I’m not a huge Dave Ramsey fan. I’ve listened to his show from time to time and read his books. He can be entertaining, and he has helped a lot of people. But his dogmatic,“I’m right, and you’re wrong” approach to personal finance just rubs me the wrong way.
Of course, he can be inspiring about getting out of debt. And one day several years ago after listening to his show, I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the following—“I will be debt free by the age of 50.”
Here’s the Real Deal on Dave Ramsey and Debt
I was 40 when I made that promise to myself. By the time I turned 45, I had reached a significant milestone in my journey to get out of debt—I paid off my last school loan, leaving our mortgage as our only remaining debt.
When I first embarked on my debt-free journey, our non-mortgage debt consisted of school loans and a home equity line of credit. The home equity line was the result of several purchases, including a kitchen renovation and consolidating some credit card debt. We made the last payment on the home equity just a month before paying off the school loan.
In total, my wife and I paid off $237,428.13 in debt in less than five years.
So, how did we do it? And more importantly, how can you begin and finish a journey toward a debt-free life?
Based on our experience of climbing out of debt, there are 4 important steps that you need to take if being debt-free is your goal:
- Stop going into more debt.
- Reduce your interest rates.
- Be aggressive, but not insane, about paying down debt.
- Find a way to earn extra money to help fuel your debt paydown.
Stop going into more debt
This has become a bit of a cliché, but it is without a doubt the most important (and hardest) step if you want to tackle your debt. Unless you are teetering on bankruptcy, paying your debts is the easy part. But staying away from new debt? Now that is a challenge.
Learn More: 6 Keys to Setting Financial Goals
So, we started paying cash for cars, paying off credit card debt in full each month, and just saying ‘No’ to big purchases we couldn’t afford. Once you develop the habit of living without debt, you’ll likely find that your quality of life has not changed a bit.
Here’s what we found to be important to avoid piling on more debt:
- An Emergency Fund: You’ve no doubt heard it a thousands times, but an emergency fund is a must. Even before you begin to pay extra on your debt, having some money set aside will help you handle unexpected expenses and give you a wonderful feeling of control over your finances. I’d recommend building up a one-month cushion before paying extra on debt. Once you have a month’s worth of expenses saved (in a high interest savings account, of course), then you can begin paying down debt while continue to build your emergency fund at a slower pace.
- Save for big purchases: It’s absolutely critical that you include in your monthly budget the cost of large purchases (cars, education) and periodic expenses (car insurance and vacations). Don’t use your emergency fund for these!
- Plan to have fun: You shouldn’t deprive yourself of any and all fun. I firmly believe that being debt-free is not actually the goal, but rather a means to a life full of choices and endless possibilities. So, what’s the point if you’re miserable for years while you work your way out of debt? More importantly, most people cannot maintain total financial deprivation for long. And just like a yo-yo diet, the result can be even more debt than you started with.
Related: How to Budget for a Vacation
Reduce your interest rates
This one is simple. Take a look at all of your debt, and take steps to reduce the interest rates on each loan. If it makes sense, refinance your mortgage or home equity line of credit. We refinanced our first home once, and we are refinancing our current home now. Refinancing a home is the single best way for most folks to lower their monthly expenses. But you should also look at refinancing your car loan or even personal loans.
If you have credit card debt, use 0% balance transfer credit cards to lower your rates. We did this for several years, and the result was significantly lower interest payments and less time to get out of credit card debt.
Is It Easy to Refinance Your Student Loans?
Be aggressive, but not insane, about paying down debt
I alluded to this above, but it’s critical that you be realistic about how quickly you can pay off your debt. Dave Ramsey speaks of “gazelle-like intensity” when it comes to getting out of debt. That’s a great image, but we need to be careful.
To me, balance is important in all aspects of life, including finances. As a result, my wife and I invested in retirement accounts and our emergency fund while we paid down our debt. While this meant it took us a bit longer to get out of debt, it also helped us develop the habits of saving and investing, and it provided a solid financial foundation for our family.
One tool that many found helpful in paying down debt was Ready for Zero, though they shut down last year. Luckily, there are still programs such as the Goals feature within Mint.com, which can help you track your progress along your debt-free journey. This can help you make a plan to get out of debt, see where you stand, and calculate your payoff date(s). All of this can help you get out of debt faster.
Find a way to earn extra money to help fuel your debt pay down
This last one was our secret weapon. When I started the Dough Roller in 2007, I had no idea it would turn into a business. Within the first four years, the websites that I launched, combined, generated a full-time income. I kept my job at the same time, which allowed us to put the income from the business toward our debt (and now savings). I have since retired, focusing all of my efforts on Dough Roller and my other sites.
I’m not suggesting you start a website necessarily. But I am saying that if you can find a way to generate extra income, it will super-charge your efforts to pay down your debt.
How to Make Money with a Blog
If you want to learn about the above topics in more detail, here are some additional resources to help you tackle your debt:
- How to Get Out of Debt Fast | 23 Tips and Tools
- 10 Ideas for Living a Life Without Credit or Debt | zen habits
- Can You Live A Debt-Free Life?
What are your top “rules” for reaching a debt-free lifestyle?
Topics: debt
I agree that finding ways to earn extra money is the ‘secret weapon’ when it comes to paying off debt. Yes, it is possible to wipe out your debts by saving and reducing your outgoings, but things get a whole lot easier if you can generate more income. Your debt will get paid off more quickly and you won’t have to make such extreme cuts to your spending.
Great article! I’m not in debt but I personally like your last tip of starting a business or getting another job. When I was laid off my first job I then realized just how much free time I had. I would hate being in debt and would want to pay it off ASAP and do anything possible to speed up the process.
Great post, and congratulations for being out of debt. 🙂
-Ravi Gupta
I really appreciate that you talked about balance and starting new streams of income. Those are two things that you don’t often hear about in conjunction with debt reduction.
Your progress is amazing. And, like you, I don’t agree with everything DR says, but I do credit him with creating our desire to become debt free.
This is a very informative and useful article. I will try to follow this rules. Actually after read this I am feeling that I need this kind of rules to become a successful person. I am looking for a good article about get extra money through online business.
Great article and inspiration to get out of debt!
how to do extra money that is the hard point help us to make money online without being scamed
No mention of income. If your income is 60,000 you cannot pay off
237,000 in 5 years. 500,000, yes. So don’t just say you will be out of
debt if money is not there. Show me the money!!!!
My mantra is:
Don’t acquire new debt
Save earnestly
Earn judiciously
And finally, you must have the desire to pay it off. I think that is the key first step.
Good stuff DR, congrats to you and your wife! I plan to join you ASAP.
The part I really like is “Plan to have fun”. I fully agree with this. So many people associate getting out of debt much like a painful diet or something that is going to hurt a lot. This simply isn’t true. Reducing your debt is not like reducing your weight. With debt there are so many ways to get what you currently have for much less while the only way to reduce your weight is to reduce your food consumption. Reducing debt is much more do-able than most think.
could you email me and my husband some info for starting a web based business –we are needing two incomes and only one of us is working.
Thank you for posting this! It’s blogs like these that have helped me decide to pull the trigger on tackling our own $99,800 debt…I just started my own blog for accountability and hopefully to inspire others like you have.
http://www.betteroffdebt.com/
Thanks again!