Dave Ramsey Town Hall For Hope

I attended Dave Ramsey's Townhall For Hope last night at our church. Here are the notes that I took during the seminar.

For many years, we have experienced unprecedented prosperity.

The current situation may lead to a spirit of fear, which is not healthy. Pray!

Government interference is a dumb idea.

John Maynard Keynes & FDR came up with the New Deal
- Full employment can be maintained only with government involvement
- Government should promote public works projects and hire the unemployed
- Government must deficit spend

Many people believe the New Deal brought us out of the Great Depression. However, WW2 was actually more responsible - Pearl Harbor 12/7/41

Milton Friedman challenged Keynes, saying the depression was produced by government mismanagement.

Our hope is in capitalism.
- Political Freedom
- Economic Freedom
- Moral Restraint - serve your clients, do not milk them dry

Sometimes life is not fair. It can hurt or be scary.

We must love people enough to allow them to fail. When people have no chance to fail, they also have no reason to do their best.

Perseverance leads to success.

Money is not like a cake, it is more like a candle. No has become a lost word.

Personal Responsibility
- Take care of your house
- Feed your kids
- Work

For some, prayer has become a code for I don't want to face reality.

You can pray while you are working.

The Bible says the diligent shall prosper.

Children of the Great Depression were permanently changed and became more responsible with money.

During the Great Depression, unemployment was 25% and the market was down 89%. Today unemployment is 8.5% and the market is down 57%. 2009 is not as bad as 1974 or 1982.

Investing & 401k
- 100% of all 15-year periods, the market makes money.
- Today's market is artificially low.
- Since 3/9/09, the last 7 weeks, the market is up 22%.

Where there is no vision, the people shall perish.

Continue to invest
- The market
- Real estate

(Opinion) Housing will lead us out of the recession
- Interest is under 5%
- On sale everywhere
- Pent up demand

Foreclosures
- 60% have been in 5 states
- 35% have been in 35 counties

Baby Steps
- $1000 in the bank (short term emergency fund)
- Get out of debt
- 3-6 month emergency fund

Who to trust
- someone with the heart of a teacher
- not someone trying to sell

Banking
- No big banks
- Small community bank of local credit union
- For a better level of service

Invest in things that go up with inflation
- Growth stock mutual funds
- Real estate

Gold is a crummy investment. Gold is at a 176 year high.
- From 1833 to 2001, gold increased 1% / year
- From 2001 to now, gold increased 15% / year
- Gold is now volatile (like the .com bubble)
- Gold has not been a medium of exchange in a failed economy since the Roman Empire
- After hurricane Katrina, the medium of exchange was goods & services (water & gas)

Starting a business
- You know where you stand, as all the weak competitors are already driven out.

Jobs are a symptom of the recession, not the cause.
- New jobs alone will not solve the problem.
- Unemployment is only up 3.5%

Bible - Those who plow should do so in hope.

Three perceptions for those struggling with hope.

1) Get up, take action, get moving
- Your best (only) chance at success is you
- A great place to go when you are broke, to work!

2) Don't participate in loser talk
- Read & associate
- Dan Miller - 48 Days To The Work You Love
- Who Moved My Cheese
- The average millionaire can't tell you who got thrown off the island.

3) Learn to give again
- Money or time
- We could give the government out of business.

One week of dinners for 4 from Aldi

You will spend about $50 for these 7 dinners. That's about $1.80 a dinner not taking into account the leftover food. You will have a stack of precooked breakfast sausage, a couple servings of turkey ham, 1/2 bag chicken nuggets and at least 4-6 hamburger patties/buns leftover for the next week. Also a stack of precooked breakfast sausage.

This menu includes meat at 6 meals. You can save a lot more by substituting spaghetti for one of the more expensive beef meals.

Menu

Riblets, corn, applesauce, instant mashed potatoes.

Chicken nuggets, instant mashed potatoes, applesauce, carrots.

Stew meat with broth and sour cream, bread and butter, lettuce, peaches.

Turkey ham, mac and cheese, green beans, pears.

Hamburgers on buns, French fries, peaches.

French toast sticks, sausage, pears.

Chicken Kiev, mashed potatoes, green beans, applesauce.

Shopping list

1.29 sour cream

1.99 bag lettuce

.99 each 2 boxes instant mashed potatoes

.95 each 3 jars applesauce

1.29 each 2 cans pears

1.29 2 cans peaches

.49 each 2 cans green beans

.49 can carrots

1.69 French fries

.49 can corn

3.80 turkey ham

4.99 stew meat

2.69 rib pork patties in BBQ

3.99 chicken nuggets

.99 each 4 chicken Kiev

6.99 hamburgers

3.89 sausage

.35 box mac and cheese

1.99 French toast sticks

.79 bread

.85 hamburger buns

A Phone Call That You Need to Make

By Christian Hill

The average American has at least one credit card and carries a balance of more than $1,700. Faced with mounting minimum payments on their cards and shrinking monthly budgets, what is a consumer to do? Answer: Call your credit card company and negotiate a lower interest rate.

Credit card delinquencies are mounting with the downturn in the economy. (Interestingly, the two states with the highest foreclosure rates, Nevada and Florida, also lead the nation in credit card delinquencies.) Through July, the annualized rate of credit card charge-offs rose 33 percent compared to last year, according to Moody's Investor Services. At the same time, the Payment Rate Index, which reflects borrowers' ability and willingness to repay credit card debt, dropped.

Faced with increasing delinquencies, credit card companies are more willing than ever to lower your interest rate to make sure you'll be able to keep current. The last thing they want is for you to fall behind on your payments and have another past-due account on their books.

[Ed. Note: Protecting your wealth is about more than investing. It means keeping your debt under control, too.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, an e-zine dedicated to making money, improving your health and quality of life. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.