Over the course of the pandemic, I was able to read, watch, and listen to a lot more of what interests me than usual. A podcast that I found fascinating was the Dave Ramsey Show, which was really mind blowing when I would listen to the people calling in to his show with both stories of unbelievable economic despair as well as unbelievable economic success stories. The ones that captivated me the most were the ones of people overcoming tons of debt to take control of their lives and thus put the future of their family on the path to success in this crazy world. When I look around the world we live in, I see so many people struggling both economically and in life. The Dave Ramsey Podcast was always refreshing because I was able to hear real stories from real people that had been in dire straits economically, and through Dave’s plan, as well as their own commitment, discipline, sacrifice, and hard work were able to become debt free and put their lives on track. The teacher in me is always rooting for people to overcome their problems and obstacles, and when you get to see (or hear) it happen it makes you feel great. Then there were the desperate calls from the people that had hit rock bottom so hard that they were desperate enough to call into a podcast and spill all their problems, mistakes, and hideous economic choices. Listening to these callers made me cringe because I could not believe some of the awful economic and life choices that many of these people made. My lack of sympathy is going to be blamed on my age. As I have gotten older and worked many years in public education, I have found myself becoming less sympathetic toward people and the decisions they’ve made that have put them in their current predicament. I am a firm believer that we create our own destiny due to the decisions that we make as an individual-personal responsibility, which seems to have gotten lost in our current world in my opinion. What I liked about the calls to the show where people admitted their blunders was that they were asking for help/advice and they seemed to be willing to act on the advice that Dave and his years of experience and success told them to do. As I listened to the callers accepting the advice, I became hopeful for them and their future, which is something I find myself doing constantly at school with my students. If you enjoy talking about money I cannot recommend Dave’s podcast more. You won’t regret it.
In case you’re wondering, Dave’s 7 steps are as follows:
Step 1: $1,000 in an emergency fund.
Step 2: Pay off all debt except the house utilizing the debt snowball.
Step 3: Three to six months of savings in a fully-funded emergency fund.
Step 4: Invest 15% of your household income into a Roth IRA and other pre-tax retirement plans.
Step 5: College Funding (i.e. 529 plan).
Step 6: Pay off your home early.
Step 7: Build wealth and give.