Dave Ramsey

[Loren Wade]

Anyone else a huge fan of Dave Ramsey? His Total Money Makeover changed my life.

[ryanmercer]

Nope. Then again I'm not Christian.

[mgrif99]

Anyone else a huge fan of Dave Ramsey? His Total Money Makeover changed my life.

Um, YES.

I am a big Dave Ramsey fan. The TMM book changed everything. And his radio show (via free itunes podcasts) really keep me going. He goes on his rants sometimes a little over the edge for me, but they don't happen very often.

I haven't used credit cards since 2009, I paid them all off, and now I only have about half my school loans left. My parents have more debt than I do. My makes-more-money-than-I-would-know-what-to-do-with engineer ex-husband has more debt than I do. (Ok, honestly, I have no idea how much debt he has, but as of a phone conversation a month ago he still has debt.) Crazy.

And a lot of his fans also got other areas in their life on track after following his plan. Like living a healthier lifestyle, for example. Interesting, no?

ryanmercer: And as far as being a christian, it's not a requirement to follow his plan. I'm not.

[Loren Wade]

Nope. Then again I'm not Christian.

What does that have to do with the price of apples?

[concretecavewoman]

Yeah, I think his advice is pretty solid (his baby steps plan in particular), even uh, as a non-Christian. It doesn't strike me as super sophisticated (though I don't listen to his podcast or anything) but he provides a very structured and sound way to approach personal finances. Every time I move or change jobs or my spending patterns change, I try to reflect that in my 3-6 month savings pool. No loans except for my car, and I kind of wish I'd read some of his stuff before I bought a new car a couple of years ago. And since I don't tithe, I instead just have a couple charities that I give to each month.

[bananandrea]

Just put this on my Kindle. I am excited!

[smurray]

We went through the program a couple of times, and still use the basic principles we learned. We haven't had a credit card since 1999 and really have not missed it. The budget portion is a challenge for both my wife and I because neither one of us are the "financial nerd". Christian or not, it has very sound advice for anyone. I kind of think of the advice from the Bible about finance as "time-tested". The biggest complaint I her from people is the gripe, "Dave says you can't do this, you can't do that." All Dave really says is, "if you want to do it, save for it and put it in your budget."

[smurray]

@Loren- I saw this section created last night and I knew in my gut the first thread would be about Dave Ramsey. I remember when he first started in Nashville before he was syndicated.

[Elastigirl]

Love Dave Ramsey! My husband and I paid off our debts (except our house) and just this month finished putting in 6 months of savings away. I love the simplicity of it.

[scotticus]

Working on the debt snowball as we speak. It's tough going, but the end is in sight. Definitely changed our perspective on money, that's for sure! In other words, yes, I'm a fan.

[Loren Wade]

Working on the debt snowball as we speak. It's tough going, but the end is in sight. Definitely changed our perspective on money, that's for sure! In other words, yes, I'm a fan.

That's awesome!

[bananandrea]

I have never owned a credit card and I hope that I never get one. I have some fines I owe the government, some student loans and other random debt I really want to get paid off. Not only do I not want the pressure of it hanging over my head, I want to get married someday and would like to not burden my future husband with my debt. Also, I just want to learn how to not live paycheck to paycheck.

[Elastigirl]

I have never owned a credit card and I hope that I never get one. I have some fines I owe the government, some student loans and other random debt I really want to get paid off. Not only do I not want the pressure of it hanging over my head, I want to get married someday and would like to not burden my future husband with my debt. Also, I just want to learn how to not live paycheck to paycheck.

Good for you on the no credit cards. And Dave Ramsey's book is a great tool for learning to budget and not live paycheck to paycheck. I love doing the envelope system. We put the money in the envelope at the start of each pay period. If there is money in the envelope I can buy something, if not it will have to wait. It is very concrete and easy to follow.

[67alecto]

For those of you who don't have credit cards, how do you buy plane tickets, rent a car, order anything online, etc?

I have credit cards that get me 1-10% back on every purchase, so it's really easy to accumulate points which I use for gift cards. I just bought a new 46" TV from Sam's, for example, after saving up wal-mart gift cards.

[smurray]

For those of you who don't have credit cards, how do you buy plane tickets, rent a car, order anything online, etc?

I have credit cards that get me 1-10% back on every purchase, so it's really easy to accumulate points which I use for gift cards. I just bought a new 46" TV from Sam's, for example, after saving up wal-mart gift cards.

I have a bank card that I can use as a credit card and the money comes straight from my account. When Dave brings up the following verse in Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender, it really hit home. At the time I was just out of college, just married, and was getting those nasty phone calls from creditors because I was broke. The "perks" on credit cards are not enough for me to risk putting myself back into those situations. Also credit card companies are not in the business of giving money away, you always have to pay close attention to the fine print since they have to have a way of making the money they give away in "perks". Just like the casino, they are in it to make money.

[Oogiem]

Not a fan, the Christian preaching totally turns me off and I never get past that to hear his message.

However, We have a credit card and buy everything on credit, it's one that gives points back ad we're saving them for a special thing.

However, we have zero debt, no mortgage, no car payment and we pay of the credit card in full every month, without fail.

Contrary to most folks we found that using a credit card to buy stuff means we spend less money. Cash just gets used and we have no idea where it went, credit cards give us a record and slows our spending down. YMMV but for us 1 credit card with everything on it, utilities and all other purchases is much easier to manage.

[Oogiem]

I have a bank card that I can use as a credit card and the money comes straight from my account.

Be careful with that, any security breach can wipe out your account and they are not protected like credit cards are. If a charge is made on a debit card you cannot claim it as fraud.

We've been a victim of credit card theft twice, once to the tune of over $30K in charges. Had we had a debit card that was linked to our account we'd have been out all that money but with a credit card we could prove it was fraud and didn't have to pay it. The second time it was only several hundred dollars but still....

And yes, we can have a year's worth of cash in our checking account at a time so depending on the time of year someone could really get a bunch of money using a compromised debit card before we could catch it.

[Loren Wade]

Be careful with that, any security breach can wipe out your account and they are not protected like credit cards are. If a charge is made on a debit card you cannot claim it as fraud.

I don't know if this is true or not... but I know someone used my debit card, my pin number, stole a ton of money from me and I had it all returned. I've never had a problem with this.

Also, Alecto, I've used debit cards for hotels, planes, everything.

EDIT: Also, I truly don't remember any Christian preaching in his book.

[ErikM]

are we talking 'finances for idiots' or what? part of my life goals involves getting finances under control

i'm starting at the point of money_owed > money_earned AND might_have_to_sell_house = yes

i need to start somewhere with finance...just not sure where to start

looking at the "free sample" of this from kindle apps right now

thanks,

e--

[Loren Wade]

It's called The Total Money Makeover.

[ErikM]

yeah, i wasn't very clear what i was saying/asking

actually, what i meant to say was, is this a 'finance for idiots' type of book / thinking / etc

but, getting through the free sample it seems like it might be something i could read/understand/put to use

[67alecto]

I don't know if this is true or not... but I know someone used my debit card, my pin number, stole a ton of money from my wife and I... and we had it all returned. I've never had a problem with this. 

Also, Alecto, I've used debit cards for hotels, planes, everything.

Yeah, debit cards allowed us to get our credit cards paid off after the wedding (and the first-year penalty for tax returns after you get married). Since then, though, we've used one card to carry a low-rate balance (3.99%) and the other we pay in full each month. Now, we split our costs between both cards depending on the promotion they are running (which merchant categories are giving the bigger percents, for example) and pay them off in full.

(full disclosure: I work for a bank)

In terms of fraud liability:
For Credit Cards, the maximum amount you can be liable for is $50. I have yet to see a credit card from a major issuer that does not make you liable for $0, however.

For Debit Cards, the amount you are liable for is entirely dependent on when you report it. If you report it within 2 days, it's $50. If it is more than 2 days, then it is $500. If you don't report it for 60 days, you are liable for all of it.

Now, that's the law. Depending on your bank/credit union, you may get a break on it depending on your account standing and the size of your relationship with them.

The main problem, though, is that if fraud occurs on your debit card, you are out the money until you clear it up. If it happens on a Friday night, for example, you may have to wait until the middle of next week until you can access your money. While that is occurring, not only can you not use the ATM, any checks (paper or electronic) will bounce. Again, while you may eventually get this cleared up, it is a major hassle and involves a lot of letter writing, emails, and/or phone calls to clear it up.

That is the advantage of the credit card - it's not your money. If your card gets compromised, they issue you a new card number and will have the new card in your hands within 2-3 days (or the next day with rush shipping at a nominal fee or free depending on your account). It's a lot faster to clear up a declined autodraft from a credit card than it is a debit card.

[Oogiem]

Thanks for the law on how debit cards work. I was under the impression that on a debit card you have to prove the charge was a fraud first. The caution about the loss of the money is a big one. And again, in my case we can have all the money for a whole year of expenses or more in our bank account at one time. I don't want ot be worried that my entire years cash has gone AWOL and the stress of trying to get it back is not worth it so I stick with a credit card for all purchases.

In our case, our huge credit card fraud wasn't fund by me until over 30 days had passed. I only found it on the next bill when we suddenly owed nearly $35 K on a credit card we hadn't used much at all

[67alecto]

Thanks for the law on how debit cards work. I was under the impression that on a debit card you have to prove the charge was a fraud first.

Regardless of if it's a debit or credit card charge, you'll always have to complete an affidavit attesting that the charges are fraudulent. So, if you wanted to say that your kids used your credit card without your knowledge, you'd have to be willing to have them prosecuted for it.

[babycakes1970]

I am a Christian and while I do not listen to Dave Ramsey I do read his column in the local paper when I see it.I agree with some of his advice but certainly not all or even most of it. In one column he told the parent of a child with special needs who was living in a old mobile home and needed to find a place to live that was in better condition not to take a loan from her father. The well being of the child must come first and if that means having to borrow money to move to a safe place then that is what she should do. Then just pay it back as fast as they can.

Another piece of advice he gives is to forego the gym membership and exercise at home. He suggests used equipment. The Y M C A offers scholarship assistance to low income families. Not everyone has room to exercising at home. I tried it when we were living in our last apartment before I bought my house. We had a tiny living room kitchen area downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs and with four people we were already crowded. We were also not in a good area for jogging/walking since it was close to a

very busy street.

I have a plan to be almost debt free in about a year but I am not canceling my gym membership. We are lower income so we get the YMCA scholarship assistance. Our cost is less than $20 a month and totally worth it. Even if we did not qualify I could still get a basic gym membership for around $9 a month just for me. Our Y scholarship covers the whole family.