Back in 2011 and just days before my family was due to embark on a much anticipated trip to Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York, nasty blisters of poison ivy appeared on three of us (me included) that we were sure had come from playing with our wiener dog after he had enjoyed some time in the woods. I was the lucky one who got to take Prednisone, but since it caused me insomnia I was stuck sleepless reading a book until 1 or 2:00 a.m. each night of our trip. I had only brought one book, which I was looking forward to reading, but I didn’t expect that I would hardly be able to put it down. It was Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, not a romance novel, weird I know! I was sucked in, no kidding, and my mind was running circles as I clicked into all of the money management concepts that I had been wanting to learn more about for some time. We had been struggling with our budget since we made the decision to enroll our kids in Christian school back in 2007, and we hadn’t been able to sell the home we purchased in 2006 due to the housing market crash that began in 2008 (did you get all that?). Dave Ramsey’s concepts were making a lot of sense. The following year, my husband and I did Financial Peace University together, and that’s when the big changes began.

As a certified Dave Ramsey Master Financial Coach and mom to three kids who will be out on there own soon, I am especially passionate about teaching wise money management skills to teens and young adults. This is often the time of life when bad impactful money decisions are made and bad spending habits develop – often because there was no actual teaching of wise money concepts in the home – and these bad decisions, sadly, can take many years to overcome! I want young people to know in advance that when they are paying most of their income to lenders, they can’t honor God well with their finances, and they miss out on some terrific opportunities they were never supposed to miss out on…because of debt!

Download a copy of How Much Do You Need to Live? for college age/young adults HERE.

Here is my SUPER SEVEN list of financial coaching topics I like to address with teens and young adults:

Get a downloadable copy of SUPER SEVEN topics HERE!

1. How do you currently view and manage your money (i.e. Do you view it as hard or easy to manage?, Do you like to spend it all?, Do you like to save it all?, Do you like to spend some and give some?), and why do you believe you approach money this way?
2. What is your current list of financial obligations? (car payment, insurance, gasoline, monthly phone plan, rent, student loans, etc.)
3. What are your current life goals or priorities, and what do you think you will need financially to reach those?
4. Recommended percentages for where your dollars should go as you start to run your own household
5. The crazy bad impact student loan debt is having on borrowers’ lives (scary!), and how much student loan debt might be okay for your situation
6. How to live a lifestyle that doesn’t create debt (hooray!) This is about creating a budget that works for you USING THE 10/10/80 PLAN and actually sticking to it.
7. Enjoying life with what your income provides rather than supplementing with credit cards – living content within your means, you have a choice.

Download a copy of my DEVASTATION OF DEBT printable HERE.