The Ramsey Show - App - We LOVE This Valentine's Day Debt-Free Scream! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 14, 2019

The show about you

Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave 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 am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Malcolm starts off this hour in Houston. Hey, Malcolm, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, Dave, so I've got a question for you. I've got about $60,000 in debt, and I drive a vehicle for a living,

and I need to replace that vehicle. It's coming to the end of its life now, so I don't have any savings. The only equity that I have is actually in my house, and I'm trying to figure out if I should try and use some of that equity. I just don't know where to turn really to find out how to get an answer to that. Gotcha. And what's your household income? Right now with my earnings and my wife's earnings, we're probably right around 80K.

Okay, cool. And what are you driving? What's your current car? Right now I have an 07 Honda Odyssey. It's done about 260,000 miles. And my mechanic yesterday said, you know, Mal, I think it's about time we started looking at trying to do something different with this. It's costing me a lot of money to keep it on the road right now, you know. Yeah.

I love it when your mechanic says, we are going to do something different, but you pay for it. Right. Well, I drive about 300, 400 miles a day, you know. So whatever you drive, you're destroying its value. Agreed? I am indeed, yeah. Yeah. And so moving up in cars is probably a good idea here.

What will that car bring? Well, virtually nothing nothing you know um you know no it's 2000 honda's 2007 honda odyssey it'll bring something i mean probably bring a couple grand anyway wouldn't it yeah you might get about 1502 grand yeah that's what i was hoping you know like that. And you probably need about a $10,000 one, right? Yeah, so there's the problem, right? So I drive for a couple of organizations that are pretty well-known around the country, and I also drive privately as kind of a licensed chauffeur is what I want to do here. And the city of Houston has particular rules on what kind of a vehicle you can drive to do that.

And so... Wait a minute, you're not doing that now? Correct, yeah. But the two organizations that I drive for have stipulations on how old the vehicle can be. Wait a minute, you're driving for them now? That's right, yeah. Okay, and you're driving a $2,000 piece of crap now? Well, yeah, you could say that.

And so I don't really care what their stipulations are. Apparently you don't either. Right. Okay, so you're not getting in the chauffeur business, dude. You're $60,000 in business, in debt. You've got to clean up a mess before you do that, and we're not going to go borrow on a car to go into the chauffeur business, dude, you're $60,000 in business, in debt. You've got to clean up a mess before you do that, and we're not going to go borrow on a car to go into the chauffeur business. Not a chance.

Everybody and his brother in Houston has a Lyft sticker or an Uber sticker in their windshield competing with you. Not a chance we're going into debt for that. So, no, if you want to buy a better car, I'm with you on that. I think you probably do need to move up in car. I'm just going to save up about $8,000 and put with this very, very, very, very quickly. Beans and rice, rice and beans, no borrowing money, and I'm going to pay cash for a $10,000 car. And then let's get this $60,000 mess cleaned up, and then let's save up again and move up in car

and start to do some of these other things we're talking about. But, dude, you cannot mathematically justify a $25,000 car with the miles you're putting on it just to qualify to compete with Uber. No. You're just shooting yourself in the head, man. No. No, no, no, no, no. Now, not even if you're paying cash, you can't justify it. If you want to do it and you're paying cash, I'm not going to argue with you too much,

but I wouldn't do it. It's a business decision. So you have to look at what is going to be your return on investment. When you make a business investment, you need to get a return on that investment. And you cannot run the math out on what you're talking about and make it make sense. It's not there, man. I'm in car service every day just about, it seems like, traveling as much as I travel.

And I can promise you, I've learned the business just by riding around with the guys forever. So, no, don't do that. Pay cash for whatever you're doing, move up one notch, and then get out of debt, and then pay cash and move up another notch but don't ever move up too far you cannot justify a fifty thousand dollar vehicle in the car service business it doesn't make sense you don't make your money back you really don't jason is with us in cincinnati ohio hi jason welcome to the dave ramsey show

hi dave thanks for taking my call. Sure. Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to try any of those Valentine's Day pickup lines on you, so don't worry about that. Good. I feel safe already. Good, good. Hey, my mom asked me the other day for some advice. She's getting close to retirement. She's 62, and she wants to retire in a couple years and move across country to be closer to family.

She makes $45,000 a year, but she's got a truck note of $25,000. She's got five different retirement accounts, which include two PERS accounts, a 401K with $190,000, a small Roth IRA with $3,000, and a variable annuity with $19,000. And I'm wondering two things. Should she continue paying off the truck in the regular fashion, or should she throw some of those retirement funds at it now that she's over 59 1⁄2? And the second question is, when she sells the house, which she does own free and clear, what should she do with those funds? She'll need no more than $100,000 for a new house when she moves,

so she'll have $180,000 left over to invest. Is she working 40 hours a week? Yes. And she makes $45,000 doing what? Admin assistant. And why is she waiting to move? She wants to move after she retires. When's she retiring?

A couple years. Okay. All right. Well, making $45,000 with a $25,000 car debt does not make sense. Yeah, I know. I know your principal on

motors and wheels. So sell it. That would be my advice. And then when she sells the house to make the move, wouldn't she buy a house in the new location? She would, but she's not going to spend more than $100,000 on that. Okay. And the current house she's in is $280,000.

Okay. Well, at that time, she'd have some money to invest or move back up in car a little bit if she wants to upon retirement. But a $45,000 household income doesn't justify a $25,000 car. It's one of the reasons she's got a little feeling, a little pinched. She's pinched in the vehicle. That's what it amounts to. And so, yeah, I'd dump that car, get you a lesser car, pile up cash. When you sell the house and move to the grandkids after retirement in three years,

if you want to move up a little bit more in car at that time because you got some extra money left over, yeah, that'd be fine. Hey, thanks for the call. Open phones this hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. At the bottom of the hour, Anthony O'Neill will be with us. Ramsey personality. Everything about teenagers and money. Everything about college-agers and money.

Everything about millennials and money. Yeah. Be sure and check it out. Anthony will be with us at the bottom of the hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM,

helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills.

To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Stephanie joins us. Hi, Stephanie. How are you? Hi, Papa Dave. I'm good.

Where do you live? I live in Salem, Oregon. Very cool. Welcome. And all the way over here to Tennessee to do a debt-free screen. Yep. We flew in last night. Wow.

Well, we're honored to have you. How much have you paid off? I've paid off just under $28,000. Good for you. And how long did this take? Ten and a half months. Wow, you did it fast. And your range of income? Through the year, I made $58,000. Cool. What do you do for a living? I'm a registered nurse. Ah, good. Good career. So what kind of debt was the $28,000? It was all nursing school. Okay. And you got out of school and started on the debt, or what happened? Yep. I finished nursing school in June, 2017. Um, took a few minutes or a few months when they do the grace period to kind of settled into work and, um, living and then started right after the grace

period started. So I started in February, um, last year. Very good. Are you LPN or RN or what? RN. Yep. Yeah. Look at you. Well, good, good. And so how old are you? 33. 33? Uh-huh. And you're 100% debt-free? Yep.

And you paid off your student loans in 10 months after getting out of school? Yep. See, you don't have to be stuck, do you? Nope, not at all. You get after it, don't you? Yes. What made you decide to do this? You know, I really was hesitant to take out nursing school loans i was really scared to have just a ton of debt and you know there's a

risk involved i had to pass my state board exam and i was just really freaked out about it good so when i finished yeah when i finished and i passed my boards i just knew i wanted to be free i didn't want to carry this weight on my shoulders. My goal was to be done in a year from when I started. So I just got after it, beans and rice, scorched earth, like you said, and really lived on next to nothing to get it done. And how did you get connected to us? Your name is just everywhere in the Christian world. So through church and places like that, people have read your book, done FPUs.

So I kind of knew, obviously I wanted to pay my debt off, but what attracted me to your program and Ransby Solutions was just that you do things God's way, and I want my life to be patterned by God's rules and His way and honor Him with my money and my income and my profession. You're awesome. We're so proud of you. Congratulations. Thank you. All right, you did it. All the other year olds are wandering around not all of them but some of them are walking

around going oh i'm stuck i'm stuck but not stephanie she's not stuck so what did what did you do tell them what the secret to getting out of debt is well i started with your book so i picked your book up at a thrift store for like five bucks. There you go. Read it in a day and just got on fire. I really decided I wanted to be counterculture in our profession. I feel like, you know, we graduate nursing school, we start making an income and I really want a new car, newer car. I wanted to upgrade things in my home, but I really felt like the priority was just to pay this stuff off and free myself from this debt so that later on I could have other things that I wanted.

So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? What do they need to do? Yeah, I use the envelope system. That worked really well for me. I ordered that from your site, and the budget obviously goes along with that. But really saying no to yourself, like delaying gratification now so that later you can live the life that you want to live. I think too, being immersed in this stuff really helped me. I live, breathe, eat, sleep your stuff. Like I listen to the podcast every day. I'm in the

Ramsey community online. Everything I talk about all the time, I'm sure all my coworkers on my unit are just so sick of me because I'm handing out books left and right. I'm just, I'm all about this. So having like that one focus of this is what I'm doing. I bought into it completely. No ish here. Like I really just followed it step by step. And for me, it worked in countless other people.

I love it. You're fun. Well done. You're a rock star kiddo well done well done well done so uh who was your biggest cheerleader my biggest cheerleader is right here he's my fiance his name is randy way to go randy go rando we met actually on the um dave ramsey community the official ramsey site no way he did yeah did. Yeah. Yeah. So I started in February and then he and I met in June

and just hit it off immediately and we're engaged now and planning a life together and we're all about this stuff. So he was debt free long before I met him and his parents are debt free. His brother just celebrated his debt freedom. So it's really a neat little story.

Who knew that was a place to look for a wife i don't think it was looking but it just happened to be you know the way our story turned out that's great so is randy from your area salem oregon he's from portland yeah so right there in the same neighborhood oh my gosh exactly that is so wonderful well congratulations we're proud for you what a big year you've had. Yes. Very amazing. Very amazing.

Well, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. Thank you. Because that's your next chapter. You and Mr. Randy are going to be everyday millionaires before we know it. Very, very well done. So proud of you. Thank you, Dave. You did good.

We love you so much. We love you, darling. You did really, really good. Excellent job. Stephanie from Salem, Oregon. $28,000 in nursing school paid off in 10 and a half months making $58,000

a year, 100% immersion, no ish. Count it down. Let's hear a debt free scream. 3, 2, 1. Praise God, I'm debt free! Woo! Free scream. Three, two, one. Praise God, I'm debt free. Good stuff.

Great stuff. Absolutely amazing. Well done. Well done, Miss Stephanie. Anthony O'Neill joins us at the bottom of the hour. If you have a question for Anthony, jump in. Kelly's going to open up a line or two for him. The phone number is 888 eight two five five two two five triple eight eight two five five two two five jonathan is with us in las vegas welcome to the dave ramsey show jonathan hey

dave how you doing better than i deserve what's up sure what's up? I'm calling to basically discuss something I discussed yesterday with our CPA. A little background, I am married, I'm a disabled combat vet, I have a wife and two kids. We don't have any car payment debts. We have a monthly expense of about $5,500. The only debt that we do have is our mortgage, which we paid down substantially over this past year. It was initially $330,000 in December of 2016. Now it's down to $211,700. Way to go. And yeah, something I've been kind of discussing with our CPA is because of this opportunity, because I'm disabled, I can have in my IRAs and putting it down on my mortgage, which would drop my mortgage balance down to $67,800 based on the numbers.

Now, the caveat was once I pay off this mortgage, I can then take that mortgage payment and start reinvesting without taking any kind of, if I take a loss in the market, you know, ups and downs. How old are you? I'm 34. Okay. And what's the nature of your disability? I had hip surgery last year, so, I mean, it's kind of like I'm just falling apart

from everything that I've gone through. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, you're obviously mentally okay, or it sounds like to me talking to you. Yeah, I have some days it's not so good. A little foggy? Okay. That's basically it. Yeah. I got you. Okay. Well, thank you for your service to start with.

Does your wife work outside the home? She does, and that was kind of another benefit for us on the earned income tax credit for the current laws and how they stand. So we did receive that and some federal taxes that we've been paying out from the benefits that I do receive. The part that we're doing right now is our mortgage is about $1,600, and what we've been doing weekly is taking extra payment. What does your wife earn? She earns, she just changed jobs, roughly $40,000 now. And what do you take in on your disability? So for our take-home together, we're about $7,200 a month combined.

How did you reduce your mortgage by $100,000 in two years? So before I got out of the military, I actually suffered a real bad car accident, actually two of them, and I had high enough underinsured motorist policies that I had to basically file a claim against my own insurance company. Gotcha. Okay. No, Aiden. I mean, Jonathan, I really wouldn't.

I don't like cashing out retirement accounts for anything except to avoid a bankruptcy or a foreclosure. And you're not there. You're making progress. You're being thoughtful. But I think this is going to set you back. I wouldn't do it. Did you know that if you combine the data breaches that have occurred in the past 12 months, almost every American has had their personal info compromised or hacked. Over 50% of our listeners and viewers tell us that they or someone in their family has been a victim.

And 70% of those folks have had it happen more than once. See, this is unbelievable. Once thieves get your info, the risk never goes away, and they can use it whenever and however they choose. It truly has become an issue of not if, but when. That's why the only plan I've ever recommended is through Zander Insurance. I actually sat down with them, and we put together a plan that I felt provided the best protection, but didn't waste dollars on things you could easily do yourself or were just gimmicks.

The key is getting protected before you're a victim and it's too late. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. We are all at risk and it doesn't make sense to wait. Numbers don't lie. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill, national best-selling author of the Graduate Survival Guide, Five Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make in College. Also the inventor, the creator of the Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox,

Everything Your Teen Needs to Start a Small Business, Learn Entrepreneurship, Start Making Money. Anthony joins us this half hour to answer your questions. Welcome back. Thank you so much, Dave. Been on the road traveling, man, trying to be like you. you yeah you just got in from what orlando just yes sir was in orlando with about 100 influential uh leaders and pastors out there talking about how can we uh start reaching the churches on how to you know teach financial peace university in their churches and just to reach the younger generation and teach them about stewardship so it it's been real fun. Cool. Where have you been other than Orlando?

I went to, so I was in Orlando. And then Dave asked me, then me and Rachel was in Raleigh, North Carolina. That's it. Okay. That was last week. Yeah, last week. And that was just amazing. I mean, that was Rachel and I's first time being on stage together,

hosting our own event and doing that. That was fun. And so I look forward to being with you next week in Michigan, and then Rachel and I are in Cincinnati, Ohio. So it's just that time of the season, Dave. It is. It's run, run, go, go, good times. Yes, sir.

We will be in Grand Rapids doing a Smart Money event on this coming Tuesday night, Anthony and I will, and that is live streamed. Oh, yeah. For those of you all over the nation that want to watch it, it's live streamed. And if you've not seen Anthony speak, you're in for a treat. This guy is a lot of energy on the stage and a lot of fun. Fun. And I guess that's one of the reasons it works with the youth, too, because they don't, they don't, youth don't do boring, right?

Yeah, no boring. High school is tough to talk to. They're a tough audience, man. Aiden is with us in Houston, Texas. Hey, Aiden, your question for Anthony O'Neill. So I'm 14, and I was wondering where my money should be going at this age. You're 14? So what grade are you in now, Aiden?

I'm in eighth grade. Eighth grade? Oh, man, you're already asking this question in eighth grade. So what do you want to do in the future? Do you see yourself going to college? No, I was thinking about, because the welding, I was thinking about doing welding, because welding is really good down here. Yeah, welding. So that sounds like welding school, trade school is in your future.

And I'm pretty sure your grades are going pretty good right now. So that's what I recommend you to do, man. If you have a job right now, are you driving? Are you saving up for a car? No. No, I'm not. So that's going to be the first thing. I would want you to save up for your first car when you turn 16 and get your license

and go buy something nice for about a grand, $2,000. And then from there, I want you to save up money so you can pay cash for welding school. Okay. The school that I'm going to, the high school I'm going to, offers welding classes where you can get a certificate there. Oh, so that's real good. So you pretty much, once you leave that welding school program there, you still have to go and get your license from a welding trade school, but it'll be much shorter so i like the program i like what you're thinking good job dude well done yeah yeah there's three things you can do with money and four things that we teach about money we need to learn to work which you're

obviously not afraid of and work is where money comes from so you get money and then what are we going to do with it we're going to give some save some some. In your case, Anthony, saying for a car, I agree with that. And we're going to live some, meaning you're going to spend it. So live, give, and save and work. And if you get those four things dialed in, you'll go a long way with money. It really is not much more complicated than that. People overcomplicate it, and sometimes they sophisticate themselves into a mess. But you're asking these kinds

of questions, Aiden, in the eighth grade? Dude, that sets you apart, man. You're something else. Very, very well done. Yes, Vessel. Gabriel is with us in Fort Myers, Florida. Gabriel, your question for Anthony O'Neill. Hey, thanks for taking my

call. I actually came across this podcast on accident earlier this week. Wish I could have started listening when I was in eighth grade. So I'm halfway through grad school right now. I got married six months ago, and I should have an estimated $100,000 in student debt at the end of it. So I guess my question is just I'm trying to find the best course of action to be as well off as I can be at the end of this, you know, going into the life of my wife. Love it.

Good for you, man. Well, welcome to the club, man. We appreciate you joining us and starting to listen. And how old are you and what are you studying? Yeah, I'm 23 and i'm studying physical therapy okay so you're going to be a pt uh yes sir and uh and you'll graduate with a hundred thousand dollars in debt when how much further out uh in a year and a half um so that'll be combined between my wife and i and what does she is she working yet yeah so she's a nurse right

now oh good very good so you'll be making about 70 and she probably could? Yes, so she's a nurse right now. Oh, good. Very good. So you'll be making about $70,000, and she probably could make about that. So you ought to be up in the $140,000 range between the two of you in Fort Myers area. Does that sound right to you? I think she brought in $55,000 this last year. Yeah, that's with no overtime. I think that's gross. And the plan is to do some travel together and hopefully make a little bit more money.

And after listening to some of your podcasts, try to pay it off in one year. Wow. We'll be living like college students still, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice if that means getting it out of the way. That sounds fun. I love that. And that sets you up to be able to have no debt and then to be able to build wealth. So what do you think, Anthony? Yeah. You know, Gary, again, congratulations and happy Valentine's to you and your wife in your first year of marriage.

I want to challenge you to start thinking about how can you stop borrowing money right now? I mean, continue the school process, but, you know, what can you do to stop borrowing money and start cash flowing the rest of it? I don't want you worried about paying back the student loans right now, but, you know, Dave, what can we do? What can Gabriel do to stop borrowing money and to start cash flowing it? Well, this ain't going to work on Valentine's Day very well, but his wife could pick up a bunch of overtime. Yes, sir.

I mean, the beauty, the beautiful thing about a nursing career is you can always work. Yeah. There's always work. Always. And you can always make money. And you can always make a lot of money. Yeah. And so you can work the ER.

You can work swings. Yeah. You can do whatever. But, I mean, you pick up, kick it up to 80 hours a week, and they could cash flow the rest of his degree and limit the amount of debt that they're in. And I don't know that that's a bad idea. I like that. But I don't know if I'd bring this up today. I might wait a little more.

And maybe not tomorrow. You know, maybe bring it up Monday. Enjoy the weekend. That's a lot of time together with that argument. And don't blame it on me, either. Anthony brought it up. No, no, no. You blame it on Dave Ramsey.

My name is not that strong yet. But, you know, Dave, when we think about this, how often are young people getting into this much debt, student loan debt? And this student loan thing is on the rise. And this is something that, you know, you and I and this company are passionate about is helping young people avoid this mistake and racking up in this amount of debt and in america it is possible to go to college debt free we see people doing it all the time and that's one thing i'm just very passionate about about getting grants getting scholarships and just moving a little bit slower dave to cash flow that process yeah i talked to a lady uh yesterday a young lady that had

done her first two years at community college yeah and paid cash for it and then she was actually talking about moving to another state and working for a year to establish residence because that state's in-state tuition was half of her state's in-state tuition see that's somebody's thinking thinking that's that's you know we need to think yes sir about education i mean that that sounds paradoxical doesn't it we need to think about education because when we don't think we make mistakes that guy there's done a great job and you know uh gabriel's situation is he can he can they could do the road warrior thing between his pt and her nursing and make some serious bank for a year have an adventure and clean it up really really fast i love that

plan yeah and that's thinking thinking you know that's good yeah and he's already thinking he said hey we're going to live like college students once we get out of uh dead once we get out of school and that's just setting them up for a strong future especially a young couple that age so so when you're in the high schools and you get asked this every single day yeah how do i go to school without debt what are you telling the main thing is if they're going to go without debt avoid student loans and work hard right i mean how do you do that though hey how do you avoid every single day you need to be looking up scholarships it's an hour treat it like it's a job treat it like it's a job you go to work it's a job. You go to work every single day. So every single day when you

come home, you look up scholarships and grants. Go around your local communities. Get to the small businesses. You can and will find the money if you are very passionate about it. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality. Back with your questions here on the Dave Ramsey personality. He and I will be in Grand Rapids michigan this coming tuesday doing a smart money event that is live streamed everywhere in the nation if you want to watch it we'd love to have you jump on and give it a peek and also you can come over and if you're in the grand rapids area there's still a few tickets left the phone number for tickets 888-22-PEACE 888-227-3223. Or, of course, you can go online at DaveRamsey.com.

And then that's Tuesday. On Wednesday night, he will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Rachel Cruz doing a Smart Money event. You're just going to be really smart about money next week. Yes, sir. All over the place. I love it. Very cool. Good times.

All right. Alex is with us in Connecticut. Hey, Alex, your question for Anthony O'Neill. Hey. So I recently, last month, I dropped out of college to, I got a job at a big tech company as a software engineer. And I have zero debt. And I would like, how could I invest my income towards retirement and just to build my wealth? So does that company offer a 401k?

Yes. Okay. Do they offer a Roth 401k with a match? I'm not sure. I don't think so. Okay. And you're 100% debt free? Yes. Do you have a car? Yes. so. Okay. And you're 100% debt-free? Yes.

Do you have a car? Yes. Paid off. Are you living at home? No. I'll be living in an apartment. Okay. And you said you're how old?

20. 20 years old. What are you making? What's your household income? My starting salary will be $65,000. Okay. Good. Okay. I like it okay i like it i like it alex you know um before you start investing one thing that we teach here is our baby steps um and you already

are already through baby steps too um do you have any money in your savings account right now like 500 bucks okay yeah so what we need to do is get that up uh to about three months you're a young kid 20 years old i don't have a problem with you having three months of your expenses set aside so before you start investing i want you to go ahead and get three months set aside for an emergency which shouldn't take you long making 65 000 a year and you're debt free then once you get into that then yes i want you to start investing into your 401k, uh, max out the max that they will contribute as well. And then look into, um, a Roth IRA. Um, those are the first two, but before you go into investing, I want you to really get your three months ahead of the game, um, into a savings account, because here's the

thing that we teach us all the time that nearly 70 percent of people cannot afford a 500 emergency so a 20 year old with three months set aside for emergencies he is way ahead of the game absolutely alex let's call that 10 grand yeah let's say put 10 grand aside and then start your 401k over at your company at least up through the match put it in the roth pick the four types of mutual funds we talk about growth growth and income income, aggressive growth, and international. Hold on. I'll send you a copy of my book, The Total Money Makeover. It'll outline everything Anthony's talking about and show you exactly what to do.

You know, one of the other things that you're running into a lot is in listening to these teenagers when you're doing the events in high schools and even college students, even 20-year-olds, you're seeing a lot of the world through their eyes. You're able to see it through their eyes, with you and Meg as a one to punch. You've kind of got it through the eyes of the of the teenager. And she's definitely America's mom and advising on the power that dads have in children's lives and the whole thing. It's just a wonderful one to punch. And we're going to try it. These are our first two of these to do, the Smart Parent events, right?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And, Dave, I'm really excited about it because one thing, the reason why we're doing it is because we're hearing a lot of parents say, hey, I don't think I'm a good parent. I'm failing over here. And the truth of the fact is, yes, it's true. There's no perfect parent, but I believe every parent is a good parent for the most part and i believe all of our listeners and a lot of people who are following us are great

parents could they use some advice could they use a little bit of information on okay this is what my child is thinking um yes and so we're coming today just to remind them you're a great parent and we're going to help you become even greater greater and so one of the things that i'm learning with teenagers is that they love their parents but sometimes they feel as if my parent they don't understand me they don't respect where i currently am at the age of 14 at the age of 13 and so i'm really going to just help parents just really understand where their child whether they're five years old, 10 years old, 15 years old, where they currently are, how they are currently thinking.

And it may is going to come from the perspective of, hey, I get it. You know, I'm a mother of several kids. I've been counseling parents. And us two combined, Dave, this is going to be a great event. It's rich. It's really rich. Really, really good, good stuff. And we're doing two of them to give this a try the smart parent events minneapolis may 14th and sacramento may the 21st yes i'm really excited about both of those especially california uh you know california

has beautiful weather so that's golf weather dave so i may go out there earlier and play golf with some parents out there, you know? You never know. You never know. It could happen. I know a guy that might do that. Good stuff. Well, well done, sir.

Good stuff. So Smart Money this coming Tuesday in Grand Rapids and with me in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday, the 21st with Rachel. You and I are doing a Smart Money event in a couple of weeks after that in Atlanta, Georgia. And, man, we're busy here. A lot of live events going on. Again, the Grand Rapids event is being streamed. The Money and Marriage event tonight in Nashville with Les Parrott and Rachel Cruz is being streamed. And our Entree Leadership One Day event in Grand Rapids that Ken Coleman and Christy Wright and I are doing on Monday

is going to be streamed. So it's all over the place. Maria is in New York City. Hi, Maria. Your question for Anthony O'Neill. Hi. I am fortunate enough to be debt-free as of this month. But, yes, I graduated high school, didn't know what I wanted to do, so I decided to

go to work, then go to school. But now I am going back to school at age 30, and I've been fortunate enough my parents paid for my associate's degree. But now my bachelor's, I'm going to be paying and starting the student loan process. I hope to be in marketing, and my job starting salary is around 57, how much student loans would you, like, say should I take out? Because I don't want to be drowning in debt after school. I mean, that's zero is what I would say. Yeah. But let's step back, though, okay?

So explain to me, do you have to have this degree to get your current job that you're going after right now? Yes. I technically don't need a degree, but it's extremely competitive what I want to do, so they really don't look at anyone who doesn't have a degree. So what do you make now? I make about $52,000 a year. Okay. And you'd be at $57,000 with a degree, but you'd be more competitive is what you're saying.

Well, right now I work as a babysitter full-time. I would be leaving and going into a corporate job. Okay, so while you're babysitting, can you go to school? That's what I did for my associates, but my bachelors, I am going to go to a school in Manhattan, and I really want to take advantage of all of their internships to build my resume and tailor it for my job, so I would be leaving my job. So, in essence, you're going into debt so you can be an intern. Yes, unfortunately.

Yeah. No, I wouldn't do that. Yeah? Nope. Don't think it's worth it. Your resume's not built that much by interning, especially when you can't afford it. You're borrowing money not to go to school. You're borrowing money because you're not working to intern. Right.

That's a bad choice. I mean, I have a good amount of savings, which is good. I have about $25,000 of savings for school. So how much do you need to pull this off? I would be short. I would have to take about $5,000 student loans. Okay. We can come up with $5,000.

So work enough to get $5,000, kiddo. Yeah. I'd be just short because I have to leave in the fall because I got into the school, so I would be short that much. So take one semester and don't be an intern and get $5,000 and then intern the rest of the time. But don't borrow money because you intern. That's not a good choice.

You're not getting a good ROI on that. But you've got a plan. You're almost there. I can see the finish line. Yeah, there it is. Anthony, thanks for stopping by. Dave, America, thank you so much for having me. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality.

Check it out. You can see him everywhere on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about a product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.