Dave Ramsey
Dave Says - August 30, 2010
When is it okay to buy toys for the lake - things like boats and jet skis when following ...
We are debt free Including the house!!!
Five years ago my husband and I hit our financial rock bottom. His 6 figure job as a new construction real estate agent came to a a sour end when the real estate bubble burst.Up until this point we had lived high on the hog and our reckless financial habits left us in MESS. We had 8 investment properties weighing us down and no income to float the notes. None of the homes were income producing. Although we lived in a paid off home and had a rental property paid off we still owed over a million dollars to banks and other lenders. After many hours of prayer and lots of tears we decided to make good on every loan no matter what the cost. We sold our two paid off properties and used the money to sell the other 5 homes. Our kids went from private schools to public. We stopped eating out and had 400 a month budgeted for food for a family of 7. We no longer had lavish parties. Gifts to our family and friends became hand made cards. We moved into the the 6th home because it was distressed and needed major work and wouldnt sell until it was complete. Our normal nights and weekends of movies and date nights now became dedicated to laboring to make our home liveable. My five children have learned how to paint,install baseboards,hang cabinets,and every aspect of yard work and landscaping. We traded our newer cars for beaters.My husband worked for one year in construction (a job he swore he would never do again).I no longer spent my days having lunch and shopping with girlfriends.Instead I was babysitting,working at a preschool and cleaning houses(yes a few months prior I had a cleaning service cleaning my house). When the smoke cleared a little we started to follow the Dave Ramsey plan and we became gazelle intense. God blessed our decisions and several amazing things happened. My husband landed his dream job as a sales rep for a company that offers a base pay, commisions, retirement,a pension, and a medical plan that covers our family of 7. Two years from our bottom we became debt free from everything except our house. And on August 9th 2010 we sold the final house that we renovated and with a combination of savings and equity we PAID CASH for our 4 bedroom home in a wonderful neighborhood. We are free from the bondadge of debt.The best part for me is the 5 years of hard work and sacrafice has developed the character of our 5 children in such an amazing way. Thank you Dave and we look foward to seeing you in November in Orlando.
Just One Debt at a Time
My husband and I have been married 14 years and have never been debt free. Sure, we were ALMOST debt free a few times, but would sabotage ourselves one way or another. We would be out shopping and see a 'want' and convince ourselves we would put it on a credit card. We would say we'll only have 'just this one debt at a time', and pay it off quickly. Well, if you get a $2500 TV at Best Buy on the 0% interest card, you also need a beautiful entertainment center to showcase it right? And of course, to justify it, the center was on SALE! And, sadly, on another credit card, OOPS! I grew up watching my mother put everything on a credit card. She was a waitress, and had so many cards it looked like she was selling them. She would borrow from one, and make payments with the cash advances. I learned that credit cards were used for every purchase, and that's just how it was done. It really is very hard to overcome what you see as a child everyday. I finally found Dave, constantly hearing about living like no one else, so I can live like no one else, made me want to change. We had 14k in credit card debt and paid it off in 23 months. Not much in the way of debt, but actually paying it off without racking up MORE is amazing. I am a full time student, and we have payed for my school with cash! We also took a trip to Maui while becoming debt free, using the debit card of course. Not a whole lot of suffering as you can see. I am making sure my daughter knows that credit cards are evil, and to always use cash or debit. When we go out and she sees a card pulled out of the wallet, she never fails to say 'now mom, that's a debit card, right?' And I can smile and say 'yes it is!'
Debt Free Before Pediatric Cancer
Dear Dave, God works in funny ways sometimes. We sometimes do things thinking they are for one reason (like getting out of debt) only to find out they are really for another reason (to take care of a child). We started your program back in September of 2007. We were over 100K in debt, mostly from student loans (over 50K!), car loans, braces, and one credit card. We finished Baby Step 2 by February of 2010! Then we finished Baby Step 3 in June of 2010. It was a lot of work, selling everything but the kids, and realizing that stuff is just stuff. Experiences with people are more important to us now than buying things that collect dust. This month, our four year old, sweet baby girl, Emmy, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Although she is going to St. Jude and her expenses are paid for, we can now take her to the gift shop and buy whatever she wants and let her eat as much ice cream as she wants while at St. Jude without having to worry about bills back home. It is such a blessing to know that we can focus on her without worrying about bills. Thank you, Dave. Thank you for sharing your story, for helping others, and for being you:) We are so thankful to be debt free with an emergency fund and to be able to take care of our daughter without worrying about bills. Life is good:) Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!
Work Less, But Make More
My wife and I have been together 30 years August 20. We both worked for a major oil company, so we made ok money. We got married August 22, 1983. Started a small business in 1984 one year after we got married, while we both still had full time jobs. We tried to be normal, borrow money to grow our business. The banks wanted too much collateral so we just used our credit cards to fund our business which ultimatley turned into businesses. We operated the businesses for 10 years and made some money plus the salary that we earned working for a major oil company, but we were always in debt. I quit Texaco in 1996 and operated one of our businesses thru the years. We managed to struggle by and go deeper into debt. By 2006 we had $50,000 worth of credit card debt, $10,000 on a 5th wheel camper, and about $10,000 on a 2001 Dodge pickup. We were barely making the payments. Luckily our house and our other properties were paid off. In 2005 I went back to work in the oilfield as a safety consultant and started trying to get out of debt, without a plan. In 2006 I happened to hear you (Dave Ramsey) on the radio and started listening. I bought your book, read it and was sold on the plan to get out of debt. The only problem, my wife wasn’t on board at this time. I finally got her to listen to you on the radio and read your book. We started on the plan, took Financial Peace University and got completely out of debt by the end of 2007. We sold the camper, paid off the pickup and credit cards. Since that time, we have been able to pile up quite a bit of cash, plus our emergency fund. We bought a used 2005 Cadillac Escalade and paid cash. We bought a couple of toys, 2 Polaris ATV four wheelers and paid cash. I was laid off in September 2009. I was off for 8 months and we didn’t have to worry about going back to work because we had a good emergency fund built up. In fact, we really enjoyed the break. During that time we built a shop for my hobbies in our backyard and paid cash. I am now working again through the same company as a safety consultant, but I only work 3 days per week and I get to pick the days I work. Sweet deal. We have a little over a million in net worth now. My wife has retired from a major oil company. We don’t worry about our finances much because I make pretty good money even though I only work 3 days per week. If we had not been normal during our thirties and only had the sense to do the simple things Dave teaches, we would have much more than the million we now have. We are very thankful for what we do have and thankful that we heard Dave and did what we did when we did it. Thanks Dave.
Building our dream life
My husband and I got married August 15, 2009. We decided to do total money makeover when we got engaged ( a year ago) and really take responsibility financially as a couple. Almost a year later, we have paid off all our credit cards (~ 22,000) and paid for our wedding (~20000). We decided not to register instead we received cash gifts from our friends and family. That money helped us finish paying for some our debt, and wedding and finish baby step 2 and start on baby step 3. We will have finished our 6 month saving this year (Total saved $24,000) and start on our baby step 4,5,6. Once we finish baby 3 (October,2009), we will save to build our dream home without taking out any mortgage. We currently own and carry a mortgage on my husband's condo and my three family house. Hopefully, the market will get better next year that we could sell the condo. We will continue to pay and carry three family house since the tenets' rent helps offset the cost and as our investment. We are planning to save for next 5 years and hope to pay for our dream home in cash. Thank you Dave for your wisdom and inspiration.
Too Good to be True
As I looked for a beater car I found a deal on a used 99 Honda Civic. 4500 dollars. You know if its too good to be true probably is. Paid in cash, so no debt but didn't inspect it now have about 1000 dollars worth of stuff to fix. I'll never do that again. Talk about Supid tax. Dave keep on preaching cause I still need teaching. Thanks
Dave Says - August 23, 2010
My wife and I are getting close to retirement, and our 36-year-old son recently moved back in with us ...
Debt Free thanks to Dave!
When we were first married almost nine years ago I tried to convince my husband to save money to purchase a car. He told me "We'll never be able to do that." Thanks to Dave, we have now purchased two vehicles for our family by writing a personal check instead of signing a loan! My husband first heard Dave on the radio in Kansas City shortly after we moved to Missourieight years ago. I reserved all of Dave's books from our local public library and we were hooked! Before Dave we had already taken some steps towards financial peace such as doing a budget, working part-time jobs and paying for my husband's master's degree without loans, but we really got gazelle intense when we had our daughter and I took a full year off from work to stay home with her. We joined FPU at our church and we were debt-free before my daughter's third birthday. Since then we paid for my master's degree in cash, gone on vacation multiple times, remodeled our bathroom, redecorated our bedroom, purchased a commuter car for my husband and a minivan for our family ... all with cash! Thanks to our emergency fund, emergencies are now simply inconveniences. Our budget enables us to give, save and spend within our means without the arguments and conflict that used to happen when credit cards, student loans and car payments dominated our bills. We purchased FPU junior for our daughter when she was four years old. She now earns a dime per chore around the house. She has given money to charities at her school and at church. She enjoys spending her own money when we go shopping and her piggy bank is filling up quickly with savings. Thanks to Dave, communication about finances has improved greatly around our home. As we work through the baby steps, we have a sense of accomplishment that we really can live like no one else (now and later)!
Baby Number 1 and Two "New" Cars
Persistence and not being normal pays off! Last year, my wife and I were expecting the birth of our first child and we were ecstatic, until you looked at the vehicles we had and knew that a radical change in transportation had to take place. We were driving a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 1999 Ford ZX-2 Sport. Not the kind of cars for loading groceries and a new baby into. We had to think fast, the baby was due in April. At the time, we were both plugging away at our credit card debt and everyone (including my parents) wanted us to take out a car loan and buy a minivan. I was determined to not get into debt for a vehicle. I am very proud of the fact that I am 31 and have NEVER had a car payment. I’d like to keep it that way. We sold my Jeep Grand Cherokee for $2,000 and immediately purchased a friend’s 2000 Dodge Durango for $2,000. We then sold my wife’s car for $1,600 to her brother and purchased my mother’s minivan for $2,000. It took some time and I have personally learned how to work and service both vehicles, but both of them drive great and for only $400 out of pocket. It is one year later and we are expecting number 2 in December. Both vehicles continue to get us where we need to go. Thank you Dave for teaching us that it’s okay to be unusual.
