This afternoon, my girlfriend and I finished our last class with Dave Ramsey. Like many others, he’s become a household name to us. “Dave says this…” or “Dave said that…”. For those that aren’t aware, Dave Ramsey is the nation’s most popular financial guru. He lists 7 baby steps as follows:
- Build a $1000 emergency fund
- Get out of debt as quickly as possible, paying extra on your smallest debt and working up from there.
- Build a fully funded emergency fund of 3–6 months expenses.
- Start investing 15% of your income in an IRA with high yielding mutual funds.
- Start a college fund for the kids.
- Pay off the home early.
- Build wealth and give.
Currently, I’m on step 3 for less than two more months. Then, I start step 4, jump over step 5 (since I don’t have kids), and start saving for a down payment on a house since I currently rent. It’s exciting times and feels so liberating to not have the financial burdens that so many others carry.
Dave’s philosophy fits so well with Live Simply Free because he harps on living within your means–living simply. His mantra is, “Live like no one else, so one day you can live like no one else.” Fantastic!
We must resist the lies of our society to buy things to be happy and that it’s ok to have debt. Simplicity brings true joy and freedom. Maybe you’re already bogged way down in financial woes. It’s ok, there’s always hope and it’s never too late to start making changes. All it takes is determination and discipline.
You might look weird just sitting with friends at the restaurant but not ordering anything. Your family might think you’re crazy for selling everything and living so meagerly but that’s ok. After all, isn’t it the crazy people in this world that always end up doing great things?
It’s been said that when you see the majority heading in one direction, it’s best to go the opposite way. I’m committed to that particularly in my finances and I hope you will be too.