Finances

When we were first married we were doing well with our finances. We had money in the bank, no debt, and no credit cards. Then... we made some very foolhardy investing decisions. Have you ever heard the saying, “Look, before you leap”? Yeah, that's what we should have done. Instead we read a book or two and jumped in with both feet and all of our savings without throughly researching the investments. We wiped out our savings and racked up loads of debt that took years to pay off.

Thankfully we learned about Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.

1. Save $1,000 for an emergency fund, (and replace any money taken out)
2. Pay off all debt, (except the house) smallest to largest using the money you were paying on the smallest for the next...repeat...repeat...
3. Save 3-6 months of expenses in a fully-funded emergency fund (replace any money that is used)
4. Invest 15% of your household income for retirement
5. Save for the kids' college
6. Pay off your home early
7. Build wealth and give

It took years to pay off our debt and get a fully funded emergency fund. There have been times we had to use that fully funded emergency fund. It took time to rebuild it.

We are now working on Baby steps 4 - 6 at the same time. We do not yet have 15% going to retirement, but we have increased our savings and have a plan to get there. Alex is only a high school freshmen, but he is already submitting scholarships that he qualifies for and we have plans for him to take CLEP tests. We started paying extra towards the principle of our house, though we had to temporarily stop due to unexpected expenses this past year. We will start paying extra again next month.

It took years of sacrifice. We have a smaller home than many of our friends. We drive older vehicles. Yet, our only debt is the mortgage and some medical bills. We have a goal and a plan to achieve it. At this point we can look back on how far we've come and we can also look ahead to the finish line. It's closer than it has ever been.

Marie-Anne