This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Do not live with your eye on this world, rather live with your eye on the world to come. If you hope to become the good steward God instructs you to be and intends for you to be, then you are going to have to develop a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit that motivates you to follow the pathway the bible lays out for your life and financial health, wealth, and well-being.
Just like Jesus focused all His energies on obtaining the goal of the Father’s will for all mankind to have hope of salvation and a heavenly home, you too must focus and take the steps necessary to achieve the Father’s goal for you. Your focus should be on these steps through which you climb the ladder of spiritual financial success one step at a time. Do not attempt to move to the next step until you are firmly established in accomplishing the task on the step you are on.
1) Understand it is all God’s. Through daily worship, praise, prayer, and bible reading / studying tell God that all the income and assets you have and will ever have access to are His and that as His steward you are now willing to following His instructions and do what He directs with His money and resources.
2) Show contentment. Continue or start tithing to your local church or a worthwhile ministry each time you receive income. Choose delayed gratification instead of instant gratification. Do not buy that bigger house, more expensive car, new furniture, new jewelry, etc. until you have reached the priority goal of being a faithful tithing member of a local church and totally debt-free. Stuff to buy will still be there at prices you can afford to pay after you reach your goal.
3) Tell your income what to do. Draft a 3 to 6 month plan that shows:
a) Your after tax income each pay period
b) The tithe and offering to be subtracted from take home pay
c) Each minimum bill payment that must be paid from that pay period’s income (mortgage, rent, credit cards, car note, etc.)
d) Other miscellaneous amounts that must be taken from the income (groceries, personal money, gas for car, monthly amount of annual property tax payment, monthly amount of annual home and car insurance premium, monthly amount of annual life insurance payment, 2 or 3 low cost weekend vacations each year, low cost monthly entertainment, etc.), and
e) Any amount left over. If there is nothing left over then you will need to work with your spouse and a close friend who is good at managing his or her money or a budget counselor to determine ways in which you can cut current expenses, determine which bills receive priority for payment at the current time, or find other jobs that can help increase your income for awhile to get you out of the rut you are in.
4) Build a one-month emergency fund. Use any amount left over and other assets to build or establish, in a government guaranteed savings or money management account (MMA), an emergency fund equal to one month of all your expenses identified in items 3.c. and 3.d. above. This will help you stop turning to credit cards and loans to take care of problems and emergencies. You will get on the right path to using cash instead of burdening your future with debt.
5) Pay off all non-mortgage loans that charge interest. Chances are that these credit cards, car loans, personal loans, etc charge interest that is well above what you can earn in savings or MMAs. Thus, after you have built the one-month emergency fund, you should use the amount left over during each pay period to pay off your smallest debt. Then, move to the next smallest debt and so on until you have finally paid off all your debts. The only time you break this cycle is if you have an emergency that needs immediate attention and you must use money in your one-month emergency reserve. Then, you would take the amount left over each pay period to build it back up and afterward resume paying down your debt with it.
6) Build a six-month emergency fund. After all non-housing loans are paid off use the amount left over each pay period (which now should be much larger) to build your emergency fund to six-months of all your expenses identified in items 3.c. and 3.d. above.
7) Start funding retirement vehicles that match the amount you invest. If your employer offers a 401k, 457, 403b, etc. that matches your investment up to a certain amount start investing the amount necessary to get the maximum matching investment from your employer. Put the money in a safe and sound investment (like a stable value account, guaranteed investment contract, etc.) until you study and understand the history, nature, risk, and investment costs / fees of other types of investments like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, etc.
8) Pay off your home loans. Use the amount left over each month toward principal pay off of your mortgage until it is fully paid off. Commit to not purchasing another house until at least 5 to 7 years after you have paid off your current mortgage(s). If you have a desire to purchase another home, set the purchase as a faith goal to pursue on a debt-free basis using the equity in your current home and savings that you are able to build each month after your current home mortgage is paid off. Remember contentment and deferred gratification pay off more in the end than encumbering yourself further in debt.
9) Increase your giving and investments. At this point, the amount left over should be huge because it includes the amount you used to pay on your mortgage. Consider increasing your free-will offering as thanks to God for helping you reach the goal of total debt freedom and ability to fund kingdom building to a much greater degree, help those in need, and build wealth to maintain these priorities and care for yourself and family.
Some will ask why funding college for kids is not a top priority. The answer is that your financial plan must operate similar to emergency landing safety instructions given on airplanes. Make sure you are safe and secure first before attempting (outside of your means) to help your children or other people be safe and secure. It is very difficult to truly help others until you have made sure that you are on solid footing, otherwise you risk harming yourself and not saving anyone else.
Following the above plan will help you get to the point in debt-freedom and wealth building where you will have disposable income and assets that you could use to help your children and possibly others with educational expenses and other worthwhile goals that can brighten their future.
Please email any questions and pray for this ministry. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Revelation 4:11, 1Timothy 6:9-17, Matthew 23:23, Hebrews 7:8, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Proverbs 21:20, Luke 6:38, 14:28-30
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
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