Dear Anonymous,
Nope! I know, you probably think I’ve lost my mind on this one.
Yeah, I know how important it is to take the match in a situation
like that. In fact, it still kind of irks me to have to say these kinds
of things. I’m a math nerd, so I really don’t like the whole idea of
it very much.

But I’ve learned a few things over the years. One of those things
is that personal finance is 80 percent behavior and only about
20 percent head knowledge. And in the short term, the power
of passionately focusing and sacrificing deeply to attack your debt
will supersede the mathematics involved where your company
match is concerned. In other words, if you stop saving temporarily
for a year or two, and in that time wipe out your debts, the power
you’ll gain in being free from those debts will be more beneficial
to you than a couple of years of your company match.

I would never tell you to stop investing or doing the company
match for 10 years or anything silly like that. But if you stop
for just a little while and clean up your mess, then go back to in-
vesting for retirement, you’ll reap so many more rewards down
the road. Not only will you have permanently changed your be-
havior, but you’ll also be able to invest even more for retirement
and other things!

Dear Dave,
I’ve tried for years, but I can’t convince my husband to
plan for tomorrow and stop living just for today. Is there
anything I can do?
Candace

Dear Candace,
I hate to say it, but I don’t think you can convince him. The
essence of your question is this: “How do I get him to grow up?”
If he’s not willing to delay getting or doing things he wants, that’s
a sign of immaturity. You guys are probably going to struggle with
money as long as he has an attitude of “Thank God, it’s Friday! Oh,
God! It’s Monday…”

Being careful with your money and planning for the future doesn’t
mean you can’t have any fun. It just means you may have to de-
lay certain things for a little while. My wife and I have lots of fun
and cool things now. Why? Because we saved like crazy and sacri-
ficed. We lived like no one else, so now we’re able to live like no
one else. In other words, we paid a price to win.

Your husband’s problem is that he’s not willing to pay a price for
a short period of time. That kind of immature thinking is a one-
way ticket to a lifetime of mediocrity. And if you’re unwilling to
pay the price to win, then you’re going to end up paying the
price that comes with never having paid the price.
—Dave

For more financial advice, please visit www.davesays.org.

How to Cut the
Food-Budget Fat
Dave fans offer
suggestions for saving
some money but still
eating well.

The situation: A particular family of 2 parents and 2
kids spends a whopping
$1,000 each month on
food! Needing some quick
advice to get that number
down, the wife went to the community forums on My
Total Money Makeover.
com and asked for advice.

Here's some of the advice
this family received:
Leave Some for Next Time
We try to make meals that
will feed more than our
family of 4. This gives me
leftovers for lunch. I make
a lot from scratch and limit
the amounts of desserts
and such to buy. Also,
are you using cash? Our grocery/dining bill went down
20% just by using cash.

Lesson learned: Cooking
2 meals at once can keep
you from eating out because
you get home from work and
your meal is already there
waiting for you. It also never
hurts to spend with cash—
wait, yes it does. That's why
spending with cash is best!
For more...