Debt is not a subject people like to talk about but I believe it is very important and life giving to understand the significance of money. Statistically the U.S. consumer debt is at $11.4 trillion which includes mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans. It is hard to do anything as a young person, for many college students in order to get a degree without coming out with school loans is impossible and most first time home buyers have extortionate mortgage rates.
I am weirdly passionate about being a good steward of money. My parents played a vital role in preparing me for future financial planning, we were given pocket money as kids earning it through household chores and when we turned thirteen years old we were given an allowance each month. I learned that money wasn't free and that I had to earn it which in turn gave me a good sense of work ethic. Having an allowance brought a lot more responsibility, there were more stipulations we had to tithe (give to the church) 10%, save 15%, and only then we could do whatever we wanted with the remaining 75%. My parents still paid for essentials but anything extra like going to a movie or buying a pretty dress or getting a Starbucks drink all came out of our own money. My parents were gracious taking time to teach us about the banking system and even bending the rules sometimes when we asked for an advance.
Twenty seven years later I am proud to say that I never had debt as a single woman, I never wanted to owe someone and more importantly wanted to learn to live on what I actually had earned. After my husband and I married we began the task of paying off a school loan and an auto loan which combined were under $30,000 which is very small debt considering most others in the same situation. In less than a year we have managed our money very cautiously, living by a budget that is very comfortable to our life style, save a good amount for emergency's and pay large portions of our debt off each month. I am happy to say we have cut our debt by almost 60% in only ten months and will be completely out of debt by the end of 2015.
Our secret, we made the decision to take Dave Ramsey's course before we got married so that we could learn how to budget but most importantly be on the same page financially. We took the time to sit down together to work out where our money would be spent, set realistic amounts and goals. I will say that I do not agree with all that Dave Ramsey teaches but he gives you a great foundation of understanding money and tools to begin individualizing your own finances. I can't emphasis enough that it is probably one of the best things we did for our marriage! Most couples say that the thing that they argue about the most is money, we purposefully did not want money to become a big issue in our marriage. Please feel encouraged to make your finances a priority in your marriages, get on the same page and I can promise it will be a game changer in your relationship.
Thank you to my parents who helped equip me financially when I entered the working world. Thank you to my husband for taking the time to make this a priority in our marriage that has made us stronger and is setting up a wonderful future for us.
