This past weekend I had the opportunity to take a long road trip. I was alone so I brought my CDs of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. I listened to at least 10 hours of Dave talking about money and finding financial peace. I still have about 5 CDs in the series to go, but I was really pleased that I was able to listen to more than half of the series.
Listening to Dave’s program really got me thinking. If I am trying to be prepared in all aspects of my life, shouldn’t my finances and preparing for retirement be a big priority? It was mentioned that somewhere around 50% of Americans have less than $25,000 in retirement. That is kind of a big deal. Anyways, I mainly just wanted to talk about the first step in Dave’s program. He divides everything up into “baby steps” and baby step number one is to have a $1,000 emergency fund built up that is in a safe place where you will NEVER TOUCH IT. If that safe place needs to be it’s own separate bank account then so be it. If it needs to be rolled away stuffed under your mattress, so be it. The best option would probably be a secure safe in your house.
But despite where you decide to store this $1,000 emergency fund, make sure that it remains untouched because you never know when you will really really NEED to use it. I began listening to Dave Ramsey a few years ago, so I already had this step finished, but I am really glad that I listened to it again so that it refreshed my memory on how important it is to have a small emergency fund like that. In the future look for more posts on this matter, because being prepared financially is very important and practical for the emergencies that could happen in your life.
I’ve actually been thinking about Dave Ramsey a lot lately. My wife and I watched almost half of the videos in the whole series.. Actually, we may have watched them all! I’m not sure. But he’s a genius and I really think his thoughts on finances are golden.
My wife and I had 1000 dollars in savings for a long time, then we caved. We’ve almost built it back up. It’s crazy how insecure we feel when we don’t have 1000 in savings. It’s just all about mindset and determination. Thanks for the reminder to be thinking about retirement and financial stability! It really helped.
Nate, it’s awesome that you have seen the videos! I borrowed them from my parents and watched about half of them as well, but then my parents took them back. I still have the full CD set though, and he is so entertaining to listen too. It’s almost like listening to a really smart comedian, who gives awesome advice, while at the same time makes you laugh. I am going to be working on all of his “baby steps” and I think it will really help us out in the future!