I sailed wrote:
"Have listened to Dave for years. His entire premise is fiscal responsibility, and his top priority is to reign in expenses and establish an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months."
Those days are OVER.
They're GONE.
They're not coming back for a long, LONG time.
Not until a catastrophe so terrible and destructive that it won't really matter one way or the other...
Not so much.
It is a lot like the difference between city and rural living... Folks routinely come out here with a big money wad, and spend like a sailor, and as a matter of course, don't know what to do when the money runs out - and it ALWAYS runs out.
Because a rural economy does not run so much on money. Money's great, sure. Buys you big screen tvs and 4-wheelers and such... But when the money dries up (and it will) and the four-wheeler gets sold, there's still a horse up in the pasture that does what the four-wheeler does. And the horse really does not cost anything to maintain, providing you've got the land. That's the difference. The land produces a living, spare and hard as it is, and money just augments what the land does mainly.
A half acre garden will feed a family of 6, supplemented with raised beef, pork, and chicken... and that augmented by browse, trapping and hunting from the wild. You can eat just fine.
But it's the flour, salt, sugar, ice cream and Cheetos, that are found only with money. Gasoline and taxes... Tractor parts... But even so, money, while necessary, spent for things you cannot do for yourself, remains supplemental in the big picture.
I live in a 1150 ft2 2bdrm 1 bath cabin. Paid for. My pantry is full, and my freezer is full. There's better than four cords of wood in the shed. all paid for. There are tanks down at the farm, full of gasoline and diesel. Paid for. I owe nothing in credit, my bills are normally paid 3 months forward, and I owe nothing, outside of the family.
My taxes are around 1500 yr, my utilities are roughly 300/mo. Most months other than winter, I can probably break even on 300/mo, without gas and groceries... But gas and groceries don't figure in a short term, because I have so much laying around. Because of that, I can not only eat, but operate with in reason, for a long long time once the money dries up. YES, all that needs to be put back in store, but not until I have a fair bet of weathering the hard times,
And that allows me to be very opportunistic during downturns. I just went through hella bad times since hunting season started. Business was at a trickle before that since covid started, but since the beginning of fall, it has been a hard scrabble to break even month to month. I have done everything BUT my normal work, any which way I can.
And it served me. I just hit the mother lode - A very rich month, And I don't know why. It just is.
I am 'behind' on my tax budget, and I am 'behind' on the utilities being paid three months forward, The gas tank at the ranch is down to a third and has to get topped. But I actually gained in food - Game and fish have kept me even or ahead through the whole time, even though I have been eating into my pantry and using up canned goods.
Everything that I was low on will be replaced in early march.
So Ramsey is still right in theory and in practice. It is eminently possible to live inside your means. Providing one is capable of being unplugged from the system, as much as possible, then systemic problems can be weathered.
