‘That’s Asinine’: Ramsey to Military Wife Whose Husband Is Leaving $60K Army Job for Welding Pay They Can’t Name

“Well, that’s asinine.” Dave Ramsey said it on the October 14 episode of The Ramsey Show. A Fort Campbell military wife named Princess had just admitted that nobody in her house knows what her husband’s welding apprenticeship will pay. Her exact words: “We’re not sure. We don’t really know.”

Her husband leaves the military in March 2027. He makes “1900. The 1st and the 15th,” which Ramsey put at “like 60 grand a year.”

Princess stays home with three children, ages 6, 4 and 18 months. The family’s last debt is $21,839 on a car loan.

Twelve days before the call, CNBC had Thumbtack’s chief executive on air explaining why Gen Z views skilled trades as more secure than accounting, legal and finance jobs. That’s a story about a whole generation. This family is about to put its only income on the line for the same idea, and the plan has no wage attached.

Ramsey Got This One Right, and the Paycheck Math Proves It

Ramsey’s judgment holds up. Welding is a solid career. The real mistake is trading a known paycheck for an unknown one when four other people depend on it.

Start with what actually lands in the bank. Two deposits of $1,900 come to $3,800 a month, or $45,600 a year in cash. Ramsey’s $60,000 figure is higher because military pay includes things that never show up in a deposit, such as housing support and family health coverage. When he leaves the service, the family has to replace all of it.

Now plug in Ramsey’s own example. He said that for a “three-year apprenticeship at $30,000 a year, screw that, go do something else.” At $30,000 a year, gross pay is $2,500 a month. That’s $1,300 less every month than today’s paychecks, and taxes haven’t come out yet.

Run that across the whole apprenticeship. The family comes up $15,600 a year short of today’s cash pay, which adds up to $46,800 over the full program. Measured against Ramsey’s estimate of total pay, the gap grows to $90,000.

John Delony added what the trades-boom headlines leave out. He knows certified tradesmen who “have run aground because that’s not a magic ticket. Any more than a four-year degree is a magic ticket.” His fix was to “have a plan, know who’s going to pay you, have jobs, have some business sense.”

Starting Wage Decides Whether This Move Pays Off

Ramsey set out the range himself: “Welders can make 100 grand a year in the right situation, but they can also make nothing because they didn’t have a plan.” Those are his own estimates. Still, the gap between them shows how much rides on the starting wage.

Turn the target into an hourly rate using a standard 2,080-hour work year. Matching the current paychecks takes about $22 an hour. Matching Ramsey’s $60,000 takes about $29 an hour.

If the apprenticeship starts at or above those rates, the switch costs the family nothing in year one. If it starts below them, a family of five dips into savings every month. For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put median full-time weekly earnings at $1,251 in the second quarter of 2026, about $65,052 a year. The paycheck they’re walking away from sits close to the national middle.

Use the Months Before Separation to Put a Number on the Plan

Ramsey was blunt about the timeline: “You have freaking seven months to plan this.”

1. Name the dollar figure first. Delony’s method: “Here’s the dollar amount I want to make. I’m going to reverse engineer that with my welding.” Start with the cash you need to replace, then add what it costs to replace the benefits.
2. Get the wage in writing. Ask the apprenticeship sponsor or union local for the starting hourly rate, the raise schedule and the guaranteed weekly hours. Multiply the hourly rate by 2,080 to get the real annual number.
3. Price family health coverage. Find out the exact date military coverage ends, then get quotes for a family of five. That premium goes into the target number.
4. Clear the car loan before separation. Paying off the $21,839 balance means the new paycheck won’t have to cover a car payment during the leanest months.
5. Line up income for day one. Ramsey said the husband “needs to go do something with his life that gives him instant money the day he leaves the military.” If the apprenticeship can’t cover the family’s basic bills, take a paying welding job first.

A trade only works as a financial plan once a wage is attached, so get the number before signing anything.

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