Ramsey’s advice
Ramsey suggested it’s time Larhonda found a new job. Most people in accounting make $100,000 to $125,000 starting salary, he claimed. However, those figures might be off, with ZipRecruiter showing an accountant would make on average $57,758 in the U.S. as of May 2023. In Virginia, the average climbs slightly to $59,887.
However, as Ramsey went on to explain, you can get within reach of those numbers if you become a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). This would bump the average salary to $93,659, according to Indeed.
Larhonda said when she studied accounting she was taught to do things “the hard way” just with a pair of calculators, but when she went in for job interviews she was expected to know how to use accounting software.
“It’s not rocket science,” Ramsey replied, noting accounting has been performed on computers for decades.
While it’s easy to blame your areas of study or where you live for your financial troubles, Ramsey said, these aren’t usually the prime culprits when it comes to getting paid what you’re worth.
“These don’t matter as much as your attitude towards it,” he said.
As for the student loans themselves, there’s no way for them to simply go away. And if this woman foot the bill for her son’s education, now that he’s older, it may be time to ask him to chip in.
If that’s not a solution that’s available, then Ramsey recommended throwing every single dime available toward the debt. He also recommended Larhonda seek out jobs specifically in accounting and supply chain logistics for higher income.
“If you don’t get above this instead of laying under it, ‘this’ being your career, where the career problems are all happening to you and instead you start happening to the career … the math on this is really not going to go well,” Ramsey said, “That’s called a small shovel and a very large hole.”
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