How would you like to have a plan to own free cars for the rest of your life, in addition to retiring rich? Sound too good to be true? That’s what my husband and I thought, too. That is, until we signed up for the Financial Peace University, taught by Dave Ramsey, at our church. We are halfway through the 13 week course, and I must say that I look forward to each week’s information-packed, money saving lesson (okay, you can call me weird or a geek, but I’m all about saving money and being debt-free).

     Having a past near-death experience, I could take Dave’s mantra of "Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else" to the extreme…in the negative way. I could "live it up" right now since I don’t know what the future holds. And, I’ve done this too. It doesn’t work. Living beyond your means and/or spending money you don’t have (or frivolously spending money you do have) doesn’t make for a stress-free lifestyle. Creditors may call, marriage problems ensure, and a selfish attitude of "I deserve this because I work hard" sets in.

    I’m guilty of using my VISA card to charge most purchases. While I pay off the balance every month, I tend to charge more than if I were to use my debit card. You see, we are more likely to charge more thinking that we will pay the bill when it comes in and the charge really isn’t that much (yea, right). Then we charge a little more at the next store, and the total amount due at the end of the month is more than we thought or budgeted for (yes, I used the "B" word). But, if we use our debit card when making a purchase, we are less likely to overspend as we know the money is coming out of our checking account. If the money isn’t there, we can’t buy the item. Besides, have you ever tried to pay with cash instead of plastic? Harder to do, isn’t it? We don’t want to let go of our cash. It’s a mental thing. Credit cards make is soooo much easier. All we have to do is "swipe" our card. We don’t have to hand over our hard-earned cash and never see it again.

     Dave provides great teaching and gives a plan on how to tell your money where to go, not it telling you. He also goes into depth about putting a plan together for budgeting when both spouses have different personalities, how to become debt-free, being aware of the excellent marketing strategies that are designed to part you with your money and go into debt, best retirement and life insurance options, and much more. I’m learning that choices I make now will affect my future wealth. And, I don’t know about you, but I want to live with financial peace and retire rich.