**I just wanted to share with everyone my very first blog about becoming debt free! This is where it started. A passion to get out of debt, an intensity to do it now, and a desire to help spread these principles to anyone willing to listen! One night I was inspired to connect my love for Baseball as a child, to becoming debt free as an adult. For those who haven’t read this one, I hope you like it. Please comment.**

Hitting A Home Run And Becoming Debt Free Are The Same!

7 out of 10 people live paycheck to paycheck without even blinking an eye!!! After all it is what everyone else is doing right? Have you ever tried to do a budget? This blog is about telling your money what to do. It is about getting rid of the debt that keeps you from enjoying life. It’s about having a PLAN!

Do you feel it’s just too late and you have no traction? I am going to show you exactly what it looks like to become debt free. I am quickly becoming a part of the winning team, and that is the 30% who have decided that treading water is just not good enough. With all the effort that it takes to swim in place, you may have decided that you are sick and tired of following your plan. You are ready to swim in rough waters. Just like swimming in rough waters, getting out of debt is much of the same. It’s tough at first but eventually you get stronger and the rough water starts to feel like a gentle stream.

Once you make it to the gentle stream it is so rewarding and refreshing, In order to get there you have to change your financial plan, because what you have been doing has got you right where you are today! As Dave Ramsey says, “You have to face the person in the mirror”. You have to decide what is more important, the car which is pulling a monthly payment, or getting out of debt? I tend to want to experience true freedom. Have you tried to budget only to find out that your money runs out before you want it too? There is a reason for that. It’s called “YOU”! What if you got rid of your car so you could free up some money? Could you use an extra $300 a month? I found it helpful!

Look at getting out of debt the same as hitting a Home Run. A Home Run is always more fun than just getting a double. We all know that the farther you hit the ball, the closer you are to making it to home plate. Having a car payment is like getting thrown out at first, because you didn’t hit the ball far enough to get anywhere!. Getting rid of your car payment is like practicing and getting stronger so that you can hit it further and further!!

Don’t you want to make it all the way around the bases so you can see how it feels to hit a Home Run? What base have you made it to?

1. FIRST BASE- You have decided to never borrow again! You are now on a budget and are telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. You are becoming gazelle intense and are realizing that you may have to downgrade to the cheaper, more affordable living arrangements. Sell the car(s)! Sell the big screen T.V.! What do you have to sell to get as much traction as you can? Make it to second base!

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2. SECOND BASE- You are now doing everything you can to build up an Emergency Fund to make you ready for when life happens! You have dropped the weight of your car payment, and built some protection . Not only are you running faster but you are starting to build some confidence, and you see hope! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, NOW RUN TO IT!

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3. THIRD BASE- Now you are starting to taste the possibility of approaching home. It feels good! You are now paying off your debt from smallest to largest. Your confidence builds even more and your taste for Financial Peace is making you run faster and harder!

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4. HOME PLATE- CONGRATULATIONS! You have hit a Home Run!! How does it feel? Now you are DEBT FREE except for your house and you are ready to add to your collection of Home Run balls! This collection is your payoff from so much hard work and diligence! This collection represents your Fully Funded Emergency Fund .(3-6 months of expenses) Did you think this was ever possible? Now you know and are probably feeling pretty good about your decisions to change your broken plan! Way to go!
   

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5. ALL-STAR TEAM- You have hit a GRAND SLAM with the bases loaded in the Ninth Inning! You are the WINNING RUN! You now have money going towards retirement (15%), as well as funding your kids college fund! You are now a Baseball sensation which has made you make the All-Star Team. Your mortgage is paid, and now you are ready to BUILD WEALTH AND GIVE LIKE NEVER BEFORE! More importantly after all your hard work and effort you will FINALLY be able to live the rest of your life with dignity! Free from the worries and stress of paying off all of the debt from everything you “needed”!

If you aren’t ready to hit a Home Run then prepare for the consequences of just making it to the batter’s box. Soon you will have to explain to your family why the phone is ringing every twenty seconds because you have borrowed everything you gained. Do you want to tell them about eating Alpo at retirement or shall I?

Keeping the cheetah at bay is how we win financially!

Keeping The Cheetah At Bay
by Chuck

Question: How do you keep your Gazelle intensity for the long haul ? Furthermore, how do you stay ahead of that Cheetah nipping at your butt ?

Its easy to be like the Gazelle those first few months when your knocking off the small debts that place your debt snowball into motion. But, to get out of debt to the place where you can live like no one else is a very long process. According to Dave the average time to go from baby step one to baby step three is 18 to 24 months. So after the first few small debts are paid off the time frame shifts to a slower pace as the remaining debts are bigger in amounts. You must be prepared with lots of tools to keep you gazelle focused.

Complacency is what the cheetah is hoping for!

Fortunately for us there are many tools out there to utilize. Dave himself describes how he and his wife used their net worth balance sheet to track their progress. Then there is the example of the woman who took her debt snowball list, enlarged it, laminated it and plastered it on her fridge. Every time she would walk by it she would say “Your going down, baby!”. There is also many ways to use charts to show progress along your get out of debt journey. You can either chart your savings going up, or your debt going down, and maybe you choose to do both. Using small increments of what ever your tracking will show bigger results in your charts. That way, even small progress will show up in your charts, which is what you want to see, right? Lists and charts are tools that respond to our visual sense. Its not just numbers on a page but something we can see happening. The more senses we can involve with our fight to stay gazelle intense the better.

Another tool we can use is emotional triggers. What do I mean by that you ask ? Well, I’m sure you have imagined lots of great things you could be doing with your money if only you didn’t have debt. You can use those images to spur you on in your journey. For example, do you have as a goal to be able to give like no one else once you are debt free ? Of course you do, as do I. I can’t wait till the day my income is freed up to the point where I can give to some of these worthy causes I see day in and day out. Yes it can be frustrating in the near term knowing I can’t give right now. Yet rather than beat myself up for past mistakes that put me in this spot, I use that feeling to motivate myself to continue Dave’s way. Knowing someday I will reach my goal and be able to give when and to whom I want without sacrifice. I’m sure you all have worthy causes that you wish you just had the money to give to. Instead of regret think positively of those images of how its going to feel to give to your cause someday. I think positive emotions like this will help in the long run.

Although we all may be fighting the same battle of removing debt from our lives, we all have different needs and differences in what stirs us. We must all find tools that will work for each of us in our fight to stay like the gazelle. The tools are plentiful out there. Mix and match them. Combine the different types. Do what ever you have to do to keep gazelle focused. Failure is not an option.

Remember the Cheetah is out there!

What was that? Over there in the grass….

CHEEEEETTAAAAHH!!!!!!

Good Luck,

Chuck

Is Bankruptcy The Answer?

I was on the Financial Peace University Forums today and happened to notice the word bankruptcy being thrown around as an option. This isn’t a rant as much as it is an argument as to why you should avoid bankruptcy completely. I realize that this is a very touchy subject for people so my intention is not to make a judgment, but instead to express an alternate view. I would like to remind everyone that I was very close to filing bankruptcy myself at one or more times in my life and am very glad that I didn’t. I assure you it wasn’t because I struck it rich.

The truth is that after listening to Dave Ramsey talk about bankruptcy,as well as every other person that calls his show, I have come to the conclusion that bankruptcy is no fun!! It seems to be a very, very painful process that can cause an emotional breakdown. Declaring that you have no money is a tough pill to swallow to say the least! Still, people file bankruptcy in record numbers. Some argue that filing bankruptcy is a service that keeps families from becoming homeless, and some say that it is a way for people to avoid the repercussions of irresponsible spending and poor money management to give them a fresh start. We will talk about them both.

Bankruptcy Keeps People From Becoming Homeless?

Really?  I am so surprised every time I hear this argument, because the first thing I want to ask is, “Did that person decide to file bankruptcy AND quit their job?”  In my mind this argument is bogus!!  Getting foreclosed on is not easy, and having your car repossessed is no picnic either if that is the only car you have but to say that one couldn’t go find a cheap apartment, buy a beater and reorganize their financial life in a way that would enable them to gain control is senseless.

Irresponsible Spending and Poor Money Management?

You betcha!! This is the reason people file bankruptcy! Couldn’t you say that if they did the opposite then bankruptcy would never become in issue? Do something different, get something different!! It is as simple as that. People are filing bankruptcy to avoid the problems that they created and instead of owning up to the outcome they decide to make someone else take the hit! That is absurd to me. Usually I hear, “Well Dave Ramsey filed bankruptcy.” These are the people that are simply avoiding the truth of the matter. YES, Dave filed bankruptcy but he also REPAID all of the debts he filed bankruptcy on. That’s integrity!! He was also in MORE debt than MOST people.

How To Take Responsibility For Your Actions To Avoid The “B” Word, using some of Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps

1. STOP BORROWING MONEY! NOW! (You are making the fire BIGGER with every dollar you borrow- PUT OUT THE FIRE)
2. Get yourself on a REAL budget.  Pay your four walls FIRST and your credit cards LAST. (Here is something new you can try- SPEND LESS THAN YOU MAKE!! Who knew common sense and personal finance were related?)
3. Consider getting a second job. (Not fun, but not to worry- just  think about all the fun you had while running up ALL that debt.  Now it’s time to get SERIOUS!)
4. SAVE $1,000 FAST! (I don’t want to hear that you can’t, because I know there are several ways you can- Cut the budget, cut grass, deliver pizza, deliver papers, sell on Ebay and consider selling your BORROWED CAR, and buy a beater. If you say you can’t then you will never try.)
5. Pay off your debts (except the house) from smallest to largest using the debt snowball method. Dump anything you can to knock down your debt pile. (Keeping the things that caused the problem is insane!  Let’s see - Keep the house because you like it OR declare yourself BROKE?  I hope you like the house!!)
6. SAVE 3/6 Months of expenses. (The Rainy Day Fund - It’s gonna RAIN.)
7. Save for College and Retirement (Help your children avoid student loans and ensure you are not eating Alpo at retirement because Social Insecurity WILL disappoint you.)
8. Pay off your Mortgage with Gazelle Intensity.
9. Build Wealth and GIVE! (If you have no payments you will be able to build wealth “SCARY FAST”, and GIVE like never before.

You will be glad that you did not file bankruptcy. I sure am!! Now go take control of your life and your problems.

Bankruptcy - The NOT SO GREAT Escape!

It is really quite simple.  You borrowed the money and you need to pay it back.  Why should someone that loaned you money have to take the hit because you finally decided that you have borrowed too much and the only way out is to NOT PAY ANYONE?  Harsh maybe but let me point out that as I considered bankruptcy many times, I was just as harsh on myself.  Not to mention I had some great advice from some great people.

Take responsibility for your errors in judgment and decide to clean up your mess!  You will be so happy that you did!  The lessons you will learn a long the way will be life changing!  This is not a consensus, it’s just one man’s opinion.

How can a scream be gentle?

Gentle in nature, but not in force.  Gentle with love, the scream is not threatening but IS urgent.  It is imperative that I be heard because a family member that I love dearly is considering debt CONsolidation.  Maybe you’re wondering why it’s a big deal?  Thanks for asking!  It’s not that the debt CONsolidation will hurt them, it’s that it’s not going to help them.  Debt CONsolidation is a CON.  It’s what normal people do and normal people are broke.  normal people do it because they are conned into believing that it will solve all their problems.  If saving interest on a few STUPID debts and giving it to the broke guy conning you, is your idea of fixing your problems, then consider being weird for a moment.

Why pay someone to cut you?

Paying someone to “work out your life” is not what you need.  All you are doing is moving your debt, that’s it.  There’s not a solution on the table when dealing with these people.  Their loving embrace is laced with deception as they claim to understand.  What they truly understand is that they are making money off of you - LOTS OF IT!  They are certainly not doing it for free.  The problem is closer than you think.  The problem is your behavior, NOT what your behavior created.  You have to change your behavior. If you continue to do the same stuff, you will continue to get the same results.  First you have to believe you can consolidate your debt by changing your ways.  Do you want to know how?  Hello? Is this (BULL HORN) thing on?

I’ll give you the HARDCORE, TIME IS RUNNING OUT version

Problem number one is that your payments per month are disastrous.  Sell the near $1,000 vehicle payments, and you’ve already loosened the shackles enough to give your neck a breather.  That number is not even taking into consideration the amount you would save if you replaced them with cheaper paid for vehicles. (Car insurance would go down as well as your property taxes, and possibly fuel costs too.)

Common Arguments:

1. We’re already upside down on them, we would lose money. You’ve been losing money on them since you drove them off of the lot, that is why you are upside down.  Sometimes you have to cut your losses, especially if it continues to cost you.  This loss is referred to as stupid tax.  All of us have done stupid, and the price of getting vehicles you can’t afford is sometimes costly.  It’s not safe to assume that because you can make the payment that you can afford it.  Take into consideration all of the added costs, and then throw in life happening right on top of it!!  What? No savings either?  
2. We NEED reliable, roomy transportation for our family. That you are doing right, what you are doing wrong is thinking that signing up for a bunch of debt is your ONLY method of achieving the same goal.  A paid for car drives a whole lot better than one dragging payments behind it!!  NORMAL people have car payments, BE WEIRD because remember, normal people are broke!
3. We do not have the money to pay the difference and buy two paid for vehicles. You don’t have the money to keep doing what you’ve been doing either- so what’s the difference?  Here’s the difference.  My way saves you over $1,000 a month and you are 4 or 5 years closer to releasing the stranglehold of bondage!  Worst case scenario is that you have to get a loan to cover the difference plus no more than an extra $2,000 per car to buy reliable paid for cars.  You’re trading HUGE loans for much smaller ones.  That’s real consolidation.

Those are just a few excuses there are probably more, but I hope my point was loud and clear!  What you have done with money so far, has got you right where you are right now - consider trying something different!  You have now found out that you can’t rely on anything being steady because life happens.  You never know when that will be but if you are prepared for it then it doesn’t steal your hopes and dreams every time it drops in to say hi.  The only thing that you can rely on is that life will happen!!  The only question is, are you going to be ready when it happens again?

Love is spending less than you make

Give your family the gift of security by changing your family tree now.  The hope is there you just have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired!!  You have to get mad, and most of all you have to hate debt!  Debt IS your enemy!! Annihilate it now before it beats you and robs you of your soul.  You have the ability to stand up and win, you just have to do it God’s way.  God’s way is not about having every thing you can, it’s about giving every thing you can.  Even though that does not always mean financially, it’s a great place to start!  Love your family by preparing them for when Life happens.

LIVE like no one else, and later you can LIVE & GIVE like no one else.

(My passive whisper was not working.)

**To any new readers of this blog.  This post is filled with sayings from Dave Ramsey, more commonly known as Dave-isms.  Live like no one else..,normal is broke…, sick and tired….., stupid tax.**

Does Anyone Blame Themselves Anymore?
by Chuck

Hello all in the land of EOD. My name is Chuck, and I am a guest blogger for busy Brad. I know everyone wishes him great success with his FPU class. Being a FPU coordinator has Brad time strapped , so I thought I could help him out by stepping in once in a while with a guest blog post or two here on EOD. I am a recent graduate of FPU Online myself. I strongly believe in Dave’s way of money handling.

NY Times has a series running called “The Debt Trap”. The July 20th installment titled “Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt”. You can read this article here.

Its quite a good read, but if your a Dave Ramsey fan its also very frustrating to read. The basics of the installment chronicle the problems of a Ms McLeod and her debt. She is on the verge of bankruptcy with over $280,000 in debt. It’s the usual culprits, first and second mortgage, credit card debt, car loan and finally medical bills to push her over the edge. The article does not place all the blame on poor Ms McLoed though, intertwined with listing Ms McLeod’s problems the article tries to lay blame on the banks and credit card companies for their excessive fees and charges.

As I read the article it seems I have no sympathy for Ms Mcleod. She did all the wrong financial things with her money -live for the day, spend, spend, spend. Yet I would have to agree with the articles other points on the loan and credit companies practices. They too have gotten out of hand and are excessively greedy. Does that forgive Ms Mcleod though ? I think not. In paragraph four just before the article starts in on laying blame to the lenders it says ” But as surely as it takes two to tango”. Yes it does! That is why I refuse to dance at this party. Call me a wallflower. Yes you will find me up against the wall with the rest of the geeks. I refuse to dance on a floor not built upon equal footing. The lending companies, mortgage, loan and credit card all have gotten more aggressive with their marketing and ways to bleed us dry. The article points out how many make more off fees than the interest on money loaned. These companies are like a very smooth operator on the dance floor. Before you know it they have you swept off your feet, dizzy and wondering where the money went. Its not that I can’t dance mind you. I just can’t dance to the music these lenders are shuffling their smooth moves to. So, yes it does take two to tango. If you want to throw your hard earned money to these slick dance hall demons go right ahead. I plan on saving for items I need, and paying cash for them the Dave way. I guess you can say I dance to the beat of a different drummer…………….

Later,
Chuck

BALANCE is important!

I decided to write this blog because I received a comment yesterday about my lack of writing recently. The comment said “I miss the times when you used to write. not just paste up you tube video. :(” (ONE of those youtube videos I made myself!)

I agree with the poster about what is better my opinion or video from another source, but I feel I must explain why it just isn’t possible for me to ALWAYS write as I did in the beginning of this blog. If I have learned anything from Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Brian Tracy, and R.C. Sproull, it’s that I have to balance my life in a way that every aspect is thoroughly covered. If I neglect my family in order to teach people about debt then I will not have a family for very long. If I neglect to exercise because I needed to write a blog then I am going to remain unhealthy, overweight, and worse I could die. The point is that I have to spread my time so that I can complete the MOST important priorities in my life.

What are my PRIORITIES?

I have a wife to keep happy and love, a 2 year old that needs his daddy, an FPU class to coordinate and lead, a business to start, weight to lose, a full time job, and last but certainly FIRST, a God to please and learn about so I can grow the way He intended. These are all of my biggest priorities! Everything else is fun and games.

I enjoy writing blogs and helping people learn about debt and how to avoid it but if I focused too much attention writing blogs then I would have to neglect other things. It is very time consuming to write a quality blog. If writing blogs was bringing in some income then I could justify the time spent, but it is not. For this reason it has to come second to everything else that is a bigger priority! I am not saying that it will always be this way, in fact I know it will not, but for now I cannot spend as much time writing as I once did.

I have also decided to take on another blog about my weight loss journey and have committed to writing on it daily. Why? Without a doubt, my health takes precedence over many things. I have to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle and that takes time. Last week I walked/ran 11 miles and it took up most of my time after work. Throw in feeding the boy, giving him a bath, spending lots of quality time with him and helping him grow and you got a Dad that has a very limited amount of time left in the day.

The whole reason I started the blog was to help reach people who needed to hear the debt free message. Now I have started to coordinate FPU and I will be able to do the same thing on a much more personal level which will be VERY rewarding. I want to be the best coordinator ever so that the classes that I lead are extremely effective! This takes a lot of my time as well. On top of this I am helping to coach people outside of the class on becoming debt free. I am offering my help to anyone who is willing to listen to it. I was put on this Earth to help people become debt free, so that is what I am doing.

Now it’s time for you to consider the fact that we are on a Total Money Makeover and have become gazelles. We are trying to give ourselves a raise and increase our income so that we can GET OUT OF DEBT NOW! We are not playing around! If I am writing blogs about getting out of debt, becoming a gazelle, setting goals, and working hard but I am not doing it myself then it takes away from the message I am trying to send to people. So if I run out of time to write a very time consuming blog that does not help me financially reach my goals, I am sorry! Actually I am not, I just hope you understand.

As time goes on and I learn more about time management and start to accomplish my goals more efficiently, I will definitely make time to write for this very important blog. Maybe I can even get paid for my work as I get better. Until then I have a lot of learning and growing to do. I hope you learn and grow as I learn and grow. I would also like to point out the fact that I have NEVER, EVER, EVER written a thing in my life until Enemy of Debt. In fact, for your information I only completed 10th Grade English before I dropped out of school and started working. Everything I have learned about writing has come from my own desire to read as much as I can. I am glad there are some of you out there that enjoy my writing, but I have a long way to go. As I get better, I will also get faster making it less and less of time issue.

I AM ON A MISSION!!!!!!!

It is now official! FPU is coming to Charlottesville, specifically to Trinity Presbyterian Church! The preview will be on July 20th at 6:00 p.m., and the classes will begin on August 3rd! During this time I will be using this blog to get the word out. Almost everything you see will have something to do with FPU.

I have created my own video to start things off! ENJOY!

Do You Have The New Car Itch?

If so you need to watch these videos. They are promotional videos from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. How many more loan payments are you going to “NEED”? Wise up America!! THINK! Do better for yourselves and your families! Stop buying into the lie that you need to go into debt to have stuff. Stop being a SLAVE, and refuse the bondage that is offered to you everyday! SAY NO! Think about what you could do if you didn’t have all those payments!

Here’s an exercise that could help you realize the answer to that question.

Do a pretend budget as if you only had to pay mortgage/rent, your utilities and any other necessities! Food is a necessity, cable is not! Be honest with yourself as to what you consider a need. The faster you realize that debt is a mistake, the faster you can change it!! If you still think debt is a tool after doing this budget, then you are welcome to go right back to your way. Just don’t expect me, the taxpayer, to bail you out when you realize you’re in over your head. People are not filing for bankruptcy because of a slower economy or as one commercial would lead you to believe, health care costs, they are filing in record numbers because they too, think debt is a tool, and they have done STUPID because of it!!