This story is from a friend of mine:
You work hard. You want to be smart with what you earn but aren’t sure where to start. Budgeting is hard. You’ve looked into online programs and you’ve spoken to your friends and parents about what they’re doing with their money.
Then you talked to that couple down the street that are just raving about Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. You know, that Christian-based class they took at their church. You think, “Oh, but I’m not really that religious and I definitely don’t attend church regularly. That certainly can’t be for me.” Sound familiar?
I sounded just like you so I did a little research. Now, the following isn’t an endorsement for Dave Ramsey’s program, but an experience I think is worth sharing all the same if you’re looking for a great place to start with getting your family finances in order.
Just so you get an overall picture, Financial Peace University (FPU) is a 9-week course taught by Dave Ramsey, a Christian money guru. But don’t let that scare you. The lessons are relatable for anyone of any religious stature or involvement – or lack thereof. They offer the class online or in many local churches.
I would highly recommend the local church class because you have the benefit of meeting and speaking with others in your local area that are likely in the same spot you are: they have debt just like you and they’re looking for a good program to help dig out of it. This also creates a sense of accountability for actually completing the program.
Now, once I got psyched up enough to sign myself and my husband up and actually go to the class at our local church, I was pleasantly surprised. By the end of the 9-week course I knew I couldn’t do everything the program prescribed, but I left with three big takeaways that have changed my money management for the better permanently.
Takeaway #1 – Pay yourself first.
This is a big one with FPU. The biggest piece I took away from this is how they recommend that you actually make payments to yourself until they add up to the value of the item you want to buy – then you purchase it.
This does several things. First, it allows you to think big purchases over while you save up the money. FPU says many times you find by the time you build up the cash, you don’t actually need what you were saving to buy.
Second, this method allows you to avoid taking out loans that often come with high interest rates that can cause you to pay up to twice the value of the item you set out to buy.
They gave an example of buying a car…
Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!
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- Plan to gain financial solvency
- Mr Erik Wecks
- Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Last update on 2020-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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