Last week in relief society, a man that works for a local bank came and presented a lesson on Provident Living, specifically "living within our means." He mentioned 13 steps to financial peace and gave reference to this guy, Dave Ramsey, and his common sense program to modifying behavior when it comes to saving, spending, and investing money. Griffie and I are thinking about signing up for the classes. If anyone else might be interested please let me know. Mr. X mentioned that the bank periodically hosts this 13 week program and if they can get enough people to sign up, they'll do it again. It costs money up front to buy the materials, but Mr. X also said that it has LITERALLY saved him thousands of dollars in return. There were also several other people in my relief society class that mentioned they had or were currently taking the courses. They had immediately seen a turn around in their finances.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of living paycheck to paycheck and I am NOT going to depend on the government to pay my retirement. I have seen how well they take care of you! The following is a link to excerpts from the "Financial Peace University" program if you'd like to see a preview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLX3wUY1xGg&feature=related
6 comments:
sounds interesting--hope you keep blogging a little bit. Otherwise I might have to get myself a facebook.
Kerstina, I love Dave Ramsey! Our ward was offering the course a year ago. I so wish I would have taken the class, but I didn't have the money to pay for the class:( HaHa! Isn't that ironic! So anyway I checked out DAve's book the Total Money Makeover from the library and I just loved the book! I actually followed the snowball from his book! In three short months I was able to save 900.00!! I couldn't believe I had that much extra money! His book is very motivating! I had a budget that I was doing and it was working. I stated to panic tho becuase my budget was made around a certain amount of money every payday and when my hours were cut at work I just gave up on the budget:( I'm wishing I would have never given up on the budget. I should have revised it! But I suggest you take the class. I wish I could take it with you! You should go check out his book too! It's very inspiring. I hate living paycheck to paycheck too! I really need to do something. You should blog about what you learn in the class. Oh man that was a long comment!! Good Luck!! I also find it interesting that if a bank is going to buy into his teachings, then he must know what he's talking about!!
Mommy,
You should just get a facebook anyway. . . everyone else has.
Rachel,
Thanks for the input. I'm excited to try to make this all work. It's going to be hard but I think well worth it.
One of the quotes I heard from this program was "instead of you working for your money, make your money work for you." Those are my sentiments exactly. Besides, at this point in my life, I am really starting to worry about my retirement. I have wasted a lot of time not paying into it. It is a mistake that will cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars in the end.
I look at different examples from retired people that I know and I am more determined than ever to be able to live like my Grandparents do. My Grandpa Bates and my grandpa Jensen both had it made when they retired. I have also seen the other side of that (more often than not) where retirees are dependant on Social Security and Medicare. That is not going to be me.
My advice to all you 20 something newlyweds out there reading this is to not waste another minute! Start investing NOW!!!!! I am not kidding when I say it will be worth 100s of thousands of dollars. I wish I would have had an opportunity like this ten years ago. Don't rely on your employer to provide your all of your retirement. It may be ok, but often it is not enough. Your retirement should be worth your yearly salary X the number of years you will be retired. That means if you retire at 65 and live to be 85, even if you only plan $50,000 a year to live on, you will need to have a safety net of 1 million dollars.
Another thing that was mentioned in my RS lesson is not to base your budget on your entire monthly income. Ramsey lists financial priorities as 1. God, 2. yourself and use the rest to live on. Your budget should be based on your income after taking those out.
I challenge everyone out there to get out of debt! Follow the teaching of our church leaders and do everything you can to live within your means, but also plan for the future. You kids are going to need to go to college, your going to grow out of your home, your washer will break, the bathroom will need remodeling. . . the list is never ending. Woudn't it be nice to be able to pay cash for those items? Start now, don't waste any more time.
Ok, soap box officialy dismounted. :) Have a nice day!
Kerstina, good luck! I think all the young families should get on board and learn some things about money and saving! Great words of advice... Follow the Prophet!
Iv'e been so lucky! I married a man who was cut out of the same cloth as Grandpa Bates. In the fifteen short years I have been married to him, we have bought and paid for three houses, a store, and a farm. We are now building a $500K house with cash and retirement is not dependent on 401K's. We have diversified and will be living off more money at retirement than what we do now with work. He will be able to retire in just a few years now. I have learned alot from my hubby. We never buy anything brand new. We live without many things most people won't, yet we have so much. (I didn't have a dishwasher until last year when I remodeled the house). The hub doesn't buy anything if he doesn't have the cash for it. I have a sign sitting on my kitchen counter that says "live within your harvest". I try to live off of the money I make from farmer's market. I haven't quite mastered that, but I am getting closer at it. Next year I should reach my goal. My hubby has been my best teacher, and has been very patient with me. The faster you can learn the important lessons of the power of money, the better off you will be. It truly does work for you, if you will learn it!
Thanks Carol! I appreciate the example. That's exactly how I'd like to be able to live...now if I could just get MY hubby in the same mode of thinking. You and Dave are definately set!
Do you know how much the class is? I mean the materials? I just heard from a lady in my ward today the our city will be puting the class on shortly. I told her I was interested. I have never heard of him or this class.
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