Financial advice...on a Budget

Congratulations on your husband's promotion and raise! If you're not familiar with Dave Ramsey's system, I HIGHLY recommend it--you can check his books out of the library, check out is website, or do what we did and take his "financial peace university" at a local church. It TOTALLY transformed our finances, and it sounds like his philosophy is much like yours (e.g. living on less than you earn in order to achieve long-term stability and even wealth). He also gives specific recommendations for where to put your money, both in terms of investments, and in terms of paying down debt (e.g. car payments, mortgage, etc). If you want an in-person, local financial advisor, he has recommendations on his website--his line is that reputable financial advisors should "have the heart of a teacher, not a salesman." GL!

Hi Stacy,
We just switched to Money Matters in Plano. Chris Hatton is our advisor. ###-###-####
I wish we had done it a couple of years ago and our 401K wouldn't have turned into a 201. LOL
Victoria

You do need to go to a certified planner to help you. There are a lot of good ones out there that can give good advice. Not all have a lot of fees and you certainly not be spending money to talk to them.

It is a great idea to live as though you never received the bonus. You can better stay out of trouble that way. Remember delayed gratification....most people can't wait to spend money....especially newfound money and then they are soon broke again..

We pretty much do our own as far as investing because my hubby is a numbers man and is good at it....HOWEVER....we do have a good friend with Edward Jones that keeps close check of things and we get "reality checks" often on how things are going. We decided to have an outside professional source even though we are quite comfortable with our choices because it is good to not be emotionally attached to the funds so you can make better financial decisions.

If you know about any funds, plans you are interested in, the customer service agents are quite helpful and can walk you through the process. Lonfleaf Partners is a great company, easy to work with and right now a good return. They do not have all funds open for new investors right now though.

Also, make sure children have college funding!

Good luck

LOVED the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University classes and his resources are great. He has people listed on his website that have gone through his program and that he would recommend and that is how we find people for our needs, like our taxes. If we were looking we would look on his site. I know one Edward Jones guy came around to announce the opening of his site and he is Dave Ramsey certified (or whatever it is called); he was in the McKinney area.

Good luck and congratulations.