Katy McKenna Raymond  
Personal blog of christian writer Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri


Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary

Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net

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Right Of Refusal

So here’s the deal. Doug and I have been going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at our church. You should know that even though we attend church in a very advantaged neighborhood in Johnson County, Kansas, there are some hurting folks in this group.

We’d be hurting, too, if it weren’t for One Fantastic Thing: Two years ago, we thought we’d help a young couple out. We invited our daughter Carrie and her fiance Marc to a Dave Ramsey live event in Kansas City. Their wedding was quickly approaching that June, and we knew they’d be starting marriage with some significant debt.

Who knew but what Dave Ramsey could get their marriage started out on solid financial footing?

By the end of a few hours inundated in Dave’s personal energy, they came away resolved to live like no newlyweds they knew, so that later they’d be able to live like no olderweds they knew. And they have done FANTASTIC. Their discipline and commitment—-especially in the face of friends who buy houses and furniture and take their second honeymoons within six months of their first—-has amazed and delighted us.

But what surprised us even more was the way Dave managed to light a fire under US. Two years ago right now, our debt—-because of Kevin’s final year of hospitality management and business schooling which occurred in Switzerland, and paying for Carrie and Marc’s wedding—-had spiraled into something completely unacceptable. We had a couple of credit cards at 0%, but you know what? Interest rate or not, WE OWED THE MONEY. We also carried a balance on our HELOC, at a low rate of interest, but again. WE OWED THE MONEY.

I committed that night at the live event. I knew it would take a few more months before we could radically reverse the direction we were going in. But by the morning after Carrie and Marc’s wedding, we would begin. And so we did. If I told you how deeply we cut to make a debt-free life possible, you might recoil in disgust. There were times I nearly did, but then we’d pay off one bill entirely and start on the next one and I would get fired up all over again.

Happily, in one year’s time, and before the market crash of the fall of 2008, we had gotten completely out of debt (except for a small mortgage on our house) and had also amassed much more money in emergency funds, car replacement funds, and all the rest. And then we got absolutely clobbered in our 401K, but you know what? The sting of losing money in our retirement accounts is SO MUCH less than it would be if we were also struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis.

Here’s my resolution going forward: No matter how grim the news, I’m following Dave’s lead and refusing to participate in the recession. Heck, if it turns into a bona fide depression, I’m gonna turn down that offer, too. Of course, we can’t expect that our business will continue completely unscathed (although so far, it has….), but we can expect of ourselves that we keep thinking, keep regrouping, keep building upon ideas we’ve got for new streams of income, and NEVER agree to victimhood status.

I’m also continuing to enjoy my beautiful Passbook Savings Account, a throwback to my childhood and early married years. EVERY time the passbook comes back to me in the mail, updated with my new (higher!) balance, I IMMEDIATELY write a paper check (I think the tactile experience of paper and ink makes this process work for me….), fill out the deposit slip, and mail it back to them in the stamped envelope they provide.

Doug and I find ourselves, like everyone else, in the midst of a downturn. Sure, we’ve lost some value in our home (though I don’t think much….) and some retirement assets. But we can easily manage our attitudes, our savings, and our business in such a way that the recession doesn’t eat us for lunch.

Millions of households and obviously a huge number of businesses are insolvent in our nation, having borrowed their way out of prosperity, and I’m afraid some truly abysmal policies will come out of this recession/depression that will plague our country for decades to come.

As for me and my house, though, we’ve decided we’re just not going to play along.

We refuse to participate in this recession, and I hope you exercise your right of refusal, too.

 

Posted by Katy on 03/13/09 at 12:58 PM
Fallible Comments...
  1. Nice post, mom...
    Marc and I have really been enjoying facilitating Financial Peace @ our church...so I'm glad your gettiing a lot out of your class!!
    Posted by Your Daughter  on  03/13/09  at  09:10 PM
  2. Katy,

    Several years ago, I made the same decision. We had been running a small horse boarding farm, and I thought I could make money that way. HA!! What a joke. Although it did help with the expenses of my own horses, it was still like digging a hole and pouring money in. I finally resolved that we needed to get out of debt. Rob's school(he put it all on credit cards), my school, college loans, credit cards. The list went on. So from that time I began to pay for most of what I bought with my check card instead of my credit card. Slowly over the next several years we began to get out of debt. We took a slightly different track than you did. Unfortunately, we don't have as much put away in reserve as I would like, and like yours our 401K and investment portfolio has tanked pretty bad. BUT we don't have much in the way of day to day debt. WE do own some investment property, but they have renters in and are not currently a burden on us. We have one more payment on the student loans; ours are paid. Then we will only have the one credit card and we don't use it near as much as we used to. It is a great feeling to know that we can live on what we get and have some left over. Thanks for spreading the word. Hope people listen.
    Posted by Sandi Thompson  on  03/14/09  at  09:26 AM
  3. my folks heard about Dave Ramsey some years ago and introduced it to me - i've not been to any course, yet, but have begun to put into practice a number of his principles and boy does it ever feel great! i DO still depend on each paycheck, but i'm pleased at how far that paycheck is going! (i've also gone to an all-cash system and boy oh boy does that work for me - i'm not so eager to part with greenbacks!)WHOOT!

    Here's to paying down debt and not giving in to recessiondepression.
    Posted by laura  on  03/16/09  at  11:47 AM
  4. Katy - I just got an email about Dave wanting to do a message of hope to the nation on April 23rd for those churches with the technology capable of webstreaming his address. I know our church plans to do it and I think it's so needed. So many focus on the negative, but i am down with the refuse to participate in the recession mindset. so "way to go!" you guys and thanks again for the encouragement.
    Posted by Joshua  on  03/16/09  at  04:43 PM
  5. So, if the church is webstreaming his address, is there a way that others can see it?
    Posted by Terri  on  03/16/09  at  07:54 PM
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    Posted by shares  on  04/28/09  at  02:11 AM
  7. OK....if all people refuse to participate in this recession

    what will happen?
    Posted by Robbie  on  05/24/09  at  11:42 PM
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    Posted by Cherilynn Stone  on  06/01/09  at  04:08 PM
  9. Actually, lots of people do nicely during recession and some prosper consistently. I think the distinct difference between the braving a crisis, making out all right, and even prospering, really based on the advance preparation. The advice of your consultant about keeping financial reserves on hand just in case of an emergency of course, a good advice.
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