Gibson offering money classes by popular radio host

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 10, 2009

Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church will try to help people find “financial peace” over the next three months.

If you go

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, presented by Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church, 335 Oak Ridge Road, will begin at 6 p.m. Jan. 18 and will conclude in April. Dues are $100. For information, call 601-636-2837.

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The church is hosting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, a 13-lesson program that features hour-long video lectures by the popular talk radio host, as well as small group discussions designed to flesh out Ramsey’s advice, said Jim Moore, a lay leader at the 335 Oak Ridge Road church.

Registration for the program is officially closed. However, Moore said, the church will welcome anyone who shows up for the meetings and pays the dues. “We’ll get them their workbooks and catch them up,” he said.

All sessions will take place Sunday evenings from 6 to 8 at Gibson Memorial, starting Jan. 18.  There will be no class on Easter weekend and one other Sunday, Moore said.

The program resembles an actual academic class. There are lectures and homework assignments, which will be drawn from the workbooks all participants will receive.

The $100 covers all FPU materials and also makes the dues payer a life member in the program, according to Ramsey’s Web site. That means that members can attend future showings of FPU free of charge. “The only thing you might have to pay for is a new workbook,” Moore said.  The dues also buy a family membership, meaning that spouses and children of participants may also attend FPU.

FPU is different than Ramsey’s syndicated radio program, which focuses on debt elimination strategies, in that it also includes lessons on how to budget, how to deal with cash, how to deal with retirement plans and stocks, 401(k) plans, buying real estate and saving for college.

Moore said that Ramsey’s mantra, that financial success is “20 percent head knowledge and 80 percent behavior,” will be reflected in the program, which seeks to teach participants Bible-based ways of dealing with money.

“The Bible contains more than 400 verses dealing with how to handle money,” Moore said.  “They teach us how to be financially responsible.”

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Contact Ben Bryant at bbryant@vicksburgpost.com.