I am writing this series partly to help people win with their own money, but also as a reminder to myself that money pitfalls abound and that we are ALL susceptible to falling into making a poor financial decision.

Part Five Failed To Seek God’s Will

I am a follower of Jesus Christ.   Yet, I have found that some of my poorest financial decisions have been made when I failed to stop and consider what God’s Word had to say about it.   When we were living with an average bank balance of $4.13, it literally felt like Satan himself was attacking our finances.   Then I realized that I was not seeking God’s will for my finances and my financial decisions.   Psalm 24:1 says that God owns it all.   I believe it because I’ve never seen anyone be able to take anything with them when they die!   Proverbs 22:7 and Romans 13:8 each share important facts about debt.   Proverbs 13:22 talks about leaving an inheritance for my grandchildren.   Proverbs 13:11 instructs me to save little by little so that my money can grow.   Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:14-30 clearly tells me that I will have more to manage if I focus on becoming a better manager of what I have right now!

The day that I began to read God’s Word and to prayerfully seek His will is THE DAY that my family began to be blessed incredibly – in many ways – not just financial.   Can I get an AMEN! in the house?

PROBLEM: Failed to seek God’s will

SOLUTIONS: 1) Learned what God’s word had to say about the subject   2) Prayerfully seek His will for each financial decision I make

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I am writing this series partly to help people win with their own money, but also as a reminder to myself that money pitfalls abound and that we are ALL susceptible to falling into making a poor financial decision.

Part Four Living with no margin

If you have financial margin, you already know what I’m talking about it.   If you have NEVER established financial margin, YOU HAVE NO IDEA what this means.   I had experienced my IHHE Moment on December 2, 2002.   Living with no margin means that you are constantly faced with surprise and unexpected expenses that clobber your finances.   These surprise and unexpected expenses will still show up when you have margin, but you already have the money saved so it is just a matter of paying for it with no worries!

Because my family had no financial margin, we made less than stellar purchasing decisions – usually paying for the surprise expense with a credit card.   It felt like we were trapped into a cycle of broke with no margin.

My family first experienced financial margin beginning in February 2003.   We were able to put our tax refund into savings that month.   When that happened, I was literally able to breathe in a way I have never experienced before!   I highly recommend it!

Believe me when I tell you that life with margin is completely different from a life with no margin.   You CAN NOT PROSPER if you do not have margin.   It is IMPOSSIBLE.

PROBLEM: Living with no margin

SOLUTIONS: 1) Budgeting each month   2) Prioritizing savings in the budget   3) Holding each other accountable to not using the savings for random wants

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I am writing this series partly to help people win with their own money, but also as a reminder to myself that money pitfalls abound and that we are ALL susceptible to falling into making a poor financial decision.

Part Three Spent Future Earnings

It happened EVERY Christmas.   We failed to save money for this Known Upcoming Non-Monthly Expense so we would pull out the plastic and tell ourselves, “We’ll pay this off with our tax refund.”   In other words, we spent future money before we ever received it.   Some people call this “Dead Presidents” – this is when your money (with pictures of famous people and some dead presidents) show up dead on arrival since they are already pledge toward a debt.   Isn’t it a terrible feeling to receive a paycheck, bonus, or tax refund and know that it is just going to immediately go on to someone else?   I lived this way for years!

This happened on a much larger scale when I purchased cars with debt.   In reality, I spent nearly half of a year’s gross salary just to purchase a vehicle.   Not good if you want to win with your money!

I started winning with money when I spent money in a way that generated future earnings (investing!) instead of taking future earnings away (debt!).

PROBLEM: Spent future earnings before even receiving them!

SOLUTIONS: 1) Prepare a budget every month before I’m paid   2) Firing my “wanting” 3) Realized that when I told myself “NO!” I am really telling myself “YES!” to something even more important

Have you ever hurt your finances by spending future earnings poorly?

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I am writing this series partly to help people win with their own money, but also as a reminder to myself that money pitfalls abound and that we are ALL susceptible to falling into making a poor financial decision.

Part Two Overconfidence In My Ability

Have you ever saw someone who was really skilled at a particular craft and said to yourself, “I can do that as well as them.”?   I remember this happening to me when I had the opportunity to attend the Shell Houston Open PGA Tournament in 1996.   I had just finished my FINAL final exams of my college career, and I had the opportunity to fly to Houston and watch the PGA golfers tee it up at the Woodlands.   After four days of watching them swing perfectly, putt beautifully, and dress really well, I apparently became delusional and thought that I could golf just as well – so as soon as I arrived home, I went to the golf course.   I dressed really well.   The golf clubs were great – and nearly identical to many of the Tour players.   Then I made the mistake of swinging the club.   After spraying shots all over the golf course, I shot a 68 …   by hole #13.   I was overconfident.   What I had seen did not translate into ability.

This cost me financially when I made the decision to purchase a “fixer-upper” house.   My reasoning and logic was impeccable (or so I thought).   After all, my wife watched ALL of the home improvement shows.   She loved the shows – so she would love the opportunity to try her hand out at it – right?   Ummmm …

My brilliant thinking continued as I thought, “My father has built homes for 50+ years so surely I will be able to this basic remodel work.”   Ummmm …

Of course, I was dreadfully wrong.   I discovered that in real life, home improvement projects took approximately 4 billion years – not 30 minutes like the TV show.   I also discovered that I was very limited in my own skill set.   While I knew what needed to be done, getting it done (and done well) was a much different thing.

The end result is that we got to spend THOUSANDS of extra dollars due to my overconfidence in my ability.

PROBLEM: Overconfidence in my ability

SOLUTION: 1) Seeking counsel when I realize that I just don’t know   2) Listening to my bride   3) Write down the actual costs of repair and then multiply it by two

Has overconfidence in your ability ever caused you to fail with your finances?   Share your story!   It will help us all learn, and it might even be a little therapeutic!

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I am writing this series partly to help people win with their own money, but also as a reminder to myself that money pitfalls abound and that we are ALL susceptible to falling into making a poor financial decision.

Part One Gotta Have It Now

I had graduated from college, and I was the first person in my family to complete a college education.   With a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in hand, I was FIRED UP to have completed my education, and to be finally earning money.   My college sweetheart had also just said “YES!” when I asked her to marry me.   So to celebrate, I wanted to get a new car.   After all, I felt that I needed a new car so I bought one.   I did not even really negotiate the sales price.   It is quite possible that I paid twice for that car when you toss in the interest that I paid.

Of course, hindsight tells me that I just really wanted a new car, but my “Gotta Have It Now” desire overtook reason and logic.   The result was 48 months of payments for that smokin’ HOT Chevy Cavalier.

This is, of course, just ONE example of many times that I allowed myself to give in to “Gotta Have It Now” Fever, and it is a great reminder to me to be ever vigilant to ensure it doesn’t happen again!

PROBLEM   “Gotta Have It Now” Fever

SOLUTIONS 1.) A written budget   2.) Working together on the budget with my bride   3.) Waiting overnight before making a major purchase decision

Have you ever failed with money because of “Gotta Have It Now” Fever?   Share your story – we can all LEARN from each other!

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