Gabriella & Trevor McLaughlin
27 November 2020
The way to get out of debt — and stay out of the red — is to run as fast as a frightened gazelle runs away from a starving cheetah.¹
Alright, so, we can’t take the credit for that piece of sage advice. Rather, this is the folksy, formulaic answer for financial freedom provided by Dave Ramsey, a best-selling author, popular national radio personality, and personal money-management expert who has been referenced in several Daily TLC blogs thus far.² His point is clear — you need to work hard to get out of debt and run away from debt as if your life depends on it.
As a bright-eyed, soon-to-be-married couple, we thought we already had the solution for managing money handled. Perhaps this is just me (Trevor) talking, but we already felt all set financially to get married, and we were under the pretense that we didn’t need any help. We were both gainfully employed as teachers, and we had done well with saving money as single, young adults. So, what else could we learn? Well, we were proven wrong almost immediately once we sat down to take part in Financial Peace in early 2019.
The Financial Peace course, designed by Dave Ramsey, lays out a path to live debt-free and establish good, Bible-based financial principles applicable at any stage in life. Our specific Transformation Life Church course, led by Nancy Luquette and Pastor Jim Armpriester, helped us readjust our financial bearings and set our path to begin living the abundant financial life that Jesus calls us to. Ramsey’s program allowed me to see the direct biblical connection between our money and God’s ways.
Photograph via Canva
I (Trevor) erroneously thought that tithing is all God asks of me, and then I can do whatever I want with the rest. How wrong was I. Honestly, I never “went crazy” with my money — I spent my “fun money” conservatively (compared to my peers), and I saved most of what I earned. Yet, the “Parable of the Talents” hit me hard. I encourage you to read it to see what type of “servant” you are (Matthew 25:14-30). I always thought I would be satisfied with being the “saver.” But after diving into this parable, I learned that it is the servant who buried his one talent under the guise of “saving and protecting it,” who is called “wicked and slothful.” Wow. I couldn’t believe that this precept of “saving” for selfish reasons could be called wicked. Saving is not inherently evil; yet, God calls us to a higher standard. Jesus tells us, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:29) Remember, our money is just on loan to us from the Lord. It is all His.
¹ Ramsey Solutions. (2020). What is Gazelle Intensity? Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/debt/what-is-gazelle-intensity
² Ramsey Solutions. (2020). About Dave Ramsey. Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/pr/about-dave-ramsey
Furthermore, finances should not be handled by just one person in a marriage — even if one person is “better” at it. Gabby had been a much more faithful steward of her finances throughout her life. Yet, as our two lives — and our financial philosophies — intersected in marriage, we both needed to fully invest in God’s kingdom. While nothing is completely black and white, we needed to establish who was the “free spirit” and who was the “nerd” early on, which allowed us to better align our financial futures with a kingdom mindset. We realized that I was the “free-spirit” spender (thanks to a bachelor’s life of going out to eat all the time), and Gabby was the “nerd” (she has a natural disposition to being more budget-conscious).³
There was one more important lesson we learned in Financial Peace. As Dave Ramsey puts it, “Yes, you have lived like no one else, and yes, it is now time for you to live and give like no one else.”⁴ This is our favorite part. Our marriage is dedicated to the Lord, therefore our future is dedicated to His will. We hope to live sacrificially and open up every aspect of our lives to better align with God’s plan and purpose. So our plan now is to live like no one else. We don’t need the nicest and newest things as our culture tells us. We don’t need to go to brunch every weekend like our trendy peers. Rather, we want to live like no one else now, so that we can give like no one else continually. We want to be able to invest in our family together, and when we see a need, we are prepared to give, according to God’s will.
Footnotes:
1 Ramsey Solutions. (2020). What is Gazelle Intensity? Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/debt/what-is-gazelle-intensity
2 Ramsey Solutions. (2020). What is Gazelle Intensity?. Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/debt/what-is-gazelle-intensity
3 Ramsey Every Dollar. (2020). What’s your budgeting personality?. Retrieved from https://www.everydollar.com/blog/whats-your-budget-personality
4 Ramsey Solutions. (2020). Start living like no one else. Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/retirement/start-living-like-no-one-else
Helpful Resources
What’s Your Budgeting Personality? Take Our Fun Quiz!, https://www.everydollar.com/blog/whats-your-budget-personality, everydollar.com, Ramsey Every Dollar
Every Dollar App, everydollar.com, Ramsey Every Dollar
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³ Ramsey Every Dollar. (2020). What’s your budgeting personality?. Retrieved from https://www.everydollar.com/blog/whats-your-budget-personality
⁴ Ramsey Solutions. (2020). Start living like no one else. Retrieved from https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/retirement/start-living-like-no-one-else