Besides, there may be plenty of things about Dave Ramsey's philosophy that you disagree with (V and I certainly don't do everything that he suggests). There may also be plenty of things that I have said in this blog that you disagree with. But the point is not for you to take someone else's strategy or advice and blindly apply it to your life... Don't let the details of the message rob you of our own financial opportunities. Instead, the point is just to get you thinking about your money from a more positive perspective.
As I've hopefully demonstrated, by no stretch of the imagination do V and I have it all together. But we finally got to the point to where we are willing to take a long, hard look at our financial situation and make some difficult decisions and sacrifices in order to turn things around and get headed in the right direction. And simply put, we challenge you to do the same thing.
Will your financial legacy be wealth and prosperity...
or credit card debt and poor money management
for generations to come?
Maybe I should also add that this is certainly not a "get rich quick" scheme. It would be nice if we could get out of debt in the same blink of an eye that it takes to get into debt. But barring a winning lottery ticket, it just doesn't work that way. Instead of a sprint, it's a marathon. It's gonna take focused intensity over (possibly) a long period of time. And even at that, once we are at the finish line, V and I (for example) will have only freed up about $500 a month after eradicating over $35,000 of debt. Only a fraction of our combined income. After so much work, it just seems like it should be so much sexier than that. I feel like we should be able to quit our jobs and start a chicken farm or something (my dream, not hers).
But no such luck. Then again, we are not fighting for instant wealth. Instead, what we are fighting for is the opportunity to control our own purse strings and at least have the options available to us to take the next step. The opportunity to give more freely. The opportunity to save and invest. The opportunity to build wealth and freely pursue investments and new business ventures. The opportunity to be aggressive with securing our financial legacy and ensuring that we leave Justin and his siblings more than a funeral bill. Because right now, as long as our debt remains overwhelming, its like being handcuffed to a chair in a candy store. Lots of sweet opportunities, but virtually nothing good in reach.
With those handcuffs off, the next step will be to become as deliberate with what we do with that "extra money" as we were with paying our bills beforehand. We still haven't figured out what to do about retirement, our mortgage or the possibility of V staying home to raise Justin's brothers and sisters... not to mention diapers, clothes and college tuition for the 14 more kids V wants to have. But without our financial handcuffs, our salary and bill collectors will no longer drive our decisions. With that freedom, we will increase our options immensely and be able to take advantage of the true-to-life adage that it often takes money to make money.
So in the end, we don't care what you do! Just make sure that you are doing something!!! Be deliberate with your money. Pay off your debt and save with the same fervor and intensity that you put into Christmas shopping. Question your purchases. Rethink your goals. Develop a strategy. And most of all, take your financial future seriously.
As Dave Ramsey puts it... If nothing else remember that, in America, to be "normal" is to be in debt.
So why not strive to be weird?
1 comment:
I agree with your sentiments of changing your current lifestyle to ensure a better lifestyle for your kids. I also applaud you guys for not keeping this information to yourself. As we know, African-Americans as a whole generate a great deal of wealth these days. Unfortunately, most of us consume most of what we make on foolishness. Our kids won't benefit from our Luis Vuitton purses, POLO shirts, grills, or rims. These things are fine if we're debt free, but if we are buying this stuff at our children's expense that's wrong. If we're using our resources on this stuff and our kids' college fund is at $0 something is drastically wrong with our collective brains.
The Bible says a wise man leaves an inheritance for his childrens' children. It also says God gives us the power (ability) to get wealth. This is our right, but because of years of "handed down" oppression we don't see ourselves as being the producers we're called and created to be. I was raised by well- meaning family members that taught me some great things but along with it they "handed down" to me a big dose of fear. In recent years, God has challenged me to break through the glass ceiling of fear that had been on my life for years.
Thankfully, we paid off a good portion of our individual debts prior to getting married (we still have a few things to take care of), but the business is helping us get there a little quicker. This is the kind of "striving to be weird" it sounds like you're speaking of. It's only weird because we are breaking the mold of "handed down" traditions given to us by our parents or caregivers. Previous generations in our families might not respond, understand, or even outright disagree as we walk this road. It really doesn't matter though, because, we've done well if we can leave a legacy (spiritual, emotionally, and financial) for our kids and their kids. You guys are on your way to that end... in Jesus' name!!!!
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