Faith Based Investing

2011 is your year!

Yes, you can make 2011 the year you alter your financial life for a better financial future. Let’s look at some steps you might think of taking with the goal of financial freedom in mind.

No, we’re not talking about those ridiculously obvious steps the usual articles recommend, like “write your goals down” and “set a budget”. Let’s go past the clichés and get into the real issues.

Look at your income source, your expenses and your debt.

How do you earn income? If you earn it from one source, is there effectively a ceiling on it, or is there real potential for your income to rise in the next few years? Now look at your core living expenses, the ones you can’t avoid (such as a mortgage payment, car payment, etc.). Can any core expenses be reduced? Investing aside, you position yourself to gain ground financially when income rises, debt diminishes and expenses stay (relatively) the same.

Click here to read more »

Plan ahead!

The end of the year is a good time to review your personal finances. What are your financial, business or life priorities for 2011? Try to specify the goals you want to accomplish. Think about the consistent investing, saving or budgeting methods you could use to realize them. Also, consider these year-end moves.

1. Think about adjusting or timing your income and tax deductions. If you earn a lot of money and have the option of postponing a portion of the taxable income you will make in 2010 until 2011, this decision may bring you some tax savings. You might also consider accelerating payment of deductible expenses if you are close to the line on itemized deductions – another way to potentially save some bucks.

Click here to read more »

People often ask me about coaching them on their business and in their personal finances.  Here is how I look at a person’s financial life analyzing ten key areas.

Analyzing the Ten Key Areas of  Your Faith-Based Financial Plan

1: Ownership. God Owns 100% of everything. This i the foundation of any plan determining who is the owner of all that is entrusted to you.

Key Verses:

Haggai 2:8 “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord.

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.”

Key Coaching Areas:

• Assess attitudes & motives in your personal financial planning.

• Rather than, “How do I protect/use my money?” the question becomes, “How can I best look after/use God’s money?”

• To rely on God and his provision not on our wealth or our ability to create wealth.

Click here to read more »

To shred or not to shred

Now that tax season is almost here again… Let’s once again review what documents you need to keep and which you can shred!  If you are like most Americans, you are probably swimming in paper!  Would it be nice to get rid of some old papers.  Hopefully this post will help you better organize and discard some of the unnecessary documents.

If you are not yet retired, then you may wish to follow the general “rules of thumb” presented across the rest of this article.  On the other hand, if you are retired and there is any chance that you might need to apply for Medicaid, then you should keep at least five years worth of all financial records on hand (including credit card statements). Why? Medicaid has a five-year “lookback” period in many states. To be approved for benefits in those states, you have to prove that you didn’t give away funds during that five-year period. To prove this, you must produce complete records from every bank and brokerage account to which you have access, including those held jointly. With all the Wall Street mergers and bank closings in the last few years, these financial records can be really hard to obtain if you don’t have them.

Click here to read more »

You probably read or hear about some “Top Ten” list nearly every day. But take a moment to read this one. This list is different, and probably not the kind of list you’d expect a Financial Advisor to write.

Reason #10: “I’m too busy”
I can’t tell you how often I hear this excuse. So many people want to plan for a better retirement, but they don’t have time. They think they’ll take care of it tomorrow, or the day after that … and before they know it, several years have gone by. The best advice I can give you is to stop procrastinating and start planning today.

Reason #9:     “It’s too soon”
I don’t know how this happened, but many people have adopted the notion that you don’t have to start planning for your retirement until you’re almost there. This is totally incorrect. The truth is, the sooner you start planning, the better chance you stand of having the kind of retirement you want. It’s never too soon. Many people start planning in their early twenties!
Click here to read more »

Tough times can make savvy shoppers out of us all…

With unemployment running rampant, housing prices still dropping, and consumers not spending, it is no secret that our economy is still in deep trouble.  Yet with adversity comes great opportunity! Frugality is en vogue!   Let’s look at some ways you can save money…

Visa released a study showing U.S. consumers cannot account for approximately $21 per week in cash spending.  This is over $1,000 per year. Those between the ages of 18 to 24 fare even worse – losing track of $2,500 annually.  That is a lot of cash!  Not only do many of us lose track of spending, we pay far too much for items because we fail to do a “little research”.  That is why I wanted to provide you with some online resources and tips to help save you money.  With budgets being reigned in, how can you minimize some of your ongoing expenses?  It pays to comparison shop more effectively. Here are ten tips to help you shop better and save more!

Click here to read more »