My story is not that unique, but I would be considered weird by most Americans.
Over eleven years ago, I began living the typical American life. I got a steady job, got married, purchased a home (with an almost 100% mortgage loan), and had one car payment. I knew enough about money to not do some really stupid things in life, but I didn't really have a strong foundation of financial knowledge.
Over a five year period, my wife and I had two children, sold our first home at a decent price, moved into a more expensive home, and I started a small business with a lot of debt. To say the least, my business did not go as planned, and I woke up one day having a Dr. Phil moment - "so how's that working for you?"
Around the same time I started my business, I happened to pick up in a local bookstore this obscure book called Financial Peace by some guy named Dave Ramsey. After I read his book, something inside me immediately resonated with Dave's message, and I started rethinking how we were doing our family finances.
A little over three years ago, we encountered some difficult life circumstances which really forced us to get "gazelle intense" as Dave would call it, and we began to focus with laser-like intensity on becoming debt free. We sold our home, used the equity to pay down almost half of our debt, got on a serious written, cashflow plan. Eighteen months later we became totally debt free and our net worth went from around -$100,000 to +70,000 during that time frame. We became focused on spending money on purpose with a wealthy mindset. It's time to do "rich people stuff" when it comes to spending money!
Even though giving, saving, and spending money with an intelligent, wealthy mindset is an important way to handle the money God has given to us, there is so much more to living the rich Christian life God has intended for us to live. This blog is my journey on that path to living that life.
