Faith Based Investing

True priorities

The top indicators I have found that reveal a person’s priorities are the spending of two God-given resources: time and money. You can get a fairly accurate picture of what a person deems as important in life by looking at his or her planning calendar and checkbook. Money can be used for good purposes such as providing for one’s family, preventing poverty, and relief help following disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. On the other hand, however, money can provide no satisfaction for our spiritual needs; it cannot purchase peace, love, or righteousness. It does not last, but slips through our fingers.

When you set your eyes solely on wealth, you are more likely to lose it. Money can be dangerous when you become materialistic, greedy, and self-sufficient to the point where God has no place in your world.

Serve God, not money
If we allow anything that we desire or possess to rival our love for God, it will turn our hearts away from Him. Jesus’ contrast between earthly and heavenly treasures and masters is too sharp to allow compromise: ―No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Luke 16:13 NIV).

Haddon Robinson puts the issue in these terms: ―Either we serve God and use money or we serve money and use God. Yet, few Christians deliberately dedicate their lives to materialism. Wealth is deceitful, Jesus told us, and its bondage is subtle.   What are you thoughts?

Are you controlling money or is it controlling you?

Why do so many people struggle with money?  Why is it so difficult to get ahead in a time of such prosperity?  Why do the rich keep getting richer while the poor and middle class seem to continually struggle?

You see every day you make money choices that affect all areas of your life. Try going a full 24 hours without doing something that involves spending, receiving, giving, or investing money.  The truth remains so many people today, even with the 2008-9 economic collapse spend more than they make.  They live paycheck to paycheck and could be one missed payment from financial disaster.  This could be you.

Whether your finances are in dire straight or you just want a little fine tune up, I want to fatten your wallet so you can improve the quality of your life and have the time and money to help others. In order to do this, you need to win the battle.  What do I mean by battle?  This is the battle for your money. Retail stores, mortgage companies, credit card companies, auto loan companies, insurance companies, and investment firms (to name a few) are in the battle for every single one of your dollars. Overspend and they will take every dollar you earn and more…

You’ve sunk my battleship

In the game of Battleship, the object of the game is to sink your opponent’s entire fleet without him sinking your fleet first.  It is the same with the money game.  You either sink or swim.  With there being no shortage of companies fighting to win your money, only the warrior prepared for battle can win at the money game.  The credit card companies, banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies, and others all have one task at hand to win as much of your money as possible for as long as possible.  Read that line again “to win as much of your money as possible for as long as possible”.  They offer 0% financing, buy now pay later, extended payment terms, basically anything possible to get you to spend as much as you can and pay it back as slow as possible. My task is to give you the weapons and game strategies you need so the opponent doesn’t sink your battleship.

Let us not forget either, the other enemy: advertisers.  They want to create dissatisfaction in your life.  They solely aim to get you to upgrade, switch, and change, try their product, and capture your business for as long as humanly possible.  The average American is bombarded with thousands of advertisements every single day.  From billboards, Newspaper, magazine, TV and radio advertisements, online banners, email solicitations, the list goes on…  They all have one focus: capture your attention, create or solidify your perceived needs, and get you to pony up your hard-earned money.

Never show up to a gunfight with a knife

There’s an old saying, “Never show up to a gunfight with a knife.”  Your financial goals will require time and discipline.  There is no shortcut to success.  Getting in financial shape is a fight.  Gaining financial freedom is a battle.  While a fight may only be 12-15 rounds, it will be based on your desire to win.  You can get in better financial standing in as little as 12-15 months, but you should focus more on the long-term battle at hand: obtaining financial freedom.  This battle is a “must win” that will last years.  Of course your financial goal and current financial position will determine whether you are facing a fight or a battle.

Take a look at your current financial situation.  Is your outflow exceeding your inflow?  Do you have more assets (things you own) or more liabilities (things you owe)? How large the gap is between the two?  This will give you some indication as to whether you need boxing gloves or a machine gun.

If you are going to battle, would you march off without a battle plan?  How many wars have been won without a plan?  Unfortunately, many fly by the seat of their pants when it comes to financial planning.  They are more reactive than proactive.  It’s hard to gain position when you are constantly fighting an uphill battle.  The most important thing is to have a plan.  You must be prepared.  Part of that planning is recognizing or predicting in advance the obstacles and challenges you are very likely to face along the way.  Then create a strategy to offset the potential obstacles.  Though you will never alleviate or predict every challenge, you will however, be better prepared for unexpected bumps along the way. Start the fight today so you can fatten your wallet!

Something  Money Can’t Buy

In a world full of BMWs, Armani, gated communities, Coach purses, and Starbucks Coffees, image is as much a currency as the dollars that purchase them.  We can pretend to be wealthy and live the game of credit shuffling until the debt snowball knocks us out or we can regain control and live life like we are suppose to.   Like a house of cards, even if you can afford the lifestyle, is it worth it?  All the money in the world cannot bring you closer to God.    I see Christians spinning out of control just as much as those who claim no savior.  Why? In a society that sells image, we all have difficulty not playing by the rules.

The day to day temptations to have a nicer car, to have a bigger house, to have better things.. more, more, more.  It is never enough.  We are called to be humble and to humble ourselves before the Lord.  I’m not saying these things in themselves are bad.  It is the attitude that often goes along with it.   I have a BMW and you don’t so I’m better than you.  Or I make $500,000 a year, what do you make?  The way we live our lives is a direct open reflection of our relationship with our Creator.  Is it built on solid ground or is it shallow like a worldly image?  Look to the Lord and keep your eyes focused on Him.  We are called to be humble servants of the Lord.  Creating an image is not very important in the big scheme of things.  God has a much greater purpose. 

“My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, and I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2Chronicles 7:14.

Questions: 

How do you personally struggle with a balance between a worldly life and a godly life?

What are some areas of life that trip you up (houses, cars, jewelry)?

What can you begin to do differently to focus less on image and more on God?

 Also check out this article at ChristianPF.com:

 “Why spending mony wisely is a life skill”

Who’s protecting your blind side?

Recently I saw the move The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.  “The Blind Side” depicts the story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

The name of the movie derives from the objective of an offensive tackle: protect the blindside of the quarterback!  As defensive linemen pour in and try to attack the quarterback, the tackle’s job is hold-off the linemen until the quarterback can complete his play.   The movie got me thinking about blind sides in life.  Who is protecting your blind sides?   Do you have a financial accountability partner?

One of the biggest reasons men fail morally, ethically, sexually, and financially is due to a lack of accountability. Of all the people that failed in the bible, the majority failed because of the lack of accountability.  The main reason pastors fall from grace is a lack of accountability.  Same goes for many CEOs who have fallen.

It’s also true with successful money management.  Without accountability, it is difficult to handle the ways of this world.  We need to be accountable to God first and having an accountability partner here on earth is critical. And no, it cannot be your spouse.  It is essential to have someone wise, biblically sound, and trustworthy.   So what are you doing to prevent the same types of moral, financial and ethical collapses?  Do you have a strong partner?  Do you have someone protecting your blind sides?

Many of us take advice from the wrong people. Worse yet we believe financial myths… We spread these lies from person to person like a horrible virus…

Dear Santa,
This year I could really use some help understanding my beliefs about money. I keep trying to gain better control of my money, but it is controlling me.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Signed,
You Click here to read more »

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Smart Shopping in a Troubled Economy

Now that the US Government has bailed out the same companies who have been maneuvering to take your money, isn’t it time for your own bailout? If the Government can take $700 billion and reward the banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, and auto makers who have long taken advantage of consumers, isn’t it time you fought and won?

It is an extremely daunting task trying to borrow your way to prosperity. As the government digs itself further into debt, you do not have to follow suit. The one silver lining from the 2008-9 financial crisis is consumers will have to rely less on debt to finance their lifestyles. As credit becomes more difficult to obtain, consumers dare I say have to pay cash for certain items.  They can no longer use their home equity as an ATM, and have to find more creative ways such as saving to buy larger items. I half joke about these points but the good news in this downturn is more and more people will have to go back to the basics: spend less than you earn, save money for a rainy day, try to avoid credit, and invest more for financial freedom to name a few. Click here to read more »