This last year, my wife and I changed careers and moved to Ely to manage a resort near the MN-Canadian border. We had to sell our house (which we had for only two years) and took more than a 50% pay cut.... We couldn't be happier with our decision or our financial situation and there are two people to thank. God and Dave Ramsey. For those of you who haven't heard of him, Dave has been giving basic financial advise for the better part of two decades. I say 'Basic' because it really is, no debt and live beneath your means... I said 'Basic' not EASY. Anyway, my wife and I took one of his courses (FPU, Financial Peace University) through our church a couple years ago. We got out of debt, and started saving. I guess I just wanted to share this because it drastically changed our lives for the better, forever. I encourage you to checkout his website. All, I can say is that (like I said) we are making 1/2 the $$ and are in tough economic times, but we are truly at peace. The following is a blurb from his site that mirrors a lot of thoughts that I've seen on this site. I especially like the last paragraph: "Well, we the people have a new president. It’s an exciting time for Americans, whether or not you agree with President Barack Obama’s plans. My hope is that our new president will instill some confidence in people, not necessarily set out to fix everybody and everything. There are some bogus government strategies floating around to stimulate the economy and "save us from ourselves." Just because they’re all everyone talks about doesn’t make them true! Here are a few of the big issues: Tax Breaks These aren’t bad, and I would never turn them down. But to think that tax breaks single-handedly stimulate the economy is laughable. Remember last fall? Those stimulus checks didn’t fix the problem, so what makes us think it’s going to fix everything this time? Did you know it was your money to start with? They’re just giving it back to you and making you feel good about it. If you’re looking for $1,000 to change your life this year, you obviously don’t have a life to start with! It may help you today or this month, but $1,000 will do very little for you in the long run. To win with money, you've got to think long term. Patriotic Duty The government wants you to spend, spend, spend—and many Americans are taking this advice while still in debt! No matter what the talking heads say, it is not your patriotic duty to spend money you don’t have. Your duty is to take care of yourself and your household with the money you earn from an honest day’s work. If you have your full emergency fund and are in a position to buy something, now is the perfect time! You can get some fabulous deals, but don’t let the deals entice you if you haven’t planned ahead and don’t have the cash! National Deficit The dog is still chasing its tail. Debt started the problem, so what is the current plan to fix the problem? More debt! What really drives the economy? Is it D.C.'s programs or small-business people scattered throughout the country? This down economic time will begin to heal itself. Do we have to go $1 trillion in debt to do that? No way! The good news is that our future as an economy isn’t coming out of Washington. Our future prosperity is coming out of the hopes, dreams and individual freedoms of the American people. When left alone, we have a tendency to prosper. The healing of the economy will begin and end with you. Yes, you, the person you see in the mirror! You have to make your decision as to whether or not you’re going to take part in the recession. As for our new president, if you’re not a fan, pray for him. He’s your president. If you are a fan, pray for him. He’s your president, not your savior. Your hope will be crushed if you wait for him and his administration—or anyone else—to fix your life and give you money."
My mom watches Dave Ramsey so when I visit her I watch him too. I like the way he basically tells people to stop feeling sorry for themselves, stop making excuses and do something about their situation. I think he's the one that tells people the material things are not what's important in life. That's an important thing to understand.
"As for our new president, if you’re not a fan, pray for him. He’s your president. If you are a fan, pray for him. He’s your president, not your savior. Your hope will be crushed if you wait for him and his administration—or anyone else—to fix your life and give you money." No truer words can be spoken of a man who is going to be often referred to as our savior. I totally disagree. I don't think one man in government, nor a litany of people in office will solve the issues the United States, as well as the World are suffering through. Thanks for sharing this. There also have been Dave Ramsey courses offered at our church in the past. Next time they are offered, I am seriously considering signing up. I think it will help both my wife and I budget, prepare for the future, and ultimately be wise with monetary blessings the Lord has put into our lives.
Do it At our church I think the course was around $100 or so, which we made up that month. Also, if at all possible, donate the 'tuition' for another couple/person at your church. You can help change both your lives.
What your talking about is basic sound financial advice. Why is that so surprising? Because going back to Reaganomics, we were told that credit is good, buy, buy, buy. We are bombarded with the buy now, pay later ideology. Look at the big box stores. "no payments for 2 yrs" except they don't inform you of what happens when the 2 yrs is up and you have to pay the catch up interest. I just heard yesterday, that the avg. credit card debt is $10k. That amount is the same as it was 2 yrs ago, which means no one is getting of debt. In fact, the use of credit cards are down, but so is the payments on them. My church also advocates getting out of debt, and staying out of debt. You do sleep easier when you don't have the 2 car payment, house payment and credit cards on top of that.
Agreed. When did the vast majority of Americans decide that they "deserved" everything? You deserve to have the opportunity to bust your ass to support yourself, your deserve safety and freedom, nothing more. Half of my friends (late 20's) live in houses twice the size of their parents. Most drive nicer cars. Boggles my mind. They're trying to accomplish what their folks did over their whole lives, in the first 5 yrs in the professional world. What ever happened to working to save up for something? It's like hunting, sure its nice when you just happen across a buck the 1st day you're on a property, but don't you get more satisfaction when you put in all the hard work of scouting, watching the wind, scent control, and finally one day you connect a buck that you've been pursuing for the whole season (or 2, or 3...). That's the same intensity that people need to use to take control of their finances! I'm glad we were able to get debt free. Now I don't really give a flying crap what my credit score is (but its about twice as high as when I met my wife). Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."
