On Saturday night I led the first session of a basic personal finance training class I am offering through my church. I can’t claim to have written or developed the material. It is more accurate to say I compiled the material from the many books, blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, and Twitter accounts I regularly follow. I had facilitated two of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University courses over the past two years, but decided not to continue with his program because I wasn’t in complete agreement with some of his overly generalized advice. Some people would be better off investing more than 15% of their income rather than paying off their mortgage early, investing into their 401(k) up to the amount of their employer’s contribution while paying down their consumer debt, and reaping the benefits of cash rebates or travel rewards for responsible credit card usage. I also felt too much like an unpaid salesman for his materials, especially now that the program has moved to an annual subscription model where you gain access to the online materials, rather than a kit of material, for your $120 payment. I also didn’t feel the FPU material offered enough practical guidance for those who never learned to manage their finances. I’m not saying his program hasn’t been beneficial to a lot of people. There’s no arguing the impact he’s had. But I wanted to offer something different. So I began collecting and organizing the information I was learning from the aforementioned sources.
The graphic I included in this post references Matthew 7:13-14, which states (NIV translation):
[13] “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
I’m reminded of the popular saying, “Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” We often look for the wide gate or the easy path, for many reasons. It might be fear of the unknown and we find comfort following the herd since they appear to know where they’re going. We might see the more difficult path as additional work or effort we are placing upon ourselves. We have such pressure and stress applied from other sources in our lives, we can’t consider adding to our own load.
But managing your personal finances better doesn’t have to be very complicated. However, it does require dedication and consistency. Maintaining that effort isn’t easy at first. You must prioritize your time and muster the energy to complete the tasks. But like other tasks that require a certain level of focus and effort, such as driving a vehicle, after you have been doing it for a while the process becomes very routine and you’re able to execute the tasks so efficiently it begins to feel effortless.
Unlike the driving analogy, your finances cannot be placed on autopilot (see panel 4). If you are married or in a committed relationship where you have joint accounts, the ideal arrangement is pilot/co-pilot (see panel 1). Both individuals actively participate in the responsibilities. In some relationships, however, one person might be better at the technical aspects. In this case, a driver/navigator (see panel 2) arrangement might better suit your relationship, as long as both individuals agree on the destination and the overall route to get there. The final arrangement where one person accepts the entire burden while their partner isn’t even along for the ride (see panel 3) rarely bodes well for the relationship.
My goal is to improve the financial literacy of those that might stumble upon this blog. Although the individuals in the books, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, or Twitter posts may have found success with the strategies and techniques that I will reference, there is no “right way for everyone” and you may not experience the same level of success they did. On the other hand, their experience might help educate you on an alternative approach to what you’ve been taught or might be just the right approach to help you reach your goals.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I’m excited to share the materials I have gathered and will be sharing with those attending my class.
Minimalist YouTuber Matt D’Avella produced a great video that serves as a primer for the topics I want to help my students learn and we’ll be spending time going into detail in upcoming class sessions and in this blog on how to accomplish these Simple Steps to Financial Freedom.