The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Work From Home To Avoid My Micromanaging Boss? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the 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, your host. Ken Coleman is my co-host today.
Starting point is 00:00:49 Ramsey Personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, which you can hear on 75 plus radio stations, Sirius XM, and as a podcast all the time. Talking about career, talking about jobs, talking about finding the place where you can function in your highest level, at your highest level, with your talent, your passion, and that's Ken's thing. So we're here answering questions about that as well as life and money. The phone number, 888-825-5225. Max is in Des Moines.
Starting point is 00:01:19 Hi, Max. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave and Ken. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Everything above eye level, but that's not why I'm calling. I got an email today.
Starting point is 00:01:34 I am a contractor and got an email today from my job. And I started 11 months ago, and it's been remote up until now, and they want me to start coming into the office starting July 5th. In the last few weeks before this email, I've got the impression that micromanagement might be a problem with this job. And I've even actually put out a couple applications just to see what was out there. But with being at home, the micromanaging, you know, wasn't a huge problem for me. My contract ends at the end of July, but it's renewable should I wish it to be. Should I just tell them I'll stay at home through the end of my contract, see what they come back with, or do I go in for a while while I look for a job, or
Starting point is 00:02:23 do I just flat out leave? I'm in baby step six. I have a four-month emergency fund, and that's about where I'm at. What do you do? The email came this morning. I'm a software engineer. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:02:39 So what are you going to do over the next five years with your life? I'm going to continue with my software engineer position. As a contractor? I would rather be with a company. I took this job because I lost my previous job to COVID, and it was out of desperation. I was in debt at that time. Everything's really fallen in place with this position, and I'm thankful for it. But I think it might be time to move on, and I just don't know which of those three routes that I mentioned I should go? Well, I'll tell you this.
Starting point is 00:03:25 I think that you bite your lip and you go in there and you deal with micromanagement, whatever that is, whatever that looks like, and you do a great job and you're looking elsewhere because you want to move on from contracting anyway to work for a company and you stay with that. I don't want you to use that emergency fund. That's for emergencies. That's not for job transitions. And you've done a great job, Baby Step 6.
Starting point is 00:03:49 Be patient right now and understand the big picture. So if you've got some poor management, you can deal with that. It's not an abusive, toxic situation. And so I would stay put until we have a better step, another rung on the ladder, a higher rung on the ladder, and keep moving up doing the work you want to do. The good news is you know exactly what you want to do. You're qualified.
Starting point is 00:04:08 You're in great shape. I would deal with this until we find something better. Hold your nose and go get a job while you work there the last month. That's what Ken's saying. Yeah, that's right. And here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. You're extrapolating something here that hadn't even occurred yet.
Starting point is 00:04:25 I thought you might bring that up, and, yeah, that is true. And I know how you feel about the working from home gig, and it's really, it's not that I'd be willing to come into this office. No, I didn't hear you say that. I heard you say you thought you were working for people that were going to be a pain in the butt. That's different. I don't ask anybody to do that.
Starting point is 00:04:42 But, and, you know, it might be worse than you think it's going to be. It might be better than you think it's going to be. But probably it's not going to be what you think it's going to be. It's probably going to be better or worse. I mean, that's a fair guess. And, yeah, so I think your goal is to land the new gig. And your software engineer, you should be able to do that in 30 to 45 days by the end of the contract, don't you? I do.
Starting point is 00:05:11 I've already got applications out there, three applications out there, and I've just contacted my recruiter, and she says she doesn't want to lose me, so she was hoping to sign me somewhere else possibly. Well, that's somebody who won't put you back in a contract role. True. No, thank you. That's not your long-term goal. That's right. Use this 45 days of holding your nose to hit your long-term goal, which is the dream company that you want to work for that's good people
Starting point is 00:05:43 and that's good pay doing what you love to do. Yeah. Let's grab the brass ring, baby. Let's get the whole thing in the transition. You took this step back in order to pay the debt because you got kicked in the street due to COVID, and now you've got the opportunity where the market has swung completely in your favor to go land the perfect thing,'t you think i think he's in perfect position only one other thing you're assuming that a couple of things you've seen
Starting point is 00:06:10 over the last 30 days mean micromanaging and you think it's going to be worse because you're in there i i'm not sure i think micromanagers micromanage people that are remote and they micromanage people that are in the office so i think there's a little bit of a monster under the bed thing here it's not as bad as you think. I agree with Dave. And this is temporary, man. I would not tell you to go back if you were saying, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. Correct.
Starting point is 00:06:32 Or if you did, I'd go in there and say, I'm going to give them a test and say, do I want to work here the rest of my life for the next 30 days? If not, I'm going to be out. But in your case, you're just out. Nope. Because it's not what you want to do in long term. So, you know, aim where you want to be five years from now. And the worst place you hit is a little short. If you aim at nothing, that's what you're going to hit every time.
Starting point is 00:06:54 So let's aim high. And, you know, worst case is you miss. But that's not going to happen. I think you're in a primo market for a software engineer. Very cool. Hey, thanks for the call primo market for a software engineer. Very cool. Hey, thanks for the call. James is in San Antonio. Hi, James.
Starting point is 00:07:09 Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you doing, Dave? Better than we deserve. How can we help? Well, okay, so I have a car. I already have a beater car. My wife has a reliable car. So what I do is I drive back and forth to work, and that's it, because there's no AC.
Starting point is 00:07:29 Within the last three months, we've been thinking about, you know, we need a new car. And so I just don't know how much to spend on it. How much money do you have? Okay, so I have $34,000 in the bank. Okay. And $15,000 of that is emergency fund. And then my wife also has a $5,000 loan. My main, also main concern too is I'm a renter, and my main goal is to buy a house within the next six years. And so I'm just fearful of letting that money go.
Starting point is 00:08:12 I just don't know how much money to spend on a vehicle either. Okay. Well, pay off the $5,000 loan out of that $34,000 today and go buy a $5,000 or $6,000 car. And then restart the other portion that's not the emergency fund as your down payment fund, and let's start saving aggressively to build that back up. Okay. No car payments, no $5,000 loan when we're done with this discussion, okay? Yes, sir. God bless you, brother.
Starting point is 00:08:35 This is the Ramsey Show. Folks, listen up. I know some of y'all are putting off getting life insurance because rates went up, restrictions were added due to COVID. But it doesn't change your responsibility to take care of your family. Lucky for you, insurance companies are lowering their rates again, and there are more options than ever to let you skip the medical exam. Yes, it's actually easier than it was before all this mess. So now is the time to get it done. If you don't have term life insurance or not enough, you need to take the step,
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Starting point is 00:10:24 it feels like the bills are winning you might wonder if you can never get ahead You're in debt. It can feel like you're constantly at war with your freaking bills. It feels like the bills are winning. You might wonder if you can ever get ahead. Listen, it doesn't have to be like this. You can pay off this debt. You can move ahead. You can learn to handle your money. You can get control of it. And we'll show you how with Financial Peace University. It's part of Ramsey Plus. You can sign up at Ramsey Plus. And you'll learn how to take control of your
Starting point is 00:10:46 money and ditch your debt for good plus you'll get all the tools that you need to make it happen you can get ahead you can end this constant battle for your paycheck you gotta take the first step start your free trial of ramsey plus that'll get you into Financial Peace University, and into the EveryDollar Premium app, among a bunch of other things. Text TRIAL for the free trial. Text TRIAL to 33789. Text TRIAL to 33789. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com, a wonderful American company. Blinds.com has a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
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Starting point is 00:11:42 You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run all the time, this great company will help you save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey at Blinds.com. Today's question comes from Mustafa in California. I'm a 14-year-old Californian who is determined to become a real estate investor and developer. I'm reading books about real estate, investing, and economic cycles, and I'm focused on getting an internship in high school along with that future job. I wanted to know how you would go about pursuing this career if you were in my shoes or if you would do anything differently. Well, Mustafa, I love this. You are a 14-year-old who's on the ball. I love that you're going after
Starting point is 00:12:18 an internship in high school. And I would try to turn that internship into any kind of job, entry level, doesn't matter what it's doing or how much it's paying in high school. And I would try to turn that internship into any kind of job, entry level, doesn't matter what it's doing or how much it's paying in high school. And I would be focusing on getting a job with a real estate developer because what's happening is it's a paid internship. You are learning the ins and outs of the industry you want to be in from somebody who's already doing it. The only thing I'd add to that is I would literally be taking notes,
Starting point is 00:12:44 whether it's on your iPhone or with pad and pencil, and talking, questioning everybody, customers, people that are working, and truly have that head on a swivel, Dave. I think a 14-year-old doing that early on, you're going to learn all the ins and outs of being a real estate developer. And should you change your mind, it'll be because of that experience. You go, oh, it's not what I thought it was going to be. But in this case, he's probably going to get a master's degree in just knowledge and wisdom from soaking it up being a human sponge. While you're doing that, look for old real estate developers. That's a great point.
Starting point is 00:13:23 Some gray hair. Because there's not many of them. That's a great point. Some gray hair. Because there's not many of them. That's a good point. Real estate developers, developing a piece of real estate, taking raw ground, putting in streets, sewers, infrastructure,
Starting point is 00:13:34 selling off the lots, or even putting in the buildings, whether it's commercial or residential afterwards, is the highest risk of all real estate transactions. Because it's a lot of money number one number two it takes a long time and you can get caught sideways with an economic cycle and so there are more people in the real estate business that have gone broke being developers
Starting point is 00:13:59 than any other category more than being builders, more than being real estate agents, more than owning real estate of other kinds. So if that's your goal, there's nothing wrong with that. But talk to some old ones that have figured out how to limit the risk, how to be ready for the economic changes, because otherwise you're going to talk to people who have absolutely no concept of risk. And if that's all you learn, then you're going to learn some stupid stuff. That's going to put you in harm's way.
Starting point is 00:14:34 But I'm with Ken. Your concept, you're dead on. I would go after it. Go do it. Obviously, you're a sharp young guy. And you've got a real future ahead of you. Bobby is in West Virginia, Fairmont to be exact.
Starting point is 00:14:48 Hey Bobby, how are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Yeah, so I just recently actually yesterday sold my house. Wow! I have a $110,000 check
Starting point is 00:15:04 that I need some advice on what to do with. I don't have any debt, so my assumption is to invest in some way, but I really don't know much about that. Where are you going to live? In West Virginia, where I live now. I moved in with my girlfriend. I've lived with her for about a year, so we decided it's time to sell my house. Since the market was pretty hot, I thought it was a good time as well. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:28 So right now you're freeloading? Yeah. Well, I pay half her expenses, too. So I'm basically renting from her. Yeah. So you have a roommate. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:40 All right. Well, when you get married, you're not freeloading anymore, by the way. Right. Okay. Okay. What does your girlfriend owe on her house? She actually just refinanced it, and I think there's about $160,000. And how much money do you make? I make just a little over $100,000 a year.
Starting point is 00:16:04 And how much money does she make? I make just a little over $100,000 a year. And how much money does she make? Somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000. Oh, wow. So $310,000 income. $310,000 income. You got $110,000 check in your hand, and she owes $160,000 on her house. Do you have any other debt? Does she have any other debt? No. Well, she has student loan debt. She has about $120,000 in student loan debt. I have zero debt. Okay. You have zero debt of any kind. She makes more money than you, but as a married couple,
Starting point is 00:16:38 you guys are a power couple with some student loan debt to clean up and then a mortgage to pay off, if that were to happen, right? Right. So what I would do is decide when you're going to get married, because if you get married, this $110 goes to clean up her student loans, then the two of you jump on this mortgage with your huge income and knock it out, because it becomes your house at that point that you are sharing, agreed? Right. But you don't do that with that you are sharing. Agreed? Right.
Starting point is 00:17:05 But you don't do that with someone you're not married to. You don't pay someone student loans you're not married to. You don't pay someone's mortgage you're not married to. Okay? So for right now, I'm parking this money to the side. If you think you're going to get married within a year or two, I would just set it in a money market account. It's not fancy, but it's going to be available to execute the new plan after marriage.
Starting point is 00:17:27 But if you're not going to get married and you're just going to hold on to this money and she's going to hold on to her mess, then you probably ought to invest it into some mutual funds. Okay. Yeah. But by the way, you're going to end up homeless someday with that scenario, no real estate, and you're going to end up using this money to buy real estate at some point. Okay.
Starting point is 00:17:50 When she kicks you out because you won't marry her. Okay. Or whatever happens. Yeah, I'm glad you said it. I was going to say, when are you putting a ring on it, man? I know that's what everybody's wondering out there. Yeah. So it's interesting.
Starting point is 00:18:04 You got to lay out the decision-making paradigm here. So let me ask you this, Dave, because you laid it out so beautifully from a relationship standpoint. We didn't ask him. We didn't put him on the spot. But let's assume that they say, well, we don't want to get married. And this comes down to the way we teach them. That's what I'm saying. I mean, this gets really interesting.
Starting point is 00:18:24 No. Because they're keeping separate accounts but living together. But they're not married. Yeah, well... We tell married people combined. Yeah, the problem is that they... Statistically, okay? The data tells us that they're going to struggle to build wealth
Starting point is 00:18:39 trying to act like they're married, but they're not. Right. Because it's two horses pulling in two different directions. That's what I wanted to know. And you don't pull the wagon, you just pull it apart. Yeah. You just destroy it. That's all you do.
Starting point is 00:18:49 Yeah. And so, I mean, that's the whole thing. Because they're separate, but they're living together. And it just never gets connected. That's the challenge with that. And there's all kinds of research. Yeah. Not picking on him, but just in general.
Starting point is 00:19:04 For sure, yeah. That says that as a married couple, there's what they call the marriage advantage. It increases the success curve on your career, your health, and your finances versus just trying to play house. And yet half of America now is choosing not to be married. But it's problematic, not just morally or spiritually, but it's problematic from the data of what happens in your life. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Well, one thing we love to do on this show are debt-free screams. More than debt-free screams, we love doing debt-free screams on the debt-free stage in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. But even more than that, we love debt-free screams on the debt-free stage in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions when it's one of our own Ramsey team members, Mike Porter and his wife, Kelly, from our own team here. Mike's one of our systems engineers in customer experience area
Starting point is 00:20:34 and here to do their debt-free scream. Congratulations, you two. Thank you. Well done. So how long have you been with us, Mike? Six months. Okay, wow. So you're a you been with us, Mike? Six months. Okay, wow. So you're a fairly new team member.
Starting point is 00:20:47 Yes. You've come in, came in kind of towards the end of COVID, huh? That's correct. At least as Ramsey defines the end of COVID. We got back to work faster than other people did. I was going to say, we were six months ahead of everybody. It's not the end of COVID for other people still. That's true.
Starting point is 00:21:04 In other words, you weren't right in the heat of it, but still six months ago, yeah, it was still kind of crazy around here. Well, welcome, man. Very cool. How much debt have you two paid off? We paid off $247,800. Yo! And how long did this take?
Starting point is 00:21:19 55 months. Okay. Man, there is a story here. And the last eight months, six months, is here at Ramsey. Yes. So what kind of debt is this? It's everything. We sold the house.
Starting point is 00:21:32 We had two cars, credit cards. We had a home improvement loan, a personal loan. Pretty normal stuff, I think, as society defines it. Yeah. Where's the house that you sold? In Utah. Okay. And did you sell that when you moved here for the job?
Starting point is 00:21:47 No, actually we sold that four years ago. Okay. So we didn't explicitly sell it as part of paying off debt, but when we got ready to move, we were like, we can't buy a new house. We're not financially ready. Yeah, okay. That was a home improvement loan. We had the air conditioner go out. That's what happens
Starting point is 00:22:08 when you don't have an emergency fund. That's the way it works. You're asking for it. So the t-shirts say debt-free what? Because I learned to say no. And hers says because I listened to no. They are the
Starting point is 00:22:24 opposite on the back. What does the back say? Nerd and free spirit? Turn around. Turn around. All right. Dead free. Oh, and it switches.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Yes. Oh, I got it. Okay. All right. That's fair. That way Kelly didn't get all the trash. Like you're the only one saying no, and she had to learn to hear it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:41 That's cool. Very cool. Way to go, you guys. So tell us your story. What happened in your life? Well, we, in 2016, that's when we started, we did FPU. Right before that, I had lost my job in 2011 as part of the aftermath of the whole housing bubble in 2008. And so I got a new job in 2011, took a pay cut. I had actually, by 2016, I had more than doubled my salary.
Starting point is 00:23:15 I got to it, worked hard. And we looked around and we looked at each other and we weren't any further ahead. I'm like, I am making more money and I'm not ahead of where we're not gaining any traction. Our son at the time was just about to go into his senior year in high school and we had nothing saved. So we kind of looked at each other. We were like, we have to change something. And we had some friends back in Utah who said, hey, we're doing FPU. And we kind of resisted at first. I know you've heard the line.
Starting point is 00:23:52 You know, oh, we don't need FPU. We can afford all our payments. But when we really sat down with it, we really couldn't. And we realized that. So we did FPU, and it really radically changed our lives um learning to say no um when we did fpu it wasn't with rachel um leading but her her line that she has in the new one um which is um you know the budget gives you freedom it gives you the freedom to say no but it also gives you the freedom to say yes because back when i taught it it was just no yeah yeah then we got rachel to come along and
Starting point is 00:24:27 lighten things up yeah but shut up shut up no yeah and and along the way um you know besides paying off the the that much um we were able to cash flow um forty thousand dollars in tuition um we've had um over the last 55 months, about $30,000 in medical bills that we also cash flowed, plus moving across the country. And I did, in March of last year, I lost my job, and so I was without a job for two months. Oh, my gosh. So all of those things. And that was in the middle of COVID.
Starting point is 00:25:00 Yes. Yeah, for sure. By anybody's measure. And so did you move to Nashville to take this job? Yes. Okay. All right. From Utah? Yes. Yes. For sure. Anybody's measure. And so you did you move to Nashville to take this job? Yes. Okay. All right. From Utah. Yes. Okay. Very cool. Very cool. Well, we're happy you're part of this team. And we're very, very proud of you. So Kelly, what's the secret to paying off $248,000 worth of debt? Me learning the word no no it really was i it was really hard for me to sell my house but when we got to that point we said we can either afford this house or we can
Starting point is 00:25:32 pay our debt we don't need this house we bought a house for a reason and it was to do foster care we had stopped doing that and we didn't need that house anymore so i had to say this house is no longer part of our life and that was part of our journey and then after that i had to say, this house is no longer part of our life, and that was part of our journey. And then after that, I had to really learn, we don't need this, we don't need this, and we don't need this. Cutting loose, that's an emotional process. It really is hard. Because in order for the next phase of your dreams to happen, the old ones have to be pushed back. They're not there anymore. But you can't do both. You can happen, the old ones have to be pushed back. They're not there anymore.
Starting point is 00:26:06 But you can't do both. You can't leave the old ones and the new ones. And that's a powerful thing you all did there. Congratulations. Very proud of you. I've got to ask you, I love to hear when the momentum happens for people. Was it as a result of the house? Because you were really struggling with that.
Starting point is 00:26:23 You say yes. You sell the house. Obviously, that helped you. What was the big momentum moment or were there several in this journey there were several the first one was our friends that led fpu she told me about it and she said told me what we needed to do and i said but we can afford our payments and she said if you have to have payments you can't afford afford it. And that just hit me. Yes. Grace Beldock. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:26:50 She just told me the truth. Yeah, good for her to do that. Wow. And then the second one, second momentum kick. You said FPU was the first one. Knowing that our son was going to go to college and we had nothing safe. Had to go. And we ended up being able to cash flow what he needed by saying no a lot to other things so that we could pay his tuition rather than continue with normal. Mike, real quick, what was the hardest thing to say no to for you?
Starting point is 00:27:18 Yeah, we're both kind of spenders. And so for me, it was, as we were doing foster care, really, when I'd come home from work, she'd just be beat up from the kids. And sometimes it was like, hey, can we just go out to eat? Because I don't feel like cooking. And so having to sometimes say no to that and say, I'll take the kids and we can relax for a little bit and then you can cook. You know, or I can cook. Either way, I mean, somebody's got to do something here.
Starting point is 00:27:54 Wow. Good for you. Well, we've got folks that don't know, we've got about just 996 people on our team right now. And of those, roughly half are technology folks. They are developers and systems engineers and software engineers and architecture folks and Ruby on Rails and all the different things that you folks do that I have no idea what it is. So you're enjoying this technology team? It's fantastic.
Starting point is 00:28:22 Cool. Good stuff. Well, we're very proud of you guys we're not going to ask your income because we never do that with team members that's not fair because we've got half the company standing out here to watch your debt-free scream so we're not going to put you on the spot in that way but everybody standing here is proud of you we're proud of you we're honored to have you on our team sir we appreciate you being a systems engineer with us and i appreciate you kelly uh those are cool t-shirts. I like them a lot. So very, very cool.
Starting point is 00:28:46 Well done. All right. It is Mike Porter and his wife, Kelly. He's a systems engineer here at Ramsey Solutions. $248,000 paid off in 55 months. What a journey. What a story. Count it down.
Starting point is 00:29:02 Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yay! Yay! Woo! And the crowd goes wild.
Starting point is 00:29:18 I love it. Love it. Way to go, you guys. Fabulous. So proud of you. This is The Ramsey Show. ken coleman ramsey personality is my co-host today i am dave ramsey your host this is the ramsey show you've heard us talking about timeshares for years lately i've been doing some extra special shows on timeshares and what a ripoff they are. But we're doing some research. We'll get the Ramsey Research Team on the timeshare industry, and we want to learn what's really going on out there. Aside from my distrust and distaste for them, I want to know what's really happening.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Aside from their BS lines that everybody loves them, which is a bunch of crap. Somewhere in the middle is probably the truth. And so we're doing some surveys and some research. If you'd like to participate, if you're a current timeshare owner or a former timeshare owner, we're conducting a new survey where we want your thoughts, your opinions on your experience with timeshares. Now, we're going to do this in a very sophisticated manner to create a proper piece of research. And in addition to that, we're going to just let you listeners speak into it. And that way, if somebody tries to game it, like, say, the timeshare industry called in and tried to game the survey,
Starting point is 00:30:58 then we've got the two pieces of data separate, so we'll know that there's monkey business. So, again, our research department, they kind of know what they're doing and make sure that they put all these stop gaps in there to make sure that the data is actually uh indicative of what's real so how do you participate in the timeshare survey you text timeshare to 33 789 i would really appreciate it if you've ever been a timeshare owner or are an owner if you would take the survey it won't take you about a minute because we're really trying to learn about you folks about the about the public's perception and understanding and experience with the timeshare industry i've got my opinions but i really want to learn what is really happening text timeshare Text TIMESHARE to 33789. One word, TIMESHARE, 33789, and take the survey today. Mac is with us.
Starting point is 00:31:49 Mac is in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Mac. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, how's it going, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right, so I'm going into my junior year of college at App State University, and I have this money that I've been making like over the summer for DoorDash.
Starting point is 00:32:11 I have like roughly $3,000 to $4,000 just kind of sitting in my bank account. I'm just sort of curious like where to go because I'm going to be coming into student loan debt in about two years here. I'm not quite sure, like, what to do, if I should put it in an IRA. What do you mean you're coming into student loan debt? You mean you've got student loan debt that will be due after you graduate? Yeah, I mean, well, I'll start my payments, like, in 2023. Yeah, so how much student loan debt do you have? It'll be $22,000.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Okay. And are you still using student loan debt for your junior and senior year? Yes. Okay. Like all together, it'll be $22,000. Yeah, how much is it now? $10,000. Okay.
Starting point is 00:33:02 So what would happen if you decided I'm going to make the other 12 instead of going into debt? You got three of it. Right. How about taking out no more student loans? That's an option. Yeah, and bust your butt and pay cash for the rest of it. Gotcha. And then I'm through baby step two and then just start.
Starting point is 00:33:28 No, you've still got the $10,000 laying there that you've already taken out, right? But we're just going to stop doing damage as our first goal. And then when you graduate from school, you'll just attack the $10,000 with your new job, you know, that'll be a lot better than any college job, hopefully. And what are you studying? I'm studying theater performance, and then I have a double major in business marketing. Okay. So what is your plan for your career?
Starting point is 00:33:57 I went to this place in New York City called Theater, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, and they offered me a job out of college, but I kind of got to look into that salary-wise. So I'd be marketing and selling shows for a company. Cool. Sounds like you get to use everything you've learned. Yeah. That would be neat.
Starting point is 00:34:18 Okay, cool. Well, good. And you don't know what it pays, and it's a ways out, so you've got to button that thing up between now and then. But in the meantime, you've got to finish up your junior and your senior year, and you've got to pay cash and your $9,000 short to do that. That's right. And so you can do that, though, because you found work.
Starting point is 00:34:36 You're rolling. You see anything, Ken? I think Dave's absolutely right. I think you're working really hard, and if you made $3,000 to $4,000 this summer, you keep doing that you've got your 12 grand right there and you're cash flowing your way through college so yeah i'd work really really hard i would not take any more student loans you don't need it you've got the ability to do it so just stay the course here no more student loan debt and uh you're golden i i
Starting point is 00:35:01 love this i would look into the new york thing i want you to be more clear on what that looks like you know you've been offered you need to know right off the top of your head instantly okay this is what it's going to cost to live there and run those numbers on that before you decide to take that new york job yeah but i mean really we're talking about this is june so yeah if if the junior year is this fall you can bust, it's two years to come up with $9,000. That's only about $400 a month. That's exactly right. I worked full-time in college. I did, too.
Starting point is 00:35:34 When I say full-time, I mean 40 hours. Plus, I mean, I was busting it on the weekends really hard. You know, wasn't much of a weekend life, but it worked. Yeah. Got me through it. Hard day. You didn't have any choice. But, yeah, but it worked. It got me through it. Hard day. You didn't have any choice. Now it's called child abuse.
Starting point is 00:35:48 Chad's in Louisiana. Hey, Chad, how are you? Hey, Dave. How are you guys doing today? Better than we deserve. What's up? That's it. That's it.
Starting point is 00:35:57 Hey, I'm new into this. I'm one week into putting all my finances together and starting the debt-free living process. And my question is that about five years ago, or explain a little bit, five years ago, we decided to become full-time RVers. So we sold the house in Houston and really freed up a lot of money for us. And then we've been living that lifestyle. And also, we got to the point where I've got pretty much everything into the calculation sheet. And I was wondering, on my RV, should I refinance that and hopefully get a lesser note to add more cash towards my debt-free living, or should I stay on the path of what the whole thing's explaining to me, and by almost six years, I'll be debt-free?
Starting point is 00:36:54 I would stay on the path, and I think what you're going to find is that as you plow through this, the momentum is going to pick up, and you're probably going to get out of that faster than you think. Most people that see a six-year plan end up with about a four-year plan when it's over because intensity increases as you get further down into this. So what is your 10-year game plan on housing? Are you going to be RVing for the next 10 years? It all depends on the health uh we've already figured out that i'm at 55 and no medications no illnesses no issues at all hopefully that in 10 years what are you living on
Starting point is 00:37:35 are you how are you just working remote or what yes sir i'm an independent rep and self-employed, so I travel throughout the south-central United States working with about 40 other reps as their support. And so it doesn't pay me to have a house because we're always on the road. You and your wife? You and your wife. Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir. All right.
Starting point is 00:38:04 And you're enjoying this lifestyle so far? Tremendously. Okay, good. You know, like you may be, you can hook up and leave. Good, yeah. Well, I think getting that RV paid off as fast as you possibly can. I'm not sure if it's your baby step six or not because it's your house. You could put it there if you want.
Starting point is 00:38:25 How much do you owe on it? We're right at $113,000. Yeah. And so if we pull that out of the equation, you're debt-free in a year and a half, two years. Oh, easy. Yeah. So I think maybe it's your baby step six is if you had a $110,000 mortgage and you put it over there and then you work the system that way. Have you got a copy of the book mortgage and you put it over there and then you work the
Starting point is 00:38:46 system that way. Have you got a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, to show you how to do all this? That's going to be my next step. We loaded the Excel program and my next step was getting the book because we just found out about you through my brother last week. Very cool. Well, I'll give you one. Hold on. Madison will pick up and we'll ship you a copy of The Total Money Makeover as our gift if we can figure out where to ship it to. Yeah, that'll give you one. Hold on. Madison will pick up and we'll ship you a copy of the Total Money Makeover as our gift. If we can figure out where to ship it to. That's going to be the hardest part of this. Have fun, brother.
Starting point is 00:39:12 We're honored to have you as a new listener and a new member of the tribe. Madison will ship you a free copy just to say thanks for listening. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. James Childs is our producer and Madison is our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host co-host today. James Childs is our producer and Madison is our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back.
Starting point is 00:39:35 Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer for The Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head to theramzshow.com.

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