Financial Goals Group

     A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I had been at my mom and dad's house for our monthly financial group and said I would expand on that, so here is the expansion.  My parents, my siblings and I figured out by accident that we were all working on some financial goals.  My parents and I were both reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and when my mother was talking with my brother, he and his wife were doing some of the same things we were working on, so they looked Dave up and liked his plan.  It gave their goals an order to follow.  We decided we would meet once a month and talk about chapters in Dave's book and which steps we were on.  We would celebrate successes with each other and hold each other accountable.

     Let me explain a little about Dave's book.  He is a Christian, financial advisor who states, "We must manage our money or it will manage us."  He lays out a plan in 7 "baby steps" to help us get rid of debt and build wealth.  So we, along with my parents, brother and two sisters are working through the steps.  The steps are simple, but not necessarily easy.  However, after our first month, at our second meeting, all of us had completed our first set of goals.  Dave's first step is to get together a $1000 emergency fund as fast as you can...and he means fast.  This ensures when you start step number two, the "debt snowball", you are not tempted to use credit if you have an emergency.  I have to admit, this felt like a huge challenge to me, but I committed it to prayer and before our next meeting, Mike and I had our emergency fund and paid off a couple of small debts.  Wow!  Having a plan, goals, an amazing God and a meeting to report at, sure helped us get serious.
    I love the meetings, because all month, I know I am going to meet with people who love me and support me and I want to go with a good report.  At our last meeting, we had dinner, I brought each of the men a little bag with some of the goodies I got for free with my coupons and I even brought each family a bag of the groceries I used to cook the dinner, so they could make it at home...using coupons and only spending $2 on each bag of course. 
     I highly encourage you, if you have financial goals that you are not reaching, or maybe you are in a money mess like us, start a financial group and get  Dave's book.  The principles are sound and logical and the book ends with us becoming wealthy.  Choose people you trust and feel comfortable being open with and make it fun.  We are hosting at a different house each month, have dinner and then have cupcakes if anyone reaches a goal!  Let me know when you start a group!