There is no right way to do personal finance

People have to find what is for them and what works as far as personal finance goes.

There is no one way to do personal finance.

What This Pastor Wants You To Know About The Church And Money

This post is the first of what will hopefully be a series.  I have asked some of my friends who are Pastors to give me an article about money from a pastoral point of view.

Nick Nye is today’s guest author.

Money really sucks to talk about as a pastor. We pastors typically do not make much ourselves, give a lot away, and we dread the big ‘ask’ from others in our congregation to give generously to the church we lead. Its plain painful!

But I’m going to put the pain aside and simply give five things that need to be said. Pastors want to say these things, but we are tired and bummed that your wallet is the last thing in your life to ‘get saved!” There is no doubt pastors will be happy to read this and non-pastors will not agree…but here we go.

1- I wish you valued the reality that you feed my family.

It is not sexy to stand up in front of people and remind them that preparing a sermon is hard and takes time.  Meeting with people is emotionally draining.  Being on call all the time is hard. Raising up new leaders is hard.  Doing administration is hard…ok—I’ll stop. But, by your generosity I can be freed up to do these things with my time AND take care of my family.

I know when pastors ask for money it’s usually for a special ministry project or a building or even the yearly budget. So the stories are big and we never will mention the reality that the church feeds our family. Ministry is a family affair and it really helps when we see the value of simply paying a pastor well and supporting his family.

2- I wish you would give to the church.

I’m really going to get in trouble for this but here we go— Give to your church. I know parachurches, individual mission trips, and everyone asks for money these days and I certainly see some really good causes to give to, but we see an example laid out in Acts 4 of the people (thousands of people) laying their material possessions at the apostles feet (the church leadership) to distribute.

Pastors often have a 30,000 foot view of ministry and can see more and prioritize needs better because of that view. There is a major trust factor that I know keeps many from giving to the church to use wisely (see 2 Corinthians 8:16-24) but if you have a strong opinion and you are generous giver your pastors will probably carefully listen to your as to how we serve the mission of the church. Prioritize giving generously to your church over all the good causes out there. If you have extra and sense God’s leading—give to these causes.

3- I wish you’d talk about your giving to others.

I have this odd theory that if Christians would be honest with each other about parenting and money we might see some real progress in sanctification. But as Americans, money is off limits (so is parenting).

How we handle our money should have accountability and wisdom. We need to talk about our budgets and our giving to one another. It’s tiring as a pastor to feel like I’m the only one willing to challenge people and call them to generosity. Talking about our money with one another also gives us the opportunity to meet serious needs without always going through the church leadership.

4- I wish you’d give regularly.

Many people seem to be really impulsive in their giving. Students are especially prone to this, maybe for good reasons like erratic pay days or gifts from their parents but when you go out of town for the summer, the churches ministries keep going. We are blessed to be in an age where we can give to the ministries of the church even when we aren’t there. Through your bank or maybe your church you can do automatic pay.

Budget your money so that you can give regularly and not just give the leftovers from the month.

5- I wish you actually had joy in generosity.

The bible calls us to be cheerful givers but it’s rare to find someone who is genuinely excited to give generously. If you aren’t, can you work through it? Is it your lack of trust of the churches leadership? Talk with your leaders. Is it an issue with your heart, maybe the history of your upbringing? Talk with your peers or leaders who can give you wisdom. Pray, read the bible and experience the joy of generosity.

I could add a few more “I wish” but for the sake of sounding too whiney and angsty I’ll stop. But it is an obvious aspect of our discipleship that is still immature. Give and give boldly.

Nick Nye is the founder and lead pastor of Veritas Community Church in Columbus, Ohio. Veritas began in October 2008 and has grown from a few people to a multi-congregation church seeking gospel transformation for the city. Nick preaches primarily at the Short North campus as well as various speaking engagements around the world.
Nick holds a B.A. in world religions and an M.Div. in missions. He has two certifications in coaching and coaches church leaders around the world.
Nick blogs at Nicknye.com

The Future of Education

I have been saying a lot of this for a few years, so maybe this is confirmation bias but it is something to think about as your kids get closer to graduating from high school.  Is the cost of college really worth it?  Or is there just a better way to do it.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2014/04/10/instapundits-glenn-reynolds-on-the-futur

Tell me your thoughts below.

5 Financial Spring Cleaning Tips

Financial Spring Cleaning

It is that time of year in many places where you get to open the windows and air out the house, start working in the garden and doing other spring cleaning tasks.  Another great place to do some spring cleaning in in your financial world.  Here are some places to get started.

1. Review your insurance policies

I just did this for our home owners and our auto policy.  I was able to finally get back with my preferred insurance agent and save us $400 a year.  Online insurance websites make it easy to get multiple quotes from the different companies and let you compare the costs.  This is something I do regularly, even if you just call your current company and ask what new discounts they offer it can make a difference.

2. The chicken challenge

The guys over at CordKillers, a podcast dedicated to watching what you want when you want, started this challenge with their listeners and many of them found great savings.  Just call your cable company and tell them you want to cancel your cable subscription, if you aren’t under a contract of course.  Companies are working so hard right now to keep their subscriber numbers up that most people found they were willing to practically give away cable if you had internet service with them.  You may be able to save yourself money on a large monthly bill.

3. Verify your will

If you don’t have a will, get one.  If you have one look it over and see if your circumstances have changed in such a way that you would need to change your will.  Wills can be done easily with sites like legalzoom.

Along these same lines, if you are the main money person in your household you need to have instructions for your spouse in case you die.  I am guilty of this one and it is one of my goals for this year.  My wife may not know where to find all of our money or how to claim my life insurance in the event of my death.  I don’t want to add more stress to her in the event of my passing.

4. Review your budget

It may have been a while since you looked over your budget, maybe your spending habits have changed, but if you are like me then you haven’t updated your paper budget.  Make sure you have everything lined up the way it should be.  Look for places where you are spending more than you would like and think of ways to reduce those categories.

5. Pull your credit report

Take some time to pull your free credit report.  Make sure you aren’t getting dinged for something you didn’t do or that someone isn’t opening credit lines in your name.  You can dispute items on your credit report online and you should to make sure your record is clean.

What other steps should be taken annually to spring clean your finances?

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An opportunity fund

Anyone who has studied personal finance to for any time has heard of an emergency fund.  An emergency fund is a pool of money to cover expenses that come up suddenly.  You to start with $1000 dollars to cover incidents when you are getting out of debt, or anytime after that.  It prevents you from using your credit cards.

I like the idea of having an opportunity fund as well.  My wife and I use an over funded life insurance  policy to build our opportunity fund. What this means is I pay a little more for the insurance, but it builds cash value faster than normal.  This fund was initially intended to be our own bank if and when we needed to get a loan.  We used it for my wife’s last car.  We can be our own bank and pay the interest to ourselves, however it can also function as a fund for when great opportunities arise.

A friend of mine once developed a product and intended to use his home equity line of credit to fund the first batch of production. This was just as the housing bubble burst and his LOC got shut off.  If he had had this type of fund, he could have used it to fund his first production run and begun his business.

But is doesn’t have to just be for business!  What is a good giving opportunity comes along?  Do you want to empty your savings?  Maybe if that is what God is asking you to do but what if you had this opportunity fund just sitting waiting for the right use? That missionary who needs funds to take the gospel to whereever.  That orphanage that is looking to expand.  Your church is ready to move into a new building but they need $15000 for chairs! (That happened to us)

An emergency fund exists to cover emergencies, and opportunity fund could be for anything.

You consider this money spent already, so it isn’t part of your savings but what could you have used this money for in your past?

• Starting a business
• A great deal that came along
• Chipotle stock when it went public (Still mad I missed that one)
• A big offering at your church.
• Paying rent for a friend who just lost their job
• The possibilities are endless

Do you already have one of these?  Do you wish you did?  Tell me in the comments below.

10 Guaranteed Ways To Screw Up Your Finances In Your 20s

10 Guaranteed Ways To Screw Up Your Finances In Your 20s

Follow these steps and you are all but guaranteed to screw up your financial future.

1. Don’t bother tracking your student loans – There is no reason for you to know exactly how much money you are taking out to pay for that sheepskin, let alone how much your student loan payments will be.  After all I am sure as long as you have a degree there will be a line of people waiting to hire you for six figures.
   1.  Really – Know how your loan payment is calculated so you will know what your final payment will be.  You can use this calculator to play around.
   2. Don’t take out a ton of student loans for a degree that will not pay off.  Understand how much you can expect to make in your chosen field.  80K for a degree that will get you a 35K job may make you wish for a time machine.
2. Don’t bother contributing to your retirement plans.  You are young and you will have plenty of time for that.
   1. Really–Employers often contribute to your retirement if you enroll.  Find out if you are leaving money on the table.
   2. If you are already doing that take a look at a Roth IRA and see if it is right for you to invest with your after tax money.  Even $50 a month can become 70k in 30 years.
3. There is no reason you shouldn’t buy all the house you can so you can live like your parents now.  After all I am sure they started off in that house and lived that lifestyle in their 20s as well.
   1. Really – Your parents had 20 or 30 years to get where they are.  If you try to recreate a lifestyle like your parents you had either better win the lottery or live with the consequences.
4. Eat out all the time.  There is only one of you so it is cheaper to eat out than to cook for one.
   1. Really -It is so easy to all run out to eat with your friends every night.  I always wonder if people on TV even cook, it seems like they are always eating out.  Eating out is much more expensive than cooking at home.
   2. It isn’t hard to make simple healthy meals for one.
5. Max out that new Credit card, why would they give it to you if they weren’t sure you could pay it back.  Live it up now…drinks are on you!
   1. Many young people get cards in college and don’t understand how they work.  They don’t keep track of them and they end up maxing them out.
   2. Consider having a balance of $5,000, at 14% APR, and minimum payment as 2% of your credit card balance. Making minimum payments only, it would take you 22 years and $5,887 in interest payments to pay off this debt.
6. Don’t make a budget, if there is money in the bank you can spend, that is an easy budget that works.
   1. Really -I have already covered in some detail why you need a budget, but it is like GPS telling you where you are and where you are going with your money.  If you don’t have a plan you likely won’t get anywhere.
7. Quit your job and follow your dreams…NOW!!
   1. Really -You should absolutely follow your dreams, but understand the risks if you simply up and quit and pull the safety net out from under you.  It is harder but possible to follow your dream while you work
   2. Of course, many people attribute the lack of a safety net to the success of many people, but for each of them that succeeded I wonder how many there that are regretting that choice.
8. Every time you get a raise you should increase your spending and your lifestyle..
   1. Really – This is called lifestyle creep and I have written about it before.  It is a great way to never get ahead.  It isn’t about how much you make, but how much you save and give.
9. Giving to your church is for those who have big pockets, don’t bother until you have you life in order.
   1. Really – You will never have your life in order, trust me it is chaos all the way.  If you don’t discipline yourself to give now it is harder and harder to learn to do it in the future.
   2. You are just as much a part of your local congregation as the rich older members and your commitment can be measured by your giving on many levels.
10. Emergency funds are for losers, that is what credit cards are for.
    1. Really – Emergencies will only push you further and further into trouble if you don’t have a plan for how to handle them.

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