Financial Peace according to Dave Ramsey

When I first started this blog (or more accurately, when Rose signed me up for a blog) I had no idea there was this whole bloggy world out there. In the beginning I spent a lot of time searching other blogs to see what was going on,what is this blogging. I think Rose mostly signed me up so she would not have to listen to all my stories.

There is a funny midwest gal - www.coalcreekfarm.com - that I found when following the links from a house restoration blog. On her site she had a corner about managing finances, how they were doing it. She talked of going to this financial peace university with her husband, and called the guy that did it Damn Ramsey. There is no Damn Ramsey when you google, but there is a Dave Ramsey. I visited the website, and got a couple cd's off of ebay of him talking. This month I signed up for one of his local classes (he is not there, they are usually facilitated by churches.)It is only the cost of the books for the class. I bought mine off ebay for 40, you can get them through the church or website for around $100. You go watch a video for an hour, then discuss for an hour. These classes are all over. It is a great thing for couples, and would have been helpful for Dennis and I at any point in our marriage. Budgets, retirement, debt, basic how to manage money presented in an empowering easy to digest entertaining manner. The energy is high, the people are kind, and boy, do people get in financial hot water. I am lucky that at this point we have no debt other than the house I am sitting in, but that was not always the case. I am taking the class so I don't ever live in debt again, especially since my income is going to take such a hit when the divorce papers are signed. Rose and I were talking about a Toyota Highlander commercial that she likes, and I do not. It is a young kid telling his ma, and his carpool ma, what a cool car the Highlander is, and how it fits him since he is cool. And their old minivan is not cool. It makes wanting something for how it looks legit in a kids eyes. I am trying to teach the kids want vs. need. It is a challenge.

Gushy Post on TDAmeritrade

Part of my visit to the financial advisor Irene was that she did a step-by-step blow by blow detailed account of how to proceed with my sloppy retirement accounts.
The first step was to open ROTH IRA's through Vanguard, TDAmeritrade, or wherever.
I liked Vanguards website, but she highly recommended TDA so I thought I would start with them and if I didn't like them, just switch out.
My first instruction from Irene was to open a non-deductible IRA account. That was #1 on the list "Open an IRA" .
I set up an account and funded it and then was sitting on some sort of stock buying page. Huh? Went back and saw that I had opened an individual investment account. I messed up my first instruction, the very first thing the website asks you is: what type of account do you want to open? My choices : individual, joint, or IRA. My instructions :open a damn IRA. My fingers and brain : opened an individual.
Dangit. So talked to automated TDA fellow Tom who told me to open another account and just transfer the funds. I did not want a fee assessed, so called the 800 number for a person to confirm since I seem to be a little "following instructions challenged" this evening.
A pleasant fellow answered the phone who gave his first and last name. He walked me through all sorts of things on the website, and we chatted of security password software, his wife, Trader Joe's, family and medical research. He clarified what I needed to do, and in what order. He is sending me something to sign, as I send him off other signatures.
This was the most amazing introduction into sending your money off into the internet ether. He was helpful, patient, and answered all of my repetitive sloth-like questions about what the heck I was doing.
If I just had someone calm and knowledgeable like that all the time about everything...
"OK, now I opened the leaking generator and fuel is shooting across the yard, what do I do now?"
"I just hit my truck with my minivan, is it better to pay out of pocket or tell insurance about this and file a claim?"
and it would all be taken care of with a signature and a pleasant conversation. My life would be so much easier. Who can I talk to about this?

Financial Advice and Divorce

I went to a financial advisor yesterday. Looked up one that is a member of NAPFA, since they are fee-based only, and their advice is not affected by any commissions they may receive. The downside is since they do not receive those commissions, they charge a fairly high hourly rate. BUT, the advice is invaluable.

She rolled into talk of money markets, EFT, stocks, bonds, short term, long term on and on and on and my brain glazed over. My eyes were appropriately making eye contact and head nodding at the opportune moment, but my brain went far far away. I figure by the end of all this I will completely understand these concepts, but yesterday I was listening to a language I don't speak.

Then to throw in the upcoming divorce, and how to divide monies and responsibilities and bank accounts and ...

again, on and on and on.

Image: Totally unrelated empty MalWart interior. My financial advisor works out of a very nice waterfront home. Not Walmart.