Passive Income

Late last year, my wife and I attended Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. It was held in a local church by a couple of people who successfully completed the course a few months earlier. I did not expect to learn anything new. I am after all, a highly qualified individual (at least in my mind, that is).

During the 13-week course my wife and I got fired up about being debt free. In just a few short weeks, we have managed to pay off thousands of dollars in consumer debt and were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Along the way, however, we have managed to slip back into the same bad habits that we had before.

We do not carry balances on our credit cards, but we simply are not as intense about paying off the rest of our debt. For some reason, we are mentally blocking out the fact that I still owe $9,500 on my student loan and have a house that is an extremely large portion of our bring home income. As a result, we have decided to go back through the lessons we learned during the course and to get back on track.

So the best place to begin, is at the beginning!

Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps

1. Save $1,000 Fast – Build an Emergency Fund

2. The Debt Snowball – Pay Off All Debt

3.  Finish the Emergency Fund – Save 3 to 6 Months of Expenses

4. Maximize Retirement Investing – Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and other pre-tax investment vehicles

5. College Funding – Provide a ‘Paid For’ Education for Your Children

6. Pay Off the Home Mortgage -

7. Build Wealth Like Crazy – Then Give It Away

Currently we are working on step two. We need to get focused and power through a few remaining debts that are simply irritate me to no end.

Have you ever completed a Total Money Makeover? How has it changed your life?

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