Chris Kakaras.com

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2007-10-05T09:27:00.001-04:00

The feed to www.chriskakaras.com has now changed. This will be my last post under this subscription. I will no longer be posting under this blogger account. Please visit www.chriskakaras.com for updated posts.

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Thanks!

Chris

Get a Deal!

2007-10-04T06:57:00.000-04:00

I found some new coupons off Hustler Money Blog for this month, check them out:

Circuit City $40 off $199 is good until Oct. 30th
Best Buy 12% off is good from Oct. 5 to 8th
Office Max $10 off 20 Coupon is good until Oct. 30th
Babies R Us 15% off coupon is good until Oct. 14th
Border’s 25% off is good until Oct. 8th
Staples 12% off is good from Oct. 14th to 20th
Jamba Juice Buy One Get One Free
Toys R Us 20% off Oct 8th
Home Depot 10% off coupon
Lowes 10% off

ING Direct Shout Out - Free $25 for Signing Up!

2007-10-03T08:14:00.000-04:00

I have been banking with ING Direct for the past 3 years and have been a strong advocate of them all along the way.

I always recommend that people set aside money in an emergency fund that is 100% liquid. Usually I will direct them to ING Direct because of the 4.3% rate as opposed to the whopping 0.25% that local banks offer in their savings accounts.

I feel that when interest is paid TO YOU this is good. When you can get more that is BETTER!

I have talked many times about alternative income streams and this is a major component on what comes in (from me just sleeping).

Plus right now all ING Savings accounts are paying 4.30% and are FDIC insured up to $100,000. What this means is, it is not risky. ALSO, by following a link from an existing member, ING will IMMEDIATELY GIVE you $25 if you open your savings account right now with at least $250.

You can even set up your account to automatically draft your account on a set frequency (weekly, monthly, etc).

INTERESTED? Just click one of the following links below.

These links are one-time use only links so if you see this message:

"We're sorry, but the referral link within the email you received has expired and is no longer valid. We recommend that you contact the sender and ask them to re-send the referral email. Or click 'Continue' to proceed with the application process without the account opening bonus."

Then just go on to the next link.

Link #1

Link #2

Don't Make the Same Mistake Twice

2007-10-02T08:10:00.000-04:00

I have heard a lot of people talk about "re-establishing" their credit after getting themselves into a mound of trouble through debt. I just read an article saying the best way to re-establish your credit after a bankruptcy is to get a low-limit credit card, make small purchases, then pay it off early each month.

I am sure it does help your FICO score, however, I have a problem with this advice for two reasons.

#1) Why should you care about increasing your FICO score anyway? All a FICO score is for is to allow you to borrow MORE money (even though that is the thing that got you in financial ruin in the first place.)

#2) This advice takes the "human" element out of the equation. If personal finance was 100% finance and 0% personal then my advice would be different, but it is inaccurate to say this.

When a person files for bankruptcy it is because they were so far in debt the could not get out of it. At this point isn't this something that that person should avoid rather than jump back into it?

I advise people to not be concerned with "re-establishing" their credit. There are steps that you can take that we talk about on this website that will enable you to eliminate debt completely from your life. The only thing that I consider "acceptable" debt is a home mortgage and getting a home mortgage is a different kind of beast when applying for it.

The lender is 100% concerned with probability of paying it back (not with FICO score). If they see your savings increase and you don't have any new entries on your credit report they will notice this (not just the FICO score). In fact, I don't know of any lenders out there who would even turn down somebody that drops a 20% down payment on their house.

Dave Ramsey says, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Getting back into what got you into a mess in the first place could be considered insane.

Extended Warranties: Are they a good idea?

2007-10-01T07:43:00.000-04:00

I might not put this issue to bed but I can at least tell you my thoughts. I know many people swear by them and I know some people who say they usually get their money's worth out of them.

I am fine with people having that point of view. However, in my experience I have not gotten my money's worth out of them and I usually say that in most cases it isn't a good idea to get the extended warranty. Now before you get mad at me I can show my work behind how I came up to this reasoning.

An extended warranty is basically insurance. And the price/cost of insurance is driven by 4 factors: commissions, overhead expenses, the statistical probability of the event occurring, and profit. The cost of your warranty has to cover all of those things and I do not like the sound of that. What I actually would recommend is to set aside the amount of most extended warranties and I would be able to cover average repair costs and still come out ahead.

Generally, extended warranties are extremely profitable for those that are selling them and a bad idea for those buying them.

How much is too much house?

2007-09-28T19:46:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week I mentioned that one of the most often ways people get themselves into a struggling financial situation is they allow their car payments or house payments to be larger than what they can afford.

If you did not read the post on Car Payments you can check it out here.

The stage of life that I am currently in (early to mid 20's) is extremely foundational. I find that a lot of financial (mis)behavior habits go into effect around this time in a person's life. Usually after graduation you will find yourself with more cash than you ever have had before. For the first year or two you are allowed much freedom and seem to spend money on whatever you want, whenever you want it.

However, this might work out for the first year or two but this develops a habit that is not easily broken. As you get into later years you begin to commit to more financial obligations, which leaves you strapped and in a tight situation. This is the turning point and usually people will resort to using unsecured debt as an option which puts them in bondage that they cannot break free of for many many years.

More times than not, this "financial obligation" that leaves you in a tight situation is usually caused by the house. Because your house payment might end up being too much for your take home pay, it leaves you extremely tight in all other areas of life. And if this is combined with a lack of adamant budget and preparation its seems like there is no other choice but to turn to debt.

Now on the flip side I want to offer a guardrail to guide your house buying decision that may come up in the near future. This is not scriptural this is just what I believe to be wise after listening to many financial "guru's" over the years.

House Rule #1: Do not have a house payment that is more than 25% of your household take home pay.

When I get opposition to this from people my age it is always because they want to have a standard of living that is comparable to what their parents have. The only problem with that is it took their parents 20+ years to obtain that, which should not be obtained within the first few years of working.

I want to provide an easy to understand grid that might help put some skin on this rule. The assumptions to this grid is 100% financing (which I do not recommend but will talk about later) and an interest rate at 6.5%.

30 Year Fixed Loan

Annual Income	Monthly Income After Taxes	Monthly Payment	House Value
$30,000	$1,875	$468.75	$74,161.32
$35,000	$2,188	$546.88	$86,521.54
$40,000	$2,500	$625.00	$98,881.76
$45,000	$2,813	$703.13	$111,241.98
$50,000	$3,125	$781.25	$123,602.20
$55,000	$3,438	$859.38	$135,962.42
$60,000	$3,750	$937.50	$148,322.64
$65,000	$4,063	$1,015.63	$160,682.86
$70,000	$4,375	$1,093.75	$173,043.08
$75,000	$4,688	$1,171.88	$185,403.30
$80,000	$5,000	$1,250.00	$197,763.52
$85,000	$5,313	$1,328.13	$210,123.74
$90,000	$5,625	$1,406.25	$222,483.96
$95,000	$5,938	$1,484.38	$234,844.19
$100,000	$6,250	$1,562.50	$247,204.41

15 Year Fixed Loan

Annual Income	Monthly Income After Taxes	Monthly Payment	House Value
$30,000	$1,875	$468.75	$53,810.82
$35,000	$2,188	$546.88	$62,779.29
$40,000	$2,500	$625.00	$71,747.76
$45,000	$2,813	$703.13	$80,716.23
$50,000	$3,125	$781.25	$89,684.70
$55,000	$3,438	$859.38	$98,653.17
$60,000	$3,750	$937.50	$107,621.64
$65,000	$4,063	$1,015.63	$116,590.11
$70,000	$4,375	$1,093.75	$125,558.58
$75,000	$4,688	$1,171.88	$134,527.05
$80,000	$5,000	$1,250.00	$143,495.51
$85,000	$5,313	$1,328.13	$152,463.98
$90,000	$5,625	$1,406.25	$161,432.45
$95,000	$5,938	$1,484.38	$170,400.92
$100,000	$6,250	$1,562.50	$179,369.39

Use this grid as a guideline when deciding how much house too buy. I do not care how good of a deal you get on a $200,000 house. If you cannot afford it, it will end up put you into a financial mess. When this is the case you cannot even enjoy living in the awesome house because things are so tight financially.

The Planning Process

2007-09-27T07:52:00.000-04:00

Having a plan is the most basic core principle that I try to teach. If you strip back all the practical application, all of the "theology of money," all stories or illustrations, I am basically saying to have a plan.

Tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Hopefully if you hear anything, you will hear this. Now, I am about to expand on logistical planning. Most people who know me will be surprised to hear me say this next statement but it is the truth and I don't really say it that often.

You can only plan so much.

I am serious.

There are 3 basic stages in personal finance planning:

1.) Short Term Planning
2.) Mid Range Planning
3.) Long Term

Long term planning is roughly anything over a year away. There are many things that we should be planning for that are a year away or over. An example of Long Term Planning is retirement. I think you should be planning from this and early on in fact. Another example is a new (to you) car. This will come up at some point, you might as well be prepared for it.

I also think there are things that come up within a year that you should plan for in advance; these are mid range planning items. Christmas, Birthdays, Vacations, Real Estate Taxes, etc. all fall under this. We know these things come up, we need to plan for them.

Next is short term planning. I do not want you to plan for monthly expenditures in advance. Each month is new. Each month things will change. For example my gas expense has now changed because it is football season and I go to all the Clemson games. This has increased my monthly gas expenditures a great deal, which effects my planning in other areas. Another example is you might know you need to get an oil change this next month, that changes your car maintenance category, which might change something else.

Let's say you had a friend who was about to play a game of chess. And let's say you are a chess expert and he came to you and ask for help. You would not give him step by step instructions on moves he should make. This is not a wise thing to do when playing chess because things change rapidly. The same is true with finances. You can have a basic goal/intent to take the queen or put the king in checkmate, but how you get there is a changing process.

It is a good thing to make goals and plans, but the details will be changing. It is important that we understand this so that we will not be frustrated with a process where change is inevitable.

Never Have a Car Payment

2007-09-26T08:07:00.000-04:00

If you have a car payment, you need to get rid of it. As a philosophy of mine I try to avoid anything that requires a recurring monthly payment. I understand some things are inevitable but I want to stress that a car payment is not one of them.

From talking to financial counselors many times when people are struggling and broken in their financial life, it is often because they find themselves in a lousy car situation or buying too much house. I will talk about buying too much house later this week, but for now let me stick to the car.

What I mean by a lousy car situation is they bought a new car and have been paying huge payments on it rather than paying cash, and now that they are in trouble financially because there was no buffer for life to happen they find that their car is worth LESS than what they still owe on it.

This happens far too often.

My advice and philosophy on this is pretty simple. I have 2 basic "car rules."

Car Rule #1: Don't buy new. My suggestion and personal philosophy is to get a 2 year old car. The reason for this is strictly numerical. As soon as you drive a new car off the lot it is taking a huge chunk of value off. In fact a large percentage of the value gets taken off in the first 2 years. By buying a car after 2 years you have avoided taking a huge depreciation hit.

Car Rule #2: Make payments to yourself.

Right now I am driving a 99 Honda Accord that does not have payments. Yet I am paying a $350 car payment to myself. There is a reason for this. It is smart. I can either make payments later and have a lot of that going to interest and be making someone else money, or I can make payments to myself now in my money market account that earns 5.05% and have interest coming in. Then when it is time to buy my 2 year old car I will have the money to pay cash for it. Side note: If you have cash you can get a major deal on a car, especially when looking to buy from individuals. When you show them you have cash and can give it to them as soon as they agree that is extremely enticing.

If you are thinking: "But I need to buy a car now but have no money saved up. What do I do?"

I will answer your question by giving you 2 scenarios and you can decide for yourself which is better.

Normally we buy:

$18,000 car; 7 years at 10%; payments of $300; value after 7 years, $800

Or we could buy instead:

$6,000 car; 7 years at 10%; payments of $100; value after 7 years, $400.
The other $200 per month is saved at 10% (mutual fund) for 7 years = $24,190

Now who may the right choice:

At Year Seven
The car is fully depreciated, in either plan, but in the 2nd plan:

Savings $24,190
One year old car for cash <$16,000>
Left in savings $ 8,190

No Car Payments!

Another Seven Years
Saving $300 per month from year 7 to year 14
plus interest on $8,190 (10% return) the car is fully depreciated again.

Savings $52,245
One year old car for cash <$25,000>
Left in savings $27,245

No Car Payments!

Which scenario do you choose?

After 14 years you are in a position where you are set up to never have to make another car payment just because of a decision you made 14 years ago.

It is a shift of thinking from, "I will always have a car payment" to "I never want a car payment."

Use the compound interest factor for your advantage and not against you. It is powerful either way.

Signs your financial System are Working

2007-09-25T07:03:00.000-04:00

I wanted to offer up some encouragement to all who I have not had the pleasure of speaking with in person or through e-mail. I have heard really AWESOME things about people making commitments to handle their money wiser.

This allows them to be better stewards, better givers, better providers, and have actual freedom to do what God calls them to rather than be stuck in a position where they HAVE to earn a paycheck from a job they are not passionate about.

I wanted to list some signs that your financial system is working so that you may encouraged and continue what you are working towards:

1.) Paying car insurance quarterly or biannually without a hitch

2.) Giving e an offering to your local church not longer HURTS to write that check.

3.) Presents are a joy to buy for people.

4.) Getting to see monthly interest incurred from your 4.3%+ Interest Rate saving account. (If you do not have one of these, please sign up with ING Direct immediately.)

5.) No longer have stress when bills come in.

6.) You know that you have a plan financially if "life" happens.

7.) You are actually choosing to be at your job, rather than stuck at it.

And so many more! Having freedom with your finances is exactly what it sounds like. Freedom. It allows us to live life differently; I know too many people that are in bondage in their financial life which causes them to not be able to devote their lives to the calling they are called to because our money and hearts really are connected.

The Unexpected

2007-09-24T06:19:00.000-04:00

In everything in life we must account for the unexpected. I would call it foolish to not do this. Most times when we have an emergency it is a major life changing event. However, when we have not set ourselves up for success financially to get through these types of events not only do we have a major LIFE crisis, but we also have a MONEY crisis.

This adds tons of unnecessary stress that could have been avoided. The reason why I seem to be harping on the need of an Emergency Fund a lot is for a couple reasons:

1.) It is the 1st step the I advise people to do. So if you wanted to ask me what your first step to financial freedom is I would advise to save up $1,000 (basic) emergency fund or $500 if your income is under $20,000.

2.) The other reason is because I see scripture advising us in this direction. Proverbs 21:20 "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."

It is literally foolish to devour all you have. So if you are living paycheck to paycheck and all your money comes in, then all your money goes out, scripture calls this foolish. This is why my first step is to break the chain and develop an emergency fund.

Technical Difficulties

2007-09-22T16:45:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the inconvenience but www.chriskakaras.com will be down this week due to a domain transfer. I have been meaning to do this for some time and unfortunately this wait time was inevitable. www.chriskakaras.com will be up and running (hopefully) no later than Monday, October 1.

For the immediate time being you can check daily blog updates at storingtreasures.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Chris Kakaras

Budget Time

2007-09-21T09:02:00.000-04:00

It is getting to be that time of month. About a week before the month is over I put my financial outlook together and start budgeting for next month. A basic process of what is do is:

1.) Update all transactions in Microsoft Money to date and look at a snapshot in a summary of my accounts.

2.) I plan out a detailed projection of expenses (for the next 7 or so days) and put them in as transactions. The date I use is the last day of the month and as the actual expense comes, I delete that "projected" transaction. The reason I do this projection is because it is my goal to always keep $1,000 in my main checking account. I do not want to keep more and do not want to keep less in there. Anything left above $1,000 goes to a different account (savings, money market, investment, etc.) but I usually will end up right at $1,000 anyway because that is what I plan for.

3.) Now I am ready to put a plan for next month down on paper. The first thing I do is put the amount of income coming in. This goes at the top of the page and I want to "spend" all that money on paper. And when I mean spend I do not mean buy stuff, I mean give all your money a name. A certain amount goes to food, a certain amount goes to investments, giving, college fund, etc.

4.) After you put the income on the top of the page you start putting down necessary expenses. (i.e. Food, Shelter, Car, Utilities, Clothing in this order)

5.) I then think of upcoming expenses that could possibly be a budget buster in the coming months. I think of my car, Christmas, girlfriend's birthday, etc. And I choose a target amount for it then divide it by the number of months between now and then. This is now included in my budget and I make a separate account for it for money to be transferred to.

5.) Now lastly I roll over my previous months budget for all other accounts. I make my tweaks and then move on.

This whole process might be time consuming your first couple months but after a while you will be able to knock this out in less than 15 minutes. The important thing is to get the ball rolling. If you have yet to make a budget, I encourage you to start with next month (October).

Associated Content

2007-09-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

If you have never heard of this site it might be something worth checking out. www.associatedcontent.com is a online publication that buys articles that you write. I have submitted 4 and all have gotten me between $3 and $4, and they really did pay out.

Click Here if you want to be a content producer. If you have some spare time or have knowledge on a particular topic in might be worth it to check it out.

Link to Join

The Breakthrough Cont'd

2007-09-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

If you did not read yesterdays post from Jim Collins' book "Good To Great" please check it out before you continue with this one.

In that illustration (known as the flywheel concept) you are using a ton of force and only moving it a little at a time however at some point the wheel begins to turn on its own and even goes faster with you doing little to no effort.

I think we all want to be there in our finances. I have stated as a goal of mine, I want my alternative income streams to be greater than my expenses. This to me is true financial freedom. How do I do this? First I MUST understand this concept because it changes strategy on what our plan is.

What would happen if you were pushing that flywheel and you got tired and took a break for just a second (or a month when it comes to personal finance). The momentum would be lost and we would be discouraged to have to start over. Not only that, we would not have as much energy as before. If that happens perpetually we would never get to be to the breakthrough point.

This "stopping factor" can come in many different shapes when it comes to personal finances. It could be that emergency that comes up that we didn't have an emergency fund in place to counteract so we could keep building momentum. It could be the realization that it is hard right now and we want it to be easier immediately, instead of looking to the breakthrough point. Or it might be that you are just focused on results right now and give up because you are not seeing any.

Just like with the flywheel when we start we will put in the most effort and get the least amount of results. But getting to the breakthrough point is worth it and in anything you do and this needs to kept in mind.

Practically for any goal you have with your finances this applies. If you are budgeting for the first time it will take the most effort and you will probably make the most mistakes or be the most frustrated than you ever will. It gets easier, I promise. After a little over a full year of actually living on a budget, I am able to accurately, efficiently, and effectively budget my money in a matter of minutes for the upcoming month.

All it takes is getting through the initial max effort min results stages and looking to the breakthrough point.

The Breakthrough

2007-09-18T08:26:00.000-04:00

This illustration comes from Jim Collins' book Good to Great. I will connect this illustration to where I am going with it tomorrow.

Picture a huge, heavy flywheel – a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds. Now imagine that your task is to get the flywheel rotating on the axle as fast and long as possible.

Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn.

You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You keep pushing in a consistent direction. Three turns…four…five…six…the flywheel builds up speed… seven…eight…you keep pushing…nine…ten…it builds momentum…eleven…twelve… moving faster with each turn…twenty…thirty…fifty…a hundred.

Then at some point – breakthrough! The momentum of the thing kicks in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward, turn after turn…whoosh!…its own heavy weight working for you. You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster. Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort. A thousand times faster, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand. The huge heavy disk flies forward, with almost unstoppable momentum.

Now suppose someone came along and asked, “What was the one big push that caused this thing to go so fast?”

You wouldn’t be able to answer; it’s just a nonsensical question. Was it the first push? The second? The fifth? The hundredth? No! It was all of them added together in an overall accumulation of effort applied in a consistent direction. Some pushes may have been bigger than others, but any single heave – no matter how large – reflects a small fraction of the entire cumulative effect upon the flywheel.

Deals!!! College Student Edition

2007-09-17T08:17:00.000-04:00

I know this might be a little late, but just in case there is someone reading that this might help out I wanted to post it anyway. I ran across some great deals on Hustler Money Blog.

Gateway Notebook Intel Celeron M-Processor 520 at Best Buy for $350
Ultimate Office 2007 for $60, valid only for students with .edu email address.
Compaq Presario C508US 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook for $320 at Circuit City

If you have needed to get a computer; you can't find them much cheaper than this. And I am a strong advocate of Microsoft Office programming so when I find a good deal I want to share.

Ways to Cut Down Your Entertainment Budget

2007-09-14T08:20:00.000-04:00

Entertainment can be very expensive if we are not careful. I wanted to offer some great ways to spend less on this category while still having fun.

Not so much Traveling
This one hurts me because I love driving and more than that, I love driving to Braves games. I am a huge fan and I try to find good deals on eBay for tickets. While I figure I am saving money on tickets that most people would spend, I am killing a ton of money on gas to get there and back. Traveling really is a sneaky way to creep up your expenses and then when you look at your bank account balance you wonder where your money went.

Find Alternative Sources of Entertainment
I know quite a few people who have joined an ultimate frisbee league which is a great way to be entertained while not spending a lot of money. I also have friends who have a basketball night where they all get together on a certain night of the week or on Saturday morning and play. When you find things to do with friends and loved ones like these options you will feel no need to go out and spend a large amount of money on ways to entertain yourself.

Cancel some Memberships
Lots of people have gym memberships or other types of revolving expenses that they hardly ever use. This is sucking a good amount of money up. Most of the time you have signed up for a lot of little monthly fee type things which add up when put all together. If you go to a gym, health club, country club, or other service only once a week, chances are you are not getting your money's worth out of it.

Lower your Cable Package
I know this is crazy talk but I am serious. Most cable companies will have a low end basic cable package that usually cost a significant amount less. I know we are living in a world of HD, DVR, and premium packages and everything has to be HD but it is worth a thought. I am not saying you are irresponsible if you have a big cable package; I am just throwing out an idea for it in case it sticks somewhere.

Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions
I am guy that LOVES sports. And I love reading/watching/talking about sports all the time. Therefore, I used to have a subscription to Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, and ESPN the magazine. The problem is that I never really read them. I looked through them, read some blurbs here and there but I realized that I needed to cancel. This took a good shot to the pride because I am a man and men read Sports, but I am glad I am saving that $10-$15 a month now.

Use the Library
The library is freakin awesome. I love books (more like books on tape), I love movies, and I love free. Did you know the library has all 3? I suggest to use this amazing service that we are given by the state.

Anyway, there are tons of ways to keep our entertainment seeking hearts occupied without spending a ton of money. The key is to just make a little effort and it will go a long way. If you end up cutting down on movies and dining out you will more than likely save a LOT of money.

Yes, its all free!

2007-09-13T08:20:00.000-04:00

Wanted to share with everyone some goodies. I love free money and free stuff, if you do too than some of these links might be of interest to you. I found these on Hustler Money Blog.

If you are looking to change banks or open up a new account, you might want to check out one of these promotions.

Bank of America $100 bonus: Open online with $100 minimum deposit using offer code AOU2609 and receive $100 bonus for Bank of America’s cardholders. Expires on Nov. 30th
Citibank $200 bonus: Call 1-866-810-9043 and mention offer code MGWE. Deposit $1500 to get first $100 bonus, then setup direct deposit to receive the second $100 bonus. Expires Dec. 30th
Wachovia $75 Academy Gift Card: Open a free Checking account with $100 in new funds and setup direct deposit within 90 days to receive a $75 gift card bonus from Wachovia.
HSBC $75 Bonus: Open a free Checking account and receive $75. Offer expires Sept. 30th

If you want some free stuff, check these out!

College Student Spotlight

2007-09-12T08:01:00.000-04:00

Something came to my head today that saved me hundreds of dollars while I was in college. So, if you are a college student if you do what I am about to say you will literally save hundreds of dollars.

Most of you just bought textbooks for the upcoming semester. If you went to the on campus bookstore you ended up paying a pretty penny. However, I have a solution that will almost cut that bill in half. And the answer isn't just skipping out on buying half your books. My solution is to use www.half.com.

On there you can click on the textbooks link and type in your ISBN number. You will have to travel down to the bookstore and scout out what books you need and then write down the ISBN # (it literally takes 5 minutes).

Then just click and buy your textbooks through half.com which are normally half the price (you are buying them from other people in a secondary market). Normally shipping will take like 7-10 days so account for that when you order it (do not by it the night before you need it).

Once you get the books, if you bought the most recent version you can still sell it back to the bookstore at the end of the semester and usually the net cost is very small. Another thing that I started doing is I would by the previous version of the textbook than the current version. My senior year I literally spent like $40-$50 on my textbooks and they were the EXACT same thing as the current version. New versions might have minor changes but it was not worth spending $400-500 more on current versions of the book, I just cared about learning the material anyway.

I know school has already started so this post might be a little late, but keep this in mind for next semester.

Cash Can Cause...

2007-09-11T08:10:00.000-04:00

CONFLICT

I was in wal-mart the other day and saw a kid melt down because he wanted to get something but his mom would not let him. At first I thought how embarrassing that looks and then how thankful I was that I never did that as a kid (...right).

I realized that this was a conflict that was caused by money. It causes conflicts across the board: teenagers and parents, married couples, little kids in toy stores...it is messing stuff up all over the place.

CONFUSION

Money also causes confusion. I think that 2 groups that have a major role in people's confusion is the local church and the educational system.

It is strange that a senior can graduate from high school and can dissect a frog, knows the Pythagorean theorem, and can tell you the symbol for Sodium but cannot balance a checkbook or recognize a good interest rate.

It is so funny that major outlets of teaching will ignore the most practical thing people need to know. And when I mean ignore it, I mean never bring it up period. Then when someone is faced with financial decisions they are hit flat in the face without any experience. Maybe that is the reason why more people will declare bankruptcy than graduate from college this year. It is because we’re confused.

Money is dangerous stuff, you better know how to handle it. Jesus talks a lot about money, but most of the time he is warning us from it. Put yourself in a position to win with money. It really does matter. Are you controlling your money or is your money controlling you?

Free Money!!!

2007-09-10T08:04:00.000-04:00

If you like free money and have some time you can fill out surveys from these places. I usually do not do these surveys just because I don't have the time but I saw these on Hustler Money Blog and wanted to share.

Most of these places are pretty legit, I know the first one pays out a lot. Anyway, worth a shot if you find yourself with some free time and want a little spending cash.

Copy and Paste the link:

https://fun.mysurvey.com/join.cfm?r=2786801
http://www.acop.com/information.aspx
https://www.surveysavvy.com/ss/ss_index.php?action=join
http://www.greenfieldonline.com/TrafficUI/MSCUI/Page.aspx?pgtid=12&rsid=CD7265&amp;amp;amp;rcid=2844&ptid=4&utcoffset=5
http://us.lightspeedpanel.com/index.html

Giving God Control Part 3

2007-09-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

This is my last post on Giving God Control by following what He says through scripture. There are so many other verses we can talk about but I have narrowed down a few as they are fresh bread to me

Matthew 10:16 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

This sounds very un-Jesus like, but we can take it very practically and I believe it to be wisdom that we can take in our daily lives. The context of this passage is Jesus sending His disciples out to preach the Gospel. His advice was not to go where the wind takes you and THEN you will be provided for; he's saying "I have already provided with you what you need, don't get ripped of."

Practically speaking this means that we are called to read the fine print. It is wisdom to not put yourself in a position that you will be taken advantage of. I'm laughing right now because recently I did this and it was so obvious that it was my fault because I put myself in a position to be taken advantage of. Another practical example is debt: HAVE YOU READ THOSE CREDIT CARD CONTRACTS!! If you did you would see things like "We reserve the right to change the account terms for any reason" In other words, "Dear Customer - You have NO rights!"

Bottom line, Jesus says make every effort to not be taken advantage of, be shrewd as snakes. However, the verse also says be "innocent as doves." I was about to leave that last part out but I do not want anyone to misunderstand this passage of scripture. While we are making sure we are not taken advantage of, we are also called to NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OTHERS. I know this is a no-brainer but it needs to be said because I know first hand of people who got the first part of that passage down but trample over people in the meantime.

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents

Man I am not saying it is wrong to try to make money. In fact I say the opposite. What I really harp on is what you do with that money once you get it. Like my example yesterday, when you get stuff be missional with it. Our lives are 100% Jesus, not 98% Jesus and 2% HDTV.

I am an advocate of investments and in Matthew 25 the Parable of the Talents shows that Jesus is too. A talent in this example I believe is a days wages, maybe more. God gave us "talents," it is wisdom to turn them into more talents. It is simple. Do not bury them, this is what is known as hoarding. Live with an open hand. Yes it allows money to go out of your hands, but with an open hand it is also easier for money to go into your hands. When you are tight fisted neither is possible.

Along with that parable, the guy who sits on what God gave him is punished, the guy who multiplied his talents(money) is told he did good. And I honestly believe this is not supposed to be because we can have more "stuff" because after all you cannot take a u-haul with your hearse. But I believe that it WILL advance the Kingdom by doing so. Its as simple as living on mission in every area of your life and that includes your money.

Giving God Control Part 2

2007-09-06T08:08:00.000-04:00

To compliment us talking about the heart yesterday, I wanted to point out a few things that scripture speaks on that is on the practical side.

Proverbs 21:20 "In the house of the wise there are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."

Scripture actually says saving for a rainy day is cool; and rainy days are coming. Let me also clarify; most of us are suffering from a disease in which we need more and more stuff for ourselves. That is not what scripture is saying is okay, in fact let me just clear it up, that is wrong. An example of this is when Joe gets a big screen tv. The issue isn't that he spent money on the big screen tv, the issue is why did he get the big screen tv.

Let me use a friend of mine as an example...they bought a big ole 55 inch HD TV. The reason why he got that is so that he would have a reason to invite people (ie co-workers, college students, and everyone else) to come over and watch a big football game or basketball game and use it as a ministry tool. God has been glorified through his TV and that is cool.

Another friend of mine has a sweet boat; the reason why he has that boat is for ministry. It is the heart behind this stuff that matters, it is not just an excuse to get more stuff. That is the difference. It is not a numbers issue, it is most definitely a heart issue.

More coming tomorrow on giving God control by practical application of Scripture.

Giving God Control

2007-09-05T08:19:00.000-04:00

Giving God control of your money doesn't necessarily mean to give away all your money. It is very clear through scripture that the way we handle our money is an indicator of our hearts flat out.

If we are not giving to the poor but giving to Clemson football, we can fight it all we want but it is an indicator that you care more about Clemson football than you do homeless people. It's not me saying it so please do not be mad at me, but money is just an indicator.

Jesus wasn't lying when he said in Matthew 6, where your treasure there your heart is. Our hearts are connected to our money. When you invest in a stock and you see those 3 little ticker symbols go across the screen your heart jumps up and down with them. With giving your finances to God we are biblically mandated to give some away (in old testament after the harvests and tithing it comes to about 27.33%). But, usually a tithe in scripture is referred to as a minimum 10% of all your increase.

We are also biblically mandated to provide for your family (we won't really argue against that, it is what most people use to argue hoarding). But scripture doesn't stop there, it says lots of practical things about how we handle our money.

Tomorrow we will talk about basic practical steps that scripture teaches us about money. But I wanted to talk first about how our heart is connected to our money. And if we have an attitude of "I will do what I want cause its mine" this is the same rebellious heart that spawns other sin issues.

Two Column Budgets

2007-08-31T08:03:00.000-04:00

I received an e-mail saying:

"I am trying to do my first budget but I am having trouble with it because I get paid in the 15th and the last day of each month. While my bills are due at different times during the month. Any advice?"

My suggestion is to have a two-column budget. The first column represents the first paycheck of the month and the other represents the second paycheck of the month. Place the amount that you are bringing in out the top of each column and spend (plan) every dollar on paper for that pay period.

If your power bill is due on the 5th that is the first column. But then cell phone is on the 19th that is the second column. Then adjust categories that have some flexibility (like clothes can be budgeted on whichever pay period has some room.)

I encourage you to keep it up. It takes practice and you will constantly be getting better at it. It is extremely hard at first but most things in life that are worth doing are like that.

Coupon Time

2007-08-30T07:54:00.000-04:00

I got these from www.hustlermoneyblog.com

There are some pretty awesome coupons in this batch. If you had an upcoming purchase I recommend saving a little $ by printing one of these out.

Printable or Online:

Insurance: So easy a caveman can do it...

2007-08-29T08:06:00.000-04:00

So in my young life I have not had the pleasure of dealing with medical insurance a great deal. But in such a short time I feel like I have learned the hard way.

I consider insurance (along with an emergency fund) to be a foundational block of your financial picture. However, now I realize that it is not only important to HAVE inusrance, but you have to UNDERSTAND your insurance.

I knew I had dental so I scheduled an appointment. My insurance covers 100% of reasonable costs. I ended up learning the hard way that my insurance didn't cover the whole amount from this dentist and I ended up having to shell out some major money that I wasn't expecting.

If you have some type of medical appointment make sure you request for them to pre-qualify their expenses with your insurance company in advance. This is a must, especially if this is a new dentist or doctor you are going to.

I do love Vanilla Coke

2007-08-28T08:08:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't heard (and yes I know most do not care) Vanilla Coke is back!

I am pumped about this and even more pumped that they have commemorated the return with a buy 1 vanilla coke get 1 free coupon!

Vanilla Coke Coupon

If drinking a vanilla coke brings back fond memories, now you can do it for free!

Watch out for Identity Theft

2007-08-27T08:09:00.000-04:00

I used to not really take this idea seriously because I thought that it would not happen to me. I did not go to questionable websites nor did I give out my information to anyone that I didn't have 100% certainty what it was used for.

However, it is getting trickier and tricker to protect yourself from Identity Theft. For instance, I use paypal on a monthly basis but not a ton. I got this email a week ago saying that my account was frozen due to inactivity and needed to unfreeze my account. The e-mail looked EXACTLY like the paypal e-mails. Then when I clicked the link it took me to a site that had a web address that looked legitimate and had "paypal" in it somewhere. The page even looked exactly like the paypal website.

It asked me for my ss#, bank card #, and other things that paypal might normally ask for. Then I questioned what I was doing because I wanted to think twice before I put this information in. I hovered my mouse over the page to see where the links on the page would take me and came to find out there were no links at all on the page. The entire page was just paypal graphics.

On the page before they had me "log in," so I decided to click back and log in again but this time use an incorrect password. I came to find out that it still let me through. It was a scam.

I notified paypal immediately and change my password. I am thankful that I did not click submit and give out all my information.

Be on your guard against identity theft because it would be easy to fall in a trap if you are not careful. Matthew 10:16 actually tells us to be shrewed as snakes. Jesus was telling his disciples when sending them out to not be taken advantage of. I think this is still very insightful in today's age.

Is Christmas time here yet?

2007-08-24T08:13:00.000-04:00

No, it is not...but it will be.

I love Christmas time; not only is it a cool time to remember Jesus but just to be completely honest I get really excited about getting presents (and giving). Don't get me wrong the Lord and Savior of all creation should be #1 on the list and He is, but that is everyday. On Christmas the only thing that changes is I get presents and I am okay with that.

I think Michael Scott said it best "Christmas is awesome. First of all, you get to spend time with people you love. Secondly, you can get drunk and no one can say anything. Third, you give presents. What's better than giving presents? And fourth, getting presents. So, four things. Not bad for one day. It's really the greatest day of all time."

It quite possibly could be the greatest day of all time, Michael. If you are like me, you like to go all out. And afterwards you end up feeling a lot of pain in your bank account right afterwards. I never want to go through that and do not want you to go through that ever again. The simple solution is this:

Christmas is 129 days away. Right now figure out how much you are going to spend on presents...it's really easy to do just try it. Then put it in your monthly budget and plan for it, in fact if you put it in an www.ingdirect.com account you could get 4.5% interest until you spend it.

Christmas is not an EMERGENCY. It comes the same time every year. Can you imagine how great it would be to get to enjoy all the great things that come with Christmas AND to not have buyers remorse!

Learn the Magical Word

2007-08-23T08:08:00.000-04:00

The great word that we as Americans need to tell ourselves is "NO!"

It may sound simple but it is so NECESSARY. It doesn't matter how much money you make you still need to tell yourself "NO." For whatever reason the trend is to always spend a little bit more than what your income is; it could be a $30,000 income, $300,000 income, or $3,000,000 income you still end up living paycheck to paycheck.

I was reading an article in ESPN the magazine I think like a year ago. And it had an article on John Daly and how he was in debt $4,000,000. He turned to casinos to try to keep his head above water and was running himself into the ground by trying to make it to so many appearances.

It doesn't matter how much your income is, you need to learn to tell yourself no. That is the toughest thing for me. If I want something (or talk myself into "needing" something) I want it right then; it is the mentality we all have in America. I want it right now, my way or I am pissed.

When I make a plan I need to stick to it, the next month I can make a new plan; I can figure into the new plan the thing I want (and it might take multiple months saving for it!!!!). It is so worth it; to be financially free allows you to live life the way Christ designed it (not in bondage). There is so many warnings throughout scripture; they are not there for show, its truth.

Free Chicken and a Coke!

2007-08-22T15:27:00.000-04:00

http://www.freechickenandcoke.com/

By now you probably know that I love free stuff; what you might have no known is my extreme fondness of chick-fil-a chicken sandwiches. Every once in a while God allows us to get a glimpse of heaven by putting the two together.

If you go to that site and fill out your info they will mail you a coupon for a chicken sandwich and a coke. Enjoy!

Should I borrow from my parents?

2007-08-21T08:01:00.000-04:00

I recently got an e-mail asking me if it was okay to accept a loan from this person's parents. This person believes it is okay and actually borrowed money on two occasions from family members and it worked out.

Check out my previous post to understand my point of view on borrowing money from family. Out of Bounds.

I thought he had a valid point that I wanted to address on the blog. I am glad that borrowing money from your family worked out. However, what I am still saying is truth and it's good advice. You can drive down the road 100 miles per hour and get where you are going in one peace; but that does not prove it was a good idea.

In most instances families can produce strain on those involved and usually will be followed by regret. The borrower is always slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7) and Thanksgiving Dinner tastes different when you are eating with your master.

A Glimpse of Compound Interest

2007-08-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

Have you ever thought about being a millionaire but then just laughed it off. I am going to show you the key to becoming a millionaire; compound interest.

$100 a month, that is all it takes. If you invest $100 a month for the next 40 years you will have invested $48,000 by the end of it. That is a lot of money.

But after 40 years of compound interest that $100 a month would be $1,176,477.25!!! (This calculation was done with the assumption of the market average over the last 75 years, 12%)

I think most people could plan to set aside $100 a month; but the problem is nobody is doing it.

Compound interest is your greatest friend or your greatest enemy. (By the way, that exponential growth works against you for your debt)

The Heart of Savings

2007-08-17T07:59:00.000-04:00

What I am going to talk about is a tough issue to teach and explain. The reason why it is hard is because it is a balancing act.

Savings is important but not at the cost of replacing the hope we have in Christ with our "stuff."

Proverbs 21:20 "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."

This is saying save for a rainy day. This is where I got the concept of an Emergency Fund from.

However, there is a flipside to this that was brought up in my life group last Wednesday. When we put our hope in that to take care of us we now have a new issue to work on and some might even go as far to say they don't need God.

Matthew 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

I cannot stress this enough. You SHOULD do things like save money. Scripture is clear and calls that wisdom. But DO NOT put your trust and hope in that because our stuff on earth is so fragile. It can be given then taken away in a blink of an eye.

God loves his children and loves us enough to teach us what is best for us. Just like a father telling his daughter to not play on the roof. The daughter will say things like, "Why are you ruining my fun" or "You are so mean, why are you against me." Then the father will reply, "I know what is best for you even when you don't, I love you, and because of that you need to go sit in the corner."

It's discipline but it's love.

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

I want you to save money AND put your hope in Jesus and not on Earthly things. Look for discipline in this; our hearts will fight this and as a Christ Follower you should be constantly growing in this area.

Joe Sangl Day

2007-08-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today I am meeting with Joe Sangl from Newspring for a Financial Counseling Roundtable with 7 or 8 other people who have a passion for helping people with their finances.

I could not be more excited and can't wait to post tomorrow on what God teaches me through this!

Am I against all debt?

2007-08-15T08:02:00.000-04:00

I get this question a lot, and in order to answer let me explain the kinds of debt that I am specifically referring to.

Types of Debt

Credit Card
Student Loan
Home Mortgage
Car Loan

The answer: Yes, I am against ALL debt. I want to make every effort to have (zero) debt in my life. That is the ultimate form of financial freedom when I don't have to make payments to ANYBODY. I do not want to ever be STUCK at a job because I need the security of being able to make payments. This is not freedom, it is what I call bondage. You are literally bound to doing something you may not want to do. So my plead is to make every effort to stay out of ANY kind of Debt.

With that being said, those 4 types of debt are not created equal.

My stance on debt is, it is only acceptable debt when you can sell it and be debt free immediately. It has to retain monetary value.

Therefore out of the 4 types of debt I listed, a Home Mortgage is the only form of debt I consider acceptable.

Home Mortgage
At any point when things change in your financial situation you can sell your house and be out of debt immediately. Now we all know it might take a few bumps (like it may take your house a few months to be sold). But that is why I recommend a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses. It is smart to have it for this very reason.

Car Loans
Car Loans are NOT acceptable. Your car depreciates in value so fast and it breaks my heart when people get stuck financially and need to sell their car but they can only sell it for like $15,000 when their loan is still outstanding for $25,000. You still have to sell it because $10,000 of debt is still better than $25,000 but it is just a bad situation...stay away.

What I personally do, and what I recommend is to find a beater car (couple thousand bucks) that is in good mechanical shape (ugly physical shape) and drive that while making a car payment to yourself. Put aside $300-350 a month but put it in a money market to buy your next car, in cash. Keep making payments to yourself and at some point put it in a mutual fund. After years of making payments to yourself, there will be a break even point where due to compound interest you will never have to make a car payment again!

Credit Cards
These are NEVER acceptable. They do not even come close to the rule that I have of being able to sell it immediately and be out of debt. I do not feel that I need to go real in depth but Credit Card companies are making MAJOR money; it is or will be coming from you if you play around these things.

Student Loan
I know that I am going to get push back on this. The common response is, "Education is important. Some people can't afford college, so are you saying they should not go to school just because they can't afford it." My response to this is no AND yes. First of all, education is SO IMPORTANT. But it is not valuable because you need a diploma, you need to actually learn and apply it there. And I do think that an education is VERY important, but like I said before the only acceptable form of debt is when you can sell what you went into debt for and be out of debt immediately; it needs to retain a monetary value (not sentimental value, not emotional value, not enjoyment value). Student Loans do not fall into the category of being able to sell it and be out of debt.

But I DO want kids to go to school. If asked, my advice would be to work, work, work your tail off. Work for a couple years and save up every penny you can, go to a state school. You will most definitely not take school for granted at that point. My buddy, Casey, worked his way through school and graduated from Clemson University in Engineering. He did not incur a penny of debt and graduated with a degree. It is never okay to use money that you do not have. That seems very basic to me but something that we rationalize so well. By the way, you know what we do when we rationalize, we tell rational-lies.

Yes I know that student loans generally have lower interest rates and yes I know they have things like you don't have to pay until you graduate. But it is still the emotional response of being in bondage and I will choose freedom 100% of the time.

So when you tell me the perks of debt (like in Student Loans) what I essentially hear is, "Come be in slavery, we have all types of perks like water, food, sheets, good hours, a nice master and it is much better than the other type of slavery." I will never be willing choose or say it is okay to be in this. I cannot make people's decisions for them, but there are too many Americans that have the walls closing in because of their money and we have to open our eyes that we are allowing it to happen. It is so important because it affects everything else in their life, to the point that they may not be able to do what God wants them to do because they have put them into a place of bondage.

Too many people are stuck in a trap and doing a job they don't want to be doing. Instead of doing something that makes them come alive and what God designed them to do.

In John Eldredge's book, Wild at Heart, there is a quote that holds very true.

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Coupons of the Week

2007-08-14T07:54:00.000-04:00

Here are some coupons of the week from Hustler Money Blog that you might be interested in.

Printable:
Express $10 off 40 or $20 off 80
Kmart $5 off 50 **should work at Walmart too
Best Buy 10% off
Office Max $10 off 20
Pep Boys $10 off 50
Value City $20 off 50

Fear of Investing

2007-08-13T08:15:00.000-04:00

I was talking with someone about a month ago about his financial situation. Just to paint a picture: he is married, does not own a home, is debt free, and him and his wife are in a situation where they are not incurring a lot of expenses. He makes a regular income; She does not. His regular income covers all expenses that they have. His wife has irregular income coming in due to things on the side she does. All money she brings in goes to savings.

He wants to invest the extra money they have coming in but says he is scared to do so. My advice to him is what I have heard from many financial guru's in the past. Knowledge Eliminates Fear.

Know this:

97% of the 5-year periods in the entire market history made money
100% of the 10-year periods in the entire market history made money

Just pick any random 5 or 10 year period in the market's history and you will find these statistics are true. By the way, this includes during September 11 and the Great Depression.

Your money will go up if you just leave it. Here is some knowledge to steer you away from short term investing.

Only 66% of the 3-year periods in the entire market history made money

That is a 1 in 3 chance that I will LOSE some of my money. I am not taking those chances; I would much rather stick with the 97% and 100% figures.

FICO Score Decoded

2007-08-10T07:49:00.000-04:00

I had a friend ask me a really good question recently that I wanted to put on here to show my thoughts on it. He asked, "Which is better on a credit score - a credit card with zero balance, or no credit card at all?"

Before I answer this question I have to lead into it so you know where I am coming from. I am not a big fan of encouraging people to make efforts to make their credit score as high as possible. I do think it is important to make all payments you have so that your credit will be intact and in good shape because it is your electronic reputation. As long as you do that, you do not have to worry about your credit score.

The only thing that a credit score gives you is the ability to borrow MORE money. So essentially what you are saying when you want to raise your credit score is, "I want the ability to borrow more money." I don't like the idea of borrowing money period so I usually advise people accordingly to not bend over backwards to get their credit score higher.

FICO scores are calculated based on your rating in five general categories.

Components of the FICO score are:
Payment history - 35%
Amounts owed - 30%
Length of credit history - 15%
New credit - 10%
Types of credit used - 10%

80% of your FICO score is to get in debt, stay in debt, and make payments for a long time. That is the way to improve your credit score, but also the way to be in slavery and have no freedom with your money. So I advise people don't even play that game. The only thing you need a credit score is for more debt anyways. Everyone in America is so worried about their credit score; yet most of America is living paycheck to paycheck. I want to steer people away from playing the credit score game because I really do think those two issues are connected.

But to conclude to an answer I say don't mess with it at all. If you are not planning on using the card, then don't get the card. It really doesn't affect your "credit score" that much if you had a card with zero balance as opposed to no credit card at all.

Realtor or No Realtor

2007-08-09T08:05:00.000-04:00

I know several people in my life that are currently either selling their house or thinking of selling their house. The age old question in this is, "Do I NEED a realtor?"

The positive to not getting a realtor is you save on the commission that is rather sizable depending on how much your house will be sold for.

However, if you had to ask me I would say yes, I do recommend you have a realtor when you sell your house...BUT, I do not just want a realtor, I want you to get a high quality, highly motivated, won't slow down realtor with a great track record.

I have heard Dave Ramsey say to interview people when they are going to make money off you. So that is my suggestion. If you go in there and have questions ready for them and they don't want to oblige or are being a jerk, move on quickly and thank them for their time. If they don't feel that they are good enough to exceed all your expectations and know that they will stand up to a tough grader then you did not want them in the first place.

Interview Questions to ask:

1) Why should I list my home with you? (Find out what the agent will do to help your home stand out.)

2) What’s your company’s track record and reputation? (If one agent or company sells more than the rest, ask why and what they’re doing differently.)

3) Does your broker control the advertising or do you? (If your agent doesn’t control the advertising, your home may compete for ad space with listings from every other agent in the brokerage.)

4) On average, how close is the selling price to the asking price? (This information is available from your local Real Estate Board. The agent’s performance in this area can help predict how much you’ll get for your home.)

5) On average, how long does it take your listings to sell? (This information is also available from the Real Estate Board. It will help determine about how long your home will be on the market. )

6) Do you have a reference list of clients I could contact? (Make some phone calls. Ask them to describe their experiences with the agent.)

7) What if I’m not happy with the job you do? (See if the agent will cancel your contract without penalties if you’re not satisfied with the service they provide.)

Did I say free?

2007-08-08T08:01:00.000-04:00

I found these offers on Hustler Money Blog.

If you have some free time and you like to drive, you can now get FREE stuff while doing it. Check out these offers:

$25 Best Buy Gift Card for Test Drive a Suzuki XL7
Two Tickets to the Bourne Ultimatum for Test Drive VW Touareg 2
$10 Starbucks Gift Card for Test Drive Smart Car USA Tour
Mercedes Test Drive for free food and parting gifts.
Support Susan G Komen to raise money for breast cancer research with BMW test drive
Request a brochure with Prepaid $50 Mastercard for Toyota Test Drive..ymmv.

"Above and Beyond" Cash Flow

2007-08-07T07:47:00.000-04:00

At the risk of this post being "out there," I am going to talk about what I have termed "above and beyond" cash flow.

This is any money you have coming in that is unexpected. It is different than your alternative income stream where you are making money work for you without going into a "job" so to speak (that is a planned income stream). Above and Beyond Money is when you find $20 on the ground, when your annual tax return comes in, or when your Aunt gives you $50 for your birthday. It is irregular income that you know is coming someway, somehow, sometime; you just don't know how, from where, or when.

If you have a detailed cash flow plan and receive above and beyond money you know exactly where that money can be put to good use. If you do not have a plan there is a good chance that money will leave you quickly and this is never a good feeling.

A marketers job is to appeal to your senses and use our psychology against us. So if you suddenly have $1600 that you did not have a plan for, there is a good chance it will be gone and you will be left wondering where it went. I am not trying to tell you what to do with YOUR (cough, God's) money; but I am trying to tell you that whatever you spend it on, you need to do it on purpose.

I believe that if we receive Above and Beyond Money and there is no plan, then it is not going to be a financial help to us. I cannot stress the idea of a planning enough. I love talking about doing fun stuff with your money: investments, generosity, savings for cash purchases, etc. But you HAVE to have a foundation first and one of those foundational blocks is a PLAN.

Tips for Cash Flow Planning

2007-08-06T07:51:00.000-04:00

These are all tips that have worked for me; if you have been frustrated with budgeting try some of these ideas.

1.) Use a computer. They are good for you. If you do it in excel you can make it calculate your total as you go. Not only that, if you forget something you can just insert a row instead of erasing everything like you would on a sheet of paper.

2.) Budget for upcoming expenses. If you know something is coming up a few months from now, start budgeting now. It makes things so much easier when it comes time to pay whenever that something comes.

3.) Do your budget monthly. Each month changes. I am single with a basically simple lifestyle and still things change for me on a monthly basis. You are not going to come down from the mountain with the stone tablet budget, you have to continue to tweak and change things depending on what life throws at you.

4.) Start your EMERGENCY FUND. I don't think anyone will argue with me that life throws curve balls. Why would we not plan for this? This is the FIRST thing recommend you to do, it is SO important. Save up $1,000 and set it aside. Then attack your debt. (See Attack that Debt) After that is completed I suggest you set aside 3-6 months income as your emergency fund. (See Emergency Fund)

5.) Keep copies of old budgets. I like looking back on things from a year or so ago and see how far God has brought me in life. Not only would it be neat to see this in our cash flow planning, it is also a good reference tool.

6.) Use envelopes to hedge overspending. If you plan for $200 for groceries one month, just put $200 in an envelope and have all your money come out of there. Dunn & Bradstreet did a study that says in our psychology we spend less money when we use cash. It is a fact and we can argue but because debit/credit cards are so convenient we end up spending more. If you set aside a few envelopes a month: food, groceries, fun money, etc. it will aid in your effort to not overspend.

Side Note: My friend Dean has a "five pocket wallet" that he uses to set aside his cash for each category, rather than having five envelopes . This idea intrigues me and I think I would like to try that in the near future.

7.) Do NOT turn to debt. If you can't fit everything into your budget that you want/need to spend money on do NOT turn to debt. You need to cut things out of your life, debt cannot be an option anymore.

8.) People with irregular income still have to budget. You do not have a round number each month and to planning for your budget will look a little different. You need to prioritize your spending. Rank your expenses. 1.) Food 2.) House 3.) Transportation 4.) Basic Utilities 5.) Clothing from there rank what you deem most important then next importance. It is a skill and will take time to develop.

Gut Check Time

2007-08-03T08:46:00.000-04:00

Recently I have been thinking about my principles on personal finances because I am preparing to teach a two week Financial Class on October 21 and 28. (Click contact me if you want more information on this) These are 3 questions that I had to ask myself, that I encourage you to ask yourself to examine your financial health.

1.) Is there anything in my finances that if made public would discredit me?

If your financial records suddenly became public, is there anything you are doing that would make you embarrassed? You know what that is and chances are you need to cut it out of your life. This rings true especially if you are a Christ Follower. It may be your $400+ monthly eating out expense when you say you have a heart for the poor. Money is an indicator of our heart, the tough thing is that it is so easy to keep it private. I encourage you that if there is something in your financial life that if brought to light would be a negative representation of you, to cut it out.

However, this is just a symptom of a bigger issue. If you are not content in every situation in life you will always have these type issues being brought up. Cutting out something of your life is behavior modification and will probably be brought up again. Praying and working on being content because God has given you so much already is the solution. That is not an overnight thing, that takes perseverance and time.

2.) What am I doing right now that will make me be where I want to be financially a year from now?

I know a lot of us say, "we are going to save money when this changes" or perhaps we say, "once that thing goes away I will spend less." Whatever reason (cough, excuse) we might be telling ourselves, the better question is what am I actually doing? Am I making steps to be where I want to be?

One of my goals has always been making my money work for me so I wouldn't HAVE to (I would still WANT to because I love working at what I am passionate about; I would just do it for free now). I want my "alternative income stream" to be larger than my expenses. What I qualify as alternative income is anything that I don't go to a job for. This could be interest earned, dividends, rental income, or any type of income stream that doesn't require me to "go into work for." This is a lot longer than a goal than one that can be achieved a year from now. But I honestly have to ask myself, if this is a goal then what steps am I or have I taken towards it.

3.) Am I increasing in generosity?

It doesn't matter if you follow Christ or not, you have to be increasingly generous. I believe that it is truth that the love of money is a slippery slope that can ruin a persons life. In fact, it is cool that I am writing about this today because I just read 1 Timothy 6 this morning. (Fresh Bread)

1 Timothy 6:9 "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction."

I believe that God created our hearts and through his divine word he is warning us about money. It is a blessing to have money and in that same chapter (1 Tim 6:17) scripture says that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Now, right before that is says do not put your hope in wealth but hope in God and they go together. What I am saying is, it is okay to enjoy blessings from God (after tithing, basic needs, and generosity of course) as long as you put your hope in God and not in wealth. I am not using that scripture as justification for being greedy so please don't hear me wrong.

But to get back on track, generosity is key to keeping our hearts in check so that we won't fall into ruin and destruction like 1 Timothy 6:9 talks about.

Those are 3 questions that you can ask yourself that will help examine if you are on track to being financially healthy.

I Love a Good Coupon

2007-08-02T08:31:00.001-04:00

From time to time when I see deals I like to post it for all to see and enjoy. If you are planning on spending some money at any of these 4 places, it probably would be worth it to go ahead and print out one of these bad boys.

I got these from http://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/

These are great if you were planning to buy something for your house or perhaps a new office that the orginazation you are leading just moved into. Both valid times to print out these coupons.

Target : Coupon for $5 off of $25 purchase

Office Depot: 15% off Office Depot Coupon

Reebok Outlet: 40% off Coupon at the Outlet Store

BabiesRUs: 15% off BabiesRUs Coupon

Remember, if you were not planning on buying anything from one of these stores...don't use them. You will not be saving money. However, if you were going to get something like a desk or bookcases anyway you might as well use em.

What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You

2007-08-01T09:03:00.000-04:00

I used to believe that what I didn't know, could not hurt me. In fact, I told my friend Jon this many times when discussing "rules" for us to live by while living in the same house.

To give more life to this, I did not want Jon using certain things. For example I did not want anyone to sit on or put stuff on my bed (pet peeve...don't know why, I just don't like it). Along with me telling Jon that these are my wishes I told him, "But...what I don't know can't hurt me." If I get home and my bed is all messed up, I now know and we have a problem. But if I truly do not know and do not find out, there is no way it can hurt me.

This was my motto for roommates for many years. However, I now believe it to NOT be true in all cases and will never use it again.

If you do not KNOW where you money is going, it WILL hurt you. It is so simple, yet the hardest thing for us in America to grasp. Your income MUST be greater than what you spend. There is no gray area. It is not calculus or trigonometry, it is addition and subtraction. If you are reading this blog you need to KNOW a budget or it WILL hurt you.

You might be saying, “I don’t need a budget.” I know from experience that if you are broke or are stuck in a trap of all the money coming in then going out like a whirlwind, the way to get out is through the introduction of a monthly budget. Once you do this you are actually able to give more than you ever thought possible, save more than you ever thought possible, and will be able to utilize your income to do something besides PAY BILLS!!

You have to KNOW how much you have coming in (Income). And now you have to KNOW what is going out (Expenses). If you do not know this it WILL hurt you; there are too many hurting people out there for me to think otherwise anymore.

If you need help with setting up a preliminary budget and need someone on your team, e-mail me. Click the contact me link on the tool bar.

Thoughts on Insurance

2007-07-31T08:31:00.001-04:00

Insurance is an essential Financial Planning tool. The purpose of insurance is to transfer risk. Especially for those at a younger age just starting out adulthood; you don't have a large cash amount and certain losses could bankrupt you, so wisdom says to transfer the risk.

These are 6 Basic Types of Insurance

Homeowners or Rental Insurance
Auto Insurance
Health Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Long Term Care Insurance

The ones that I am going to highlight today are the first four: Homeowners/Rental, Auto, Health, and Life Insurance.

Homeowners/Renters Insurance

When you own your home, it is a must to have homeowners insurance. If you are renting, you NEED rental insurance. It is extremely cheap (usually about $10/month) and if you do not have it you are no longer covered under your parents insurance.

Auto Insurance

I recommend that once you have your emergency fund, you should raise your deductible. The reason for this is because you will save a lot on your reduced monthly payment. Be smart with that and save it up so that it becomes your "Car Emergency Money" that will pay for the deductible when you have to pay it. Make sure you carry adequate liability.

Health Insurance

Along with auto insurance, I have the same recommendation for health insurance to raise your deductible because when you have an emergency fund in place you can save money on your monthly payment. And after a certain period of time you end up saving the whole amount of the deductible from the monthly savings anyway. If you are self-employed you can save money using an MSA (or Medical Savings Account). I will post on tax tips in the future and more will be included on the MSA then. But for now, the MSA is a tax deductible medical savings account for medical bills that works with a large deductible.

Life Insurance

This is a must if you are married and have a house. If you were to die without life insurance and the two of you have a mortgage together your spouse would be responsible for the amount. Chances are she was depending on your income for this which is why you are protecting her by taking out life insurance. However, if you both are working and have no debt (no mortgage, loans, cards, etc.), she really isn't depending on your income. In this situation it is not vital to have life insurance.

Life Insurance is to replace lost income due to death. It is actually more like "death insurance." There are 2 types of Life Insurance: Term and Cash Value.

Term insurance is for a specified period, is substantially cheaper, and has no savings plan built in. Cash Value insurance is normally for life and is more expensive in order to fund a savings plan.

A common misconception about life insurance that it is permanent need. That you will ALWAYS need life insurance.

What I recommend is for you to get a 20 or 30 year term life insurance and invest the monthly savings into a diversified portfolio of mutual funds (ex. 25% growth, 25% growth & income, 25% aggresive growth, and 25% International).

I encourage you to price a plan for Cash Value and Term and the difference will most likely be a great deal. Usually a plan for Cash Value that is $100 will be for about $10 or $15 with Term. If you save and invest the other $90 per month for the entire term of 30 years you will have $314,546.77 at the end of it. You will be self insured and no longer need to be sinking payments into a life insurance savings plan.

Common Budget Planning Traps to Avoid

2007-07-30T09:42:00.000-04:00

In order to ensure success in your cash flow plan I wanted to talk about 4 common traps or mistakes that people fall into which ultimately causes them to "get out of the game" with their finances.

I have been harping on "having a plan" for the past few weeks and those of you that have started making a plan I want to encourage you. Every month you are going to get better at planning. The first month is the hardest, I cannot urge you enough to continue this every month because it is so easy to give up.

Everybody that makes a Cash Flow Plan is not always successful to start. Some do have a natural gift at thinking through each detail and following their plan, but I would say most do not. 4 Common reasons why your Cash Flow Plan may not work:

1) Leaving Things Out

Each month is different. December is going to be much different than June. December has Christmas; June probably has a vacation. March might have a birthday; August your kids need new clothes for school. My point is actually think through your month. Plan it carefully. You have a specific number of money coming in, you have to tell it what to do. That includes mid and long term savings that you set aside each month such as: car, retirement, kids college, etc.

2) Over Complicating Your Plan

You do not NEED to put down $17.22 for toilet paper in a certain month. This is not only tedious and annoying, it is also unnecessary. As an example of what I do is actually lump in my toiletries and groceries together (I usually get them from the same store anyway).

3) Not Actually Doing It

Tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Imagine if a coach did not have a plan for his team; there is a pretty good chance he would not be very successful (and probably fired).

4) Not Actually Living By It.

If that same coach made a plan, but then didn't care if his players actually did what he planned out, they would still not be very successful in this scenario either.

Cash Flow Planning helps avoid living on a crisis by crisis management system. It should not be a surprise when Christmas presents come up or when you need to buy clothes for the kids. These are not what I consider "emergencies." If you want to review my thoughts on emergencies (see Click Here and read the importance of an emergency fund.

Proverbs 21:5 - "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."

Don't Break the Chain

2007-07-27T09:05:00.000-04:00

If you know me, you know I love Jerry Seinfeld. He is a world renown comic that is extremely driven and seems to be one of the best in the business. I always wondered how determined that a person needs to be to reach that high of a level at anything (basketball, CEO, etc.). I imagine that in order to take your "skill" to a top level it takes a lot of consistency and perseverance.

This article was really cool on Jerry Seinfeld (if you don't want to read it, see below, I am highlighting what I am talking about).
Seinfeld Article

Highlights were:

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself - even when you don't feel like it.

He then revealed a unique calendar system he was using pressure himself to write.

Here's how it worked.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain." He said again for emphasis.

I find that really neat that in something as creative as the comedic industry, it takes discipline and sticking to a system in order to take it to a new level.

Handling/Planning our money is extremely tough if you are just going to wait til 1 day a month to take care of everything. It is extremely overwhelming at times when you do this. I do not do the system that Jerry Seinfeld is talking about, however, I update my money system everyday. It takes me like 5 minutes. I am at the computer anyway (as I am sure many of you are right now...cause its a blog).

Consistency makes a HUGE difference in the way you see your money. Eventually it becomes natural to you and you enjoy the feeling of knowing where you stand with your money so much that you will hate not updating your money daily. Days that you can't get to your computer you will notice that you did not update and can't wait to get back and do it. I am not saying you should develop an OCD disorder, but like anything in life, consistency and determination can be a major contributing factor to success.

In Case of an Emergency

2007-07-26T08:50:00.000-04:00

Do you have a plan for when "life" happens. I don't think there is one among us who have not experienced some sort of unforseen event in our lives. We have all seen the car break down, the refrigerator dying, the air conditioning bust, or worst of all...the tv blow out. This stuff happens, it is GOING to happen again. There is no guess work involved; in your life you are going to have an unexpected event. Since this is GOING to happen, you might as well plan for it.

If you plan for a credit card to be your Emergency Fund I ask that you reconsider. If you use it for an emergency you are not taking care of that emergency at all, in fact you just made it even HARDER on yourself.

Imagine something serious happens like your car breaking down, a loved one is injured, or even worst a friend or family has died and the costs from the event are coming in. Life is hard enough to deal with trials. You don't need to pile on more crap (I think I can say crap, its my blog) in your life. You don't want to have a life problem AND a money problem.

If you don't remember why being in debt is bad, we talked about it a few weeks ago. Quick Recap: Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Another translation says "the borrower is slave to the lender." When you establish a lender/borrower relationship you are actually establishing a slave/master relationship. The sad thing is I know too many people whose master is Visa or American Express. I don't think that the people who named "MasterCard" were too far off.

Anyway, in order to hedge life I recommend that the FIRST thing you do is save/set aside $1,000 in an "Emergency Fund." This is a fund that is not a big earner, it's not an investment, it can't be tied up and not easy to get to, and you don't touch it. Put it in a money market account (see Money Market and leave it there. I have mine earning 5.10% in a Money Market through Bank of America. I just moved it there from ING Direct earning 4.50%. Regardless of the percentage points, the important thing is to do it because when life happens you need to have a plan.

The reason why I say it do it FIRST before paying off debt is this. Let's say you are throwing all your money and attacking your debt. Well, if life happens and you don't have any buffer you are going to put it back on the credit card and emotionally kill all the momentum you built. There is so much freedom in when an emergency happens you can just write a check and its over. When you draw out those expenses it builds an emotional burden that is very real. After all, personal finance is just as much personal as it is finance. That makes sense considering God created our hearts and money connected (see heart and money).

Challenge Step: $1,000 in an "Emergency Fund." After you pay off debt I recomend getting an "Emergency Fund" of AT LEAST 3 months expenses. That way if life happened and you lost your job. You would not have the unbearable stress of not knowing if your family can be taken care of while you look for another one.

Attack That Debt

2007-07-25T08:57:00.000-04:00

This is a proven method that helps you stay on track with attacking your debt. This method gets criticism and I will explain why. It is your life and your money, and all I can do is show my work to why I believe what I believe. I am not trying to hide anything from you, or pull anything over your eyes.

This is called the "Debt Snowball Method" and the first I heard of it was from Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace.

The first thing you have to do is make a budget and set aside however much money you are going to put towards debt each month. I am not going to go into this but I am assuming you have canceled the cable, lowered your cell phone plan, got rid of the gym membership, and done any and everything to free up money in your monthly budget to attack debt. Now once you have that number that you are going to attack your debt with write it at the top of a sheet of paper.

Then list all your debts from smallest balance to largest balance. Pay the minimum payment on all of them except the smallest debt and destroy it. Then once its gone, add the money that you were paying on the little one, to the next little one (this is a little more because you are adding the minimum payment plus what you were paying on the little one). Continue in this method until each debt is gone and move on to the next one with a bigger amount to attack it with.

Just so you can see the example:

Weaponry: $1,500

Visa: $250...................................$25.00 Minimum Payment
MasterCard: $2,100..................$100.00 Minimum Payment
American Express: $2,500.......$120.00 Minimum Payment
Medical Bills: $10,200...............$400.00 Minimum Payment

Total Minimum Payment..........$645.00

So in this example you have $1,500 to attack debt with. $645.00 is going out for minimum payments and that leaves $855.00 to attack with. This means we can put $225.00 of that towards Visa and get it out of our life forever, then still have $630.00 left that we can put on Master card. After that month our new debt will look like this (will be different baring interest):

MasterCard: $1,370
American Express: $2,380
Medical Bills: $,9.800

Then attack it again the next month and have a blast crossing stuff off the list. The reason why this method gets criticized is because other people think that you should keep the debt with the lowest interest rate and therefore not to rank or pay them off according to balance but interest rate. The thing is I agree with them and they are correct mathematically. But I have realized that personal finance is just as much personal as it is finance.

The reason why this is a proven method is because it offers the emotional pat on the back that is NECESSARY in order to keep the passion and motivation needed to attack debt. You may have intensity at the beginning with doing the interest rate method, however, it is so much easier to lose that intensity when you are not seeing results. Its just like when a Shark tastes blood, he wants to attack more. The same happens when we start seeing results from attacking our debt.

Now, if you want to do some balance transfers or consolidation and get a lower rate on something that is fine with me. But the reason why I am not harping on that is because balance transfers and consolidation are just smoke and mirrors. The real issue here is the DEBT. And by you shifting your problem around tricks you into thinking that you are doing something when in actuality you are mistaken.

The way to get out of debt is to attack. It's going to take a half a year or more living on beans and rice, grilled cheese and ramen noodles. But it's worth it to be free. I was listening to a radio program and the host asked the caller who was a hundred thousand dollars in debt, "What would your life be like if in 3 years you had no more payments?" She had to use every bit of energy to respond over her overwhelming tears and sniffles and all she could muster was, "I can't even imagine what life would be like if that happened."

That broke my heart that she was in BONDAGE. This is serious stuff and it matters. It affects everything in people's life, and for this lady she was at the end of her road. She could not take being in this bondage anymore to the point that life was not life anymore.

I know things may seem bleak and overwhelming but chances are the reason why is simply that you need to get organized. Getting organized and putting a plan down like I am suggestion allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an on coming train.

I can't say this enough, if you need to attack debt don't get caught up and play around with the balance transfer games, just attack it with intensity and that is how you will obtain Financial Freedom.

Workouts are not easy...

2007-07-24T08:47:00.000-04:00

So it is my birthday today and I decided to wake up early and go for a birthday run. Which turned out to be more like a birthday crawl. Workouts are not easy and I got to thinking about how physical fitness parallels a lot to financial fitness.

Firstly, both are very important and affect other areas in our lives. I will not go into this but I am certain I won't have many who disagree that this holds true. Secondly, a workout takes discipline, which is the same thing that is needed with money. It does not come natural and it takes effort. Once you do this for a while you begin to get in shape.

With physical fitness it takes eating as well as working out. You cannot just eat all the time and be healthy it takes both eating right and exercise to be healthy. The same goes with the way we handle our money. Tracking AND planning are two essential parts that are necessary for financial fitness.

When we get overwhelmed with money, chances are it is because we are not handling it and letting it handle us. A common form of this is not tracking or planning. When you plan and track your money it takes all guesswork out. But you cannot just do one and be financially healthy; you have to do both.

It is important to take a spreadsheet (or even a yellow pad) and put down a projection of what your month looks like. Each month is different and will change so it is important to change and tweak before every month. Some things you need to plan for and set aside money each month (ie Christmas or Vacation). But the point is you have to start now. Just like when I got up this morning to run, even though it did not go as well you have to start somewhere.

Cliche Quote that applies is: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Practical Application Challenge: Download the Cash Flow Plan from my tools portion of my website FINANCIAL TOOLS. Fill it out and try to stay within your plan (keep all receipts for the new month, in this case it is August). Then after the month is over tally up all receipts and track where your spending went and compare that to your plan. From there you will see how you need to tweak things. If you have debt check back tomorrow, I will have a specific plan for you to attack with.

A word of prophecy if this is your first budget: you will not stay within your plan. I suggest that you put more than you would think for food because chances are you are going to undershoot it if you haven't been tracking your money closely. If there is no more money for food and there is still more month you are going to be going on one intense diet.

FREE BLOCKBUSTER TOTAL ACCESS

2007-07-23T09:22:00.000-04:00

I got this info from http://www.bargainist.com/

Blockbuster Online - Free TotalAccess one-month trial

Blockbuster Online is offering a free one-month trial of TotalAccess with coupon code FREETRIAL0618M at checkout. When the trial is over, if you decide to stick with it, the monthly fee is $17.99 per month. You'll then receive four free in-store rentals a month, and be allowed to return the mailed DVDs to any Blockbuster store and exchange them for in-store rentals. Expiration unknown.

It is pretty cool if you want to catch up on lots of movies/tv shows. I just did a free month and it worked great. They sent me 3 movies really fast, then after I finished with those I took them to the blockbuster store and got 3 more movies immediately. By the time you finish those, 3 more movies are already in your mailbox...neat deal.

Your Money and Heart are CONNECTED

2007-07-20T08:51:00.000-04:00

Most of us have heard:

Matthew 6:21 "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

For a while a just brushed that off and agreed with it but was never convinced that this was so. I can prove this and then I will talk about how that changes the way we should look at things.

Wherever our money goes a piece of our heart goes too. I just bought Clemson Football Season tickets for the first time in my life. I have gone to every home game since I was in 7th grade but never paid for them. I love going to games and anticipated each trip to Death Valley, but the anticipation has never been like this. I am emotionally connected to the Tigers now that I have dropped my $600 to support the team. I am invested in what happens. I am "bought in."

Or a better example might be if you have invested in stocks before. When you put money behind a stock and you see that 3 digit ticker symbol run across the bottom of the screen on CNBC your heart jumps with it. Your heart goes up and down with the stock. It is connected. The same thing happens when gambling. You are now invested into the game and connected to the team that you are cheering for. It could be two teams that you care nothing about, but suddenly you are rooting a team as if you grew up watching them throughout childhood.

Anyway, my point is Jesus was not lying when he said that our heart and money are connected. Well, how does that affect the way I live life or plan my money? Most people just want to have enough money so that THEY can be "happy." The realization to that is happiness is never brought on by more money, all that comes with that is being discontent because you want even more money. You are chasing a rabbit that can't be caught. Think about it, if more money is what brings happiness then celebrities would be the happiest people imaginable, but after seeing them self destruct over and over again you realize that the money that they have does not bring their happiness...or as Michael Scott would say, "mo money mo problems"

I honestly think the key is contentment in what we DO have. Most of you have just turned me off and stopped listening because of how cliche this sounds, but it is TRUE and I think this is one of the things that ring true with the statement of money and heart being connected.

There is something spiritual and free that happens when you give. Especially when you give to someone who is in NEED. Even people who to not have a Christ Follower background agree with this.

Whats going on when you do not give is you are thinking about yourself. This enhances greed which causes you to WANT more money to be happy and never get there. The shift that I think happens when you give is you stop thinking about yourself and therefore since your money and heart are connected your greediness begins to diminish. By you giving your money, your heart is affected greatly and this will allow you to be content with what you have.

I'm basically saying, "you should give, its good for you." I recommend giving at least 10% of your income away. If you are a Christ Follower, by Biblical standards you should be giving this minimum amount to the local church that you call family.

If you are reading this blog chances are you are in the top percentile of the world in riches. We have a lot to be thankful for, you should be very content with what you have been blessed with. I know that money problems affect everything in life so I cannot urge this message to you enough. If you think, "I'm going to be happy when I have more money", when you get more money you are still going to feel that.

I challenge anyone reading this to really evaluate if you keep telling yourself this and if that is true to take steps in order to shift your paradigm of thinking. A good way to start is to GIVE.

Tell it where to go...

2007-07-19T08:59:00.000-04:00

Being on top of your money is simple. It is the difference from telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Let me disarm people who are intimidated by their money. Life is hard to plan for, your money is not. However, we have made it more difficult than it has to be. Think about it, life has all types of curveballs. Relationships are confusing, jobs are frustrating, men are difficult, women are emotional, life has all types of abstract things that are being thrown at us. But money is not one of them...

We have a number of what came in. All you have to do is put it where you want it to go. So simple; it is a concrete number and you just use it. That's it. When it's gone, it's gone so don't put it in places that it shouldn't go.

Figure out your money TODAY. Basic suggestion that I challenge you to is write this down on a piece of paper.

Your Money : $________

Food : $________
Housing : $________
Power, Water, etc. : $________
Clothing : $________
Transportation : $________

These 5 categories are what you NEED. If your money coming in for a month is less than these 5 basic needs you are in need of ACTION. You need to sell that expensive car payment, you need to sell your house that is beyond your means, you need to quit buying Gap this and Ralph Lauren that, you need to quit eating out so much.

If your money is less than those 5 basic categories I urge you to act and get back in control of this thing.

Notice that I did not include any credit card payments. Those categories get paid FIRST. I don't care that Visa did not get paid and it hurt your credit. I care more about you and your kids having food or having lights on in the house.

But let's say your number of income is BIGGER than those 5 basic needs. Then choose where to put the rest, don't waste it. I recommend an emergency fund so that just in case "life" happens and you lose your job and that number at the top becomes $0 one month. Your family will still have food, home, lights, clothing, and transportation.

Investing Made Easy

2007-07-18T09:04:00.000-04:00

If you are intimidated by investing this post is for you. It is my goal to take away the uncertainty about investing that causes you do not want to start NOW. I am going to go through each investment type and explain it so you could teach it to your 5 year old nephew.

CD (Certificate of Deposit)
This is just a type of glorified savings account. Nobody is scared of a savings account well this is the same thing only you get a better interest rate but you cannot touch the money for a determined period of time (3 months, 6 months, etc.)

Money Market
The other type of glorified savings account. Usually with these accounts you have limited transactions but a similar interest rate to CD's. You should have a minimum rate 4.5% if you don't get that on your current money market you need to switch to www.ingdirect.com. However, I have a Bank of America Money Market that gives me a return of 5.05% so you can get better rates out there, just keep your eyes open for promotions.

Stocks
Easiest to understand. The stock market lists a price. Example: Crazy Joes, Inc. for $35.00 per share. If I want to invest $140 in Crazy Joes I buy 4 shares. As the stock market continues the price will either go up or down. If it goes up to $35.25 you just made $1. If it goes down to $34.75 you just lost $1.

Let me add this: Individual stock picking is extremely difficult. Experts in the field that try this still have no consistency in being sucessful. The key is DIVERSIFICATION. Whenever you hear me talk about investing the word DIVERSIFICATION is going to come up a lot. If you do want to go with individual stocks you better have your money spread accross MINIMUM 20 stocks, I recommend 50 and even then I am not too confident. It takes a lot of time, preperation, and research in order to have confidence in your investment.

Mutual Funds
These are my preferred type of investments. Because they come diversified, and I even like to diversify my diversified mutual funds.

What a mutual fund is: A fund manager picks a bunch of investments (could be a certain type of stock, could be real estate). Let's say Fidelity comes out with a new "aggressive growth stock" mutual fund and they pick Larry Ostertag to be their fund manager. It is now his job to pick a bunch a bunch of aggressive growth stocks and hope they do good. Now on the flipside the money he is investing for is "mutually funded" by lots of people like me and you.

Picture a bowl and you and 10 of your friends all put a certain amount of money in there. That is the pool of money Larry has to work with to make you and your friends money. So the difference b/w mutual funds and stocks is that instead of me trying to guess what stocks will do good. I have a trained, licensed, experience professional picking them for me.

I have heard it is a good idea to diversify your mutual funds something along these lines: 25% growth stock, 25% aggressive growth, 25% growth & income, 25% international. This is a very oversimplified version of diversifying but it is a foundation to build on.

I am going to the Braves game now so please click the contact me button on www.chriskakaras.com if you have any questions, I would love to help!

You've got to start NOW

2007-07-17T08:57:00.000-04:00

I wanted to talk about starting NOW. Being that I am considered younger I have excused myself from having to plan for things really far in advanced. In fact, I will test this. Knowing that my audience probably is younger as well please help me and test your reaction to my next statement. Today I am going to talk about planning for your retirement. If you are anything like me you kind of turned down the volume just a little bit.

That is my point, I am all for 5 year plans, 10 years plans, and maybe even a 20 year plan. But planning for something 40 years away is ridiculous. Well, it really shouldn't be and I can convince you. Check this chart out.

The Adventures of Sigmund and Alberto

Who had the better plan, Sigmund starting NOW, or Alberto waiting til he was "established?" Sigmund had a plan and followed it. It was hard for his first few years, but he benefitied from it the next 40 years and while those first few years are hard, that is what maturity is. It might be "hard" to set aside money right now. But let me challenge our definition of "hard." We have every basic need met (food, clothing, shelter, and transportation). This is more than most of the world gets. So if we have all that stuff met, what is so hard. I am sure that if we really evaluated where our money goes, it should be EASY to set aside $1500 a year.

This is what being an adult is. Children do what feels good, adults devise a plan and follow it. What you do now does effect the future, you might as well make a plan.

The roth IRA is a great tool that can help. This is a tax free growth tool that the US government as given us. For the year 2007 the maximum we can put in our Roth IRA is $4,000; in 2008 it goes up to $5,000. Just in case you don't know what this means: Normally when you invest in a mutual fund for retirement when you take the money out you have to pay taxes on it because you made money. Same reason why we pay income taxes from our job. However, with the Roth IRA when you check out that chart of Sigmund and Alberto, they do not have to pay any taxes when they take the money out at age 65...it is cash money.

You can open your roth IRA through any brokerage firms or any online brokerage places like E-trade or Ameritrade. I recommend http://www.zecco.com/ because it is just like e-trade but there are no transaction fees. Check into it, but before you invest you want to do research on which mutual fund you choose. I will go more in detail but make sure you go with something that has a long track record of success. Don't go after anything that is new but has skyrocketing returns. More on investing tomorrow.

Out of Bounds (it aint just for sports)

2007-07-16T09:33:00.001-04:00

Recently I have been in the planning process to moving into a new house where I would be going from 1 roommate (what I have now) to multiple roommates. I have learned in my experience of living with people that it is incredibly important to have boundaries in order to respect each other.

I want to go back to that verse Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." that I talked about last week. In that NASB it reads "the borrower becomes the lender's slave." So we talked about how debt establishes a new relationship. It creates a master/slave relationship. This is bad normally however when it now involves friends and family it is even worst.

I have always heard if you want to lose a friend, loan them 100 dollars. You will not hear from them again. It's always funny when the expression changes to "how to lose an in-law, loan them 100 dollars." However, the sad thing is it is true.

Imagine when a son or daughter borrows money from their parents for a business venture. It changes the relationship from mother/son to master/slave. It has tore families apart, and I have even witnessed it happen many times in my life. Thanksgiving dinner tastes a little different when you are eating with your master instead of your mom.

It is incredibly important to have boundaries with your friends and family. One of my rules is that I do not loan money to friends and family. You may be thinking how awful that is and saying, "What if so and so needs something! You are just going to leave them hanging?" My answer to that is: No way will I leave them in a position of need and not give it to them. The difference is that I would GIVE it to them. It gets erased, you don't hold it over someones head. In fact, I would argue that you aren't even blessing them when you do this, it's a curse.

Let me say this before I finish. In my personal life, I asked my sister to loan me a large amount of money for me to be out of debt because I was paying outrageous interest charges to credit cards. She was nice enough to do this and I worked my butt off and paid her back quickly. There were no problems, I kept her up to date with progress and she was first in line who I would pay back.

What I am trying to say is, I was LUCKY. This is the exception, not the rule. I would not dare test the odds again because I am certain that it wouldn't take long to have something go wrong and the master/slave relationship takes its course.

$100 For Opening a Savings Account

2007-07-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

I got this post from Hustler $$$ blog

This is just like one of those online savings accounts, the only difference is you get $100 for siging up using offer code: CSLN.

The $100 gets deposited 90 days after your first statement as long as the account is in good standing.

This offer is only good for new customers. You can get $100 bonus by signing up to a Citibank Ultimate Savings account. The account includes:

4.65% APY
FDIC insured
No monthly fees
No minimum requirement
No Checking required

From the website:

This offer is not available at Citibank Financial Centers.

*Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is accurate as of 07/03/2007 and is subject to change without notice. The rate will apply only to accounts opened through citibank.com or by phone, and may change after the account is opened. Fees may reduce earnings.

** $100 Offer is only available for first-time Citibank deposit account customers, and will be paid only once to any individual. Persons who currently have or at any time have had a deposit account at Citibank (or any of its predecessor banks) are not eligible. To qualify for this offer you must apply for and open a new Ultimate Savings Account by 08/31/2007. $100 will be credited to your Ultimate Savings Account within 90 days from the end of the statement period in which your account was opened. Account must be in good standing at the time of the $100 credit. All accounts are subject to approval. Customer must be a citizen or resident alien of the United States (U.S.) with a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number. The amount of any bonus payment will be reported to the IRS as interest earned in the year credited. Persons under 18 years of age are not eligible. Offer may be modified or withdrawn at anytime without notice and is not transferable.

Obopay

2007-07-13T08:55:00.000-04:00

I got this post and the post above from Hustler $$$ blog

Here’s the $15 bonus from Obopay.

What’s Obopay?

Obopay, Inc. (http://www.obopay.com/) is the pioneering service provider for payments via mobile phones. Only Obopay delivers instant and effortless payment solutions that allow consumers, merchants, banks and carriers to easily embrace the power and convenience of instant mobile payments. The company is bringing mobile payments to more consumers through many industry- first alliances, including Verizon Wireless, Citi, and America Online. Obopay is a 2007 Fierce 15 Wireless Company headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It’s legit for an easy $15. Here’s a Yahoo article on Obopay.

It takes time...

2007-07-12T09:21:00.000-04:00

If you work for (yourname) incorporated and you are handling all the money for that company the way you handle the money in your life, would you fire yourself?

It is not effortless to know where your money is going. Farmers are good managers. They have to be or they will lose a lot of what they work so hard to gain. I really like what Proverbs says:

Proverbs 27:23 "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds"

You have to do this or you your animals will run away without you even knowing. At some point farmers would even need to hire hands to help them with this. IT IS THAT IMPORTANT.

According to the Wall Street Journal nearly 70% of all consumers LIVE from paycheck to paycheck. This means that they would not be able to make a mortgage, utility, or credit card payment if they missed a paycheck.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute filings for bankruptcy is at an all time high with a new record being set virtually every year. I think these statistics are connected to the life that we now have that is very contrary to the life on the farm.

It is simple, if you don't have an accurate picture of where your money goes, you are bound to make a decision that will hurt. Trust me, I have made too many bad decisions that I definitely paid for.

Please don't just look at the balance in your bank account. I know A LOT of friends who have made decisions because of their balance and then a few days later they realized their rent check that they wrote a week ago just cleared and now they are in a STRESSFUL situation. Please please at the very least you need to get some sort of program or service that you can type in your transactions and track where your money goes.

You can check out www.clearcheckbook.com it is free and online which is a great feature. I personally use Microsoft Money and I love it.

If any of you are competitive or enjoy games like me, handling money is a game. Think about it, you plan out your money (let's say you have $3,000 coming in a month. Plan where all that goes before the month. $1,000 savings, $1,000 to giving, $1,000 spending. As an example). Then you just track it...see how you did. You will keep getting better and better.

The best part of the game is, that if you just do it, YOU WIN! You will be in the minority of people in America handling your money correctly.

Did you know that the average Japanese family saves 18.8% of their income? According to the Department of Commerce after 2000 the personal savings rate in America fell to -2.2% (the lowest in 60 years).

Proverbs 12

2007-07-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

This is extremely fresh bread so I am excited to share it. It is more like old bread that now has become fresh again. But that doesn't really happen. It's more like in the past I LOVED Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwiches, but over the past year or two I kind of forgot that I liked them. Recently I had one and now I can't stop trying to figure out ways to go to Wendy's to have another. Okay that's what this is like.

Proverbs 12:1 - "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

I really love it when a passage of scripture sounds like my friend Adam wrote it. Adam is full of wisdom and full of bluntness, like this passage. To think that every time I am corrected I immediately get defensive and try to avoid it. This is a necessary step for knowledge.

Proverbs 12:11 - "He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment."

Work is supposed to be hard. I know a lot of people (including myself) think we deserve to have any job of our choosing, but that is not the way it works. We are supposed to work from the sweat of our brow, that is the broken world that we live in. I am not saying don't go after the career you want, but I am saying don't chase fantasies. If you have to work a job to pay bills while doing something you are passionate about on the side, do it. But scripture is clear that if you chase fantasies without working the land you are lacking judgment.

Proverbs 12:24 - "Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor."

I love it when scripture cross references with other scripture. At first glance this passage kind of doesn't make any sense. Why would laziness end in slave labor? Glad I asked. This passage works well in light of Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Another translation says "the borrower is slave to the lender." When you establish a lender/borrower relationship you are actually establishing a slave/master relationship. The sad thing is I know too many people whose master is Visa or American Express. I don't think that the people who named "MasterCard" were too far off.

So if debt leads to slavery and laziness leads to slavery then we can conclude that laziness and debt are connected. If you find yourself in a mound of credit card debt (like I was), you have to evaluate if laziness was a contributing factor why you got into debt, or why you are not out.

PlayStation 3 Deal

2007-07-10T15:44:00.000-04:00

From time to time I am going to see a deal or two and want to post it. It will usually be regarding things that I like or am interested in. For instance, I like video games (NCAA Football is my favorite game). So I see a good deal and I want to tell everyone about it. I am not saying buy it, I am saying if you have been planning on buying it, you probaby would want a good deal.

PlayStation 3 just dropped their price by $100 at Amazon.com. Add one to your cart along with a free remote, and a free Blu-ray copy of Memento. After receiving your new PS3, fill out a mail-in rebate to receive an additional 5 free Blue-ray movies. Rebate expires 09/30/2007

Alternative Income Streams

2007-07-10T12:36:00.000-04:00

I have been very interested in something that seems to be growing in the personal finance blogging world; it is called Alternative Income Streams. The idea is very simple, it is the idea of tracking side income that does not come from your job. Basically it is getting money outside of your job.

Now that I am tracking this I have naturally been looking for avenues to make this increase. I have already had an ingdirect.com account that has been earning me 4.5% interest. To put numbers to that if you have $4,000 in that account it will get you and extra $180 a year or I like to view it as $15 a month. With the idea of compound interest (my topic for tomorrow) that number will increase but just to put a round number it is $15 a month.

This is nice considering if you are saving up for something you are not using that money anyway, you might as well get paid a little bit each month while saving. I have recently opened up a Bank of America money market account that gives me 5.05% which given the $4,000 example would be about $17 a month.

However, recently I have been getting into prosper.com. This is a middle man for borrowers and lenders to meet. Banks are very profitable. They are charging people 10-12% (excellent credit ratings) for unsecured loans while we are giving banks loans and only getting 4-5% (if that). I am essentially a "bank" through prosper.com where I have access to their credit report history and prosper takes care of collecting and distributing the money to lenders. Also they have collection agencies that go after delinquent payments and this will hurt the borrowers credit the same as if they were in default for a bank.

This not a plug, I am not trying to sell you on anything but (whenever you say "but" it erases everything before it) if you want to get $25 for signing up and making a loan click this link to do the referral thing. You can do the same thing through ING Direct (you get $25) but you have to do it through e-mail, just contact me if you want a referral. Okay, enough with the shameless plugs.

To sum alternative income streams up, it is my goal that my AIS is greater than my expenses outside of my house payment. If you read a lot from me you will realize that I really want to pay off my house quickly because I like the idea of freedom in our finances. Owing someone money just sounds dumb to me. If I owe money than I do not have complete freedom because I HAVE to get a paycheck or my house gets foreclosed on. Don't get me wrong I am a strong advocate of working (and working hard) but I want to CHOOSE to work not HAVE to work.

So a mini plan (or goal) of mine is to pay off my house early and have my AIS be greater than my expenses (gas, food, utilties, clothing). Those are the 4 basic needs that I have after I don't have a house payment and I will make sure I never have a car payment. If this happens that is my idea of freedom. Imagine getting to work and devote your full time to something you really believe in and then say, "Nah don't worry about that paycheck, I'm good."

Storing Treasures

2007-07-09T18:59:00.000-04:00

Storing Treasures is meant to be a tool. I have thought through as much as I can on the topics that I post about and hope that this is used by those looking for help or guidance. I am going to flat out say my position on specific topics regarding money and I do not plan on debating. For example: My position on debt (I mean leverage for those who want to stick a fancy word on it) is I am against it. It is not up for discussion, I am not beating you over the head with it I am going to say what I believe and then show my work behind it.

The idea of spending money that you don't have seems dumb to me. If I can't afford something, I don't get it. If your response is, "But you need a car, you need to send your kids to college"

You are right! That is why you should be planning for that stuff in advance! It is important, too important to put your finances at risk when you know it is coming. Bankrupcties are at a rapid rate in America; Divorces are at 50% and the #1 cause is because of financial tension.

I love the idea of not owing anybody money, it allows me to actually buy things remorse free, it allows me to freely give without wishing that I hadn't when something comes up, and it allows me to put God first in my finances. More on this soon.