Hooked On Dave

Dave who you say?  Dave Ramsey, the Christian financial guru.  Timm and I have been going through his book Financial Peace Revisited, which is being borrowed from our dear friend Carolyn right now, and let me tell you it is an eye opener.  Dave has gone from living it up, but in great debt, to losing everything, starting over, and building his way back up the proper way.  Since his debt days, he has counseled and coached thousands of people on how to get back on the right track financially. 

In this book, Dave discusses how non-beneficial and harmful debt is to yourself and family emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  He gives many suggestions on how to get rid of debt, including the debt snowball, which is paying your smallest amount debt first, paying that off and then adding that money onto the second smallest debt until you work your way up to your highest debt and then finally become debt free.  When Dave says debt free, he means including the mortgage!  You say, "that's impossible" or "a long way from now", he says don't ever get anything except a 15-year-mortgage.  Its really not that hard and you will save hundreds of thousands of dollars going this route.  If you already have a long term mortgage you can possibly refinance or just add one extra payment a year, he explains it all.

He also discusses the proper way to save (or invest), how much to save (for example an emergency fund should contain three to six months salary in an easily accessible account), and that saving up for things and paying cash for everything is the wisest choice.  God wants us to be good stewards of our money and this book is a great guide if you are unsure how to go about that or just completely lost in that area of your life.

READ THIS BOOK!  At best it will take you one week to complete.

Since the start of reading this book just earlier this week Timm and I have paid off our car and credit card and only have one more student loan to pay.  Of course we don't have a mortgage yet, but we are actively looking for a house.  Well you say, did you lose all your down payment for the house?  Nope!  We did dip in a little but will be replenishing that soon within two months from some perfectly timed checks and little extra work. We already feel a lot more financial freedom from the bondage of debt!