The wife and I went through Ramsey's Financial Peace University a few years back. Everything he advocates is simple common sense, and if you follow what he says to do, it really does work. It sure did for us - we are totally free of debt. But if you're used to living on credit or buying things on a whim, it will be culture shock for sure (we had a couple of people drop out of the class because they couldn't comprehend getting rid of their plastic). Everybody has "reasons" why they simply MUST use credit cards, but most are bogus. We now have only one, which we almost never use except for travel. It's hard to book a flight, car, or hotel without one, and paying cash for a plane ticket these days is a huge flag to Homeland Security.
Dam you Dave Ramsey!
I recently started listening to Dave Ramsey and am focusing on getting debt free. Well I go into the LGS and what did I see....CZ Scorpion for $800!!! I've been really interested in this firearm and it's the first one I've came across and the price was fair. Just couldn't drop the $ on it. Stupid podcast! 
In all seriousness his program has been a good motivator and has me thinking about my spending, which is a good thing.
Any other listeners? Baby step 2 here
In all seriousness his program has been a good motivator and has me thinking about my spending, which is a good thing.
Any other listeners? Baby step 2 here
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Live like no one else, so someday you can live like no one else.
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I like Dave Ramsey, and he never said we couldn't buy all the guns we want. Might have to sell the car first.
:tongueout:
:tongueout:
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None of what he espouses is new or revolutionary. It's just common sense as others have noted.
That said. I "forgot" a lot of it when I got swept into the consumerist attitude of most these days. So my wife and I did the Dave Ramsey steps and are now debt free. We're on step five. Step six will be realized when we sell our current home and downsize, the equity should pay for a new one!
And yes, I've bought over a dozen guns since I started, I just had to save for them and not buy on a whim.
Live like no one else... :wavey:
That said. I "forgot" a lot of it when I got swept into the consumerist attitude of most these days. So my wife and I did the Dave Ramsey steps and are now debt free. We're on step five. Step six will be realized when we sell our current home and downsize, the equity should pay for a new one!
And yes, I've bought over a dozen guns since I started, I just had to save for them and not buy on a whim.
Live like no one else... :wavey:
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My motivator back in the early 1970's, to get debt free, was I thought it was stupid to throw away a big chunk of my (small) income in finance charges.
So, without going overboard, we worked to get rid of all debt.
My Wife and I drove VW Bugs for years and we even built our house ourselves.
Since the mid 70's we paid cash for everything.
It's amazing how much money you have when you aren't throwing a big hunk of your paycheck down the toilet in finance charges.
Like when we bought our pickup truck.
The guy that does the paperwork (and tries to stick you with finance charges) asked me about financing the truck?
I said I'm paying cash.
He said, "Oh like your bank is going to finance the truck."
I said, "No, like I'm going to give you cash or a check if you prefer".
He said, "Do you want to adopt me".
I said, "No, I don't have much money, so I have to pay cash".
He said, "I've never heard that before."
I said, "Look, I have the cash to buy one truck. I do not have the money to buy me a truck and a finance company a quarter of a truck."
Now days I use the credit card a lot but it's set up to be automatically paid in full every month. I look at it as the same as paying cash, and I get "cash back" from the card, which I wouldn't get by paying in cash money.
I have never got a straight answer from anyone when I ask them how much money they are paying in finance charges.
They don't know. They do not want to know.
Even with the cash, you should have seen me trying to explain to my Wife why I "needed" six Makarovs. :supergrin:
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Don't know who Dave Ramsey is but I consider addition firearm purchases above and beyond what I have as a luxury.
If I see something I REALLY want and I can buy it without impacting my financial goals and have my priorities straight then fine I buy it.
However some questions one can ask themselves that can help in a buying decision:
Is this a truly once in a lifetime buy or most likely will I be able to buy at same or better price down the road?
How will my life be impacted if I don't make this purchase?
Is this purchase the most satisfaction I can get for my money compared to anything else?
Many many times I walked away from a potential impulsive buy and did not regret it over time.
Their is nothing wrong with debt if it is the right kind of debt for certain purchases and it fits within your financial goals and the rates of returns of your investments exceeds the percentage paid on the debt.
If I see something I REALLY want and I can buy it without impacting my financial goals and have my priorities straight then fine I buy it.
However some questions one can ask themselves that can help in a buying decision:
Is this a truly once in a lifetime buy or most likely will I be able to buy at same or better price down the road?
How will my life be impacted if I don't make this purchase?
Is this purchase the most satisfaction I can get for my money compared to anything else?
Many many times I walked away from a potential impulsive buy and did not regret it over time.
Their is nothing wrong with debt if it is the right kind of debt for certain purchases and it fits within your financial goals and the rates of returns of your investments exceeds the percentage paid on the debt.
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Life's too short to be obsessed about living totally debt free. There are things that I've just come to rationalize as acceptable debt. No credit card bills, but I don't mind paying on a decent car. I am actually in the process of upgrading our 15 year old home with new appliances, AC, windows, etc. none of it goes on credit but it does deplete the savings a bit. I view this as investing in our home to make us more comfortable or happy. I hate looking at or dealing with crappy windows/doors or worrying about an aging appliance. Hopefully the new stuff will last another 15 years.
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OP here. Thanks for the replies. I'm not doing bad financially and I could afford the purchase. It would have been paid in cash but I do have a truck and a large student loan to pay off. In the past I would have bought it and not thought twice. So guess I'm being smarter with $ which is good. I agree his method is common sense. Hard to follow 100% but I'm already making some progress!
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Dave himself has said on his radio show it is a goal, not a religion. Do what you can, everyone has different circumstances
When on the road, I couldn't afford to hand over the cash for a new truck or SUV and had to finance as well. They absolutely raped me on finance charges because I have a very low credit score, because I don't borrow money. I did what I had to do so I could be where I needed to be.
There was a thread about negative equity. I paid off my present truck, and then spent that amount again paying off the two trucks I'd traded in and absorbed the negative equity. It was not the smart way to go, but it was what I needed to do at the time.
I figure at my present rate, I'm putting back a truck payment a month in savings and can buy another used vehicle in about a year and a half that should suit my requirements.
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As most people said, what he is saying for the most part is common sense. However there are several things I disagree with. In any regard I won't get into that, but if you are following him, he would say you couldn't afford that $800 gun if you have a truck payment and student loan.
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My wife and I have been 100% debt-free for 4 years now, and I can tell you that it is AWESOME! We achieved this goal by making good choices like being happy with a smaller house when all of our friends were "upgrading". The best part, is now that we have no mortgage or car payments, we take what those amounts used to be and we transfer that much to savings each month. So now our savings has grown by leaps and bounds, and we can afford to take nice vacations. I'm not saying all of this to brag. I am saying it to reaffirm that yes, it is a goal well-worth pursuing.
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Agreed.
It is also simply not possible for most people - especially the younger meaning around the 40 and under group. Wealth is something that can be accomplished with time. Also one can't compare a renter that has no debt to a homeowner that has a mortgage and whose home is worth more than the mortgage balance.
Being debt free sounds great but their are many variables. IMHO net worth is a much better indicator of one's financial health than simply their amount of debt.
When we bought our new 2014 Honda Accord we financed most of it. NOT doing that for a 4 year loan at .9 percent interest would have been downright stupid for us.
However we have NEVER paid any credit card interest and never will. Our credit score is over 800 and in the top 97 percentile.
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I was 44 and my wife was 42 when we paid off our last dime of debt. We do not make huge salaries, but we do ok. Our secret is in being happy with less. We live in a 1500 sq ft 3 bedroom home instead of a 3000 sq ft McMansion. We drive a Subaru and Toyota instead of Mercedes or BMW. I agree with most of what Dave Ramsey teaches, but not necessarily all of it. I'm pretty sure he is against using a credit card for anything. I use a credit card for EVERYTHING, but I never carry a balance. I pay 100% of it off each month, and have never paid them a penny in interest. It keeps my spending record neat, and we accumulate points that have helped pay for many vacations. Everyone has to figure out what works for them. All I know is being debt-free is a great feeling. It takes a lot of worry out of life.
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Yes, I agree.
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For sure.
The two smartest financial things I did in my life is getting out of debt, so I had more money, and buying land.
The first got us to the point that anything (within reason) we wanted, we had the money to pay cash for it.
Buying land was the second thing we did that totally paid for itself many times over.
A costly mistake I made is not buying more land around here when I could get it for a reasonable price, about $4,000 an acre. The price on the five acres, next to me, is now $100,000 and that doesn't include the mineral rights.
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