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

by Dave Ramsey

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...