This is your chance to make a new beginning. Take the chance and take this leap of faith with us and get started on changing your financial future. You might be reading this and saying, right now my kids are little so this won’t work for my family. Or you might be thinking, we don’t have enough money to start this.
When your kids are young is the perfect time to start this journey as you will be teaching your children through example financial skills that they will take with them into adulthood. If you don’t have enough money to do this…..that means more than anything this is something you NEED to do. Have faith, you are stronger than you know! The biggest hurdle you have to jump over to start this journey is yourself. 80% of your success begins with changing your behavior.
Don’t go it alone, join a local Financial Peace class which is offered at many churches across the country. Go to Dave Ramsey.com to find a class near you. Keep in mind; if you are married it is crucial that you and your spouse begin this journey together. Couples must have agreement on spending, saving, debt reduction and planning or your plan will fail before it even starts.
Learn how to beat debt and build wealth with Dave Ramsey’s Seven Baby Steps. This is the foundation of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.
Step 1: $1,000 in an emergency fund
Step 2: Pay off All debt except the house – debt snowball
Step 3: Three to Six expenses in Savings
Step 4: Invest 15% of income into Roth IRA and pre-tax retirement plans.
Step 7: Build wealth and give!
Where do I start??? Stop going into DEBT. If you don’t have cash for your purchase, don’t buy it. After our first class we took all of our credit cards out of our wallets and did not use them. We even cut some of them up….not all of them, that was too scary!!!
Dave Ramsey on Baby Step #1 –
Focus on Baby Step #1 – $1,000 in an emergency fund. This step is extremely important. By having $1,000 in the bank, you end your dependency on Credit Cards for unplanned events. We have saved $1,000 and spent it on an emergency more times than I can count! But the whole point is we had the money we needed and didn’t have to rely on credit.
Next week we will talk about how we started on a budget for the first time in our life! There is that word; you knew it would be coming……BUDGET! It is a good thing, really! Until next week find those financial statements, make a list of your debts and total them up. It is very important to write them all down so you can see the number. That is the prep for Baby Step 2.
If you have any questions or would like us to blog about how we handle any aspect of our FPU journey, just leave us a comment. We would be happy to share what we have learned along the way.
Blessings,
Paul & Jen
Other Articles in our FPU Series:
Our FPU Story: That was then…..This is now
Financial Peace University
FPU: Leap of Faith
Budgeting…Time to Make a Plan
FPU: Inside Our Weekly Budget Meeting
FPU: Sink Your Debt with a Sinking Fund
Groceries: Cut the Dance and Start to Wiggle!
Summer, Soccer and avoiding the Golden Arches
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