Are you a slave to the Lender?

This photo was of our progress a few months ago.
By the end of this 2017, the word "MORTGAGE"
will be all colored in BLUE.

If you were to really take the time to consider your financial state TODAY, how would you rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10, of where you want to be?  A 1 would be "not at all where I want to be" and a 10 would be "doing better than I deserve".  Are you an "average" American?

-76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck
-Average American household wastes 24% of their take home pay on consumer debt
-64% of Americans could NOT cover a $1000 emergency

Student Loans, Car payments, Credit Card debt, Mortgage....  How much does that all add up to each month?  Could you imagine changing that value from "money owed" each  month to "money saved" each month?  Now multiply that by 12, and that's what you have over the span of a year.  Incredible to think that you could have that much money at your disposal to do what you wanted with- to tell your money what to do, rather than have you money tell you where it's going.

Most people have just accepted that they will always have some sort of debt.  But that doesn't have to be you.  You could be WEIRD- and be living a life in complete financial freedom.  You could be someone who could drop $1000 at any given time to be generous and change someone else's life by helping with an emergency or need.  It's time to change the trajectory of your financial life and get free of being slave to the lender.

We are considering hosting a Financial Peace University class.  Check out the link to find out more about the 9 week lesson outline in the  FPU Preview.

If you are interested in joining the class, please let us know!  

It involves 9 weeks of class, 1.5 hours x 1 evening a week.  

MY STORY-

I was introduced to Dave Ramsey by my mom in 2004, right after I graduated from college.  She would talk my ear off about his book, "The Total Money Makeover".  I was like, "yah, yah... ok mom."  So she sent me the book.  I read it.  I was completely inspired.  I started working the Baby Steps.  I got my $1000 Emergency Fund into place and then started chipping away at my $22,000 of student loans.  I trimmed my spending down as much as I could, and was able to pay of my student loans by December of 2005.  In 18 months I was able to pay off $22,000- only working part time hours.  Once out of debt I started savings funds for different anticipated expenses like my next car, home repairs, travel...  Fast forward to today.  One year ago, 2 years into our 30 year mortgage, my husband and I refinanced our mortgage down to a 15 year mortgage and got an incredible interest rate in the process.  That was a smart move, and it only cost a little less than $100 each month.  Now we could have our house paid off in 2030, as opposed to 2043.  Who even thinks that far ahead?  But the reality of this change meant that we could have our house paid off before any of our children went to college.  But the truth of the matter is I am all about being completely debt free as soon as possible.  So we started paying an extra $100 to the mortgage right away, which would be about 1 extra mortgage payment a year.  This would cut our 15 year mortgage down by a few more years.  Cool.  But paying down debt is a bit addicting for me, and I got the Laird on board with putting anything extra we have into our mortgage.  My goal now is to make our final mortgage payment for our 10 year wedding anniversary in August of 2020.  That's less than 3 years from now!  This February, We started out with a "No Spend- Frugal February" budget.  And we've pretty much kept that pace ever since.  

It's time to change your life! Wherever you are at in your journey, movement comes from working through hard things with other people.  You will find encouragement and accountability in the area of finances.  Have a plan for your money, rather than continuing on your current trajectory.   The FPU membership kit costs $93, but there are people selling used versions (and even some new) for less on ebay.  If that stands in the way, commit yourself to setting aside $1 a day for the next 3 months.  It's a small price to pay to get on track for a better financially free future. 

 I am hoping we can start a class in January of 2018.