‘I’m Very Happy And I Make A Lot’ — Dave Ramsey Pushes Back On Quitting High-Paying Corporate Job For A Side Hustle To Be Happy And Independent

The story’s familiar: someone stuck in a corporate job thinks chasing that side hustle will finally make them happy, even if it pays less. But personal finance expert Dave Ramsey says that’s the wrong way to think.

Brad from Chicago makes $200,000 a year as a software developer, but he is not happy in his job because of what he calls “corporate nonsense.” He started a hobby project of buying and selling abandoned storage units, which now brings in about $2,000 a month. He is considering quitting his corporate job to do it full time. Before taking the leap, Brad called into “The Ramsey Show” for a sanity check.

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‘Middle Ground’

Ramsey pushed back and questioned Brad’s reasoning. He said walking away from a $200,000 job for a $24,000 side hustle does not make sense. Instead, he asked Brad to think about how he could gain more independence while staying a software developer and increasing his income.

“From software engineer to junk dealer is probably not my plan,” Ramsey said. “There’s probably a middle ground here. How can we maybe be a software engineer freelance, start doing some consulting contracts, and you decide who and when you want to work for and all that kind of stuff and maybe you make 250 doing that.”

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‘Not a Proper Framework’

Brad questioned why he would need to match his corporate income with his side hustle before leaving. He argued that he shouldn’t have to keep piling up money in a corporate job he does not like, where he is unhappy due to restrictions and a lack of independence.

“None of those mean you have to make less to be happy,” Ramsey responded. “To automatically assume less equals happy, that’s not a proper framework. I’m very happy and I make a lot more.”