By Rabbi B.
After being tens of thousands in debt and almost fully maxed out on my credit cards, I was forced to reconsider my financial dysfunction that was stealing my sleep at night.
My wife did some online research and purchased a book called “The Total Money Makeover” by radio host and author Dave Ramsey.
Being forced by circumstance to crack open the book and read, I feared my life evolving into a joyless ride of material curtailment. To my surprise, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of hope. Optimism returned and replaced that cloud of fear that had encompassed me.
To be in a position to win financially, one must be deliberate. You can’t rely on faith alone and expect G-d to do the work.
The Torah (m’lashon horaah) teaches us through Pharaoh’s dreams to be financially deliberate to accumulate emergency assets in times of prosperity. The necessity of stockpiling a safety net + reserves is so much greater when you’re barely getting by. Nobody is going to provide that for you but yourself, or at the very least, not with dignity.
In a nutshell, Ramsey’s book delves into his concise philosophy (with lots of interspersed nuggets of inspiration for positive reinforcement) for crawling out of gloom and eventually retiring as an affluent winner by executing this Seven Step program:
Baby Step 1: $1,000 cash in a beginner emergency fund
Baby Step 2: Use the debt snowball to pay off all your debt but the house
Baby Step 3: A fully funded emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of expenses
Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of your household income into retirement
Baby Step 5: Start saving for education
Baby Step 6: Pay off your home early
Baby Step 7: Build wealth and give generously
Interestingly, maintaining “tithe” (maaser) throughout the seven steps is part of the program.
Thank G-d, we’ve succeeded in shedding our entire debt through denying gratification and lots of hard work.
I have no question that this method would be of immense benefit to the multitudes and untold amounts of families who quietly suffer and probably tell themselves it’s normal, and the way most live. I certainly hope it’s not! Be deliberate and crawl out.
Ramsey’s battle cry is, if you wish to live like nobody else, you must first live like nobody else. Spending your way to prosperity almost never works. Debt accumulation does not pay off—hard work does! You could live the life you’ve always wanted if you are willing to rethink your modus operandi.
May we all have an abundance of gezunt, parnosso and Yiddishe – Chassidishe – nachas.
Note: Mr. Ramsey, the architect of the above personal finance method, adheres to a religion not shared by us, so please exercise discretion while listening to him and reading his books to sort his beneficial finance advice from his personal religious theologies.
Seven years ago I was let go from my job, have zero in savings and had a $400 car payment. By working the steps in Debtors Annonymous I have found a financial freedom. I never thought I would see the end of the tunnel in paying off debts. Along with DA I used a program called YNAB which helps tremendously.
The chicken in every pot should be re-thought. Cheaper forms of nutrition exist and it is not child abuse to serve these.
We are finalizing some details but it looks like Financial Peace University will be starting in crown heights for the second time on October 22, 2017, once finalized i will post a link to signup.
Dave Ramsey talks a lot about morals and family values which complements our values. You don’t see so many people like that nowadays
There is a lot of merit to Daves plan even though I cant say I follow it completely myself. I’m sure the advice and inspiration that he provides can be very beneficial to our community. I understand that people have this freek out reaction to anything that sounds a little christian but lets not pretend like we are at risk of loosing our children to Christianity. Besides, he only teaches the values and morals of his religion which is basically the same values that we hold of.
We coordinated a Financial Peace University class in September of 2015, It was a small group of 5 couples and the changes we managed to make are huge. In 9 weeks the Total non mortgage debt paid off between all the couples was $16,272 Total money saved between all the couples $4,400 Total credit cards closed or cut up between all the couples 15 It has been a successful road for us as we are on our way to be debt free, and have not had to borrow 1 penny since We will IY”H be starting another class sometime after… Read more »
To all those people who are saying that they think it doesn’t work for from people or in general or making jokes that the program assumed you own a home: I personally studied his program and adhere to the principles and it’s very practical, effective, helpful, smart, and wise. If you are a serious person, I would advise you to take his challenge and seriously learn and study his program so that you can make an educated decision. Do not rely on what you hear solely from me, this article, commenters or anyone else. You will thank yourself for investing… Read more »
Ohel Chana High School Los Angeles taught his curriculum one year when I was there. (I don’t know if they still do) I gained a lot from it and I use the principles I learned from today.
It is a brilliant life plan and I think all high schools should be teaching his curriculum. It prepares you for life after school.
While following Ramsey’s program 14 years ago (still do), we downsized our house into nice, cheaper area. We were not yet totally frum. A Chabad house opened in the new area 2 blocks away. We shortly became completely frum, are now debt free, can afford tuition, save and travel. It took years, but it IS so worth it. Hashem increased our income, B”H, as we lived with emuna in Him, and not in credit cards, cv’s. Best program for financial solvency.
It does not assume you own a home.
Does it help you come up with 45k in tuitions when income is 75k gross
Lol! This program assumes you own a home. That cracks me up!
Not. Step 4 is to save up for a down payment. Why would you think the program assumes you own a house? Obviously if you do own, then skip that step but if your house is eating up too much of your income Dave would encourage you to sell it for a cheaper hose
Was several tens of thousands. Without being too specific… Not to family. To Citi and AMEX. I did take on more roles to increase income. Strategy was to pay off within five years and we beat the goal by a bit, BH. None of my children attend public school and we eat only kosher and serve G-d with joy (try to) so religious expenses were high, of course. It’s very doable. Just takes discipline. Even if you don’t succeed totally, which I believe you will, better to have $20,000 debt than $150,000 debt. You could be debt free with low… Read more »
Many non-Jews like Dave Ramsey would not have a child who gets engaged at a young age and married a few weeks later. The child would have to be self-supporting and pay for whatever part of the wedding that the parents could not pay for comfortably. As a non-Jew, he has probably has a small family and can live in a cheap neighborhood, as long as the school is halfway decent. As a non-Jew, he has no religious expenses other than his tithes and his couple of holiday celebrations each year, which he can observe at his own discretion. As… Read more »
How much debt did you have? Was it only credit cards? Was there private debt? (Meaning friends or family) How much time did it take to pay of the debt? Did you take on another job? What was your strategy? It’s important to share and you did so within the lifestyle of a frum yid. If you can please share this info or provide an email address so people can contact you and ask questions (if you are interested in dealing with that) Lastly, there is no question and neither is it a contradiction to have absolute complete btochon in… Read more »
I guess if people noticed that owing money (especially on interest) is a form of slavery to the lender, they’d think twice before accruing debt. If it’s at 0 APR it’s a form of slavery to retailer who’s selling you junk that you can’t afford and often don’t need because the [APR] price is right. If you’re not paying in full each month and you’re swiping, you’re playing a dangerous game. What you really need is to invigorate income and you need to feel the pain of a low acct balance to become motivated. Lines of credit just brings false… Read more »
We are now debt free because of Ramseys method. I recommend it highly.
The main content of his overall philosophy works. You have to be willing to use your common sense where a mere detail doesn’t apply and modify accordingly, so that includes his lack of value for private school elementary education (which we DO value), his religious propaganda, his sales propaganda, etc. you don’t need his propaganda. Just buy his book (under $20) and listen to his FREE radio show. All upselling by his company, avoid (which includes patronage of his advertisers/endorsed local providers, Yelp and internet research helps finding reputable providers). Also, he’s wrong on certain minor things because he speak… Read more »
We have also begun to change our approach to money, partly thanks to having heard about Ramsey’s baby steps, and also, lhavdil, through reading shaar habitachon of Chovos Halevavos, as per the Rebbe’s frequent, published suggestion. We now see living within our means as an expression of bitachon. Of course there are challenges, but overall, we are also much, much calmer, like the author of this article. Financial counseling should be part of choson -kallah classes. Had we known about how to manage our finances humbly and without relying on credit (if you can’t afford it now, how are you… Read more »
His main idea that you failed to mention is hat ppl need to live within their means and give up trying to keep up with the joneses. I wouldn’t be shocked if #5 has a bugaboo…
I believe in 98% of what he says. I know that there was a financial peace university class in crown heights last year. I think there needs to be one constantly and many ppl will benefit.
About his 7 steps.
They do work but deff need to be edited for the frum family.
Also he is very Christian and there are a ton of Christian quptes etc so be careful.
We took the financial piece university class in Crown Heights with a few other couples, It was an amazing experience that changed our life and our marriage, we wend from digging a deeper hole every month to covering the hole in no time, although we are still not out off debt we do see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I know there is another class planned for Crown Heights i’m just not sure when.
For those that say “He’s just another shaygetz”, in simple Yiddish words: “Az men hot nisht , koift men nisht!”…
I believe he’s on YouTube as well. He’s also on the iHeartRadio app and iPhone app if you have those (not getting into smartphone benefits or lack thereof, but if you already have it, you may as well for kosher use…)
Also rabbi Heler says before you read a article even if it’s a good do you know what the person looks like in his beliefs if he is not a chasideshe yid you are letting in a bit of apikurses in your home etc……..
You can’t compare to our grandparents, they were not buried
With insane bills for tuition for year long school + insane amount of summer camps costs, this is the most urgent issue in the frum world. It has remefications on families finances, shalom bayis and birth rate
home 34k after taxes, we are not quality to receive any gov’t help, and yes food costs sometimes more than we have, l’m not talking about food, basicly healthy stuff, sure you can spend less with bread and noodles, but is that food, you need protein, good stuff to be wellwe both have health issues, so this doesn’t go to far, please tell me how to cut when we are already strapped to begin with
I do Dave Ramsey as well and it REALLY works (it helps if you have a build a network and support group – there are many of us out there…) an excuse I often hear is “it doesn’t work for the frum lifestyle” 1) it is an outright LIE there are many regular lubavitcher frum people who follow his program 2) somehow, all our grandparents managed to live a very frum lifestyle – in America, and raised nice Chassidishe children, and understood this basic idea, that you must spend less money then you earn – no matter what. 3) the… Read more »
Thanks for the extra note at the end.
On his radio show he refers to Yoshke. Besides that, he gives great advise. Not all of us can use everything he says.
Please be very careful. His show can be heard nightly on 710 WOR from 9pm to midnight except when there is a ball game being broadcasted.
I’ve also taken some tips from the clips of his shows, he seems like a good man with sound values, who also makes reference to a Rabbi who is his friend. As the writer says, there are some quotes at times that are from his religion (although some are from the Torah). If you can forward the clip when those quotes come on, then his financial methods and attitudes can bring awareness and change for the better to your finances – and thereby to your life- no matter how much or how little you earn. Another good mentor for putting… Read more »
Excellent advice. Too many are ill prepared for the financial needs of the real world. May Hashem give everyone parnassah b’harchava and the smarts to do right with it.