Churches to host financial expert

By K.O. Jackson
Tribune business writer

April 22, 2009 11:15 pm

— Last year, after hearing about it “through the grapevine,” Greg Cunningham attended Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.
FPU is a bibically-based 13-week video training series created by Ramsey, a faith-based personal money management expert.
The topics covered include: cash-flow planning, investing, saving, credit, retirement and giving.
“It moved me personally and spiritually,” said Cunningham, a member of Kokomo Church of the Brethren. “It taught me to stay away from credit cards and pay down my debt. It gave me financial peace. In these rough times, we need it.”
At 8 p.m. today in churches nationwide, Ramsey will host a free video-simulcasted conference entitled “Town Hall For Hope: The Economy. Your Money. Real Answers.”
Locally, it can viewed at Oakbrook Church, 3409 S. 200 West and Kokomo Church of the Brethren, 311 W. Lincoln Road. The public is welcome to attend.
“I listen to [Ramsey] as much as I can,” said Cunningham. “He teaches that in today’s economic climate, there is still hope for today. He explains it in a nutshell on how to get through it. It’s a lot of things our grandparents taught us and we’ve gotten away from it. He teaches what you can do to survive and get through this economic crisis.”
With his financial past, Ramsey’s message is timely, and yet, some are critical of his approach on how to become debt free.
In his first book, “Financial Peace,” which the Tennessee native wrote as a 26-year-old, his brokerage firm, Ramsey Investments, Inc., had a real-estate portfolio worth more than $4 million.
However, he said the 1986 Tax Reform Act had a negative effect on his business. Ramsey was forced to pay a bank $1.2-million worth of short-term notes within 90 days and he filed for bankruptcy.
In 1991, based on his financial experience and from attending financial workshops, Ramsey founded a new company, the Lampo Group. The group provides financial counseling.
In 1994, Ramsey conducting his first FPU classes on overhead projectors, and Lampo grew from 18 team members to now more than 200 members.
Ramsey’s syndicated radio show, “The Dave Ramsey Show,” is broadcast on more than 400 stations in the U.S. and Canada and he has written numerous books reflecting his conservative Christian perspective on life and money.
However, using biblical principles to become debt free has earned Ramsey some critics, who question his simplistic solutions to financial affairs.
In 2004, nation’s largest news organization, Gannett, Co., dropped his financial-advice column from several of its newspapers when it was discovered the identities of those seeking his advice were falsified.
Eric Tyson, the Wall Street Journal’s nationally syndicated columnist, has criticized Ramsey for failing to address the importance of investment expenses and endorsing commissioned-based brokers (who pay fees to Ramsey) rather than fee-based advisors.
Nevertheless, tonight, thousand of churches will be filled with people wanting to hear Ramsey’s message on being debt free.
“I am a firm believer in what he says,” said Karl Stoneking, Oakbrook’s director of finance. “He’s a Christian and he takes a conservative approach to finances. The man is great in the area of finance. He teaches you to get out of debt and carry as little debt as you can. That’s a message worth hearing: Save for the future.”
K.O. Jackson can be reached at (765) 854-6739 or via e-mail kirven.jackson@kokomotribune.com