My Reverse Superman

In “Quitter,” by Jon Acuff (a book that has been reviewed here), Jon talks about doing the reverse Superman act. The reverse Superman is when you go from doing what you love to your day job. In the book Acuff uses his own personal real life example of being a keynote speaker one night, catching the red eye home and walking into the day job the next morning. I experienced this during the week.

My 2^nd FPU class wrapped up this past week and the last lesson always leaves a special place in my heart. But at this group’s last meeting it took on an even greater significance. As a group we had a round table discussion about what the class meant to us on an individual basis, and the response thoroughly left me in awe.

Couples shared about healing and better communication in their marriage. Singles talked about the empowerment they now have to review their personal finances with competence. And this one impressed me, as a few shared that even before this FPU class ended, they have been finding opportunities to help friends and family with needed financial guidance, sharing what they were learning along the way.

I felt energized, revitalized and in awe of how God is works through this program. I’ve been on my Total Money Makeover journey since 2009 and I am still blown away at how empowering and life changing this material is, especially when I see it reshaping and encouraging others. My wife and I stayed up that night about 2 hours past our bed time talking about the experience of facilitating the class. I was so pumped up and energized from being a part of what was experienced that I couldn’t go to sleep if I had tried.

The numerical end results were phenomenal as well. From a group that fluctuated around a dozen households, on average each household had an average change in financial position of $5,400! There was even one household that had a $17,000 change in financial position during the course of this class. Now that’s fun! Being a part of something that I believe in, getting to share it with others and see their lives transformed before my eyes is one of the best feelings in the world. And of course I’m already looking forward to the next round of FPU that my wife and I will be leading!

Now if there were only a way to do this type of thing full-time! 

My Revitalizing Work

This week was the kickoff for the 2^nd Financial Peace University class that I am facilitating. And I have to say that I am again thoroughly impressed and happily taken back by the power and influence of this personal finance course. The free flowing discussion and stories of each individual truly stirs my soul and solidifies to me that this is a program that needs to reach as many households as possible.

While I believe that Dave’s principles in building wealth are the way to go, I believe an even stronger benefit of FPU is that this course breaks down the walls and taboos about discussing personal finance in an open setting. I grew up in a household where my parents kept all of their finances separate and we never talked about money. As a result when I came into being adult I was saddled with over $20,000 in debt, looking into a future of trying to afford a wedding and buy a house, and being overcome with fear and desperation.

But there is hope and a way to fruition. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline but it is definitely worth it. The start of a new FPU class has so far taken me directly back to my first days when being introduced to the world of Ramsey. The remarkable thing to me is that I went through learning the material with my wife. And now we get to introduce this material to people with our home church as the setting with a community of people that are in essence family. I certainly think there’s potential for our FPU’ers to latch onto the material even stronger and faster than I did.

It is so inspiring to me to have the amazing blessing to be a part of this process. Even after a long day of work on shortened sleep, come FPU time I perk up and could literally facilitate the class for HOURS UPON HOURS if they let me. It energizes and revitalizes my soul seeing the taboo of talking about personal finance become broken before my very eyes.  

My FPU Facilitating Recap and FPU Part Deux

For those of you who follow From 0 to one million closely, you might be wondering, “What in the world happened to the first Financial Peace University class that you facilitated?” Well I am happy to report that each household that participated had an average change in financial position of $7,700!

The entire experience of facilitating FPU is energizing and I highly recommend it if you ever have the chance. Witnessing people in the class become empowered with this life changing information was a genuine blessing. And helping people through Dave Ramsey’s baby steps was motivating to me and a great reinforcement that pushing for financial literacy is one of the things God put me on this Earth to do.   

In just a few short weeks my wife and I will be kicking off another session of facilitating FPU. As I think will be usual for the occasion, I am blisteringly nervous whether anyone will show and whether I can successfully field any and all questions that may come up during the course.

Overall I am happy and excited to have another round of FPU on the horizon. Walking people through smart financial practices and exposing them to empowering information sets my soul on fire. So needless to say I am open to your thoughts, prayers and general good vibrations that the upcoming session of FPU will be as impactful as ever before.