Debt Be Gone

There are many people willing to give advice on how to get out of debt. There are also many so called professionals who will offer expensive services to manage your money. Here is a news flash for you; you are in charge of your own money and debt.

I have been working on the best plan to remove all debt from my families life. I have listened to the likes of Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey to get some good ideas. I have to say, of all the plans out there, Dave Ramsey offers the best most common sense plan.

His plan is basically you save up $1000 for any emergency needs. You then attack the debt with all the money you can throw at it until it is gone. This is done by starting with the smallest debt and paying that off and moving on. Dave calls it the Debt Snowball.

He is the first to admit that this is nothing new and he stole all his ideas from the past generation who did not believe in debt living.

Here is a copy of Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps:

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
   
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3. Three to six months of expenses in savings
4. Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

This is plain to the point. He has loads of other advice on his website but this is the core of all his beliefs. I do not follow everything to a tee but one thing I learned by reading and listening to Dave is that you need a solid budget accounting for every dollar you bring it and what you are going to do with it.

This is my plan for getting debt free and I hope you will consider getting your debt under control too.