On average families who complete Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University pay off $5,300 and save $2,700 in the first 90 days.
Wow! That is an $8,000 difference in just 90 days! I don’t know exactly how these figures are calculated, this is simply something I pulled from Dave Ramsey’s website. One thing I can say is that my husband and I did indeed see an $8,000+ difference in our own finances in the first 90 days of following Dave’s plan. While my husband and I didn’t actually go through a class, we did read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and we also listened to Financial Peace University (FPU) on CD. With my husband’s crazy work schedule, attending a class simply wasn’t a feasible thing for us to do together. I can’t help but wonder how much more we might have been able to do had we attended an actual class. Still, I am beyond thrilled with our progress.
I’m sure there are people out there that think Dave Ramsey is simply getting wealthy at the expense of people in debt. I disagree, and here is why. Obviously there are huge perks to attending one of his classes, but you don’t have to do so in order to succeed! The awesome thing about what Dave teaches is that the information is available for free via most public libraries. There is also a wealth of information available (again for free) online. Quite frankly, even if we did pay to attend his class (the cost is actually quite minimal), isn’t the trade off worth it? I know for us it would have been! When it comes to what he teaches, it really boils down to common sense. Unfortunately for people like my husband and myself, we needed to have someone lay it out for us step-by-step. That is exactly what the Dave Ramsey plan did for us. While we have tweaked it a bit by continuing to contribute to our retirement fund, the plan still works! This also goes to show that you are never too old to learn something new!
I am also fairly certain that there people out there that simply don’t believe that this plan can truly work. I know this because my husband and also had our doubts for far too long. But what if the statistics from the Dave Ramsey site are only half right? Wouldn’t even a $4,000 difference in your finances in just 90 days be awesome?
Whether it be the Dave Ramsey plan or something else, it really comes down to finding that something that works for you. The bottom line is to do something! If what you are doing right now isn’t working, go out and try something new! Being in debt isn’t any fun, no matter what age you are. Debt robs your freedom. So for those of you who are making little to no progress, what are you waiting for? 90 days…just 3 short months…give the plan a try!
Are you following any type of plan to get out of debt? If so, how is it working for you? I’ve often heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This is true for finances as well. If what you are doing isn’t giving you the results you are looking to achieve, go out and try something new! What are YOU waiting for?
That’s a pretty great statistic there. I admit his steps are very simple to follow & actionable. I just found a cool infograph comparing Ramsey and Orman on This Wife’s Life blog. Well I don’t know if I will pay that much off in 90 days, but I know that I am earmarked to make a significant payoff… ha, just calculated that I will paying off/saving approx $4200 in 3 months. There is some truth to this. 😉
$4200 is still terrific and a step in the right direction! Congrats on your progress. I’ll need to go check out This Wife’s Life blog. Will be interesting to read the comparison.
I love Dave Ramsey, mostly because he identifies a path for people to follow. I liked the ideas he laid out and I modified the path as I saw fit to meet my goals. It was hard work, but I paid off all my student loans and consumer debt using a modified version of his plan.
Michelle recently posted…Retirement Goal Status
That’s what I like about it. Even with modifying the plan, it still works. Congrats on your progress!
I help facilitate a Dave Ramsey FPU class through my church. I don’t agree with everything that Dave says, especially around investments. But for the most part I think he puts together great basics that can help anyone that is struggling. I have seen some people that were really struggling make tremendous progress and really turn around their finances 🙂
Mustard Seed Money recently posted…Guest Post: Keys to Successfully Managing Student Debt After Graduation
What an awesome gift of your time. I’m sure it is equally a blessing to see how the plan changes lives. My hubby feels the same way in regards to investments. It is also why we didn’t stop our retirement contributions. We have definitely seen a change simply by following the basics, so I’m beyond pleased. The plan works, even with some tweaking!