I've taken Dave Ramsey's class. It's a bit preachy at times, but if you can get past all that, it's a great way to get your finances in order. He talks about a lot of things from a zero based budget, to the debt snowball, to money markets and ira's. It is well worth it, and I think you can get it on DVD, too. My wife and I still use his plan, and I don't think we would have a house right now if we didn't.
I've never heard of the actual plan but that's how I have always paid of any debt I've ever had.. It all depends on which loans have the highest interest as well. Some loans interest rates jump quite a bit after a set amount of time.. So you want to keep an eye on that as well.. Once the debt is paid the roll it all to savings.. Any raises I ever get I roll into savings and just live within the same means I always have.. I just get used to the money I have always made and any raises or bonuses go staright to savings.. I didn't have the money before so if I put it staright into saving each month I never miss it because it's like I never had the extra cash.. It's always good to have atleast 8-12 months of you income saved, if possible.. You never know what can happen and that way you can pay your bills and have time to get back on your feet..
I'm young, so this is all news to me. Lol. Go back 3 years and I was probably less than $200 in debt for an IOU. Just never thought of it that way. Once you make a budget you won't even notice the money ever again.
I figured out how long it would take if we "snowballed" our debts rather than paying the minimums every month. It was roughly just over 6 years if we "snowballed" versus over 37 years for bare minimums. Then my gf asked if I put in the interest rates....crapppppp! Ill have to use a snowball calculator with rates and see how much it actually is. Also our bigger debts like school loans are actually lowest interest rates so we can actually "snowball" from lowest to highest.
Regardless in under 10 years we will be out of any substantial debt. I'm sure we will have a house by then, but I don't consider that debt. I mean your paying on a house that you can do whatever you want to and the land. Not a bad payoff for 30 years and it would be cheaper than renting.
Of course anything could happen in that time. I'm pretty optomistic though. Miss "glass half empty" over here thinks the worst will happen. Lol
My wife and i just went through this Financial Peace class and loved it. You dont have to be smart to make it work as it is fairly easy to understand but you do have to give a damn. I just wish my wife and i saw this class and its practices about 5 years ago before we were married. We'd be sitting way better financially now than we are. At the moment we just have student loans and a car payment but also just had a baby so expenses are up. We are really trying to make the snowball work. I think a big part of financial stability is making a budget too and sticking to it trying to just use cash. That is where we are at. I'd suggest this class to anyone who spends money. There is something for everyone to learn.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
My wife and i just went through this Financial Peace class and loved it. You dont have to be smart to make it work as it is fairly easy to understand but you do have to give a damn. I just wish my wife and i saw this class and its practices about 5 years ago before we were married. We'd be sitting way better financially now than we are. At the moment we just have student loans and a car payment but also just had a baby so expenses are up. We are really trying to make the snowball work. I think a big part of financial stability is making a budget too and sticking to it trying to just use cash. That is where we are at. I'd suggest this class to anyone who spends money. There is something for everyone to learn.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
