On the Road to Financial Peace, Vol 2

During the first few minutes of the first day that I listened to the Financial Peace University cd's during my commute, I admit that I was a little skeptical that this was a scam. There are obviously a lot of financial scams out there, and my presumption was that this was going to be one of them. It makes sense: some guy standing in front of a bunch of people talking about how they can get, and save, more money. I thought: it's easy for him to say, all of the people in the audience JUST GAVE HIM MONEY.

But my skepticism quickly fizzled. He doesn't sound like a go-through-the-motions lecturer. He doesn't sound like a robotically pompous televangelist. He doesn't sound like a smug stock broker. He sounds like a normal guy. A normal guy that's really excited about something. A normal guy that doesn't have to think about what he's saying, because he's saying exactly what he means. And that's just the delivery.

The message impressed me even more. In two words, Dave Ramsey's message is common sense. He gives so much credit (no pun intended) to your grandparents' method of spending money: save up for something, then buy it! Obviously, if you take two seconds to think about, it's painfully obvious. Yet, that's not how my wife and I have been operating ever since we got married. We just didn't keep track of what we spent. If the check book was getting low, it went on the credit card. That's what seemed like common sense to us, but after listening to Dave's message, it just seems STUPID. Seven and a half years of stupid, to be specific.

I was so reluctant to listen to the cd's because I knew that being smart with your money was common sense. I'd ask my wife "Why should I bother listening to this guy when I know what he's going to say: Don't spend any money." I wanted to be able to do fun stuff once in a while, so we just kept spending like we've always spent. I wanted to go to concerts and buy new running shoes and get a new computer...I didn't want to think about how I was going to pay for them.

But from the very start of listening to his FPU presentations, despite my calloused skepticism, I was not immune to the excitement he generates in his listeners. Yes, a lot of his message is centered on not spending money when you don't need to. There's no magic box or pyramid scheme, but his message is decidedly different than an over-simplified "don't spend money, stupid" kind of message. His message is deliberately positive. He doesn't make you feel stupid for being in debt. He eagerly admits how dire his situation once was, but he also assures you that anyone and everyone not only can get out of debt, but should get out of debt.