Book Review - Baby Step Millionaires by Dave Ramsey

Book Review – Baby Step Millionaires by Dave Ramsey

DISCLAIMER - I am not a Financial Advisor and do not work for any Brokerage Firm. The opinions given are my own and are not to be used as professional advice. These are my findings and can hopefully help you to make informed decisions on investing. Consult a Broker or Lawyer before making any investment.

Baby Steps Millionaires by Dave Ramsey is a great book and very enlightening. Dave Ramsey has helped millions of people get out of debt and get control of their lives. On the front of the book, it says: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – and How you can too!

I came in contact with Dave Ramsey roughly 10 years ago while listening to his daily radio show, The Ramsey Show. I picked up a copy of his book, the Total Money Makeover, and started putting some of the concepts in place. Read my book review of the Total Money Makeover.

We began using some of Dave Ramsey’s ideas with our finances with limited success. In 2021, our local credit union sponsored one of the Financial Peace University classes, so my wife and I attended. We almost got it right as we paid off over $20,000 in credit card debt in just 11 months leaving only our mortgage on the house.

Unfortunately, the week after we got rid of all the credit card debt, several family issues came up. We had to have the east side of our house’s foundation lifted, we had medical bills come in, and a car replacement was needed. Since we had not cut up the credit cards, we used the zero balance transfer (Actually 3% in reality counting fees), and run up $31,500 in debt in just 2 months. Don’t fail to cut up the credit cards as you pay them off.

In October of 2023, after listening to the Ramsey Show on You Tube almost every night, we made a pact. This time let’s pay off all credit in 12 months, and truly follow Dave Ramsey’s 7 baby steps. Month after month we would pay off a credit card, and close that account immediately.

We would snowball the amount to the next lowest balance credit card. On October 23, 2024, just 12 months after making the decision to go all out, we are now debt free including our home mortgage.

These last 3 weeks have been the best of my life. TOTAL UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM. We no longer are slave to any lender and it feels great. To give you an idea how hard this was to accomplish, I want to share some of my life’s story.

When I was 16 years old, I borrowed $325 from my grandmother to purchase a ’57 Chevy(leading to over 57 years of credit bondage). I didn’t get her paid back until after I graduated college and by then I had a VISA card. So never in 57 ½ years was I ever debt-free. We used credit to buy cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, go on vacations, and purchase several homes.

By the time I was 43 years old, I had run up $365,000 of debt counting our new home on 56 acres of land west of Iowa Park, Texas. But by following Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, the Grace of God, and lot of determination, we overcame it all. Praise the Lord!

No debt to anyone. House is ours, truck is paid for, and so is the car. And most importantly, we have no credit card debt and no desire to ever buy another thing on credit.

So with all this experience of failure, I can testify that Dave Ramsey’s plan works when most others fail. We did an article a few weeks back about how to use Fidelity Mutual Funds to invest like Dave Ramsey recommends.

In this book (See on Amazon), they did a survey of over 10,000 millionaires with a net worth over a million dollars. In that survey, they found that if you followed the Dave Ramsey plan, it took an average time of just 17 years to become a net worth millionaire.

Who is getting your Million Dollars? If not you, it is probably credit card companies, car manufacturers, or banks. The fastest way to becoming financially secure is to become debt-free. And when you do, NEVER use credit again.

Until you get sick and tired of living the way you are, you will remain a slave to the lender. Make a change and become free. In the book, he goes over in detail those 7 simple baby steps it takes to get free. Read about them in my book review of the Total Money Makeover.

Many people get hung up on baby step 2 and give up. NEVER NEVER EVER GIVE UP! You can do this. I did it and several other million people have and many have owed a LOT MORE than you do. I heard a guy who called in on the Ramsey Show last week owing 2 ½ million dollars. Your situation is not hopeless.

In the early part of the book, he explains how by not giving the money to the car companies or credit card companies, you can quickly have a substantial net worth by investing in 4 types of Mutual Funds.

The problem is not knowledge. He says it is 20% head knowledge, but controlling the guy in the mirror is the big 80%. We are our worst own enemy and only when we take control of our situation will things change. The calvary or the government is not coming to bail you out. It is up to YOU!

If you invest with the Dave Ramsey Plan and start at age 35, here are the results of putting in just $800 per month in a Roth IRA or 401K fund.

$800 per month from age 35 to 65 at 10% return: 1.8 million

$800 per month from age 35 to 65 at 11% return: 2.2 million

$800 per month from age 35 to 65 at 12% return: 2.8 million

Somewhere between 11 to 12% is the average return of the stock market over the last 35 years. Yes there are down years, but almost always a huge recovery the following year. GET STARTED NOW if you want to have a huge retirement nest egg.

Here are a few highlights of things gleaned from studying the 10,000 millionaires.

• · 88% have a four-year college degree

• · 62% graduated from public state colleges

• · 8% attended a community college

• · 9% never graduated from college

• · Almost half of the millionaires had B average or lower in school

• · 40% were involved in sports or cheerleading

• · Only 31% Averaged over $100,000 of household income

• · Only 7% ever made over $200,000 ever in any year on income

• · 96% enjoy what they do for a living (KEY POINT)

• · 64% said they loved their jobs

• · 94% of millionaires live on less than they make compared to only 55% of the general population

It truly is not where you come from, but where you are going. You have to get gazelle intense (explained in the baby steps) to bust through your barrier of debt. Be a victor, not a victim. Victims never win in life.

97% of those surveyed believe they control their destiny. With a belief in God and some common sense, we can be true winners like those who have already done it.

C. S. Lewis said “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” You can control many things and not be a victim of credit card slavery. They own all the shiny buildings, not us.

We have been engrained from a child with commercials showing that we must use credit. FICO is not an indication of healthy finances, it is a rating of how big a sucker you are for credit. You get a higher FICO to get more credit. Bail out of the world system and be free.

Too many people in life want an easy way out. The Long Steady plan leads to Long-term security.

When you reach baby step 7, you can live and give like no one else. Check out this book and see how not one of the 10,000 millionaires surveyed used cash-back bonuses or frequent-flier miles to obtain wealth.

I urge you to read this book by buying a copy or picking it up at the library. You will be sooooo happy you did. Dave Ramsey’s plan has changed my life. I hope it will for you too!

Minimalism Articles

Investment Articles

Internet Direct Laptops