Financial Peace University at Faith Lutheran A new year always brings resolutions and a fresh start. For six Forest Lake area families, the resolutions and fresh start revolve around their personal finance. Like the name implies, Financial Peace University, created by Dave Ramsey, is a 9-week course that teaches participants to better manage their income and spending, to work with a spouse or children, to tweak their budget, tithe and plan for wealth building. All the lessons are grounded in Bible passages.

Financial Peace University’s curriculum builds on 7 Baby Steps and on average, each family going through FPU pays off $5,300 worth of debt and saves $2,700 in the first 90 days of following the program. Over 4.5 million people have taken the course since its inception.

From January through March, a session of Financial Peace University is being offered at Faith Lutheran. Class members meet weekly to watch a video lesson taught by Dave Ramsey, engage in group discussions, bounce ideas off each other, offer support and report on the previous week’s homework.

The accountability and check-in components to the class are most crucial. Much like having an exercise buddy motivates you to get off the couch and head to the gym, having a small group of financial peace partners with similar struggles and goals is reason enough to brave cold Minnesota winter evenings to attend each class session and do the homework. Without having met each other previously, the current class participants are all positive and encouraging of each other, offering suggestions and asking thoughtful questions. As the class coordinator, it’s very exciting to see the warm community support and cheerleading amongst a small group of brand new friends.

To learn more about Financial Peace University, click on the link on Faith’s website or at daveramsey.com

-Stephanie Weiger