Before I earned my teaching credentials, I earned an undergrad finance degree. I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan. I have even become a Ramsey Solutions Master Financial Coach. Incidentally, I have re-built marknoldy.com as my Financial Coach site.
But first I will help anyone who asks do things like craft their own zero-based budgets, build a debt snowball spreadsheet, set up Roth IRAs.
I have always paid attention to the stock market. Within the Seven Baby Steps, stock market investing occurs in step 7. Real estate rentals are another good place to invest.
Disclaimer: I am Dave-ish. I still uses a Discover Card. While I won’t get rich from the points, I’ll eat for free at our neighborhood Applebee’s. I pay off the balance in full every month, so my FICO is well over 800. While Dave says you don’t need this, I say you do if you need to borrow money to buy “assets.” Assets are things that put money in your pocket. Debt is not bad if someone else is making the payments. And with new lending safeguards (legal safeguards), your loans won’t be called like Dave’s were.