So is there any other pertinent info from Ramsey outside of paying of smallest debts first and building an EF?
*Disclaimer* - I have yet to read his Total Money Makeover and Complete Guide to Money books which are his basic personal finance ones. I have read Financial Peace Revisited which is more the *why* instead of the *how* and Entreleadership which is for running a business as well as followed his site
Dave Ramsey is great for people who have no idea how to manage money. He goes over how to budget, points out stupid shit people waste their money on, and a his method of paying off the smallest debt first (which for people who need his advice, this is the way to do it despite hate on here). While I have disagreements with some of his advice (tithing while you're in hair-on-fire-get-out-of-debt mode, stopping all retirement plan contributions even if it means giving up a match until your debt is paid off and you have 3-6 months in savings)
Overall though I think it's a very good plan for people who don't know how to manage their finances at all and I'm actually trying to host a Financial Peace University course for some of my friends who I think would benefit from it
From the info I had, that is what I gathered from him too. Thanks for the feedback.
Some good things that helps people follow his principals:
He teaches you to be frugal now so you can spend later.
- This helps people get into frugal practices now. He presents a good perspective on what you can afford relative to how much or what income you have. Hopefully, during the course of going without and living on Rice and Beans, you will realize that you don't miss most of your spendthrift ways and be a little smarter and wiser on the tail end.
He has become a millionaire, gone broke, and built himself up again...
- People may see this as 'walking the walk' and to them it shows that he has some street cred ;)
Strong focus on entrepreneurship
- If you can't find a job, make a job, don't settle for making less.
Related to the snowball.. He says that for most people, being in debt/bad with money isn't a math problem, it's a behavior problem. This is why he advocates for the snowball, people getting the 'little wins' of paying off the smaller debts first are more likely to see it as 'working' and keep on working at the program.
Other points:
- Focuses on having a mixed investment strategy with heavy emphasis on 'Good growth stock mutual funds'.
- Big on tithing (as mentioned above), though he doesn't tell anyone that they SHOULD tithe, that's just what he does and usually picks apart people who get to technical on it. (Should I tithe on gross or net? Before or after 401k? On Gifts?)
- Act like what you want to be. If you want to be broke, act like broke people, if you want to be a millionaire, do things millionaires do.