Adam and I began Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University on August 29, 2010. Our class meets every Sunday at Crossroads Baptist Church in San Antonio. We are a class of about 20 people.
We couldn't help but notice on our first day that there is a good 10-15 years between Adam and I and the next youngest couple in our class. One of the first things we were told is that we should feel lucky that we are taking control of our finances now, and that we were not starting the process in our 40s. And while we do feel fortunate in the timing, we realized today that we are actually quite behind. Let me explain.
After our first class on August 29th, each person (or couple) was asked to go home and calculate their total amount of debt not including any mortgages. We turned in this number on an anonymous index card and the teacher was going to take them home and calculate the grand total. The point is to repeat this process at the end of the course and see how much collective debt was paid off.
Here are the numbers:
Total debt for all FPU members:
$666, 176.76
Our contribution to that total is:
$125,000!!!!
That's right folks, we make up almost a fifth of the entire class debt total! Whew! And that does not include our mortgage. So that means that even though we are by far the youngest, I would venture to guess we are carrying the highest debt load.
How we got into this situation is not a strange or probably an uncommon story. It is not one filled with brand new cars, luxury vacations or even really any excessive spending. Instead, it is the story of two young people with big dreams who were released into the world with very little financial training.
I suppose the silver lining is that even though we have the highest debt, we have the longest amount of time to pay it off and change our money behaviors. Indeed in just one month, we have made huge strides.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Beginning
Hello!
Adam and I are only one month into our journey towards financial peace and it has already been an incredible ride. Because we feel so strongly that financial security can be within everyone's reach, and that God is glorified when you handle your money wisely, we feel compelled to share our experiences.
Adam and I have agreed that we will be completely honest on this blog. That means we will share our real numbers and be honest about our shortcomings (and they are plentiful). We feel that it would be a disservice any other way.
We welcome any questions you might have but are probably not qualified at this point to offer any advice other than the following:
1) You must believe that God is in control
2) Prayer works
3) Dave Ramsey is the man!
Here we go!
Adam and I are only one month into our journey towards financial peace and it has already been an incredible ride. Because we feel so strongly that financial security can be within everyone's reach, and that God is glorified when you handle your money wisely, we feel compelled to share our experiences.
Adam and I have agreed that we will be completely honest on this blog. That means we will share our real numbers and be honest about our shortcomings (and they are plentiful). We feel that it would be a disservice any other way.
We welcome any questions you might have but are probably not qualified at this point to offer any advice other than the following:
1) You must believe that God is in control
2) Prayer works
3) Dave Ramsey is the man!
Here we go!
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