Wednesday, September 14, 2011

You're Never Too Successful to Learn Something New

Financial Peace University is starting tonight at our church. I am beyond excited, especially because my husband and I have the great honor of helping facilitate the class.

I am always a little bit shocked (and dare I say slightly offended) when people are dismissive of the class. I shouldn't be, I know. I'm working on that part. But it always seems the conversation goes like this:



"I'm so excited to start FPU!"


"Oh? I know someone who did that. As for us, we already have it together. We only have one credit card. And I have to have a safe car, but our payment is affordable. We got a great interest rate because we have great credit. But good for you that you're doing it."


Now I know, I know; this person doesn't mean to be as condescending as they are coming across. Really, the sad part is this whole conversation is a product of double ignorance on their part: ignorance of my financial position and ignorance of the freedom that comes with having no payments and cash in the bank.

It seems to me that often people try to defend *not* taking the class when I mention that we're doing it.

The whole thing reminds me of freshman English 102 and our first introduction to Greek tragedy and hubris: that age-old self-pride which tells the hero that he can do it all himself and ultimately-- without fail-- leads to his demise. It is not so much inability, but a refusal to learn. After all, it takes humility to learn; you must admit what you think is correct may not be so.

If you don't take Dave Ramsey's advice, you may still succeed with money. But if your attitude is that of "I have nothing to learn from anybody" you will almost certainly fail at life.

I encourage everyone to take this class. I believe everyone, no matter how successful, can learn something from it. But if you don't want to take the class, please don't act like you've got it all figured out and the rest of us poor plebeians should go ahead.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. So, what does FPU offer for somebody who's already completely debt free---not even a mortgage? (This is Brad, btw)

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  2. Lots, acutally. It can help you improve communication with your spouse about money (my husband and I are very similar in this regard, but it still helped bring clarity), improve understanding of your own relationship with money, gain insight on how to invest, how to negotiate purchases, what to do (and not to do) when saving for Jr's college... and that's a drop in the bucket. You hear from a multi-millionaire twice-over who did it wrong the first time, lost it all, and did it again with lessons learned.

    He shares no-nonsense wisdom (secular and Biblical) that's refreshing and entertaining. Even thought we're pretty far through the babysteps (had to backtrack to BS3 because of an unexpected $5k repair), I am really enjoying going through the beginning again. The videos are fun and funny, and I get to share hope and encouragement those who are just beginning by sharing some of our stories.

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