The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Switch to a Better Paying Job? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

This is the Ramsey Show, where we help you win in life. We want to help you win with your money. We want to help you win in your work. And we want you to win in your money. We want to help you win in your work, and we want you to win in your relationships. The phone number for your questions is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, and I'm joined by the illustrious, the incomparable, the fabulous Jade Warshaw, ladies and gentlemen. How about that? How about that? I gave you three adjectives today.

Listen, my eyebrows couldn't keep up. I was trying to keep up with you. I like that. So we are here for you. Jade, we'll take the lead on those money questions. And then anything related to your work, specifically, how do I make more income so we can get through these baby steps faster? I want to help you ideate on those questions. So give us a dial, 888-825-5225. We started off in the ATL where April joins us. April, how can we help today? Hi. So my question is, do I sell my home to get out of debt and a bad marriage? Maybe.

Wow. Tell us more. Yeah. So I got married less than a year ago. I didn't know I was going to be emotional. I got married less than a year ago, I didn't know I was going to be emotional. I got married less than a year ago, and I came to the marriage with debt. Okay.

I have about $91,000 of debt. That is not including the home. My home is worth about $180,000 positive, so I have $180,000 in equity. Okay. So I have 180 in equity. My marriage has gotten progressively more toxic to the point of verbal threats of harm. It's already been emotionally and verbally abusive, but now there are threats of harm. So my question is, would it be a good idea to sell my home, to start over from scratch scratch financially and to get out of this marriage well let's start with the most important thing first which is getting into a safe place and out of this marriage that's that's thing number one do you have a plan in place that you're able to put into action immediately?

There's somewhere I could go. I could always go to my mom's house. Yeah, you should. We live together. I could always go to my mom's house. I don't have a plan. I'm just confused at this point. I do think you need to go to your mom's house because any man that would make a threat

to physically harm you, you can't stay there tonight. Right. Right. Yeah. And I'm so, so, so, so sorry. This was not what you pictured when you said, I do. No one pictures that, right? No.

Okay. Deep breath for both of us. All right. You're going to mom's house tonight and we're going to come up with a plan that you can move out, be on your own and feel like you have some confidence. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about what you're earning. What, what do you bring it in every month? Um, as little as 6,000,

I'm in commissions. I get paid commission. So as little as $6,000, as much as $10,000. Okay, $6,000 to $10,000. What do you do? Car sales. Okay, good job. All right, so can you kind of go through this $91,000 of debt with me, just so I can get a handle on what it is? Can you kind of itemize it for me? Yeah, so around $50,000 in student loans, about $10,000 in a personal loan, $50,000 student loans, $10,000 personal loans, $6,000 on a car, and $25,000 on credit cards. Okay.

$25,000 or $2,500? $1,000. Okay. I haven't made great choices. Is this in your name or his name? Both of your names? This is the debt I brought. Okay.

And do you guys currently share your finances? Like, are you sharing bank accounts? Are you sharing that sort of thing? Not anymore. We tried the Financial Peace University. As soon as it came time to put it in act, he immediately put our joint account in the negative. So I don't contribute to that account anymore. Okay. So for all intents and purposes, you're separate. Yes. Okay. Okay. So tell me about the living

situation. Are you guys renters? Do you own a house together? Tell me about that. He owns his own home, which he's renting out. And i own my own home that we live in which is the one you told us you had the equity in correct okay so it's your home um yeah so you can you can it's as when i say it's as easy it's not easy but you can ask him to move out right okay okay so head back around this. Okay. So what about savings? Do you have any savings? No. I'm in a financial distress, which I haven't experienced since I was very young.

Okay. And to be married and experiencing it now is crazy. Are you behind on anything? No. Okay. I didn't have to think about that for a second. No, everything's current. Okay. That's a good

place so the good news is the good news is in this way you're not really beholden to anybody you're not dependent in in the way that this is his house or you're you know you have a level of independence here that's in this case good um and at this point really it's just if you're talking about the financial side it's you walking the baby steps like anybody else uh the good news is i think you have a good income you know obviously it's better when you make ten thousand in a month uh but there might be the situation where you can add to that in side hustles do you have any children or do you guys have any kids together no kids together i have a child in college and i'm paying for him to breathe. Okay. Okay. But no, no little kids, nobody at home that needs your time. So for you, the name of the game, I mean, it's twofold, just like we would tell

anybody else. We're looking for ways to get the income up, whether that's you side hustling, maybe you can take on more time at the dealership, whatever that looks like that makes sense for you. And then it's bringing the expenses down. So that's what we're looking at. And at the end of the day, we're taking these debts smallest to largest, right, Ken? I mean, $6,000 car first. Yeah, absolutely. So you get some momentum. But I think in conjunction with what's going on here, I think because you own the home that you guys are currently living in, I think we got to play serious with this guy. I think you have to say, you're never going to threaten me again

or I'm calling the authorities. I'm going to my mom's house until you move out. And this can all be pressed pause on if you agree to go to counseling. But at this point, when a man threatens you, I think he's gone way too far and I would call him out on it and say, never again. But at this point, when a man threatens you, I think he's gone way too far. And I would call him out on it and say, never again.

You made your last threat. Now, if you want to go get some therapy and you want to, we can sit down with a professional where you feel safe. But I agree with what Jade said. But I would let him know that I'm moving to protect myself. And I'm giving you X amount of days to get all your stuff out. And the next time I see you, we'll be in divorce proceedings unless you're willing to sit down and try to rescue this marriage because I always love the idea of let's try that. We'll see if this guy's the real deal when you come to that. But I think at this point, you have to play hardball with him and say, this is my home. I'm in debt. As you said, I'm in financial distress. So in this case, Jade,

answering the initial question, I don't think you have to sell this house. But I think that if this house represents a lot of pain and this thing does go the route of divorce, it might not be a bad idea to sell it, start fresh anyway, so you have some good mojo in the next house as you get healthy. But neither one of us are saying you have to sell this house. You make pretty good money. And I think Jade's right. I think if you just get serious and take care of yourself, and this is part of it, I think you can walk this out and you make really good money. I think you have some extra motivation right now to sell as many cars as possible. And hey, don't keep this a secret. A lot of people would keep this a secret. Make sure you have some extra motivation right now to sell as many cars as possible. Yeah. And hey, don't keep this a secret. A lot of people would keep this a secret.

Make sure you get some good girlfriends around you. This is the time if you got brothers, call up your brothers, call up your dad, call up your grandfather, call up your pastor. These are times where you let people know what's going on and that you need help and that you need people around you and let them help you and be there with you when you confront this person for the first time. Yeah. Thank you so much for the call. We're rooting for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225. I want to help you win with your money, win with your work and income, and win in your relationships. Jade Warshaw joins me.

I'm Ken Coleman. We're thrilled to have you. And, Jade, my note said it's time. You've got the details there, so I'm going to bring you in here on this because you are a person who has done how many cruises? Like, how many cruises have you been on i probably couldn't give you a number but i can tell you i oh gosh how many cruises per year for how many years well i did about oh gosh i probably did about 30 like about 40 weeks a year for a long time okay so how many years would you say?

A decade. So minimum 400 cruises. Well, no, because you can go on for like, I would go on for like three days and leave and then go on another one in five days and leave. So I'm going to double it. 800 cruises. I've been to 92 countries, Ken.

Yeah, and you're a professional singer. Yeah. And so when you hear about the Live Like No One Else cruise, are you like, are you serious? I can't get away. I've been on the land for a long time. Now you're back and it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be fun. Listen, this one's going to be different. But you're speaking this time. Yes. You're not singing. I'm not. Unless you decide to spontaneously lead the crowd in some type of thing. Play us a song piano man i'm just kidding i would never there is but you're going to be speaking along with dave ramsey myself john deloney yeah rachel

cruz george camel seven days at sea yeah march 22nd through 29th this is coming up next year duh uh and we'll be stopping in kent turks and caicos I'm excited about St. Thomas Puerto Rico love that country the Bahamas territory yes the territory there um and here's the thing we are starting to see cabins running low so if you want to do any type of VIP upgrade those are basically sold out so if you're even trying to pick up a cabin you need to log on now to do that if you want one with an ocean view you need to get your deposit in now the deposit deposit is 600 bucks. So for anybody thinking, man, I got to pay for the whole thing up front, it's not really like that. You pay 600 bucks and then at the next appointed time, you pay the other money. So that's the way it works. You can book your cabin today at ramseysolutions.com

slash cruise and we'll be there. Yeah, it's going to be fun. So make your decision now. And again, these are for people that are in baby steps four 4, 5, 6, and 7, obviously. That is right. So if you're not there, sorry, but now you have a little extra motivation beyond all your other dreams and goals as well. That's right. Going to be a lot of fun, going to sell out, and I got to see if I can get the captain's hat from Gilgamesh.

I have a couple. But I want to get it on Dave. At some point, I want to get him to get it on dave at some point i want to get him to put it on without like frowning at me or shouting an insult he might frown at you i can definitely see that but i think i think i think people want to see that they do so i'm going to get my hands on one of those and get him to through crowd pressure put that on i expect to see you in a captain's hat well that's easy you easy. You're going to be in linen. Trust me. You're going to be in your uncle cage sandals. I'm going to look like I stepped out of the J. Crew Ralph spring edition of the catalog. There's no question about it. I've already got

two different types of deck shoes I'll be wearing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I mean, when in Rome, you know, well, my copy here says that we've got big news, and it said that the big news was the Live Like No One Else cruise, but I know about some other big news, Ken. It's your birthday. Oh, you did it to me. I didn't know where you were going at first. It's your birthday, guys. It is.

Kenneth Wayne Coleman, it is his birthday. He is turning 40 for the second time in 10 years, also known as 50. You know what? Men are not ashamed of this, folks. I'm 50 today. The big 5-0. Ken, keep doing what you're doing. I'm trying.

You're making a little dough, Ken. It's the moisturizer. All right, you do that. But thank you. Yes, thank you, Jade. You'll have to sing to me later today. I've got to get that Whitney Houston style. Can you do that after the show?

Save a little bit? I'll save it for you. Save a little bit for the gathering. Okay. All right. So fun, yes. Can't believe I'm 50, James. It got here a lot faster than I thought. I never thought you were a day over 35, Ken. Thank you. Well, the Botox helps. All right. Columbus, Ohio is where we go. Amy is waiting for us. Amy, how can we help? Hi. I'm wondering if I should take a job offer from a approach from a company. This would be about $30,000 more. However, the schedule wouldn't be as great. Or if I should stay with my current company who I just started with in May for a better schedule. Okay. So if I'm hearing

this right, this is as simple as better pay versus better schedule. Is that about right? You are correct. And which way are you leaning before you called us? It was so hard. Of course, I love the personal time. This $30,000 raise would also bring more opportunities for growth later. It is a leadership position. So, of course, there's the responsibilities of that.

Yeah. And how do you feel about that part of it? I enjoy helping people and I enjoy guiding people. Of course, it's completely different when you're the person that's always the one that someone's looking towards. So it's definitely intimidating. And I think that's the biggest part. I'm intimidated, and I don't know if it's the right move. So that's probably more of a factor than the schedule issue, correct? Quite possibly. Yeah, it's scary. Have you ever led before, been in any type of supervisor role before?

I have for a short period, yes. And how did you do? How would you grade yourself? Especially since I was very new at it, I did well. Probably about a B because of course there's always room for growth, but people said that they enjoyed what I did and enjoyed helping, or they enjoyed me helping them. What if I told you that you could be a really great leader if you just asked two questions every week? Would you believe me?

I would try to. Okay. So I'm going to give you two questions. I want to address this, and then let's get to your decision. But real quick, I just want to take the fear factor out of leadership. And it is intimidating, by the way, and that's very natural to feel. But if you were to boil leadership down to two basic actions, I believe it takes away the intimidation factor, and I think it's going to make you extremely effective. And here are the two questions.

This is for your direct reports, and I think you do this on a weekly basis. The first question is, how are you doing? That is not a greeting in the hallway. How you doing? It is a look them in the eye and go, hey, how are you doing? Everything good? And you should know enough about them to where you can just lean in. And we're not talking about getting up in their business. We're talking about what little bit they share. They will begin to share more over time. But how are you doing as a person?

Okay, I heard your dog was sick. Or word is that your mom's going through something. You know, whatever they're sharing, you've heard it, and you lean in as a person to say, how are you doing? To let them know that you care. The more you ask that question, the more they will know you care and the more they will trust you, which leads to the second question. And they will be willing to answer the second question the more they give you answers on the first one. And the second question is, how can I help you win? Okay. And that is people want to know that their leaders know what they're dealing with.

Do they have the resources? Do they have the time? Are you tuned in to what's going on in their job? If you ask those questions on a weekly basis over time, you will develop unbelievable communication and trust through the transparency that's going on with those two questions. You got it? Yes. Now, that will make you a really effective leader. I promise you. Okay. Now, let's just talk about the decision. The long-term is what I was going to ask

you about, and you already gave us that answer. So, you said, this job with more money also gives me more opportunity long-term. For me, I'm going to go with the long-term opportunity, as long as the new schedule change isn't some type of massive, massive disruption that would make my family life such a dumpster fire, Jade, that it wouldn't be worth the long-term opportunity and the short-term pay. What do you think? I agree with you wholeheartedly. So is that the case then, Amy? Will the new schedule be super negative or disruptive to your personal life? It would be somewhat of a disruption. This is, if I could say, it's for hospice and my availability would have to be pretty much 24-7 for a short period of time, at least a year, until we get full staff on board. Because, of course, things can happen

in an instant. That would mean I'm missing holidays as well. So here's the deal. Can you do that for a year for the payoff? I think I would like to. Well, then I think you got your answer. We never get to answer these questions. Our job is to poke around, tell you what we think. That's good.

But I think you're ready to take this new role. And I think for a year, you and your family can step up. By the way, Jade, I'll give you the last word on this. We've got about 30 seconds. I think it's all in how she communicates this to all the family members that will be affected. I agree. They can kind of jump in and support. Yeah, I think so.

Understanding it's a short, like we always say, short-term sacrifice, long-term gain. Yeah, I love it. All right. So we are in agreement. Go for it. Stack that extra cash. I like that $30,000 bump and what that can do in the short term to set you up for the long term as well.

Don't move. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Indianapolis, Indiana, where Zachary joins us.

Zachary, how can we help today? Hi, how are you guys? We're doing great. What's going on? So I'll cut to the chase. Monday, I lost my house in a house fire. What? For at least four months. Yeah. Oh, I lost my house in the house fire. What? For at least four months.

Yeah. Oh my God. What do you mean at least for four months? Was it total? It was contained to one room, thankfully, but we had a lot of stuff in that room that the room is completely gone. They have to completely gut it and reconstruct it, I guess. Okay.

Nobody was hurt? No. The dog was inside, but thankfully they got him out. guess. Okay. Nobody was hurt? No. The dog was inside, but thankfully they got him out. Okay. Okay. So pup is okay. And when you say it's only one room, is that downstairs, upstairs? What was in the room? It was our downstairs master bedroom. Oh no. We were actually supposed to sell the house four days prior. Well, four days after the fire had happened oh my gosh but that's not happening anymore um so thankfully like a lot of my stuff was

packed up and ready to go but like my wife's entire wardrobe everything like our our bed our newborn son's bed and everything is oh my gosh where were you guys when this happened um i was an hour away at work and my wife was at work oh my gosh and that your newborn son uh he was at uh grandparents oh my gosh thank goodness but the rest of the house is okay yes uh my stepdad was driving by when it started to smoke really bad. So he caught it. What happened? What caused the fire? Do they know?

It was one of the outlets by our bed. They're not exactly sure, but they think maybe a wire came loose and, like, touched the insulation or something or a mouse chewed on it. Oh, my. That is crazy. Well, I'm so glad everybody's okay. Well, a couple of things to be grateful for. Obviously, you guys weren't there.

Your wife was not there. Your baby son, the dog is okay. My goodness. And your father-in-law is driving by. Yeah, and I love that. And again, grateful that it's just the room. And four months from now, you've got a rebuilt master. Now, I know all of the other things that come with that are awful, but all things being equal this is uh you dodged a major major crisis

yeah yeah yeah definitely all right so how can we help today so we were planning on selling the house because my wife bought it before me and her were ever together and it is a nightmare of a house um foundation issues and electrical issues yeah um so we were really wanting to get out of it um we were buying a new house um closer to my parents and it's a lot nicer house but did you already make the offer yeah but we are doing a contingency buy so we're probably gonna lose that house now that we have to wait another four months yeah um we have just started the baby steps we've got about 85 000 in consumer debt okay um we don't have much savings especially after the fire now um and then what have you what have you been doing? Yeah. Um, we, we just started it. So we had the emergency fund,

but now with the fire and stuff, we, the thousand dollar emergency fund or yeah. Yeah. A thousand dollars. Okay. So, um, um, here's what I think. So where are you staying right now? Right now we're at my parents. Okay. You're at your parents. You've blown through most of your thousand dollars. What do you have left? Uh, right now we've got, I want to say, well, she actually made an extra car payment. So we're waiting for that to come back, but we'll have about 13 in our account, but we have bills and everything. And I do a ton of driving for work. So I have to leave at least five to 600 in there for gas. Okay. So, okay. Is insurance going to cover the total rebuild or is there going to be more cash? Yeah, they're going to cover it,

but they are kind of dragging their feet. So, right. Okay. I think you're a little new to the baby steps. And so I kind of want to reset and get everything on so that you and I are at least on the same footing kind of going forward. I hate that this happened to your house. And I hate that you guys had a plan and this just threw wrenches all up in that plan. However, in one way, like Ken said, you dodged several bullets here. And I'm going to add another bullet to the list that I believe that you dodged. Now, looking at your financial situation fire aside now was not the time for you guys to buy a house yes I agree you know I originally wanted to rent but we live

in a small town and um leaving the town is not an option for us because of my wife's work and that's where our babysitting situation is located. And there is no places to rent that wouldn't be the same amount as what our mortgage was going to be that has the space for two kids, us, and a dog that allows dogs. There was one place that was available and we applied and we got denied because of our credit. And then and then it went off the market like a week later. So. So, OK, so to address that, unless you were going to unless by selling this house, let's pretend the fire didn't happen for a minute, unless you're going to have this this huge amount of equity that was going to allow you to get into the next house and pay off this debt or something like that, that would have been the only way it would have worked out.

And if you had called us prior to that, I would have said, you just got to keep looking. Look for the right rental because something will come on the market. That's what I would have said to you in that situation. But where you're at now is, okay, insurance is going to cover the rebuild of the master bedroom. You know, you guys are in a place that, you know, hopefully you're not spending a whole lot staying with family, but you are going to spend some, but you've still got, you know, you're still working. So the income is coming in there. We've got to prioritize this debt. And that's got to be the number one thing, because technically, Zachary, when you go to buy a house, you want all of your debt paid off. Then you want to have saved up three to six months of expenses. That's not talking about a down payment.

That's just you having money, you know, when you move into this house. And then it's like, okay, I need a down payment. So you guys were quite far from being there. When you sold the house, what was it going to bring? We were going to get about $15,000 in equity. And then my sister was also going to give a gift for a down payment as well to help us with that. Okay. And when you got that gift from your sister, what percentage wise was that going to be towards your next down payment? We were going to be using an FHA loan, but it was going to be roughly $12,000 to $15,000.

Yeah. Yeah. I think in many ways, this was a blessing in disguise because I think you guys are about to get in way too deep. You always want to make sure that you're putting at least 5% down on a house. You want to make sure it's no more than 25% of your take-home pay. These are the things you want to make sure of. And going forward now, it's just not the time and hopefully what i would do what i would do for you guys if the house that you're in is a nightmare obviously there's electrical things that need to be fixed obviously there's other things those are things that you might have to shell out some money to fix in the meantime because the solution and can we see it all the

time my car broke down i'm just gonna trade that in and trade up and get a new car with payments because we don't have the two2,000 to fix it. So we get a $20,000 car, right? And the worst, I said this to Dave on Friday, the worst thing is, and I'm not saying that this is you, but you buy a $500,000 house, but the AC breaks and you don't have $5,000 to fix it, right? That's right. Happens all the time.

So push, push, pause on home buying. It's not the time. Rebuild, get your life back on track, get the things fixed in the home that's going to make it a safe place for you to live. That's right. And hey, let's look at the positive on this. I think Jade's right. And I think I'm going to give you just a little bit of a, I think hopefully a little mindset hack here. You know, you should get a new master bedroom, you know, in the sense of, you know, did you lose some stuff? Yes, that stinks. She lost her wardrobe. That's awful.

All those things are just awful. But baby safe, dog safe, you're safe. You know what? You had a really old master bedroom. Now you get a new master bedroom. And I like Jade's pressing pause right here and just kind of going, you know what? Life just threw us a curveball, but let's hit the curve.

Yeah, yeah. You know, like I'm stuck in this baseball metaphor, but stay with me. You know, curveballs are meant to strike people out. Come on, Ken. But let me tell you something. Really good hitters know how to hit a curve. And if you hang a curve, these people put it out of the park. They smash it.

And I think right now, I think through the coaching you just got from Coach Jade over here, I think you guys can take this curveball that life threw at you, and you absolutely hit a grand slam and come out of this thing way better off. So please listen to what she said. I think she's absolutely right, and I think you guys got a second chance. Not fun. Not fun how you got it, but nonetheless, a second chance. So there you go. All right, don't move. She's Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. We're here for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw joins me. The phone number is 888-825-5225.

Chad is joining us now in Sioux City, Iowa. Chad, how can we help today? Hi, Ken. Hi, Jay. Nice to talk to you. I'm calling just because I'd like to know if it would be wise to convert a 401k to a Roth. Ah. Okay. That's a good question to ask. So, are you moving jobs? I what's causing you to i'm 53 my wife's 52 kind of got into this late in the game we have about 560 000 total in investments okay mutual funds between 457 at my work she has two two IRAs and then I have a Roth. I was looking to convert her IRA into a Roth.

How much is it? And that's $170,000. Okay. So here we work through a series of baby steps. I'm not sure how familiar you are with them, but technically... Okay. So do you guys have any debt? No debt. No debt. Okay. I'm not sure how familiar you are with them, but technically. Okay.

So do you guys have any debt? No debt. No debt. Okay. What about the house? Houses are paid. Okay. Yeah.

If you want to start that process, I would say yes. The only caveat to that is obviously if you're in baby step two, we don't want you to do that because you're going to be on the hook for the taxes and uh you know that money can be used otherwise if you're on baby step two but for you guys it seems like the right move um are you working with a tax guide or anybody to help you in that area yeah i i do have those people in place i kind of wanted to get your guys's opinion before i went actually um and spoke to them about it yeah if i were in your shoes, I would start trying to make that move. I mean, I don't know if you listened a few days back,

but we had a guy who, he had amassed such a wealth, $8 million, but it was all in traditional funds. And so he was just getting nailed with required minimum distributions. And so there is a part of this where you do need to begin making that transfer over to Roth. And I think that you need to work with a Ramsey Trusted Pro in order to do that, somebody to help you with the tax side of it and somebody to help you with

the investment side of it. So if you need that, we'll make sure that Christian picks up and gives you that. But if you're asking if now is the time, my answer is yes. Yeah, I agree. I don't disagree because of the way you walked it through i mean we've got the baby steps and again the timing on this this is why our formula matters it matters big time and that's why we always say match beats roth beats traditional like we want you investing where there's free money but at the end of the day the roth is yeah i mean yeah the whole point is when you go into those retirement years, A, you don't want to be taking, having to pay taxes on what you're pulling out of there. And B, if you do amass the type of wealth that we hope that you do, if you're in traditional and you're having to take those required minimum distributions, you're paying taxes on that.

That's right. And that has the ability, depending on how well you've done, to boost you up into some tax brackets. So textbook yes on this one. Yeah. And I love how you walked him through that. So our new audience, make sure you're paying attention there as to the why it's a yes for Chad, because for some it's not. So really, really good review there. Let's go to Tampa, Florida now, and Valerie is joining us there. Valerie, how can we help? Hi, so I'm calling in. I'll be, you know, my age. I'm, I have a wealthy 24

and he's planning on going to law school. Both have our undergrad and as he's going to law school, we're wanting to have kids, like we want to have like a big family, like four to six kids and we realized that we probably shouldn't be waiting until after he's done, um, to start

having kids. So then my question is, is like, he's going back to school. He obviously won't be making money cause he'll be in school for three years. Um, and then what would you recommend I do? Should I take out, um, like loans for like housing and, and expenses like food or should I work through yes law school and send my kids to daycare well first of all we don't have any kids yet right no but like I'm definitely not having so hold on hold on hold on all right so I'm stepping in here real quick because I'm going to play old man because I'm 50 today Valerie so I'm feeling

extra wise okay I got a good night's sleep and I. And I want to start off with this, and then I want Jade to, she has no problem taking issue with me if she disagrees. But I hear some things that 50 year old Ken says, slow your roll, youngster. All right, let me just go through a couple things. How old are you and your husband, and how long have you been married? 24, and we're three and a half years. Three and a half years in. Okay. And so if we start trying to have kiddos today, there are no guarantees that we're going to

have them in the timeline that we want. Would you agree with that statement, Valerie? Yeah, correct. But also, he's going to be going to law school in fall 2025 doesn't matter this is my timeline you follow me don't jump off the timeline Valerie I see what you're trying to do I'm going somewhere with this you have no idea that you guys are going to get pregnant when you want to get pregnant you have no clue okay so he's going to law school when starting in the law school when? Starting in the fall? A couple weeks? Fall of 2025. Oh, fall of 2025. So he's got a year to work. Yes? Yes. Yes, he does. All right. And I have another suggestion

here in a second. Here's my point. You are asking if you should take out loans for something that may not be absolutely in need. You could be working full-time and not have kids, stacking cash, cutting your expenses. And so I think this is a bad idea to even consider it because here's what I know about law school. Where is he going and what is it going to cost? So he's going to, it's in St. Pete, and he's planning a full-ride scholarship.

Great. That was my... Great. So why would we need money? Why would we need student loans if he's getting a full ride? Did you say he's planning to get or he's getting? Yeah, he's planning on getting, like, based on his LSAT score and... Absolutely.

All of his things he got, He should be getting a full ride. Perfect. You know, for whatever reason, if he doesn't, we'll have to pay whatever. But anyway, so, yeah, my question is if, like, you know, preventative, if we are in law school and, like, I'm pregnant, like, what would you recommend? Like, would you recommend, you know, mom going to work, putting kid in daycare? No. No, I wasn't finished, Valerie. Valerie, I wasn't finished.

Sorry, Jade. No, go ahead, kid. I'm going to say this. You should not be trying to have kids. You're 24. Get through law school. It's two years max, right? No, it's not.

It's three years. Who cares? So three years apiece. You're 27. Stop this nonsense. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. It is not smart in this situation for you to be planning to have kids right now.

Just chill out until you get the cash to be able to have kids or you have a budget where you can have kids. Don't walk yourself into a student loan because you think you've got a mama timeline. Stop. It's not smart. Jade? Yeah, well, I'm planning on having like four to six kids. I don't care. I planned to dunk a basketball when I was 16.

It didn't work out. Okay, here's the thing. Listen. Yeah, I'm not going to wait until I'm old to start trying to have kids. You don't have any control over it. You don't even have to wait until you're old. Let me just throw it to you like this. Mom to future mom.

A, there's a couple of things here um there's a there is something there's something um it's important to plan okay all i'm saying is you have the ability to make a great plan here and to create as much of a situation where you're setting yourself up for success as possible to ken's point you do have plenty of time. That's number one. But then we have to be aware of the things that we cannot control. A, you might get, listen, I hope you have six very wonderful pregnancies and they happen exactly when you want them to. But there is a part of this where, listen, that somebody threw the cards up in the air and you don't know where they're going to land. So I love that you're planning. If you're planning, then let's plan a

way where you're not going into debt. That's all I ask. We're planning for a way that allows us to have the life that we want, where we're not going into debt. Two, the other huge variable in this, Valerie, that you're forgetting about is once these babies come out of you, you don't know what you're going to want. You might suddenly be like, practice law. What was I thinking? I want to stay home with these babies or i want to do part-time or i want to homeschool them my husband my husband's lawyer and so that right there knowing that variable is a huge not that i had to give you any more reasons not to go into debt but the worst thing ever would be if you went into debt to get a degree and then you hardly used it for the next 18 years i'm sorry sorry. I'm not going to law school. Did we? No, no, we know you're not. We know you're not. Oh, I thought she was gone, too.

No, she's not. Okay, well, still. No, it's her husband. Here's the deal. Still. Valerie, I think you've decided that you think it's okay because he's going to be a hot shot lawyer and he's going to be able to pay the loan back. Sorry, you called the wrong show today.

I don't think you need to do this at all. He needs to work like crazy. And save up money. Good grief. All right. I got to go rest. I got to rest too. We'll be back.

This is The Ramsey Show. Take care.