Reaching Your Goals: Eliminate Debt and Invest for Your Future

I have the great opportunity to represent the Dave Ramsey program as an endorsed local provider (ELP) for tax and accounting services in the Phoenix area. Through this relationship, I get to speak with and meet with many people who were referred to me through the Dave Ramsey website and programs. I thoroughly enjoy my interaction with these people because they are proactively seeking to improve their financial situation and expedite the achievement of their financial goals. Those goals almost always begin with eliminating their debt followed by investing wisely for education and retirement. Their ultimate goal is to free themselves from the bonds of debt and accumulate wealth sufficient to reduce their financial stress level and allow them to give back to society in substantial ways.

Most often, eliminating debt is a task that requires a change in lifestyle and perspective related to spending and saving. Dave Ramsey often uses the phrase “live like no one else, so you can (someday) live like no one else”. Accomplishing debt elimination requires sacrifice of some luxuries that you may have become very accustomed to. This can be painful at first but the benefits are well worth your sacrifice. We must overcome the narrative put forth by our society that taking on debt to obtain what we want now is normal, expected and acceptable. This line of thinking will keep you shackled to your debt payment obligations indefinitely into the future and will preclude you from achieving your investment goals.

My wife and I have personally experienced the joy that comes from paying off debt quickly and freeing up funds that would normally have been committed to making required debt payments. The freedom that comes with eliminating the burden of debt is so refreshing. I encourage everyone to make the commitment to sacrifice, create a plan and stick to that plan. Once you experience smaller successes in this realm, it becomes easier to stick with your commitment to continue on to your ultimate goal.

I have shared the Dave Ramsey program 7 baby steps for success before but I wanted to share them again here.

  1. $1,000 in an emergency fund
  2. Pay off all debt other than your home using the debt snowball method
  3. 3 to 6 months’ expenses in savings
  4. Invest 15% of income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans
  5. College funding
  6. Pay off your home early
  7. Build wealth and give

We are currently in the midst of our year-end tax planning appointment season with our clients. This is my favorite time of year as I enjoy helping my clients analyze where they stand from a tax perspective for the current year and helping them identify opportunities to reduce their current tax burden by taking certain actions before year-end. The planning we perform now ensures that tax saving opportunities are not missed and that my clients enjoy tax efficiency – not paying more than they are required to pay. With proper planning, there are no “surprises” when the tax return is completed early next year. During this planning process, I incorporate the debt elimination and investing philosophies of the Dave Ramsey program.

At Weech Financial, we offer strategic tax planning combined with financial planning in one package and can assist with implementation of the plans created. If you would like more information related to the assistance we can provide or more information about the Dave Ramsey program, please contact us.

Mark J Weech, CPA