by The Kids & Me Contributor Rick Hastings
Retired North Carolina CPA
We all know that finances are important in our lives just like learning to read, write and do arithmetic. However, our schools have failed to teach us the proper use of money. I would love to have each of you take the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Course [find a class here: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/ramseyplus/financial-peace/class] which I believe would change your life from a financial perspective. If that isn’t possible for you, I will list some information and recommendations from his book, The Total Money Makeover:
"An overwhelming desire to purchase ‘things’ can be as addictive as alcohol, drugs or food. We must develop the habit of saying NO! Winning at money is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge. When we are head over heals in debt, we must realize that the problem is ME! In America, we have been tricked into living a debt lifestyle; the most aggressively marketed product in our culture today is debt! TV ads are designed to minimize the pain of purchasing their product by confusing you with “it’s only 69 cents per day; less than a cup of coffee” or ”it’s only 4 easy payments of $29.99”. Proverbs 22:7 “The Rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.” "
"Debt is not a tool for our benefit; it’s simply a method to make lenders wealthy, not you!! Typically, change comes when the pain of debt exceeds the pain of changing our addictive habits of spending limited financial resources unnecessarily. many times, the trap is thinking your value as a person is based in “stuff”. Ask the Lord to lead and guide you in your finances. Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” "