- And now I'm so excited because I have Elizabeth coming on
who did the steps, she's doing it.
She did the impossible and made it possible,
and now she is even teaching people how to do it herself,
so take a look at her story.
- I felt out of control, I felt chaotic, I felt no peace.
I had $40,000 in student loan debt.
I had no idea how I was going to pay off
the student loan debt that I had accrued. I am a teacher,
so I had heard, "Oh they'll forgive it after a certain
number of years." So I spoke with the student loan company,
and they said that the plan that I was on
would never repay my student loans.
She said we will forgive your loans
when you are 50 years old or whenever you repay it all back,
and that was my moment of reality.
Once I started working the Baby Steps
in Financial Peace and saw the momentum
of my debt snowball starting,
I felt so victorious. I felt like I had won
and I had beat the system almost.
After I paid off all of my student loan debt,
my coordinator reached out to me
and he said, "You have a story to tell,
and you did this on a teacher's salary,
which people can really connect with,
and they think that that can't be done."
It began to click for me that I had something special
to share, and so in December I decided to be a coordinator,
and I led my first class in January.
And it's so inspirational to me because it challenges me
in the best ways, and it helps me be a part of something
that's life-changing. People are motivated
and want to change their family tree,
and I'm just so blessed that I get to be a part of that.
- Thanks Elizabeth. Thanks for being here.
- Thank you for having me.
- Yes, your story's so great. I love it because
not only did you do the impossible, what some people say,
which is pay off $40,000 in 14 months,
but you overcame some myths
and lies that our society believes about money.
So first and foremost, $40,000—
- Yeah. - In 14 months.
How did you do that?
- I became Gazelle intense, to use your dad's words.
- I love that. - I just worked really hard.
- So you're pretty vocal about your journey.
You told people. - Yes, yes.
- What do most people think about it?
- They thought I was crazy, especially since it was
student loan debt. A lot of people would say,
"You know that they'll forgive that, right?"
Or, "After so many years, it'll be gone.
You don't have to worry about it.
Why are you wasting your money now?"
And I'm like, I don't want to live that way.
I don't want to be indebted to someone else.
- Yes that's so good because that's a great point
that you brought up that is there really is this
myth out there of people believing that student loans,
they'll just be forgiven one day,
don't worry about it, and so you fell into that some
you feel like?
- Yes what they don't tell you when you sign
the paper for your student loans is that
the loan forgiveness is very difficult to get.
- Yeah it's beyond rare, for that to be a reality,
so the reality for most people is that they're going to
have this debt, and if they don't do what you did,
then they keep student loans around forever
and ever and stay in debt.
But you got intense, you worked a crazy amount,
because how many jobs did you get?
- I had like eight jobs at one point.
- That's unbelievable!
Tell me what some of them were. I'm curious, what did you do?
- Yeah I worked at a bakery part time,
babysitting became my jam, I babysat all the time.
I do calligraphy, so I would write on chalkboards
and address envelopes for people.
I just tried to use any talent that I knew I had
in my back pocket to help me make some extra money
on top of teaching full time,
so . . . - And you did it, yes.
Ah that's incredible, so then you became debt free
and then became passionate about this message
of living debt free and living intentionally
and the Baby Steps and all that's taught
in Financial Peace University.
And with the class, there's always a coordinator
that helps kind of facilitate the discussion,
and you became a Financial Peace University Coordinator.
So you taught a class, how'd it go?
- It was so great. We had an amazing group of people
and great attendance. They really stuck with it,
and it was transformational.
- Were there a few people in the class
that you loved their story and you were like wow,
the transformation that they made was unbelievable?
- Yeah there was one couple who made $120,000
total, so they had a good amount of money.
But they were so in debt and they—
- Isn't that amazing?
- Yes! - I mean seriously though.
A lot of people really believe if I just had more money
I could do this. I'm like no, if you don't have
good money habits, the more money you have,
the bigger, the mess is going to be.
And so just because you're making a huge income,
you can have a big mess, which is this feeling that
always, is always so interesting to me.
So keep going, sorry.
- Oh you're fine. So they paid off $15,000
of debt just in the two months that they were in my course,
so I was so proud of them,
and now they want to be coordinators
and help share their success
and help people, so . . . - That's amazing,
that's so great.
So what made you want to do this?
Because not only is going to the class somewhat
of a commitment, right? You go nine weeks
and you're with a group, but when you say hey,
I'm going to go and do it again and actually facilitate.
It must have obviously changed your life for you to do that.
So what was the why for you?
- The course transformed my life so much,
and I'm just so thankful that I took Financial Peace
in that moment in my life
that I can't keep quiet about it.
I want to tell everyone about what this course
can do for you.
No one taught me growing up how to budget
and how to save and how to invest, and so now that I have
that knowledge, I just want to tell everyone I can.
That's my why.
- Yeah it's so good, it's so good,
Because some of you watching are thinking,
oh my gosh, we have so much debt, we don't budget,
and all of this, so going through Financial Peace University
just as a member is huge. But people may be watching this
and thinking, okay you know I'm doing this.
Maybe I'm on the other side like you are.
Would you say that you have to be super financially smart,
and you have to have all the answers?
Because some people could be intimidated by it.
- Right. I would definitely say I was in that boat
before I got started with being a coordinator.
I thought I didn't know enough about investing
and real estate and all of the Baby Steps,
past Baby Step three, but my coordinator from when I went
through Financial Peace really encouraged me
and met with me and talked to me about how to be relatable
and to share my story. And that was what was going to
connect with people, and if I didn't know the answers,
then I could reach out to someone and they would help me
figure out the answers.
- So good. Well seriously, I know from our seat,
our perspective at Ramsey Solutions, we always say
the radio show can only reach so far, only so many people
know about the podcast, only so many people watch
the shows or go to the events. But it's the coordinators
that are in their cities, in their towns,
all over America, thousands and thousands of you all,
sitting down with people on a Tuesday night,
or a Wednesday night, or a Sunday night,
and have this group, you know, really it becomes a family,
in this class and completely transforming their lives,
and you spearheaded that for you guys.
So I so appreciate it, seriously. You're in the trenches,
boots on the ground, helping spread the message,
and spreading the message of hope you guys.
It's what we want for you to take control
of your money. And so I so appreciate it,
and I'm so glad it was a great experience for you,
and so if you guys want to coordinate
a Financial Peace University class just like Elizabeth,
make sure to click the link in the show notes.
(upbeat music)