Before you read any further you should know that I AM NOT a licensed financial planner or otherwise licensed/certified financial person. (Some would say that I'm certifiable crazy but that's a whole different story.) What I am is half of a partnership, the other half being my wife, Donna, that have finally decided to take control of our financial situation once and for all. For years I used the saying "I make the money and Donna spends the money." Sure it was funny and friends would laugh at it but in hindsight it was really unfair on my part to just dump all of the financial responsibility on Donna. Together we are managing our finances. If you are married and only one of you takes care of all of the bills please stop doing that and work together. Seriously, it will make things so much easier when you two share the same goals than if only one of you does all of the planning.
Our turn around came about innocently enough. A friend on Facebook posted that she was energized to get her finances in order after seeing financial guru Dave Ramsey speak in Atlanta, GA. I will be writing a lot about Dave Ramsey on this blog so even if you've never heard of him you'll find about about him here. Also if you are already familiar with him hopefully I'll be able to present my take on things that may be of interest to you. I asked my friend to give me a Reader's Digest summary of what she heard and why she was so excited. She did and included a recommendation to buy one of Dave's books. I bought it and started reading it. I told Donna about it and she started reading it as well. She got so into the book that she read the entire book in one night!
I've recently finished reading the book and Donna and I had pretty much the same reaction: We wish our parents had told us this stuff. We're not saying our parents weren't good parents or anything like that, far from it, we just wish we had heard about this stuff years ago. It's our hope that you will take the time to read what is written here and apply it to your own personal situation. Because we were so moved by what we read we've either gifted or bought copies of the book and given them to our children to read. We're doing for our children what we wish our parents had done for us. Between us Donna and I have four children: Terry, Steffanie, Zack Jr, and Andrew. Terry is married and serving in the Army out in Washington State. Steffanie just graduated college and lives in Georgia. Zack Jr lives with his mom in San Antonio, and Andrew is serving in the Marine Corps out in California. All of our kids are in their 20's. Terry is married and the others are single. Terry and Steffanie are Donna's kids and Zack Jr and Andrew are mine.
Over the next weeks/months/years/who knows? we plan to share with you our experience and those of our children. It's our hope that you'll find some of this information useful and will apply it to your own personal situation and that you will, in turn, pay it forward and share it with a friend or loved one. Do we have all of the answers? Will you get rich quick reading this blog? Is it easy? Is there a bunch of complicated math involved? The answer to all of those questions is NO!
No I don't have all of the answers - I'm just starting out on this journey and have much to learn. In fact I don't believe you can every know all of the answers.
No you will not get rich quick reading this blog - About the only ways I know to get rich quick are (1) inherit a bunch of money (2) marry into a bunch of money or (3) win the lotto.
No it's not easy - You'll second guess yourself when you make a tough decision but in the long run you'll be better off for making the tough decisions.
No there's no complicated math - If there were I wouldn't understand it so if I can understand it I'm sure you can too.
So there you have it. My introduction. Welcome and I hope you'll follow along with us and share your thoughts along the way.
