The Ramsey Show - App - What Should I Be Doing With My Money Right Now? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 30, 2021

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Thank you. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out. Have a conversation about your life, your money, your work, your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Campbell. We're here together this hour to take your phone calls, 888-825-5225.

It's a toll-free number, 888-825-5225. Thrilled to be with you today, and I know some of you out there listening are going, all right, I've listened. I've got a question. I need a little bit of breakthrough. I need a little bit of encouragement. I need a little bit of, I got A, B, or C. Which way do I go?

Well, George and I are here to help you. George will take your money questions, and I'll specifically help you on your work questions. Are you doing what you love? Are you doing what you were called to do? Do you think it's possible to make the impact and the income that you want at the same time? If you don't, I beg to differ. Give me a call. Let's see if we can help you get on the same page.

It is possible, George. Life is too short to work for the weekend. And by the way, you can work the baby steps and my seven stages to doing what you love, what you were born to do. It's possible. As a matter of fact, stage five of my seven stages is get promoted. By the way, that usually comes with a pay bump, and that'll make that shovel bigger. So George and I are going to lock arms today, and we're going to help you out. 888-825- 5225. Let's go to

Spokane, Washington to start us off this hour. Justin joins us. Justin, how can we help? Yeah, thanks for having me. You bet. My wife and I just entered into contract to sell our home, and we're kind of curious

if maybe doing a hard reset on our total debt uh would be a good idea at this time because we will be making enough on the sale that we could wipe everything that we have in debt whoa justin uh now before george dives in what do you mean we could uh you're assuming that are you saying the contract may or may not go through i mean what do you mean by that uh i mean i'm just we're definitely going to make enough we've made enough on the sale that we could okay off god we have about 88 000 combined debt with vehicles campers student loans things like that okay great um and we And we'll walk away with about $118,000 from the sale. All right. Nice.

What caused you guys to sell? Just trying to, the financial freedom. We're going to move in with my mother-in-law for a while, and we were going to pay off whatever we couldn't after the home sold, but the market was crazy enough that it was kind of like strike while the iron's hot. How long are you going to be with mom-in-law? We plan for a year.

If it goes beyond that, that's fine. We're remodeling her basement for separate living. How old are you guys? We're in our 30s. Okay. And this would be a temporary stopgap for a year until what? Yeah. Well, we would like to buy some land and then develop the land outside of town.

We're looking at land currently, but not sure if it's the right time to do that or not. So once you buy the land, you've still got to wait and build. So what I don't want is for this to be a two-, three-year thing accidentally, which happens more often than you'd think. And so I don't want you guys taking up space in the basement for too long. I love the idea of you taking the proceeds and getting rid of the debt. You said you've got $118K coming in from the house sale, and you have $88,000 in debt? Correct. Okay, so that means you'd have $30,000 left over.

Do you guys have any money outside of that that's liquid in savings or an emergency fund? We've got just a few thousand in savings. That's about it. We had just started doing a debt snowball. We applied a lot of our stimulus money towards debts to start chipping away at it. Okay. Well, I like this idea of this thing just being napalm and just destroying this debt instantly, having 30K left over plus some savings, which will be, I'm guessing, more than enough for your fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Is that right?

I would think so. We haven't even made it that far as far as planning that goes. Well, start to get this stuff on paper. But you're about to leapfrog in the baby steps, which is always great news when you can just fast forward this thing because of this home payoff. So what I want you guys to do is start saving up a real healthy down payment once you have that emergency fund in place. Figure out what that looks like for you guys based on property and land. I just know that when you deal with land, it's probably going to be a longer journey. And so maybe you get into something while you get the land and get this house built, but I don't like the idea of just this thing being sitting out there and you're living

in the basement for too long. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Justin, I'm curious. Prior to selling the house, how much were you putting a month towards your debt? Our debt snowball, I think we hit about $850 a month that we were throwing on top of our smallest debt. Okay, that's huge. I just want to point this out. George just said this, but I wanted to be very specific. You take that $850,000 on top of the $30,000. So the $30,000 is going to get the emergency fund, I think, fully funded.

I feel pretty good about that. And now you've got $850,000 a month. That's going to add up pretty quickly as it relates to getting the down payment. And that's on top of all of the money that you're going to free up by paying off this debt. Yes. How much is that, or just all the payments collectively? Oh, goodness. I'm not sure. I really don't know that answer. I want you to figure that out. Yeah. I want you to figure that out because it's going to encourage you when you go, oh my gosh, we were paying $1,300 on debt plus our $850 we were throwing on there.

That's $2,150 we could put every month towards this down payment. And then it feels possible. And that's what I want you to feel is that this is not a pipe dream and, hey, we're just going to live in the basement and figure it out as time goes on. I want you to have a plan on paper of your exit strategy. And once you have that, everyone's going to feel good about the situation because things are going to be clear. And what's your household income? Well, we're just about $95 okay yeah yeah yeah i think i think this is a great move uh i'm really excited for you i'm with george uh you know one year could pretty i mean it's going to take them a little bit of time to save up and then if they're talking about buying

land to develop so i I just, you better come up with a backup plan besides living in mother-in-law's basement. Because this is going to take a few years to save up, to develop the land. That's going to take some time. What I like is, though, they have this house payment freed up, too. On top of the debt payments freed up, on top of the money that were put on the snow. Oh, yeah, they can make some

serious grand. They can have a big pile of money here if they stay focused and don't just go spending it going, hey, we're rich now. So stay focused. What's your personal length of time you could live in your mother-in-law's basement? I don't want to answer in case she's listening, Ken, but if she is listening. No, no, it's nothing to do with her. Okay. All right.

Good. You can't back out of this one. I would give it a year. I'd say 12 months is my maximum before I go. I want my own space. And like you said earlier in a call. Even if you're saving a ton of money. Even if.

Yeah. I think there's something that it does to your spirit when it's on you. Yeah. space and like you said earlier in a call even if you're saving a ton of money even if yeah i think there's something that it does to your spirit when it's on you yeah and i want that for everyone i don't know that i could live in a renovated space while i'm living and renovating same time i think it's a real challenge for me personally i'm no chip throw it in the basement of my mother-in-law and i love my mother-in-law yeah uh i i don't know. Six months, man. I think that's my max. Okay. Just me personally. I believe it.

Yeah, I think so, too. You've got to own it, man. That can get tricky. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Something to leave and cleave in those marital vows. It rhymes.

Yeah, it does. On purpose. All right, folks, don't move. More of the Ramsey Show coming right up. You've got a lot on your plate, a job, your home, your marriage, and your growing family. While you're enjoying the present, you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your healthcare. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you.

That's chministries.org budget. Welcome back, America. I'm Kevin Coleman. He is George Camel, and you're listening to The Ramsey Show. So thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. It's toll free. 888-825-5225. We're taking your calls about money. We're taking your calls about your work. You want to get a bigger shovel and move up the ladder to actually do work you love? Well, I'll take those calls for you.

And then George, of course, is going to help you out on your money calls. And we'll team up on some stuff, too. So let's go. Scranton PA. Oh, I love this. Every time I see Scranton PA, I think of the office. These poor people. They're like, it was Scranton long before that. You know what I mean? So we won't mention it directly, but there

it is. I've already let it out of the bag. Glenn joins us. Glenn, how can we help? Hello, Glenn. Hey, how's it going? Well, we're living the dream. What's up? Oh, that's great.

If you have a guest, I just want to say I hope you guys are having a good day, and thank you for accepting my call. Very kind. Thank you for thinking of me, Glenn. Yeah, George is with me. Okay. And anyways, I'm a 23-year-old over-the-road truck driver. I've been doing it for two years since I was 21. And in that time, I have been able to pay $11,000 in the bank. I make about $60,000 a year. I have zero debt.

And I am living with my parents. Whenever I take some time off, I go over there and enjoy, you know, whatever we do up there on Scranton. And basically, I've been reading this book called The Richest Man in Babylon, and it basically says that in order to become financially wealthy, you need to save your money and invest your money. And I'm just wondering if you guys have any recommendations. Absolutely. Great book. Dave actually wrote the foreword on one of the editions that we sell here at recommendations. Absolutely. Great book. Dave actually wrote the foreword on one of the editions that we sell here at Ramsey Solutions.

That's awesome. You've done really well. Are you 23 now? How old are you? Yeah, I just turned 23 on the 14th. And you've got no payments in the world and $20,000 in the bank. Am I hearing that right? Yes. I like this. So far we're doing great because if you know the baby steps,

that puts you past baby step three, where you've got no payments, no consumer debt, and you have a fully funded emergency fund. And I imagine $20,000 is more than a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses for you, correct? Since you don't have many expenses? Right. Yeah. I only have a $150 phone bill and a $250 auto insurance. Wow. So you're living at $400 a month right now for expenses plus food. Right. Yep. Okay. Well, that's great. Plus food. Well, plus food, I guess you could say probably $200 to $300 a month. Okay. Well, the key here is you've got say probably $200 to $300 a month. Okay. Well, the key here is you've got real low expenses, you have a great income, and you're really young, and you're already doing this stuff.

So here's what I want to tell you. You're at Baby Step 4, where you invest 15% of your household income into retirement. So what options do you have right now for retirement? Do you have anything through work, like a 401K? I will have one next year. Fantastic. I'll be eligible for one next year. Well, in the meantime, because you have earned income, you can open up a Roth IRA and you can fund that with $6,000 for your 2021 contribution limit.

So if you've got that money and you've got that left over in your bank, you can go fund that today. Okay. What is that actually? I never heard of that. So the IRA, it's the Individual Retirement Arrangement. And it's basically a shell that keeps the government's hands off your money. So what you're going to do with the Roth IRA is inside of that, you're going to choose mutual funds. And if you need help with this, definitely connect with one of our smart investor pros that are in your area. You can do that at ramsaysolutions.com. These are the vetted, trusted pros that can help walk you through this and educate you because we tell people, don't just do stuff because I told you about it, Ken told you

about it. Do it because you know it's the best decision for you. So these guys, these men and women can walk you through those decisions of how to set up that Roth IRA, what to invest in based on the Ramsey parameters and good growth stock mutual funds. But you're 23, you're going to be a multi-millionaire if you start doing this stuff now, which you absolutely are. So outside of the Roth IRA, once you've funded that $6,000, you can start to invest in that 401k through your workplace and just make sure that the total amount is 15% of your household income going into those types of accounts, your Roth IRA, a 401k, or a Roth 401k if you have one, and that's going to grow tax-free with your after-tax

dollars. So way to go. He's doing really great. Yeah, absolutely fantastic. Absolutely love that. Hey, georgeblinds.com has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That means even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color, which, by the way, I would. It's made for the Ken Coleman's of the world who will do that. They'll remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Eric in Virginia.

I have a 26-year-old son with a degree in global affairs who has been looking for work over the last year with no success. He has sent out many resumes, but his experience is a slim. Oh, okay. It says written wrongly. Wow. His experience is slim. Having only worked in customer service at a grocery store, no one is willing to give him a chance. He wants to go back to school to get a different degree to increase his chances, but I'm not sure that will help.

What advice can I give him? Okay, well, a couple things. We've got a degree in global affairs. All right. And I am admittedly, as I answer this question, not a big expert on the global affairs degrees. But obviously that tends to lean towards government or certainly international business would open up a lot of opportunities potentially there. But the resumes have been going out. He's been sending a lot of resumes,

and he's only got at some point in his young working career, George, he's worked in customer service at a grocery store. All right, mom, first of all, there is somebody who's willing to give himself a chance. But I teach that a resume without a relationship is almost worthless. Now, what I mean by that is, if you're just submitting resumes in 2021, they're just piling up digitally. Like, there are many times that you're going through one or two phases of the application process where a human's not even looking at your resume because of the artificial intelligence and the software. So what we've got to do is we've got to say, okay, wait a second. If I've got this degree in global affairs and I want to work in either international business or government, we've got to first establish what does the young man want to do? Does he have any ideas that he wants to pursue that are attached to his degree?

If, in fact, that he does, now we're looking at, all right, it's Ken Coleman's proximity principle. And here's how it works, George. You know this. I wrote an entire book on it. It became a bestseller. I believe it's somewhere here in the studio. There it is over to my left. Doesn't it look fantastic, George?

Looks so good. Here's what it says. In order to do what I want to do, fill in the blank, you've got to be around people that are doing it in places where it's happening. Now, there's some major depth right there, right? No, there's no depth. It's actually super simple. You unpacked it in the book with a lot of pages attached. But here's the deal. If I'm that young man, I'm getting around people that are in that industry, that are actually doing that work.

Why? Because I want to know, hey, how'd they get in? What do they love most? Which particular side of things would I want to land on? The more I get information, this is where we engage the brain, George, and we go, okay, I've got a degree in global affairs. I thought I wanted to go here. After I went and talked to some people who are actually doing that, my heart went, eh,

right? And so then I go gather some more information. I get around some other people, get in places with this kind of work. Until our heart goes ding, ding, ding, right? It's pretty simple stuff. Because the heart goes, yeah, I want to do this. I'd love to do this all day. So now we look at, okay, I've got the basic degree.

What other additional experience would I need to eventually do this? So then we back out of that and go, okay, this is the entry level. So I've got to go get a desk job at a multinational corporation just to get in or whatever that is. So that's the process. But what happens is, and I feel so bad here, you've got a young man who wants to work, wants to get out there, sending all the resumes. But it's essentially like chopping a tree in the middle of the wilderness. Nobody knows he's doing anything. So you've got to ask yourself, who do I know that knows somebody in that industry?

Who are the people I need to be around? What are the places I need to get in where I could job shadow and buy job shadow or volunteering right out of the gate? Get a delivery job. Drive Uber and then get in. So this is all about effort at this point. And I'm just saying here, should he get a different degree? I don't think the degree is the problem.

If you want to work global affairs, you've got to go find yourself a job in global affairs and start. I started as an intern, Ken. I think he's got to start slow and work his way up there. Applying without Relationship Connections, George, is literally like scratching the lotto ticket. It's just not going to pay off.

All right, don't move. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Dave here. We just launched a brand new listener survey. We want to know what you think about the show. You'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card. No purchase necessary. Take the survey at ramseysolutions.com slash survey or text survey to 33789.

This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Camel. And we're taking your calls this hour. It is a toll-free number. I don't know what you're waiting on. Breakthrough is one phone call away. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225.

And let's go now to Anna, who joins us in Miami, Florida. And I understand, Anna, you're on the line to do a debt-free scream? Yeah. Hi, Ken. How are you? Yes, I am. Awesome. Well, that's so exciting. So how much did you pay off? I paid off $82,000. Wow. And how long did that take? It took 23 months and 15 days. Wow. I love it. And what was your range of income during that time? $95,000 to $102,000.

Nice. Now, what do you do for a living? I'm active duty military, and I've been serving for over 11 years. I'm getting ready to go to the Middle East actually. Oh my goodness Anna well let me just say this you are a great American thank you for your service. Thanks for your support. Yes ma'am. All right so take us 23 months ago what was the catalytic moment what happened what caused you to go on this debt-free journey? So for me, right? So I've been bopping along all along. I came from the Caribbean. I'm Jamaican. So I came here in 03 and just speed rolling through credit cards, personal loan, having

fleece and, you know, just all the consumer debt you could think of. And back in 2019, in June, when I started this journey, I came out here in Sierra Vista, Arizona. So I was stationed on Fort Huachuca during the two weeks, almost two years of paying off this debt. And so I went to the new I went to the ID card office and I met this guy, Tim, and, you know, he told me about Financial Peace University and how, you know, every day, every, you know, the average American goes to, you know, to Tennessee to do their debt-free screen. And I was like, okay, what's that? And he's like, have you heard of Dave Ramsey? I'm like, no, I've not. and, you know, so after him telling me about the program and being so passionate about, you know, everything that you and the team does and everything that they do, I left his office that day. I got my new ID card because I'd just gotten a promotion, so I needed a new card,

and I went back to my car, and I was like, okay, I'll go on YouTube. And I kid you not, I went on YouTube that day. I listened to about two debt-free screams, and the rest is just history. I was just fired up, wired up, and I just got after it. That's awesome. I love that. What kind of debt was it? So credit cards, student loan, personal loan, and a fleece. Oh, wow.

You had a little bit of everything. You definitely were average. Yeah, absolutely, George. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my goodness. And you just went just full throttle on this thing. What kind of things did you do? What sacrifices did you make, expenses cut, income?

What did you actually do to get out of this debt that fast? Oh, yeah. So beans and rice, rice and beans every day, all day, in and out. I cut on the lifestyle. I was not in Nordstrom shopping on the weekends anymore. No more eating out. I cut off the Amazon. I cut off the Sirius XM radio. I sold everything in my apartment. I was literally sitting on the floor. I got rid of the couch. I sold everything in my apartment. I was literally sitting on the floor. I got rid of the couch. I sold everything. Wow.

Oh, my goodness. Did people think you were just nuts doing all this? Yeah, my mom at one point was like, are you sure about this? You're like, stop it, Mom. I'm eating beans right now. I can't be bothered. On the floor. Yeah, absolutely sure.

Yeah, you know, I just created a plan, too, and just literally went on every dollar app, created, you know, my budget, which is like my blueprint right now, and I made this wicked spreadsheet that just goes out until I'm like 100 years old right now. I'm 34 right now, but, yeah, I'm all in. Yeah, Anna, you are not. you're like levels beyond all in. I don't even know that there's a phrase that captures that kind of amazing focus and discipline. Good for you. Yeah, absolutely.

Go ahead. No, you go ahead. No, I was going to say that I also volunteer to become a coordinator, and I also do coaching on the side. Wow. So, you know, just giving back. So I've been running a lot of classes online, so I really thank all my clients and all the support they've given me, too. So you're a financial coach?

Yeah, so I do the side hustle and going to school and being an active duty soldier. Yeah, you're amazing. I'm exhausted just talking to you. I mean, trying to keep up. Yeah, I need a nap. I'm just curious, how much are you making with your financial coaching side hustle? So on my side hustle right now and with my transition going overseas, I'll say on average right now roughly about $20,000 to $30,000

because I'm doing it part-time. Wow. That's amazing. Part-time, $20,000 to $30,000. Yeah. That's fantastic. And you're leading Financial Peace University classes on top of that. Yeah.

Yeah, I am. Can we clone you? Yeah. I think we need more airs in the world. Absolutely, yeah. I'm going to have gifts for all of you, but I wasn't able to make it out to Nashville because I'm in the process of getting ready to go overseas, but I have coins for everyone that's on the team because I was a commander during this time, so I had company coins, but I have coins for everyone when I get back.

You are extraordinary. So what would you say to people who maybe, just like you, have only been listening or watching the show for a small amount of time, and they're hearing this story, and they're going, Anna's superhuman. She's not even real. She's like a superhero. I can't do it. What would you say to them? So, you know, for me, just answer that call, right? And just knowing your why of, you know, why you would like to become debt-free and just living below your means. You know, I was that rat in the wheel, just going, going, spinning on my little wheels.

And it doesn't work looking rich, but have $0 in the bank account. So I just tap into knowing my why and you know my why it makes me cry like Anthony talks about because I was raised in a community where I walked like 15-20 miles to school in Jamaica the roads are bad no one has food to eat no clothes so my why is going back and giving back to that community in Buxton, Jamaica, where I grew up and just providing clean water, sanitation and just a food kitchen, just everything. So these people, you know, just to improve people's quality of life and just providing dialysis machine and computers, printers, community center. That's my biggest why I did this and just really being intentional. Anna, you are truly amazing. Just so, so privileged to be able to listen to this story.

I know it's encouraged so many people. And again, I know you're getting ready to head to the Middle East to serve our country. You are just a great American, a great person. You've inspired so many people. So we want to do something for you. So we're going to give you two books. We're going to send you, Kelly will take care of you in a moment. We're going to send you a copy of The Legacy Journey.

That's the next step in the process for you. That's from Dave Ramsey. And then, of course, we're going to give you a copy of Dave's wildly popular book, The Total Money Makeover, for you to gift to somebody else because you've done it. It's going to have a lot of impact when you hand it to somebody else. So, Anna, here we go. Anna from Miami, Florida.

She paid off $82,000 in 23 months, making $95,000 to $102,000. Anna, this is your moment. Let's hear your debt-free scream. Thank God Almighty. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! There it is. Touchdown!

She is absolutely debt-free. Wow! Man. I need a nap just hearing about all the things she's doing and is going to do. My face hurts. I feel like a loser. I need to do more. My face hurts, she's doing and is going to do. My face hurts. I feel like a loser. My face hurts, Ken. I've been smiling so hard, my face hurts. Yeah, yeah.

That's amazing. She was absolutely inspiring. She was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of this debt. Yep. That is what we call gazelle intensity. She is the poster child. Yeah, unbelievable. Love, love, love her story.

By the way, Ann, if you can, when you get back, come to Nashville. We'd love to love all over you and celebrate you. What a wonderful, wonderful lady. And serving our country, by the way. Praying herself in harm's way to protect our precious liberties. What a fantastic story. Wow. All right, folks, don't move. Good news. More of your calls coming up. This is The Rating Show. Welcome back, America. You are joining The Ramsey Show, and we're thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Camel. George, what do we got for folks?

Well, I've got some good news for you guys. We are bringing back the epic $10 sale for these last two days of August. Can you believe August is already over, Ken? What's going on here, man? I can't. Well, here at Ramsey, we think of August as a second new year. We've noticed that once everyone's done with all the distractions of summer, they're ready to kick things into high gear, And we all know you still have goals that you

want to reach. So to help you get back on track, we are bringing back our $10 sale on our top 10 books. So this is your chance to pick up bestsellers like The Total Money Makeover, The Graduate Survival Guide, which just got a new redesign, and so much more. You can check it all out at the online store at RamseySolutions.com but you got to hurry because like I said, this thing ends in two days and don't forget,

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33789 to enter our giveaway now. That's CASH to 33789. And remember, 48 hours. Yeah, and George forgot to mention that my number one bestseller, The Proximity Principle, is in that list. I mean, my kids need new shoes, George. You're right. I mean, I'm working hard here. We're already selling

it at $10. $10 is a good deal. And I think if you get like two or three... Oh, man, it's a good deal for those people. I mean, I'm working hard here. We're already selling it at $10. $10 is a good deal. And I think if you get like two or three... Oh, man, it's a good deal for those people. Free shipping. I don't know about me. I love free shipping.

Don't you? I do love good free shipping. I can't stand paying for shipping. So get three. Give some to a friend, especially Ken's books. Especially. Yeah, because I've got to

feed my kids. I've got three teenagers. And one of them, he's a big dude. He's a big kid. I would not take him in a fight. Big kid.

I now own stock in costco it's the uh only because the amount of food yeah yeah yeah 499 rotisserie can feeds the whole family boy that's the truth all right folks let's get to the phones 888-825-5225 is the number let's go to dallas texas ashley joins us there ashley how can we help? Hi, Kenan George. Hi. I'm a travel nurse. I'm on baby step two. Okay. I have 60K left in student loans. After looking for a year, I have my first nurse practitioner job lined up to start November, making 100K a year. With COVID picking back up, the rates for a travel nurse right now are 5K to 9k per week about but there's no guarantee how long these rates last my question is should i put up accepting this job advancing my career

to hopefully have my student loans paid off by the end of the year doing the traveling i want to move forward in my career but i I see this opportunity here as well. And make sure I heard you correct. What's the move forward in the career? What is the, is it a nurse practitioner? Yes. Well, here's the way I look at this. Will opportunities to be a nurse practitioner be available at the end of this year and beyond? Yes. Absolutely. How much longer will these rates, these insanely amazing rates that travel nurses are getting, how much longer is that going to be available?

No telling. No telling. But fast forwarding, getting out of debt, $60,000, you can get out so much quicker and still walk into a very nice job, a very nice career doing what you love. If it's me, if you called to ask me what I would do, I would take the travel nurse job and I would just press pause on stepping into the field because you're already qualified. You're already ready. It's not like you're delaying by getting qualified. You're ready to go. But to take this money now to pay off this debt fast and get it done, absolutely. Because then you're going to come back and you're going to step into the career you love

with no debt. Yep. And I'll tell you this, if it were me, I'd stay in it until I got the emergency fund taken care of. I'd do baby steps two and three and then I'd stay in it until I got the emergency fund taken care of. I'd do baby steps two and three, and then I'd walk. I think that's exactly what I can do in the next three months. Listen to that, Ashley. Three months.

90 days. 90 days. You're delaying stepping into the work. You're already qualified for 90 days, and you're going to get debt-free and put the emergency fund in place? Woo, go. Yeah. And, Ashley, I just did some napkin math for you to encourage you here. $5,000 to $9,000 a week, that's what you said, right?

Mm-hmm. So on the high end, that's $36,000 a month, which means you'd have this debt paid off in two months. And on the low end, it's $20,000 a month, which means you pay this thing off in three months. So either way, it's a good deal. It's a great deal. And you're going to crush this thing so fast

and still get that nurse practitioner job making $100,000 plus. Ashley, this is exciting. Are you ready to celebrate? Are you getting excited about this? I'm very excited. I think I've just also been waiting for a job. And so I've been leaning exactly towards what you guys are saying. I think I just needed that little reassurance. I can hold it off just a little bit longer you can because listen you're still going to be incredibly valuable you're going to have plenty of opportunities this is just such a gift

I'd take it I agree I think so many people would want this opportunity and here it is for me I should take it you should you're three months away oh Ashley go I mean I'd call them right now like right now hang up right now call him say i'm taking it i'm in i could beat the airport in an hour you know what

i mean like i would be that excited yeah this is great news my brother's a nurse practitioner and let me tell you the need is not going anywhere and it's probably only going up uh and she sounds like she's got a great head on our shoulders and like she said she just needed the reassurance yeah you know well here's the thing. Look, let's unpack this for a moment. For people that are in the baby steps and they're in baby step two specifically, two and three, where you're trying to really get yourself stable. Baby step two for new listeners, that's you're paying off all of your debt except for your house. And so that's super important to set yourself up for the future.

And then that emergency fund is a wonderful, wonderful kind of nice warm blanket every night when you go to bed because emergencies are going to happen. When you're in those two stages, it's really, really critical that you have the temporary mindset to get that, but to realize that you're not going to be behind in your professional career. You may have to delay some things, but it doesn't mean that in the grand scheme of things, George, that the dream is dead, that you can't get there. And many times you can still pursue and be getting qualified while you're paying off debt. So I think sometimes there's a hurdle for people.

And in her situation, she's going, I've wanted this nurse practitioner job for a long time. I've got an opportunity, but now I get this other thing. And it's like, oh, what do I do? Debt or dream? Debt or dream? And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's not. That's a false narrative.

It's not debt or dream. It's debt and the dream. It's just they're not happening at the exact same time. I love that mentality. And I do think you're right. A lot of people see it as, I'm taking a step back or I'm going over here. I need to be going in this direction. And the baby steps is propelling you forward.

When you do it the right way, you're never going to feel like, man, I really screwed up by paying off my debt. We don't get calls like that. No. And it's only going to help your career. Well, and let's look at it this way. When she steps into that nurse practitioner job, yes, she's going to step into it a little later than she had originally envisioned. But you're stepping into it way better. So is it later? Yes.

Or is it better? It's both. You're going to step in later, but it's going to be better. And stepping in debt-free as a nurse practitioner? It's better. Game changer. Life's better. Yeah.

So therefore, the job's better when I don't practitioner? That's my point. It's better. Life's better. So therefore, the job's better when I don't have that hanging over my head. Now, let's run the opposite where a lot of people want to get there quick. So let's say that she would call and she goes, all right, what do I do? She goes, well, I got this opportunity to be a travel nurse and knock this debt out in three months, but I've worked so hard. I've waited so long to be a nurse practitioner. I'm going to step into that. Well, stepping into that with all that debt, now you can't truly enjoy this gig as much as you would be able to enjoy it if you didn't have the burden of debt hanging around your neck.

That's the point. So there is something about us humans, George, you know this, that we want everything as fast as we can possibly get. It's in the human condition to want progress and to want it now. But sometimes you just have to be patient. And I got to tell you, patience is hard. Oh, yeah. And, you know, Ken, as I've really thought about this, I've been here eight years now,

and I found a common thread with almost everyone who gets into a pickle, and it's a shortcut. That's what debt is. Debt is just a shortcut where they go, you know what? I could get there faster if it wasn't my money, if I just borrowed it. I could get there faster if I just was a little bit lax and did this over here. And it's when you do the hard work, that sacrifice, the gazelle intensity that we talk about all the time on the show, that you actually feel progress. And like you said, it's temporary. A lot of people think, well, Dave doesn't want me to eat out.

That's not what it is. Dave wants you to eat out as much as you want, and you can do that when you don't have any payments in the world. That's so true. Don't even have to worry about that. All right, good stuff. Hey, George Campbell, always fun to be with you, my friend. Hey, I want to thank our producer, Ben Hill, our associate producer, Kelly Daniel, and you, America. Thank you so much for joining us. You can do this.

There is a clear path that baby steps work time and time again. It's been a great hour. This is The Range Show. Dave here. We just launched a brand new listener survey. We want to know what you think about the show. You'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card. No purchase necessary.

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