I must say I have heard people talk about him before so decided to check out his website. I listened to his show and must say I'm impressed. Alot of what he says is similar to other things I've read but I love the investing aspect. He seems to be really big into investing. I remember reading the Tightwad Gazette that also said use the envelope system, buget, and write down all your purchases. This coming year I'm determined to stick with a budget and have the envelope system in place. I told dh that we have to get a better handle on our finances. Now we only have 2 bills and are going to pay both off next year. Then we will be debt free!

I'm really interested in his Total Money Makeover book. Is it good? What about the class? There aren't near me anytime soon but that does seem to change from time to time. I think I might talk to my religion director about doing a class at our church. Is the class worth the money? Just curious what others think. Even though we will have our debt paid off, I still think we need help saving as much as we can so we can stay out of debt. I also do have to work on an $1K emergency fund. Now we do have a lot of money in dh's trust fund which is over 6 months salary but we prefer to never touch this money but it's in place while we build-up one we don't mind touching. Does that make sense?

One quick question about mutual funds. What is the penalty for cashing out? I know for dh's we get charged with stock purchases and have to pay income taxes if we cash anything out of his. If we cash out too much then we can't get our EIC.

I've heard positive and negative things about TMM so I would reccomend borrowing the book from the library. That way, if it's not for you, you're not out any money

__________________
Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

I'm really interested in his Total Money Makeover book. Is it good? What about the class? There aren't near me anytime soon but that does seem to change from time to time. I think I might talk to my religion director about doing a class at our church. Is the class worth the money? Just curious what others think. Even though we will have our debt paid off, I still think we need help saving as much as we can so we can stay out of debt. I also do have to work on an $1K emergency fund. Now we do have a lot of money in dh's trust fund which is over 6 months salary but we prefer to never touch this money but it's in place while we build-up one we don't mind touching. Does that make sense?

I definitely think the class is worth it. I took the class and now have help two of my own.

I've never heard of anyone taking the class and regretting it. It's never been offered locally, so I can't say from personal experience.

I believe if a family takes his advice, they will win with money. He has a series of baby steps, the first one being to save $1,000 as the emergency fund, so that when a tire blows or the fridge needs a repair, you don't have to go into debt to have them fixed.

The next step is the debt snowball, I believe. He says you should take your debts and line them up from smallest to largest. His philosophy is that it's not the interest rate that's killing people, though that can be part of the problem. At the heart of it is the fact that the debt exists in the first place. He asserts that it's important to pay off the smallest debt first and then work your way up. If you can get a better interest rate, do, but the biggest psychological factor is to have a "win" under your belt asap, and if that means knocking off the $90 hospital bill that's at 0% interest before even touching the $220 Best Buy card (while still making MINIMUM payments), then that's what you do. He says going from having nine bills you owe, down to eight to seven to six to five.... is more powerful than taking a $14,000 credit card debt down to $13,910. He said that if you try to play the game strictly by the numbers and interest rates you'll soon lose interest and be worse off than ever before because you'll then feel like a failure.

The only thing I don't really practice (besides the envelopes... but I try to keep track of expenses in other ways) is the no credit card rule. He says - and I believe it is true - that statistics show that people spend 10 - 20% more if they use plastic than if they'd used cash instead. He says if you're having Combo Meal #6 that it's easier to say "Sure!" to the "Upsize that?" question because it's all going on the card and there is no "spending pain." Most of what we charge is our fixed expenses... the cable, phone, electric, etc. I also charge my eBay shipping, which is not something I'm apt to *up* because I'm using credit.

We do pay our cc off in full each month, and I like the rewards we've gotten. If a family doesn't have the discipline to do that, he's right - it's best just to forego the cc's and not have the stress of growing debt.

He can be heard online all the time at his website. They have a couple of weeks worth of shows archived, and an hour is downloadable from each show as a podcast.

If you want an FPU class, go talk to a local church, they get discounts on the material, their name gets on the website and people from all parts of town will come to the class. I went to my first FPU and it was not even held at my church and all the people in the classes were not from the church it was held in. Going to the classes is great, you get to talk to others get advice, learn do's or don'ts. We watch one man cut up 200 credit cards he and his wife had......for real. If you can't get a class started (once I went to a class I was able to get the church I attended then to do the classes) invest in the FPU kit. It is resource you will use over and over again and be able to share with friends or family.

P.S. I love Dave's show

I am not sure what you mean by this. Any dividends you earn from your mutual funds are taxable in the year earned (unless it is a tax free fund). But there is no penalty for "cashing out" or withdrawing funds, just like there is not a penalty for taking money from your savings account. Or are you talking about funds in an IRA? If that is the case you will pay a 10% penalty on withdrawls and any applicable income taxes.

__________________
Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

We have been following Dave's plan for some time now. If you can't get your church to offer the classes, consider purchasing the Financial Peace University class on DVD. I believe you will be inspired. It was a small investment considering the fact that we have been able to save more than ever despite a substantial cut in my DH pay. I am a believer in this system. Yes, the envelopes have to be tweaked for your use, but the budgeting will save you lots of money in the end. We keep a credit card for certain types of purchases, but it is always paid off within the 1st billing cycle.

Good Luck!