Dave Ramsey Mixes Faith with Finances

Dave Ramsey has become quite a phenomenon these days. I first heard of him when a coworker told me she listened to his radio show a couple years ago. Before that, I had never actually heard his name and didn’t know what he did. Then I actually caught his radio show when I was flipping channels in my car one day, and he reeled me in, because I’m a sucker for anyone who knows a lot about how to stay out of debt, invest wisely, and not spend more than you make, which all equates to retiring with a lot more than what you would have without that knowledge.

One of my biggest fears is that when my fiance and I retire, which is a long way off for both of us since we are in our thirties, early at that, we won’t have enough money to sustain the same type of lifestyle we enjoy today. I don’t want to be one of those people who is disillusioned into thinking that I am going to be just fine when I retire and won’t have to live on foodstamps and scrape by, because I’ve seen that happen to too many people these days, especially with the economy going belly up over the last two years.

Dave Ramsey’s message is one of faith and common sense. He does mix religion in with his financial advice, which is fine with most of his followers since many of them do happen to be religious as well. I’m actually agnostic, and I didn’t really hear any faith talk when I tuned in, but then again I only turned in for a little while. What I heard was a guy who offered solid, very practical advice to people to stay out of credit card debt and really tame their spending habits so they could live a life that is free of anxiety inducing debt that seems out of one’s control, and avoid ever having to deal with bankruptcy as he did in his twenties when he was already a millionaire but had it all taken away.

All in all, Ramsey’s teachings offer ways for average earners to save as much as they can, donate where appropriate and give away to the needy since this is all part of the sort of karmic cycle of money, and also to pay down their biggest debts quickly and efficiently, and above all, not to spend more than you make, which means never living off credit cards, or making sure you pay them off every single month to avoid finance charges.