December 13, 2016 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says Dying Car or Kill the Student Loan? Dear Dave, I’m 38 years old, and I’ve got $12,000 in student loans still hanging over my head. It’s the only debt I have. I make $30,000 a year, and I’ve managed to save $12,000, but I’m also driving a junky, old car that will have to be www.missourivalleyshopper.com replaced soon. Should I split the money I’ve saved and buy a $6,000 car while paying off $6,000 of the student loan? Phil instructor walked students through the process of getting a credit card and building credit. We’ve always followed your plan and taught her to do the same. When she asked the instructor if no credit score was as good as a high credit score, the instructor said no. He told the class the only way to buy a home without a high credit rating is by having a huge amount of assets or savings. I think I know your answer, but how do I explain this to an www.missourivalleyshopper.com 18-year-old? Allison Dear Allison, Well, the first thing you explain is that college instructors — even tenured college professors — can be absolutely wrong sometimes. A few years ago my daughter took a personal finance class in college, and on the first day the instructor went on a rant saying Dave Ramsey is stupid. He didn’t know I was her dad, but she went through the entire class and never said a word. When she called home and asked what she should do, we told her to take the class and give him the answers he wants on the tests. We reminded her that she’s just taking a class, and that doesn’t mean she has to form her life opinions around what that guy thinks. Sit down with your daughter and gently explain in this instance her instructor doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. Explain to her you can get a home loan even if you have no credit score. People do it all the time. There are places like Churchill Mortgage that would be happy to give her an example of this process. It’s called manual underwriting. All you have to do is make a reasonable down payment, have two years at the same job, and provide two years of tax returns. Hope this helps, Allison! www.missourivalleyshopper.com www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dear Phil, Dave If I’m in your shoes, I want that student loan out of my life as quickly as possible. At the same time, I don’t want you living life without some money in the bank. If you’ve followed me for very long, you know I teach the Baby Steps when it comes to getting out of debt and saving money. Baby Step 1 is to save a beginner emergency fund of $1,000. Baby Step 2 is to pay off all debt, except for your home, using the debt snowball method. The third Baby Step is to build a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. You don’t have quite enough on hand for your idea and to have something left over. I recommend paying off $11,000 of the school loan now and then finishing it up as you go. It won’t take much more time. Limp along in the beater for a little while longer and then, when you have no student loan debt, finish your emergency fund and start a car fund. I talk to a lot of people your age who still have student loan debt. But you have the opportunity to punch its lights out in a hurry. If you pour on the coals, you should be able to save money and get a better car in just a few months! — Dave RAMSEY www.missourivalleyshopper.com www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com — Dave Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven bestwww.missourivalleyshopper.com selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramwww.missourivalleyshopper.com sey.com. The Teacher was Wrong www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dear Dave, My daughter is in her first year of college. Recently, her math Sioux Falls Soldiers To Return Home www.missourivalleyshopper.com From Kuwait Deployment www.missourivalleyshopper.com A welcome home ceremony for 38 Soldiers of the South Dakota Army National Guard's 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 4:30 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. The Sioux Falls-based unit is returning from a 10-month deployment to Kuwait where the Soldiers conducted security and force protection operations at several bases in the country. Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether and Maj. Gen. Tim Reisch, adjutant general of the SDNG, are planned speakers for the ceremony. The unit returned to the United States on Dec. 7 and has been completing demobilization requirements at Fort Hood, Texas, before returning to South Dakota. The Kuwait deployment completes the second mobilization for the 196th since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The unit first deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010-2011. www.missourivalleyshopper.com www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com 114th Fighter Visit our Wing Misses Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Site Survey List For F-35 Fighter Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Entertainment The South Dakota Air National Guard's 114th Fighter Wing at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls has not been selected for a site survey as a candidate base for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force has selected five of 18 locations under consideration for the next round of F-35 basing. The 114th Fighter Wing was not among the five ANG units announced by Air Force officials last Wednesday. The site survey would have been the next step in a long process for the 114th Fighter Wing to be selected as one of two Air National Guard basing locations for the F-35. The 114th Fighter Wing has a long and storied history of flying fighter aircraft and will continue to fly the F-16C Block 40. "We are disappointed but know we are an outstanding unit among an outstanding community," said Col. Nathan Alholinna, 114th Fighter Wing commander. "The Air Force's reliance on and confidence in the 114th Fighter Wing remains as high as ever." COUPON - Offer expires 1/1/17 OPEN 11 AM - 10PM 6 $ 00 OFF Family Meal 8 Pc. Chicken, 2 Lg. Sides, 4 Biscuits 2504 Fox Run Pkwy. Yankton, SD Kayton International Kids Day Albion, Crofton, & Neligh Wednesday, December 14, 2016 3:30 to 5:00 pm Popcorn Hot Chocolate SPECIAL VISIT BY Santa Claus An Independent Child By Daris Howard Our neighbors have a little three-year-old daughter, Millie, who is very independent. She has to do everything herself. She has been that way since she could barely crawl. I think about the first words she learned was, “Do it self,” because that was what she always said. One time when we were at church, she was standing in front of the water fountain, which was about a foot above her head. “Do you want some help to get a drink?” I asked. “Do it self,” she replied. She thought and thought and considered all options but could not figure out how to get a drink. She finally let me lift her up to the water. But the minute I went to push the bar that made the water come out, she said, “Do it self,” and pushed it on her own. In the church nursery, she was the same way. I opened the toy cupboard, and the toys were stacked on the shelves as they always were. “Which toy would you like, Millie?” I asked. She pointed to a bear that was a couple of feet above her head. I reached for it, and she said, “Do it self.” I rolled my eyes but left the bear where it was and started to hand toys to the other children. Millie stood on her tiptoes, but she was still nearly a foot short of reaching the bear. The other children started playing with their desired toys while Millie stared at the bear trying to figure a way to get it down. She took a small doll and laid it down on the floor stood on it. She still couldn’t reach the bear, and the doll underneath her feet rolled, and she fell. I reached down to help her up, and she said, “Do it self.” I sighed and let her stand up on her own. Millie looked around and saw a little stick that the children used to make a corral for the toy farm animals. She got the stick and took it over to the shelf and tried to reach the bear with it. She waved the stick, but it was about an inch short. She thought for a minute and then went and got the doll again. She stood on it and waved the stick, barely touching the bear, but it was enough to unbalance it so it fell off of the shelf onto the floor. I smiled. I had to admit that Millie was quite innovative. Some of the other children wanted us to do everything for them, even what they could do for themselves. But Millie’s attempts at doing everything for herself taught her to think. I realized this even more as the weeks went by. I watched as Millie became more and more clever in her ability to do everything. A month or two later, I was standing by the water fountain lifting each nursery child up to get a drink. When Millie came, knowing her temperament, I waited for her to ask. But she didn’t ask. Instead, she disappeared into a nearby classroom and came out dragging a child-size chair. She scooted it up next to the water fountain, climbed on it, and got her own drink. She didn’t bother returning the chair, so I did, but I marveled at her ingenuity. Sometime later that day I ran into Millie’s mother. I told her what I had observed about Millie over the last few months and what I had recently observed earlier that morning. “Have you also noticed that none of her clothes ever match?” Millie’s mother asked. “I haven’t,” I replied. “But that’s probably because I’m a man and don’t notice such things.” Millie’s mother sighed. “Well, they never do match because Millie insists on dressing herself. I’m considering removing all of her shirts and blouses and replacing them. And you know what they will say on them?” “What?” I asked. “They will say, ‘Mom loves me, but I dress myself.’” REAL ESTATE RENTALS AUTOMOTIVE EMPLOYMENT MERCHANDISE COUPONS the Missouri Valley Shopper and missourivalleyshopper.com is your complete source for buying and selling. Everything you need is just a click or call away! Place an ad today by calling 605.665.5584 MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y There is a nighttime sweetness and hope that hovers over us this time of year here at home. This is a time for summing up and looking ahead … and a time for dreams. And at night… ah, that’s the time, isn’t it? Outside it’s dark, December dark, and we’re inside and warm and cocooned up. The cold makes our world shrink, especially at night. But we have our dreams. For Janice Thomas, our art teacher at the high school, it’s that painting she’s planning. She makes starts at it, from time to time, but she’s wise enough to know she isn’t good enough to paint it yet. She paints other things well, but that one … it has to be perfect. It will be the painting of a lifetime, she knows. Doc will drift off to sleep tonight thinking about that new fly rod. He has half a dozen, of course, that will take about any weight line, and let him catch anything from mouse to moose. But even the most expensive rod isn’t what he dreams of. This year, for Christmas, he’s giving himself a rod-builder’s jig, and he will make his own rod from a Sage blank. That will be the one. It will have his own wrappings and he’ll put the ferrules on it himself. He’ll be able to feel the fish breathe with this one. It will be true and wonderful and last forever. For cowboy Steve, the December dream is always the same: spending all his time at that little cabin up there in the mountains. Sometimes he’ll sit by that stone fireplace downstairs and sip coffee, and sometimes he’ll be up in the turret he built and sip coffee. Ol’ Snort, his cowpony, will be out in his corral, of course, except when the two of them are exploring the miles of mountains behind the cabin. And in the cabin, while sipping coffee, he’ll hear music on the radio and a breeze going through the pines outside. There is a nighttime sweetness and hope that hovers over us this time of year. Here’s to dreams. Door Prizes • Reward Cards • Tractor and Combine Rides DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR SPECIAL OFFERS ON DECEMBER 14TH ONL Y 15 % OFF Authorized Retailer ALL Clothing & Toys KAYTON INTERNATIONAL, INC. West Hwy. 275, Neligh 1211 W. 2nd, Crofton 2630 State Hwy. 14, Albion 402-887-4118 • 800-247-4718 402-388-4375 • 800-798-4376 402-395-2181 • 800-248-2215 Visit Us At: www.kaytonint.com Financing Available W.A.C. ©2008 CNH America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH and CNH Capital are registered trademarks of CNH America LLC. Jurrens Electronics 114 Main St. Avon, SD (605) 286-3630 1-888-873-7382