Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
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Normal is broken. Common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is The Ramsey Show. And I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with my good friend and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, George Camel. So we'll be taking your calls. So the number is 888-825-5225. Give us a call.
And first up, we have Daisha in Boston. That's Georgia's hometown. Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you. Absolutely. How can we help today?
I am about $140,000 in student loan debt. And my boyfriend and I have been talking about getting engaged. And the debt is overwhelming. And a wedding would be, you know, obviously a lot more on top of that. finance my student loans or if I should do a balance transfer on my credit card and what your opinions are the best way to get out of this debt as soon as possible.
Yeah.
What'd you get your degree in? Um, criminology and sociology. I was planning to go to law school, but now it's too expensive.
Yeah. So how much are you making now a year?
Um, so I was working in my field. Now I'm back waitressing right now. I make, um, between $1,000 to $1,500 a week.
Wait, why did you get out of the field?
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Chapter 2: How can I manage my student loan debt effectively?
But right now we're trying to go serving probably has a ceiling and it's a great side hustle, but it's not a career. And so my fear is you stick to this and three years from now, you're still serving, making the same amount and you haven't made much progress on the debt versus you got promoted. Now you've been in this field for three or four years with more experience.
Now you're making 60, 70, 80. That's the goal. And then what does your boyfriend do? He was in the Coast Guard. He got out about a year ago, and now he's waiting to get on the fire department. Okay. And do you guys think you'll get married soon if you did get engaged? Yes. Well, soon I would say we wouldn't get married at least for two years, maybe three. Okay.
Well, the truth is it's going to be hard to do this on just your income if you stick to this salary.
Okay.
Yeah, the job that I have now, I work at a different restaurant in the summer, and there, the on-season there, I can make $10,000 a month. That's why I went back initially. It's just the off-season that's awful.
Yeah, well, I think long-term, maybe you get through the summer and make that, because you said $145,000 in student loans, right? Right. 140. 140. So, yeah, I mean, at this rate, I mean, it's going to be. a really long time till you pay these off.
And so like what George was saying, finding a career at any level, now I don't care if it's with your degree or not, but just anything that you wanna do, you need to start pursuing because getting in is gonna be really important.
And then you're gonna start working your way up and that's where you're gonna start to see raises and actually be making significantly more money to help pay off $140,000 of the student loan. So before you get off the call, we still have a few minutes with you, but Christian will pick up and we'll get you, Ken Coleman's book, Find the Work You're Wired to Do. I'm sorry, Ken. So many words, Ken.
I forgot the title. But it has an assessment in the back of it that's going to be able to help honestly direct you and maybe give you some ideas career-wise. So that's going to be really important in this because of the amount of student loan debt. So what type of student loan debt is it? Is it private, federal?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of asking my partner to work?
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Up next in Springfield, Virginia, we have Sophie on the line. Hi, Sophie. Hi, Rachel and George. Thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it. Absolutely. How can we help today?
I am a longtime listener and I just finished reading The Total Money Makeover, which was really energizing to read. And I've been listening to the podcast just nonstop in recent weeks because I just need to internalize everything. And my husband and I are on the same page online. you know, about what kind of position we are in.
And so there's a teamwork element there, and we're very optimistic because there are lots of people who are in... Anyway. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't realize how emotional I was going to be.
No, you're fine.
What's going on? I am... I have... Oh, my gosh, I'm sorry.
That's okay.
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Chapter 4: How can I navigate financial honesty in a relationship?
And cash continues to come in. I manage a restaurant, so there are some little things that I do within the business where I take a little cash. It's small, but it's not nothing. I would say a couple hundred bucks a week. But we are going to have to pay the nanny about a grand... Um, and, um, my, so I'll be paid a little after the first, like whatever that Wednesday is around the first.
Um, and my net is 2171. So that'll be mine. My husband gets paid on the first, he gets 971 and, um, our rent is 2650. And so I'm kind of seeing like everything. So my, my, Yeah, I don't know. We pay $400 a month in freaking formula. That's not even including diapers. Right, right. So we've been collecting some cloth diapers. We've got some on our registry originally.
I got some from my local Buy Nothing group. I'm all about that, by the way. That's such a great... Yeah.
Yeah. Yes, totally. And those little things are very helpful for sure. But looking at the big picture, is there, um, is there extra hours that he can work or you can work or he could pick up a side hustle at night just to be getting, getting cashflow in? If he could make an extra, I don't know, $500 a week doing door dash or something at night. What does that look like?
I did, I did sign up for Instacart delivery. Um, There's spotty little places where I could do a couple hours here and there. I'm on a wait list. So that's hopefully going to come through. I mean, we have bartending experience. I could see if my husband has any interest in picking up like Monday or Tuesday. Yeah, that'll make good money. Nights and weekends for sure. That's a great one.
Well, the thing about the nights and weekends, that's when I work. Because you're in the restaurant business.
Yeah.
Right. So the nanny is part-time. She's there from 12 to 6, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, because I go in and I – excuse me. And I'm the closer on Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays. I open on Saturday, Sundays, and my husband has the kids. Okay. So you're just using her when you really need her. If he works Monday through Friday – Right.
So she's part time and theoretically we could really cut her hours, but then I don't know that she would stay with us.
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Chapter 5: What home renovations should we consider?
Is there renovations around the house we want to do? Do we need to replace a car? Do we want to go on a trip? Like, What are these things in the next year, two years, three years, five years? And then we even look out as far as down the road and just say, if money were no option, what would we do when the kids are in high school? Would we want a second home one day? We start to dream that way.
Chapter 6: How do we align our financial goals as a couple?
We don't do anything with that, but we at least get those conversations going.
You don't want to fast forward 10 years and now you're on very different pages because you never talked about it.
Yes, that's exactly right.
If you're in Baby Step 1 through 3, this looks different because it's pretty simple. It's how little can we live on? How much can we throw at the debt? All right, did we assign those dollars to the debts?
Chapter 7: What should we do about our mother's housing situation?
Great. High five. We're done. So it really starts with alignment on your money values and goals before you ever look at the screen. Because if you don't have that, you are just staring at a screen going, all right, what now? We're supposed to be doing this.
Totally. Totally. And they're not exciting. So if you guys have been doing it for a while and you're in a routine, it may be that kind of quick, boring, like, okay, we did it.
Chapter 8: How can we manage our finances better moving forward?
Check. We're moving on.
The nerd is usually more excited. The free spirit is like, oh my gosh. I ran into a couple. I was sitting next to them at a coffee shop and they had their every dollar budget pulled up and they were doing their budget meeting.
With you sitting next to them? Yeah. Did they know?
I felt like I was undercover boss.
I was going to say. But I didn't say anything. How's it working? How's it going?
I didn't want to make it weird. Like, hey, I noticed you guys are doing your every dollar budget.
Can I help? If you need any help, any assistance.
That would have been hilarious.
This is me, George Campbell.
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