Financial Peace Graduate

Back in September, Corinne and I signed up for Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” class. There were a handful of local churches that were hosting the DVD led class, so we chose the one that was held on Thursday nights to accommodate our schedules. After completing the course, I would 100% recommend that every person/couple go through the class as well. The principles that Ramsey teaches are not groundbreaking by any means. But they are principles that sometimes you need to be pushed to implement. I’ve always considered myself to be pretty good with my money, but this class has helped me become even more organized with my finances. The class is 13 weeks long and goes through the basics of many different subjects like saving, paying off debt, insurance, retirement, budgeting, college tuition, mortgages, etc. I’m 30 years old and until we started this class, I have never lived on a budget. Again, I considered myself pretty good with my money but creating and sticking to a budget has been very freeing. I now know where my money goes every month and can be proactive in setting money aside for upcoming expenses or special purchases I want to make, etc.

Aside from having a monthly budget from this point on, I think the biggest thing I took from this class is the need for people to get their finances under control. Most people in the United States should look in the mirror and consider our culture when looking for where the blame for the financial crisis in our country should be placed. At the heart of many of our problems is peoples inability to manage their finances. We spend too much money on things we don’t need. We don’t save enough money. And worse, we borrow too much money. Our culture in America is so consumer driven that we’re led to believe that we need stuff and that we are entitled to live a lifestyle that few can actually afford to live. We drive cars and live in houses we cannot afford because we think we deserve to do so. We put big purchases on credit cards and spend most of our lives only paying off interest.

The message that was re-iterated through this class was “stop borrowing money.” A mortgage is an exception (though Ramsey says that you should put down at least a 20% down payment and limit your loan to 15 year mortgage) but all credit cards should be cut up. The idea is- if you don’t have the money to purchase something… you don’t purchase it. What a concept! Unfortunately too many people spend so much of their incomes on paying interest on their cars, their mortgages, their credit cards, etc. It’s just a waste. We throw our money away and have little to show for it. And more and more people are having to put off retiring simply because they cannot afford to do so- mainly because they went through life without a plan. I know emergencies come up and that major events sometimes take place and can set an individual or a family back. But if we are honest with ourselves probably 90% of those events wouldn’t break us if we were living on a budget and had money set aside for such times.

The scary thing about the future of the average family’s financial picture is not much is being done to educate high school/college/young adults about how to manage their finances. Instead, they are the ones that are bombarded with credit card offers, commercials, ad campaigns, etc. They must be taught early on how to save and manage their finances, especially since the important ages for saving for retirement are the early 20’s.

So my point is- take the class. It was only $93 for both Corinne and I to take it. We learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and it opened up dialogue between us with our plans and ideas with our finances. You can follow this link http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/ to find out more about the class and also find where the nearest class is going to be starting around you.

If you’re someone who has gone through the class, what did you think?