Financial Peace is Possible

Last weekend we got the chance to see Dave Ramsey live, thanks to a great deal for tickets from Catherine and Wade Reed. It was so much fun! We were first introduced to Dave Ramsey about two years ago when we attended one of the classes of Financial Peace University. My parents were attending the class so that my Dad could see if he wanted to bring the class into his workplace. Well they invited us, and it has changed our life ever since! We didn't have very much debt, but we learned to pay it off and really stay debt free, we learned how to live on a WORKING budget, and to save, and we also learned many other useful things about UNDERSTANDING insurance, investing, real estate etc... It's definitely not a get rich quick thing. You really have to live on a plan and sacrifice to win with money. As soon as we saw that first lesson of Financial Peace University, I got on fire. I got his book, "The Total Money Makeover" right away, and read it within a week, I couldn't put it down! There were nights that I couldn't sleep because I was so excited about this stuff, thinking how we're making a great start when we're young, and living on a plan, and thinking about the fact that we could be rich someday! Or at least retire comfortably! The prophets have said to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and to save, but those things are hard to do when you have no plan. An important part of the plan is a written working budget. I love that Dave says that the first time you do a budget, it won't work, the second time, a little better but still not working, but he says it takes around 3 months to get a budget to work. So don't give up the first time! He also says not to forget about those annual expenses-Christmas, Car registration, Vacation, etc... So you figure out how much you want to spend of those items, divide by 12 and then put that amount in the monthly budget. Another thing that I love that Dave Ramsey teaches, is the baby steps. At the live event, Dave Ramsey showed clips of the movie, "What About Bob" with the main character baby steping. It was quite comical. But it really works, you take baby steps to your financial goals. It causes you to focus on the current baby step. So while you're working on a baby step, you focus on that one and pause on everything else. So for example, while you're working on paying on debt, you shouldn't be contributing to retirement. Because you'll get out of debt faster, and then when it comes time to save for retirement, you'll be able to contribute more each month. So the baby steps are:

1. Save $1000 in a starter emergency fund

2. Pay off all debt using the debt snowball (except the house)

3. Save 3-6 months expenses in liquid savings

3.b) Save for a down payment of a house-doesn't apply if you already have a house

4.Save 15% of household income into Roth IRA's and pre-tax retirement

(Steps 4,5,6,7 can be done at the same time)

5. College funding for the kids

6. Pay off home early

7. Build wealth and give!

So we went to a few more classes with my parents, then I decided to coordinate a class for other people to go to that fall of 2006. January of 2007 we became DEBT FREE! and even called into Dave Ramsey's radio show to say we're debt free. He has debt free fridays where people call in to say they're debt free, it's very emotional and inspiring. I've found tears on my cheeks when listening to other callers scream that they're debt free. I think it was last Fall that we had our fully funded Emergency Fund, and now we're working on saving for a house. It's awesome how far we've come, and how far we can get to. We can do this! At the live event, Dave Ramsey talked about how the little guy CAN get ahead. We just need to focus on our goals and work toward them. The Dave Ramsey live event was very inspiring and motivating. I even found myself emotional with teary eyes a few times. I'm just so passionate about this! Because it's our life!! We don't need to be living paycheck to paycheck, we can come out on top! And yes, Financial Peace is possible.