Today marks a significant milestone in a journey my wife and I began just over a year ago. Today we and I jumped from Step 2 to Step 4 of Dave Ramsey’s “The 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace”. I received my severance check from Micron and as soon as it cleared the bank I started paying off debts and putting money in savings. Here are the steps if you aren’t familiar with them and our status:
Put $1,000 in savings as an Emergency Fund
[Done - $2k – June 2007]
Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
[Done – July 2008]
Put 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
[Done – Four months – July 2008]
Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
[I’ve been contributing for 15 years – Currently at 7%]
College funding for children
[Have a small fund and am contributing a small percentage]
Pay off home early
[Currently paying 120% of the normal payment]
Build wealth and give!
[Giving was first on our list so we’ve been doing that – Building wealth will come last if at all]
Technically, I’m breaking the rules a bit but rules are meant to be broken, right? For example, I’m contributing to a college fund for Brendon even though I haven’t completed Step 4. I figure that it won’t do him much good if I start the college fund 5 years from now.
I wish that I could claim that I had done this the hard way through the sweat of my brow and long years of denying myself (not really) but, in fact, I have to give thanks to the Lord, good old Micron, and the patience and generosity of my new employer. I took my boss out to lunch today and thanked him personally for making this possible. Had he not been willing to wait 4 months for me to start my employment I would not have been able to do this for another couple years.
I am elated to free from all non-mortgage debt. This is the freedom that I know God wants us to live in and I pray he gives us the wisdom and discipline to stay here. If you’re debt-free then congrats! If not, I’d encourage you to start now.
Put $1,000 in savings as an Emergency Fund
[Done - $2k – June 2007]
Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
[Done – July 2008]
Put 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
[Done – Four months – July 2008]
Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
[I’ve been contributing for 15 years – Currently at 7%]
College funding for children
[Have a small fund and am contributing a small percentage]
Pay off home early
[Currently paying 120% of the normal payment]
Build wealth and give!
[Giving was first on our list so we’ve been doing that – Building wealth will come last if at all]
Technically, I’m breaking the rules a bit but rules are meant to be broken, right? For example, I’m contributing to a college fund for Brendon even though I haven’t completed Step 4. I figure that it won’t do him much good if I start the college fund 5 years from now.
I wish that I could claim that I had done this the hard way through the sweat of my brow and long years of denying myself (not really) but, in fact, I have to give thanks to the Lord, good old Micron, and the patience and generosity of my new employer. I took my boss out to lunch today and thanked him personally for making this possible. Had he not been willing to wait 4 months for me to start my employment I would not have been able to do this for another couple years.
I am elated to free from all non-mortgage debt. This is the freedom that I know God wants us to live in and I pray he gives us the wisdom and discipline to stay here. If you’re debt-free then congrats! If not, I’d encourage you to start now.
1 comment:
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