Looking back, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was a very successful FPU class.

I have to say: The students in our class were awesome.

Every week, we saw improvement. Every week, the victory stories increased in quantity and quality. Every week, a few more cards would go through the shredder. They blew us away. 13 weeks is a long commitment and out of the 37 families that started, 25 qualified for 'graduation' (missing no more than 2 classes). Of the other 12, I would only list 5 as "dropped out". That's ok - it's not always the right time for everybody.

But for the naysayers. For the goobers who are down on Dave. For the folks who think this stuff can't really work and have a better plan - I'll offer a few more stats.

• $1.1 Million. Our class started out with a whopping $1.1M in debt. One point one million dollars. That's a big number. Averaged out across the 26 families who had non-mortgage debt and could give numbers, that came to~$43,000 per family. Which is pretty well in line with what Dave quotes as 'average' in North America. Collectively, a staggering amount.
  
• -21%. At the end of our class, the families in attendance reported that they had collectively paid off $230,000 in debt - a reduction of 21%. During one of the worst economic climates in decades.
  
• $90,000. Our class also reported a positive affect on their savings accounts - to the collective tune of $90k. Money in the bank that they never thought possible.
  
• 179. The total number of credit cards shredded during our 13 weeks. We filled a 1/2 gallon mason jar with the remnants of the cards and presented it to our priest as a token of our appreciation for supporting this ministry. He was thrilled.
• 6. The number of families already signed up to take FPU with us next time without a formal announcement.
• 6. Also the number of families who prepared and signed their wills during the class.
  

Both averages - debt paid off and money saved per family - were above what Dave quotes as typical for families taking FPU. This during a recession and in the state of Michigan. These guys absolutely killed it and after listening to what they got out of the class, I know that they will continue to do so.

I would be a bit remiss if I didn't give some love to our co-coordinators and our nursery workers. None of this would have been as successful or gone as smooth without them. We were truly blessed by there presence and assistance - week after week.

If you missed them:

1. Super Savers
2. Relating with Money
3. Cash Flow Planning
4. Dumping Debt
5. Credit Sharks in Suits
6. Buyer Beware
7. Clause an Effect
8. That's Not Good Enough!
9. Of Mice and Mutual Funds
10. From Fruition to Tuition
11. Working in Your Strengths
12. Real Estate and Mortgages
    
13. The Great Misunderstanding
    

Whether you are struggling or succeeding, there is something here for you.

Why haven't you taken FPU?

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Well, this is it. Week 13 of 13. It's been an incredibly challenging 13 weeks for us, and we weren't even trying to get out of debt during that time!

Despite all the trials, all the difficulties for anyone leaning and applying this material, week 13 will really rock your world.

I was in the car with a couple of co-workers the other day - one listens to Dave's show occasionally, the other had never heard of him. The listener and I had got to talking and he was 'quizzing' me on the Baby steps - "Baby step 1 is....?" "$1,000 in the bank." "Baby step 2 is...?" "Debt snowball.....". And so on. My other co-worker was listening to all of this. "Baby step 7 is....?" "Build wealth and give a bunch of it away!"

My other co-worker finally piped up, "What!?!" I think it was the second part that got him.

The point of all this material is not to be greedy or hoard money. If you think the end game is just a bunch of numbers in a bank account then you've misunderstood.

You see, none of its ours. It's all His.


The first part of beginning to unravel this is to understand the ownership we have mistakenly applied to money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills - and He owns the hills too. As Christians, the Bible explains that we are not the owners - we are not the Lord of the realm. But rather the steward for the Lord - we are His managers. He has simply entrusted His money with us. And it doesn't take much Bible study to get that He has not entrusted it with us solely for our own gain.

Now that's just a small bit of this lesson. And I know that there are a lot of you who totally tuned out of the 'God stuff' and are still parsing this post for the personal finance part. Well this is it, baby. Until you have your spiritual life in order, you'll never truly understand financial peace.

This is a powerful, powerful lesson. So much so that a former priest asked us to edit it down to 20 minutes so that he could show it in place of a sermon. This is one not to miss.

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"....Keeping the American dream from becoming a nightmare".

Now, Dave is all about you paying off your debt. He can't wait for you to be investing. But if you really want to see him get fired up, then watch this lesson on real estate. He's been in this business nearly all of his life. As you might expect, he has a lot to say in this lesson and way more than I could review here - How to sell, How to buy, What to buy, What not to buy, financing....

What I will do is focus on Baby Step 6 and why this is an awesome thing to do.

Baby Step 6 is: Pay off your home early.

If you are on this step, then congratulations - you've come a long way. I never imagined that this step would be or could be challenged. I mean really, why would you want a house payment???


But alas, there's always a few "sophisticates" out there with some fuzzy math.

Bogus excuse 1. With a low interest rate on my mortgage, I can invest that money instead of paying down my house and get better returns. Well not really. A good rate on a mortgage today is ~5%. Let's say you went nuts and invested those extra principal payments in good mutual funds and got something crazy like 12% returns. With the cost of your money at 5%, taxes and inflation clipping you at another 4-6%, that gives you weak at best returns of 3%. I'd rather continue to invest into my retirement as in Baby Step 4, pay off the house early, and then invest without the 5% handicap.

Bogus excuse 2. Paying off your house early means losing a big tax deduction. That's not a bad thing. Deductions are for money spent. Child care, charitable giving, mortgage interest all qualify for deductions on your taxable income. If you made $70,000 last year and payed $10,000 in mortgage interest, then the deduction means that you now pay taxes on $60k rather than $70k because of that $10k that you sent to the bank. That income would put you in the 25% tax bracket (assuming Married, filing jointly in 2009). The difference in taxes for having a mortgage vs. not is the difference between $70k of taxable income vs. $60k. 25% of the $10k difference is $2500. Meaning that you think it's better to pay $10,000 to a bank to keep from pay $2500 to the government. And people say Dave Ramsey can't do math!

Imagine you've gone through the Baby Steps - emergency funds, paid off all debt, invested for retirement and college, and now paid off the house. Wow. Imagine not owing anything to anyone. Imagine what you could do once your monthly expenses were little more than food, utilities and .... whatever.

What would you do?

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Of the 13 weeks, this is the only one solely dedicated to your income. This is where we talk about careers, and the dreaded extra jobs. I thought that this would be a very interesting lesson, what with the state of the economy and the number of folks in the class facing a career crisis.


The part of this lesson that I liked best was about job hunting. And while I haven't really had the opportunity to use his method to a T, I have done some of these things pre-Dave, and can certainly vouch for their effectiveness.

I'll break these into 4 key points

1. Identify the target. Everyone should know by now how few job openings actually make it to a typical job posting. The Mrs. and I have had a total of 6 jobs in our professional careers - None of them were posted in the paper, on job hunting websites or otherwise. Stop waiting for a opportuinty to find you. Find careers and industries that interest you. Identify companies you would like to work for. Your new hobby / part-time job is to study them and prepare to bother them.
2. 3-2-1 Contact. Dave recommends approaching this like a new relationship with an individual. This makes a lot of sense as you are not contacting a company so much as you are interfacing with an individual at that company. Dave also suggests that you contact them 3 times in effort to gain their attention. First is an introduction letter, simply stating who you are, what your interest is with them, and to watch for your next correspondence. Second is your resume and cover letter, where you deliver the goods. When you send your credentials, they would ideally be tailored to that specific company and showing the information about you that is actually relevant to that company. Third is the most important - the follow up. That cover letter, btw, should state your specifically when you will be following up with them. The follow up is where most folks fall short and assume that they'll hear back. This is a great way to set yourself appart. That persistance will pay off.
3. Sell the product. Sell? Yes. And the product, btw, is you. Differentiate the product - show them why you are not just like the other 20 engineers they interviewed last month. Show them why you would be more of an asset to their company than all the other applicants. This is how companies sell products and this is how you should sell you. Be prompt, be confident, be respectiful. Read the Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne. Dave recommends this book all the time and it's fabulous. Again - follow up. Better yet, set up a follow-up appointment - in person, by phone, whaterver. Twitter it for all I care, just make the appointment and then actually do it. Between the interview and the follow-up, send them a note thanking them for taking the time out of their undoubtedly bust schedule to meet with you, and how glad you were to meet them and learn more about their company. Which reminds me - remember when you did all that research into the company and the person you would be meeitng with? That should result in some questions for the interviewer(s).
   
4. For the record. Keep notes, make a spreadsheet, set alerts, whatever. Find 10 companies to contact this way. Find 4. Find 20. The point is, you will likely contact them at different times, send them different materials, and follow up at different times. How will you keep it all straight? As I was approaching graduation, I (the free-spirit) had a large spreadsheet on my wall next to my desk detailing all the pertinanet info for all of the companies I had targeted. Who, what, when, where, why and how. That spreadsheet made the whole thing possibe.
   

I won't pretend - this stuff is not easy to do unless you are naturally out-going. But that also means that most folks won't be doing these things. In today's economy, you've got to attack a job hunt like it is you job. Be great at your job.

What techniques have you successfully used in job hunting?

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We're hitting the home stretch! Just three lessons to go after this. Arguably, these last 4 lessons are the heaviest. Not only due to the material, but also from the build-up of information of the previous 9 lessons.

Week 10 is the one that has a tendency to knock the wind out of folks. It's understandable - you're still in debt, just getting Baby Step 2 going, your budget is still frustrating you, and now you want to talk about investing!?! It's a daunting subject as-is.

Here was my advice to the folks freaking out after this lesson:


Absorb what you can now. Later when you approach Baby Step 4, you can listen to the lesson again, and spend more time on it.

It's a double-edged sword - It's tough to master all of this in 13 weeks, but it's great that Dave gets people thinking about this stuff even before it's time.

So let's go over the basics:

Baby Step 4 is: Invest 15% of you income in tax-favored plans

Tax-favored plans are ones that are qualified by the government, meaning there is a section in the tax code that outlines how these work. These are not accounts, but as Dave describes, these plans are the coats that keep the accounts 'warm'. These are arrangements that keep the IRS's greedy hands out of your money. For retirement, these include:

• Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) - Anyone with an earned income can use an IRA to save for retirement. There is a cap on the amount you can contribute, and there are thousands of funds to choose from on the open market. A traditional IRA is a pre-tax investment, meaning that the money is pulled from you paycheck before taxes are taken out. To that end, taxes will be charged at retirement when you take distribution of funds. A Roth IRA works a little different in that it uses after-tax dollars. Since you are taxed on the money now, your money grows in that account tax-free!
  
• Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEPP) - This is one that you don't hear about very often. It is designed for people who are self-employed and allows them to invest a portion of their net profits. It too is capped, but the cap is much higher with a SEPP (2007 caps were $8k for IRAs vs $45k for SEPPs)
  
• 401(k), 403(b), 457 - These are employer-sponsored plans, meaning they are offered where you work. They usually include some type of match and/or contribution by the employer. Most employers will match your pre-tax contributions dollar-for-dollar up to 3%, though that amount can vary. The names of these plans simply denote the portion of the tax code that enables them - Section 403, sub-section (b).

You are not limited to any one, or one type of retirement accounts. I, for example, have a Roth IRA, a SEPP, and a 401(k). The SEPP was from a job where it was just the owner and myself. He was using a SEPP for himself and the easiest way he could offer retirement savings was to contribute to my SEPP. During that time, we also set up a Roth IRA as we were able to save more at that time. The 401(k) is from my current job.

Dave recommends.... taking part in your employer's plan up to the match, then contribute to a Roth IRA up to the cap. If you still have not hit the 15% mark, then go back and contribute more to your employer's plan.

One final note: when you leave a job, you need to roll the money from your retirement account to a new one. The rollover needs to be between like-accounts - pre-tax to pre-tax, after-tax to after-tax. You financial adviser can help you with this to make sure it happens right.

Baby Step 5 is: Save for your children's college using tax-favored plans
read more tags

Again, there are plans set forth by the government that allow tax-advantaged investment, this time for college savings.

• Education Savings Account (ESA) - These are also know as 'Education IRAs' as they act like a traditional IRA, but the money is for college expenses only.
• 529 plans - These are sponsored by individual states and are usually open to anyone, no matter where you live. For example, living in Texas, you can take part in the Pennsylvania 529 (assuming it suits you). What is difficult about these, is that they are all different. Some are excellent plans that allow you to control what you are invested in. Others automatically switch investments based on the child's age.
  

Also be careful as some of these 529 plans are in dire straits right now. Some of these plans have been so poorly managed or were poor investments to begin with that they are insolvent. Alabama's 529 program is $460 million short, and is currently closed to new investors.

Dave recommends.... to first use an ESA. They are the simplest and have fewer pifalls than 529s. Beyond that, you can look at 529s, but beware of those that are inflexable on the investmetns or use a 'pre-paid' tuition plan.

Does all of this make your head spin? Are you invested to the hilt? Where are you in investing?

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1. The Week 9,Of Mice and Mutual Funds, lesson is really the ABCs of investing. You need to have a basic working knowledge of how these things work to know what to do, as much as what not to do.
   
2. Maybe you already have some investments and think that you are ahead of the game. You may be, but are you diversified? Have you invested in some bad investments? Did you understand what you bought?
3. "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest" -Ben Franklin

Investing is something we rarely dive into on Not the Jet Set. So I'll take this opportunity to cover off on a few of the trends I'm seeing today.

• Single Stocks / Day Trading - There seems to be no shortage, no matter where I work, of co-workers playing the stock market. Did you see XYZ today? Yeah, I bought in at $34. Didn't think it would hit $23. ABC was up, though.... It goes on and on and on. This really amounts to little more than gambling. Just for fun, I once used the online stock trackers on MSN to 'buy' stocks. With $10,000 fake dollars, I invested in companies that (I thought) I knew a lot about. I got into it, and 'bought' and 'sold' as I thought I would if I were really day trading. It was a huge bust. Now don't get me wrong. There are guys who are very very good at trading. they know when to buy, when to sell, and when to hold. They're called Mutual Fund Managers. It's their job to know when GM is about to crumble and when AMD is about to double. Things that you and I don't know until CNN is covering the story.
• Gold - This was funny at first, but now it just won't go away. There is no shortage of ads for buying / selling / trading gold. Gold, gold, gold. So what is your first clue to stay away from it? Heavy advertising (kinda like something else we've seen before...)? Yeah, that's a sign. First, these jokers who want to pay you 'top dollar' for your gold jewelry? The ones with MC Hammer and on the commercials? Scam. Scam, scam, scam. When you think of these guys, don't think about Hammer, think of your local scrap yard opperator. That is basically what they are doing. Buying your gold at scrap price (likely less), melting it down to sell wholesale, so it can be made into jewelry for retail. It's not magic. As for the bozos pushing it as an investment? You can look at the historically low rate of return (barely keeping up with inflation). You can look at the fact that it has no intrisic value. But the best reason not to buy gold as an investment right now - it's at an all time high. It's an order of magnatude higher than it was 40 years ago. Why would you buy it now?
• ForEx Trading - Yeah, you didn't know what it was either. Reason enough to stay away. But knowledge being power and all that.... ForEx is Foreign Exchange, or Currency Trading. It's meant to facilitate trade and investment - not be an investment. Yet speculators make up the vast majority of the market. Just remember, economic speculators exist to make weather speculators look good.

So what do we do? What exciting investment method are we getting rich on? We're not the jet set. We follow Dave's principle on page one of this lesson - Keep It Simple, Stupid. We only buy what we understand, and build wealth slowly. I'll also tell you what we haven't done - bailed out of the stock market. We invest for the long term in mutual funds with long track records. 5 years down the road, this downturn will be a distant memory. In 10 years, a blip on the radar. Stocks are on sale these days - some deeply discounted. We buy when they're low, not sell. And that's what we'll continue to do.

How are you invested? What have you done lately?

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We've passed the half-way point in the class and better than 3/4 are set to graduate. All in all, we've had very good attendance. Looking forward, we're planning a class in the fall. We have to look at the calendar, but the goal is to get a class in before the holiday season, then start again in 2010 with a 'New Year's Resolution" class.

The wild card is the teen class, Generation Change. As the folks in our class see more and more progress, we get more and more questions about facilitation the teen class in our church. We may have a plan to get it going, but still have to work out some details before announcing anything.

The week 8 class is all about Buying. Big. Bargains. So much talk about personal finance these days talks about spending less, buy less, save more, stop shopping..... which is fine. All valid discussions. But Dave Ramsey knows that sooner or later, you'll be buying something - furniture, electronics, appliances, clothing, food, lawn and garden products - and you need to know how to get a deal on that purchase. Be it large or small.

In the lesson, Dave gives three keys to getting a big bargain. Now he also gives lots of other information on this subject for which I recommend you find a class near you. But for now, here are the three keys.

1. Learn to negotiate everything - In other cultures, negotiating is assumed. Here, it is nearly taboo. Stop assuming that you are going to pay retail for everything and start looking for deals - They're out there. Sometimes you just have to ask.
2. You must have patience - If this were easy, then everyone would do it. Sometimes finding a place willing to work on the price or the negotiation itself will take time. That's ok. Take your time - take the salesman's time. One of you is going to fold.
3. You must know where to find deals - Dave gives the example of hunting for crawdads in a creek. Given a little experience, you'll know which rocks are setting just right to have one underneath, and which ones won't.
   

Now a quick example of this in action. The Mrs. has been overhauling her garden which has meant lots of projects for me. We've leveled and measured the garden. Added raised beds and walking paths in between. Lots of info for another post. Those beds, btw, don't fill themselves. And though I've been waiting for that dead tree out front to burst into mulch, it hasn't happened yet. So we needed truckloads of soil, aged manure, and compost. Not to mention the truckloads of mulch for the paths in between. Did I mention that our garden is over 3000 square feet?

The Mrs. started with Craigslist and Freecycle, eventually finding someone looking to move large amounts of aged horse manure, as well as someone willing to load it. Several calls and a few days later, she did. 20 bucks and a day of shoveling and we were well on our way.

The Mrs. had also heard that home improvement stores discount torn bags in the garden center. Could this be true? With the two big dogs in town and another not far away, we were going to find out.

• Home Depot - After being somewhat mislead by one associate, another who clearly knew what she was talking about, informed us that they "used to do that, but quit." Now they won't discount them unless there are no 'good' bags left. They had enough 'good' bags to last all summer. We took our cash and promptly left.
• Lowes - Lowes absolutely does this. Not only will they discount the damaged bags that you collect from the garden center, but the also have palates of them outside the garden center. All 50% off! We've hit it twice with plans to return.
• Menards - We have a guy at Menards that we typically work with. He was overjoyed when we asked about discounted bags. The 'bargain bin' is the bain of his existance his responsibility, and willing to slash prices to get it to move. We bought a pickup truck load - well below half-price.

So what did we really do here? We wanted/needed a deal, so we ASKED. We had the patience to hunt for the deals and wait while clerks confirmed store policies with their managers. Now, with a bit of experience, we know where to go and who to talk to.

This may seem small, but we've saved hundreds already. We're dying to know: What was the last big bargain you negotiated?

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So we had one guess - you guys are no fun. Ya ya's Mom guessed 50 shredded credit cards in the jar.

At the time of this picture, our half-gallon mason jar held 150 shredded credit cards.

One hundred fifty!

As crazy as that number is, it now holds 170. All shredded during the first 9 weeks of our FPU course. There are 37 families enrolled in the course plus 3 couples coordinating the course. Some of them had no debt or credit cards coming into the class. Others did and have since made the choice to change their behavior - permanently.

Other blogs may spout about getting the best rewards cards, or justify their home-equity loan, or why they just had to buy a new car. We're not here to participate in stupidity. We're here to get you to think a little differently than everyone else when it comes to your money. We're not the jet set.

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Halfway there! Probably my biggest fear about teaching FPU in this economy was the possibility of having families struggle to make measurable progress. Not because this stuff doesn't work - it absolutely does. More because of pay cuts and layoffs clobbering people's incomes. I'm please to say that without fail, every single week we have had multiple 'victory stories'. We don't ask for much, but tell us where you are winning. Boy have they produced:

• We have families knocking out debts.
  
• We have families that have paid off cars.
• We have families that are out of debt and working on their emergency fund
• And this week, we had 4 families sign and notarize their wills (including us!)

People are seeing and feeling the progress and that makes all the effort in coordinating this course absolutely worth it.

And then there's this week's lesson!


Clause and Effect is a snappy title on a snoozer of a subject - insurance. Yeah, you're super excited to read the rest of this post, BUT people were surprisingly engaged and interested in this lesson. The video is, of course, not a snoozer - Dave, as usual, takes a bland topic and teaches it with great enthusiasm. And once you realize how important this information is, you'll be awake and alert.

Insurance is like credit - in the sense that everyone will tell you that you need it, but almost none of them really knows anything about it. When we first bought life insurance (pre-FPU), we screwed it up. Well, half of it. We bought term-life for me, and for whatever reason, bought whole-life for the Mrs. After taking FPU, we found out what a terrible (and expensive) product we'd bought. It wasn't long before we bought new policies (that were MUCH less expensive) and the old ones were gone. That was a mistake we'd never make again.

The big thing you need to understand about insurance is that it is a 'transfer of risk'. The insurance company is taking on the risk of you getting injured in the form of paying your bills, or the risk of your home burning down in the form of guaranteeing it's replacement.

That said, there comes a time when you no longer need certain types or levels of coverage. Once you have a 3-6 month emergency fund, you can raise your car insurance deductible (and lower your premiums dramatically) and self-insure yourself through the smaller stuff. If you do this stuff now and are sitting pretty in 30 years when your term life insurance expires, then you don't have to renew. You can self-insure from then on - it will likely be a whole lot more expensive then anyways.

You can do those things because you have MONEY. When you have no debt, when you're saving for retirement, and the kids college funds are funded... when you pay off your house early, you don't need Visa or the insurance company to catch your slack.

What about insurance confuses you? Scares you? Do you have coverage that you don't need?

Need a will?

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I have to admit, I was pretty nervous going into this week's class. We had chosen not to preview this week's video lesson. But that really didn't have me nervous. We had a couple weeks off between classes. But that really didn't have me nervous (ok, maybe a little).

Really, it was the previous two classes that had me nervous. I'll explain why inside.


Weeks 3 and 4 were Cash Flow Planning and Dumping Debt, respectively. These two are by far, the most difficult lessons. Also two of the most important. Weeks 1 and 2 are really just warm-ups for the real work of the budget and debt snowball. For many, this is the first time they are faced with the reality of their financial situations. The good, the bad and the ugly are all laid out in front of them, and if you didn't get week two, then God help you in weeks 3 and 4.

The unfortunate outcome in our past classes was drop outs. Even when we felt overextended by the size of a class, we knew, based on reports from other class coordinators, to expect a certain drop out rate. In practice, we saw this hold true.

This time, I am pleased to report that if we do have drop outs then they are quite minimal. Maybe it's the economy, and people are feeling more of a need to stick with this. It may also be that Dave re-ordered the lessons with the newest version of the class. Relating with Money used to be after Cash Flow Planning, and I think the new way makes far more sense.

As for this week's lesson, we were fortunate to have many families who had not been behind on their bills and had not dealt with collectors. At the same time, it makes it difficult for them to relate to the situation, or to see the value of the lesson. "Because that won't happen to me". Well, I hope not, but then again, it may just be that a friend or family member is in that position and needs some guidance. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to help them separate the signal from noise and come out the other side of that situation?

Alternately, you don't know what may come. While in college, I had a couple of bills get cross-ways and end up in the hands of collectors. Even though I settled those accounts and had them paid-in-full, years later I was contacted by some scum-bag collector trying to get me to pay on it again. With the information I learned in this lesson, I knew my rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I knew that if challenged, they had to provide proof of the debt. I knew how to handle it and what to expect. I also now know the value of hanging on to those statements showing the balance was in-fact paid.

How have you dealt with collectors in the past?

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Days after this week's class, I can still feel the momentum - and we dumped our debt years ago. If this doesn't get you psyched up about getting out of debt and getting control of your finances then nothing will.

Best. Class. Evar.

This Financial Peace University class is epic - the video is 30 minutes longer than the others, and we tend to play this one up a bit too.


So the video is 90 minutes long in itself. Knowing that with free-spirits, you have about 17 minutes before the eyes glaze over, we have to do something to keep everyone awake, alert, and attentive. We started class 30 minutes early and had folks sign up for a pot-luck meal. We had an incredible spread of food and no one went away hungry. Later, people were telling us what a great idea that was.

Then the video. Wow. When we last taught the class, it was before they had refreshed the class materials - same great information, but the presentation is up a notch and more current. There's been times that I wondered which lessons were better - old or new. No question here. At times, people were laughing so hard, they might have been 'lizzing'. At other times, the myth-busting was totally hitting home and you could have heard a pin drop.

Then came the gazelle story. Dave was so good, that I'm still pumped about it - and we've been debt-free for almost 3 years! This is truly the line in the sand between Dave Ramsey and all the know-it-all math nerds with an opinion. Dave gets it. He's grasped the emotional and psychological part of personal finance so well that you can't not succeed if you do this stuff. Get mad. Get intense. Get it in gear! I don't care about your social life. I don't care about what you think is a priority. This is a priority, and until you rank it first, you will struggle and you will not see the same success as those who do.

Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

-Proverbs 6:4-5

I saved the best part for last - just as we did in the class. Finally, it was shredder time! We had sent the notice out beforehand: Bring your credit cards if you are ready to shred them. They did not disappoint! All in all, we shredded over 90 credit cards. Ninety! We were floored. Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Lowes, Target, JC Penny's, Cabela's, Craftsman, Chase, Citi and Bank of America. None were spared. We're told that there's more on the way too!

I told you I was still stoked.

Sick of being in debt? Tired of being the credit card company's slave? Find a class near you.

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This week's class is the real deal. The first two weeks, while important, kept things fairly light. Those not fully engaged in this plan got pulled in with the stories and the humor. And there's nothing wrong with that. But now it gets serious, folks.

The rubber officially met the road.

This is the budget lesson. Where nerd and free-spirit come together and make a plan for their money. It was 4 years and 6 months ago that we started living on a budget. And probably 4 years and 3 months ago that I saw the value of it.


I, like any good free-spirit, made fun of my wife when I found out that she was listening to AM radio. Turns out she wasn't rockin' out to ABBA on her way home from work. Slowly she tried to engage me - she talked about what she was doing, showed me what she was doing. I tried to be supportive, but was still really on the outside looking in.

At the same time, I was fed up with my job. My boss had gone nuts. Work was drying up. We had moved offices and went from a 10 minute city commute to a 45 minute gridlock commute. it was bad, but I started to lean on what I'd previously dismissed - the budget. But yet, we just couldn't work an angle to survive on just her income. She kept talking about having to sell my car. Years later I would realize how funny that is (Dave often refers to his radio show as the 'Sell the car' Show).

Keep in mind, the Mrs. was new to all of this too, and as Dave warns, your budget probably won't work for the first three months. It doesn't help when one partner is kinda sorta on board, yet not really participating. Fortunately, after three months of practice, we made that budget work on just her income. That was the same day I was laid off.

And we didn't have to sell my car!

It may have taken a slap to the face, but ever since then I've been a believer in the budget.

Who does the budget in your house? How well does your system work?

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This is one of our favorite classes in FPU. "Worth the price of admission". Last year we wrote about my time as a reluctant spouse. It's one of my favorite posts as we each wrote about it from our own perspective. You can clearly see - we were not on the same page. A big focus of Financial Peace University and specifically this week's class is bringing husband and wife together to talk about money in a constructive way.

The first time we lead an FPU class, we were also taking it ourselves. We really didn't know what we were getting into, or what to expect. One couple showed up for the first class, and clearly they had been fighting on the way over - probably about money. The scowls on their faces said it all.


They sat next to each other, reluctantly. No touching, no talking. By this lesson, they were laughing, elbowing each other, and holding hands. Where they were previously guarded and quiet in the small group discussions, they were suddenly talkative and open. They were so excited - collectively - that they were reading ahead, and knew the jokes before they were coming.

It was amazing to watch. Especially come the final class when they admitted that without this class, they would likely be divorced. It was a truly humbling moment, to know that this class had that big of an impact on a marriage. They were talking, budgeting and had a shared set of goals. A couple that had previously filed bankruptcy and were still struggling, now had a path to success.

This updated version of FPU has this lesson in week two, which makes a lot of sense to have this lesson before the budgeting lesson - aka, The Big Fight! Just kidding. If you get this lesson, you'll have much less to worry about come cash flow planning time.

Has money been an issue in your marriage?

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We've been quite nervous about this. Starting FPU, that is. We used to facilitate FPU before moving here, and after two years of discernment / dragging our feet, we felt the calling again. We soon found that not only was our Priest excited about it (a fan of Dave's radio show), but the Deacon as well (he and his wife had just taken it at another church). Just to add to the pressure, we had 37 families sign up for class. 3 times the size of any class we'd previously taught!

Anxiety was high, but as far as we could tell, week 1 was a smashing success. The class went well - people were entertained and the material was well received. All things you would expect. There was a part that we didn't expect though - the part that we got out of it.


First, for those not familiar. Financial Peace University (FPU) is a 13-week course taught via video by Dave Ramsey. Class coordinators like ourselves organize the classes, facilitate the meetings and lead the discussions. We don't get paid to do this, but rather do it as a ministry.

Week 1 is called Super Savers - the point of which is.... saving money! Week 1 is a bit basic, but you have to start somewhere. You can't lead this type of thing off by trying to balance everyone's budgets while running their credit cards through the shredder. They'd never show up for week 2. Week 1 teaches that saving must become a priority. You'll never do it if you keep putting it off.

"In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil,
but a foolish man devours all he has."
-Proverbs 21:20

Turns out, God's a pretty smart guy.

One of the big take-aways in this lesson is that there are three reasons to save:

1. Emergencies
2. Purchases
3. Wealth building

In a class like this, you'll always have folks all over the spectrum - some who have been diligent about saving, others have never saved a dime. For us, we've been through the class and at this point are pretty well living the plan. Debt is long gone. We have our fully-funded emergency fund. We save for big purchases that we are planning. We have money in retirement accounts and have started saving for college. It's the purchases that have been big on our minds lately.

See, we've been saving for a new roof, basically since we moved in (sellers agent misrepresented the property, was a big mess). Lately, we've been wondering if we should replace the boiler (forced hot water heating) instead. It's 45 years old, on it's last leg, and we seem to be dropping about $300 per year on it to keep it going. Not the most efficient thing either. We even mentioned it to the class that we were trying to make this decision and were hoping for a sign.

Turns out, God's a pretty smart guy.

Besides the one leak in the roof that we knew about and have patched, a current rainstorm revealed two (2) other leaks. Ug. We knew right then that we could not put off the roof any longer. But, we've been saving, and should have more than enough for the materials and the DIY crew to put it up. Dilema solved, right? But what about the old bloiler?

Well, we had some folks come out to quote the replacement of the boiler. We had two quotes, but fellow parishioner recommend someone else, so we gave them a shot. Well the salesman came out to inspect, the Mrs. was quite surprised to see that he was one of the folks from our class! We don't have the quote back, but we are hoping to swing some kind of 'Dave Ramsey' discount. We'll see.

If the price is right, we may be able to do both - without taking more than a couple hundred out of the emergency fund. Saving money is a basic concept. But so many people don't do it. Relentlessly saving all that money hasn't been tons of fun, but when big expenses come up and you can cover the bills - in cash - that's pretty cool.

What was the last major purchase that you saved up for and paid for in full? Have you ever done that?

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Have you taken FPU? Ever thought of facilitating a class in your area? It's not as hard as you might think. The first class that we taught... we were taking ourselves! It's really not tough to lead a class, and really requires no special knowledge. Though if all else fails, ask yourself, "What would Dave do?"

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