Financial Peace University - Dave Ramsey

I am going to be a table leader at the upcoming Financial Peace University at Westside Family Church in Lenexa, KS. The class I will be at is on Tuesday nights starting in June. (See information below) I am sure that you might have heard our Dave Ramsey story before, so I'll tell you a new one.

This week, my Jeep's starter went out. In the past, my life would have been devistated with the repair costs. I would have put off the repair until I had the money. I would have had trouble sleeping because I knew that I was going to bounce checks. I would have put the repair on my credit card.

Today though, I live a different life. Even though I still have not completed all the steps from Financial Peace University, I plan on doing so soon. Thanks to these steps, my wife and I have $1000 in an emergency fund plus another $500 in a car emergency fund. It was no big worry when the car didnt start. This time I procrastinated getting it repaird because I wasn't concerned, not because I didn't have the money. It's an wierd feeling to no longer worry about car issues... I like being weird!

Financial Peace University
91 Days To Beat Debt & Build Wealth!
FPU is a video driven 13-week life-changing program that empowers and teaches you how to make the right money decisions. To achieve your financial goals and expirence a total money makeover. It will be offered on site at Westside Family Church. Material cost is $96.25 (couples share) and should be ordered through the church since the materials are more expensive direct from Dave Ramsey. See a Video

Lenexa Campus - 8500 Woodsonia Drive
1. Sundays beginning June 3 from 6:30 to 8:30PM (Orientation on May 20 at 6:30 PM)
2. Tuesdays beginning June 5 from 7:00 to 9:00PM (Orientation on May 22 at 7:00PM)

Overland Park Campus - WFC Offices at 9154 W 135th St
Sundays beginning June 3 from 7:00 to 9:00PM (Orientation on May 20 at 7:00PM)

For More information visit Dave Ramsey's Website or Westside Family's registration page if you are ready to register. Also, you may contact Niki Ezzell at nezzell@westsidefamilychurch.com or 913-890-4243.

Gas Prices (First Post of Many)

Well... there are a milion issues when we talk about gas prices. While there are a ton of issues that effect Gas prices, the issues are all Supply and Demand related. Sometimes even a 1% possibility of a supply change will cause our pump prices to increase.

According to CNBC... Gas prices are at an all-time high, averaging over $3.07 per gallon, the previous record high was $3.03 on August 11, 2006.

Things to know about Gas:

• There are two different supply chains.
  -The supply of Crude Oil from various sources including the Middle East.
  -The supply of refined Gasoline.
  This is the fundimental part most people don't understand. It is possible for us to have a great supply of oil and still not have enough refined gasoline, because that Crude oil is shipped to us and we have to convert it to gasoline for use.
• While we blame the Middle East for many of our gas supply problems, in reality/as of late, our gas prices are more effected by local production.
• When Crude Oil is refined, the oil is broken down into:
  -Natural Gas
  -Propane Gas
  -Automotive Gasoline (Liquid)
  -Kerosene (Liquid)
  -Jet Fuel (Liquid)
  -Disel Fuel (Liquid)
  -Industrial Fuel Oil (Liquid)
  So, when "gas prices" are up, usually all of the the above are effected in one way or another.
• The gas in the pump has already been paid for, the price you pay is based on what the station owner believes they will be paying to replace the gas you take.
• Supply and Demand says... When supply is up and demand stays the same, the price will go down. When deman is up and supply stays the same, the price will go up.
  In this graph, you can see that our demand [consumption - red line] is higher than last year's demand. Assuming that production is the same then, the prices must be higher than last year. (And they are) Graph: AG Edwards - Gasoline Chartbook - 05-02-2007 - Eric Wittenauer

Find Gas Prices in your Area at: Gasbuddy.com A cool new feature of the web site is the Gas Temperature Map.

When Will Gas Prices Affect Your Driving Habits?
When asked, “How high will gas prices need to get before you drastically alter the amount of driving you do?” 42% of respondents stated that they had already altered their driving, 25% said they would alter their driving at $4 per gallon, 20%stated they would alter their driving at greater than $5 per gallon and 13% said they would alter their driving at $5 per gallon.

When was the last time you READ your Bills?

The Wall Street Journal had a blog post yesterday by Nathan Koppel about a Sanford Professor that did a study about billing abuse by attorneys. He pulled 5000 attorneys and found that many of them pad the bills and preform "unnecessary" tasks to bump up the rate.

Ross polled 5,000 attorneys from various walks of life throughout the country, and 251 responded. He worked with Reed Business Information to generate a random sampling of lawyers who work at law firms. Two-thirds said they had “specific knowledge” of bill padding ─ a finding virtually identical to one reached by Ross in a 1995 billing survey. Also, 54.6% of the respondents (as compared with 40.3% in 1995) admitted that they had sometimes performed unnecessary tasks just to bump up their billable output.

Now this post is about Attorneys, but really... how often do you read your bills in detail? Do you know what your credit card rates are, would you know if they changed one month? Do you know what your banking fees are and if you were charged $2 extra for "POS Debit Fee" would you have any idea if you were supposed to?

Having worked in the phone industry, doing contract negotiation, I know that many of the "regulatory fees" are actually phone company charges that stay right in the phone companies pocket.

Chances are you are being ripped of by someone! You should read your bills in detail every month, often, if you pay the bill then you agreed to it's contents and getting credits for longstanding "mistakes" is very difficult.

My recommendation, start negotiating more of your bills. When you call and discuss your utility bills and what you can do to get it reduced you will learn a lot about what you're actually getting billed. Take this negotiation as an opportunity to learn about the business, the better educated you are the better you will understand how to protect your budget. And... think of it as a game, what's the worst that could happen?

Ask questions that have nothing to do with why you are calling... get out of your comfort zone... ask the phone rep if he is paid by the sale or just hourly. Ask if they get in trouble for discounting your bill. Ask if they have a record of how many credits they have already given you, even better, if they have a limit. (annual, monthly, daily, percent) All of these little tid-bits of information will drive you to better negotiate and better understand your bill so you won't get ripped off anymore.

I'll give you one more tip... read these... I know the bill you are negotiating might not be your cell phone bill but read these posts they will give you a real understanding about how customer service reps are paid and think.

• 18 Confessions Of 2 Former T-Mobile Reps
• 10 Things We've Learned From 'Confessions of A Wireless Sales Rep'
• 8 Confessions Of A Former Verizon Sales Rep
• 7 Confessions of a Cingular Sales Rep
• 6 Confessions Of A Former Sprint Sales Rep
• 11 Confessions of a T-Mobile Sales Rep
• 8 Confessions of an Alltel Sales Rep

AAA Fuel Cost Calculator

So you are out of debt and deserve a trip. (Because you saved up for it.) How do you budget your fuel costs? The AAA has a new solution for you, a Fuel Cost Calculator.

Just enter your start and end point and then your type of vehicle.

FuelCostCalculator.com

PS. "That is one fine automobile."

Are You Debt Free?

You'll find out quickly that I am a fan of Dave Ramsey. While he may not use the best mathematics to determine what your best option, he knows people, he helps you pick the best option for YOUR life. If you haven't had a chance to listen to him on the radio, pick up one of his books, attend one of his classes, or see him live you really should do so.

My wife and I took the class as a recommendation from our Financial Advisor. I was talking to him one day and explaining my money problems and housing arrangement. I told him that my wife and I were wanting to purchase a house but our money was dictating what we could afford. (A very real statement.)

He said, "have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey?" He explained that he is actually one of Ramsey's "Endorsed Local Providers" and that people come to him for financial advise by referral from Ramsey, a radio money guru. He suggested I pick up his book or CDs and give him a try.

Shortly after that my wife and I took a trip to Iowa and listened to the first 4 CDs during the trip. We were amazed at how real Ramsey is and how much we were doing wrong. We decided then that starting September 1 our life was going to be on purpose. Today, we are not out of debt, but we have a fire in us to do so. Since that date we attend the Financial Peace University class at a local church and we have really come to love sharing the program.

Try listening to him free online, listen to him on the radio, read a book (you haven't done that in a while), attend a class, or go see him LIVE... it's a life changing experience.

If you have taken the class you might enjoy this link, a summary of his investing class.

PS. While it seems like I'm trying to sell you something here, you should know that I do not have advertisers and I am only posting this with your best interest in mind. In the interest of full disclosure, I do receive a gift card when you purchase books from Amazon.com through this site. I plan to use those gift cards to buy more books to evaluate for future posts. Thanks for your support.