1: Choosing Your Personal Finance Road Map

To see the examples in the episode checkout the free corresponding course https://moneyforaveragejoes.com/course/road-maps/

Only transcription below

Welcome to money for average Joe’s, a 12 part series on personal finance. I’m your host, Jason Weaver an average Joe. Episode number one is all about choosing your money roadmap, the path you want to take to protect your family, live better, have more money when it matters most.

0:26

So let’s dive right in. You must pick a personal financial path or risk, ruin, hardship, divorce and suffering throughout your life. Essentially, the path of least resistance is going to take you wherever it’s going to take you. And if you pick your own path for personal finance, you can’t control your setbacks, but you can measure your progress along that path. Many call this the goal of financial freedom, someone to just live better, or be able to work more on things they’re passionate about. But essentially you must pick your own path or else your end up wherever.

1:01

On a mission to Houston, Texas I learned very strongly how Satan can use money and poverty to destroy lives. I came to realize people can’t make time for God or their fellow man if they’re always chasing money. So personal finance is a journey. And I love this quote from CS Lewis,

Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken the wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any near. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road. And in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.

That’s basically your financial journey. You’re going to feel like you’re going back and forth sometimes. You know, some people refer to it as the rat race, or the grind or or whatnot, but You really have to step back from your current situation and look at that path. So I’ve created three roadmaps for you to be able to look at and I’ve talked to many financial, you know, people in the financial industry, essentially, and they say most people are very reactive. So they go to buy a car, and they realize they need insurance. So then they get insurance, right? So I’ve created this life to event action roadmap. So you can kind of look at where are you in your life? Did you miss a couple things? Are there some things that kind of matter that you need to consider? For instance, when I got an apartment with my wife, I didn’t have insurance in case there was a fire to replace my things, right. I’ve also created two other roadmaps that I’m really excited about that I haven’t seen were essentially the Free Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints courses compared to Dave Ramsey’s steps. His baby steps program. So you can compare via steps and then I’ve also created philosophy or topic. So on debt, what’s the comparison on paying down that debt? What’s the comparison on buying a home? What’s a comparison? You know, there’s a couple really great things there.

3:21

Let’s dive in just a teeny bit further into the life event to action plan or roadmap. And by the way, all these roadmaps are available at money forever shows calm, the show notes will be there. And then basically access to what I’ve created this free course where you can get in, you know, Episode One through 12. You can get access to every thing that’s printable, everything that’s downloadable, everything that’s even more helpful.

3:48

So when you get a car, you gotta get car insurance when you get married. Maybe that’s good time to get life insurance. Right when you have a kid. Maybe that’s a good time to start a college fund. very logical, very straightforward, even all the way till when you turn 60 maybe that’s the best time to get long term care insurance. So that way your family’s out of pocketing if you can’t support yourself or need to go into a nursing home, right but but when you when you get apartment or buy home, you need to get insurance as well, right? And when you get your first career job, maybe that’s the best time to start saving you three to six month emergency expenses and get something like disability insurance. So that way if you can no longer provide for your family, your family can still be supplemented.

Before I covered the Free Church course versus Dave Ramsey, I want to mention to my new listeners, I created this show as a supplemental guide. As you attend with your spouse, the free local group, personal finances course put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in your local area. But Could supplement any personal financial training. For instance, Dave Ramsey’s paid Financial Peace University group is also very good. I am not officially authorized or affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints or Dave Ramsey. I’m just sharing my personal journey and the best resources I have found. So let’s dive right into the differences between these two. So before addressing debt heavily, there’s some there’s some to really clear, distinct differences.

5:35

I see. You need a one month emergency fund for the church program, which means more security more likely that you’re not going to have to go into debt when you have a problem with Dave Ramsey. He’s he recommends $1,000 now Dave Ramsey is always going to be a little more about the motion than just the logic of paying down your debt or building wealth or whatnot because he says essentially his family People that don’t get that momentum, get that emotion and get mad about money and take control just never really make it. So another thing is the church one really emphasizes getting proper insurance. So Dave Ramsey does say get insurance but it’s not one of the steps stop. It’s not like a major step. But think about it. If you don’t have a car insurance, you get a car accident. Now you’re in major trouble that could derail you on your personal financial journey pretty quickly. Right? So the church emphasizes even getting proper insurance before paying down that debt crazy. Another place that’s different, and it goes back to that emotional thing is Dave Ramsey’s, gonna say only use the debt snowball. You can look that up and I’ll cover it later episode, but the church is gonna say you can also use Debt Snowball or the avalanche method which is the most financially sound quickest way to pay off your debt. But, you know, Dave would say you were never that great with money anyway, so just do the method that helps you feel like you get momentum the snowball, right? So I think the church does slightly better job of emphasizing when is it okay to use debt?

7:19

Now Ramsey is all about do anything from even student loans, to avoid student loans to getting jobs to getting scholarships, right, just like go on that complete opposite. Just try not to ever go into debt. But the church is a little more like, hey, if you get a modest home, not the one that you’re pre approved for modest, right, lower like 20% of your your income, is what you’d be spending and you have saved up your three to six month emergency fund and you’ve got a couple other things together, right. If you need transportation for your job, like you absolutely need it, okay. Then, you know, pay to Take the bus or to get a affordable used car might be reasonable. If you can’t add a pocket, you can’t make more money without having it right. Or to get better employment. So do what you can. But if you do need to take out like a government loan or something in the end to get through school faster, so you can get to that higher paying job and see a higher ROI, which I’ll cover in a future episode as well. That can be reasonable and more acceptable. Dave just focuses more on the other side, just don’t ever go into debt. Don’t use it, right. Another place where there’s kind of a find a difference, right? paying extra on your mortgage with the church program is okay. with Dave Ramsey, it’s always get a 15 year mortgage because you’re never going to pay extra on your mortgage now. He is a stats when he says that. So the average rich person really is never going to pay extra on their mortgage, I always just made my automatic payment for my mortgage more. And so I am paying every month more but I want to pay even more to pay it down quicker. And Ramsey even talks about that later in his you know steps when and if you can start paying off your home even faster than even the 15 years if you want to so that way you can take basically all that money you would have been paying for your home, your car, everything else that you would have been paying because you had debt and you were paying interest on you can now use to grow your your retirement to do other things in the churches is very much with that as well. Right.

9:48

Both of these financial education courses and groups essentially have way more in common than they they don’t and they Both will tell you that essentially not being unified with your spouse will ruin you financially, way more than anything else. They they both stressed the importance of going to the group so that way you can talk about money that’s not hidden in a closet that you can express feelings that you can feel supported, that you can have that help along the journey as you learn what should you do. Together, they both talked about retiring and investing a little bit. They both talked about having a safety net, not just living paycheck to paycheck, you know, essentially taking control of your money, your life and your financial, you know, experience and freedom so that you can have choices and opportunities to be able to help others when it comes along to build Help your children have a brighter future to be able to help your nation as well. Because if you’re in mounds of debt and not financially sound, that how are you going to help anybody else? or How are you helping even your nation be better, right? So, essentially, they just, they just have more in common. They’re they’re very similar. They’re very good.

11:24

And I think it’s because, you know, essentially true principles are true principles as people have come across and use money they’ve uncovered essentially, this is how it should be used. This is how it’s good for me, my family and the nation and helping other people.

11:45

Alright, well, that’s our episode. This was Jason Weaver with money for average Joe’s. By educating yourself and applying what you learn today, you’ll gain new skills, have fun and have more money for when it matters most. The show social media hashtag is MFA Joe’s no apostrophe. Please take the time to share anything you learned or liked with your friends. Show Notes and how to gain access to the resources from the nine principles course covered today can be found at money for average Joe calm. This show is for general education. I am merely a financial coach. I have not certified advisor or planner. I have also not reviewed your situation so this episode is not considered personal financial advice.

Have a good day and I will see you next time.

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