Upon graduation from college, I carried around a little extra weight, both in my midsection and my credit card balance. Like most of my peers, I spent money freely on things I did not need to survive. The problem was that I barely made enough to survive. I did not think anyone whom I knew had a plan to get out of credit card debt. I certainly did not. After all, debt is how adults achieve an acceptable lifestyle, right?
One particularly lean month shortly after entering active duty, I racked up nearly $1,000 of taxation on my stupidity in the form of an insurance deductible and new refrigerator. I could barely make the minimum payments on my card and now my bill was even higher. I wished that I did not know how to calculate the amortization, or loan repayment schedule, on my debt because doing so told me that I basically needed to eat an elephant.
As it turns out, eating an elephant is not so hard; you just have to do it a bite at a time. I wish I could say I learned that lesson when I was a young lieutenant. Instead, I have been anywhere from $0 to $260,000 in debt since college graduation. No matter what I did, I could not out-earn my own stupidity and lack of financial discipline. If it was electronic, I had to have it. Everyone else seemed to get the toys that they wanted, why should I be any different?
Today my family is debt-free. We do not owe a dime to anyone and intend to keep it that way. In addition to getting out of debt, we manage to put 15 percent of our income into retirement accounts first-thing every month. We save monthly for our children’s college. On top of it all, we’re saving to buy a home with cash upon retirement from the military. So what changed?
Dave Ramsey convinced me that the pain of the same was worse than the pain of change. If you have not heard of him, Ramsey is an author, radio and television talk show host, and anti-debt financial counselor. His Financial Peace University program and 7 Baby Steps model are truly life-changing experiences.
Financial Peace University is a 13-week program locally sponsored by the Fort Leavenworth Chapel. It is the basic financial education that most of us should have received in high school. Each week, attendees watch a DVD of Ramsey teaching lessons ranging from budgeting and debt elimination to home-buying, insurance and investing followed by group discussion. If you are in debt and do not know what to do, it is a great place to find out. If you are not in debt, but you are not sure if you are on the right track financially, FPU can help you, too.
Debt consolidation, debt payoff, debt management, credit repair — these advertisements are everywhere. These are microwave schemes. FPU is a slow-cooked solution. It changed my family’s life, but it did not happen overnight. Unlike the get-rich-quick or get-out-of-debt-quick schemes, FPU taught my family what to do, but we had to sacrifice and do it ourselves. FPU helped us eat the elephant, one bite at a time.
Financial Peace University is aptly named. For most people, especially military members, employment income is truly the best wealth-building tool we will ever have. However, it is impossible to build wealth when income goes to debt repayment. In effect, every cent of interest paid on items we could not wait for, is money we will never get to call wealth. Writing checks out of future wealth to pay interest brings sleepless night instead of peace of mind. Graduates of FPU have lifetime money skills that change their family tree for the better.
If you are tired of living month-to-month, wondering why or how you are supposed to get ahead with money, then try FPU.
The 13-week series begins 6-8 p.m. Aug. 17 at Pioneer Chapel (formerly Main Post Chapel) fellowship hall. For more information or to register, call (913) 364-4760 or e-mail brian.p.oneill@us.army.mil. More information about FPU is available at www.daveramsey .com/military/home.
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Upon graduation from college, I carried around a little extra weight, both in my midsection and my credit card balance. Like most of my peers, I spent money freely on things I did not need to survive. The problem was that I barely made enough to survive. I did not think anyone whom I knew had a plan to get out of credit card debt. I certainly did not. After all, debt is how adults achieve an acceptable lifestyle, right?
One particularly lean month shortly after entering active duty, I racked up nearly $1,000 of taxation on my stupidity in the form of an insurance deductible and new refrigerator. I could barely make the minimum payments on my card and now my bill was even higher. I wished that I did not know how to calculate the amortization, or loan repayment schedule, on my debt because doing so told me that I basically needed to eat an elephant.
As it turns out, eating an elephant is not so hard; you just have to do it a bite at a time. I wish I could say I learned that lesson when I was a young lieutenant. Instead, I have been anywhere from $0 to $260,000 in debt since college graduation. No matter what I did, I could not out-earn my own stupidity and lack of financial discipline. If it was electronic, I had to have it. Everyone else seemed to get the toys that they wanted, why should I be any different?
Today my family is debt-free. We do not owe a dime to anyone and intend to keep it that way. In addition to getting out of debt, we manage to put 15 percent of our income into retirement accounts first-thing every month. We save monthly for our children’s college. On top of it all, we’re saving to buy a home with cash upon retirement from the military. So what changed?
Dave Ramsey convinced me that the pain of the same was worse than the pain of change. If you have not heard of him, Ramsey is an author, radio and television talk show host, and anti-debt financial counselor. His Financial Peace University program and 7 Baby Steps model are truly life-changing experiences.
Financial Peace University is a 13-week program locally sponsored by the Fort Leavenworth Chapel. It is the basic financial education that most of us should have received in high school. Each week, attendees watch a DVD of Ramsey teaching lessons ranging from budgeting and debt elimination to home-buying, insurance and investing followed by group discussion. If you are in debt and do not know what to do, it is a great place to find out. If you are not in debt, but you are not sure if you are on the right track financially, FPU can help you, too.
Debt consolidation, debt payoff, debt management, credit repair — these advertisements are everywhere. These are microwave schemes. FPU is a slow-cooked solution. It changed my family’s life, but it did not happen overnight. Unlike the get-rich-quick or get-out-of-debt-quick schemes, FPU taught my family what to do, but we had to sacrifice and do it ourselves. FPU helped us eat the elephant, one bite at a time.
Financial Peace University is aptly named. For most people, especially military members, employment income is truly the best wealth-building tool we will ever have. However, it is impossible to build wealth when income goes to debt repayment. In effect, every cent of interest paid on items we could not wait for, is money we will never get to call wealth. Writing checks out of future wealth to pay interest brings sleepless night instead of peace of mind. Graduates of FPU have lifetime money skills that change their family tree for the better.
If you are tired of living month-to-month, wondering why or how you are supposed to get ahead with money, then try FPU.
The 13-week series begins 6-8 p.m. Aug. 17 at Pioneer Chapel (formerly Main Post Chapel) fellowship hall. For more information or to register, call (913) 364-4760 or e-mail brian.p.oneill@us.army.mil. More information about FPU is available at www.daveramsey .com/military/home.
