard.

That kind of stuff. I've got to address that because it drives me nuts. There's no luck at all. I've got to tell you, you all put yourself in the right positions. The discipline puts yourself in positions to where good things come to you. Right. There's something – we've heard the phrase, good things come to those who wait. Waiting is a form of discipline.

That's what you guys did. So, I mean, I just – you guys are amazing. Yeah. And you're the health coach. Absolutely, yeah. And I tell that to my clients also. And what gets measured gets managed. And so I think it's really important.

He is Mr. Excel Spreadsheet. He can tell you how much we're going to have in the bank 2028. But it's really important to measure and check where things are going. Nothing moves unless it's measured. That's exactly right. I agree. Well done, you guys. Thank you.

So great. So fun. So fun. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Well, having a plan and sticking to it. And we did it together. I mean, we had our moments. We had our discussions on things.

We'd get a bonus, and it's like, okay. Can we please just get one little thing? But we didn't. We did. We just. And we took vacations and things like that, so it wasn't like we didn't have some fun along the way. Yeah. We were like.

So what's the first big project on the house you're going to do now? The floors. The floors. You know what? My husband didn't want me to share on the house you're going to do now? The floors. The floors. You know what? My husband didn't want me to share this, but we got duct tape holding down some carpet in our house. And we are getting new carpet. And you're worth $1.6 million with duct tape on your carpet. You might be a redneck if.

If you got duct tape holding your carpet down. Wow. Yes. I love it. Yeah. So new hardwoods or what?'re just gonna have them refinished oh okay and they get new carpet yeah that carpet that duct tape carpet's gotta go i'm just saying yeah don't even know what it is but it's gotta go yeah and you can just write a check and it

won't even feel it yes no house payment at all yep congratulations so proud of you guys you're great you're heroes well well done very well done've got a copy of the Legacy Journey for you. That's the next chapter in your story. You've completely changed your legacy and changed the whole process here. Very well done. And a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to give away to somebody else and pay it forward and keep these ideas moving and keep creating more and more of these baby step millionaires like you guys. I'm so proud of you.

Well done. Well done, well done. All right, here we go. Tony and Ruth Ann in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. $346,000 paid off in 34 months. House and everything! Making $180,000 to $250,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I love it! Woo! Different. Different. Yeah.

That is amazing. Wow. Yeah, these baby step millionaires are coming out of the woodwork nowadays. Oh, yeah. You know, but Dave Ramsey's only for the poor people. He can't really help you if you want to become wealthy. You know, you've heard that, right? Oh, sure.

Yeah, it's hilarious. But, yeah, there's millionaires everywhere. By the way, what's interesting about that kind of critique that I'd like to just take on right now and smash it, Dave Ramsey didn't do anything in the story or the story in the the second hour, or the third hour, or every hour of every Ramsey show. We, as a company, showed people a clear path. But these people did the work. Yeah. The whole interview has nothing to do with you.

I didn't give them any money. And some people that attack you. I did not give them any money. Yeah, there's no scamming. People are actually doing the work. And you hear these stories, you get fired up because they came together. Two different personalities came together for a shared goal. And that's just what it's about.

Their dreams, their future, their peace, their freedom. That's how it works. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 16, 3, Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. John Maxwell said, The reality is that you will never get much done unless you go ahead and do it before you're ready. That's the truth.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. April is with us. April is in State College, Pennsylvania. Hi, April, what's up? Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? So my question is, I completed Baby Step 7 back in 2018. I just turned 34 years old. And today I have a net worth of about $1.7 million. Way to go! Thank you.

But my question is, the one baby step I've always skipped is about saving for kids' college because I don't have any children at this point. Well, you should skip it. Well, now I'm kind of at the point where I know i want kids within the next five years or so and should i open a 529 account in my name and then transfer it down the road like once i have children would there be any would that be useful or not probably wouldn't fool with it honestly you're in great shape you don't have to do that. But if you want to, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. Technically, it'll work because 529s are transferable to family members, and you would have tax-free growth on that money.

It's basically a Roth for education, right? And so in that sense, it's an interesting strategy. The downside is if for some reason you did not end up having children, you have this money trapped in an education fund, and you're going to have to transfer it to somebody else in the family, you know, to be able to use it without the penalties. You're not going to get the tax-free growth in that case, obviously. So I probably am trying to think.

It's not a bad strategy i just uh there's something about saving for a kid that's not here yet i probably wouldn't do it okay yeah i was just thinking because i know i either want kids either biological or for some reason i couldn't then yeah i mean i don't doubt that you're gonna to have children one way or the other. I don't have any doubt of that whatsoever. But I think that there's the little bit of gain. The money is trapped for one purpose, and the little bit of gain you would have for doing that this early is probably not worth trapping it. And so if it was Sharon and me, we probably wouldn't do it. You've got $1.7 million. Your kid's going to college. Don't trapping it. I, you know, and so if it was sharing to me, we probably wouldn't do it.

You got $1.7 million. Your kid's going to college. Don't worry about it. Yeah. You know. And you're responsible and killing it. That got you to this point in the first place. Yeah.

So you got plenty of time. It's, yeah, I probably wouldn't give up the freedom on the money for the little bit of gain that you're going to get from it. Jesse is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Jesse. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. I have a couple of properties, one's a rental property and then my personal property. And the rental property is essentially paid off or it will be shortly. It's about $10,000 left on it. And our personal property has $174,000 left on it. And so my question for you is there's kind of one of three routes that I'm thinking. One is sell the rental property and then just pay off our property and keep whatever extra cash after we sell it. The other is just to keep it since we don't, you know,

we don't really have a mortgage after the next couple months on it and keep that cash flow. It rents for about $1,500 a month and then just essentially debt snowball our personal property. And then the other option I was think of is a potential refi just to pay off my personal and then keep the rental in the LLC and just treat it as a separate business. So that's where my question is for you. What route would you recommend?

What's your household income? About $100,000. Okay. So if you just leave things like they are, you don't have any other debt other than this, right? Correct. And if you're putting 15% of your income aside for retirement, how quickly do you pay off $174,000 making $100,000? I think we could pay it off in the next few years.

Four to five years. Okay. That's what I would do and i just keep the rental if it was going to be 15 years for you to be able to get out of this because everything was so tight you know i'd probably dump the rental and get your house paid off but i think you can pay it off in four to five years and that's if you don't get any raises right okay yeah you're pulling all of your you know your spare cash from the rental income and from your household income beyond 15% of your income going into retirement, all the spare cash you can find,

without choking your family down to nothing, and we're just going to start paying off that house, and you're going to have it paid for in five years. Okay. That's $30,000 a year, $40,000 a year. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely doable. The market right now is very, I guess, hot, so to speak. That's why I was curious. Is it like a good time to sell and just keep what you can or just hold on to it?

Well, the only reason I would sell is if I thought it was going to go down. Okay. It's not going to go down. It's just really, really shot up quickly and so all the real estate that i had on my balance sheet a year ago is now worth a lot more i kind of like that i'm not selling nothing okay i'm gonna i'm gonna just smile about all these increases in value that i've got so true and by the way the rents are going up too. Yeah. So your income's going up there as well.

Jesse, what you're hearing from Dave is the long view versus right now. And this is a temptation for people, Dave. It's like, oh, I can cash out now. But you look at the long term, run those numbers out as the value increases, the rent over all those years versus your one-time sum. Yeah. I mean, the value's going to continue to increase. It's probably not going to increase at the same rate it has in the last couple of years.

It's been unbelievable. Correct. In the last couple of years. But, you know, it's a good play to hold them. Yeah. If you can, and I think you're in a position you can. Sam is with us. Sam's in Bismarck, North Dakota. Hi, Sam.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, yeah, I had a question. I'm debating on going back to school to become a crop duster, and I'm up here in North Dakota working, saving money to be able to do that,

and I was just wondering if it's the right step to take to do that and i was just uh wondering if it's the right uh step to take to do that what's a crop duster make what kind of money do you make well the first couple years not very much i think which it's a it's a seasonal thing during the summer so you think $20,000 to $30,000 your first couple seasons and then after you get acclimated to it better, then you make up to $100,000 in six months. What's it going to cost for you

to get trained? Well, I checked out of school down in Georgia and it was $50,000 and it takes three to four months. I would keep researching. I would keep searching and researching and looking for anybody and everybody who's reputable and see if we can get that cost shaved off and see if we can get a better deal.

And then the question is, how bad do you want to do this? If there wasn't any money to pay for it, would you be jumping on this right away? How excited are you to be a crop duster well um i thought about it for a few years and uh i went down there and checked the school out and rode in one and man after we took off got up in the air and dove down in the field i you know thought i was on cloud nine. I was all about it. There you go. So keep on saving, brother. I think.

Keep on saving. Okay. Don't you quit. All right. Hey, look, you're going to have to save for it, and I love that you said save because it's going to take a little longer, but here's the deal. That feeling is going to happen to you over and over and over again, and you just keep your mindset on how that felt that time you got up there,

how much money you're eventually going to make, and that will allow you to keep the persistence. So you have to get a pilot's license, right? Yeah, he's got to get trained for that. You have to not only get a pilot's license, but you also have to learn how to actually do this type of maneuver, correct? Well, you've got to get your private pilot and then your commercial pilot. Then after that, there's an ag program, which is the school. They do all of that, but there's specifically an ag program that shows you, you know, your turns and how to dive in a field and all that.

That's amazing. I've never heard of that. That's so cool. Yeah. You have to learn how to do everything somewhere. That's interesting. Wow. The answer is yes. Go do it. You're close. Yeah, but pay cash for how to do everything somewhere. So it's interesting. Wow. The answer is yes.

Go do it. You're close. Yeah, but pay cash for it and shop around. Make sure there's more. There's got to be more than one place teaching it. Make sure you're not overpaying. You got sucked into somebody else's dream. That's the truth.

Ken Coleman, good hour. Good job. James Childs and Kelly in the booth. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. 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. Dave here. We just launched a brand-new listener survey.

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