David's Dough

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps

David — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:30:05 +0000

Another nice Dave Ramsey post by my favorite blogger. This time it’s all about Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps and how it could help you go from broke to being financially free. Here are the 7 steps if you’ve never seen them before:

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Three to six months of expenses in savings
Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
College funding for children
Pay off home early
Build wealth and give!

And here’s a great Dave Ramsey video — I wish I know how to embed a video.

Really Nice Debt Snowball Diagram

David — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:17:44 +0000

I was browsing around the web today and found a really nice article about Dave Ramsey and the Debt Snowball method. The best part about the article is the graphic that shows how the snowball works.

There are also many alternatives to the Debt Snowball listed in the article with links to other good resources.

If you are in debt, this article is definitely worth checking out.

Ebates $5 sign up bonus

David — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:23:54 +0000

As mentioned before, I am looking at every way I can to earn some extra income. One thing I am planning to do check with Ebates before I buy stuff online. By the way, they are offering $5 sign up bonus just for signing up!

Here’s a link where you can learn more about Ebates and how it gives you cash back bonus for shopping online.

Interesting Articles

David — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:16:32 +0000

Some good articles I read this morning.

How To Set Up a Limited Liability Company (LLC) at Moolanomy
5 Personal Finance Tips You Don’t Always Hear About at Wise Bread
Dealing With A Job Loss: What To Do When You’re Laid Off at Bible Money Matters
Things I’ve Learned Losing A Parent at Paidtwice

FreeCreditReport.com

David — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:29:34 +0000

I don’t know if you have seen FreeCreditReport.com commercials on TV before or not, but I have seen them a few times and thought about going over there to get my free credit report and score. Apparently, it’s a whole big scam. According to Moolanomy, FreeCreditReport.com is not free at all. In fact, their commercials are borderline fraudulent. Basically, you only get your free credit score and report as part of sign-up to their credit monitoring service; however, they don’t make that very obvious.

The article went on to say that the best place to get your free credit report is from AnnualCreditReport.com and free credit score from CreditKarma.com.

Consumers beware!

Quicken Online

David — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:10:28 +0000

On thing I am trying to do this year is get a better control of our expenses. I think a good way to do that is to be more aware of our finances and try to stick to a realistic budget. I found a nice review of Quicken Online on Moolanomy. I think this is the tool I have been looking for. Looks like the software is free and it’s fairly easy to get started. It’ll take me a while to load my financial information in there, but it looks like it will be worth it once it’s all said and done.

Credit Card Reward and Debt

David — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:06:48 +0000

I have been hearing stories about problem redeeming credit card reward points. It seems like banks are making it harder for people to redeem their points as the economy keeps faltering. In fact, they are pushing debit cards to get more business. But debit card rewards programs aren’t as good as those for credit cards. Beside, our focus should be on paying down debt, and not ratcheting up rewards points by using credit cards and debit cards anyway.

Here are some points to consider:

Reward cards generally charge higher interest rate than non-reward cards. As such, the reward should be secondary if you’re carrying a monthly balance and incurring interest.
Use the card companies’ online tool. This makes it easier for you to make payment, track and use your reward, and stay up to date about your card.
Redeem your reward if you plan to close your account. Otherwise, it may simply disappear. This also applies when you switch to different type of cards with the same issuer.
Instead of trying to juggle different cards to get the best reward, you might be better off sticking to one multi-purpose reward card.

Anyway, I am rambling. I guess the best thing I can say is ignore these rewards and focus on spending less and pay down debt (if you have any).

Social Lending and Free Credit Score

David — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:47:12 +0000

I have been looking at various social lending networks and the key criteria that determines the final interest rate is my credit score. As I mentioned before, I am not in a very good financial position and don’t want to pay to get my credit score. I am sure the lending place will find out for me, but I don’t want to commit to borrowing from them yet. Luckily, I found a web site that provides free credit score.

The web site is Credit Karma. It was real easy to sign up and get my score. Right now it said my credit score is 675. I think that’s decent, but I am not sure.

Interesting Articles

David — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:45:20 +0000

Some interesting articles I read this morning.

I Will Not Be Able to Afford My Student Loans at Poorer Than You
Introduction to Peer-to-Peer Lending at Moolanomy
Geithner — and TurboTax — grilled again at Don’t Mess With Taxes
5 Reasons To Update Your Personal Finance Budget Every Day at Financial Nut

Fighting Debt, A Thought On Debt Reduction

David — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:24:17 +0000

My family is neck deep in debt. Without my wife income, the strain has been palpable. I have been looking around and think that I am going to do something about out debt. I found this great guide that shows you how to consolidate your debt and help you reduce debt-related expenses. We may even be able to pay down our debt faster!

I’ll be calling our credit card companies today and see what happens. Otherwise, I think taking advantage of 0% interest credit card balance transfer might be the ticket for us. Also, I found the idea of borrowing from peer lending networks worth exploring as well. A single loan would nicely clean up this mess and wrap it into one nice package that we can pay off in three years.