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<\/p>\nCreated: Jan 24, 2026 08:05 AM<\/p>\n
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Dave Ramsey<\/p>\n
Dear Dave,<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been listening to your radio show, and as a result I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m tired of living paycheque to paycheque and being broke all the time. I know Baby Step 1 is saving a beginner emergency find of $1,000. But do you recommend getting current on past due bills before starting the Baby Steps?<\/p>\n
\u2014 Edward<\/p>\n
Dear Edward,<\/p>\n
I love it! When people decide to change their lives, and they talk about it the way you have, I know they\u2019re serious about making something good happen.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re sick and tired of being sick and tired, and you\u2019re going to get control of your money and your life. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n
First things first. Make sure you\u2019re up to date with all the necessities. I\u2019m talking about food, clothing, shelter, transportation and utilities.<\/p>\n
Next, either get current \u2014 or make payment arrangements \u2014 for any consumer debt you have, including credit cards. This does not include your home, but we\u2019ll get to that part in a minute.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re spot-on with Baby Step 1. After that comes the debt snowball and Baby Step 2. Start paying off all debts, except your home, from smallest to largest.<\/p>\n
Once you\u2019ve paid off this debt, you\u2019ll be able to save more and increase your beginner emergency fund to a fully-funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses pretty quickly. This is Baby Step 3.<\/p>\n
At this point, you can really start planning for the future. In Baby Step 4, you\u2019ll start investing 15 per cent of your income for retirement.<\/p>\n
If you have children, setting aside something to help them with college comes next in Baby Step 5. Baby Step 6 is a milestone.<\/p>\n
This is when you start throwing tons of cash at your mortgage, and pay off your home early. I told you we\u2019d get back to this, didn\u2019t I?<\/p>\n
But Edward, the real deal is Baby Step 7. Why? Because this is when all your hard work, discipline and wise financial decisions have put you in a place where you can build wealth like crazy. You don\u2019t have to deal with being broke all the time!<\/p>\n
Not only that, you can give and help others by being outrageously generous. At this point, you\u2019re securing your future and helping others in a big way.<\/p>\n
Go make it happen, dude. Take control of your finances, your life and be a blessing to others!<\/p>\n
\u2014 Dave<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dave Ramsey is an eight-times national bestselling author, personal finance expert and host of The Ramsey Show. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth, and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO of Ramsey Solutions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: Jan 24, 2026 08:05 AM Dave Ramsey Dear Dave, I\u2019ve been listening to your radio show, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-261838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}