But what are the implications on society as a whole? If everyone in America follows Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, what will happen? Well, I’m going to breakdown everything by step and discuss some of those possibilities:
- Baby Step #1: 1000 dollars saved up for a basic emergency fund. This one would actually go a long way to improving the overall financial health of America. If you had $1000 in a location that was accessible, yet separate from your main funds and was specifically designed for emergencies like broken cars or insurance deductibles, don’t you think you’d be in better shape to handle all of life’s minor problems? Payday lending would disappear overnight if everyone did this and pretty all other forms of predatory lending. Considering that Americans have a negative savings rate overall, this would mean a serious dramatic shift in the attitudes of many Americans.
- Baby Step #2: Pay off all debts except for the first mortgage on your house. Paying off all your debts except for your mortgage frees up a lot of personal income. That money can be used to spend on things without having to pay interest on it. If all Americans were debt-free except for their home mortgage, there would be massive deflation across the board because when you have to pay for things with cash, you tend to go for the bargain. A lot of stuff would become cheaper as a result and the poor would ultimately live a better lifestyle.
- Baby Step #3: Save 3-6 months of personal expenses as a fully funded emergency fund. This is where the real serious political implications begin. If everyone has several months worth of personal expenses saved up, that means you no longer have to go on unemployment when you lose your job. Without the need for that entitlement, the savings to the taxpayer would be astronomical. Not only that, but this emergency fund means you can lower your insurance premiums across the board by raising your deductible. In essence, that frees up income for you and increases your ability to spend money.
- Baby Step #4: Save 15% of your gross income toward retirement. If everyone was saving for their retirement, there would be no need for Social Security. An entitlement program that sucks up nearly 1/3 of the Federal budget would be completely eliminated by following this plan.
- Baby Step #5: Save for your kid’s college. Effectively, this would eliminate the need for student loans. FASA loans have largely been unprofitable and a huge burden on the young. Especially when a huge percentage of young adults are graduating into bankruptcy. It is high time that we gave our children the opportunity to start out with no debt and as many opportunities as they can reasonably acquire.
- Baby Step #6: Pay off your mortgage. I have to admit that steps 4, 5, and 6 are really just your budgeting priorities. In this case, anything left over after saving for your retirement and your children’s college should be rolled into your mortgage. If you paid off your mortgage early, that would free up a ton of your income. More consumer spending to feed the economy and grow it. More importantly, housing would go down in value because whenever you finance an item, the price goes up. Housing is no exception. But since you’ve paid off your home, you don’t let that kind of thing bother you.
- Baby Step #7: Build wealth, save it, spend it, and give it. Once you have no debt whatsoever, you can now save, spend, and give whatever money comes your way however you see fit. People at this level of financial peace have a lot of freedom and opportunities because that’s what wealth provides. You can save to retire early and enjoy life. You give tons of money to charities, shutting out the grossly ineffective government charities, and you can buy a lot of stuff without worrying about the banks retaking any of it.