Sometimes when someone gives you a piece of advice, it just resonates and almost creates an imprint in your mind. I know I have gotten some advice that even though I didn’t want to hear or believe, I just couldn’t shake it because deep down I knew it was true.
The recent issue of Money has a great article with over 30 well known people contributing their best pieces of advice they’ve received. I really agree with a whole bunch that were listed. And these are my favorites….
The best advice
1. Live within your means.
The simple basic rule of personal finance: spend less than you earn. As Dave Ramsey says, “it isn’t rocket science.” It is such a simple thing, but yet so few people successfully pull it off. If you have successfully done this, you know the freedom that it brings. If you haven’t you are probably aware (or you will eventually become aware) of the struggle that results from it.
2. Be frugal, but not stingy.
John Wesley said, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” Practice developing your generosity.
3. Do what you love.
This is one that took me a little while to learn, but is worth learning. For everyone who trades hours for dollars in a job they don’t enjoy - you know how painful it can be going to work each day just to get a paycheck. There is more to life than money, I would take a job that pays less over one that paid more that I didn’t like any day. How about you?
4. Money doesn’t make you happy.
If your career is tied to what you love to do rather than how much you can make at it, you are probably a lot more likely to make more money at it. Ironic, isn’t it. I know that isn’t always the case, but life is too short to spend most of it doing something you do not enjoy!
5. To excel at something, immerse yourself.
Dabbling in somethings doesn’t make you an expert. In order to become truly great at something, you have to live, breath, think, and dream it. Find every book you can read about the subject, start doing what they say, and teach others about it. You retain the highest percentage of what you learn when you share it with others.
6. Don’t get too good at the wrong stuff.
I have done a lot of reading about people who have accomplished great things. This seems to be a common thread that runs in all of them. They focus. There are so many distractions, so many good things that you can do. Those who accomplish great things do not focus on the menial things that can suck up all their time, but they focus most of their time and energy on that which will produce the most and best results.
7. Take risks when you can.
Take calculated risks. Do everything reasonable you can to minimize the risk, but don’t be afraid to take a risk. It is okay to make mistakes. Human beings are designed for this. Life is just too dang boring without them.
8. Tap the power of compounding.
Albert Einstein said that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. This is a perfect reason to get started investing today and put it to work for you!
9. Don’t save too much.
Life is about balance. God gives us our daily bread and Joseph was instructed to save for the 7 years of famine. Saving should be part of your financial plan, but you shouldn’t put off all your living until you retire.
10. Don’t follow the herd.
I used to think that there was some safety in doing what everyone else was doing. The more I learn, the more I find areas that I want to do the opposite of what the herd is doing.
11. Develop a healthy skepticism.
This has worked hand-in-hand with the previous piece of advice. You should never let your skepticism keep you from opening your mind to new possibilities, but you also should not be naive.
“The naive believes everything, but the prudent man considers his steps.” Proverbs 14:15
12. Ignore short-term market swings.
The stock market, housing market, U.S. dollar, economy all goes up and down. Each time people are saying, “but this time it is different.” It’s not different. It might have a different mask, but it is the same underlying pattern. Just close your ears and wait and as you ride out the storm, you will be sitting pretty when it is all done.
This article was included in the carnival of personal finance
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This article is a reprint of one I wrote for Gather Little By Little a few days ago…
I was thinking about how I have spent a whole lot more money on certain items only to find out that they are just a little bit better than the cheaper alternatives. And on the other hand there have been things I have spent just a bit more money on and they were a whole lot better than the cheaper alternatives. When you look at buying decisions this way, it can dramatically change how and what you buy.
Let me first say this is my list of things that I have found to be worth spending more money on. Everyone will have a different priority list of what is most important to them. But maybe this will generate some ideas for you. Here goes…
1. A Mac.
I know that this may rub some of the PC people the wrong way, but I just switched to Mac about a month ago and I just can’t believe what I was missing out on. The overall simplicity has saved me countless hours of time and frustration that was a regular event with my PC.
2. Quality food.
I am not necessarily talking about $100 meals prepared by French chefs, but rather food that will benefit your health rather than harm it. Organic food is great, but even just eating fruits and vegetables rather than hyper-processed stuff that once resembled food. There are consequences to our actions and decades of eating fast food 5 days a week is not likely to yield a good result.
3. A Honda.
Or Toyota. They are more expensive than a lot of cars on the market on the front end, but looking at the big picture you will end up saving money in the end. Consumer Reports says that the Honda Civic has the overall lowest total cost of ownership. This figure includes everything from sticker price, car depreciation, insurance, repairs, to resale value. After it all is calculated the Civic was the cheapest to own. But if you just look at the sticker price, you will find that there are a lot of cheaper cars out there.
4. Medical expenses.
Eating better is my attempt to prevent these from occurring, but when I am in the hospital I want the best Doc I can find working on me. It is amazing how little money seems to matter when you are in pain.
5. Looseleaf Tea
If you have always drank bag tea and never tried looseleaf do yourself a favor - find a Teavana near you and get some Rooibos Vanilla. You can thank me later.
6. Nice dress shoes.
(Disclaimer: I am a guy, I have no idea if this is true for ladies) Working in an office environment for most of my career, I have come to appreciate high-quality dress shoes. You can spend a couple hundred on a nice pair of shoes that can last you decades. You may need to replace the soles every few years, but if you take care of them they will last. The conservative business style hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years - I anticipate it to stay that way. (Tip: to save money, check what the Ebay sellers are selling them at. I have found some great bargains on Ebay.)
7. Potting soil.
I planted a balcony garden this year and I have always heard this from gardeners and it is true. Get good potting soil, it will make a tremendous amount of difference.
8. A wallet.
Like my dress shoes I like to keep my wallets for a long time. They get broken in so nicely and get contoured to fit just perfectly to your body. But if you don’t get a nice leather one, they probably won’t make it that long. I actually just retired my old wallet that I had for about 12 years. My wife bought me a new one from Coach - isn’t she sweet?
9. A bed.
We took all of our wedding money and bought a nice King sized bed. I am convinced that it was and will remain one of our best buying decisions of our marriage. You spend 1/3 of your life in it - it ought to be nice!
10. Chocolate.
I prefer to minimize my indulgences, but to make them really good. Quality over quantity is the key here. I like the darkest dark chocolate you can find. It is so strong that you can’t really overindulge like you can with milk chocolate. And the added bonus is that Dark Chocolate actually has health benefits!
What about you? What do you think is worth spending more on?
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I had an inpromptu interview from thestreet.com about this video. I am on a quest to prove that this is not what Christianity looks like. Watch it only if you must…
http://mainstreet.com/video-buying-3g-iphone-sin
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What does the Bible say about healthy living?
Maybe you will find out if you win this week’s giveaway
…
I wrote about one of my favorite books of all time yesterday and decided it would make the perfect giveaway this week.
The book is called “What the Bible says about Healthy Living”” by Rex Russell. I loved it and you can read more about it here. If you don’t win the giveaway, I suggest heading on over to Amazon and getting it used for under $2.00 - you can’t beat that!
What do I have to do to win the healthy living Bible book?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win the book just leave a comment below before 7:00 p.m. CST on July 13th 2008.
(If you are having trouble finding the comments section, just click on the title of this post and scroll all the way to the bottom.)
A few more notes about the book giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win. (I promise I will not spam your or give your email to anyone else)
- The winner will be announced on July 14th in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not get ChristianPF via email?
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Manage your time better with “Getting Things Done”
I just finished David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”“. I have been wanting to read this book for a couple years, but just finally got around to reading it. It is basically about improving your time management skills and as the title implies, getting things done more efficiently to live a less stressful life. I have read a couple similar books, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Zen to Done, and a few other generic time-management type 
books. I learned a few key principles in Getting Things Done that I hadn’t in the others. All in all, I liked GTD and think it is a worthwhile read, however the system may be difficult for some to implement and for those people I recommend Zen to Done - it takes a lot from GTD, but simplifies it just a bit.
In the book David lays out the steps to go from living in organizational chaos to having a system in place to keep your thoughts, notes, and life organized. I like his system, but like most systems it is going to take a few major life changes to implement it fully. When faced with new information or systems like these I like to grab one or two key principles and focus on implementing them rather than the system as a whole. When I try to make a major life change I usually fall off the wagon and end up getting frustrated with myself. Most of my changes that have lasted came by slowly implementing one or two small ones at a time.
Defeating the Stress
In the book David provides a well thought out and reasonable explanation of the source of our stress. He says that the overwhelming, stressful, and other negative feelings we may have are not caused by having too much to do. They come from breaking agreements with ourselves.
At some point in some way we made an agreement TO DO something and the stress and negative feelings come as a result of not meeting those agreements. It is really no different than breaking a promise that we would have with a colleage or friend - if you promise to meet a friend somewhere at a certain time or do something for them, but then you don’t come through - you feel guilty. If you have lots of these agreements that you can’t fulfill you may begin to feel stressed out. So, if you tell yourself to draft up a plan and you don’t do it, you begin to have the same feelings as not coming through for a friend.
He mentions three ways to overcome this stress:
- Don’t make the agreement in the first place - Learn to say no. It is a lot better to say no upfront, than to have to come back later after failing to do it and apologize.
- Complete the agreement - Focus all your energy on that one task and just knock it out. Doesn’t it feel good to check things off the to-do list?
- Re-negotiate the agreement - Change the promises that you made to yourself (or others). Giving yourself some relief from these pressures will greatly reduce some stress.
Our minds add to the stress
He talks a lot about how our minds can make our lives difficult. Any time we have a unfinished task; i.e. something we have said that we ought to do, our minds will continue to remind us that is has not been finished. Often it is at the most inconvenient times.
Our minds, as brilliant as they are in some ways, need to be tricked in this area. The best way to get your mind to stop the endless reminders is to get it out of your head and on to paper. But it must be on paper that your mind is convinced that you will come back and look at on a regular basis. Once your brain trusts that the to-dos are stored in a safe place, then it will stop the endless reminders and will be clear and free to relax. This is how stress-free productivity and our unlimited creative potential is reached.
Basically our minds aren’t free to function at their highest level until we the get millions of to-dos that we have stored up out of our head and on to a paper or digital system that we KNOW we will check again. The key is that it must be something that you check on a regular basis so that your mind TRUSTS that you will not forget about it. The goal of the process it to create a systematic method to keep your mind distraction free, in order that you can work at a high level of efficiency and effectiveness
In my beginning steps of implementing this I have created a google homepage with a couple different checklists to do my collecting of to-do’s. Personally, I have found this to be such a key to maintaining an organized and stress free life. The most difficult part is making frequent and consistent reviews of your collection system.
Processing the inbox
David suggests having a paper and digital inbox. The digital inbox is likely to be your email inbox and the paper one should be a an actual tray on your desk or other workspace area. If you are like most people the initial capture of everything may take many hours to get a handle on it all. But once you spend that initial chunk of time getting it all organized, it will require a whole lot less time to maintain it.
Here are a few of notes about his system:
- When processing your inbox - start at the top and go down, rather than just looking for the most urgent or interesting like most people. Processing merely means, deciding what to do with it and what action is required and dispatch it accordingly.
- Focus only on the single top item from the inbox. Don’t get distracted by the others in the stack, the sole focus on the one thing helps you to quickly and efficiently process it
- Nothing goes back into IN - it is a oneway street, so once it goes out it has to be dispatched somewhere.
- Most of the stuff is not THAT important, but the possibility in your mind that there might be something important in there allows the stacks and piles to control you, rather than you controlling it.
- Most people give more attention to things than they deserve, when really we shouldn’t over-react or under-react. Just because something is thrown right in front of you doesn’t make it urgent, just because something isn’t on fire doesn’t mean that it can wait til later.
- The key to managing all your stuff is MANAGING YOUR ACTIONS!! Don’t just do what you feel like doing, do what you should do.
Next Action thinking
This was a very valuable principle that David mentions in the book. The idea of next action thinking is that our brains often don’t like to do the analysis of what needs to be done when we only have a few spare minutes, BUT if you can go through and get the next action steps for each item, then when you do have a few minutes to spare - you won’t have to think about what you need to do - only ACT, by completing one of the next action steps already laid out for you…
For example if you have a pile of papers that you haven’t evaluated what needs to be done with each the uncertainty of not knowing how long they will take to process causes us to do nothing. But, if we spend a few minutes going through it and deciding what that next action is it will be clearly defined. Once it is clearly defined, we can estimate how long it will take and fit it in to our schedule like a puzzle piece. If you have 15 minutes to spare, just squeeze in the next action for something that will take you 15 minutes.
I have found in my life that the uncertainty of not knowing how long something will take to process has paralyzed me. In the example above, I would have not done anything in that 15 minutes, except feel overwhelmed while looking at the pile. I would have looked at the pile and just assumed that each next step would take more than 15 minutes, causing me to take no action. But if I knew that the next step for one task would take 15 mins or less, I would have done it.
- The big question is to ask yourself - WHAT IS THE NEXT ACTION to move this project along?
- If the item doesn’t require ACTION, then it needs to move to storage or trash. Making this decision can be difficult, but is absolutely necessary.
- If the next action can be done in 2 mins or less do it as soon as you pick it up, if longer then delegate if possible, or defer it to a later date.
- Don’t waste time thinking about things more than once, make a decision about something when you think about it rather than leaving the loop open and coming back later to think about it again
- The reason something is on your mind is you want it to be different than it currently is and you haven’t clarified exactly what the intended outcome OR you haven’t decided what the very next action step is AND/OR you haven’t put reminders of the outcome and the action required in a system you TRUST. Until this takes place, your brain will continue to think about it!!
If you have read Getting Things Done or have other ideas to increase productivity, please share them in the comments below
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iTunes giveaway
This week is a “fun” giveaway as my wife would say. The giveaway is for a $15 iTunes giftcard. Not much else to say about it - enjoy!!
What do I have to do to win the iTunes gift card?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win the gift card just leave a comment below before 7:00 p.m. CST on June 22th, 2008.
(If you are having trouble finding the comments section, just click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom.)
A few more notes about the giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win. (I promise I will not spam your or give your email to anyone else)
- The winner will be announced on June 23rd in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not get ChristianPF via email?
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This famous parable that Jesus used has a lot to teach us about our money if we let it. Below is the parable and a few of my thoughts about it…
Matthew 25:14-30
For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
“Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. “In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. “But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Stewards are required to take risks
It is interesting to me how upset the master got with the steward who took no risks. The other two stewards did take risks and reaped the rewards. I often wonder why the parable didn’t contain a steward who lost some of the investment. But either way, I think we are led to believe that the primary frustration of the master was that the steward was lazy and didn’t even try.
He was called a, “wicked and lazy slave.” My take on this is that he was more frustrated with his laziness than his lack of production. The steward didn’t even put the talents in the bank to gain interest. The passage states that the master gave to each of them according to their ability. So, I think we can assume that the steward with one talent did have some ability, or else he wouldn’t have given him any.
If he did indeed have some ability to manage money, even with the smallest amount of ability he would have known that earning small interest at the bank is better than burying it!
I liken this to having a Vet watch your dog for the weekend and not feed it. Most everyone knows that you should feed a dog at least daily, but especially a vet. It is their profession - the thing they are skilled at doing and are entrusted to do.
So, the extreme amount of laziness this steward had to not at least put the talent in the bank, coupled with the fact that he let fear paralyze him from doing what he was expected to do infuriated the master.
The parable is speaking of money, but this can also be applied to the gifts and skills that God has entrusted us with. If I refuse to step out in a gift or skill that God has given me because I am afraid or lazy, I may be behaving the same way as the steward with one talent.
Luke 12:48
“…From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”
Don’t compare yourself to others
The master in the parable didn’t give each steward the same amount. They all started with different amounts, not much different than this game of life that we are all in. Some people start with a lot, some with a little. But we are all judged based on what we did with what we had, rather than what we ended up with.
The great thing about this is that our success is not based on what people may think about us. God knows what He gave us to work with and He will see what we do with it. So, it doesn’t matter whether other people think you are a success or a failure - God’s definition of success is often quite different than man’s.
The master gave them each “according to their ability.” He knew a bit about their faithfulness and how likely they were to increase their talents. Turns out he delegated wisely.
Our money is not our own
We enter into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing.
One of the first lessons that I learned a few years ago that really changed the way I thought about money was that none of it is mine. It is all God’s. I have the privilege and opportunity to be a steward of what He has given me.
Once I began looking at my money this way, it changed my whole financial outlook and helped me to be more focused on pleasing God with the money entrusted to me.
Even if we spent our lives and ignored our responsibility as stewards, we still can’t take any of it with us. We might as well try to better the lives of those around us and store up treasure in heaven rather than down here.
What did you learn from the parable of the talents?
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Because the Bible says so!!
I found a nice little passage that gave me a swift kick in the rear on a few things in my life. I love how practical the Bible really is. The deeper you dig, the more you find.
Proverbs 24:30-34
I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man.
What it spoke to me
- Fools don’t maintain stuff. The wise do.
- Laziness causes you to be lacking in areas of your life. Those who are lazy rarely see this resulting effect of their actions coming. It catches them off guard and they wonder how and why it happened.
Anyone else get any revelation from this passage?
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If giving is better than receiving, why doesn’t it feel like it?
Jesus himself said that it is, “more blessed to give than to receive.” I don’t know about you, but when I have been strapped for cash and needed to buy someone a birthday gift - it didn’t FEEL like much of a blessing.
I hated the feeling of being torn with what to do with my money. I wanted to be a generous giver, but when the $20 in my wallet was being pulled in 4 different directions, it made it difficult to be exceedingly generous like I wanted to be.
I am not sure where I got the idea from, but we had a very basic budget at the time and decided to create an ING account specifically for gifts and giving. This account was to be the source of all of our birthday and Christmas presents and any other giving we did.
I thought it was a good idea until we started doing it. Then I realized that it was an absolute GREAT idea and wish we had started it earlier. It instantly added so much more fun to the giving process, because the money was just sitting there waiting to be spent on others. It wasn’t getting pulled in numerous directions like it was previously. It’s purpose had been clearly defined.
Christians are called to give
We have the opportunity to give into God’s kingdom. We have the privilege of being able to give to help people. It really is a privilege and an opportunity. God doesn’t need us. He has an endless supply of finances - He can get the money where it needs to be. But He allows us the chance to be used by Him in the process, knowing that WE will benefit from being used.
As we get a better understanding of this truth, it helps us break free from our own selfishness.
God really wants to bless us!! He set the system up that it is kind of counter-intuitive - we give away, and as a result we get more. As we give, it is given back to us in a greater measure. The Bible makes it clear that there will always be seedtime and harvest. To the measure that we sow, we will reap.
Biblical giving
After we started to get an understanding about Biblical giving - we were faced with the same challenges that everyone else has. You want to give, but it is hard to find money to give, because it is all already being spent on other important things.
It was for this reason that we had to start budgeting for our giving. The Bible says that we are to “discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness” and that “we should not make any provision for the flesh.”
It is crucial that we set up NATURAL processes and habits in order to fulfill the SPIRITUAL things that we are called to do.
In this case taking money right off the top of our income to budget for giving were the natural steps that helped fulfill what God wanted us to do. It wasn’t enough that we wanted to give, or even that we asked God to help us give. We had to take natural steps (that were His will) to fulfill what He wanted us to do.
Bottom Line: Budgeting for giving was just a simple step that helped us fulfill what we were called to do.
A few things that budgeting for gifts did for us:
- Assuming we were adding enough to the account, we rarely (if ever) would need to try to find money to purchase gifts.
- It encouraged more generosity because money was sitting in the account just waiting to be spent. We agreed that it would ONLY be used for giving purposes, therefore we might as well spend it because that was what it was there for.
- It is a wonderful feeling to have money available for the sole purpose of blessing others. It makes it really EASY and FUN to give.
- It is great to have cash always available to pay for Birthday gifts, but it is even more exciting as you increase your budgeted amount. When it gets to the point that there is so much money in the account that you have to start looking for people to bless. I want to get to the point where the account is overflowing and we have to work hard to try to give it all away!! I can’t think of anything more fun!!
Before we started budgeting for gifts I never had a thorough understanding of what Jesus meant that it was more blessed to give than to receive. The main reason was that giving created a negative side effect on my finances. Since my groceries and gifts were purchased from money in the same pot, I was always torn between my desire to give and my desire to eat.
Now, instead of thinking about how a gift was going to cause me to get fewer groceries, I now am free to focus on blessing the other person rather than my grocery list.
For more inspiration check out these giving verses
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This is a good thing to say when faced with a financial difficulty. It is very difficult to utter those words sometimes, but it is good for us to do so. This isn’t an excuse to be lackadaisical with our money, but it is an acknowledgement that there is SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE than money.
I am all for being a great steward of the resources and finances that God has provided, but when it comes down to it, He is the one who meets our needs! (Philippians 4:19) And last time I read the verse, there weren’t any prerequisites like being extremely organized, being really disciplined, managing our money like a pro, or even not making mistakes. Even with all our imperfections and “human-ness” the Bible still says that He will provide all our needs according to His riches and glory.
So, as difficult as it may seem, next time a financial difficulty arises, push out those three words, “it’s only money.” Just by saying this, you minimize its importance in your life. Money is not supposed to the primary focus (aka Lord) of our lives.
As I am writing I am thinking back to a few difficult times over the last few years where I needed the help of my wonderful wife to help me make that confession. Whether it is easy to say or not, IT IS TRUE. Money comes and money goes. It is ONLY money. Don’t worry about it, just keep trusting God. He is the one who takes care of you.
Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
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