Your thoughts on Dave Ramsey?

Does he offer sound advice? I have listened to him off and on over the years and he seems legit, however, a little too christiany sometimes.

What are your opinions on him?

I'm a big fan of Ramsey, OP

My one issue is that he pushes the "mutual funds can outperform the market" meme, without telling his listeners that those same funds will charge you a high expense ratio, thus robbing you of any extra amount they would truly beat the market by (if they even manage to do so)

Low expense broad Vanguard ETF is the way to go. Buy them after every crash. Sell as stocks explode and another crash is imminent (aka now)

>Low expense broad Vanguard ETF

Thanks user, I'll check this out.

Also, I've never invested before, as I've been in abject poverty almost all my life. Recently, I got a job where I earn a lot more and my employer is offering a 401k where they contribute 25% up to a total of 15% of my income. Their portion vests in 6 years, but I'm not sure if I want to stick with them for that long.

I am 30 years old, no savings/retirement (yet). Should I do this, and if so, at what rate? I make $70k/annually

I have a similar plan with my job, though we don't have our portion vested overtime, so that isn't an issue for me and I don't exactly know how to advise for it. That said, in my situation, I believe my employer matches for up to 6% of my income (meaning, they give me dollar for dollar for my contribution, which is 6% of my paycheck). I contributed 6% and that's it. I never advise contributing more than whatever your employer is willing to match since you can typically use the rest of that money more intelligently. Contributing less than what they match is also a waste, since you're forgoing free cash.

What should you do with the rest?

First off, Ramsey advises building a $1,000 emergency fund. I recommend you do that.

Second, do you have any debt? You'll want to focus on paying that off. Read about Ramsey's "debt snowball."

Third, if you have no savings, I recommend building a fund of 3-6 month worth of expenses (my monthly expenses are roughly $2k, so I saved up $8k). This is advised by Ramsey.

This is your emergency fund. This isn't savings and should not be used unless you lose your job or incur large medical expenses.

Once you've done that, I then recommend opening a Roth IRA with Vanguard and contributing the total amount the IRS allows you to contribute to it each year.

Otherwise, build up wealth in a savings accounts or money market fund until you can make some sort of real-estate play. I personally hope to get enough to take out a mortgage on a place that I'll rent out, while I continue to rent myself, until I can do it on a second property, etc etc, and start building up wealth through real estate .

>I personally hope to get enough to take out a mortgage on a place that I'll rent out

I have virtually no bills... no rent, no car payment, etc. I live over the road in a semi-truck (thats my profession) and have been thinking about what my first move towards purchasing a home will be.

I made another thread about this (0 replies) but am thinking about purchasing a townhome or somesuch maybe in the $80-$120k range, to rent out while I pay it off over the next few years of living over the road. Assuming I follow Ramsey's steps listed above, does this idea sound like a good plan?

>I made another thread about this (0 replies) but am thinking about purchasing a townhome or somesuch maybe in the $80-$120k range, to rent out while I pay it off over the next few years of living over the road. Assuming I follow Ramsey's steps listed above, does this idea sound like a good plan?

that sounds like a great plan user. The one thing you want to be wary of is general trends of the housing market and in particular property trends in the location where you buy. Are people moving there? Are people moving out? Any new construction of properties or malls planned for the future?

If it's a place with a slow and steady growth in populace, it's probably a good bet.

I still advise the 3-6 month fund. Even if you don't foresee being out of a job anytime soon, that is one recommendation every professional will give you.

Awesome. The place I have in mind is the Raleigh/Cary area, it has great growth potential I think.

And hey, thanks for the advice. I guess this board is mostly bitcoiners and miners.

>Raleigh/Cary area

ha, funny, I work B2B inside sales and one of the areas I cover is Raleigh/Cary

Seems like a nice place (I'm currently residing in Boston myself, but plan to move down south whenever the opportunity presents itself)

It's a very desirable place, and has been expanding since I can remember. (grew up there)

It's mostly comprised of transplants from up north seeking IT jobs and a place to start a family. Very safe area, rising home values. Taxes are pretty high in Cary, but that's because they are anal about keeping everything looking clean (no billboards or tacky shit, just green grass, trees, and sidewalk).

You'll feel at home in a place like that, being that it's kind of in it's own little bubble that is shielded off from the southern culture that many northerners would consider reprehensible.

To the northwest is Morrisville, and a huge indian immigrant population. Nice area if you can deal with poo in the loos driving slow everywhere.

To the south of raleigh in the garner/clayton area is a little more woodsy. You can get a great deal on some more rural property that is likely to increase in value over the next decade as raleigh/cary continue to expand. Know a couple people who got a really good rate and deal on FHA loans down there. It's fixer-upper shit, and traffic is a nightmare due to road expansion and construction, but like I said, it's all due to growing pains which in the long run is a good thing.

good to know, thanks user.

I am looking for a place that has access both to a city and the countryside, and preferably leans conservative, lower taxes, etc.

I'm thinking possibly Texas or a more Western-state, but NC/SC could be good.