Any Dave Ramsey Fans Here??

Way to go, keep up the good work!

Thanks man.

Originally Posted by ejheverest

We don't have any kids. I do see some large expenses for us in the next 3 years since she wants to eventually get married and pop a kid out.

I am finding it very difficult to think of even having one kid since it is a huge expense and I'd rather own an E30, E46 and E90 M3.....

Lucky for me I enjoy handling all the major finances and investing decisions we have. We each have 2 401k's, small pensions and I actively trade with my ThinkorSwim account.

I'll be in a completely different career most likely by the time I'm 31 so that will also affect how much we are able to invest and pay down mortgage debt after that point. I have had enough with working for- R I G (ticker)

Man we lucked out because we have tons of family in the area so we avoided daycare which is a bunch and then once he got off formula it was basically just play time, lol. BTW, just my .002 dont spend your money on all the toys and clothes, they grow quick and lose interest even quicker.

Paid off a student loan today!

Left to go:

Car: $0.00
School Loan 1: $0.00
School Loan 2: ~$1,135.
Medical Debt: $3,320

Total: $4,455

Highest Interest Rate - Student Loan 2 @ 3.87% ( I just got a paper statement on this... finally! )
Lowest Interest Rate - Medical Debt @ 0.00%

Highest Payment - Medical Debt @ $167/month
Lowest Payment - School Loan @ $50/month

Sold the Range Rover, 3 cars sold in 6 months. Down to one and will have it paid off next year!!! Student loan will be gone in 9 months so I see what Mr Dave was talking about in regards to Financial Freedom and paying for things with CASH!!!

Well done!

Everyday I look around the internet and I see cars like this:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

and

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

I mean, I seriously could get a loan and easily afford the payments. I'm doing my best to stay strong though. Must keep the eye on the prize (no payments)!

Originally Posted by 330CiJohn

Everyday I look around the internet and I see cars like this:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

and

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

I mean, I seriously could get a loan and easily afford the payments. I'm doing my best to stay strong though. Must keep the eye on the prize (no payments)!

Both of those are too expensive, I got my '04 for 16k

Hmm... Well it'll be awhile before I make any sort of moves whatsoever. I just get antsy somedays.

Well, mortgage is gonna hit tomorrow, if my budget lines up, I'm paying off the other student loan.

Good job! Tomorrow my Bride and I celebrate 25-years of marriage and we're debt free! Unfortunately, for the first 10-years of our marriage we made very good money and spent every penny of it.

Just remember, the only things better than "That new car smell" is the smell of CASH and a paid for house!

Originally Posted by punchesdfw

Good job! Tomorrow my Bride and I celebrate 25-years of marriage and we're debt free! Unfortunately, for the first 10-years of our marriage we made very good money and spent every penny of it.

Just remember, the only things better than "That new car smell" is the smell of CASH and a paid for house!

Thanks and a huge

After reading TMM, we were inspired to start the process. We had admitted to ourselves that we were in a vicious cycle. We would buy something on credit and/or run up our card, get fed up, spend our time sweating about paying off the debts only to get them paid and run the debt up again. After reading TMM, we buckled down and applied the steps.

We started sometime in '07 with a car payment, CC debt and a furniture store debt. I had a 401k started in '93, so I didn't feel the real need to put money away in a savings account and spent it freely. Oh, another problem the wife and I had was the inability to tell the other "no" when it came to purchases. That's why we ended up buying a time share and her BMW when we did.

We saved the $1k E-fund, then started working on the debt snowball. By the time we got to the car, we were able to put $1200 per month on it instead of the regular $373. We paid it off about a year early. Then we started working on saving the 6 months' living expenses. That seems to be a harder step, believe it or not. You would think if you were dropping $1200 per month on a car payment, you would be able to put that same amount in the bank each month no problem.

The savings account seems to suffer the same cycle the debt did. We get the account built up a bit, then it gets hit. We build it up a bit, hit. The last hit was my daughter's car. We got her a '99 323i for $4k. Just a few short years ago we would have borrowed the money to get the car, then work like mad to pay it off. It felt good to be able to just buy the car.

We are still saving what we can while still attempting to live and enjoy a little of what we earn (I say "we" although I'm the one working while my wife goes to nursing school). I also refied my house in '03 with a 4.875% rate for 15 years. For the last two years, we have put an extra $50 per month towards the premium and this year, we've decided to pay an extra $100 (on a payment of less than $600).

tl;dr.

Cool man, sounds like you all have made great progress! The 15/yr mortgage was a really big decision I'm glad we made as well.

Well, an update on my situation is in order. I've been slowly increasing my 401(k) contributions as I realized I was putting more and more into savings and my brokerage accounts and have been at 10% for a while now (plus 4.5% company match). Found out I'm getting a small raise so I just bumped it up another 1% to 11% pre-tax contributions. I've also been and am going to be working quite a bit of overtime for a while (20 hours per week for 5 weeks and then 12 weeks of 10 hours overtime +$46/day expenses during the work-week) so I'm putting that extra take home pay away for the next car. If all goes well, I should be buying my next car in a few months. I do plan on taking out a loan for part of it but will pay that off in 3-6 months (depending on overtime during the second half of the year). The only reason I'm getting a loan is to have it on my credit report since it's been years since I was paying on a loan now and the interest I'll pay over a few months will be minimal.

Hmm. Well if you can do a loan payoff in 3-6 months that is pretty impressive. I think that sounds reasonable.

Good job on the investing though. Once again, I'm still haven't started aggressively investing yet. However, my wife's new job is really starting to become very lucrative. Especially with bonus potential. Thanks to her new position, I think it is very possible to be debt free but the house by the end of April.

I think I have about $4k of debt left. $3k on the med stuff and $1k on my student loan. Anyways, lets hope it works out. I know if I was more hardcore and didn't do anything at all (such as buying my iPad 2, going out to eat, etc.), I'd be debt free already. Oh well, such is life.

Great thread and I still have my basic Roth plus TSP. I put the extra 2% Obama gave us back from FICA and my 1% raise into my TSP. For my Roth I was with more aggressive and opened another fund for added diversification. As far as bills, one car payment and the rental property is still rented with the extra from the refi going toward the principle!!!

Damn it.

I swore off car payments, but a great deal for an M3 just showed up near me. I may have to go to hell for this one. Oh well.

As long as your priorities are straight, haggle, and go for it. Savings first then maybe a ride, but I am pretty much out of the car note business. At least for a minute.

Well it didn't work out anyways, so no biggie for now. I decided I think I'm done with the idea of an M car.