MoneyWalk 155: To Co-Sign Or Not To Co-Sign, That Is The Question

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

When you’re approached by family and friends about co-signing, tell them “NO” and continue to pray for strength to be wise according to God’s Word and that they will see and act upon God's money management principles in the future so they can receive the great benefits produced by following them.

If you've already cosigned on a loan for someone by using your credit card or by signing a note that says you'll pay the loan amount if he or she is unable to, then you need to run to the lending institution and work on a way to get out of that arrangement as quickly as possible. If you can't get off the loan, pray real hard that the person makes all the required payments on time and pays the debt off early. If he doesn't, you're on the hook! So, realize that you will have to take over the monthly loan payments the moment he or she stops paying them.

If you don't currently have enough savings stashed away to cover the loan amount, revise your budget to eliminate unnecessary spending so you can save as much as possible in case this unfortunate but highly likely scenario occurs. In the future, refuse to co-sign for anyone. Learn to say “no” to such requests and really mean it! If there is a legitimate need that cannot be fulfilled in some other way, then give the family member or friend what you have in available cash (savings) that is not targeted at meeting an obligation that you have to meet and that you willingly want to give.

Many times people that ask you to co-sign could take initiative to resolve their situation without asking you to take on their debt. However, they don’t see the picture clearly or they simply want to use a way that appears easier for them. For example, the person could get up earlier to catch the bus to work instead of asking you to co-sign for a car note. Or, the person could purchase a less expensive engagement ring for their fiancé instead of asking you to co-sign for a more expensive ring. Or, the person could rent, pay off debts, and begin to save for a 20% down payment on a home instead of asking you to co-sign on a home loan.

This lesson is not to discourage from giving to meet true needs. Christians should be givers and lend themselves to abundantly funding gospel ministry and helping the poor. Pursuant to biblical instruction, I am instructing you to stay away from promising to cover debts taken by other people when you don’t currently have far more than enough money to cover the entire debt because the history shows that most of them, at some point not too long after you cosign, will ultimately refuse or be unable to complete their promise and commitment to paying the debt. Co-signing will set you up for a financial fall that you could have and should have avoided.

Stop cosigning for family and friends to get things they can't afford to pay cash for. The best way to help most people and ensure your long-term financial health is to give them available cash when a true and verified need arises in their lives. Then encourage them to use biblical principles to manage their money and desires, so their needs can be met.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 11:15, 17:18, 20:16, Romans 13:8, Ephesians 5:15-17

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You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.

MoneyWalk 154: A Budget Is Essential

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many people think budgeting is unnecessary, however the vast majority of people who do not budget tend to be in poor financial condition and the other few will likely come into a bad financial condition at some point in their lives because they fail to currently employ this principle. Some financial advisors proclaim that budgeting is unnecessary, but we find they actually teach budgeting when we look deeper into their instructions.

They often call it by another name such as spending plan, income / expense plan, etc. For example, one financial advisor said he doesn’t budget rather when he receives his income, he immediately sets aside a percentage to pay expected taxes, puts ten percent into a savings account and ten percent into an investment account. Then, he spends no more than what is left and repeats the process when he next receives income.

Well, that is budgeting. It’s a principle for which there are various methods to carry it out. It can be intricate or simple. Generally, the more creditors you have the more intricate it will have to be to navigate the maze and this is what causes many to ultimately slip and fall into financial turbulence and ruin. That is why you want to engage debt-freedom, so you can have a simple budget that helps you keep life in perspective and weather every storm that will eventually come your way.

Scripturally speaking, the underlying parameter is the same no matter which method is used. You should have a written plan to spend far less than your income and identify necessary alterations to your lifestyle and spending habits to eliminate all your debts.

In the end analysis, any good business or personal financial situation relies on budgeting in order to get on, stay on, and grow on a secure foundation. The method that we employ and encourage entails the following.

1. List all your net monthly income. This is gross income minus taxes paid and owed to governments and other costs that will be payroll deducted by your employer and which you do not have access to spend (health care, union dues, etc.).

2. Subtract the tithe and offering.

3. List all your monthly bills. Bills due more often and less often than monthly should be re-calculated to an amount equal to a monthly payment.

4. Now, subtract all monthly payments from your net monthly income.

The remaining balance shows whether you expect to have a surplus or deficit. If money remains (a surplus) then you can divvy it up to spend on household needs, personal items, savings, and investments. When money is lacking to pay all of your current monthly payments (a deficit), then you must look at every option possible for immediately reducing monthly expenses to get you to a financial situation where all your needs can be provided. Otherwise, you will continue to create greater financial problems in your life.

A deficit points you to one or more options to help eliminate it. First and foremost and always necessary is seeking God’s will in praise, worship, and prayer so the supernatural power of God will provide where human effort cannot. Second is making expense and spending reductions. This includes calling creditors to work out debt-forgiveness and better payment arrangements. Third is finding work (overtime, a new job, a second job, or a no cost or very low cost entrepreneurial endeavor) that increases your income to a point well beyond your expenses in order to more quickly get out of debt and begin the wealth building process.

When things are so tight you cannot pay all of your debts it is important to properly prioritize. Honor the Lord in your giving and only make monthly payments for mortgage / rent and necessary transportation to and from work. Money left over should be saved to build up a six-month emergency fund from which you can take care of emergencies that arise and later negotiate debt payoffs. In some instance you may have to trade in the expensive home and car for something more reasonable for your current situation in order to right your ship. Food and clothing are important however most people have more than enough to make it through a rough financial period or can obtain it free form local food banks, thrift stores, churches, friends, and family.

Short-term and long-term planning of anticipated income and expenses is vital to your financial well-being because it lets you know what you can reasonably purchase now and months into the future. A deficit lets you know there is a financial problem that needs correction and a surplus lets you know there is money left over that must be managed correctly in order to engage and complete the commission He assigned to the body of Christ and to you.

Budgeting is equivalent with knowing the state of your flocks and herds so your wealth can endure beyond your generation. Diligence in mapping out your financial future month-to-month and year-to-year is what it takes to repair damaged finances and maintain good financial health.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 27:23-27, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Luke 14:28-32, Philippians 4:11-13

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.

MoneyWalk 152: The Blessing of Balance

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Good money managers organize their lives to know when bills are due and how much is owed and they pay their bills on time. They also immediately record checking deposits and withdrawals and balance their checkbooks every month to ensure that they are able to pay future bills and that money is not illegally taken from them by financial institutions and thieves. Godly stewards also listen to the voice of the Lord to understand how He would have them give, save, and spend within the boundaries of what the bible in general says about the focus that Christians should have and maintain throughout their lives.

In order to have a healthy financial life, you must organize your life to know the state of your income and expenses. The quickest way to do this is to keep your checkbook balanced each month. Also, you must develop a budget (an income giving, spending, and saving plan). In addition, you must do the best you possibly can to ensure that your expenses do not exceed your income in any given month and that you have assets to cover shortfalls in the few months that this might be the case due to unexpected periods of unemployment.

You should not purchase any products or services using credit when you do not already have more than enough money to pay off the account immediately. If you don’t have cash on hand right now to buy it, then you should forego the purchase and allow God to supernaturally bring it to you free of charge (if you really need it) or in a way that will not lead to possible financial bondage if your income producing projections don’t work out like you envisioned.

The first entry in your monthly budget should be to set aside at least ten percent of your income (the tithe) and give it to your local church where you receive your spiritual food, fellowship, and discipleship. If you don’t have a church, you need to find a bible believing church and allow the Holy Spirit to plant you in that local representation of Christ’s body. When you forsake the regular assembly of believers you cannot be truly fulfilled and prosperous no matter how much money you make or assets you have.

Your God-given purpose is intertwined with fellowship and discipleship within a local expression of the body of Christ. Thus, interacting with leaders and members within your local church and other believers, you are called to make ministry service (evangelism and discipleship of others) the priority in your life that guides every other endeavor you pursue (career, friendships, recreation, education, business, etc.).

Next, your month to month budget and checkbook should display that you firmly resolve not to spend more than your gross income minus your tithe, taxes, and reasonable savings. If necessary, you must resolve to work extra for a short time or create a no or low cost income producing opportunity in order to eliminate current debts, create no further debt, and to put away an emergency fund of at least one month of income as soon as possible.

Then, after you have paid of all non-mortgage debt using the debt snowball or top down highest interest, lowest balance payment method you should seek to save at least six months of income. The emergency savings strategy will help you avoid situations where you would otherwise put more charges on credit accounts in order to cover what you perceive as emergency situations. This strategy will help you stop reverting back to the old undisciplined financial pattern that left you broke, disgusted, and not to be trusted!

Finally, after you have eliminated all your debt and built your emergency savings fund you should begin to put monthly savings that would take you over the six month income level into no-load investments (no sales charges – front or back end) in your 401k, 403b, 457, Roth IRA, or in an investment account with a major brokerage such as Vanguard, Fidelity, etc (hopefully, in tax deferred accounts as much as possible). It is best to put this on automatic pilot by having the contribution taken directly out of your paycheck or checking / savings account each month so that you don’t fail to write a check to deposit the amount and so you won’t be tempted to spend the money on a material item that will be forgotten or unused after it is purchased.

Once you’ve followed the above described financial path, you’ll begin to accumulate assets at an astounding rate and the power of compounding interest over the next 10, 20, and 30 years will exponentially expand your investments. You will begin to live the biblical instruction, “be fruitful and multiply…and have dominion over the Earth!” The biblically-based organization that you follow and the increased income and assets that God entrusts to you will allow you take dominion in every area of life, such as properly caring for your family, tithing to your local church, funding missions in your community and around the world, funding ministries that you are directly and physically involved in, helping the poor, widows, and oppressed, etc.

This wealth building scenario will not likely happen for you if you are not committed to living out God’s debt-free plan. You must forsake the temptation to create monthly bills that add up to an amount that is greater than 50% of your gross income. Setting your spending bar at this level will save you more financial trouble than you can imagine and allow you to carry out your abundant giving and wealth building financial plan.

Again, allow God to bless you with products and services you need that you can't pay cash for right now. If God doesn't bless you with them, then you don’t really need them. Continue to have patience with God’s financial plan and you’ll soon find that you can get not only what you need but many of your desires because you have delighted yourself in Him spiritually and financially. When your life is balanced in this way, abundant blessings cannot help but be poured out on you in due time.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 27:23-24, Isaiah 55:10-11, Luke 14:28-32, 2Corinthians 9:10-12

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.

MoneyWalk 153: Prosperity Is Here: Grab It!

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

When you engage a relationship with Jesus Christ you prosper eternally by receiving salvation from God’s judgment that would otherwise bring punishment against unrepentant sin. Increasingly, your life will also prosper on earth as your heart, mind, and actions are progressively centered on following biblical instructions.

You cannot escape the flames of Hell by being rich, middle class, poor, having good works, great character, or displaying integrity on earth. The only thing that saves you is having faith in Jesus Christ, which covers and fills you with His righteousness. You have no righteousness of your own that can be worked up or attained through human effort. Your rightness is as filthy rags. Jesus Christ is the only person who is sinless that can stand as atonement for your sin. He is resurrected unto eternal life that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him when you verbally and in your heart accept Him as your Savior and Lord.

He also holds all the resources in His hands to resolve your problems (financial and otherwise). As a child of the King, you have access to His treasures when you need them. Salvation secures you for eternity and sanctification cleans you up for positive things to happen while you’re on earth.

When you put your life in Jesus' hands, satan cannot have victory over you. Satan was created by God and only has power given to him by God. Do not mistakenly believe that he and God are equals battling it out for control over Heaven and Earth. It is not so!

The bible shows that satan has no power to destroy you and lead you to his final resting place (Hell), unless you let him by refusing to give your life to Jesus. Having a relationship with Jesus Christ and living according to His instruction is the plan God created for man, so that man could escape the eternal danger that having a free-will presents. So, choose Jesus and thus choose life! Abundant blessing and reward accompany that relationship.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Psalm 37:9, Psalm 71:5, Colossians 1:3-14, 1Peter 5:8-10

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.

A Refresher On Biblical Financial Principles

This teaching will help you undo financial bondage.

The first five principles are connected to the whole of your life, not just how you manage money. They should be a foundation for how and why you decide to do anything in life. They allow you to accomplish much, be very successful in your endeavors, and please God when incorporated with other actions like praying, studying the bible, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit within you, fellowshipping with believers (attending church regularly), and before making major decisions getting the input of a group of counselors that believe in Jesus Christ and who seek to do His will. These principles help you fulfill the purpose for which God created you.

1) Understand that God owns everything: we are only managers of His estate. God is, always was, and always will be. He is the creator of all things including you, yet He is so gracious to allow you to live in His presence and receive His blessing. You have a choice to live with Him or live without Him. At the end of your days on Earth your choice becomes an eternal one. His desire is that you would choose to live with Him living and acting according to His instruction and guidance confirmed by biblical principle.

2) You are to do good works – those that are God pleasing. This involves working to earn money and obtain resources to take care of yourself and family by producing and selling widgets and/or service. It also includes engaging with the Church to be a witness of Jesus Christ to people around you and in other parts of the world and in some instances to help meet people’s physical needs (food, clothing, shelter, etc.).

3) Be content. 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.

4) Show self-control This is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5, which along with the other eight fruit shows that we walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Pleasing God is the ultimate goal and can only be displayed by living according to His commands. You must learn to be obedient to biblical principles in order to control your fleshly appetite and put the focus back on fulfilling His purpose for your life. This will help produce wealth in a way that is pleasing to God without compromising your relationship with Jesus Christ.

5) Be willing to sacrifice. Delaying gratification results in great benefits accruing to you in the long-run because is replaces short-term pleasure for long-term financial soundness and helps keep you out of financial trouble.

6) Tithe and give offerings and alms to your local church and other worthwhile ministries and charities. Continue or start tithing to your local church or a worthwhile ministry each time you receive income. In addition, give offerings and alms to join with fellow believers in serving those in need.

7) Budget your income and expenses for at least a few months ahead. A number of free resources exist on the internet to help you craft 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.

8) Refuse to accumulate more debt and eliminate current debt. The borrower is servant to the lender and thus God does not want His people to be in debt because it often causes people to make bad decisions and move away from God’s purpose for their lives and bring troubles upon them and their families. His desire is that you owe no man anything but love.

9) Refuse to cosign for the debts of other people. You will not help other people live in the responsibility God desires for them and you will bring financial trouble upon yourself by eventually being on the hook for paying the bills of irresponsible people.

10) Save in an emergency reserve account, so that you have resources to help care for needs during rainy days. A wise man stores a portion of his resources to meet future material needs, but a foolish man immediately spends everything he gets. You need a rainy day fund to help you overcome bad economic cycles that will occur throughout your life.

11) Invest excess disposable income to accumulate greater return. God desires that you be like the servants in the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas who went about trading (investing) the assets He had given them in order to multiplying them for greater use for His glory.

12) Diversify your savings and investments so that all your eggs are not in the same basket. Scripture instructs you to give a portion to seven or eight because you do not know what troubles may come upon the Earth. It also instructs you to seek safety in the multitude of counselors. When all eggs are in the same basket they tend to all be destroyed by one person’s malfeasance, but when they are in different baskets one person’s malfeasance does not destroy the wealth God intends for you to manage.

Following the above principles by the leading of the Holy Spirit will help you get to the point of debt-freedom and wealth building where you will multiply the money that the Lord entrusted to you; some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. 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!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.