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Or you could read it in a book

By TIM ENGSTROM

Most of the financial help out there is aimed at helping people who have money to invest. The rest of the financial help out there is aimed at helping people who don't have money make it to the next payday.

And then there's a fair amount of help that really isn't help at all. They're just get-rich-quick schemes that only help the helper get rich.

What about the kind of help that is aimed at helping people without money, people deep in debt even, become people who have money?

That's where Dave Ramsey comes in.

This author has received media praise for sensible, honest talk about finances. He was featured on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" in November

in a segment titled "Crusade Against Credit." He also hosts "The Dave Ramsey Show" in several radio markets.

He has various materials available at www.daveramsey.com, but his book, "The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness," is his main product. In it, he tells the reader to take responsibility - "You are the problem with your money," he writes - and he challenges the reader to change, to stop keeping up with the Joneses, to sacrifice, to get rid of debt. To get money later, you have to pay a price now, he says.

In Chapter 3, Ramsey writes how debt is not a tool. He says people who become millionaires did so by avoiding debt. People in the middle and lower economic classes stay there because they give their money to their lenders, he writes.

He also scorns passing on the credit habit to children.

"You are not teaching your 16-year-old child to spend responsibly when you give him a credit card any more than you are teaching gun responsibility by letting him sleep with a loaded automatic weapon with the safety off. In both cases, you as a parent are being stupid. People with common sense don't give 16-year-olds beer to teach them how to hold their liquor. By giving a teenager a credit card, the parent, the one with supposed credibility, introduces a financially harmful substance and endorses its use, which is dumb but unfortunately very normal in today's families."

In Chapter 7, Ramsey writes about building wealth by curtailing debt. Here is an excerpt: "The bottom line is that it is easy to become wealthy if you don't have any payments. You may get sick of hearing it, but the key to winning any battle is to identify the enemy. The reason I am so passionate about your getting rid of debt is that I have seen how many people make huge strides toward being a millionaire in the short time after they get rid of their payments.

If you didn't have a car payment, a student loan, credit cards out your ears, medical debt or even a mortgage, you could become wealthy very quickly. I know that may seem like a faraway place for some of you. You might feel like a 350-pounder looking at Mr. Universe, shaking your head thinking it will never happen to you. Let me assure you, I have walked with many 350-pounders into financial fitness, so stay with me.

"The math is revealing. The typical American with a $40,000 annual income would normally have an $850 house payment and a $350 car payment, with an additional $180 payment on the second car. Then there is a $165 student loan payment; and the average credit-card debt is about $12,000, making those monthly payments around $185 per month. If this family were to invest that instead of sending it to the creditors, they would be cash mutual-fund millionaires in just 15 years! (After 15 years, it gets really exciting.

They'll have $2 million in five more years, $3 million in three more years, $4 million in 2 1/2 more years, and $5 million in two more years. So they will have $5 million after 28 years.) Keep in mind, this is with an average income, which means many of you make more than this! If you are thinking that you don't have that many payments so your math won't work, you missed the point. If you make $40,000 and have fewer payments, you have a head start, since you already have more control of your income than most people."

Ramsey goes on the explain how to fight debt, such as paying off the smaller debts first, but also provides worksheets and anecdotes on how to accomplish it.

Throughout the book he abolishes myths about how the rich became rich, and points out how debt is sold aggressively to consumers. A sign of immaturity is wanting something right away, like a kid in the candy bar aisle, he says, while a sign of maturity is willingness to wait until you can afford it, if you even need it all.

When on "60 Minutes" he noted if you see a family who has 4x4 truck, a satellite dish, a large-screen TV and a bass boat, yet lives in a trailer home, you can bet the family it deep in debt.

Ramsey advocates purchasing used cars, not new ones, and to buy things with cash, no credit. He points out that "90 days same as cash" doesn't mean same as cash. If you walk in and offer to pay with cash, you often can negotiate for discounts, Ramsey writes.

The point of his book is to say: "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else."

He opposes credit counseling services, especially AmeriDebt, but says if a person must choose a credit counseling services, Consumer Credit Counseling is among the better outfits. He cautions that people should try their own at getting out of debt before going to counseling, because using the service often means trashing their credit report.

The book has all sorts of advice on saving, investing, taking out a mortgage, planning for retirement and at the end his Total Money Makeover has the reader accounting for debt, managing money to pay it off and looking to a debt-free, income-building life. The book also is littered with testimony from people who have found the Total Money Makeover successful.

http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2005/04/09/news/news03.txt

Buyer Beware Extra: Credit Card Debt, Snack Dates, Timeshares

BOSTON - March 25, 2005 - On Friday's Buyer Beware Extra, NewsCenter 5's consumer reporter Susan Wornick had news on credit card debt, snack expiration dates, and a timeshare offer.

Credit Card Debt
Resources:
FTC/AmeriDebt Settlement
FTC Timeshare Warning
FCC 2002 Silverleaf Warning

Using your credit cards more than you should? Feeling the pressure of too much debt? Credit counseling may be a good idea, but buyer beware of some offers.

There are some scams out there that say they will help you, but want you to pay large amounts of money up front.

The Federal Trade Commission recently shut down one such operation called AmeriDebt for using deceptive practices, charging hidden fees and making unsubstantiated promises.