So I went to the Dave Ramsey “Total Money Makeover Live!” this past Saturday. It was good, however, leading up to it, it kind of felt like I was going to a rock show. There were people there with T-Shirts that said “I’m Debt Free” or “I see Debt People” or “Cheetah!!” (for those of you who know Dave’s stuff). So had these people been to one of his shows before? Did they follow him all over the country like the Grateful Dead? I was also curious as to how they were going to introduce him (“LLLLLLadies and GEEEentlemen!!! DAAAAAAAAAAVE RRRRRRRRRAMSEY!!!” like they would fly in the Detroit Pistons announcer or something).
However, I think the most particularly jarring moment was when the guy who was sort of intro-ing the whole thing before Dave came out yelled out “Who wants a t-shirt?!!” Tons of people stood up cheering like they were at the Roman Colloseum hoping for a loaf of bread. And then the guys on stage whipped out a t-shirt sling:
To get the full effect, look at this picture while listening to this, which did play during this, by the way.
It was bizarre. However, once Dave took the stage, things sort of returned back to normal (except for the “What about Bob?” clips and the random wooping by women in the audience), and I was able to learn some really good stuff that I’m hoping to apply. Maybe I’ll get a van full of friends to drive down to his next show in Tennessee. WOOO!! DAVE!!
The rock star himself.
That is some pretty special background music for any part of a financial seminar.
On a different note, what good things did you learn from Dave?
One major thing is DON’T USE CREDIT CARDS EVER!! Which I guess I already knew, but was good to hear again. Also just some good tips on what steps to take for getting out of debt and financial security in general. He’s got some really good stuff, if you ever want to pick up one of his books or something.
I heard at one point in the show, He plays his calcuator with his teeth!!!! Awesome!!!
Baby step 1 – build a $1,000 emergency fund.
Baby step 2 – stop the debt snowball and get out of debt
Baby step 3 – Arrrrrrrrr yyyyoooouuuuuuu rrrrrrrrrrrrready to rrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuummmmmmbleeeeeeeee?!?!?!
1. Somehow get rid of the $30,000 debt you’ve accumulated in the last 10 years.
2. ?
3. Profit!
You forgot the REAL baby step 1 and 2 Brian …
Baby step 1 – Buy at least one of his 1,000 books
Baby step 2 – Pay well over $100 to be an official, lifelong member of his club
I vote Baby step 1 should be come up with some pretty good ways to do ___ and then come up with some ways to make billions to tell other people about it. Baby step 2 could be buying all your yachts with cash in the future.
Does going into debt because of a need to purchase every bit of world series memorabilia out there a no-no according to this guy? Because I might have to do just that anyway.