March 28, 2017 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says It Doesn’t Have to be a Deal Breaker Dear Dave, One of my relatives just graduated from college with $20,000 in student loan debt. Her boyfriend graduated, too, and he has over $100,000 in student loan debt. They want to get married, so she’s looking for a job. He wants to go to graduate school, and take out more loans to remain a fulltime student. The idea of even more debt hanging over their heads really bothers her. Do you have any advice? Denise Dear Denise, You don’t throw away a great, potentially lifelong, relationship just because of debt. Things like laziness, dishonesty, and irresponsible behavior are deal breakers, though. Those are flaws that usually don’t go away. I’m glad she’s looking for a job, but her boyfriend needs to be working, too. There’s no excuse for either of them being full-time students with more than $120,000 in combined student loan debt hanging over their heads. Lots of people hold down real jobs, save money, and further their educations on a part-time basis. If she were my niece, I would encourage her to have an open and honest discussion with her boyfriend about their future, and how he plans on paying for graduate school. She also needs to be very real about her feelings in this situation. If, after that, he still wants to just borrow more money and not work outside of school, then she might have a difficult decision ahead. However, if he realizes how damaging additional debt could be to their relationship, and he’s willing to work while continuing his education, I think their future together looks much brighter. — Dave Dave RAMSEY You Skipped One! Dear Dave, My husband and I heard about your plan, but we’re not sure what to do next. We have between $400,000 and $500,000 in a 401(k) for retirement, but we don’t have any other savings. We’re both in our forties, and the only debt we have is our house, so what should we do about Baby Steps 4 and 6? Mary Dear Mary, Overall, you two have done a great job with your money. Let’s go over the Baby Steps you mentioned. Baby Step 4 is putting 15 percent of your income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans. Baby Step 6 is paying off your home early. The thing that worries me is you’ve completely skipped Baby Step 3, which is having three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund. This is money set aside strictly for emergencies. The problem right now is if you have a real emergency, you may have to cash out your 401(k). If you do that, you’re going to be penalized 10 percent, plus your tax rate. That’s a real kick in the teeth just because you didn’t do things in the right order. My advice is to temporarily stop your 401(k) contributions until you get a fully funded emergency fund in place. By temporarily, I mean six to eight months at most. That way, you’ll be covered when life happens without having make a big dent in your retirement savings! — Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven bestselling 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 daveramsey.com. If there’s one thing you can honestly say about Delbert McLain, he’s as persistent as a winter cough. As our chamber of commerce here -- he’s it, you see -- his fertile brain never ceases its search to turn a sleepy little valley into a cross between Wall Street and Pittsburgh. That’s part of what was going on in his mind this late winter’s day as he sat in the rented office the local businesses chip in for each month. On a snowy day like this one, of course, you can never tell when the representative of a foreign auto manufacturer might skid on into town and look around for a good pasture on which to install an assembly plant. And what would happen if Delbert wasn’t there, wearing his tie, in the chamber office, when that occurred? The next valley over would experience phenomenal growth and we’d still be left without the “big box” stores. We would be everlastingly condemned to buying our food at the Soup ‘R Market, buying our reading material at the Read Me Now Bookstore, getting a new “do” at Curl Up ‘N Dye beauty salon, and sipping our coffee at the Mule Barn truck stop where the waitresses know everything there is to know about us, whether that’s okay with us or not. But it’s a snowy day, and no one has dropped by wanting to subdivide the old Johnson place or anything, so Delbert threw his tie over his shoulder to get it out of the way and took his fly-tying vise out of the desk drawer. He was in a streamer mood and smiled as he tied the colorful tails on the longer hooks, dreaming of the retrieves his friends would make in Miller pond for the bass there. Delbert doesn’t enjoy fishing, just tying the flies. He likes the streamers better than the bass plugs, even if they don’t catch as many fish. They just look classier. So Delbert went on, tying flies for one way of life, and planning how to bring us another way of life, and smiling. Because he had no idea he was doing it. What Students Learned In Math Class By Daris Howard Over the years, we have found that one of the students’ greatest criticisms of any math class is their claim that they didn’t learn anything. Therefore, as part of their final, I have the students list ten things they learned. These items could be anything at all in relation to the class. They are allowed to write Call 665-5884 time and bring itad the final if they want. their list ahead of to place your to here. 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The girl sitting next to me kept playing games, and then she was upset when she failed the test. She said she couldn’t figure out why she did so poorly. Duh. 9. Taking a class with my brother is fun, but annoying. 10. If you hate a class, sit by a hot girl and you will like it better. Call 665-5884 to 11. When your teacher allows you to take a 3X5 note card into a test, it really only helps place your ad here. if you put the right stuff on it. 12. What I learn in a class is actually more important than the grade I get. Though a good grade is nice, too. 13. If you work hard and Interested in learn the material quickly, you can sit by a hot girl and this spot? help her. That impresses her a lot, and she is happy to sit Call 665-5884 to by you. If you put off learnplace your ad here. ing it until you have forgotten Interested in this spot? INTERESTED IN THIS SPOT? www.missourivalleyshopper.com Interested in this spot? www.missourivalleyshopper.com www.missourivalleyshopper.com Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com what was talked about in class, then you have to go to Professor Howard and have him help you, and that’s not near as much fun. 14. Make sure you have plenty of time to get to class without hurrying. If you have to hurry, you get sweaty and nobody wants to sit by you. 15. It is harder to pay attention when you sit on the back row. 16. I learned that a child is a tax deduction. Maybe not the most effective one, however. 17. Don’t date someone you take a class with because it is really awkward when you break up. 18. If you have a hot date to do homework, it is a lot more fun and you learn a lot more. (Maybe not about math, though.) www.missourivalleyshopper.com 19. I learned why I am an art major and not a math major. 20. I learned that the stress from worrying about doing your homework is a lot worse than actually doing it. 21. I learned the most from your talking to us about trying again and again when you fail, Visit our Web site at especially with the number of failures you have had trying to get your books and stories pubwww.missourivalleyshopper.com lished. I will never forget your quote. “You need to stretch yourself beyond what you feel you are capable of. If you are not failing now and then, you are not reaching high enough.” That will always remind me to keep trying. 22. I learned that Professor Howard was actually Visit our good looking when he was in Web site an college. (I found at old year www.missourivalleyshopper.com book picture of you.)Kevin had learned something even more important than math. Visit our Web site at www.missourivalleyshopper.com YOU NEED IT TODAY? NO PROBLEM! ANNUAL MEETING & ELECTION NOTICE OF OF DIRECTORS OF B-Y WATER DISTRICT FAX IT 605-665-5882 ON MARCH 29, 2017, TO BE HELD Missouri Valley Shopper 216 W. 4th St. • YANKTON,SD 605-665-5884 Interested in this spot? Call 665-5884 to place your ad here. INTERESTED IN THIS SPOT? at the Scotland VFW Building, 531 First Street, Scotland, South Dakota, at 1:30 p.m. for the purpose of electing directors to succeed those whose terms are about to expire. Those directors whose terms are about to expire and the division which they represent are Lawrence Schwarz, Yankton County; Dale Baltzer, Hutchinson County; Roger Sykora, Div. #6; Terry Hacecky, Div. #7; and Chuck Murtha, Div. #11. St. Rose of Lima Friday, March 31, 2017 All you can eat FISH! 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