“QBQ! and Money - Bothering to Bother”
by John G. Miller

One of the married twenty-something Miller daughters entered my home office with an expression of YES!!! and YIPPEE!!! Now grinning ear to ear myself, I asked, "Am I gonna be a grandpa?!" She looked at me like I was a nut, and declared, "No, Dad, don't be silly. But we did pay off our credit cards!"

So I exclaimed, "Now that's exciting! Let me call Dave?he'll be thrilled!"

Dave who? Well, Dave Ramsey, of course. As an author, speaker, and radio extraordinaire, Dave serves people by helping them live a better financial life - thus a better life. And we really need help in this area, mostly because of:

The lack of personal accountability.

Now, I know that's sort of a challenging statement, but before I go further, a question: Why is experiencing financial freedom so important?

Because when there's no "wolf at the door," peace, joy, and happiness come - not to mention higher levels of productivity and contribution. You see, the lurking wolves of mega-mortgages for oversized homes, monthly payments for new cars that have lost their new, and credit card debt for dream vacations, all create fear?and contrary to popular belief, fear is not an effective motivator. Fear dampens our spirits, damages our relationships, and destroys our souls.

Eliminating fear means getting rid of the debt - and vice versa.

But it's hard, I know. At age 24, when I worked for Cargill Inc., Karen and I were transferred to the great state of Montana. And I got a raise in salary of $125 per month after taxes! Our first week there, the Monster of Entitlement Thinking grabbed hold of us, screaming: YOU ARE NOW MONTANANS. YOU DESERVE EXPENSIVE SNAKESKIN BOOTS! And we answered the monster with, "Yes! Yes we do!" so off to the cowboy/cowgirl store we went. Several "well-deserved" purchases later, much of the raise was gone. And the boots? Well, who was I kidding - I could've starred in the movie City Slickers.

So back to the accountability piece: When it comes to our personal finances, there is one message our world hits us with every day, and it's this:

It's Not Your Fault!

Recently, a Congresswoman came on the news exclaiming the need to curb credit card abuses in America. Naturally, she was proposing over-reaching legislation designed to attack the big, bad credit card companies for their evil ways. But striving to protect free-thinking citizens from our own poor financial decisions encourages no personal accountability. Sadly, while observing her ill-focused passion, one might have thought she was working hard to solve the problem of world hunger - a worthy cause, for sure.

Of course, a problem that also needs solving is the shortage of personal accountability. Wouldn't all things be improved if I asked The Question Behind the Question - the QBQ!: "What can I do to live a healthier financial life?"

One answer is: Eliminate the excuses.

"Well, 'ya see, we're in debt because !"

• I need a credit card to function in today's world.
• I had to have a new car because the old one was, well, not new.
• We're good people; we deserve the good things in life.
• I would simply die without my cable shows.
• I'm underpaid at work so I can't save.
• My government stimulus check wasn't big enough.
• I gotta have my Starbucks and my Lotto tickets - surely my ship will come in!
• The credit card company sent a card to me, so they must think I can handle it.
• My spouse is out of control when it comes to spending.
• We eat out so much because we're too busy and too tired to cook.
• We really needed a house with 4 bathrooms - the lender said we'd be able to cover the monthly payment.
• My parents set a poor example for me; nobody taught me to budget my money.

Budgeting. Now there's a thought. A few years after I tried the cowboy thing, Karen and I were still not managing our money well. Frustrating! But then we had an awakening; our veil was lifted. We adopted a cash only budgeting plan - no credit cards. Working within specific categories of spending, we wrote down every purchase (yes, every single one). The result? Our savings went up. Our giving increased. Our debt melted away. And peace, joy, and happiness came. Not a bad way to live.

Now it's time to pass on our lessons learned to all Miller children, including Molly, our 17-year-old, who asks daily, "Why do I have to drive to school in a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria with 132,000 miles on it and no CD player!?!?" And we tell her, "Because we bought it cheap with cash four years ago, it weighs 3,800 pounds, it's not that ugly, and it gets you where you need to go!!"

It's another way of stating my favorite Dave Ramsey-ism: "Live now like nobody else, so later on in life you can live like nobody else!" Isn't that a great concept to teach a teen? Isn't that something I can practice, too?

I recently asked Dave what one message he'd share with people about their money, if he could only share one. He said, "John, I would tell them to 'bother.' Bother to pay attention. Bother to be intentional with your money. Money leaves those who don't pay attention. Wealthy people concentrate; they pay attention to their finances. Said differently - they bother."

Said differently again, they practice personal accountability.

Two stellar ideas that are a "soup and sandwich, horse and carriage" kind of match: bothering to own our finances and no excuses living. So go ahead and bother to ask a QBQ! or two today - and watch great things happen.

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