Last year we were going through some financial stress and decided we should attend Financial Peace University to learn how to take care of our problems for good. We’ve learned a lot, and met some wonderful people, and have a whole new outlook on personal (and business) finance.
When we were going through our rough times, I started listening daily to Dave Ramsey’s radio show. I’d heard him off and on over the past couple of years on XM, but his message really started to hit me. People were calling in with situations 1000% worse than ours, and he was giving them hope. This in turn gave me hope because if they can recover from where they are, there is no reason we can’t do it too. Up to that point I was slightly cynical, thinking “Wow, that is a dumb person to be in that situation. How could they let themselves get into that mess?” I had realized at that point that I was now one of those “dumb” people. Intelligent people make bad decisions too, and sometimes certain circumstances beyond their control can put them into situations they would never have planned to be in. That was a profound lesson I learned about myself that day.
I went to the library and borrowed his Financial Peace book, and started reading it. I read it in a couple of days and started telling Cristi what I had learned. I told her let’s start by taking our day to day expenses out of the bank and spit it among envelopes for the budget categories and stick to it. She reluctantly agreed, but later she admitted to me it was only in order to prove to me it was another one of my hare-brained projects that would not work and be abandoned after a few weeks. Fortunately it worked, and then she became more interested in the rest of Dave’s teachings.
I’d heard Dave mention his Financial Peace University course several times and decided to check into it. Since Cristi doesn’t learn well just from reading a book, I was hopeful it would help her learn what I just did, and to expand upon my understanding of the materials. I was disappointed to discover it was $200. “We’re already struggling to meet the budget now, there is no way to afford this.” Well I did some searching and found the eBay outlet store had it for $125. Just as I was trying to figure out how to afford it, I received a payment for some contract work I’d done, and even though it would have been useful in other budget areas, we discussed it and decided to go ahead and purchase it.
Once it was on the way I searched for the next class sessions starting in our area, and narrowed it down between a few different choices. In the end we chose a Wednesday evening class because the church sponsoring the class offered free childcare during the class sessions. We would have preferred a weekend class in order to keep the kids’ bedtime schedule consistent, but this took away any hassle in finding a sitter (and having a backup sitter in case of illness) and additional expense for gas driving back and forth.
The membership kit arrived just in time for the first class. I couldn’t wait to get started, so I resisted temptation to read ahead in the book and listen to the included audio tracks of the course. The Financial Peace book I had borrowed from the library was also included, so I was already a little ahead in that aspect.
The location we chose for class was Cathedral of the Rockies. They even have a dinner Wednesday evenings before everybody splits off into their various evening studies called “Wonderful Wednesday.” This includes singing, prayer, and kind of a mini-sermon. We had some very wonderful meals there and we’ve introduced several different foods to our routine (including couscous) because of these dinners. After dinner was finished, we’d march the kids downstairs to the daycare and get them situated, then head back to the sanctuary for class.
Every class session was very entertaining. Dave makes it fun to learn about personal finance, as he is very charismatic and throws in humor to keep the excitement level high. He sets the program out in small chunks called the Baby Steps, which takes a huge hairy goal and breaks it down into attainable short term goals. He not only explains how to do something, but more importantly why to do it. He mentions several times not to go do something just because he said so, but to fully understand it first. He highly emphasizes this point during the lessons that mention any kind of investing. The lessons are also highly motivating. After each session we wanted to go home and do it. After the saving lesson we wanted to put all of our money into savings, who cares about food! Obviously we didn’t do that, but we are making it a point to put some into savings every payday now. After the giving lesson we wanted to go out and give away all of our money, who cares about saving! Obviously that is not how he teaches it (and not what we did,) but he does encourage responsible giving and talks about how rewarding it is to your spirit to be a generous giver.
Each of the lessons we’ve learned are worth more than 10 fold the price of the course. If you take away one point out of the entire 13 week course you will have gotten your money’s worth and then some. Since we had started using the envelope system before we purchased the class membership we had already saved in late fees alone more than the cost of the classes, and now we’re on the right track to change the financial future for our family. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but now we’ve been armed with the proper tools so that the work we perform is in the right direction.
The most difficult part of the program so far has been criticism from family members. Its been tough saying no we can’t go out to eat another time this week. We received negative comments when we were asked how much we spent on the kids’ Christmas gifts, even though it was one of the best Christmases we’ve ever had. When we’ve tried to tell some of them the benefits of FPU, they’ve said its a rip-off MLM and its not worth it, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t make a penny by referring someone to FPU, in fact there isn’t even a referral program.
One of the benefits I’m most happy with is the fact that Cristi and I are now on the same page when it comes to finances. Before it was constant arguing and fighting. I would say she’s spending too much, she would say I’m being too tight and need to let her live a little. In the end we both gave up and stopped caring about it altogether. It was easier to play ostrich and ignore how bad it was getting than to fight trying to change it. Now we still have the occasional disagreement, but we’ve learned to work through it and compromise.
The bottom line is we did it, through the ups and downs, through the encouragement and discouragement from others, and the setbacks and victories. We did it. 13 weeks is not enough time to fix all of the mistakes we’ve made in the last few years, but we’ve learned what to do to stay ahead of the game while we pay for those mistakes. According to the plans we’ve laid out, we will be debt free within 2 years, something that would not have been possible without attending the class together.