Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide To Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University

by Dave Ramsey

2 But if money has the potential to be the worst area of our marriages, then it has the same potential to be the best area of our marriages. Agreeing on money unlocks so many doors to a strong marriage because money is rarely just about money. How we handle money in our relationships involves power, priorities, dreams, passions, and ultimately, our value system. The checkbook is just a little window into the marriage. You

All the parents I’ve ever gone to church with love to quote Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”5 It’s funny how many of them never carry that instruction over just one more verse to Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”6 It’s no accident that these two verses are side by side. Could it be that one of the most important things we can teach our kids is how to handle money? Absolutely! Parents, you need to understand something: someone is going to teach your kids about money. It will either be you, or it will be a shady car dealer, a credit card pusher on your child’s first day at college, a get-rich-quick infomercial pitchman, or just some clown who’s after their money. If you want to protect your kids, you need to send them out into the world with some knowledge. Following in Your Footsteps When my oldest daughter, Denise, was in preschool, the brave (or crazy) teacher put her little feet in wet paint and then had her step onto some matting. Under those little prints she wrote, “I’m following in your footsteps.” That’s a sobering thought for most parents. I kept that plaque on my desk for years to remind me that my kids are watching me. They’re going to do what I do. They’re going to handle money the way I handle money. If I talk with my spouse, make a plan, spend, save, and give with some intentionality behind it, that’s what they’ll do. If I live pay...

I bet this sounds like the start of most of the marriages you know. We usually forget, though, that debt has not always been a way of life. In the scope of American history, debt is still relatively new. Our great-grandparents pretty much believed debt was a sin! They thought it was morally wrong. As a matter of fact, I have an old Sears catalog from 1910 that says plain as day, “Buying on credit is folly!” Can you imagine Sears telling you that today? Sears wasn’t alone in the anti-debt stance, either. Have you ever wondered what the “J.C.” stands for in J.C. Penney? It’s named for the founder, James “Cash” Penney. He never allowed credit to be offered in any of his stores while he was alive. It was only after his death that credit cards and store credit slipped into J.C. Penney’s business. And now, old James “Cash” is spinning in his grave.

Henry Ford hated debt so much that he didn’t allow the use of credit at Ford Motor

Company until ten years after the other carmakers were making car loans. With Henry long gone, Ford Motor Credit is now a huge part of the family business. So our great-grandparents thought debt was a sin. Our grandparents weren’t quite as strict, but they still thought it was really stupid and only borrowed on a few things. In 1950, Frank McNamara changed the whole financial landscape of the country with a little piece of plastic called Diner’s Club. He had made deals with several restaurants in New York City, who all agreed to accept this single...

Here are five guidelines

1. Wait overnight.

2. Consider your buying motives.

3. Talk to your spouse.

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