- All right, now we're going to hear stories
from people like you
who have started the Baby Steps.
- We had our son who had medical problems,
and medical bills really have traumatized our future.
So, we really wanted to tackle
as much as we could to handle those debts
and to get them down as quick as possible,
so Financial Peace was the best way
we saw fit to do that.
- We started this class mainly so that we can
live our dreams out later down the road.
- So we could give our kids a better future
and show them, you know,
whatever comes our way in life,
as far as the financial
or any burdens,
that we're handling them.
- I grew up with my dad always talking about
Dave Ramsey says this,
and Dave Ramsey says that,
and my parents,
I think going through Financial Peace University
when I was so young,
saved for a college fund for me,
and so, totally had no student loans to pay off.
So, I actually don't have any debt,
but now being in the class is kind of fun
because I get to apply the things that I already know
and that I've already learned in my own personal finances.
- I can remember my parents doing Financial Peace
when I was younger,
knowing that was great for their marriage
and for us as a family financially.
And so, now that we're,
we just got engaged, and so we're doing it together.
- [Blake] The funnest thing for me, though,
was the conversations that we've had
about our budget,
finding out who is the nerd,
who is the free spirit.
They've gotten me excited about our marriage
and taking charge of our finances
and getting started on the right foot.
- I love hearing stories of people who are starting
to see real life-change.
I mean, I'm sure a lot of you can relate
to some of what you just heard,
and I really want you to have that hope, too,
and I love that they've plugged in
to a Financial Peace University community.
It always amazes me how quickly people can see the light
at the end of the tunnel.
Now, some of them had some questions for me,
so let's see what they are.
- A question that we would have,
say that we have a little bit of credit card debt
and a car payment heading into our engagement,
into our marriage.
So we would love to know if there's any other advice
or any other thoughts that you may have for us
as we move into marriage together.
- Yeah, I think just if there's anything specifically for
an engaged couple moving into a marriage,
if there's any specific financial advice,
or conversations that we could have on the front end,
that would be great to know.
- Oh, engaged couples.
They're just the best, right?
The bliss before the reality
of what they're about to walk into.
Marriage is awesome,
but it's more awesome when you are on the same page.
So, a couple of things I would say,
if you are engaged out there,
or to this couple specifically,
keep your money still separate.
Until the day you say, "I do,"
do you need to combine them,
so I don't know whose credit card debt it was,
or whose car loan,
but you keep it separate,
you start working the Baby Steps on your own,
and then the beautiful thing is,
when you get married,
then you combine it all together.
So, I hear a lot of couples say,
"Okay, well, maybe it's his car loan
and his credit card debt,
and she doesn't have any payments."
Well, for her, she could just be saving up a lot of cash,
and then, once they get married,
she can use some of that money,
pay off his debt,
and together, they're moving on together.
So, again, keeping things separate
until you say, "I do," is huge.
And also I would say,
don't go crazy with the wedding.
Really, it's like one of the things
people spend so much money on that,
yes, you want to have fun,
you want to enjoy your day,
all of that,
but do not go overboard,
and definitely do not go into debt for the wedding.
All right, here's the next question.
- What advice can you give to keep us motivated
going through our debt snowball?
- So, staying motivated through Baby Step 2
can be really difficult for a lot of people,
especially if you have a lot of debt.
And if it's things like medical debt that you see,
that you're like,
"Man, I can't sell it," right?
Like a car loan, you're like,
"Hey, I can choose to sell the car,
get out of that debt really quickly."
Medical debt is something that does seem to string along,
but I would say,
have some quick wins within the big chunk
of your medical debt.
So, look at your medical debt almost as a separate snowball,
and just kind of separate it out,
and say, "Okay, this is what we are about to tackle."
It's a huge mountain.
There's so much there,
but put some mile markers in place,
and have some celebrations throughout it,
because you want to be able to feel those quick wins
even when the bills are staggering
and it seems like there's so much money there.
Having those quick wins is going to be so helpful.
All right, coming up next is a story of
the couple who is actually coordinating
that Financial Peace University class.
So, here they are.
- We had been married for 28 years,
and we purchased a house when we moved here,
with debt,
and we decided that we wanted to pay that debt off early,
and based on some things that we had heard
Dave Ramsey talk about.
And so, we got on that road
and went down that path.
And we paid off our house within about 10 or 12 years
after we moved here,
and that just really started our process
of wanting to be completely debt-free.
- [Tommy] So, it's become really a way of life.
We've put, all five kids have had an opportunity
to go to college debt-free.
We have a fund for their wedding fund,
so when each one of them has gotten married,
we've been able to fund their wedding
without going into debt.
It is kind of amazing to see how,
when you have the extra money to
sock away in the 401(k) and savings,
that there's not much pressure.
There's a lot of peace just to know that
we've been able to bless our children,
and then we will be able to retire
with a lot of dignity.
- And now we're just living the life
that Dave has told us about.
- And I would say that we were pretty nerdy about it.
We actually enjoy our budget.
After doing this for 20 years,
we've got 20 years' worth of data
of what our expenses and income is,
so we sit down the first of the year
and do a big spreadsheet,
and we just really touch base each month
to make sure we're where we need to be,
but over that period of time, you know,
we've had a car fund,
so we haven't had a car debt.
So, to be honest with you,
we actually have two,
we own two homes debt-free.
I think we got people's attention the first night
when we looked at them and said,
"This works because we've done it,
and you can do it, too.
If we could do it, you can do it."
So, we enjoy seeing the success
and seeing the plan work.
And it's really neat to sit in the class,
and our class is maybe unique,
I don't know,
because we've got some older folks in there,
we've got some folks that are just married,
we've got some folks that are engaged.
And it's really neat to see the light bulbs come on
and to kind of pay it back a little bit
and to share what we've learned.
And that's fun,
just to be a part of knowing that we've helped
them on their journey.
- So, after hearing their stories,
I hope you guys are ready to go out
and save that $1,000.
I really, really do,
because again,
it's that buffer between you and life,
getting started on a plan where you never have to
worry about money again!
(bright music)