Consumer finance self-help author Dave Ramsey advocates a plan called The Seven Baby Steps to get out of debt and build wealth.  The plan seems very simple, involving paying down debt and then saving money.

https://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/

The seven steps are 1) Saving $1000 to an emergency fund, 2) paying off all debt using the debt snowball plan, 3) saving 3-6 months of living expenses,  4) investing in retirement plans, 5) saving for kids’ college tuition 6) paying off your home early, and finally 7) building wealth and donating money.

For an awful lot of people, though, these “baby steps” look a lot more like “giant leaps”!  As I blogged about recently, a lot of consumers simply cannot afford to pay 100% of their debt plus the crippling interest.  These consumers likely need to consider other options, like bankruptcy or debt settlement to get out of debt.  Once a consumer is out of debt, then perhaps they can advance to step 3 and build wealth.  However, if you are struggling to get thru steps 1 and 2, it probably makes sense to contact a debt settlement attorney and learn more about debt settlement as an effective means to eliminate debt.