Southwestern Company Campus Relations

Dave Ramsey & Ralph Brigham

I recently visited the corporate offices of Dave Ramsey at Financial Peace Plaza in Nashville, Tennessee.  For those of you not familiar with Dave Ramsey, he hosts a nationally syndicated 3-hour daily radio talk show that is heard by 4.5 million listeners each week on more than 450 radio stations throughout the United States.  Dave is also the author of several best-selling books on finance and getting out of debt, including The Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace, and Financial Peace for the Next Generation (high school curriculum).  

You’re probably wondering why I got involved with Dave Ramsey.  Each summer we have about 2,500 students who partner with our company selling educational products to families.  The average student makes over $2,500 per month during his or her summer break from college.  What we know is that most college students are not good managers of their money no matter how much they have and many of them want or actually have to pay for their own college education.  As I travel to company training meetings around the country, a consistent theme often taught to students and managers is how to be wise stewards of their money.  

Recently, I was at a training meeting for over 100 students and managers and Nick Henderson, Southwestern District

Nick Henderson

Sales Manager, spent time training these folks in the wise use and saving of their summer profits.  One of the methods Nick touted is the use of the monthly envelope system.  He says that as he drives between campuses in Missouri and Iowa he listens to the Dave Ramsey show and while Dave Ramsey didn’t invent the envelope system, he promotes it as a good practice.  Nick practices what he preaches and works with all of his managers and students in being smart with their money. 

Unfortunately, not all college students will have a person who cares as much as Nick about them and their personal finances.  That’s where Dave Ramsey comes in.  His folks in Nashville are developing a new finance curriculum for college students called “Foundations for Life and Money.”  I never had a finance class in high school or any finance courses in college and I certainly wish I’d had access to a program like this when I attended college.  My job at Safeway paid my way through college, but I know I wasn’t very smart with my money. 

Employers like the Southwestern Company and the colleges and universities from where we recruit students want those students to be successful.  That means successful in their studies, their extracurricular activities, their vocational opportunities and certainly with their finances. 

Southwestern will do its part in providing opportunities for personal growth and financial gain.  We will also try and educate students about how to be smart with the money that they earn.  Now we have another entity providing assistance to those college students who want to learn about money management before it manages them. 

If you want more information about this program or want to comment on the need for such a program, let me hear from you.