All posts by John (Manager)

Control Spending

The Typical Atypical Expense

As long as I have been living on a budget, there have always been the typical “atypical” expenses in any given month. I could name a bunch of seeming “exceptions”…

  • kids swim lessons
  • auto repair
  • medical bills
  • appliance repair
  • vacation
  • celebrating a birthday
  • celebrating a holiday
  • new clothes for kids going back to school

The list could go on and on, and I am sure each you could add quite a few to the list as well. If we make an exception to our budget spending every time something “atypical” comes up, we will have an exception almost every month of the year. Though the specific expenses may change from month to month or some expenses are non linear (meaning they may be high in a given month once a year or a few times a year rather than evenly spaced in equal amounts every month)… a good budget needs to anticipate them. You can include them as a group called “unexpected” or “non linear” or whatever you like, but include money in the budget. As you gather more data on your spending you will know more effectively how much to plan.

It is a reminder also not to go spend your surplus every time you get ahead on a monthly budget, as higher expenses may come in next month and you may realize you needed that surplus. It is not fun to go buy a new phone (when your old one was working fine)  just to find out you needed that money for a car repair the following month.

If you dip into your “emergency fund” every month because of poor budgeting/planning on anticipating that there will be unanticipated cost, you will have a hard time making progress toward longer term goals. You should not be dipping into your emergency fund every month, or even every other month. When you do dip in, you should make it a priority to build it back up quickly.

If we are to succeed in our financial goals, we have to account for expected and potentially unexpected expenses. Although it sounds cliché, we must expect the unexpected to some degree and incorporate it into our budget.

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Generate Income, Greed, Optimizing Life

Seek Wisdom Rather Than Gold

We all need provision in order to live and God expects us to look to him to guide us rather than doing things our own way. Truth be told many suffer greatly because they pursue financial wealth as their master rather than seeking finances as a tool for the provision and furthering of God’s kingdom.

1 Timothy 6:10

10For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

 10He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

Seek wisdom from God rather than gold and silver. With wisdom, you will also find sufficient financial resources and learn to be content rather than covetous or greedy. With wisdom comes joy.

Proverbs 3:13-18

      13How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.

      14For her profit is better than the profit of silver
And her gain better than fine gold.

      15She is more precious than jewels;
And nothing you desire compares with her.

      16Long life is in her right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.

      17Her ways are pleasant ways
And all her paths are peace.

      18She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who hold her fast.

I encourage you to click the link above and read all of Proverbs 3. Prayerfully reflect if you are serving God or money. We all need to spend time working to provide… but often many work longer to get a bit more money and do not invest similar effort in their relationship with God. One quick check is to compare how much time you spend trying to “get ahead” financially by working extra to how much time you spend trying to learn more about God by studying His word and coming before Him humbly in prayer.

If you need to make changes, write down a simple plan today, maybe even now. How can you set aside more time to build your relationship with God?

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Control Debt, Control Spending, Tools

What Can I Really Afford?

There is a very interesting tool on ManagingGodsMoney.com (no affiliation with GrowGodsMoney.org) in the section about Affordability.  They start with a very good discussion and guidelines around the affordability of a home and then lead into a tool they call the Affordability Calculator. I encourage you to take some time and check it out. You can also browse their other tools.

We have included below an excerpt from their site with just enough of their good material to get you interested… click their link to connect for more detail!

— Check out ManagingGodsMoney.com for more —

To access the Affordability Index Calculator immediately, click here.

afford

Affordable is Subjective

Affordable means different things to different people. Affordable, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, means being within the financial means of most people. However, the dictionary doesn’t define financial means. I define affordable as spending funds without acquiring or committing to acquiring debt. With debt easily available nowadays, it’s essential we keep this affordable definition in mind. Unless we have a firm grip on affordable, we cannot be effective as God’s stewards.

Affordable Housing

Affordable housing should be viewed separately from affordability of other buys. Your house is likely to be your most expensive lifetime buy, and it’s unlikely you could buy it without debt. Housing affordability became widespread in the 1980s in Europe and North America. Today, it is a major issue. Here is my simple checklist to decide affordable housing. Ensure each of these criteria exists before you conclude you can afford to buy a home. Don’t let government enticements by lowering deposit requirements, cutting interest rates, and so on, sway your decision.

  1. You are debt free.
  2. Working with a monthly budget.
  3. Know your housing needs such as size of housing. For example, will the family size increase shortly?
  4. Have at least 20% down payment for a conventional mortgage and so avoid mortgage insurance (in Canada).
  5. Understand and accept sacrifices needed to pay the full yearly housing costs. What might you have to give up to pay these costs regularly?
  6. Understand current and projected state of the economy and housing market, and feel reasonably comfortable you will be able to fund your total housing expenses for six months, even if you were laid off. This article on speeding up mortgage payments might help you.
  7. Understand the best approach for mortgage life insurance.
  8. For a couple, husband and wife are on the same page.

Affordable housing, therefore, means the ability to buy the house so that the total estimated ongoing costs, including a mortgage, do not compromise current and projected household budgets, plans, and commitments. Essentially, affordable housing means carry a mortgage, but no other debt.

— I am grateful for good sites like ManagingGodsMoney.com —

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Greed, Treasures In Heaven

Honor The Lord From Your Wealth

It is easy to get caught up in the mindset that all that I have is mine and I can do whatever I want with it. That is what the world teaches. I can just as easily latch on to the tithe concept as taught today, which is to say that I give the local church 10% and then everything else is mine to do with as I please. Another common excuse is “I am not wealthy, but when I am, then I will give to God”.

God, however, wants your heart. He wants you to love Him rather than money. Ultimately He has provided everything you have… either directly by intervention on your behalf or indirectly by creating you with the gifts and abilities you possess and use to earn money. It all belongs to Him. It is right to honor the Lord from your wealth… even if you don’t consider yourself wealthy.

Proverbs 3:9-10

        9Honor the LORD from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;

      10So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

God wants us to trust Him and rely on Him. He wants the first of all we produce, not the leftovers. Proverbs 3:9-10 is not a “magic formula” you use to control God to give you more money. That is not Biblical. We give our heart to God and thus we honor Him faithfully with the first of what we have, whether we have little or much. We trust God to provide. When we live trusting and loving God rather than money we will prosper. It is through trusting God and applying His instructions to our lives that we find contentment… satisfaction that we have enough… plenty… more than we need. If we constantly compare how much wealth we have to others rather than trusting God’s provision we will never have enough. There is always more money to earn and more things to buy with it.

Trust in God to provide. Follow His instructions… He wrote them down to help us. Pray for His help. Learn to honor Him with the first of your wealth and trust He will provide what you need.

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Control Debt, Control Spending, Optimizing Life, Saving

Avoid The Christmas Hangover – Spending, Debt, and Stress

Christmas is a holiday with many competing areas of focus. Some manage to stay focused on the Lord, but there are many distractions. Some focus on family, but one can easily get caught up in a month long stress about the “perfect holiday” and “who is or is not coming” and “do we have the perfect gifts for everyone”, etc. I have seen people who strive to genuinely follow Jesus yield a month of every year to stress associated with the Christmas holiday, and almost none of it is focused on actually celebrating Christ.

Others get lost in debt, convinced by marketing and our culture that to celebrate Christmas requires spending lots of money, often money they don’t have. For the record, even “good sales” cost you money unless you were going to buy that item anyway. It costs even more if you buy other stuff along with the thing that was on sale. That is why the companies selling you things run the sales… to make money, not to save you money! Often this debt creates stress that lasts for months after Christmas is over as the credit card bills roll in.

Rather than waiting for that after Christmas “hangover” to set in along with the credit card bills and extra 5 pounds you put on by eating too much… consider challenging some of the holiday cultural norms.

1- Reduce the number of people for whom you buy gifts.

Buying gifts for everyone you know is not necessary. Instead of buying gifts out of obligation for many with whom you are not close, just make a point to be nice to them all year round. Treat them with kindness and sensitivity and they will know you care for them even if you do not give them a gift. If they only like you when they receive a gift, then they are not really your friend anyway. If you are concerned that they will buy for you and you will not have something for them, just have a real conversation with them about managing your expenses and budget responsibly and encourage them not to give something to you. If they are not close enough to you to have this conversation, then why are you even exchanging gifts with them? In some cases, it may be very important to someone close to you to exchange gifts… go ahead if you want to.

2- Reduce how much you spend on each person

Contrary to advertising… you do not need to buy a car, a diamond, gold jewelry, expensive electronics, etc. for people just because it is Christmas. If you don’t show them that you love them throughout the year, you will not fool them with an expensive gift in December. For those with whom you want to give or exchange presents, you can set a reasonable budget for each person and then stick to it. This helps you set your overall Christmas budget in a predictable instead of impulsive way.

3- Save up your Christmas budget in advance and avoid credit cards you cannot pay back before you have to pay interest.

Once you decide who you will get gifts for and how much to spend, you have a good estimate for your budget planning. Now divide by 11 and start saving it each month starting in January and continuing through November. Inevitably you will still have surprise expenses in December from the season’s activities, so you don’t plan on taking money for gifts from that month’s budget.

4- You can even consider replacing your current gift exchange traditions with a donation to a charity or family in need… someone you can give to in God’s name with no hope of receiving a gift in return. You will spend less money and honor God more.

If you find yourself condemning me as “Grinch”… I do not mind. You are not alone, but you are in fact also not correct. If Christmas is all about giving and getting gifts as the centerpiece and focus, then it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and is simply a pagan festival where people want to get a lot of expensive stuff from each other. I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically reject giving (and receiving) gifts on the basis of obligation.

The alternative is to recognize that gifts are intended not as the focus, but as a means of showing those closest to us that we were thinking of them. That does not require spending lots of money, despite what our culture would have us believe. Besides, you can  give gifts to those you love any time during the year… it does not have to be at Christmas.

Many tell us that giving gifts is a tradition originated to honor God’s gift to us in the birth of Jesus Christ or because of the acts of the real man who came to be known as Saint Nicholas. Though many give with this in mind, the fact is that this is not the accurate origin of gift exchange. In fact, gift giving to children in late December did not start with Christian origins, but rather as part of a pagan celebration of the sun god, Saturnalia, in ancient Rome. It is easy to research for yourself… even in Christian history encyclopedias such as by Zondervan.

Let’s explore the gift giving tradition further and test if it is even consistent with celebrating Jesus’ birth according to the principles of the Biblical record of that glorious event. Does this tradition point to or honor God, or is it just a tradition of men and a potential distraction from God?

Mary and Joseph did not get gifts for one another or even for Jesus and they knew who He was and that He would be born soon. The shepherds came to celebrate and honor God. They did what they were commanded by God to do… which did not involve bringing gifts. The wise men did not even come when Jesus was born… contrary to common tradition.  Scripture tells us they came and found Jesus in a house, not a manger. Herod killed all the male children two years and younger… not a week and younger, or even a few months and younger. It was likely they arrived over a year after Jesus was born. When they did come, they brought gifts to honor God. They did not exchange gifts with each other, nor did they expect to receive gifts in return from Joseph and Mary. I should not fail to mention that God came down as Jesus to die for us and while this is a great gift, He expects no gift from us in return.

So if you really want to focus on giving gifts to honor Christian traditions… give in a way that honors God to those who will not be able to give anything in return and convince others to do the same. You will honor God more, find more joy instead of stress, and spend less.

If suggestion number 4 seems overwhelming… start with suggestions number 1-3. The less focus you put on gift exchange, the more focus you will find is available to consider God’s gift to us in the person of Jesus Christ. You will have more time and less stress to enjoy the holidays and hopefully you will not have the Christmas “hangover” in January.

This article was developed and shared in partnership with HearingFromJesus.org.

Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way and use it for His glory rather than your own. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Plan Carefully and Seek Wise Advice, Tools

Crown Financial Ministries May Be Helpful to You

One aspect of what we try to do is to make people aware of the types of organizations and potentially helpful material that is already readily available to them and may help them in managing the finances God has given them to steward.

Crown Financial Ministries, at www.Crown.org, is an international organization that strives to help people understand godly wisdom in properly handling finances. They provide assistance for personal, church, career, and business needs. They have a reach of over 80 nations and 120 languages.

I encourage you to click through to their website and look around to fully understand what they may offer.  I was intrigued by the variety of resources available in their store that cover a wide range of financial teaching, even for kids.

We are not affiliated with Crown and make no money off any sales, just looks like it has useful resources to help you, whether for personal, business, career, or church finances..

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Control Debt, Control Spending, Generate Income

To Build Wealth, Spend Less than You Earn

Spend less than you earn. I know this sounds very simple and elementary. It is just that. It is nonetheless the first and most fundamental step on your journey to build wealth. You can adjust the relationship by increasing earnings or decreasing spending… or both. But if you deny this fundamental law and spend more than you earn you are accumulating debt rather than wealth, no matter how much money you make.

Learn to be content with what you can afford and what you already have. Do not covet what others have or you will never be satisfied. There is always someone out there with more stuff than you.

  • Prov 13:11 NIV – 11 … whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

To those who love money, they will never have enough. Use money  as a tool to serve God and to support yourself and your family, not as a goal in and of itself.

  • 1 Timothy 6:9-10 – 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all [a]sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
  • Ecclesiastes 5:10 – 10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is [a]vanity.

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way and use it for His glory rather than your own. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

 

Ethics, Optimizing Life, Plan Carefully and Seek Wise Advice

A Light In The Darkness

We have probably all experienced a time when we are in true darkness. Perhaps camping in the woods on a very cloudy night? Maybe just in our house when the power goes out at night or we wake up at night and walk around the house without turning lights on so as not to disturb our family. Sometimes we can start to remember our way around if it is familiar circumstances… but how well do we do when there are unexpected obstacles (e.g. toys left out in pathways, etc.) or imagine if someone rearranged all the furniture! Usually we will not do well. We will trip or fall or gather bumps and bruises. It is really hard to get around without being able to see where we are going… to recognize clearly what are the obstacles that could hurt us and which is the safe path to travel. This is how many feel about managing their personal finances and trying to get beyond paycheck to paycheck or day to day living and into planning and strategy to prepare for what is to come in the future.

That is why God has given us the Bible! What a glorious gift to His people to have His written instruction book for life. If we choose to use it, it serves to light up our path so we can safely find the right path for living and avoid the traps and obstacles that could hurt us.

Psalm 119:105

105Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.

Proverbs in particular serves to provide timeless wisdom for us in how we should deal with our fellow man and also with God. It reminds us of what is good and what is bad. Remember, true goodness is that which is identified by God as right, not that which is identified by man as right. Man often gets it wrong. That is why God wrote it down!

Read Proverbs often, and not as if you are trying to win a race for reading quickly but rather pausing and considering how each verse is relevant not only in life today, but specifically how it may apply to your life. Then allow yourself the humility to admit where you are wrong and work to change your behavior and attitude. Those who are too proud to admit they are wrong, never get the benefit of learning to do better.

Proverbs 16

Contrast the Upright and the Wicked

       1The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

      2All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,
But the LORD weighs the motives.

      3Commit your works to the LORD
And your plans will be established.

      4The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
Even the wicked for the day of evil.

      5Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD;
Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.

      6By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for,
And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.

      7When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD,
He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

      8Better is a little with righteousness
Than great income with injustice.

      9The mind of man plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps.

      10A divine decision is in the lips of the king;
His mouth should not err in judgment.

      11A just balance and scales belong to the LORD;
All the weights of the bag are His concern.

      12It is an abomination for kings to commit wicked acts,
For a throne is established on righteousness.

      13Righteous lips are the delight of kings,
And he who speaks right is loved.

      14The fury of a king is like messengers of death,
But a wise man will appease it.

      15In the light of a king’s face is life,
And his favor is like a cloud with the spring rain.

      16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.

      17The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;
He who watches his way preserves his life.

      18Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

      19It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

      20He who gives attention to the word will find good,
And blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

      21The wise in heart will be called understanding,
And sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

      22Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it,
But the discipline of fools is folly.

      23The heart of the wise instructs his mouth
And adds persuasiveness to his lips.

      24Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

      25There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

      26A worker’s appetite works for him,
For his hunger urges him on.

      27A worthless man digs up evil,
While his words are like scorching fire.

      28A perverse man spreads strife,
And a slanderer separates intimate friends.

      29A man of violence entices his neighbor
And leads him in a way that is not good.

      30He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things;
He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass.

      31A gray head is a crown of glory;
It is found in the way of righteousness.

      32He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.

      33The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the LORD.

Challenge yourself to identify at least one, but maybe even up to three specific things, that you want to try to work on related to managing your personal finances. As an example, you might consider focusing verse 3 or verse 8.

      3Commit your works to the LORD
And your plans will be established.

8Better is a little with righteousness
Than great income with injustice.

Apply these goals to specific decisions and strategies you need to make in regards to your personal finances. If you can, share what you are working on with a trusted friend or family member who is a genuine follower of Christ. There is something for all of us to work on… we just need to admit it and then get about pursuing it!

My top pick for me personally today…

20He who gives attention to the word will find good,
And blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

What will you work on? Remember to ask God in prayer to help you!

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Plan Carefully and Seek Wise Advice

Get Started. Do Not Wait For Perfect Timing.

Many know they do not have an adequate personal financial strategy to manage their finances today or plan for the future. They may feel inadequate to the task or simply overwhelmed not knowing where to start, so they wait for “a better time” to do it.

Every task or journey, no matter how complex, can not be completed until you begin. When we continue to put off planning our finances we are like a farmer who never plants his seeds because he is always watching the weather and worried that it is not the perfect time to do so.

Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. [Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT]

It is essential to get started. Set aside some time, even if only in small pieces, and begin. It is an important step to get over the psychological barrier many have to start an intimidating task they are not familiar with. If you wait for the perfect time to take the next step, you will never take the next step.

Lay out some easy commitments you know you can make, even if 1 hour a week, or 15 minutes a day to start studying and preparing. Get away from distractions for that time and get started. Many resources are available for free on the internet (such as GrowGodsMoney.org). We have included several that we think are very good in the Resources section of our website.

Wherever you are on your journey to developing a robust personal financial strategy… whether you are waiting to take the first step in planning or whether you have the plan but have not begun to implement or even if you are already implementing but you have not come back to steward your results… take the next step.

If you have it all together and are well-planned and executing well… there is still another step. Find someone who has not come as far and help to encourage, mentor, and guide them.

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .

Optimizing Life

Let Us Give Thanks

We should always seek to be thankful to the Lord for all He provides, but Thanksgiving is a great time to remind ourselves to come together as a family and as a community, and as a nation to give thanks together to God. For those who follow Jesus, we always have that most important gift of salvation through grace by faith for which to be thankful… no matter what else may be going on in our lives.

I have found it is very easy to lose focus on God as we get busy with our holiday traditions and celebrations… even Thanksgiving. It seems God dropped a surprise in my shopping bag on a trip to a store some years ago. I want to share it with you. Lifeway Christian store put together a small booklet of scriptures into a “Thanksgiving Table Devotional”. We have it at our table and we read and share as we come together to eat our meals.

Psalm 106:1

1Praise the LORD!
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

18in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:17

17Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Philippians 4:6

6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 9:1-2

1I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;
I will tell of all Your wonders.

      2I will be glad and exult in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

As we read these scriptures together we take time to go around the table and ask about examples of things that are specific to us for which we are grateful to our Father who provides. This is not particularly unique, but it sure is easy to overlook. I appreciate the Lord putting these scriptures where I would find them as I was looking for ways to make Thanksgiving more meaningful and focused on Him for my family. Praise the Lord He cares for each of us as His children!

What will you make the focus of this Thanksgiving season? Football, shopping, food, fellowship… or our Creator and Father and a right attitude towards Him? My suggestion is to focus on our Father with a healthy side of family fellowship.

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Remember that all you have belongs to God. Manage your money God’s way and use it for His glory rather than your own. Visit GrowGodsMoney.org .