Next Offered: October 4, 2009

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"

Luke 14: 28-30 (NKJV)

There's lots of files this week.  This is by far the heaviest week of the course.  It's critical for your TMMO that you learn to do a budget.  Here's all the tools to help.  These are all of Dave's files that he allows us to freely use, share, etc.

 Major Components of a Healthy Financial Plan

 Consumer Equity (Net Worth) Sheet

 Income Sources

 Lump Sum Payment Planning

 Monthly Cash Flow Plan (Sheet 5, "The Budget")

 Recommended Percentages

 Allocated Spending Plan

 Irregular Income Planning

 Breakdown of Savings

 The Debt Snowball

   COMPLETE THE FIRST COLUMN OF THE FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT sheet.  Or better yet, log into the MRC and do it there.

BE PREPARED TO SHOW YOUR FIRST ZERO-BASED BUDGET (for October) next class.  Your group will want to see you've done it!!!

 BRING CREDIT CARDS TO THE NEXT CLASS & PLAN TO CUT THEM UP AFTER THE DUMPING DEBT VIDEO!

  Read Chapters 19 & 21 of Financial Peace Revisited.

 BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK within 72 hours of receiving your bank statement.

 USE AT LEAST ONE ENVELOPE (for food) throughout the rest of the program.

The file on Quicken budgeting was written by me in 2005.  It outlines the method I use for budgeting using Dave's zero-based method.  Quicken isn't really set up to do this easily, but it can be done.  I am interested in anyone's comments on my article.  I hope you find it helpful.

  How to Create a Zero-based Budget in Quicken (quite technical)

  Charting Your Course with a Cash Flow Plan

  How to Balance Your Checkbook