Getting Started With a Budget
Using a budget is one of the smartest money management moves you could make. For guidance on using a paper & pencil system, read the Budget Quick Start Guide and make use of the Cash Flow Plan, Cash Flow Tracker, and Recommended Spending Guidelines, all found in the Resources section. For help using the online tool Mint.com, watch my tutorials here, here, and here. And for help with the Envelope system, read this article.
Remember, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” – Proverbs 21:5
An endless number of studies have documented people’s general lack of financial preparedness for their later years. As just one example, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) says that among workers age 55 and older, 49% have less than $250,000 saved for retirement (30% have less than $50,000). No amount of finger-wagging lectures seems to […]
Reading the CNN.com headline, it felt like déjà vu all over again. It read, “New threat to the economy: Americans are saving like it’s the 1980s.” It took me back to an article I read in the midst of the last recession. An economist was quoted as saying the thing that worried him the most […]
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:7 With so much stock market turmoil and economic uncertainty swirling about, now more than ever we need the reassurance and guidance of God’s eternal Word. In order to cope with these challenging times, consider the counsel and […]
I’m fascinated with the process of life change. So many of us would like to make some changes — in our health, our relationships, our finances. And yet change seems hard. We might make progress for a while, but then we slip back into old familiar patterns. What does it take to make changes that […]
In a recent post, The Starting Point for Building Effective Money Management Habits, I talked about the importance of understanding our biblical financial identity. We’re not consumers, as our culture suggests. We were designed to be wise builders who manage money in a way that enables us to build a thriving relationship with God, loving […]
Goal setting is all the rage this time of year. Unfortunately, so is bashing the practice. Some have become tired of the whole New Year’s resolutions routine. It seems trite to them, unproductive. It’s cool to be anti-goal. I’m okay with being uncool. I love the start of a new year. It always feels like […]
If ever there was a relationship designed to be built on a foundation of trust it would be the marriage relationship, right? And ideally, that trust would extend into all areas, including money. However, according to a recent Pew Research Center study, just 56% of married people say they trust their spouse a great deal […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. The number one thing people with fat savings accounts scrimp on that you likely don’t (MarketWatch). Cancelling the daily latte will only get you so far. Here’s how to really free up some money to save. So, your adult child moved […]
Do you know your net worth? That’s how much is left after subtracting your debts from the total value of your cash and assets. At first glance, figuring out your net worth may seem pointless. You’re probably not going to bump Warren Buffett or Bill Gates from their spots on any “World’s Wealthiest People” list […]
Have you ever felt like a stranger living in a strange land? Like somehow you’ve woken up in a place where you don’t speak the language? I felt that way while watching a morning news segment about financial infidelity. The host mentioned the results of a national survey in which: 71% of married Americans acknowledged […]
