Worldly financial experts have said paying yourself first is the solution to all your financial woes. However, that method doesn't work, unless you know what your net income is and you spend less than your net income minus what you paid yourself first during each pay period. This is called budgeting. If you don't budget, you'll eventually stop paying yourself first and you'll spend all that you previously saved to obtain needed cash to meet your un-affordable living standard.
I certainly believe that you should pay yourself as close to first as legally possible. However, unless your employer pays you under the table (which is generally not godly and can land employers and employees in legal trouble and prison), other entities will receive a good chunk of money you earn (the IRS, social security and Medicare administrations, union dues, health care deductions, etc.) before you receive and are able to save some for yourself.
Even independent contractors and business owners have obligations that must be paid before they can legally put money away for their own savings and investment. For instance, if you don’t pay quarterly taxes due, then all that you’ve paid yourself and more could be required of you in taxes, interest, and penalties. Failure to pay the right amount over a prolonged period of time could be considered tax evasion and land you in prison.
Therefore, a budget is necessary because it helps you know how much you earn over given periods of time which in turn helps you understand amounts that you are obligated to pay in taxes and other requirements. Also, it helps define the amount of income that is disposable to spend on other desired products and services that are not needs. The greatest financial need everyone has is giving a proportionate amount of income to honor God to allow the biblical law of reciprocity to supernaturally grow their wealth.
Food and shelter are certainly earthly needs as well as transportation. Most other expenditures are for desires. A budget allows you to place all things in their proper priority. Regular planned giving to the church and to other people’s needs as God directs (alms) assures that God will provide your need according to His riches in glory. When He provides you must understand that giving a portion back to perpetuate the gospel and growing God’s kingdom in the hearts of men is the highest financial priority, then shelter, food, transportation, clothing, and other things in lesser priority.
Many times people don’t have a budget and also don’t prioritize in the right manner. They act as if they cannot get food and clothing free of charge from many different sources when in fact they can get these things when in need without spending any of their own money or not much at all. Also, many people try to hold onto houses with mortgages currently above their ability to bear because they make it look to other people like they have reached a coveted socio-economic status or they are living the life. Don’t let the American Dream become your American Nightmare.
Instead, look for and accept less costly alternatives over the short haul in order to make ends meet during tough financial times. You should consider staying with family and friends, buying only off clearance racks and only within a reasonable monthly shopping budget, or buying only from secondhand stores until your finances are in good shape and you have an ability to splurge a little.
Such options are available for everyone when their need over the short and long-haul is not based on perpetual irresponsibility. A number of suitable options that positively affect your financial situation appear when your need is based on an emergency or catastrophe you could not predict, foresee, or bypass (acute surgery, recent layoff, death of a bread winner, etc. Looking for, asking for, and utilizing these options when necessary, along with properly prioritizing and budgeting spending, help you weather the financial storm and grow wealth over the course of your life, so at some point you never have to be in a bad financial situation again.
When you succumb to it, the modern day system of obtaining loans and looking to credit, credit reports, and credit scores as the measure of financial strength hampers budgeting strategies. When you spend all you make and continually get loans to buy everything you want, the day will come when you'll have a mountain of bills you can't pay. Don't be fooled, whether you're considered rich or poor you can get into a habit of overspending your net income and can end up in financial ruin.
A budget helps measure all your expenses, so you know when you're living above your means. It will help you see which expenditures to eliminate or reduce to allow you live having joy and peace and the elimination of worry and its accompanying stress. When you mix budgeting with honoring God first through tithing, you have a potent combination that is supernaturally charged to prosper you to take care of your needs, other people’s needs, and plant and water gospel seeds in many people’s hearts.
Please email me with any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Psalm 37:23, Proverbs 30:24-25, Ecclesiastes 10:18-19, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Luke 16:9
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.
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