Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University?

Isn't that an oxymoron?  Dave Ramsey versus barrel racer?  lol

I did it when I was in my early 20s for extra credit in college, best thing ever! It really does help budget and debt payment. His system is very easy to follow and I still (mostly) follow it to this day. I highly recommend it! 

If I was only smart enough to understand........ 

it is ground breaking, cutting edge stuff.

Spend less than you make. Who knew? 

its super easy to understand! or I couldn't do it! lol  It has really been life changing for us!  It is making me rethink how I do my horses and when and where I go.  Which is only gonna be a little while!  I know it will be worth it!  We are wanting to build and now we are waiting not so patiently! but gonna do in the spring if everything goes right or maybe sooner!  It has already taken a lot of stress off us! and we  or I should say I love love our budget meetings!  We have grown so much closer even tho we was close before! 

its alot more than that!

right

I forgot the other part


Debt is the devil 

I took it a long time ago thru a church, back before I had horses in my life again. I thought it was pretty common sense stuff with some good ideas, but I didnt care for EVERYTHING he stands for. You need credit ... I know very few people who can go pay cash for a home... my father in law, for example,  way back when, he purchased everything with cash... he has ZERO credit. Also "way back when" things were a heck of a lot cheaper than they are now. We have 2 credit cards, they are for emergencies only. We use them on occasion for something extra to keep our scores good but they get paid off if we do. I remember thinking when I took the DR course that it probably wouldn't work too well if I had horses! I like the debt snowball theory. I dont think I could ever work the envelope system tho. 

Ramsey is a carnival barker that found his niche. He went bankrupt before. He took out a loan to start his business anew. Nothing wrong with that except he teaches to not do what he did. He pushes people to Zander Ins because he owns Zander.

He has a good message. Spend less than you make. Peopl tend to follow only parts of the Ramsey system. The mparts they agree with. I'll have people with no means to pay for their funeral refuse to buy a small whole life policy because Dave says don't buy whole life.

I ask them if they have car loans. They pretty much always say yes. But Dave says don't do that. "That's different".

I haven't heard Dave in a while. Is he still talking about 12% returns on stocks? A financial advisor would lose their license if they give the same advice Dave does. But he gets by with it because he starts and ends with a disclaimer that it's not financial advice, it's entertainment. 

And he is fairly entertaining. 

I agree with some of the others. I like some parts, but not all. I like the debt snowball part. I can agree that until you have no debt (except for a house) you should not max our your 401k, etc. Get your stuff paid off, then worry about investing/saving. We try to do that pretty well. I believe people need good credit and it doesn't hurt to have it to your advantage if you need it one day. I also couldn't do the envelope system. 

His voice grates my nerves most times. And sometimes I find myself saying, that's easy to say sitting atop your 50 million dollar empire. 

Whenever I listen to Dave Ramsey I do crazy things like list all of my horses for sale. 

Now that's funny right there!

Sorta basic, common sense stuff, but Ramsey does a good job of talking common sense.  It seems to me that a lot of people could benefit from his lessons, the most important being the goal of living debt free.  

If you can reach the age of say 50, and you have no car payment, no horse trailer payment, no bank loan payment, no constant credit card payment, and you own your home outright, then you are in better shape than about 98% of people.  On top of that, if you live within your means, realize that saving and investing smart is a contagious, rewarding thing, then you will be in great shape.  If you can achieve that by 40, you are even better off.

That basically sums up Dave Ramsey’s advice, in a nutshell. 

There are millions of people that are millionairs that have never followed Dave's advise.  And there are people that are broke that have.

Dave makes money on people's problems.

Life is simple just live with less and you will be happy.

My husband and I went through FPU as 20 year olds before we got married. It was a great "starter" program. I agree with Steps 0-3 of his plan with very few exceptions. It started our discussion on budgeting and having a plan. It is easy to understand, follow and implement. 

That being said, that is where Dave makes his money. Off of people with no financial experience, no plan. They're not even doing the basics. A scary % of the country don't even that bare minimum $1000 emergency fund. I beleive he is doing a great service to that market. But once you start getting your ducks in a row and ready to move beyond step 3, I think there is better advice out there.  

Probably the best thing to come out of participating in the Ramsey course is this -- a couple having regular meetings to discuss finances, goals, etc.  Just as this poster state -- growing closer, aligning goals to dreams -- becoming a team working toward your future -- most couples rarely, if ever, sit down and talk about money.  Running your family finances like a business leads to success --  

I bet he doesn't say starting over when in your 60's is a good thing when you move to a new state, take out a 30 year mortgage and have horses.  That's what we did. But we have no credit card debt, just the property/house/barn.  Not sure I would do it again.  But I needed to get out of the situation I was in.

My husband and I did it, we agree with most of his stipulations. Yes, it did help us overall. We have saved up the 4-6 months of bills and an emergency fund kept aside. We take the extra cash at the end of the month and apply it to the debt with the highest interest rate, retirement fund, etc. However, Dave certainly would not approve of spending extra money on our hobbies of horses and fishing. Also, Dave’s theory of only a $1,000 “emergency” fund would not cover an emergency vet bill or major farm repair, so we chose to make our fund larger. I do love the last baby step of giving back! 

So this thread got me interested in Dave Ramsey. I've been married about a year and with that came a new house and all the associated bills. We do a pretty good job with our money and my husabnd is a saver (thank goodness) so we do fine. I definitely dont feel like we live paycheck to paycheck and for that I am thankful. That being said, we have our share of normal debt (car, tractor, etc).  While going through his methods, I think the craziest thing I came accross is that he expects people to take all of their savings (except for $1000) to pay off debt. Thats mind blowing. I understand the concept and the goal is to be debt free. But I cant get behind that advice.

Paying off the debt may be the only advice he gives that's solid. 


If you've got money sitting in a bank doing nothing there is zero reason to be paying someone to use their money. 

My husband and I have been doing it for three years and have paid off about 80,00 in dept. We only have about 10,000 to go and we will be debt free besides our house. Some years we have been more gazelle than other years. Probably coud have been done by now but I went back and got my Masters and life happens. However, the 1,000 emergency fund has worked for us. I just make sure we give every dollar a name. Not sure if you listen to his pod casts but they are helpful and keep us motivated. 

Sorry I been gone from the computer the last 4 days!  The 1000.00 emergency fund is only til you get out of debt.  If you want to save more thats fine.  I think like with anything you do what works for you.  My area and the people Im around and some family look at me like Im crazy!  To be debt free there is no way. and I think its like a diet lol either you want to cut out the sugar or you dont.  Alot of people Im around dont want to do the hard part and cant wait to save to buy.  When we started this we had already bought our land that we want to build on.  We had no clue how we was gonna get to the point of building even if we sold the place we are living at now.  By this plan we have a plan and can see a way to do this!  and we will not have to cut corners!  But the hardest part is being patient and being focus! Before we started this journey we was looking at 3 years to be able to build, now we maybe building in October or November which is just 6 mths from the time we started this journey!   We will be debt free so my husband doesnt have to work when he retires unless he wants to and I can do whatever with the horses! I still spend money on my horses just not like before.  I dont buy tack anymore I cleaned out and have what I need and I do have double in case I need to replace but that is it.  I have a horse that has epm and he is having a relapse and I am spending money on his meds but I am doing cash.  I follow a lot of people on different things but I dont do every single thing they do.  We all fail and I love hearing from people that has failed and succeeded.  There is no one that is 100% right.  I know nothing bout investing.  He says all the time to get with someone with the heart of a teacher and if you dont know anyone you can start on his website.  I dont feel like I need to buy anything from him.  Of course he selling things just like everyone else that has a business. It is up to me to learn and do better and I have learned alot from alot of people!  I think he is a great one to listen to.  I believe you can be debt free and have horses! and still take great care of them.  If he was to tell me to sell my horse to be debt free the answer will be no so I will find another way to pay off my debt.  Thing bout it we got ourselves in debt by doing what everyone else does that we will get ourselves out of debt even if we gotta be different!  I love reading all the different opionions!  thank you!  I will keep you all updated! God Bless!

Agree with this 100%.  My husband and I went through FPU as a young newly engaged couple.  It gave us a solid footing to discuss finances without stress and anxiety.  

We did the debt snowball, saved money for a downpayment on our first farm and have started saving for our daughters education.  Not every step needs to be done in the order he suggests and there certainly are better places for investing advice. 

As others have said - live on less than you take home. Its fairly simple.