I've seen people post about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace before, but I'm curious about his overall philosophy. I know from my sister that he encourages paying down (or paying off) debt, but does this include the mortgage? Anyone out there care to share some of his general teachings?

From Total Money Makeover, here are his basic steps,
1. $1000 in an emergency fund and don't touch it
2. Pay off all debt except mortgage, smallest amount to largest debt. This includes your cars!
3. Fully Fund the emergency fund with 3-6 months worth of expenses
4. 15% of your income into retirement-401k and IRA
5. Kids college funds he recommends educational IRAs
6. Pay off mortgage
7. invest, build wealth, have fun, give, live basically

I really like his Total Money Makeover book, it was very motivating, I recommend it to anyone whether or not you are struggling financially it's beneficial!

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

He also STRONGLY encourages not "living up to the Jones' ". I think all of us struggle with this in some ways. He questions, tho, why anyone would want to live in debt like so many other people. He once was a real-estate millionaire - he did this by borrowing money to keep buying more properties. Until the banks started calling on all of loans. He lost EVERYTHING and then some! He has since paid off all of his debt and has obviously become wealthy again.

He and his family still by used vehicles, use coupons, buy their clothes at garage sales and or thrift stores.

He believes in living by a budget that is set up each and every month and that you snowball your debt. Snowball is where you put extra on the smallest debt until it is paid off and then you add ALL of that to the next smallest debt etc etc etc. He believes this way you will feel success sooner.

He also believes in getting rid of ALL CREDIT CARDS!! They aren't worth the temptation- he says in his book that if you use credit cards you end up paying more than if you just use cash. He believes in an ALL CASH system.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask me/pm me. My husband and I just went thru his class this past summer!!!

I just borrowed Total Money Makeover from the library, it was an eye opening book... I STRONGLY reccommend it! The above posts summed up his teaching well, and the book is also full of insprational "I did it" letters!

"Live like no one else now, so later you can live like no one else" ~ Dave Ramsey

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I strongly recommend Total Money Makeover too, it really gets you motivated.

I am in the midst of reading his Total Money Makeover book right now and I am learning a lot. I think it will be very helpful for me. It gives me a method that I can use to prioritize and pay off my debt. I love the helpful worksheets the book comes with, I am going to photocopy them and use them to refine and rework my budget and the order in which I pay down my debt.

Another realization I came to is I am going to have to get a part-time job & work a couple nights a week for the next 6 months to a year in order to get my $1000 emegency fund in place and pay down my debt enough so I can live off my current income. Plus my oldest sons college... As a single parent this will be challenging but I am willing to do this for peace of mind.

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Me Mom
DS Matthew
DS Patrick
Family Pugs Disney & Parker
Completed the Disneyland Half Marathon 09/03/07.

I love Dave Ramsey, although I just discovered him recently. We were in the process of following his TMMO plan and now are readjusting some because of my pregnancy. Before I found out I was also going to take a second job for a little while to get us out of debt faster.

I definitely recommend finding his books and reading them. Also, you can check out his website.

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Proud mommy to adorable Kinsley

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