This was the last week of Financial Peace University. It was great. It summed everything up and brought a great close to the 13 weeks.
Baby Steps
We went over the 6 baby steps and added #7:
- Put $1,000 in an emergency fund and don’t touch it until there is a real emergency.
- Get out of debt using the debt snowball. Pay off your smallest bill first so you can feel the victory quick. Then move onto the next smallest until you’re all the way out of debt!
- Save 3-6 months of expenses in your emergency fund.
- Invest 15% of your household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans.
- Save for your children’s college.
- Pay off your house early.
- Build wealth and give it away!
Giving
What Dave says, and I agree with him, is you can take all his advice and do everything he says but if you skip baby step number 7, you’ll never have true financial peace. Nice stuff gets old. You’re never going to be able to satisfy your flesh by just buying yourself whatever you want. But when you start giving out of your abundance, it’ll change your life.\
Whose money is it anyway?
We have to remember that it’s not our money anyway. God has made us managers of His money. He doesn’t need us to do it, but He chooses to use us! It’s a wonderful opportunity! Look at the money that you’re earning as a wonderful job offered to you by the most sought after boss ever.
He brought up such a good point. Have you ever gone out to buy something and spent a little more than you normally would because someone gave you money to go buy it? That’s the way we need to look at giving. You don’t need to feel like you’re giving your personal money. IT’S NOT YOURS! That was very convicting for me. I can feel stingy from time to time and it is a struggle to remind myself that it’s only money. It comes and goes, and I need to remember what is eternal.
Why Give?
He answered the question “Why Give?” with these three simple answers.
- It’s a reminder of ownership (which we just talked about).
- It’s praise and worship to God.
- It’s spiritual warfare. In Malachi 3:11 God says He’ll “rebuke the devourer for our sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground . . .” That’s pretty amazing. If I give, God’s going to protect my finances! He’s going to make it so that my money isn’t wasted because of stupid stuff. I like that.
You should go!
There was so much more to this lesson, but to get the benefits of it you really should take it yourself. This whole journey has been wonderful. I’ve learned so much! The commitment is high for you time and money. But it’s certainly an investment that will pay off.
So, what have you learned from the course? What stood out to you the most?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good reminder that our money isn’t really ours anyway. I think money is just a tool, and should be used to build the kingdom. We should use the money to be a blessing.
I was encouraged by the last lesson and how it stressed the need to give to others so much. In listening to others about the Dave Ramsey program you would think it’s all about growing wealth for yourself, but the takeaway I got was that you’re living like no one else, so that one day you can GIVE like no one else – not so you can be a snooty rich selfish person.
Great series of posts Linda!