Go Ahead And Take The Trip
Read Time / 2 Minutes
Theme / Stewardship
There’s one Dave Ramsey clip I come back to often when talking to friends and clients about spending money on non-essentials.
A caller has a fully funded emergency fund, he’s debt-free and putting his 15% toward retirement. He’s saved up an additional $25,000 during this time and asks for the Christian financial guru’s input — “I’ve saved this money, and I want to buy my dream car. It’s $25,000.” And, to his surprise, guess what Dave says?
“Buy the car.”
The goal of good financial stewardship is not to take every dollar we have and allocate it to bills and savings for the rest of our life. The reason we walk the baby steps is to temporarily delay gratification so we can live a more fruitful life in the future. If we imagine your financial livelihood as a house, the baby steps act as the foundation. Think of your emergency fund as your walls. Being debt free is the ceiling. Once you’ve got all of those things, you can begin to add your luxury items, like a TV or a new rug. The Ramsey philosophy is not don’t buy the TV it’s make sure you have a roof over your head first.
My wife and I finished a two week trip to Europe in June. It was a transformational journey for me and my wife. We got to meet people and experience cultures we had never had the chance to access before. In total, the trip cost around $11,000. A hefty price tag, no doubt, but if I could sit down with Dave tomorrow and ask his advice, I think it would go something like this.
“My wife and I want to spend $11,000 on our dream vacation, what do you think Dave?”
“Do you have a fully funded emergency fund?” Yes.
“Do you have any credit card debt, car payments or other outstanding debt other than a mortgage?” No.
“Are you saving each month for your retirement?” Yes.
“Is this trip going to put you into debt?” No, we saved every penny.
“Great, take the trip.”
Nathan Carroll
Registered Assistant
208-918-8655
nathan.carroll@christianwm.com
