Dave Ramsey anyone?

illinoisgolf99

My fiance and I are working on the Total Money Makeover plan that Dave Ramsey has been talking about for years. Anyone on here been on the plan and see results?

jthanatos

illinoisgolf99:

My fiance and I are working on the Total Money Makeover plan that Dave Ramsey has been talking about for years. Anyone on here been on the plan and see results?

I read it awhile back. I don't know if it has gone through any revisions since then, but a couple things that jump out in my mind were:

1. $1000 is a pretty small emergency fund. Better than nothing, but any emergency fund should at least cover three month's bills. I know he advises growing it later, but it feels too much like gambling that you won't have an emergency while paying down debt.

2. The snowballing section makes it easy to make the big payments, but make sure you run the interest math too. If you have X money to spend toward debt, no sense wasting it on interest payments.

3. I dislike his complete aversion to credit. Credit is a tool like any other in your financial toolbox. There are many reward programscash back plans that basically give you free money for buying things you would buy anyway.

All that being said, I think it is a good bookplan to get one to look critically at their financial situation and help find improvements that can be made.

ScottTDawg

Wife & I did that a few years ago. Had good results. We signed up for the online stuff too, which had some really good tools. Still follow some of the principles and have the books/tapes to listen to if need be. Not quite able to get the emergency fund going but still on the forefront of our mind. If we decided to do anything seriously to get control of finances, it would be Total Money Makeover.

Gray4lines

I have a copy, but need to read it!

phobicsquirrel

My parents did this years ago. I remember telling them that the book and all the other things they did for the "plan" were common sense things and even things you could find online. However as usual they ignored me. I'm not saying the thing doesn't work, as the concepts are nothing new however I feel it isn't any thing new under the sun. They had mixed results, though when my parents retired their income suffered and thanks to the "crash" of 2008 my parents lost a lot of their 401k and add to it the BS with Enron a while back. So a few things that happened that had nothing to do with my parents actually caused them financial problems, which led to more debt and then bankruptcy thanks to medical bills. They are still chugging along.

clearlysuspect

I've never read anything he's written, but I've been told our path to financial security fits his models to a very close likeness. We are very secure. So I guess it works.

Gray4lines

You're right phobic, sometimes crazy stuff just happens and no emergency fund will help. I can't imagine being retirement age and watching things crash like that. (I my parents suffered a little but had time to make it up a little). No kind of planning or diversification could avert that really, unless you were already loaded to begin with and take the hit.

And that is why I havent been quick to read the book. Not to sound arrogant at all, but I am an econ/finance degree holder. I have seen more about money and saving and financial tools than many, so I am not expecting any earth-shattering remarks or plans in the book. No doubt it is useful though and I can take many things from it.

Martel

Gray4lines:

You're right phobic, sometimes crazy stuff just happens and no emergency fund will help. I can't imagine being retirement age and watching things crash like that. (I my parents suffered a little but had time to make it up a little). No kind of planning or diversification could avert that really, unless you were already loaded to begin with and take the hit.

And that is why I havent been quick to read the book. Not to sound arrogant at all, but I am an econ/finance degree holder. I have seen more about money and saving and financial tools than many, so I am not expecting any earth-shattering remarks or plans in the book. No doubt it is useful though and I can take many things from it.

Nothing against Ramsey or any of the other financial gurus out there, but I think what works for me is what works best. I don't buy into anyone's plan whole hog. It frustrates me when people quote Dave or anyone else like scripture..."Well, Dave Ramsey says..." is not the end-all-be-all of financial advice. I admire those who stick to his plan, and facets of it have helped us in the past but I don't believe in cookie cutter solutions/one size fits all plans.

stephen_hannibal

I remember reading this back in high school.
I agree, you need credit in our economic system. Many things are simply stupid to purchase without credit.