I’d start listening to podcasts like ‘Rich Habits’. That will help you become more intentional about paying yourself first, using credit cards to your advantage through points, putting money in the right investment vehicles, etc.

Ramsey isn’t bad for getting out of debt. Once you’re at that point you’re better off following some like the Money Guys.

Yeah, **** him

This. I haven't paid for a hotel room in years and rarely pay for flights, all due to credit card rewards programs. But I refuse to carry a balance, which in my opinion, is the only way to use credit cards. I understand emergencies but otherwise, carrying a CC balance is dumb.

I have been looking at ways to get out of some debt as well and have been looking around for advice. The appeal is to just be able to stack money quickly and feel more secure or able to buy land at some point. Our only debt is car loans (one is a camper we use a lot) and our mortgage and student loan. No credit cards or anything like that. We are able to put money in savings every month and pay for these things comfortably and have spending money (me and the wife have separate spending accounts for things we wanna buy for ourselves). We’d like to pay off all the debt and eventually the mortgage. I’ve looked at some aggressive methods and it just seems to not add up right like forgoing retirement contributions or throwing every extra dollar we have on the debt to where we are not saving any money. I have a hard time with any of these options and we always end back in the same place just making our payments and living life. Starting to think that’s just the balance we’re at. We aren’t saving every dime for retirement but have some debt to do things we enjoy. Same time I’d like to pay at least the car loans off and snowball to mortgage but easy said than done.

The aggressive things just don’t seem to make sense because we mortgage the future but then there is ok once it’s paid off play catch up, but there’s opportunity cost there. Idk Ramsey seems extreme like others have said in today’s world. We are kinda stuck here.

I am not a big Dave Ramsey fan. That said I am sure there are a lot of people who could use some of his advice. El Borracho said it best "he can help you dig out of a financial mess but cannot help you build an empire"

One piece of his advice that I strongly disagree with is to use Debit cards in lieu of Credit cards. I never ever use debit cards except at specific ATM's. Being linked to your bank account someone can quickly drain your cash. Bounce one or two automatic payments and now the complication factor of correcting the situation increases. With a credit card you just call up the company and they take care of it. I learned that lesson the hard way.

As far as debt I only carry mortgages. I have 3 properties 2 rentals and the one I live in that are mortgaged and will stay that way unless I sell or the 30 year note runs out. The income from the rental properties covers all 3 mortgages. If I absolutely had to I could payoff my current residence. However when I can make more income on the invested money than I am paying in interest why would I?

Back in the early 2000's I was hell bent on paying off the house I was living in. Making extra monthly payments and lump sum payments when I received a bonus at work. A friend of mine who I respected and admired asked me why? He explained that all that equity tied up in your house does nothing for you unless you sell it. He asked "what if you took that equity and invested it in something that paid more than what you're paying in interest?" So I took out a new mortgage pocketing $100k and bought 2 rental properties.

I am not sure D.R. would approve of this method. However it has worked well for me. I believe he crashed and burned doing something similar in his early years.

If you have a low mortgage rate I’d be focused more on paying it to schedule and investing my money. I’d also not be stacking money in a savings account unless it’s a high-interest account.

Also, find a way to payoff those vehicle loans. Financing a depreciating asset is less than ideal if you can keep from it.

Also, think his class is good at getting couples on a budget and getting them to both agree to a plan to get out of debt and to address spending together.

Always remember “Christian” Dave Ramsey pulled a gun out on his staff in a meeting. It’s in a court deposition.

It may be hard to believe but even Christians make bad choices sometimes.

So-called Christians like Dave always end up being the biggest hypocrites.

What do extra payments on the car and/or student loans look like? That's probably where I'd start, just doing the math on how much, say 1 extra payment a year or every 6 months, to each of those saves you in interest in the long run.

So, maybe you're not paying them off as soon as humanly possible, but could save hundreds in interest over time. If you have a decent rate on the mortgage, I wouldn't worry about it.

Messing with 401k/retirement investments is only something I've done in very short term and targeted situations, so I agree it's probably not worth going that route.

Yep.

I've always felt like Ramsey's advice was pretty fantastic, if you were already a millionaire.

He’s for people who are dumb as **** with money.

If that’s you, start there. Once you aren’t dumb as ****, move on from his advice.