No Debt (Ramsey) or Debt as a Tool

[goodal]

We bought last year and got 3.25% for a 30 yr. The 20% down was not necessary, but we jumped through some hoops and got there. I think it is a great idea to get out from under the mortgage asap, but you don't need to stop investing for 10 yrs to do it. My wife is an avid couponer and consignment shop connoisseur. The only time the kids get new clothes is when grandma buys them some at Christmas. I'm a Dave fan, but I have not been able to abide by too many of his baby steps. We have a credit card, but don't use it much. I do use credit when it makes sense. We have started using the envelope system and really like it. It gives you a lot of tiny savings accounts and when the life insurance bill comes due, you don't have to dip into the checking account. Just go empty the envelope.

 

[Road Guy]

That's good to know, I can comfortably put down 10-15%, but i would like to keep some cushion cause I am in a place with no networking contacts and if something bad happened with a job and I had to go looking for a few months I wouldn't want to dip into my 401k.

 

[goodal]

I had to do that very thing a couple months ago when the paychecks stopped flowing for a little while. It sucked.

 

[knight1fox3]

I agree. I have bought one of his books before, but with the intention of giving it to some family members that are just awful with money. You really don't need to buy his book, I think you can get 99% of what he says in his books just by listening to his radio show, which you can listen to free on his website.

http://www.daveramsey.com/show/radio/

With all that said, I don't know that much of what Dave Ramsey teaches is applicable to your situation. His plan tends to focus on getting people out of debt and really isn't aimed at people who are already there but just want to do better. Sure you could apply some of what he preaches, but none of it will be new information for you.

+1

Our mortgage is also the only debt we have right now. We pay cash (including cars) for everything else. I only have/use a credit card for my side PC business and for work travel expenses. Balance gets paid off each month when I invoice customers. LadyFox has a CC too but only uses it for business travel as well. Otherwise it's all cash and/or debit cards.

 

[Road Guy]

Wil- he does have some good ideas though, I just had to laugh at the old sel your car and move to boulder routine(I hear it from the peeps I work with everyday). I guess if my family of 5 could live in a duplex we could swing it!

 

[MetsFan]

The only debt we have right now is the car we purchased in 2011. The interest rate on it is 1.7% so we didn't feel the need to pay it off. We use credit cards for everything to get the rewards and pay them off at the end of each month. I'm slowly starting to learn about investments since we haven't done anything besides setting aside 5% for our 401k.

It almost sounds like hiring an adviser would be the best bet.

 

[knight1fox3]

We use credit cards for everything to get the rewards and pay them off at the end of each month.

It almost sounds like hiring an adviser would be the best bet.

+1. And we also just went the financial adviser route because we both had 401k plans just sitting there from previous employers. They are now sitting in high yield mutual fund accounts.