Pay your debts; save for tomorrow

While we watch the stock and bond markets bob and weave like the boxers in any one of the million Olympic bouts, consider some personal observations that might signal a healthy shift for our country.

For many years, I practiced baby boomer financial habits. I tried to make a good income by serving clients, give away as much or more than my fair share to my church and other charities and to keep the economy going by spending like there would always be more and better paydays to come.

That also meant I supported America’s financial industry by borrowing heavily at times against that future. Hey, it seems to have worked for the government since World War II! I was proud to do my part, making this industry into the behemoth it was, about 25 percent of the value of American business. But last year, financials began folding like a house of cards.

Somewhere on my trek into middle age, I started to become a little weary of running with the rats, looking to see where the infamous Joneses were on the infinite scale of conspicuous consumption. Although I still work plenty hard for my clients, family and charity, I had gradually decided the world economy could and would have to make it with a little less help from me.

Wipe out debt and build net worth – that became our new rallying cry. That shift of thinking and living has become quite comfortable in the past few years. We have not bought a new car in years and recently downsized our home.

Karen and I have just led a small group through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University under the auspices of our church. I first heard him speak at a financial advisers meeting in Dallas almost three years ago, and there is no question he is a master of marketing. But as I read his book and listened to him on the radio once in a while, his message rang true and has given me new hope, especially for our younger generations.

Young adults can see how much true joy and happiness boomers have had chasing our tails for things always newer and better. More of them seem to be rejecting that part of conventional wisdom, paying more attention to what their grandparents or great grandparents actually did. You know, save up for what you need and want. What a novel idea!

If you or someone you know might want to examine these revolutionary concepts, there are about 40 different places in Jackson County you can join into a small group for 13 weeks of financial common sense and practical how-to’s. In the way of disclosure, I am not connected to Dave Ramsey in any way – I am not even an Endorsed Local Provider in his network. But I have read about and seen in case after case that people are being freed from financial bondage by some education and peer support.

My hope is that as more and more Americans wake up and smell this reality coffee, we may actually begin to hold our government’s feet to the fire and demand some financial accountability. The Fed and Treasury may be able to print money like there is no tomorrow and paper the world with it, but we have just been getting a little taste of the effects in the cost of world oil and food.