Many people struggle financially and have difficulty saving enough money or avoiding credit card debt. If you don’t want to be one of them, finance expert Dave Ramsey has some advice for how to “win with money.”
Here’s what that advice is, as well as some tips on whether you should implement his advice and how to do it.
Dave Ramsey’s advice for becoming a financial winner
Ramsey’s advice for winning with money is really simple, but it may not be advice you’d expect to hear.
“If you want to win with money, let me give you an idea: figure out what most people are doing and run in the other direction,” Ramsey wrote on Facebook. Ramsey also went on to explain why he gave this unexpected advice.
“Most people are broke,” Ramsey said. “Most people look good and they’re broke. And the government, which is well known for its ability to handle money (sarcasm font) is not going to save you. It’s up to YOU.”
Essentially, Ramsey is suggesting that rather than trying to follow the crowd or keep up with the Joneses, you make your own money decisions that are right for your long-term financial plan. You don’t necessarily want to do what’s common, or what seems easiest, but instead want to take control and make choices that will set you up for long-term success.
Is Ramsey right?
Ramsey’s assertion that “most people are broke,” can be hard to confirm — but it is true that a substantial number of people don’t have enough retirement savings, have a lot of credit card debt, and don’t have even a small amount of money to cover emergencies.
While in some cases this may be because people are spending money to look good, as Ramsey says, there are also a lot of systemic problems that leave people with too little. These issues range from the wage gap between men and women to generational poverty and inequality of opportunity to the fact minimum wage hasn’t kept pace with rising prices.
If you face these systemic problems, then it’s a lot harder to just make money decisions that are going to leave you “winning with money” because you’re fighting against the current. And Ramsey’s claims that most people are broke because they’re trying to look good don’t really apply in your situation, since it’s not decisions you’ve made but difficult circumstances that are causing your financial issues.
For some people, though, it is true that there are some money decisions you may be making — which are pretty common — and which could make it harder for you to be a financial success. For example, buy now, pay later plans have become pretty common as a means of buying things you can’t afford, and they can make it harder to live within your means and accomplish financial goals since you’re committing future income to pay off purchases of non-necessities today.
If you want to increase your chances of “winning with money,” then taking control of your budget, committing to live within your means and avoiding borrowing for any non-necessities could be a good approach to take. Ramsey recommends these types of behaviors, which can be beneficial to adopt so you can grow your net worth over time.
