I'm In $500,000 Of Debt!

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Helen is in Atlanta. Hi, Helen. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, everyone else. I'm calling. I forgot your name. I'm sorry. That's okay. That's all right. But I have a question that I'm sure y'all hear a lot. It's a student loan question. I know y'all are like, oh, I'm so sick of student loans. No. Not me. We know you're sick of student loans. So we're here to help you. What's up? So I'm kind of like in a very deep hole. I'm at the point where I'm very hopeless at this point. I'm trying to figure out how can I handle my student loan debt, which is now at $311,000, which keeps growing as each day goes by. interest rate on that student loan, which is $311,000, is some of them are 7%, some are 6.80, and some are 7.60. Are they private? Are they private or public? They're not private. They're public. All of them with the Department of Education. What's your degree in? I am, so I have three degrees. I have one in information technology, one in conflict management, which that was a waste of money, and I have a law degree. Okay, and so what do you make? So right now I'm only making $85,000. Doing what? Right now I'm doing compliance. Why? Because, well, I was a staff attorney, but I wasn't making a lot of money as a staff attorney because I work for a nonprofit. I wanted to switch over to do more corporate type of legal work, and that's when I switched over last year to this to try to try something else, and I did get a pay bump in making this transfer. I am married. I have a child. What does your husband make? He only makes $50,000. How old is your information technology degree? Oh, it's years old. So you're not up to snuff on what's going on right now? Not at all. So your best path to an income is through your law degree? Exactly. Can I ask about your spouse? He makes $50,000. You're not combining your income? No, we are not. Well, we're not really combining our income because he says my student loan is my student loan, so he's not contributing to that. Does he have debt? He owes about, he has a, there was a garnishment or whatever. It's not garnishing, but he has a debt about 30, well, more than that. He has a $30,000 debt, plus he has a car loan. I do not have a car loan. The only debt I have is the house. So the house is in your name? Mm-hmm. We got troubles, girlfriend. We have a lot of troubles. Basically, if you add the house and you add the student loan debt, I'm at half a million dollars in debt at this point. So, number one chance, the only chance you've got to cleaning up his mess and cleaning up your mess is for you guys to join forces and quit acting like your roommates fighting over whose mayonnaise it is in the dadgum refrigerator. Besides that, boy child is no money genius. We've proven that already. So it's not like he's sitting over here on some high horse. He's already behind. He's further in debt ratio to his income than you are and his income potential. So anyway, number one, we need an attitude adjustment in our marriage and learn to get on the same page and work towards things together. And then number two, we're gonna have to do something with your law degree that makes you as much money as possible. And it's not what you're doing now. I mean, a law degree, you ought to be north of six figures. What was the intent when you got that degree? What was the intent? Collecting degrees like a thermometer. My intent was I always wanted to be an attorney. Except for the part when you did conflict management and the part when you did information systems. I mean, what's the next step? Taking the bar? You got the bar. I've already taken the bar. You're a staff attorney. So then what? I need to understand what's stopping you from making double what you're making. Because the industry is not paying. Well, I'm not gonna, I don't want to litigate. That's one thing. I do not want to litigate. Why? So I have to, because I've done it for three years and I hated it. I did it for three years. Oh, three years. And I hated it. And I was like in depression. The only option that I saw out of this situation is to work for a nonprofit, which you know that's not going to make that much money at all. Doesn't work. You need to make some money. Yeah, you guys both need to make as much money as you can possibly make, because you have a deep, deep hole and a medium-sized to small shovel. And we need to get the size of your shovel up, your income up. And some of the jobs that you do. If you could make $100,000 more a year, you could be out of this debt in three years. Yeah. Even if you didn't like what you were doing, like litigation for three whole years, if you made $185,000, well go do it for three years and shut up. Exactly. Because it's less depressing dealing with litigation than it is dealing with $311,000 in student loan debt. And that's the mic drop. I'm still here. I'm not sure it's litigation. I don't care. But you're hiding in these stupid butt half-paying corporate jobs while you need to go at the tip of the spear and go make some dead gum money for the good of your life. Because you're looking at a mountain, don't know how I'm gonna climb it. And you're standing there with a law degree in your hand. So it's an income issue. You can make it out at 85, but it's gonna take you three or four times longer. You can make it out without your husband's participation, but it's gonna take you three or four times longer. And oh, by the way, when you do finally get out, dumb butt's gonna still be in debt over there. Yeah. What we're telling you, the you part of it is just such a small part of this equation. Because if you're getting up your income, think about this. If you double your income, he doubles his income. You guys attack this thing together. You're moving quickly and you're on the same page and you have the same goals. You'll be wealthy. You'll end up wealthy at the end of the story. He can't double his income because he doesn't have any of the education behind him, as well as he's not motivated. That's the second part, not the first part. The problem is he's not motivated because I don't care if he doubles his income in his field. I just want him to go out working and bringing in more income. I don't care if he's delivering pizzas. I want him to get after this because you guys together decide that this is what you need to do. It's emotionally debilitating to be doing it by yourself when you're married. So it's very hard. But you guys, it is an income to debt ratio problem, mathematically. Get your income up so that you can attack this faster and faster and faster and faster. And look at it as a temporary thing. It doesn't have to be a career choice. It's a temporary thing. You need to do something and go make an extra hundred K a year. This is the Ramsey show.