January 19, 2016 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says Goals Limiting One Another don’t eat as much! I can’t get mad at you about either one, but right now you’ve got three things pulling at you as financial priorities — home ownership, a boat and three horses. They’re all pulling Dave at you, and they’re pulling at each other and limiting each other. Of course, you can always buy a lot less in house. But what it really comes down to is what’s most important to you. That’s the big question, and it’s one that only you can answer. —Dave By Dave Ramsey Dear Dave, My husband and I are currently renting an apartment for $1,200 a month. Together, we bring home about $7,000 a month, and we’d really like to buy a house soon. Right now we have about $10,000 in debt on a boat along with ongoing stable bills, food and upkeep for our three horses. What price range of houses should we look at in our situation? —Michelle Ramsey Dear Michelle, Homeownership is a great goal, but first you two need to clean up your debt and build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. After that, I want you to save up enough for a down payment of at least 10 to 20 percent. When buying a home on a mortgage, I always recommend the monthly payments be no more than 25 percent of your monthly take-home pay on a 15-year, fixed-rate loan. Now, let’s get to the other issues. You have some things in your life that are pulling at you financially. At some point, you may have to take a long look at the situation and ask the hard question, “What is more important to me: horses and boats or home ownership?” Getting rid of that boat, or finding new homes for one, two or all of your horses, would bring in some cash to put toward your debt and cut down on at least some of the animal maintenance. Anyway, that’s how I would look at it. My wife and I both are big fans of boats and horses. But we like boats more. One reason is because they A frank discussion about credit cards Dear Dave, I don’t understand why you don’t like it when people properly manage their credit cards and pay them off every month. By doing this, you pay no interest and in my case I even got a free trip to Europe from using my credit card. Please explain. —Patrick Dear Patrick, I truly doubt that I can explain it to your satisfaction, but here goes. First, the credit card company did not give you a free trip to Europe. They’re not going to lose money on transaction after transaction, year after year. The fallacy is that you feel like you’ve out- smarted a multi-billion dollar company that studies human behavior at incredible levels. You maybe, possibly came out ahead against them during that particular calendar year, but even that’s debatable. Over the course of your life, you’ll spend more when using credit cards as opposed to cash. There’s plenty of research proving this to be fact. If you use a credit card repeatedly with the idea that you’re getting a free trip to Europe because you’re building up your miles, you spend more. An example would be McDonald’s. When they started taking credit cards years ago, they found that the people using them spent 47 percent more. In a good way, you are very unusual. You’re not playing over in the stupid zone like most people who use credit cards. But both I and the credit card companies have found that, on average, your behavior would put you in a class of less than one-half of one percent of their customers. Can 0.5 percent of people handling snakes manage not to get bitten? Sure. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to start recommending snakes! —Dave “’Bout time to hit the woods, boys, ya think?” Steve, our tall cowboy-type on philosophical duty this morning at the world dilemma think tank, sipped and smiled. “Yessir,” he said. “Nothing makes a day go by faster than a good bow hunt in the woods.” Herb looked up at this. Herb is our veteran bowhunter and local champion archer. He can arch with the best of them. “I didn’t know you were a bowhunter, Steve …” Herb said. “Oh sure I am. You know how it is, Herb. Stalking silently along on winter trails, taking one slow step after another in search of prey. Man oh man! Nothing like it.” It was Doc’s turn. “It’s winter, Steve. What do you hunt this time of year?” “Bear.” “Around here?” “Absolutely. You see, the way I do it is simplicity itself, boys. I go stalking silently along the trails over by Miller Pond … you know the ones. Then I wait until a bear comes down the trail towards me and WHAM! Bear meat on the table.” “Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Loretta as she topped off our coffee mugs. “Of course it is, Darlin’,” he said. “That’s what makes it fun.” “But Steve … there hasn’t been a bear in these parts for a hundred years,” Doc said. “You are right, yes you certainly are,” Steve said. “And if we did have a bear season, it would be closed by now. Any bear left around here would go to ground.” “Now that does make it more of a challenge, Doc. But you see, that’s why I enjoy bear hunting so much.” Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted We waited. voice on money and business, and CEO “Hunting for bear, around here, in winter means lots of of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored hunting but no shooting. So that saves me having to skin five New York Times best-selling books. the thing and saves me having to practice with the bow and The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 11 million listeners each week lose arrows and all that stuff. In fact, I have it worked out so I didn’t even have to own a bow or arrows for my hunts.” on more than 550 radio stations and He grinned. “Just think of all the money and bother I digital outlets. Dave’s latest project, Evesaved by being a winter-time archery bear hunter.” ryDollar, provides a free online budget Cowboy logic is sometimes scary. tool. Follow Dave on Twitter @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. Schuurmans Farm Supply WINTER IS HERE! Honda EM 7000 IS Generator Do you have a garage, shop, calving facility, working chute or other uses (indoor & outdoor) for a portable radiant heater? Pre-Owned JUST LIKE NEW! We now stock Honda & Kohler Generators ALL SIZES This is the heater for you! VAL-6 DIESEL RADIANT HEATERS NOW IN STOCK! 2,700 $ Ph. (605) 589-3909 or Cell (605) 464-1113 5 miles West of Tyndall on Hwys. 50 & 37 www.schuurmansfarmsupply.com Dining, Entertainment, OPEN 11 AM - 10PM Su 8 Pc. Chicken, 2 Lg. Sides, 4 Biscuits MV Shopper MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y In Print and Online! Call 665-5884 M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y Dakota Territory Gun Collectors GUN SHOW Sat., Jan. 30th • 9am - 5pm Sun., Jan. 31st • 9am - 3pm Easton Archery Center, E. Hwy. 50, Yankton REAL ESTATE RENTALS AUTOMOTIVE EMPLOYMENT MERCHANDISE COUPONS BUY • SELL• TRADE “Afterschool is a dynamic, effective setting for innovative STEM education,” says Afterschool Alliance executive director Jodi Grant. “With their focus on hands-on learning and youth development, and the time they can give students to experiment, afterschool programs are well positioned to increase STEM skills in this country.” • Most afterschool students have STEM learning opportunities at least once per week. ng the We rf 2504 Fox Run Pkwy. Yankton, SD The special report, “Full STEM Ahead: Afterschool Programs Step Up as Key Partners in STEM Education,” found broad support among parents for providing STEM learning after school, and high satisfaction with these offerings among parents of children in programs that provide STEM education. Indeed, more than half of parents with children in afterschool programming say this was an important factor in choosing their child’s program, the new report finds. • Low-income, African-American and Hispanic parents are more likely than others to report that their child’s afterschool program offers STEM learning and strongly support such opportunities. Surf on over to www.missourivalleyshopper.com Family Meal Parents of nearly seven in 10 children who participate in afterschool programming report that their child’s program offers such learning opportunities, according to a new household survey commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance. • A majority of parents say afterschool programs can not only help students gain STEM skills, but also that they should be offering STEM opportunities. b? 600 OFF $ (StatePoint) At a time when there’s widespread concern that U.S. students are not prepared for a changing economy that relies on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), many parents are sharing some good news about how afterschool programming is getting their children prepared in these crucial areas. Here are some key findings from the report, which is based on “America After 3PM,” the most comprehensive survey ever to ask parents about their children’s participation in afterschool STEM programs: and Celebrations! COUPON - Offer expires 01/31/16 Afterschool Programs Helping Kids Improve Math and Science Skills Admission $ 5.00 Concessions Available The Missouri Valley Shopper and missourivalleyshopper.com is your complete source for buying and selling. Everything you need is just a click or call away! To place your ad call... 605.665.5884 MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y • Parents whose children learn STEM subjects in afterschool report that math is offered most often. • STEM activities are offered more often in urban than in rural and suburban programs. National and state results from that report are available at afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM. The report recommends engaging and educating parents about the important role afterschool programs can play in supporting STEM learning and increasing programming and investment. “Afterschool programs can help teach the skills that will help the next generation thrive in the global workforce, particularly populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM, because girls attend these programs at similar rates as boys, and African-American and Hispanic children are more likely to participate in afterschool than Caucasian children,” says Afterschool Alliance vice president for STEM policy Anita Krishnamurthi. With one in five students in the United States unsupervised after the school day ends, challenges remain, experts say, and more afterschool programs that provide robust STEM education offerings are needed.