Dave Ramsey: Top 8 Changes You Must Make To Your Finances in 2024

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Dave Ramsey, well-known founder of Ramsey Solutions, produces a YouTube video every January with his daughter, financial expert Rachel Cruze. The annual ritual involves the two discussing changes that listeners and viewers should consider to help them get their financial lives in order for the coming year.

For the 2024 version, Ramsey and Cruze highlighted the following eight steps as the most important for viewers to take. There’s no time like the present to get going on your money resolutions.

Get on the Same Page as Your Spouse

According to Ramsey, joining your money with your spouse is a key element in building long-term wealth. The study of millionaires undertaken by Ramsey and his company shows that working with a spouse is key, with many millionaires citing their financial relationship with their spouse as being an important factor in building their wealth.

Both Ramsey and Cruze say that working on finances with your spouse as a partner can also help your marriage, not just your finances. By setting and accomplishing goals together, couples often grow closer. Working with your spouse also provides you with a stable, supportive partner that can help keep you accountable, and vice versa.

Get on a Budget

As Ramsey puts it, no one accidentally wins the Super Bowl or is successful in business. To accomplish any major goal, you need a plan. When it comes to your finances, your budget should be your weekly, monthly and annual plan for financial success.

After all, Ramsey says, “if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” A budget gives you a written-down road map that tells you what you need to do to succeed financially. At a glance, you can see where you are overspending and may need to cut back, or if you’re coming up short in terms of debt reduction, saving and investing.

Pay Off Your Student Loans

According to the hosts, student loans are a type of debt that just seems to stick around. Confusing messages from the government about forgiveness may have slowed down the rate of repayment for borrowers, and the very size of many student loans has likely contributed to the length that they have remained outstanding.

Ramsey and Cruze both emphasize how important it is to knock down this debt, just like you should if it were credit card debt. 

Protect Your Emergency Fund

In the simplest of terms, Ramsey says that if it’s not a real emergency, you don’t use your emergency fund. Buying a new couch, for example, is not an emergency. Neither is deciding you want a faster boat.

A true financial emergency is something you aren’t prepared for, not something you choose to spend money on. The good news, says Ramsey, is that the more you budget, the less you’ll have to rely on your emergency fund. 

Try a New Side Hustle To Create Extra Margin

It can admittedly be hard to sock away extra money in emergency funds and investment accounts if you aren’t earning more money. Thus, Ramsey and Cruze suggest you look at ways to earn extra money via a side hustle, even if just on a temporary basis.

Do you have extra time at nights or on weekends? That could be a great opportunity to generate some extra income and help pay down your debt or otherwise put you in a better place financially. Cruze especially suggests thinking about what you’re naturally good at and having people pay you money to do it. If you’re a natural at sports, for example, see if you can pick up a gig coaching or training. If you’re a writer or editor, find a company or individual that needs help.

Prioritize Contentment

While it may not seem like financial advice, Ramsey stresses that you need to prioritize contentment. If you’re content with what you have, it changes everything.

If you don’t “have to have it,” you can cut out all unnecessary spending, and you can use that freed-up money to get out of debt and invest. But if all you do is consume, Ramsey says you can’t ever climb your way out of a financial hole.

Be Aware of Lifestyle Creep

Cruze particularly recommends being cautious about lifestyle creep, the tendency to unnecessarily spend more as your income increases.

Don’t keep moving the finish line, and don’t consume the additional margin you get from earning more. Continue to live below your means, and be purposeful with your spending. 

Buy a House Only When You’re Ready

Ramsey fully supports the idea of buying a home, but only when you’re ready. In Ramsey’s view, people get too excited about rushing to buy a house and don’t prepare themselves financially first.

Before you even think about buying a house, Ramsey strongly recommends making sure you have an emergency fund and are completely out of debt. When you’re ready, don’t spend more than 25% of your take-home pay on housing, and use a 15-year mortgage if possible.

As Ramsey explains it, data shows that homeownership is a key part of becoming wealthy — but only over the long run. When you first buy a house, your wealth-building actually slows down temporarily. If you’re not financially prepared for buying a home, Ramsey says it can clobber you. So, don’t turn a potentially wealth-building investment into a curse.

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