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Dealing
With Debt
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In our high-tech world it’s easy to swipe a credit card and lose track of the tally. But some families are learning new ways of spending within their budgets, with help from a place you might not normally think about for financial advice. Kim Riemland reports. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Plano, Texas)
(Mom and child play Monopoly) “You have to pay me 4 dollars. I don’t
have 4. Sure you do, what’s 3 + 2?”
Kendra Trautman (trout-man) wants her three children to know how to
handle money.
(Game continues) “Maybe I better not buy it because I don’t have much
money.”
Kendra and husband Jeff, both CPAs, took a ten-week financial planning
course at their church,
Custer Road United Methodist in Plano, Texas.
The class has made a huge difference in the way the family spends and
saves money.
Jeff Trautman/Member, Custer Road United Methodist Church: “You go out
to buy a gift and you say ‘I’m only going to spend 20 dollars’ but then
while you’re there you say ‘It’s running late, let’s eat lunch at the
mall.’ Before you know it you’ve spent extra money that you wouldn’t
normally spend.”
The Trautmans once found themselves trying to “keep up with the Joneses”
only to find that neighbors in their affluent suburb were struggling
too.
The Rev. Rick Enns/Pastor, Custer Road United Methodist Church: “We have
a lot of people that have high salaries, but they spend more each year
than what they make. We see a lot of credit-card debt here. And people
are just, you know that, ‘I want it now’ attitude.”
Toni McIntyre and her husband cut their loan and credit-card debt by
60,000 dollars.
Toni McIntyre/ Member, Custer Road United Methodist Church: “We tried
for 10 years by ourselves to get our debt under control and we could not
do it.”
Now Mr. McIntyre makes fewer trips to his favorite electronics store. He
sold his pickup to save the 500-dollar-a-month payment and drives his
wife’s eight-year-old car instead.
Tony McIntyre/Member, Custer Road United Methodist Church: “It’s nice to
have that truck, but it’s nicer not having a car payment.”
There’s still room for an occasional luxury like a G-P-S.
McIntyre says he’s directionally-challenged but says the financial
course helped him find the right path.
TAG:
Custer Road United
Methodist Church has offered financial Bible
studies for three years. The courses stay full—and some families even go
through the program more than once, and say they learn something new
each time.
The Trautmans, the young CPAs with three children, found the financial
peace course so beneficial they now volunteer and teach the class to
others.