by Art West

Created on: October 24, 2008

I'M DEBT FREE! I heard the scream on the radio. Who can get someone to scream on the radio? More importantly, who can get someone to become debt free? The answer to both of these questions is Dave Ramsey.

Dave Ramsey graduated from the University of Tennessee in the early 1980's with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance. He was ready to take on the world and get rich. He began "flipping" houses. He would buy houses that were either foreclosed or getting ready to be foreclosed on so he would get a huge discount. He would then fix up those houses, sell them and make a profit. He was quite successful doing that, however, since he was only in his 20's, he did not have much cash on hand. This meant he had to go to the bank for loans. He had several 90 day loans. He would take out these loans, buy a house, fix it up, sell it and then repay the loan. This was the system he used and it was quite successful. It was successful enough that by the time he was in his mid 20's he was a millionaire.

The roof then caved in. The local bank he was dealing with was sold to a large national bank. This new bank saw the several 90 day notes that a 20 something year old had and got nervous. They began calling the notes in and slowly over the course of about 2 years, the Ramsey's lost everything. The Ramsey's had to file for bankruptcy. Here he was, he had a toddler, a baby and a marriage hanging on by a thread. What was he going to do?

After blaming everyone else, he finally accepted the responsibility. He decided that he would talk to people who had become millionaires...and kept the money. After all, he knew how to become a millionaire and lose it all. He learned that a vast majority of millionaires do not use credit. They pay cash for things. This is the kind of attitude that his grandparents had.

Dave began working at multiple jobs trying to get back on his feet. He went from driving brand new cars to driving an old beater. He and his wife began paying cash for everything. If they didn't have the cash, they didn't buy it. They started making a monthly budget...AND STICKING TO IT. Slowly they began to get out of debt. As friends began seeing the progress that they were making, they began asking Dave for advice. He began counseling people at his church and then realized that this could be a good business. He started counseling people in the community. He then got an opportunity to appear on a local radio show. Through a series of events that became a syndicated radio show and is now heard by more than 3 million people each day.

As he was counseling these people he began to develop the Financial Peace plan that he now teaches. This plan is based on his personal life experience, the knowledge he achieved at the University of Tennessee, the millionaires he has talked to as well as the people struggling financially and of course people like his grandparents. I want to mention here that Dave Ramsey was out of debt by the time Financial Peace took off so it was not Financial Peace that got him out of debt, although it has made him a very wealthy man.

Dave Ramsey is not just someone that developed a theory about getting out of debt ad building wealth, he has experienced it. When he tells you to "sell everything and make the kids think they are next", he has done that. When he say to work 2-3 jobs, he's done that too.

Dave Ramsey is someone who became a millionaire AND lost it all by the time he was 30. He has rebuilt his wealth without using credit. His plan works and I strongly encourage anyone, no matter what their financial situation is, to try it.

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