The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Get a MBA if It Means a Salary Raise? (Hour 1)
Episode Date: April 5, 2021Debt, Home Buying, Career, Education, Relationships Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/31ricKt Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance... Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/2QEyonc Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/2JgzaQR
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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios,
it's The Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king,
and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.
I'm Dave Ramsey, Anthony O'Neill, number one best-selling author,
and Ramsey personality is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show
as we take your questions about your life and your money.
We've done that now for about 25 years.
It's a free call, and some say the advice is worth what you pay for it.
The phone number is 888-825-5225.
This is God's and Grandma's ways of handling money.
In a bygone era in this nation, we used to call that common sense.
But now, common sense is like having a superpower.
And we got plenty of it around here, and we dish it out.
Because this culture is sadly lacking in common sense, in moral structure,
in just general ability to talk to each other and be human beings.
But the good news is we are here, we are still here, and we are not going anywhere.
Last week we announced that we are now the fifth show in podcast history.
We've been hovering around number four, number five podcast in the world for quite a while.
We're now the fifth show to have one billion downloads of the show.
Wow.
That's like a thousand million.
Man, listen, that's wow.
That boggles my mind, considering I couldn't even spell podcast a while back.
And now I are one.
So there you go.
One billion.
One of five shows to ever have that happen.
We've counted up over a half a billion dollars in debt-free screams on the air.
We sure did.
Have happened that we've been able to track, which that means that at least 50 billion
in debt, at least 10x that never called in.
I mean, think about it.
If one per scream, how many out there do we never meet, never hear about?
You've got to, it's a guesstimate, but you have no idea.
Right.
There's now about 12 million of you listening daily on the podcast and about just under
11 million of you listening on the radio and on YouTube, watching on YouTube.
And so upward of 22 million of you out there today.
That blows this hillbilly's mind.
I have no idea.
If I had thought about that that i'd just get nervous
not really but uh congrats dave man you're you know what it is if you just keep doing the right
thing a long long time yes sir you're gonna piss some people off yep and if you keep doing the
right thing a long long time you're gonna help a whole lot of people yeah and the whole lot of
people you help are gonna far offset the few people that you piss off so and pissing people off is a bit of a gift i have so and here's the thing dave if
everyone likes everything you're doing you're doing nothing at all if everyone likes everything
that you're doing then you're doing nothing at all that's a success principle right there yes
only one way to avoid criticism aristotle said it say nothing do nothing and be nothing that's it
look at you man bring it i love it well that's it. Look at you, man. Bring it. I love it.
Well, that's the kind of stuff you're going to get around here.
Grandma's common sense and grandma's hand up the backside of your head if you're goofing off.
That's what grandma would do at my house.
She'd cuff us.
You ever want to hit you in the back of the head?
I mean, my mom just did that the other day.
I'm just being honest.
What'd you do?
You didn't take your plate to the sink
hey listen man
I got 12 million people
listening right now
Kelly's staring at me
so I'm gonna keep that
between me and my mother
well you brought it up
I didn't bring it up
it's full disclosure here
now you know
the only way you can
pop somebody
in the back of the head
is if you got your arm
around their shoulder
hey you're right
and she definitely
had her arm around my shoulder
so only
only people that only people that love you position themselves in your life to correct you.
Yeah.
And if you're not positioned in my life to correct me, don't bother and try.
We bail our hate mail here.
I use it for kindling all winter.
Yeah.
We answer every letter that comes in to Ramsey Solutions, and we have since day one, except hate mail.
Yes.
Because the only answer to it is there's not an answer.
Yeah.
Because you didn't really want an answer.
You just wanted to bitch about something.
Yeah.
So, like me saying bitch about it.
That's how I get hate mail for that one, right?
So, there you go.
Because I'm way too Christian for the non-Christians, and I'm not Christian enough for the Christians.
So I'm happily right here in the middle, baby.
But that's why I like rocking with you, Dave, because we're just going to be real.
Yeah, well, that's for sure.
We ain't got any time to be anything else.
Life's too short.
I'm getting old.
I've got that old man syndrome now.
Well, you said that, not me.
I said it's a syndrome.
I didn't say I was an old man.
The younger people looking at you like out there in the lobby.
They're going, yeah, yeah.
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
You're getting old.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now, Anthony, he young.
Keep it up.
I'm going to hit you in the back of the head.
But, Dave, I got to ask you this question.
Over the last years, if God would have told you, hey, in 20 years, you're going to help millions of people.
You're going to have billions of downloads.
What would you have said to god then i'm curious you know we've had that discussion a
lot me and him and um i'm really grateful he didn't do it all at once because i wouldn't have
had the character to carry it oh he's incrementally built the muscles wow a little bit at a time every
year yeah it took forever to get 100 radio stations. Then it took forever to get to 200.
Then it took forever to get to 300.
Now we're at 644.
And it took forever.
And every one of them was a dogfight.
Every one of them was a scratch.
And we were on SiriusXM, then we weren't.
Then we were on Sirius and XM when they were two separate companies,
and then we weren't.
And we've been on this radio station and that radio station,
and then we weren't.
And then we're back on it.
We just have outlasted a whole lot of people, is what it amounted to,
that thought that – I had one guy on radio.
This is great.
He called me from Mississippi, and he said,
I'm going to have to take you off the air.
And this was back when we were small.
We probably had 40, 50 stations.
And so I was talking to him personally.
And so he's got to take you off the air.
And I'm like, man, what are you taking me off the air for?
He goes, I can't stand the liability.
I said, the liability?
I'm not saying anything that's going to make you liable.
I mean, I'm telling people how to get out of debt.
How do you think you're going to get sued for that?
And he goes, no, your show is so boring.
Somebody's going to fall asleep while they're driving and wreck.
He was dead serious, too.
Oh, man. Canceled me. he was dead serious too oh man canceled me and um you know we're still in the business now he's not but um that's how it works out best the best revenge is success right you just keep going you just
don't stop and you don't stop and and here's the thing if you ever stop being who you're supposed
to be yeah in order to keep the mob happy
yeah the mob you're over you're done yeah yeah so you you can't apologize enough for the mob yeah
you can't uh adjust your optics or your message enough for the mob so have some principles folks
and stick to them over an extended period of time and and you'll become wealthy. You will build a quality marriage.
You will raise children that will rise up and call you blessed, as the Bible says.
You will build a business where the team loves you and you love your team.
When you continually do the right thing on principle, not optics, not the way it looks,
over an extended period of time is the only way you will find your way to any level of
success.
So when you ask us a question in these next few segments about your money,
it's not going to be based on what feels good because children do what feels good.
Adults devise a plan and follow it.
So Anthony and I are always going to lead you, any of the Ramsey personalities and I,
are always going to lead you on a journey of principle.
Here's the principle.
Here's the law of gravity. Now, honey, if you jump off a building, it always going to lead you on a journey of principle. Here's the principle. Here's the law of gravity.
Now, honey, if you jump off a building, it's going to hurt.
It's the law of gravity.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
And you call me up and you go, well, Dave, I jumped off the building.
You told me not to.
Now how long am I going to do it?
I don't know, man.
You broke your leg.
Now what are we going to do?
We've got to figure out the next thing.
We'll pick you up wherever you are, but it's going to be on principle that we're giving you guidance.
And if you can't handle that, don't walk into the kitchen, baby.
Don't do it.
This is the Ramsey Show. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind.
43% of Americans are not protecting their loved ones with life insurance.
This drives me
crazy people what are you thinking taking care of your family has to be a top priority think about
it if you died today would you be the hero by making sure that your family had the money
necessary to carry on their life without struggle and hardship would they be able to pay the bills
and plan for the future that's what term life insurance is all about.
Regardless of where you are in the baby steps, you've got to make this a top priority. Have I gotten my point across yet? That's why I talk about Zander Insurance every day. They keep it
simple and make sure they find you the best rates out there. Zander will do their job to find you the best rates and make sure you're served like I expect.
But you have to take the first step.
Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Anthony O'Neill Ramsey personality is my co-host today.
Open phones at 888-825-5225.
I am Dave Ramsey.
David is in Salt Lake City. Hi, David. How are you? Hi, Dave. I've been Ramsey. David is in Salt Lake City.
Hi, David.
How are you?
Hi, Dave.
I've been doing well.
How are you guys doing?
Better than we deserve.
What's up in your world?
Yeah, I have a question for you.
I'm a full-time student in a Master's of Human Resources program at my local university.
I've been doing your Hustle program.
I'm going to graduate debt-free in December with a little bit of savings.
I have a job lined up.
Woo-hoo!
My current job told me that if I have an MBA, if I get an MBA, they'll offer me $6,000 more
a year, and the MBA is going to take me an extra semester and $20,000 more in student
debt, and I'll lose my savings.
I wonder what your guys' thoughts were on that.
I'm sorry.
You have to go into debt to do it.
Yeah.
You can't hustle your way through it?
That's an expensive semester, too.
Yeah, really? $20,000 for a semester?
It is. It is. That's ridiculous.
Now, are you sure that's a semester?
Is that a year? I've never
heard of a semester costing $20,000.
You have? Yeah. Vanderbilt's more than that a semester. Goodness gracious. But anyway of a semester it cost me 20 000 you have yeah vanderbilt's more
than that a semester goodness gracious but anyway you're not going to vanderbilt so what's the deal
i mean you're not going to freaking mit either what's the thing i mean why is it so stinking
expensive it's part of the differential tuition that you have at some business schools yeah that's
what i thought so they're charging you again for a lot of the classes you already took that they're going to count towards your mba that's what that is right correct yeah
right that's called bs um that's not mba that's different um uh i want you to get the mba i don't
want you to go into debt to do it right and i want you to not to overpay for it. So we've got two wrong answers in the equation out of three.
How about your new job pays for it?
I don't know.
I've talked about maybe doing some classes online.
I may be considering working in January, starting working,
and paying as I go to finish the MBA.
Some of the better MBA programs are actually not full-time student programs.
They're actually adult ed.
Yeah.
And they're for executives to add an MBA on while they're working,
so like night classes and so forth and some online classes.
And your current employer pays the tuition for fun as an employee benefit.
I think that would be the way I would go.
In other words, I'm not letting the school rip me off because that's that's a ripoff yeah so let's let's pursue the mba some other way
somewhere else at a more reasonable cost and maybe your employer picks it up as an employee benefit
and no debt yeah but but the but the mba is not necessary for you to win in life, okay? And very few places, this must be a very large company, very few places pay more for an MBA.
They pay more for the knowledge that you get while you got the MBA and as you apply that in the marketplace.
But very few places actually, I don't pay more.
I got 1,000 employees.
I don't pay a dime more for an MBA.
I pay for what you do.
Your raise is effective when you are.
Yeah.
And now, David, now, is this a career that you plan
on being in for the rest of your life as well?
I mean,
I do. It's a company that I
could grow with pretty substantially. Cool. Great.
Then I agree with Dave. We got to figure out how do we
get this MBA without going into
$20,000 in debt in a semester. I mean, it's
just foolishness for me. I guess I haven't
heard it because people don't come to me saying that because
I'm going to tell them, no, that's stupid.
But in your case, I agree with Dave.
We need to figure out how to do it.
So I would immediately go back to your job, ask them, hey, I'm willing to get it.
But are there any initiatives here?
Like, can I get a tuition reimbursement?
Do you all have any programs?
Well, there's got to be other schools in Salt Lake that are doing some adult ed stuff.
Absolutely.
I mean, Vanderbilt has a great adult program for an MBA here in town.
A bunch of people have been through it that are friends and so forth.
I don't know that we've got one graduate working here.
We might.
I don't have any idea of that program.
But lots and lots of schools have adult follow-through MBAs because it is a good –
the reason is not necessarily the actual degree
and the value of it in the marketplace.
The reason is the knowledge base that you gain while you study for it is valuable.
Got you.
For instance, the MBAs on our team – I don't have an MBA.
Right.
I've got a PhD in DUMB.
But the MBAs on our team have taught me and other leaders in this place over the last decade about strategic thought.
I'm a scratch claw, get down the ditch, find something, kill it, drag it home, tactical entrepreneur.
I get stuff done, man.
But sometimes you're just running in circles because you don't have a plan while you're getting stuff done.
And it's just sheer activity is your survival rate.
If you'll do strategic thought with your activity and your work ethic, you do a lot better.
And MBAs have taught us a lot about strategic thought.
So we actually spend a fair amount of time on strategic planning here.
I agree.
But it's all learned from that skill set.
And so that's an example of something that is very valuable.
It actually turns into real dollars in the marketplace.
But I didn't do it because he had an MBA.
I did it because he or she convinced me that this is a good critical thinking skill set that we're missing out on things at the company if we don't do it.
But you don't get raises in most places.
Now, again, big corporate America, yeah, where you went to school might matter.
It's one of the few places uh 99 of the places you deal with don't care where you went
to school and they don't care if you've got graduate work but they do care if you're smart
so education is vital but we pay cash for it as anthony says in the book debt-free degree so
that's david that's what we would do that's how we'd work at it's a really really good question
and a good rant to get us on. Steve's in
Rutland, Vermont. Hi, Steve. How are you?
Oh, not bad. I'm a big
fan of yours. I've been listening to you for years
and I'm glad you took my call.
How am I going to get on your phone? I'm honored.
How can we help?
I am a retired engineer.
One
kid graduated college
and one's still in college.
Both of them had college funds that I fully funded to pay for their degree.
So I'm pretty much debt free.
But here's my great question.
The question I have is I'm selling some property in a ski resort town.
And now I'm going to be going and finding my retirement home in Florida because you have to pay a state income tax.
And everybody knows the common sense.
Should I take out a loan or not?
I asked TD Bank and they said if I had $99,000 of income shown, they'll give me 2.36%.
And my financial institution was talking about 2.65%.
I thought, huh.
Question, is it worth just writing a check, buying a house that I want to retire in, same 68, maybe I'll last 13 years,
to take a 15-year mortgage or a 30-year mortgage, or just pay the check and no mortgage?
Okay, I'm a little confused.
I'm a little confused.
How long did you say you've been listening to us?
For almost a little over a year now.
Oh, a year.
Okay, all right.
Cool.
Well, we appreciate you being here.
And I love your discussions on the phone.
During the time, have you ever heard us say, tell somebody to borrow money?
You seem to be against it.
Yeah, that would be true.
And the reason is stability and peace versus the risk that borrowing adds to your equation.
And so I own a vacation property as well.
I'll just put it under that category.
And it sure is a different thing to own one of them when there's no debt on it,
when they call you up and go, oh, there was a little storm down here.
It was a hurricane.
And, yeah.
And it's a ski resort.
Yeah.
I paid off.
Yeah, I know.
And so you're going to sell those,
and you're going to have the cash to pay cash for your retirement house.
I do have the cash.
Around here, that would be known as a no-brainer.
Yeah, go pay cash, man.
Thanks for listening to us, though, for a year, but absolutely.
The only time we're going to say to borrow money is when you get your first mortgage.
And then once you pay off that mortgage,
we're going to really tell you don't go back into debt, you get your first mortgage. And then once you pay off that mortgage, we're going to really tell you, don't go back into
debt.
You know, bottom line.
And the reason is, is that it gives you stability, particularly in your retirement years and
your wealth building in your life, to not have any money borrowed.
Yes.
Y'all remember when this thing happened called a pandemic?
12 months ago.
And y'all were all scared of losing your jobs and losing everything and economic collapse.
Y'all remember that?
That was 20 minutes ago, people.
But let me tell you, build your house out of bricks, not straw or sticks.
And that's called debt-free.
So that's how we're going to advise you, Steve.
Thank you for being in our audience, sir.
This is the Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Debt Free Stage.
Johnny and Daniella are with us. Is it Daniella or Daniella?
Daniella.
Daniella. I'm sorry, I knew I was going to mess that up.
So welcome, guys. How are y'all doing?
Good.
Excited. And where do you fine. So welcome, guys. How are y'all doing? Good. Excited.
And where do you guys live?
Houston, Texas.
All right.
And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream.
Yes, sir.
How much did you pay off?
$192,000.
Whoa.
How long did that take?
34 months.
Good for you, man.
You've been getting it.
Yes.
And your range of income during that time?
110 to 160.
Good.
What do you guys do for a living?
I'm a police officer. And I'm an assistant in000 to $160,000. Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a
police officer, and I'm an assistant in a cancer research laboratory. Okay, and you've both been
working lots of OT. He has. I have, yes. Anything that came up, right? Anything and everything. I
was working about 70 to 80 hours a week for the past 34 months. Wow. Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Amazing.
What kind of debt was the $192,000?
It was everything, Dave.
We had two cars, medical bills.
Personal loans.
Personal loan.
Hospital bill.
But the biggest was student loans.
We had $120,000 in student loans.
Together.
So you were like normal.
Yes.
Very.
A little too normal, actually.
A little too normal. Yeah. A lot going on with your normal but yeah oh my gosh man yeah you i mean when you added all that up did you
about have a freaking heart attack uh it's very it was very scary we we sat down and we didn't
know how much it was and we found out we we thought it was impossible wow that's too big a
mountain yeah it's overwhelming and you yet you did it in 34 months
under three years oh by the way one of those years was a pandemic yes yeah just throw that in for the
spice and the gumbo well that created a lot of ot for him too so i guess yeah i guess i didn't think
about that that's true wow well way to go so tell us the story how did you start all this
our oldest daughter we have two daughters Our oldest one was just turning one.
And I love being a police officer. I love being a husband.
But the best thing in my entire life is being a father.
And I wanted more children.
And when our daughter turned one, we had her in daycare.
And we were like, hey, let's start time for the second one.
And we were looking at our finances.
And with two daycares and just with the bills we had, we had no money left.
And we just...
Yeah, we make $100,000 a year, and we are broke.
Right.
And we just bought a house.
Yes, we just bought a house, and we were completely house broke.
And we did not know where any of our money went.
Wow.
So what'd you do?
So basically, I heard your name twice in one week, and I was like,
okay, let me give this Dave Ramsey thing a try.
One police officer I know has four kids.
I was like, wow, how are you doing this?
He goes, well, we're doing the baby steps and Dave Ramsey, and I had never heard of you before.
And then one of my best friends was paying off his car like four years early,
and he said something about baby steps and Dave Ramsey.
I was like, okay, I'm getting the hint.
Let me see what this Dave Ramsey guy is about.
God is whispering in your ear.
Yeah.
So I was going on a guy's cruise with some other officers,
and I took the Total Money Makeover with me
and figured maybe I'll read it if I can't sleep at night.
And so the first half of that cruise was very fun.
I was spending money like normal, completely.
And then I couldn't sleep because of the rocking,
and I burned through your book in probably about a night and a half and the second half that cruise
is like what am i doing so so uh i definitely controlled my spending and when we got back
i uh told my wife we got to do this now were you on board when he told you that oh yes i was
completely i'm the nerd not on board the boat no no yeah no i was on board with the, I'm the nerd. Not on board the boat. Not on board the boat. No, I was on board with the plan.
I'm the nerd and I was doing the Excel sheet and he was the free spirit.
So he was just spending money like crazy.
And then when he came back from the cruise, he was like, he was just showing me all these
pictures.
We can do this.
I'm like, I've been waiting for you to do this for so long.
And then right after the cruise, Harvey happened.
And so he worked all this overtime.
I didn't see him for a whole week wow and that first overtime check uh we completed baby step two and knocked
out three credit cards one sorry one sorry I got you I knew where you were I was about to say that
that was a big check wow that's so fun y'all now throughout, throughout this journey, I'm curious, what was the hardest thing with you all?
You two look very young, have two beautiful young children.
You were making good money, but I'm pretty sure something was difficult.
What was the hardest thing throughout this journey?
The hardest part was just being away.
I had a one-year-old daughter, and working 60 to 70 hours a week, or 70 to 80 hours a week, I was gone a lot of the time.
I worked nights, so my overtime was during the day, and I'd be sleeping in the afternoon and we'd basically
be two ships passing in the night.
I'd be finishing overtime, going to sleep and then it was time to go to work.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
The hardest thing for me was not seeing him raising, raising our first daughter and, and
just him missing all the milestones, but we knew this was worth it.
We completely knew.
But he's there forever now. yes it's amazing now now with our second daughter now he's going through all the
baby like mild state mild steps with us and he's like wow i missed a lot i'm like yeah but now
we're here and now we're free wow you'll be all right you got it man you got it and you got you
when they know you're there you're gonna be there right oh. Right. Oh, yeah. That was the best part.
That was the noting factor.
They're so young.
They don't even know.
Let me get all this knocked out real quick.
Yeah.
Then you don't have to miss a ball game or do anything.
Exactly.
Because you're working overtime to pay debt.
Right.
That's just good for you, man.
Well done, you guys.
Okay.
You're rock stars.
You did it.
You paid off $192,000 in 34 months.
All right.
You're not someone with an opinion.
You're someone who's actually done something.
So your input is valid.
What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?
For me, it's two things.
One is keep track of your progress.
We have a debt-free board, a progress board that we did every month without fail.
I look forward to, at the end of the month, putting – it's only stickers, but every sticker represented $100, and we'd put so many stickers a month.
I look forward to that every month because as hard as I was working, I knew I was building more and more towards the end.
And the second thing is stay connected.
The Facebook group is so amazing because there's someone winning on there every single day.
The Baby Steps Facebook group.
There's someone completing Baby Step 1.
You're like, wow, look how far we've come.
You remember when we did one?
Or there's someone paying off their house.
I'm like, wow, we cannot wait to get there.
So we went through FPU twice, once at the beginning of Baby Step 2 and once when we were almost done.
And it's two different ways of looking at it.
I mean, one is a theory.
You're like, yeah, maybe this thing will work.
At the end of it, you're like,
now we're looking for Baby Step 7 and everything else.
Very powerful.
Well done, you guys.
One more question before we let you do your debt-free scream.
And before I ask the question,
Johnny, thank you so much for serving, man.
I know police officers sometimes don't hear that enough.
And I want to say thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for doing what you're doing and risking your life to go out there and protect us.
To that young person that is graduating college and about to walk into the world and they're getting bombarded with all these opportunities to get the credit cards, to get the debt.
Why would you tell them to avoid it?
I would tell them to avoid it because, I mean,
you go off to your job, you're like, I'm making all this money, but then with all these credit
cards and all these extra minimum payments, it just goes away. And if you just graduated,
completely work like you were a college student. Just work and work and work, go wherever you got
your degree in, work, and then once you paid off those student loans, you don't have anything else.
I just imagine we paid off $192,000.
What if we didn't have that and we put that on our house instead?
So all of that was opportunity costs.
I mean, it could have been going towards other things.
So our goal, I'm 34.
Our goal is to pay off our house by the time I'm 40.
Come on, man.
And we know that's completely possible.
It's six years. So we have six years to do what we did in by the time I'm 40. Come on, man. And we know that's completely possible. It's six years.
So we have six years to do what we did in three years.
I love it.
Okay, so Lily and Rose are going to join us for the debt-free scream, or at least one.
I think one of them is crying.
One of them is crying.
One of them is screaming.
It's okay.
Scream, girl.
Let's hear it.
Hear those lungs.
I love it.
Well done, you guys.
We're so proud of you.
We got a copy of Rachel Cruz's book for you.
Know yourself.
Know your money as your gift.
Way to go, you guys.
Excellent, excellent work.
All right.
Johnny and Daniela, Lily and Rose from Houston, Texas, $192,000 paid off in 34 months, making $110,000 to $160,000.
Count it down.
Let's hear a debt-free scream.
Three, two, one.
We're debt-free!
Oh, man.
Woo-hoo!
I love it!
Wow!
What a great mom.
What a great dad.
Yes.
I love it. Family tree has officially changed.
This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author,
is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money.
This is The Ramsey Show.
The phone number is 888-825-5225.
Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.
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Use the promo code, the magic word, word ramsey to get the best possible deal hey dave today's question comes
from sean in wyoming uh sean says i recently graduated nursing school with 19 000 in student
loan debt my girlfriend and i want to get married next year the hospital where I will be working at pays $250 a month towards student loans.
I want to pay more than that and have my debt paid off by next year. Do you think it is possible
or should I postpone my wedding? You know, Dave, I think here it's two things. One, I think, yes,
you should take advantage of the $250 a month and also add more to that.
But I am not me personally going to tell you to wait to marry the love of your life because you are in debt.
Agreed.
You know, I would definitely say do what you can as far as whatever you can afford. But then at the same time, I want you to go ahead and pay cash for the wedding.
And so if that means you got to pause a little bit just to set aside five grand for the wedding
and then jump back in on it, I'm totally with that.
But don't postpone the love of your life because of your debt.
But I do want you to attack it as much as you possibly can.
Okay.
What we don't know from his question is who's paying for the wedding, whether he is or not.
He just said, we want to get married next year.
Right.
My hospital where I'll be working will pay $250 a month, which is $3,000 in one year.
Yep.
I want to pay more than have everything paid off.
So here's the thing, Sean, you're just out of school.
You've been living like a college student.
I want you to keep living like a college student. And the great news about the nursing field is that you can work all you want to work.
And so while you're planning the wedding, you already got her on the hook because you're engaged.
So you can just work like all the time, like that policeman just did an hour you know 80 hours a week and he paid
off 192 000 in three years now she was working too in that case right but uh i bet you can knock
out the 19 especially if they're going to give you three so you only got to knock out 16 in one
year and still get married yes but all i'm saying is keep your lifestyle to nothing, scorched earth syndrome, beans and rice, rice and beans, and work like a freaking maniac.
Yes.
That's where money comes from.
And the great news about nursing is you can always work.
Take those weekend shifts at the ER.
They pay big.
Do some uncomfortable stuff and be done with this, 100% done with it.
You're completely out of that and clean when you get married.
That would be a whole different way to get married.
Now, we're not saying postpone the wedding.
We're just saying work your butt off.
And I would have told you that if you were married, too, by the way.
And I would have told you that if you were single and dating, by the way.
So the whole answer is you make more money by working more and keep your lifestyle to nothing.
By the way, the good news about working all the time is you ain't got time to spend money.
You know, even today, do you know when I spend the most money?
When I'm bored.
Oh, yeah.
That's when people start clicking on that little prime button.
That's true.
On Amazon.
I think I need one of those.
I'm not even sure what it is, but I need one of those.
I'm going to look up crap and make up something that I don't even know I need and get me one, right?
This is what happens when you're bored.
But when you're working all the time and you're, you know, when you come home, all you got time to do is fall asleep because you've been working because you're tired.
Yeah.
I wouldn't want to be a workaholic.
Listen, that's not a danger for most people in our culture.
Right.
Most people don't work enough.
And they don't work while they're at work.
There's an idea.
You know, and all that.
I mean, so, you know, just, just, and let me tell you, you're not going to die from overwork.
Just before you die, you'll pass out.
It's okay.
So, I mean, you're going to be all right.
You're not going to die from overwork.
And I'm not suggesting you do this the rest of your life.
I'm suggesting you do it for a very short time.
It's a sprint so that you never have to do it again.
You're retraining your whole life
so good dave that's good i mean like you know we do the same thing around here even and it's not
about making money but it's about getting momentum to something like like when you launch a book yes
there's like a big pile of work right then it's called a book tour yeah all the media hits 16
freaking hour days i mean you're and they all say they all look alike. It's like a Groundhog Day
because you answer the same question
over and over and over
about the same book, right?
But you have to be mentally on,
emotionally on,
spiritually on,
physically on
because you get fatigued
because you're working your butt off.
But we don't do that.
We don't work each other like that.
Oh, I don't work like that all the time.
No.
But I can when I need to
to get to a goal.
And the reward is...
The sprint.
Yes, and the reward
is so refreshing afterwards.
The momentum that you get off of it.
Yes.
You can spin something up in your life that spirals out there another decade from a 90-day
or 120-day sprint.
Yeah.
And that's what we do when we launch a book.
It's what you do when you get rid of debt.
It's the same kind of stuff.
Natalie's with us in Dayton, Ohio.
Hi, Natalie.
Welcome to the Ramsey Show.
How can we help?
Hi, how are you guys?
Great.
How can we help?
So I was wondering, should I move out of my parents' house and rent even though I'm still in debt?
A little bit of background on that is I'm about $25,000 in debt,
but I did graduate with my associates last year.
I currently make $23,000 a year,
and I'm about to get a second job that makes an additional $16,000.
I'm wanting to rent because my job is an hour away,
and it's kind of getting to me for that drive.
What is the job?
So I am an animal care tech for a reptile breeding company.
A reptile.
A wee bit specialized, are you?
Yeah. So what's your vo-tech in, your associates in?
It's just a general science degree.
A general what degree?
Science.
Science. Science.
Just associates of science.
So you want to work in the animal field, though?
Yes.
And this is going to take you somewhere beyond $23,000, I assume, because that sucks.
It should, yeah.
This is just temporary, but I'm willing to try a lot of other things.
I'm getting into a lot of different careers, but right now this is my stable job.
Different careers or different jobs?
Careers.
Like I'm learning how to weld currently.
Oh, so you're not hooked on the animal thing then?
Yeah.
No, it's just a job that works.
Because a welder can make 50.
Yeah.
A welder can make 75, 80 too, depending on where you are and who what you're welding yeah
yeah yeah that's big time that's good i like that okay so this is not um so really moving
for this job that you're probably not going to be in may not be the thing right correct um the
the area that it's in though i would like to stay in so it's just
I just don't know whether
you like the area anyway
where the lizard thing is you like the area anyway
yeah
how old are you Natalie?
I'm 21
you know
I think before I move
I'm advising you I need to figure out
what's in my next 3 to 5 years I'm not telling you to stay home and I'm advising you. I need to figure out what what's in my next three to five years.
OK, I'm not telling you to stay home and I'm not telling you to move.
What I'm saying is before you do anything major, identify, OK, where will I be in the next three to five years?
Where am I going? Am I going to be a welder by by then?
And then what is that path that I need to take to become a welder?
Or am I still going to be in the animal field. And then what do I need to do.
To get more than $23,000 a year.
So you know.
Me personally.
I would love to see you answer that question.
And then when you answer that question.
Then I can give you a better answer on.
Okay should you move out.
Because if you're saying hey.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to be a welder.
I can have all my degrees out.
The education out within a year. And then I can move here. I can go do this. Then bill welder i can have all my associate uh all my degrees out the education
out within a year and then i can move here i can go do this then i'm staying home and i'm going to
go that path yeah rather than racking up more bills and i still don't even know what i'm doing
it's not the income it's not the location and it's not your age it's the lack of stability in
your plan yes when you get your plan stable, then make your move.
Yeah, that's good.
And I'm going to give you 12 months.
You need a stable plan and a roommate and some money piled up. You won't be out of debt by then, probably.
But that won't matter.
You can still finish.
Because you're not afraid of work.
No.
I like that.
You know, you're a girl.
I mean, from lizards to welding.
I mean, there you go.
That's a huge change.
Not afraid to work.
Should do anything.
That's good.
That's good.
So, yeah.
And pick up a second job for 16K.
Yeah.
There you go.
So you're going to be all right.
You know, that's not the thing.
I do want you to use the home base to have a stable launch pad for them.
I like Anthony's suggestion a lot.
That puts this hour of the Ramsey show
in the books.
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