After 11 Years of Debt-Free Living and a Paid-Off Home, a Man Loses His Job and Considers a New Career

A caller to The Ramsey Show says that after years of paying off debt with his wife, losing his job left him facing an unexpected next step.

NEED TO KNOW

• A caller on The Ramsey Show named Michael says he feels peace despite losing his $120,000 agricultural sales job

• He and his wife have a $60,000 emergency fund plus investments and savings for their son’s college and became debt-free after 11 years of work

• The Raleigh father called into the show, seeking advice about what he should do next after losing his job

One man says he feels an unusual sense of “peace” after losing his $120,000 job.

Calling into The Ramsey Show, Michael from Raleigh, N.C., said he and his wife spent 11 years working to become completely debt-free and followed the Ramsey baby steps.

After hosts George Kamel and Jade Warshaw congratulated him, Michael said that, despite the good news of becoming debt-free and paying off their $450,000 house, he had recently lost his job as a traveling salesman for agricultural chemicals.

Still, he said, “The craziest thing about this is how much peace I have over the whole ordeal.” He went on to describe the couple’s financial position, including a $60,000 emergency fund, brokerage account investments and money set aside for their son’s college fund.

Michael said he called in to ask whether the hosts, Warshaw and Kamel, thought this would be the right time to “transition” into a different career field. He said he has interests outside agriculture and has considered moving into health care because he wants to offer “hope and healing to people.”

He added that the field would not pay much at first, though earnings could rise after a couple of years. “It’s kinda one of those things where you gotta have to jump into it, and maybe after a couple years, you might be up to 80 or 90 thousand,” he said.

“It’s kind of always been something that I’ve been interested in just for personal health. I mean, I’m really into personal health, but I just wanna help people, man. That’s at the end of the day.”

After weighing his options, the hosts said that because Michael and his family had long been used to living on half of his $120,000 salary as part of their budgeting, taking a lower-paying job would not necessarily create hardship.

“The good news is you’ve set yourself up beautifully. I mean, you have no debt. Your home is paid off,” Warshaw said. After Michael confirmed that he would still have enough room in the budget to cover household bills, keep contributing to the college fund and retirement, save for vacations, upgrade the car and “have a great life” as a lab technician, Kamel urged him to try it.

“You guys have created a situation where you’ve earned the right to do what you want and try it out,” he said.

In the meantime, Michael said he and his family would live off his severance package while he searched for a lab technician job.

“I feel like that’s what the Lord’s steering me towards,” he said of the decision, adding that it would also give him more time with his son.

“You’re young. You got time. You’ve got margin. Those are the key ingredients here. And so I would definitely pursue this with the hopes of, I think you can make $120 (thousand) again,” Kamel advised.