Category Archives: Tools

Plan Carefully and Seek Wise Advice, Stewardship, Tools

Personal Financial Tools to Help Stewardship

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25, through the parable of the talents, not only that we should invest, but that a good steward periodically checks on the effectiveness of his investments and makes adjustments according to their performance.

Matthew 25:14-30

Parable of the Talents

      14“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16“Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

      19“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

      22“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

      24“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

      26“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

      29“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There are a growing number of personal financial tools available to help us manage and steward our finances ranging from debt and spending to investing. Consider common software tools like Quicken or online tools as recently reported in an article in US News & World Report article, 10 Personal Finance Tools You Should Use Now. There are also tools to help manage personal investment performance across multiple investment accounts like the one available for free online at Personal Capital.

We have no affiliation with any of these specific tools, nor any financial incentive to recommend any particular tool. Neither have we tested all of these tools personally. Rather, our intent is to highlight to those who may not realize it that there are a lot of useful tools available today that you can review and consider to help steward your personal financial plan. Naturally, you can also consider professional investment advice, for a fee, but even with that you will want to validate the guidance they are giving you.

For those who are familiar with Microsoft Office or similar tools, there is always a simple Excel spreadsheet you can make yourself, with complete privacy to develop and steward key elements to your financial plan. And for those that prefer to avoid computers… who are probably not reading my article right now… pencil, paper and calculator still work just fine so long as you have the discipline to apply it frequently enough.

The bottom line is that to be successful in executing our personal financial plan we must steward it. We must track data on performance and then review the data and make decisions on whether to stay the course or make a correction or change to our strategy.

We must be vigilant to avoid laziness or complacency in managing the money we have already gained.

Proverbs 6:6-11

      6Go to the ant, O sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,

      7Which, having no chief,
Officer or ruler,

      8Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.

      9How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?

      10“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest”—

      11Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.

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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 .

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 .

Diversification, Plan Carefully and Seek Wise Advice, Tools

How Do I Diversify My Investments?

Congratulations to those of you who are ready to consider investing as part of actively managing your finances. Now… a common question is “How do I know how much to invest in what assets?”

Truly it can be overwhelming at first. To start, it is important to assess your personal risk tolerance. Are you wanting to take more risk for more potential gain or minimize risk and accept more modest returns?

There are lots of good tools online if you look for them. For example, Charles Schwab provides good information to get started investing on their How To Invest page. Vanguard also has a similar investor page to help you assess your risk tolerance to guide your investments as well as information on asset allocation. Fidelity.com also provides a lot of information for those getting started. There are many sites you can research, and you probably want to look around for more than one. Another example may be the Motley Fool, a funny name to be sure, but a good site.

There are also investment advisory firms like TradeSmith and Stansberry Research.  These last two will try to sell you investing tools or research. You can consider carefully and decide if or what you want to buy. For a few hundred dollars a year you can get good investment advice without a big financial commitment. If you are interested in managing your own investing more actively, some of their tools are worth considering.

Information on sites like these is available to a large extent even if you don’t invest with them. Of course, each website will have contact information for you to contact them and get more information.

It is important to get a feel for how you may want to invest and diversify your money. How aggressive or conservative do you want to be? Always consider that the highest returns generally bring the highest risk, meaning that you could lose money chasing high returns.

I encourage you to pray and take time to assess your comfort with the various risk/reward balance associated with different asset allocation approaches. Do not rush into investing. It is a long-term activity not to be hurried and decided in 30 minutes or even a single day. That said, you will never get there if you don’t get started.

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