I wear many hats. One of those hats is serving as a coordinator for Financial Peace University (FPU) classes at my local church. Yesterday, Dave Ramsey’s team hosted a webinar announcing the 2012 edition of Financial Peace University. The 2012 edition will not be unfamiliar to anyone that has previously taken the class, as Dave’s teachings rarely change over time, but there are a few notable changes in the 2012 edition of FPU that are worth mentioning:
It’s Shorter
Financial Peace University was previously 13 weeks long and classes were two hours long. The new version has been condensed down to 9 in-person classes and 2 additional classes online. Classes will now only be 90 minutes long. The company explained the move noting that families are a lot busier than they used to be and wanted to put FPU in a format that was accessible to more people.
More Scripture
The 2012 edition will place a much more significant focus on biblical financial principles and scripture itself. The company said that the additions were result of a significant amount of prayer and discussion. I would also guess that churches make up the vast majority of Financial Peace University classes and the company is naturally adjusting its product to match its customer base.
More Budgeting
Financial Peace University will now place a much larger emphasis on budgeting. The company’s research showed that families that did zero-based budgets in the manner provided by the lessons pay off debt much faster than those that use other budgeting tools or don’t do a budget at all. I think this will be a positive change for the course. The 2008 edition had budgeting content, but it wasn’t reinforced well in the later lessons.
New Speakers
Dave Ramsey has been building a speakers group of sorts during the last few years. The 2012 edition will see Dave joined by Rachel Cruze (Dave’s daughter), Jon Acuff and Chris Hogan. Cruze will likely speak to relationship and college issues, Acuff will speak to career issues and Hogan will speak to real estate issues.
New, More Affordable Membership Kit
Membership kits will now be available for $89.00 retail (they were previously listed at $99+). The leadership kit is available for $249.00. The most notable change in the kit is that it now comes with Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money in lieu of Financial Peace Revisited. The Complete Guide to Money follows along with the lessons of Financial Peace University. More details on the member and leadership kits can be seen by clicking this link.
My Impressions
Overall, I think the company made some good changes to the class. I think the content changes are necessary and appropriate and I’m thankful to hear that the lessons will be more compact. Time will tell if the addition of members from Dave’s speaker’s group as teachers will play over well.
We’ll be offering the new class this fall at Central Baptist Church in Sioux Falls, SD if you’re interested in joining us.
The full webinar (27 minutes) can be viewed on YouTube at this link.