Posted on 12/27/2005 7:38:51 AM PST by joesbucks
My wife and I have been looking at the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace program. Anyone here tried it? If so, what were your sucesses and what were the difficulties you had in doing it. We did some traveling over the holidays and listened to one of his books on tape and found it interesting.....but words are always easier than actions. We're ready for some pain to make some gain......but are also looking out for problems we can eitehr avoid or use someone elses wisdom when we encounter them.
All I know is that we've had ready credit for all my life, and that this country, at this time, is the most prosperous of any country that the planet has ever seen.
Your theory sounds nice, but I'd hate to risk trashing our current economy on your theory. I've heard your point of view for decades now. Doom, gloom, right over the horizon if we don't change our ways. Sorry, but I haven't seen it yet, and the more you guys claim it's just about to happen the more you sound like Al Gore claiming the environment is just about ready to kill us all.
You just fundamentally can't grasp, that when folks have their own money, and lots of it, working for them, and letting them reap the benefits of compound interest, instead of being slaves to it, they will buy more stuff, more often than anyone can possibly buy on credit.
And you just fundamentally can't grasp that if everyone had their own money, it wouldn't work for them at all because no one would pay to borrow it.
You also can't grasp the "human factor" involved in impulse purchases, just like the commies could never grasp that "human greed" (aka capitalism) was the power that runs economic systems.
Economic engines operate on human desire, and that kind of thing can't be computed with calculators and rates of return.
We'll never convince one another because this discussion is closer to religion than not. But suffice it to say that I like the economic system we have, and your theories to change the behavior of people to more closely match the behavior of people in 1930 worries me. A lot.
can't say that we live up to all of Dave's ideals, but we appreciate what he says.....
LOL.
Most of the people calling into Ramsey's show are anchored at the bottom of the deep red sea beneath fathoms and fathoms of usurious credit card debt. Are you claiming prosperity is fueled by Mastercard and Visa?
Pile on top of that the house you can't afford and that belch-fire super car you can't afford with the little bitty paycheck you earn, toss in a random real life medical emergency or just a layoff or downsizing, and you'll get a taste of a real personal disaster. On the macro side, just wait till the debt ridden baby boomers start retiring with nothing but plastic backing up their minimal savings.
We'll never convince one another because this discussion is closer to religion than not. But suffice it to say that I like the economic system we have, and your theories to change the behavior of people to more closely match the behavior of people in 1930 worries me. A lot.
I'd humbly say you seem to be expressing the opposite. Piling up more debt than you can swallow and digest is definitely living on the margin.
I now have hundreds of pounds of change. Now what?
"Live east of where you work"
Whats up with this Pearl of Wisdom?
Joe,
My wife and I took the class in 2000. We taught the class in 2002. We've seen what it did for us and what it did for those in our class. This system works and you should give it a try. Look on his web site and you'll probably find several classes that will be taught in your area. Most are taught in churches but not by the church. No one will try to talk you into joining that church.
Wish you well.
Will Roger's advice was good. What crashed the economy was cheap money, leveraged buyouts an margin calls. The banks ceased holding a tight leash on credit. People buried themselves deep in debt borrowing money to make leveraged stock purchases. When the margin calls came, there was no money to cover. The debtors were deeper in debt. The banks called the loans and there was no money to repay. Stupid policy. Living beyond your means is a bad practice.
Look at California real estate with cheap interest only adjustable rate real estate loans. Jack up interest rates a bit. Kaboom!
I have no problems with change - friends of the family own a deli and they buy all my change as long as I 'roll' it for them. They do that with certain regular customers and they're happy NOT to ever have to go to the bank to 'buy' change!
BMP for later reading
At one time, people in Houston believed in the "live in the east, work in the west, but that was in the twenties.
Then River Oaks was built to the west of downtown and the Port.
Since then, the main growth area has been to the west. Today, River Oaks, which was built in the mixed pine and hardwood forest on the Western edge of town, has the reputation of the "Toniest" SFR neighborhood in the "inner city" of any city in the U.S.
Most Houstonians drive into the sun every day and have for the past 75 years or so.
Actually, it's funny you mention it. The church in our area that is putting it on is a church we had considered attending. We had been members of a church that was about 20 miles away and was not feeding our souls.
A few years ago, we had intended to leave our current church and start attending the chruch where the Financial Peace course is being taught. Our pastor at the original church asked us to stay for a period of time and we did. The time had come for us to move on and lo and behold this course was being taught at the church we had considered attending.
There could be a message there.
Debt does have it's place. And a healthy economy needs debt used in a healthy manner. But the current use of debt has created a society that is fixed on material things....and that's why we have class envy and the other decay of the improper use of credit.
x
I did a search to see if there were any freeper threads on Dave Ramsey, and I came up with this thread. I was wondering how the classes were going for you. Please advise. Thanks!
Our program is going well. We're about at the halfway point.
If I had any issues with the program it's two:
A) We have a number of people who are struggling to get to where they can say they are current with their bills. The course has not gone back and kept pounding the need to be Gazelle intense and some of the extreme measures and sacrifice one should be considering to get out of the rut. Every tape in the course should do that. Our facilitor is a very nice guy, but he doesn't keep pushing those who are floundering to review those steps and take them.
B)We just finished the mutual fund section. Dave explains diversification, but doesn't explain how to seperate the hay from the chafe on the funds. I take some measures, like check Morningstar, but Dave didn't say anything about it in the series, thus far. I wanted to check my actions against his recommendations and I didn't get that.
But those are my "issues". Overall, I am very happy.
An outgrowth is that my just married son and his wife joined us for the program and they are embracing it. I am very thrilled. He called Monday night to tell me something he achieved and talked about his Dave steps to getting there. If I can leave that legacy with him, them I'm very happy.
Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Has anyone figured out the mutual fund he uses as his examples in the retirement funding portion of the program?
3 years ago she was divorced, had a $780 a month mortgage, 2 kids, and was $15,000 debt.
Today she has a job (same one she had 3 years ago) that pays $2200 a month. She still has the house, has $2000 in savings, and has just under $6000 in debt. Her debt will be gone in a year and then she'll start "Baby Step 2" after that, instead of saving up for her kids' college (they both already have scholarships), she'll save up for her own. She's going back to school to get a degree in accounting.
And I do believe she'll do it.
I just returned from a vacation at her place and started the program this payday. For the first time in my life, I have a safety net with $1000 in savings. The credit cards are gone. (not paid off, just cut up.)
My aunt is a waitress. 15 years ago she was freshly divorced, with no children. She struggled for 5 years, then found Ramsey. She now owns everything in her life (two cars and a 1 year old mobile home), has $30,000 in savings and has an IRA account that will allow her to retire in 15 years at age 60.
Yup. It works.
I just discovered Ramsey and I've been telling my kids about it. (We homeschool) I owed both the kids a candy bar and tonight I took them to the gas station to make good on my promise. On the drive there it was quiet, then my 14 year old daughter asked from the backseat, " Can I have the money instead of the candy?" I asked her what she would do with it and she says, "I get, on average, $300 a year for birthday and Christmas. If I add that to the money I earn, in a year and a half I'll have a thousand dollars saved up and I can invest that in a mutual fund. If I leave it alone for 40 years, I may have enough to retire at fifty five."
I was quiet for a bit, went in and bought them both candy bars, and gave my daughter a dollar.
I love Ramsey.
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