what money plan do you follow?

[married2mm]

Do you follow the Dave Ramsey formula or suze orman,or do you have your own method of financial planning?

Please share,thanks guys.

 

[sonnyjane]

Love my Suze!!!!

 

[DawnM]

We follow Crown Financial for the most part, but I think everyone has to tweak things to fit their own style/method/plan.

 

[wiigirl]

We follow Crown Financial for the most part, but I think everyone has to tweak things to fit their own style/method/plan.

Same here...

 

[disykat]

We just follow what we feel is common sense. I watch Suze Orman on tv occasionally, but I wouldn't say we follow her. We try to read various sources if we need information. Our main thing is no debt other than house and the briefest time possible on cars.

 

[hsmamato2]

A mix of a few ideas...Dave Ramsey+Clark Howard+Suze Orman.... + my own ideas.....basically,we spend less than we make each month,with very little exception to that rule (mortgage,1% car payment for a couple of years)- just common sense basically

 

[ICF]

We don't follow a plan....just was brought up to not spend more money than we make. Pretty simple plan (at least for us)

 

[barkley]

I enjoy listening to dave ramsey but we don't agree with everything he supports, so it's more of a mix of what he suggests and what works for us-


monthly budget-set amount for fixed expenses (cell, dtv, landline, life insurance, garbage, power-we do a balanced payment plan so it's the same amount each month and I had them figure it a bit higher so we don't end up owing at the end of the term), set amount for 'household' (allowances, food, gas, entertainment. prescription/med co-pays...basically anything not in the fixed expenses category), set amount monthly for our 'reserve account'-car insurance, homeowners insurance, property taxes (we pay our own vs. lender doing it), pest service, yard service (lawn spraying/aeration...), propane, generator yearly maintenance check. with the reserve every December we look to what we've put out on these expenses for the past year (and we always have a little extra for increases in costs), divide it by 12 and that's how the next year's monthly reserve is determined. this way when we get a month with a large expense (like propane which only get a fill on every 3-4 months, or car insurance which we pay in full every 6 months to avoid the $5 per month charge to pay it monthly) it's sitting in an account to draw from. last year I went ahead and set up a Christmas club account at the credit union (no less interest than regular s/a) and set up an auto withdrawl each month from the household budget so I didn't have to think about setting money aside each month for this time of year.

what dave ramsey calls the 'emergency fund' is in our regular money market account.

we do have credit cards, but pay them in full when we use them (for the most part our amex which is free with our Costco membership and comes with great extra warranty coverage plus the yearly cash back, and a local credit union visa which has no fee but has a program with 2 for 1 entrees at some of our favorite local restaurants).


it kills me to pay interest. the only interest we pay is on our mortgage which we are working hard to payoff way ahead of time. when we re-fi'd a year ago in December our payment went down but we have the credit union taking the same amount as we previously paid plus some extra each month (and I throw any tax return money we get at it).


big thing with us is we look for things that can save us money on a regular basis (it all adds up)-paying the car insurance in full every 6 months ($60 yearly saved), calling direct tv and telling them about the great offer dish made to me ($280 6 months saved), bundling homeowners/auto/life insurance with same carrier (and making sure the teen driver in the home took the on-line safety program the insurance company offers, and keeps her gpa at 3.0 or higher to qualify for reduced rates while we carry a high deductible b/c we know what happens to rates if a claim gets submitted)-many hundreds of dollars per year.


you have to take the best of what's advised out there and then configure it so it works best for you.

 

[rab1022]

Earn $, spend $

 

[Brer Shay]

Not a particular plan, just in general spend less than we make, with an eye to the future. For us, that includes contributing to retirement and savings each pay. Keep debt as low as is reasonable (mortgage and car payment, both paying early), use credit cards to accumulate rewards, but paid off in full so no interest accrues. It also includes having a plan for the non-monthly bills, such as insurance, car repairs, Christmas gifts, vacation, etc., so that paying them doesn't create an emergency. And yes, we vacation even though we have a mortgage and car payment.

And, as someone who has messed up the plan at times, don't beat yourself and make it worse. Make a plan to fix the mistake, follow it, and move on.

 

[lisaross]

NEVER HEARD OF CROWN FINANCIAL? WHERE CAN I FIND OUT ABOUT THIS? TV, RADIO, BOOK?

I started listening to Dave Ramsey this summer - this is pretty much how we usually live meaning - living within our means etc - but we do have credit cards and pay them off monthly..

 

[blessedone03]

I have read Ramsey, Suze Orman, Clark Howard, etc... and developed my own "virtual" envelope system.

I'm salaried and DW is stay-at-home so I know exactly what my income will be every two weeks.

I then in an excel spreadsheet put various known expeditures in a "bucket" and I know these have to be paid every month. Items such as tithe, mortgage, utilites (flat rate billing), life insurance drafts, groceries, etc...

I then deduct a set amount for savings.

What's left is divied into buckets for entertainment, gas, etc.. and tracked. Once that month's alottment is spent it's no go until next month.

 

[eliza61]

We don't follow a plan....just was brought up to not spend more money than we make. Pretty simple plan (at least for us)

+1

I will say we were also taught that if we had to use credit use is smartly and wisely.

I've read Dave, Suzie and Howard. Some of the stuff is good, some of the things they advise are not

Generally I'm not a big believer in folks selling "fix me" solutions to vast audiences. I'm more of the personal touch type gal. I crack up with Suzies "denied/can I spend" segment? would some one really not do some thing because a tv salesperson said not to? I remember her giving this little girl permisson to buy an American girl doll and then going on a 7 minute shrill about why the little girl wanted to "waste": that kind of money

Lastly, I like that I developed my "system" through my own failures. I've learned what works best financially for me, what gets me into trouble.

 

[amylevan]

Income shall be larger than thy expenditures.

That's our profound plan.

 

[Colleen27]

+1

I will say we were also taught that if we had to use credit use is smartly and wisely.

I've read Dave, Suzie and Howard. Some of the stuff is good, some of the things they advise are not

Generally I'm not a big believer in folks selling "fix me" solutions to vast audiences. I'm more of the personal touch type gal. I crack up with Suzies "denied/can I spend" segment? would some one really not do some thing because a tv salesperson said not to? I remember her giving this little girl permisson to buy an American girl doll and then going on a 7 minute shrill about why the little girl wanted to "waste": that kind of money

Lastly, I like that I developed my "system" through my own failures. I've learned what works best financially for me, what gets me into trouble.

+1 (2? )

I'm not a fan of any of the financial advice "gurus" and I think DR in particular does his hardcore followers a disservice with his anti-credit attitude. I know how appealing that attitude is - part holier-than-thou, part rebel - but I also know first hand how much it costs now that we're paying higher rates on our insurance, wouldn't be able to get certain jobs (which, thankfully, hasn't come up IRL), etc. because we went "cash only" and neglected our credit score. Getting hit with a ~20% rate hike on our car and homeowners policies (phrased, to adhere to the letter of the law, as "losing our preferred credit discount") when DH's credit score dipped below a certain cutoff was hard reminder that even if you aren't interested in borrowing you have to keep playing the game by rules the rest of the world sets. Fortunately with no negatives it is very easy to boost a credit score in a relatively short period of time and we only had to pay that price for a year, but especially for those rebuilding credit after significant negatives/problems, DR preaching "cash only" seems very short sighted.

We've developed our own way of doing things over the years that works for us - we make long-term savings more or less "invisible" (automatic) and keep our monthly expenses as low as possible so we can make ends meet without falling behind in bad stretches and enjoy some extras when business is good.

 

[crisi]

Like others, I've read most of them, and my big "plan" is - like others - spend less than I make and invest.

One "plan" that hasn't been mentioned is Elizabeth Warren's book "All Your Worth." Of all the personal finance books I've read, that one is possibly the best in terms of laying out a formula. Its also less of a "credit is evil" book than DR, but she does point out that credit often turns what was a want (it would be nice to have those shoes) into a need (now that I put those shoes on my credit card, I have a legal obligation to pay for them), so that changes - within her system - how that would be accounted for.

 

[momz]

You need a budget.

Seriously...check out the app called YNAB. Stands for "you need a budget".

 

[holycow]

Mary Hunt

Cheapskate monthly. So worth it!!

When we had NO money and Dave Ramsey was 25$ for his book. Mary was only like 4 or 5 $. She had over 100000$ in unsecured debt and got out of it by her self!

She's helped us so much.

 

[dvcdenise]

I have recently found Paul Merriman and I am now following him. Great you tube videos. He never sells anything.

 

[nboicepardee]

You need a budget.

Seriously...check out the app called YNAB. Stands for "you need a budget".

I use YNAB and love it!! So user friendly.