Dave Ramsey is my favorite financial guru, bar none. Lots of financial writers can fill up a book with a whole bunch of words and lots of financial writers have carved out niches which get them a lot of publicity via books, TV, and the internet. Not so many writers, actually none except Dave, give you simple, step by step instructions on how to get out of debt an become rich.While other financial gurus are preaching about 401ks and flipping houses, Dave starts at the very beginning for those of us who are slow (or those of us who don't really want to hear the truth because it my be painful)...step 1, get a $1000 emergency fund NOW!, step 2, cut up ALL of your credit cards, get a second or third job, stop spending, and pay off all of your debt. See--painful. But effective. I can honestly say that Dave is the only person in MY ENTIRE LIFE who said "you are an idiot because you are spending yourself into massive debt. Don't be stupid." And for some of us, that's what we need to hear because we can come up with all kinds of excuses to justify how bad we are with money. But after you get with the program, much like running a marathon, you hit the wall of pain and pass it because you become so blissed out with your progress that your whole mindset changes.
Now I (and apparently millions of others) are no longer victims of our poor choices and of the media/financial/Joneses that we are keeping up with, and we are making significant progress in our financial lives (and overall in our personal lives too) so now I want to evangelize Dave to the world! Here are ten ways to learn how to get out of debt and become wealthy from Dave Ramsey:
Dave Ramsey makes it sound like anyone who curbs their spending, gets out of debt, and saves as much as possible will be 'rich'. This is simply not true. He uses antiquated data to come up with his wealth predictions, such as a 12% return on investments, which is far from realistic in these times. The family of four that brings in $80-100k per year can live relatively comfortably, but no matter what they do, they'll never be 'rich', no matter how many pizzas they deliver at night.
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on your definition of being financially "rich". To me, being rich is not a dollar figure but includes: not having any debt, owning my home debt free, having the ability to generate an income, having money in the bank, living on much less than I earn, spending some, and banking the rest.
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