My Story

My financial story

I started my career in farming while still in high school. When I, married my parents offered to sell us the farm and the farming business. They offered to loan us the funds that the Farmers Home Administration Ownership loan did not cover. So we had two major loans.

Both loans had a low interest rate for the time of 5% interest. Because of this, I did not feel a great deal of pressure to pay off the loans. We also had to take Loans out every year for our living and operating expenses.

During the 1980s, there was a farming crisis. The commodity prices of our product were low and the prices of our inputs remained high. That coupled with bad weather and lower production caused a crisis for many. I remember being so worried about the weather and the loans and my family. We tried many things but interest-rates on our operating loan grew to 18%.

I remember going to the banker and feeling helpless to change the situation, and was so worried that they would call the Loans!

The government helped us with new loans ha ha! They restructured our loan for farm ownership so we could pay off the bank. The interest on the new loans were about 7%, if I remember correctly.

One thing I did thru this stressful time was pay off one Credit Card by transferring the balance to a new card. I also cashed in a whole life insurance policy for the cash value, leaving my family with no life insurance on me. I tried going back to college. I tried working a second job.

We made it through this crisis and life leveled out and was much less stressful and I’m now debt free!

Looking back on all of it, the biggest mistake that I made in my finances was not paying off those loans that had low interest rates. I felt that they were such a great deal that I did not want to pay them off. We were also living somewhat above our means. We were not on a budget and borrowed money for living expenses on the farm operating loan. When we felt like we needed a car, we just added it to the operating loans! We didn’t live on a budget.

I was in debt for my entire farming career and only got out of debt after selling the machinery and changing careers to being a Realtor.

I also started listening to KMA radio and the Dave Ramsey radio program, which was on every afternoon. At first I resisted the Ramsey philosophy as some of it didn’t make sense to a (Math Nerd.

The debt free screams, and the stories of how people like me had changed their lives by following the baby steps, changed my heart and mind. It is biblically based and financially sound advice, every bit of it!

It has become a passion in my life to help guide others to financial freedom and to eliminate that stress and anxiety in their live!

I'm now a Ramsey Solutions Certified Financial Coach.

You can do it too! You can be the hero of your Financial Story! 

And I can help guide you to that reality!