The Ramsey Show - App - You Can Buy a House Without a Credit Score! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 2, 2019

Rachel Cruze, Anthony ONeal, Home Selling, Insurance   Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE   Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Dave Ramsey Show, where you learn to take control of your money and create a life you love. I am Ramsey personality, Rachel Cruz, filling in for Dave this hour. And it's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225 Call and ask your questions about your life and your money and this hour is so fun.

I hosted solo last hour but this hour I get my friend in studio Ramsey personality Anthony O'Neill. Welcome. The one and only. How you doing Rachel? The one and only Anthony. I'm glad you're here. Oh man man. Fun times. So great. Okay. So those people that are not familiar with you, who are you? just really passionate about helping teens and millennials start off their life correctly. You know, that's just really my heart, my, my, my passion and my message. You know, if you're a teenager graduating, going to high school, me going to college or going into the military or even going into the real world. And then if you're a college student going into the real world, about to get a job, about to become a

family man or a family young lady, I want to help them build a solid foundation for their future. Because, you know, I was homeless at 19. And so I didn't have the processes or the knowledge, you know, this is how you start. And this is how you start correctly. And so I'm just excited, really, about what I'm doing. Rachel, it's fun times. And I'm just excited because a book is coming out here. I know.

Okay, I want to talk about that. So you, oh, I'm so excited. Because we had a book product together, The Graduate Survival Guide. And you took that and just totally ran with it. But this whole topic of student loans, going to college, it is massive. And so you have something really exciting happening.

I do. On Monday, me and Dave will announce it here live on the show that it will be available for pre-sale. I love that we're teasing it before the pre-sale. Hopefully, Dave doesn't kill us wherever he is out in the world right now since he's not in the office. He'll be all right. We're taking over the show today.

But it's called Debt-Free Degree, Rachel, because here's the truth. We're at nearly $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. The average family is paying back about $37,000, $35,000 actually, in student loan debt. And it's taking, on average, Rachel, about 20 to 25 years just to pay off loans. Now, we're just talking about the average. But just on the last segment i heard you talking to people who had up to five hundred thousand dollars five hundred and fifty thousand dollars yeah so for me it's i don't i feel so sorry for the people who have

student loans now but i want to prevent the generation that's coming up i want to prevent them from even touching student loans because i know we get we have this conversation about student loan forgiveness. And that's a whole nother subject that I do not agree with. I don't believe I'm putting a bandaid on a wound that is going to continue bleeding and bleeding and bleeding. Yeah. Let's fix the issue first. And that is the stop taking out student loans and start looking at community college. Let's start looking at trade schools or for some not even going to college going straight into the workforce once we fix that then we can talk about okay how do we help the people here because there are different options that myself and even dave and even yourself will probably say okay maybe

here and there but before we even get there let's help young people get a debt-free degree yes and i love it because that's the thing is it's possible like it's different if you're like selling a bunch of like fairy tale does that's not real but like it happens and the cool thing is i know with you traveling with your job and meeting students and i know i meet students everywhere i go that they're doing it and i love it i love i was speaking at a i don't speak at a lot of colleges anymore now that you've come on board and you've taken over that which is great but i was recently out of college in texas and i got in the elevator with this girl and she said, hey, Rachel, she's like, I just want to tell you, I'm graduating in May completely

debt free with $4,000 of cash saved up in a savings account. And I was like, okay, you're not a unicorn. You are real. And this happens day in and day out. But yet, as a culture, we've believed that student loans are the only way to go to college. And it's just,

it's not the truth. I think this generation, there's two reasons. I think number one, they feel it's just normal to take out student loans. And I think some people know is I don't have to take out

student loans, but they're lazy. They don't want to put in the work. Yeah. So just go ahead and take out the student loans now. Because it's easy to sign your name to a dotted line.

Yes, it's very easy. But it's hard to set aside an hour every single day looking up scholarships and grants. It's going to be hard to say, you know what? I'm not going to my dream university right now. I'm going to go to a community college, get the first two years for free. It's not attractive doing it that way. But you know what?

I'm going to save a lot of money. So what's easier and more popular? It's to rack up debt, which is stupid in my opinion. Yeah, so tough. We'll talk more about that subject for sure later on this hour. We'll go to the phones, and Becca from Georgia is up next. Hey, Becca, welcome to the show. Hey, y'all.

It's so good to be here. Yeah, good. Glad you're here. I hear a southern girl on the other end. I appreciate that. Born and raised in Texas, but I found my way to Georgia. Awesome. All right, what's your question I found my way to Georgia. Awesome. All right.

What's your question? Now I live in Georgia. So I'm actually glad that Anthony's here, too. My question is, should I use one of the Roundup investment apps, like Acorn, where it takes, you know, your change, your leftover change to make it even and round it up in an investment situation. Sure, sure. Yeah, it's a great question. It's kind of become a fad,

and I feel like there's more and more of these that come out, whether it's just a savings or they do it for investing purposes, all of that. So I think it's a great question. And I would say, honestly, I'm kind of like apathetic about it. I'm kind of like, I mean, it's not going to hurt anything. But what it does is i think make you believe that you're saving a ton of money and that oh saving money that i'm oh yeah that i'm just i'm doing so great when at the end of the day like saving 38 cents here or there that's not going to change your life like what's going to

change your life is getting intentional sacrificing your lifestyle and putting the work in and so we say here around here all the time which is true true, that personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. So the behavior change has to occur. And it doesn't always occur. You don't always feel it when it's just this automatic thing as an app that's going into savings and you thinking that's the only thing. And so, again, I'm apathetic.

It's not going to hurt you, but it's not going to make a huge dent in your life. Anthony, what would you say? Becca, let me ask you this question. Why do you want to use the app? What's the purpose? Well, it's kind of piggybacking on what y'all were just talking about. So I have a son who was recently diagnosed with autism. He is nine.

I have a daughter who is 10. And I got the horse before I got the cart, as they say. We had the daughter when we were in college. And so to support our lives, we got student loans. Yeah. Because we were in college with the kid and, you know, all the things. And then we got married when she was five months old and on our honeymoon, we got pregnant with our son.

So we kind of started in turmoil, as it were, you know, just in debt and credit cards and all the things. And now with this on top of it, my goal is I don't, he's, I can't say that God can't do an amazing work. However, he's not going to go traditional college route or what have you. And so I just want to make sure that he has what it is in place. What it is in place. Sure. I think that's a great question.

So, yeah, I would say, Becca, get intentional and have that savings. I was just about to say that. She has to get intentional, and Acorn is not going to do that enough for her. That's right. Get on the plan, go aggressive with it and you'll be all right. Yep, exactly.

All right, Anthony, thanks for joining us. We'll continue on. This is The news, guys. You need to stop and listen. The Fed decided not to raise interest rates. That means you've got a small window of time before rates rise again. Here's the deal.

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That's 888-562-6200 or churchillmortgage.com. Welcome back to the Dave Ramsey Show. I am Ramsey Personati, Rachel Cruz, filling in for Dave this hour. And next to me is Ramsey Personati, Anthony O'Neill. Join me this hour as well. Oh, man, it's been fun. I know. We've only done one segment.

I'm like, let's go. We should have our own show, Anthony. I know. As a matter of fact, Dave, take your time. Not this time. So great. I know. As a matter of fact, Dave, take your time. No, I'm just kidding. So great. All right. It's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225.

And we're here to answer your questions about life and money. All right. Up next is Bryson from Missouri. Hey, Bryson. Welcome to the show. Hey, my question for you is I'm fixing to buy a house here in about two or three months. Yep. I've been debt-free for the last six months.

I don't have any payments or anything like that. I've got about $8,000 in my emergency fund, $10,000 saved up for the house. Awesome. I'm wondering, should I worry about my credit score? So, you know, I'm worried about, you know, accounts and, you know, not carrying debt and stuff like that. Right. Affecting my credit score. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, that's a great question. So as you're getting out of debt, yes, your credit score is going to lower. So when people are in the process of paying off debt, if they pull up their credit report and they see their score, it's like, oh, my gosh, it's gone down. And it will. Yeah. It will go down. But it gets to the point where it's basically like undetermined. They don't have the mathematical manpower to be able to figure out the credit score

because everything that's calculated within a credit score all has to do with debt. And so when you're out of debt, then naturally there's nothing to calculate. And so usually within – it's usually around more like 12 months it gets to undetermined. So I would pull your credit report, see what your credit score is, just because you're only six months out. Because if you still have a credit score, it's not going to be good. And the mortgage company, when you go to buy your home, is going to pull that and it will ding you. It will not help you in that. And so you really want to get to the point where it is undetermined before you go and apply for a mortgage. But the great thing, Grayson, is that you can get a mortgage without a credit score. And so you need to get to a mortgage that they'll do what's called a manual

underwriting. And that's where the loan company, the bank, wherever you go, the mortgage company looks at you, the person. And so you have to be current on a job for two years and current with all of your bills, like cable, cell phone, electricity, for two years. And so when they do that, then they can literally just underwrite you the mortgage versus pulling a credit score. But again, if they pull a credit score and yours is bad

because you're only six months out of debt, that's not going to be good. So you may want to wait a few months before applying to that mortgage because that will ding you. But we do. We see it all the time, Anthony, that people buy a house without a credit score.

I had a couple on my show, The Rachel Cruze just this past week and they did it and it's and it's phenomenal it's possible it's definitely possible I did it you know I purchased a nice house um but I definitely want to encourage Bryce and Rachel uh to make sure that your your emergency fund you say he said he had 8,000 make sure that's the minimum of three months um for your all of your expenses. And then when you're saving up to put down on the house, one thing that will help you with your credit score being low is that you have at least 10 to 20% to put down on the home. I don't know if $10,000, depending on the kind of house that he wants, will be there. But if you walk into that, you have a good savings, you have a large down payment, and then your credit score is low, but you're completely debt free, make sure you look into

manual underwriting. One of our favorite companies, Church Hill Mortgage, would definitely love to check you out and help you get into a home. Yeah, that's great. And I love you did it. You're a living testimony, Anthony. Oh, yeah, I love it. And here's the thing, too. I think a lot of people think, okay, well, if I do manual underwriting, and I don't have a credit score, that I'm not going to get as great of a house that I want. I'm not going to get the rate that I want. All of it. But that's simply not true.

I mean, you still can get an incredible home and an incredible neighborhood. The couple that I had on my show, she was great because she emailed back after we shot the segment about them doing manual underwriting. And she was like, I just want to reiterate that I got basically my dream home and we still use manual underwriting. It's not that you're going to not get this incredible home in this incredible neighborhood that you want like if you apply for it and you get it you still get a great a great spot a great home using manual underwriting okay so Anthony so there's been some a mission scandal in the news again and this is a totally different kind of twist on it this is actually well no the other one was crazy and then this one is just as crazy or even more maybe speaking as a parent i'm like

oh my goodness so so people they found in chicago they uncovered the scam basically that's been going on yeah that parents are losing that they're choosing to lose custody of their child so that their child can get financial aid because the parent is making too much income for them to apply to financial aid. So they're choosing to lose custody of their child so that their child can get financial aid. I mean, it's like, that's a drastic step, Anthony. It's very drastic and it's frustrating.

And terrible, let me just say that. It's frustrating to me, Rachel, because here we go, we have people who are making six figures and clearly they're living paycheck to paycheck because they cannot pay cash for their college degree. Dropping a plug here,

which is why I can't wait for debt-free degree to come out. But they're living above their means. And so they're saying, you know what? We're smart enough to know that you don't need to take out student loans. So we just want to give up our custody. You go apply for it on your own and get this free money still from people who

really need this still and get this scholarship from people who are in poverty, who do not have the means to go to college. Who truly have a low income. Truly have a low income. And that's so frustrating to me because it's like, why in the world, one, would you want to give up the custody of your child? I know, right? You know, I'm like, what parent in their right mind would say, you know what? Hey, bye.

You're on your own just for this sake. And then two, I mean, let's get to the root of the issue, Rachel, which is why I think I hope people listening to the show here is clearly. This is why we fight that fight of live below your means and properly, properly plan for your child's education so you don't have to do stupid stuff like this. And then now you're hurting other people now someone's gonna get declined a scholarship because a rich family a wealthy family got the scholarship and in a very wrong way yeah of losing custody this is where i'm like college has become such an idol in our in our culture and we are definitely not against education i mean i went to a four-year school i am pro education i really really am but it's not the savior of it all.

And to the point that you would give up custody of your own child for them to do this, where Junior can go to a community college and work for himself and make his way through. Like, welcome to the real world. Sorry. Like, I mean, it's just it completely boggles my mind. But all the scandal coming out. I mean, and it's just it it completely boggles my mind but all the scandal coming out i mean and it's not everyone right i mean like they found some families in chicago so a couple dozen of them i think it's about it's about a dozen of them okay so it's yeah so it's not this like obviously like sweeping the country that this has become a trend thank god but but

it's a but it's a real thing and i think again to the point that we have made college that parents will do anything even unethical things to get their child into school is it boggles my mind it really does yeah and here's the thing rachel we need to really address another issue when it comes to parents would do anything to get their child into school they're doing anything to get the child into a ivy league school a big big name school and that is something i'm really attacking as well in my book coming out here that will be pre-releasing on monday is don't worry about the the private public i mean big name school go to a school that you can afford and a school that you can afford maybe a community college maybe a trade school and there's nothing

wrong with going just an in-state public university. Yes. I mean, if that's even what it is. Yeah. And it bothers me. I mean, it really does bother me. And then here's another thing that we're even learning, and I was studying this as more, that some parents will send their kids to get the financial aid, and then they'll take

out a student plus loan. So not only are they just graduating with an average of $35,000, but some families are graduating with $55,000 in student loan debt because the child is taking out federal loans while the parent is taking out plus loans. So we're just stacking on top and on top and on top. And I'm like, y'all, this is not what we have to do. And we're setting up our kids and our future generations to really be burdened with stress, having to work two three jobs and they really

can't focus and really can't build a solid foundation which is why again i cannot wait to really talk more about the debt-free degree movement the book and some other great things we have coming around because this is huge yeah it's a hot topic for sure and again it's a problem that a lot of you guys are facing post the decision, right? And you're getting out of student loan debt. So there's hope. You can do this. But man, to be the preventative side, that preventative medicine like you are, Anthony,

I love it. All right. Again, a free call anywhere in the country. 888-825-5225. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back to the Dave Ramsey Show. I am Ramsey personality, Rachel Cruz, filling in this hour for Dave. And joining me as well is Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill. Rachel Cruz.

Thanks for being here. Man, two segments down, helping people. I love this. It's a good job. Hey, Dave, you know, you could take every Friday off. Yeah, you can just enjoy. All right. It's a free call anywhere in the country.

888-825-5225. All right. Next is Jason from Ohio. in the country, 888-825-5225. All right, next is Jason from Ohio. Hey, Jason, welcome to the show. Hey, Rachel, how are you doing? Doing great. How can we help? So I guess I'm glad that Anthony is here as well. I just got out of debt a little bit ago. I paid off a personal loan of about $1,000 that I owed. And I have about roughly maybe $500

to $700 in my savings as of right now. And I'm just kind of, I'm trying to figure out what's going to be the best idea for me as far as whether to save up for college. Because I just, I don't want to have student loans. And I know Anthony is a big proponent of not having them. Yeah. And I'm on Anthony's team on that. Jason, how old are you? I'm 15. Oh, awesome, man. What?

I love that you're calling a financial show at 15. I feel good about your future already, Jason. Yes. That's awesome. Okay, so you're in high school, so you're 15. You're a freshman, sophomore, or will be? Sophomore. Will be a sophomore.

Okay, awesome. And you, so you have no debt. You have $500, $700 saved up. Yeah. Currently, I've got a job that's been staying stable. I make, as of right now, around $15,000 to $17,000 a year. Good for you. What do you do, Jason? I work in sales and marketing. Yeah, that's awesome. Jason for you. What do you do, Jason? I work in sales and marketing.

Yeah, that's awesome. Jason, what do you want to do? So as far as career-wise, where do you want to go? What do you want to do with your life? So my last two years of high school, I'm going to do the College Credit Plus program so I can get my bachelor, get my associates in business management. Okay. And then I want to transfer to a four-year university

to get my bachelor's in computer science and software engineering. That's awesome. This sounds great. I know. So I have a question. Have you talked to your parents about college? Do you know if they have anything saved for you? Are you on your own?

Do you know what their status is? I'm pretty much on my own. My parents, they have, like they said they would, if I had to, they would pay for a couple of the community college classes if I go over the 30 credit hours allowed by the district. But other than that, I'm basically on my own. Okay. That's awesome. There's nothing wrong with that. So I like that. I mean, here's the very first thing, you know, I definitely want to say this to you, Jason, you're already thinking ahead of nearly 80% of the people in America today.

OK, you're calling into the show, talking to Rachel and you're saying, hey, I want to go about this the right way. I'm 15 years old. I'm a sophomore. And so right now, here's the main thing that you need to be focusing on at 15 years old. And that's yourself. I need you to be killing the grades. I need straight A's. I need straight A pluses. Okay. I need you to really focus on that. Start looking at different college programs you could be a part of. Start taking ACT and SAT. And I can already say this. You probably are taking some of the practice exams because you're educated. But the very first thing you can do right now is to really kill the grades. I love how you said you're going to do the first two years at community college that now we're talking, you're talking like a future millionaire here. All right. So you're going to stick with that. But then you said you want to transfer to your four year school.

What was that dream school, that four year university you want to go to? I actually want to go to Franklin, which is it's closer. It's in Columbus. It's a local university that Franklin does offer a lot of financial aid even to those who aren't necessarily in a bad spot. They do have a lot of scholarships, and I'm going to be applying for as many as I can. Just for the sake that I don't really want to have to have debt if I can. I want to cash flow my way through college if I can. If I can't, then I'll do what I have to do, but I really would love to. The key thing you said was local. I don't have a problem

with you going to Franklin because it's local and you've already done the research to get the scholarships. Just one suggestion. I want you to look up two other schools. I want you to compare at least three local universities that you can transfer to and compare the costs and negotiate with the schools when you get there. But right now, here's the main thing I want you to do. Go ahead and set aside at least another $300 in your savings account. I always suggest college students have anywhere between $500 to $1,000 in their savings account. And then start paying. Make sure you pay cash for a car if you don't have a car. But pretty much as far as in his college, Rachel, he's already going down the right path. Well, absolutely, because most of his credit he's going to be doing his last two years of high school, he said, which is incredible. I was always jealous of those people I went to college with that had all their basic credits done because of high school classes.

I'm like, man, I should have done that. And I think comparing the school costs, because even though Franklin's local, I don't know if it's a private school. It could be. Could be. But if you have scholarships and grants, Anthony and I are great with you going. We're not mad at private colleges. But look to see, okay, what's your return on investment? I mean, even going to a private college, if you're going to be dishing out some of your own money to be able to say, okay, is it worth that investment?

And one of the things, Rachel, I've learned in really writing this book and doing my research, one of the reasons why young people are falling into student loan debt is because they did not do the research. They didn't go out there and compare, okay, this is what I want to do with my life. And here is the degree that I need to have. And here are the schools and the universities that are for that. They just went after their dream school. And so what I like about him is it sounds like he's done a little bit of research, but

I want to stretch him and do just a little bit more to make sure that he's getting the best cost for the program. It's fantastic. All right. Up next is Tricia from Ohio. Hey, Tricia, welcome to the show. Hi, guys. Hi.

How can we help? I am a 47-year-old divorced mother. I have worked 25 years in the education system. This is the beginning of my 25th year. I own my home. Thank you for that service, by the way, as a teacher. It's huge. You're very welcome.

I am trying to be financially fit. I've always been frugal, but I sometimes have tended to take care of my son and try to compensate for the divorce and things of that nature. Mother's heart kind of goes out that way. Sure. So anyway, own the home. I have a 30-year mortgage. I purchased in a neighborhood where it was the lowest value home in the neighborhood. I have renovated, refinanced, got that 20% PMI knocked off. And

now I'm about 20, I think I've got about 27 years left after the refinance. I'm looking to sell again, but I'm not real sure if I should really update the place so I can get the top price. I'm not in a place where I have an emergency fund that's anything to speak of. So, you know, I'm looking at a two-year window here. I've already renovated my kitchen. I've done it all myself. How much money do I put into this home to put it on the market? Or do I just let it sell as is and then work with the equity that I have there. So you have a two-year window is that what you said before you need to really sell and move what's causing you to move? Well I have a 30-minute commute to work okay and so I really

don't really like that I would kind of like to get to the country a little bit we're in a nice little neighborhood I have a three bedroom, two and a half bath house. It's my son and I. I overcompensated. Again, overcompensated because of, you know, trying to provide what we think our kids need. So I could live in a smaller house. In fact, I want to live in a smaller house, but I just don't know how much to put in this house and then to be able to write where to go from there. Yeah, no go from there. Yeah, I think that's a great question. I'd first talk to a realtor because I don't know the area, I don't know the neighborhood and what things are going for,

so obviously go and look. But the fact that you've done renovations, I mean the biggest places to do renovations to get the best bang for your buck is going to be the expensive parts, which is the kitchens and the bathrooms. That's usually where people look, where they're like, okay, is this updated, is this not? So the fact that it is, but I would say on your urgency side, like since you have the time, I would put money towards saving up for an emergency fund.

And if you have debt, obviously you're going to pay that off first, save up for that emergency fund and then save up for the down payment. I would focus all of my money and my efforts towards those three things before anything about renovating the house. That'll be a bonus. And if it takes you that long to get out of debt, save up an emergency fund and to get efforts towards those three things before anything about renovating the house. That'll be a bonus. And if it takes you that long to get out of debt, save up an emergency fund, and to get a 10% down payment on the home, then I would say that's what I would do and then go to the country and sell. But I would talk to a good seasoned real estate agent. We have ELPs all over the country. You can

go to DaveRamsey.com and find them and talk to one of them and get their opinion on, on the area and, and what the house looks like. But it's awesome. Thanks for calling Trisha. I appreciate it. This is the Dave Ramsey show. Welcome back, America, welcome back america to the dave ramsey show i am ramsey personality rachel cruz filling in for dave this hour and to my right anthony o'neill ramsey personality joining me hello america one more segment uh i talked about this in the first hour my first like segment being in here by myself i was like man this new studio it is so fun and looking out and for being here. I talked about this in the first hour, my first segment being in here by myself. I was like,

man, this new studio, it is so fun. And looking out, it's so beautiful. It is. So you guys need to come visit August 15th. We're opening the doors

to the public. So come tell them that you're here and let them buzz Anthony and me and see if we're in town. And if we are, we'll come in and say hi. I'm coming to say hello.

It's so fun. Maybe give you a hug. I'm a hugger too. We may give all right it's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225 all right up next is molly from michigan hey molly welcome to the show hi how are you hi doing great how can we help I just have a quick question. I heard you talk to the gentleman about, you know, not having to use a credit score to get a mortgage, and I understand that whole process. But car insurance, they do that on your credit score as well, and I was wondering if there was a way to deal with that.

Yes, a couple of things. Number one, look at different insurance companies. Some will ding you if you don't have a credit score. And so this is kind of one of those trade-offs, I'll just be honest with you, Molly, of, okay, there may be an inconvenience when you live without debt and don't have a credit score. There might be times that you have to pay a little bit more,

but what you're going to pay a little bit more in is completely offset from what you would pay if you were in debt and paying interest on things. But a lot of car insurance companies, they don't. They don't. If you can prove your income and what you have and you talk to an agent, then sometimes they don't. But some companies will. So that's why I always shop around. But it is something we see. I mean, you get this with insurances, you get this with apartments, renting an apartment, different things, places that are just automatically will pull your credit score, pull your credit reports. There are loopholes sometimes that you're like, okay, you know,

this is my reality. And sometimes, sometimes you do have to pay a little bit more. And there's nothing wrong with paying a little bit more. Just recently, I had to change my car insurance over Rachel and I use Zander's insurance. And they found an amazing insurance company that does not only covered my car, but also cover my house as well. So you didn't get dinged. I didn't get dinged at all. So that's the thing. It's like there are insurance companies that won't.

Yeah. Yeah. That you don't have to pay extra for. But again, it's one of those. And I do. I always say up front that like there will be times like rental car companies. There's some companies that will not rent you a car because you only have a debit card but dollar dollar rental car company there are the great ones right so there are companies out there that

will rent you with a debit card uh but it's one of those things it just takes a little bit more time to research and to look and compare but man it's worth it versus having a bank in america bank of america in America in your life. Bank of America. Wells Fargo. We can keep going. I know. All right.

Up next is Owen from Pennsylvania. Hey, Owen. Welcome to the show. How are you doing? Doing great. Thanks for calling. All right. So this predicament's kind of, I've educated myself a whole lot on finances recently. Like I've read, as far as I can with the total money makeover,

um, I've already saved up a thousand dollars. Um, I currently live, live with my girlfriend paying, uh, like not too much on rent and everything, but I'm currently,

I'm currently in a fork in the road where classes are coming up within a month for school. And I'm trying to get a degree in sound recording tech and something's telling me I have I have this voice in the back of my head telling me not to take the classes right now given the fact that I already have eight thousand dollars in student let I in student debt I would be paying for the classes with cash I've already saved up the money for uh each semester already I'm paying with everything for cash no credit no debt on my credit card or anything. And that's just one question that's been bugging me that I couldn't seem to find any of the kind of texts that I've been reading.

Like, which road do I take on this point? Yeah, and how many hours do you have left? Like, how many semesters would you have left until you graduate? Well, I switched degrees entirely. See, a while ago, I completely derailed and figured out that I just wasn't living the life that I really wanted to do. And I was just listening to, you know, what my friends were telling me what I should be. And like, and that's when I started working, like full time saving up money and figuring out what I wanted to do. And therefore, I came across this path. awesome so so you're starting over basically so when you school yes classes at trendfall will be you'll have four years of classes but you can start to cash flow them now so you're asking should i pay off the 8 000 or should i go get my degree yeah or yeah so going for the degree i would be paying for it all the way through and i wouldn't be accruing any debt through it yep or or should i focus on and it would take probably like two years given I'm making around $1,500 a month right now.

I'm currently a manager as well as a delivery driver for the same job. Very cool. So you'll graduate in two years? Actually, with the way that it is, because of finances, the associates will be extended into four years since I'm taking this semester split across the year

to save up the money. Gotcha. Yeah, that's how I can pay it in cash. That's great. Oh, and let me ask you one quick question for the sound recording tech. What do. Gotcha. Yeah, that's how I can pay it in cash. No, that's great. Oh, and let me ask you one quick question for the sound recording tech. What do you want to do with that degree? Are you going to go into producing music?

What are you doing with that degree? Well, my end goal is that I want to open up my own business for sure. Like, I don't want to work for anybody. Of course, at first, I want to be able to get myself into the industry. At the end of the associate's program, there's a specific role for a music internship. which would, again, be some kind of way of getting the experience in itself, which I thought was extremely valuable. And how old are you, Owen? I'm 22. Okay, cool. Great.

So here's the thing, Owen, what I want you to do. You're 22 years old. You already have $8,000 in debt, and you want to go this route because you want to start your own business. So to answer your question, you can go two ways. I love the fact that you're already cash flowing it. But I would really want you to really think about, is this the best route for you to go? Because it sounds like you're still guessing a little bit on what should I do, what shouldn't I do when it comes to this particular degree. I mean, you're making $1,500 a month right now. So I'm going to recommend that you step back again.

And I want you to write out the ultimate vision for what you want to do. And then if you're going to get this degree, it shouldn't be just used to start your own business up front. Where can you go to get a job to start making income? Yeah, of course. At first, I want to start with that. And what's that job? Like, what can you make a month with that particular job yeah so look into that well salary wise yes

over the year it's going to be like 45k that's the average salary for a sound recording tech and how much will this sound recording tech uh program cost you to go to go to school um given though let me look real quick so currently it's going to cost $2,000 a year over the span of four years with the way that I'm stretching. That's $8,000 again. Okay, cool. Yeah. Off rip, I think that I should go for it, but something in my head was telling me to hold back and focus on the debt. And that's why I'm pulled. Yeah. $8,000 over four years and your ROI is a $45,000 yearly. I don't have a problem with that.

Now we're talking and making common sense here a little bit. So I'll say, Owen, go for that program. Now here's the thing. I want you to pay cash for that whole process. Once you graduate, I want you to go back and pay off the $8,000 that you already racked up. Yeah, that's great. I mean, I would say either way, Owen, at this point, you have a plan in place. You're not going into more debt, which is what we say.

So you could, since you're feeling something into more debt, which is what we say. So you could, since you're feeling something in your gut, maybe you listen to it. You say, you know what, what if I put some work in and I pay off that eight grand, I get a little emergency fund, and then I go back to school in 12 to 18 months, get the degree, which maybe you could fast forward the degree because you'll be making more and you won't have to split up the semesters. Your whole life could change in 18 months while you're paying off this debt as well so either way you go it's gonna it's gonna be a plan and the fact that you've thought through this so much we've had so many smart callers but seriously like like this is the stuff we're talking about of being intentional having a plan when you're talking about higher education and so again oh and just answer your question either path

is you know we'd recommend but if you're feeling in your gut you And so again, Owen, just to answer your question, either path is, you know, we'd recommend. But if you're feeling in your gut, you want to just pay off the debt and get some stability financially before going back to school, we're game for that for sure. Absolutely. Okay, Anthony, so Monday, again, big day.

Big day. I'll be on the show. Pre-selling your first major book. First major book by myself. Debt-free degree. Yes. And tell us a little bit about it real quick. You know, it's literally the step-by-step process on how to get our young people, our kids, into college 100% debt-free.

And Rachel, what I love about this book is that I talk about everything you need to do from 7th grade through 12th grade to get into college debt-free. From ACT, SAT, Duke programs. Which that in and of itself is worth the cost of the book because I'm like, it is a forest. I remember going into all of this admission stuff and I was like, my gosh, there's so much. There's so much stuff. So much. So much.

So to have a guide like you walk them through it, I think it's absolutely incredible. So look out for that. You guys, the pre-sale of that book starts on Monday you'll be back here on the show to talk about that and what a great hour

put this hour in the books thanks to producer James Childs and associate producer Kelly Daniel and thank you America thank you Anthony for joining me

this hour and this is the Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to the Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at Dave Ramsey.com slash show.