195. Financial Literacy for Parents with Donna Hosang

Finances are either going to strengthen your marriage or tear them apart. As parents, your family depends on you developing your financial literacy. Raising a child with a disability, Donna Hosanglearned that the more organized they were as a family in their daily lives, especially in the financial lives, the easier it was for them to handle any unexpected crisis that might arise.   Show Highlights Donna Hosang Certified Financial Coach with the Dave Ramsey Financial Group. She’s also is the retired mother of three and member of Covenant Fellowship Baptist Church. Donna and her late husband John navigated multiple unexpected health and family challenges in theirmarriage, including raising a special needs child who is now in heaven. By God’s Grace, they got their financial house in order early in their marriage, allowing them to thrive in situations where many families drown. Donna has a passion for helping families with wise financial planning to protect themselves from Murphy’s Law.   The first step to getting your finances in order is to establish your budget each month and actually write it down so that you know that it is real. Work on this together with your partner. Both should understand what is going on.   But, despite all your planning, there can always be an unexpected crisis, whether big or small. To prepare for that, establish an emergency fund. Donna suggests setting aside $1,000. This will be there for you if you have a medical emergency or an accident, anything outside of the budget. If you know you're prepared for it financially, you'll worry less.   Ultimately, Donna says what will really make you financially stable is getting yourself out of debt –and if you are not in debt, stay out of it.   Tackle your debt by listing everything down, with the smallest debt first. Instead of paying a little of each every month, systematically knock out your debt by paying the smallest in full first, and so on.   To really be able to finish paying all your debt, you will have to make changes in your daily habits. But, know that as a couple and a family, you do this together.   Though it may seem difficult, Donna says, "It doesn't matter how much debt a family has. There is always a way out."   Once you are out of debt, work on accumulating 3 to 6 months of living expenses set aside.   As you get yourself on more stable ground, work on paying down your mortgage. It will give you even more financial freedom.   Then, you can start tosave up for your retirement and your kids' college. This will set both you and your children up for a more comfortable future.   [bctt tweet="It doesn't matter how much debt a family has. There is always a way out." username="jaydholland"]   Resources Mentioned Sponsor: Perfectly Imperfect, Oct 23-24 The Christian Parenting Podcast Network on www.christianparenting.org Things for Thursday and free e-book: Text THINGS to 66866 Website: www.daveramsey.com Contact Donna: [email protected]    If you find this podcast helpful, you can subscribe and click here to find past topics and free resources. Feel free to share with others, as well! If youwould like to help support Let’s Parent on Purpose, you can do so by becoming a patron.   I send a weekly email called “Things for Thursday” and it includes things I’ve found helpful related to parenting, marriage, and sometimes just things I find funny! You can sign up for “Things for Thursday” by joining my newsletter on my homepage.   Thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you have a prayer request or if you have a topic suggestion or question, please contact me at my email