Dave Ramsey's total money makeover

[ciaradawn]

I was wondering if anyone else had read his book or listened to his cds. My aunt gave us the starter package for Christmas; it has all the cds and a book and some other stuff. It's pretty awesome.

I was hoping we could discuss it. He has some pretty great ideas.

http://www.daveramsey.com/shop/Audio_CD_Special_With_Free_Boo_P227C48.cfm?afid=7&s_kwcid=dave%20ramsey|995844866

 

[jessesgirl]

We are DR fanatics! We are still doing the debt snowball (can we say debt overload? ) but his program makes sense and it works. The only thing we weren't terribly sure about was the never, ever using credit cards again. Once we get everything paid on, we are going to use our AA Advantage card to rack up airline miles, but we are just going to use it as a debit card.

I'm so excited for y'all! We heart DR!

 

[Autumnleaf]

Money is sort of like weight. Its all about how much you take in versus how much you put out.

 

[ciaradawn]

I'm really excited about starting out my marriage this way. I'm REALLY against credit cards and was before I listened to his program, but now I hate them even more!!! LOL ... We have a little debt that we need to pay off, but after that I'm gonna be adamant!

I think that once you have the money and the self discipline, using cards can work as long as you can do it right.

*EDIT*
... hmmmmmm I don't know if I agree with my last statement... lol

 

[SimplyComplex]

We are borrowing this book from my inlaws. Right now we are just starting so we are working on our $1,000 in savings. But we are really excited about it. I cant wait to start the debt snowball and watch our debt disapear!

 

[godismyabba]

We are doing this plan, and it is awesome!! We just paid off a loan at the bank, so the only debt we have left is the car and the house. I think I can have the car pd off by this time next year (3 yrs left on the loan). I can't wait to think of what ministry I can do with the extra money. You don't have to have credit cards. If you are going out of town, have the bank extend your debit card limit for the duration of the trip just in case you need to tap into your account. We work off of cash the rest of the time. It really makes you disciplined in spending your money. I actually use different envelopes for everything. I am trying to be as faithful as possible to sticking to my budget and not overspending. If I tightened the grocery budget a little more, we could actually pay off the car earlier, but I don't want to do that. I can't wait to call into Dave's show and yell. "I'M DEBT FREE!!!!!!" Cool beans...

Melissa

 

[Caffeinated]

We already have virtually no debt...so does he have useful information for other financial issues, such as saving, investing, budgeting? I could use that info...

 

[ib4au]

We're going through financial peace university with our church right now. We're only on week two, but I can see how it would work- it's just common sense. Save for emergencies, pay off debt, and then save the rest.

 

[jessesgirl]

We already have virtually no debt...so does he have useful information for other financial issues, such as saving, investing, budgeting? I could use that info...

Yes, he does. He talks about investing and everything.

As far as travel with a debit vs. credit card, it isn't the not having money we are worried about, it is all the airline miles we could earn just using the credit card as a debit card.

 

[Leanna]

I've read the book, it was good. There is also a 9 part dumping debt thingey on youtube by Dave Ramsey.... check it out.... I think its part of the financial peace university but I am not sure.

 

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

Yup we love DR. We're actually 1 payment away from finishing the first debt in our snowball... it's a slow climb but we're getting there

 

[shaslove]

We are starting the Financial Peace Univ in February through our church. We are really excited about it.

 

[Sushi614]

Our church hosted Dave's Financial Peace seminar via the DVD program and books the last 3 months of 2007. There are so many people doing really well on it. We will host another one this spring.

 

[Rembrandtfan]

We have done it and the only debt we have is our mortgage. We have our emergency fund set up. Now our next move is investing.

DR rocks!

 

[Leanna]

the FPU is coming to our church too, but we can't afford to attend.... how is that for ironic

 

[ciaradawn]

Good for everyone!!!

I just got married so we're just starting out. DH has a couple thousand in debt and I have about $400. I'm the "nerd money handler" and DH is the "free spirit". lol... I've been listening to the tapes but DH hasn't yet. I wish he would. I think he would be inspired. He refuses to deal with money. He tells me he wants me to hande EVERYTHING; which is frustrating, cuz he wants stuff and expects me to come up with the money out of nowhere. It's frustrating, but I know that if we can get rid of our debt asap and do our budgeting RIGHT, now, then we will be set for life. I need to get him on the same page with me though. He's all over the place and wants a car and a big tv...NOW

 

[shaslove]

the FPU is coming to our church too, but we can't afford to attend.... how is that for ironic

We can't either...our church is subsidizing us!

 

[AMOG]

Ciaradawn,

I feel very sorry for you and your situation. I pray that you can get him on the same page with you money wise because if you don't it can become a huge monster that eats into your marital happiness. There is nothing wrong with him leaving everything to you, but he has to be able to look at the monthly "balance sheet" and see that there is no money for the toys yet. He has to understand and approve of the saving first strategy and be able to control his buying impulse or there is little hope of this working.

Dave's work is good, though I have never been through the course or done more then skimmed his books.

I learned the same lessons the hard way, living through a hellish (from a financial perspective) first marriage, and having not only to weather a divorce, but also a chapter 7 bankruptcy. My second wife and I are SOOOO on the same page with this it is exciting. She is thriftier then I am. We tithe first, pay my child support second, then save another huge % of our pay check, give to special causes at our church, provide what we need to live, etc. At the end of the pay period there is always money left over go into savings/investments.

I have read other books such as "The millionaire next door". It is excellent. It is a compilation of behavioral facts about the truly wealthy (as opposed to those who act rich). It tells you a lot about how the rich got what they have (and it is never because they won it and very rarely because they have huge salaries.

I don't mean to knock Dave's book at all, but by the time I heard about it and flipped through it at the book store, I decided I already knew most of what he was saying so it wasn't worth it to me to buy it. But he does lay out a very practical plan. Though I didn't go that route myself, I do know it will work, because it is similar to what we are doing.
I wish you all the best. Not being a slave to debt, and learning how to save, not so you can buy a big TV, but saving so your money can start to make real money for you, is one of the most important things you can do to be a steward of everything God has given you. This is a strategy that eventually will allow you to stop wasting your time making money so that you can start doing the things that are really important for life.

 

[AMOG]

And one more thing....

Sorry, I meant to mention this in relation to the credit card questions.

Can life be lived without a credit card? Certainly? Is it the best thing to do? depends....

First, if you are addicted to credit, if you or your spouse can't control spending if you have an open credit card on your person, then just do away with them. This is EXACTLY like telling an alcoholic to stop going to bars and to not have beer sitting around the house.

However, if you can control you spending, having a credit card is a valuable tool, the tricky thing is that you only use it for very short term credit.

Between my wife and I, we have lots of credit on plastic, but we carry ZERO balance on our cards. However, we both charge most all our daily expenses on the cards. We just pay them off at the beginning of every pay period. Why such high limits? Here's the crazy thing, we neither one started out with high limit cards, but if you use them properly, credit card companies can't wait to issue you more and more credit. That's fine, just don't use it. Ever.

The reason we use our cards, instead of cash is so we can easily track our expense on our computer. Downloading our transactions and using software to track our spending is SOOO much easier then thinking back and going "where did I spend that other $20???"

You can do the same thing with a debit card, but in using credit cards, we put another layer of protection between the world and the bank accounts where our money is. Though neither of us has had to deal with identity theft, we feel it is better to work this way then to have the potential of someone gaining access to our bank accounts through a debit card.

Anyway, hope this helps some of you. I feel for anyone dealing with the slavery that comes from excessive debt.

 

[jessesgirl]

Good for everyone!!!

I just got married so we're just starting out. DH has a couple thousand in debt and I have about $400. I'm the "nerd money handler" and DH is the "free spirit". lol... I've been listening to the tapes but DH hasn't yet. I wish he would. I think he would be inspired. He refuses to deal with money. He tells me he wants me to hande EVERYTHING; which is frustrating, cuz he wants stuff and expects me to come up with the money out of nowhere. It's frustrating, but I know that if we can get rid of our debt asap and do our budgeting RIGHT, now, then we will be set for life. I need to get him on the same page with me though. He's all over the place and wants a car and a big tv...NOW

LOL You sound like me and my hubby...except reversed! Except I don't want a big screen or a car!

I came around...it just took me a LOT of time. Now I am a bigger DR fanatic than he is He'll come around, he just has to get sick of it first. Of course, while you have very little debt compared to us (well over 50k NOT including car payments), it is still hard to be the only one trying (at least hubby says it is )