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Unpopular opinion: Dave Ramsey's debt snowball method is overrated for some situations
I tried the debt snowball for about 6 months back in 2022 while living in my apartment in Tucson. Paid off a $400 store card first but the interest on my $8,500 student loan at 7% kept piling up. I ended up switching to the avalanche method where I attacked the highest interest rate first. Saved myself roughly $600 in interest over the next year compared to my initial snowball plan. Anyone else find the math works better for them going after high interest debt instead of the smallest balance first?
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hugos6710d ago
@miab16, didn't switching to avalanche ever feel like a betrayal of Ramsey's whole "behavior over math" pitch though?
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thea14310d ago
Wait, you mean Dave Ramsey's advice isn't mathematically perfect for everyone? Shocking. I'm pretty sure he tells people to just ignore math and "behave" so you can feel good about yourself while your student loan interest compounds in the background like a slow motion car crash. I did the avalanche method too and honestly felt like I was cheating on a cult exam every time I paid down my 6% car loan before my $300 credit card. But hey, at least I'm not burning cash to make Dave proud. Maybe he'll send me a sticker for bad math behavior someday.
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