Financial Planning

An interesting thing happens when you try to explain to others how something works.  You actually learn how to do it better yourself.  When you are forced to explain the details of “why” you actually settle on a better fundamental understanding of a concept.

So when you get on your get out of debt journey by reading all of the best “how to” books and websites you’ll want to find someone who wants to learn how to get out of debt also. Dave Ramsey is a great finance guru who has helped many families and individuals get out of debt.

You could say that a lot of Dave Ramsey’s philosophy is based on Christian debt relief, but he has reached millions of people with his financial Peace University. Here are some tips you can use when helping others:

Create Lesson Plans
By creating lesson plans you’re able to stay away from the emotions of personal finance and stick to the mathematical fundamentals.  Keep the plans simple with a few math questions to teach the basic math, examples of budgets or calculating the costs of interest rates, and use of common tools like spreadsheets.  You’ll probably learn a few better tactics and techniques yourself.

Consult On Personal Situations
Beyond the facts are the real life scenarios.  Help counsel your student through their personal situation by seeing the real facts separated from their emotions.  Do it in a caring manner.  Then take advantage of the situation by reflection on your own situation and how your emotions are causing you to make poor financial decisions.

Accountability Partner
The last way teaching others helps is they become an accountability partner.  When you whip out the credit card for the widget you’ve always wanted you’ll think to yourself, “I’ll have to tell Jill that I bought this, I really don’t want to have to do that!”  That is usually enough to get you to not make the bad decision.

This can really help for debt problems and situations that can arise when you are faced with something you really want, but may not need. It is really hard to keep making good decisions time after time when no one knows what you are doing.

If all else fails, look for professional debt help, or consider a debt consolidation loan.