The Ramsey Show - App - You Have a Car Problem (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 25, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Kristina Ellis discuss: Keeping a car at the expense of your house, Investing in property vs. paying it off, Affording a vehicle, Getting a masters degree debt-free. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Thanks for jumping in, America. We're glad you're here. Christina Ellis, number one best-selling author. Ramsey Personality is my co-host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Catherine's in Ocala, Florida. Hi, Catherine. How are you? Good. Thank you. How are you?

Better than we deserve. What's up? So I have a question. My husband is currently enrolled for fall semester down at UCF, and we are trying to cash flow college because that is the one thing that we haven't taken debt out on is a student loan. So we're trying to continue that. And my question is, would it be a smart decision, wise decision, however you want to state it, to sell our house and rent for a couple months to get the equity out of our house, pay off all of our debt, and be able to cash flow all of his college. How much do you owe on your house right now, and what's your monthly payment? We owe $111,000 on our house, and our monthly payment right now um with homeowners insurance and all that stuff is uh eleven hundred okay and how much is the house worth the house is worth right now

um comps in the area are going for 285 i mean 1100 a month is a good payment. If you were going to rent somewhere, how much do you think rent's going to be? It would be roughly, right now we're seeing about $1,600 a month. But the only reason why we thought about doing the renting was because then all of our credit cards would be paid off, our cars would be paid off, everything. So then it would actually lower our monthly expenses in that area. How much debt on those things?

Total is $82,000. Okay, and what do you owe on your cars each? You won't be happy. So one is $50,000 and then the other one we owe $12,000. Okay, and what's your husband studying? Engineering. and then the other one we owe $12,000. Okay. And what's your husband studying? Engineering. Okay.

We have four semesters left. Four semesters of engineering left. And what do you make? I right now make right at $60,000 a year. He works full-time and goes to school full-time. I work full-time. goes to school full-time i work full-time i am a night shift nurse so the only question is because you've got all these payments you can't pay for tuition that's what's jamming that's what's jamming you up right yeah i mean it so what if i said you're selling the wrong thing what do you mean a fifty thousand dollar car does not fit in this equation

correct so sell the stupid thing i mean your payment's what 900 bucks it's almost as much as your house payment what is it not quite 800 um yeah it's seven like 70 the only reason why we're not is because we would then be upside down with it. Whoopty doopty. $770 a month to put you through school. Go buy a $2,000 car. Um, and let's, you know, clean out your garage, have a garage sale and start knocking out some of these credit cards.

But you have a car problem is all you've got. Mm-hmm. How much could you sell that car for? How much could I sell it for? Right now it's going for about $45. Who said? Kelley Blue Book. For trade-in?

No, for, like, private sale. Okay, so you're 5k upside down yes yeah so run down to the credit union and get you a 7k loan buy you a two thousand dollar car and get rid of fifty thousand dollars worth of car payments listen you're trading your home for this stupid car. Bad trade. I think the only reason why we'd be willing to do it. Listen, you do whatever you want to do. But I just told you what to do. No, I understand.

I understand. Yeah. You're going to do whatever you want to do. But this is what, I mean, there is no question the fly in the ointment here is not your house. The fly in the ointment is not your income. The fly in the ointment, the thing that stands out when you give us your situation, that just stands out like a sore thumb, is this ridiculous car. And you are so in love with it.

Yeah. Yeah. That you're willing to sell your home and move your children for this stupid butt car. That's what it comes down to. You need to get rid of the stupid butt car. Well, if you do that, you've got about $30,000 left, which that's very doable to pay that off. Well, you don't even have to worry about it.

I mean, you just cash flow that and basically don't even reduce it. Just pay minimum payments on everything. Get your butt on a really tight beans and rice budget. Get husband through four only semesters left. And everybody work extra jobs. No vacations. Quit eating out. Tighten down your dadgum budget. You got $ hundred dollar house payment you can make it on that and you're

gonna be in great shape you're gonna come out of this thing but you know there's one thing standing in your way i might even sell the other one yeah i mean that's a lot of car that's a lot of car and then he's gonna be an engineer after all that so it's like he's gonna have an engineering job she makes 60k like y'all are gonna be he's going to be an engineer after all that. So it's like he's going to have an engineering job. She makes 60K. Like y'all are going to be. And he's working full time. Right. They got the money.

You got the money to do this. You just, no, you're looking for an easy way out. Don't do it. Please don't do it. You can do what you want to do, but you called here. And the problem with calling here is we're going to tell you what to do. And we're right. That's the other thing.

Keep that in mind. Yeah, maybe, maybe not. We're probably. That's the other thing. Keep that in mind. Yeah, maybe, maybe not. We're probably right, though. And experts on our opinion, that we are. Okay. Bernie's in Sacramento. What's up, Bernie? Just living the dream out here in amazing, conservative California.

What? How can we help today with your illusions yes yes uh well um i gotta say i'm a big fan um i've always known of you but my wife and i she's really the one that got us turned on to the whole baby steps thing and we've been following it pretty well um cool what can i say uh what's your question today? Well, currently we're paying off a lot of our debts, and we've paid off around $40,000 out of the $80,000 that we've had. And we are trying to make a decision on whether or not we should invest money into our property, which would help give us more of a monthly income,

or put it towards the house and paying the house off sooner. What about the other debts? You need to clear the other debts before we have this discussion well you know of course of course okay um then once you've gotten rid of the other 40,000 then do you put money into a rental property or pay off your house yes how much money are we talking about? Well, so I live on just about five acres, and there's two kind of run-down guest houses, and our plan is to remodel them. How much money are we talking about? About $10,000 each. Okay, cool.

Yeah, I would do that before I paid off my house, get two rental properties engaged, but only after the $40,000 has gone and the emergency fund's in place. Now we're down to baby step four, five, six stuff at that point, and that's when we would do that. Hey, good question, Bernie. This is The Ramsey Show. your memories are meant to be relived not chewed up by the VCR or worn away with time. Converting your old media with Legacy Box stops fading in its tracks, so your home movies are safe forever, and you can trust Legacy Box. I've met the founders. They're right here in Tennessee, and they've helped over one million folks protect their memories. For a limited time, you can get started for just $9 a tape at

LegacyBox.com slash Ramsey. That at legacybox.com slash ramsey that's legacybox.com slash ramsey christina ellis number one best-selling author ram Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. A lot of people would rather spend their weekend doing yard work than talk about insurance, even in the heat. But here's the deal. If you don't take the time to learn about insurance, you're going to always feel like you're getting ripped off, probably because you are. Around here, we think learning about money topics should be

simple and hey here's an idea even fun our new confidence in your coverage five-day video series with our friend george camel makes learning about insurance quick and practical you might even laugh out loud because it is after all george every day for five days ramsey personality george camel will walk you through a new insurance topic, unpacking everything you need to know. These are quick little videos that teach you a lot in a short period of time. At the end of the series, you'll still have the hard work, but you'll know your stuff when it comes to insurance.

George Camel, check it out. It's completely free. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash confidence and sign up for the Conf in your coverage five-day video series completely free ramsey solutions.com slash confidence dan's in new york city hi dan welcome to the ramsey show hi dave thanks for taking my call sure what's up well i need to know if i can afford a new truck or not i need somebody to give me the me to go ahead or knock some sense into me. We are specialists at knocking sense. That's what we do around here.

We're sense knockers. Oh, my gosh. So how much is the truck? It is $52,000. Cool. What kind of truck? It is a 2019 F-150 Limited. Sweet truck.

Very nice. What do you make a year? My wife and I, we make $242,000 a year gross before a bonus. Cool. What's your net worth? Our net worth is around $450,000. Excellent. And you have the cash for the truck uh we do have the cash but i am hesitant um to to drop it all i was considering then don't buy the truck three year loan then

don't buy the truck got it so financing is off the charts yeah off the table the here's the thing here's what i just did you You just emotionally, during this conversation, you emotionally decided whether you want the truck or not because you had to pay for it. See, what debt is, is it's a form of denial. It's like, I didn't really buy it. just sort of rented it you know that's what our that's what the psychology of it is but when you gotta freaking pay for it and you go i have a four hundred and fifty thousand dollar net worth i make a quarter million dollars a year i'm gonna

write a fifty thousand dollar check for an f-150 19 model which is a sweet truck. It is. Now you're going, okay. You actually mathematically from the arithmetic that I heard can afford it. Can I give you one more curveball? You can try. At my next promotion at work, which would be about a year and a half from now, I get a car allowance for what's currently $500 a a month car allowances come whether you have payments or not uh it's a good point i don't know the exact details i thought i'd have to have the loan to get paid nope it's a car allowance they allow because they're going to run the car that you have

in the dirt please don't drive this truck unless you're on the road. Are you a road warrior? No. No, I commute to an office. It's just a perk they try to give you. Do you have any debt currently? Just the mortgage. We recently paid off our student loans in my wife's car. That's awesome. And you have a fully funded emergency fund? Yes,

we do. Okay. What's kind of your hesitation? Let me emergency fund yes we do yeah okay what's kind of your hesitation overfunded so yeah wait a minute let me uh how do you react when i say the fact that you want to take out payments as a form of denial i get it i've um i i deny myself things all the time no no no no no that's not the kind of denial i'm talking about i'm talking about you're denying that you spent money uh i think that it might be kicking the can down the line yeah it doesn't register in your emotions that you freaking just spent 50 grand for a truck that's the denial i'm talking about right right like i'm in denial type of denial not not i'm willing to deny myself.

I'm willing to be in discipline so that I win. That's not what I'm talking about. Sure. No, I hear you. You are not the spender at your house. Your wife is. You are the nerd. I would say yes, but she's definitely on board. Yeah, but I'm not saying're definitely on board yeah but i'm not saying

she's not on board i'm not saying she's not mature i'm just saying tightwads have trouble with stuff like this spenders don't i would already bought the truck well i know you have the raptor and it was more than that but i got more money too so it's a fair ratio but still you you dude you really ought to go buy the truck but don't do it unless you're going to pay for it okay okay i mean we got it i gotta do some math to see if i'm comfortable with reducing i have a overfunded emergency fund because like you said i'm the nerd if you're going to pay cash for the truck and not damage your emergency fund i would buy this truck in your situation

awesome but if you're not going to pay cash for it i would never buy any kind of vehicle i will ride a bicycle for have a freaking car payment again you know you just don't run into wealthy people that go you know i've had a car payment for 40 years that's how i became a millionaire it never comes up it never in any of our studies did we find that. Right. Well, I mean, it's great that he's such a saver and he's aggressive with his savings, but it's hard for some people to actually spend even when they have the money. That's a lot of money.

It is a lot of money. But he can afford it. It's a really nice truck. Yeah. I mean, it's a beast of a truck. Ford is making a great truck. And supposedly, they're all going to go electric, so you might want to get one of those gas puppies while you can. But I don't know if they're really going to pull that off or not.

Because that is the most popular truck in America, the 150. It's like a super sales thing for Ford. They make a bazillion dollars off of it. If the bozos take the gas engine out of that thing, they're going to kill themselves. Because who do you think buys trucks? It's not Tesla drivers, people. It's rednecks. Okay, come on.

It's not Rachel and George. Have a brain, really, seriously. Rednecks are wannabe rednecks. And none of them drive batteries. Oh, my God. So, well, who knows? We'll see how it works out. It's just a marketing thing for me.

But, yeah, so know your market. Know your market. Know your market. It's not Obama. Just know your market. Oh, market. Know your market. It's not Obama. Just know your market. Oh, my God. It's not Rachel and George and their test. It's not Rachel and George.

Neither one of them have got an F-150. Now, Rachel's husband, however, he's definitely got a truck. So there's one in the family. At least we got that part down with Rachel anyway, yeah. So here's the thing with vehicles let's hit it again our ratio our rule on a vehicle is unless you have at least a million dollar net worth don't buy brand new because they go down in value like a rock that's where chevy got that like a rock okay so they go down in value so fast all right rule number two is don't have a total of all your vehicles, boats, sea dues, their sisters, motorcycles, four wheelers, snowmobiles, cars,

zero turn lawnmowers, add up all the crap you've got with wheels and engines. And if it equals more than half your annual income, you've got too much invested in things that go down in value because everything I just said goes down in value and you don't get wealthy buying things that go down in value because everything I just said goes down in value. And you don't get wealthy buying things that go down in value and investing the vast majority of your dadgum income in toys that go down in value. I like stuff with motors. I'm a classic redneck. Anything that goes boodin' boodin', I'm ready to go, man.

But it's the worst financial thing you can do. And I know people that spent more on their stupid lawn more than they did their car oh gosh oh i that's definitely a redneck thing for sure well and it's not that you can never have nice cars and nice things it's just living in a certain way now where you save and you're frugal so that someday you can have whatever car you want oh i drove an incredible car to work today it's absolutely amazing but it's a small percentage of my world right that's the point and so but when you when you got a fifty thousand dollar car and your husband wants an engineering degree hello you with payments on it you got your priorities out of order right especially when you make sixty thousand dollars yeah exactly and so well we don't know what he

made we never got that part but still that tells you that this is screwed up and so well we don't know what he made we never got that part but still that tells you that this is screwed up and so the mantra you want to identify what middle class looks like when you drive up in front of a small newish house and it has two brand new cars parked in front of it this is people are going to be middle class for the next decade plus unless they straighten their dadgum mess up you drive down these streets of these new smallish houses they got brand new cars in front of every one of them like double brand new cars like double stupid this is this is people are putting their money in the wrong stuff this is the ramsey show Hey guys, George Camel here, and I'm so excited to tell you about the newest product from Ramsey.

It's called Gazelle, and it's a digital banking experience that will help you spend and save the Ramsey way with banking services provided by PathWord NA. You'll get a single spending account with no monthly fees, and it's FDIC insured through PathWord NA. You'll get a single spending account with no monthly fees and it's FDIC insured through PathWord NA. We're offering early access to our beta customers so you can help us make it the best experience it can be. Just go to ramseysolutions.com slash gazelle to sign up for the waitlist today. Christina Ellis, number one best-selling author of Ramsey Personalities, my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. On the debt-free stage, John and Emily are with us.

Hey, how are you guys? Great, how are you? Better than we deserve. Welcome. Where do you live? Indianapolis, Indiana. Oh, good. Good to have you.

Thanks for being with us. And how much debt have you paid off? We paid off $300,000 in debt. And how long did this take? Six and a half years. All right. And your range of income during that time? It was about $100,000 to just about $200,000.

Okay. $100,000 to $200,000. What do you guys do for a living? I am a senior claims adjuster for insurance. And I'm an attorney. Oh, good. Okay, cool. Very good. What kind of debt was all this

um 260 of it was student loans oh the attorneys and the senior claims adjuster it was me let's be honest i was trying to get you off the hood but yeah it was me it was the law school and then uh she had a new car and uh i had a used car okay all How long have y'all been married? Three years. Okay. But you started working on it six and a half years ago. Yeah. Probably about four years ago

is when he really convinced me to do it. So I would say four years of really truly living it. But six and a half total. Okay. All right. Very cool. So tell us the story.

How'd you get hooked up with this Ramsey thing and decide to do this after you got married? Well, after we got married, in high school, I had taken it through our church. So I had the head knowledge. Must have flunked it because I went out and got a bunch of student loans and a used car. For about a year after that, I said, I need to start budgeting.

I was doing a budget. I was doing Dave-ish. A pitcher of beer with the coworkers became an emergency. And it was definitely an emergency. Oh my gosh. I think I had a college emergency. It was, it was terrible. I was not really following a budget. I had, I knew what I was supposed to be doing and I was not doing it. And about a year into that, we, I discovered I had another student loan that I wasn't aware of, and it was more than I had paid off in the year prior, even though I knew what I was supposed to be doing, and I got mad. I was mad at the situation. I was mad at myself, and I said,

never again am I doing this. I've worked harder than I've ever worked in my entire life, and I've just lost ground. And that's not acceptable to me. I'm done doing that. And right in the middle of that renewed enthusiasm, I asked her out on a date. And the end of the story is you get her, but you also got her student loans with her.

Yeah, yeah. Come with the package. I met her. It was like it was like our second date you know like here's what i'm doing you know i'm doing never again debt free like this is never happening and she's like i have a mortgage i've got like 240 000 in student loans and i was like oh my gosh that's fun i think our second date he told me i think we could have your student loans paid off and that's what i'm like whoa we just met but he already had it he's a real romantic right yeah i mean come on dude right the second date we're discussing paying off your student loans right that's how committed he was i'm telling you that that's kind of an informal proposal you got to be careful when you guys doing that on the second date but yeah this is a picture of beer guy too keep this in mind right yeah so what really convinced you to get on board after the second date but yeah this is a picture of beer guy too keep this in mind right yeah so what really convinced you to get on board after the second date and you're like whoa like um where

did you go well we were engaged and so I think at that point we were engaged and he had just paid off his student loans and so we'd moved in together at that point and I'm like okay I need to get serious if we're gonna get married and go on our honeymoon and have a baby. And yeah. So what did the journey look like? Cause that's, that's a lot of debt to pay off. Oh, it was so long. We, I did mine in two and a half years. Um, I made her wait, uh, until I got done with mine to propose, um, bought the ring. We cashflow to wedding and a honeymoon. Um, we have a one year old or a two, one and a half year old cashflow to baby. We've got a second baby on the way. And we did so many things to really cut down on expenses. That was our, we went deeper and deeper and every step of the way that you go, you think, are we prepared to sacrifice X so that we can get there this much faster? And we did that over and over and over and over again.

We moved multiple times to get cheaper cost of living. We commuted for two years. We commuted for three hours each for a career opportunity. Wow. I hate commuting. Oh, that's awful. Oh, my gosh. It was an hour and a half in the morning,

and I got this stinking jalopy that I'm hauling up and down the highway. It's uncomfortable. It's ugly. The paint's missing off of most of it. I hope you took a picture of it. We still have it. We still got the car. We still do.

Yeah, we do. And, you know. It landed flowers in it. I want to scrap it, blow it up. There's some kind of, like, army. Take it out to some demolition site. I'm going to shoot this with exploding ammunition. Can you test the new missiles on this thing?

Please just take it. Oh, my Lord. And, you know, so we, it was hard to do it for that long. Y'all just sacrificed. That's amazing. I could have bought a new car. Nobody would have blinked. She would have been, you know, anybody would have, you could have made the excuse.

Anybody would have understood it. You're very disciplined though. And, um. He is. Very. Yeah. And, uh, so I, I, I test drove a car three times, Dave. I got this close.

Man, that's good. That, that's, that's bad medicine right there. That'll, you start that. That's hard to get back. That's a slippery slope. Once you've done that, it's like, oh, it was that really hard to not come home with that thing and go look what i did and there was a couple of them that were really comfortable i bet uh but i'd look at it and i'd say do we want to do this for this much longer even if we pay cash for this used car

that's going to push us back this much longer? Are we doing it? And no. The answer was no. Now that you're there and you're completely free, Emily, was it worth it? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Now that I'm at the light, I've reached the light at the end of the tunnel,

absolutely, without a doubt. But the journey's a pain in the butt. Oh, man. Yes, it is. Yeah, so you said that, John, or yeah, John, you said that you took the class back in high school and it didn't completely click. It kind of like planted a seed.

What would you tell the high school version of yourself knowing what you know now? I chose a school that I had a bunch of scholarships, like academic scholarships. I could have chosen a school that I would pay very little or free my brother was in a similar situation and he went to a college he chose a college and graduated with nothing and I could have done that but there was this other one that was a little bit shinier I think they had a travel abroad thing that I did for two weeks so which changed your life completely oh yeah it was worth every penny of that not foreign beer foreign beer yeah beer drunk abroad is a big deal absolutely and um so you got to be smarter than that i i didn't really think long term about that decision

um and uh that's a good word because so many students feel like they've got to go to the fancy shiny school and in hindsight it's usually not worth it if it results in thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans Rachel studied Spanish abroad she talked us into this one semester ask her to speak Spanish next time you talk to her see See how far you get. I pick up more Spanish in Cabo than she picked up studying abroad. Right. I can actually order food and stuff, and she can't even get out of the restaurant. It's unbelievable. Yeah, so that stuff.

Golly, man. With the stuff we do, all of us, man. You guys are amazing. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. How does it feel, everybody? Tell everybody. It'll be completely free, John.

You did it. it oh it's amazing it feels so good six and a half years is a long time to really uh a lot happened during that a lot happened that's a huge amount of life uh that happened uh we've stayed the course it's worth it a hundred percent we yeah that's that's our son right shot oh man it was great we went to the lake uh that was one of the things we did afterwards. We got all, both sides of the family. We went to the lake. The kiddo in the Adirondack chair. All right. We got a copy of Baby Steps

Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter in your story. You are on your way. And a copy of Total Money Makeover. You can give that to somebody. Inspire them to move in the direction you have of freedom. Way to go. Financial Peace University for a year. Membership to that.

$300,000 paid off in six and a half years. Quite a story, making $100,000 to $200,000. John and Emily from Lafayette, Indiana, or Lafayette, depending on where you're from. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah!

That's how it's done, boys and girls. You gotta love it. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Christina Ellis, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Caroline is with us in chicago hi caroline welcome to the ramsey show hi thank you for having me today sure what's up so i um i'm really excited to say that we are in baby step three we just kicked a lot of debt to the curb and looking forward i'm exploring another master's degree, and I really don't want to go back.

It's a baby step, too. Good. What are you studying? What's your master's going to be in? It would be in educational leadership. Cool. What's the first master's in? I'm a reading specialist.

Oh, good. Oh, man, what great degrees. Yeah. What do you want to do with the extra master's? My own administrators, my own bosses have really been encouraging me to take this path. It's something that many have suggested to me kind of along my career, and I never really thought of it as an option because we were still carrying so much debt from our undergraduate and my first master's degree. And so now that that's behind us, it just seems like these doors keep opening and I want to be able to go down to that next route. I love it. What's it cost?

I think it's going to be about $20,000 for a two-year program, which I think is really reasonable. I think it's very reasonable. And it-year program, which I think is really reasonable. Yeah, that's reasonable. I think it's very reasonable. And it's a cohort, which is awesome because you just build a community of learners around you. And again, like I said, all the way to the end. Well, they'll be lifelong friends. They'll be lifelong friends. Right.

Because you're so specialized and nuanced, and you've got a heart for a certain thing. You'll be knit together forever. That's wonderful. Right. So I've been looking for scholarships because my own children are about two to three years away from college themselves. And so we've had a lot of conversations about going to college debt free and not taking on loans. And so now it's my turn to kind of practice what we're preaching. And so I've been exploring a lot of different websites

and financial aid finders and starting the process of applying to different scholarships. And my question is kind of twofold. Like one, at this point, because we are debt free, we are able to kind of cash flow at least the fall semester and see where that takes me after it. But by doing that, we kind of slow down our process of moving into, you know, finishing baby step three and then moving into, you know, four, five, and six. So we have a good momentum. I don't really want to slow that down right now. But most of the grants and scholarships that I'm finding are really geared towards undergraduates for understandable reasons. And so I'm wondering if you would advise or give any resources towards graduate program specific financial scholarships, or would you just say, you know what, this is, you know, a thinking fund and, you know, continue to cash flow because,

you know, because you can. Well, I would definitely continue to explore both options. I think it's awesome that you already see that you can pay for the fall, that you're able to cash flow that and save and also continue to search for scholarships. You said that your bosses are really interested in you going back for this program. Have you talked to them at all about possible tuition assistance or helping you out with that? I have. That's a great question. I have, and some school districts do have reimbursement programs are available, but at this time, my district does not. I have asked that question. It really comes down to negotiations between the district and the teacher's union if that is included in next year's contract or not. So that's as much as they can do.

And I also did ask the university, the woman leading the cohort, if knowing that we're not being reimbursed, because there will be other people in the cohort whose districts are reimbursing them. I said, knowing that my district is not, you know, is there any flexibility here? You know, or is there any other, you know, is there any flexibility here, you know, or is there any other, you know, wiggle room? And she said, no. Hey, that's a great question, though. It's yes. I mean, I've always said shame on me if I don't ask, you know, it's worth giving it a shot. So good, good on that. Are you set on a specific school? It sounds like you've already picked the university.

I have because it's a cohort and it's kind of supported you know with um you know other school districts in my area what's your household income um about 250 okay just pay for it i mean you can search around poke around for scholarships but you can afford it right we can i guess what i'm my concern is um we'll really slow down achieving like baby step three no you're not much i mean you may slow down going out to eat but you're not gonna slow down baby step three right i mean you make 250 000 a year baby step three you knock it out it's only 20 grand we hope to be there by December. Yeah, I mean, you should be. Well, and it's $20,000 over two years.

How much are you putting in your emergency fund? What's your target? We want to have about $35,000 in it. Okay. $35,000 and $20,000 to pay for the whole program is $55,000 out of $250,000. I'm doing big math here, and I'm not having trouble with this. Right. I think we feel really behind our retirement and our own, you know,

students, our own college tuition for our own children. So here's the thing. We're trying to get you through a two-year program. We're trying to get them through a four-year program that hadn't even started yet right and you've got the income to do this so you may need to you know you may need to put some distant future things tight turn them down a little bit turn this up a little bit and then you know do some adjustment back and forth but you've got the cash flow to do all three of these things send your kids to school yourself to school and finish the emergency fund and you've got the money to do it in short order um but you're gonna have to really look at other stuff in your budget and go

where's the 250 000 a year going that i can't find 50 grand and when you do that then you start going huh there it is and there it is and oh there it is and we're done we got that beefed up and that beefed up and that beefed up it can go away i mean 250 000 you can spend it pretty quick it's not but but i'm not saying you're being wasteful or something like that but but what you are going to do is you know it might be that we light pedal kiddos college right now savings heavy pedal the emergency, finish the emergency fund, and get your tuition, keep your tuition moving along in the budget. And talk to your university again. Go above the lady's head that said there's no help.

I'm paying cash for this out of my pocket. I want a discount for cash. Not I'm pitiful, they don't give me reimbursement. Dadgum, people, I'm giving you money. Give me a deal and mess with them a little bit. I mean, just bust up into, yeah, I'm thinking it's good for higher ed people to hear occasionally that they're overpriced. Right. They probably need to hear it more because a lot of people are struggling with that.

And there are grad school scholarships, like you said, that they're a little bit harder to find than undergrad. They're hard. Yeah, it's more competitive and, you, and it just takes a bit of research. But on this income, I'm with Dave. I would say just go ahead and cash flow it, because in the amount of time you're going to spend researching and applying for scholarships,

y'all are making so much money that you should be able to pay for it. Yeah, I mean, if you want to go searching for some of them, that's fine. They are more of a needle in a haystack. I think you're going to have more. I would call the president of that university and just mess with them. I mean, one more time, like you said, shame on me for not asking. But even if you got a 10% discount, it's too grand. It's worth a phone call.

But I mean, so what's my discount for cash again? Oh, nothing. Wait a minute. That doesn't work for me. You know, and just have this conversation. Be a little bit sassy with it. It's kind of fun. Because they don't ever have

people do that and it sets them back on their heels people go oh i'm so thankful i got in what i got the opportunity to give you people money oh i'm thankful for that you know that that isn't that interesting how we've gotten this whole thing reversed so yeah where if you went into a spend if you were going in to buy a car you'd negotiate their dadgum hat off you know i mean oh my gosh so yeah I'm gonna mess with them and I'm gonna cash flow it if I'm in your shoes you do are doing the right thing I love your degree field I love it's a cohort like I said earlier I think those will be friends for life not just I mean it's like it's like the best kind of fraternity it you know it didn't involve over drinking it involved over studying and so you know this kind of stuff so it's really

good right and i also i know it's a cohort but there are other schools that have cohort programs and some of these other schools actually have fully funded grad programs and i don't know where you are locationally and if there's schools in that region but there are a lot of programs that are fully funded so you don't get so even if you didn go there, I'd go find one of those and wave it under this president's nose and go, hey, I'm about to leave. Right. Got other choices and you're not it. See what they do. Yeah.

One more thought is you have a master's degree. Also look into an EDD program because you may be qualified for that. You can kind of kill two birds with one stone getting to the next level. That's interesting. I wonder if the state had any reimbursement even if the local teachers don't i doubt it can i collect always turn over some rocks that puts us out of the show in the books dave here you can find all of our shows with the ramsey network app on your smartphone it's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes.

Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.