Posts by Joseph Sangl
Does God want you to be rich?
So I was briefly reviewing the web pages that I check daily, and I found this article on www.cnn.com. The question being asked is, “Does God want you to be rich?”
Very interesting question, indeed.
The question is often asked. It is interesting to see it being approached by Time Magazine.
I would like to ask the question another way. Does God want you to be poor?
In financial counseling, I have never personally encountered anyone who became poor because God made it that way. There is this one man I have read about in the Bible. His name was Job. You can read about him here. After all of his wealth was stripped away, he still honored God. In the end, God blessed him even more in the last days of his life than at the first.
I do not know how often God lets individuals become poor on purpose (like Job), but I have seen example after example after example where poor decisions have been made that led to the person or couple becoming financially strapped.
Let me list some “poor” decisions.
- A car financed for 6 years with payments that really can not be afforded. Especially when the vehicle insurance, license plate, and property taxes also go up with the new vehicle.
- A house with a payment that consumes 50% of take-home pay.
- A piece of furniture or a ATV that they could not pay cash for and so it was financed for 4 years at 20% interest.
- Not having an emergency fund with at least $2000 in it. How realistic is it to believe that there will never be a financial emergency in our life?
- Not thinking about purchases overnight. They are talked in to making a purchase of something they did not NEED by a very talented salesperson. So they bought and now they are paying. (Timeshares are very spur of the moment decisions that are many times a BAD deal.)
- Not putting money away for the children’s college. If you really do want to help your children out with college, you really should start saving for them. They really are growing older every single day and they will be 18 and headed there before you know it!
- Not putting money away for your retirement. The word “tire” is in retirement because someday you are going to be very “tired”! If you do not put away money, you will be working when you are very “tired”!
I could list MANY more …
I believe that God has given us this thing called “common sense” and this other thing called a “brain”. He created us in His image. He wants us to think about things. He equipped us to be able to think about purchases and how we should handle our money.
If we truly stopped and thought about our purchases and our overall money management, we would be able to avoid being poor. We could even achieve wealth.
To get it, we need only understand these three things:
- God is in control
- INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO
- We are the managers of our money. We are in control of where our money goes.
The power of vision.
Now time for a story …
It was summertime during 1999. I was headed out to eat lunch with a fellow engineer. We headed off to Los Hermanos in Clemson, SC (does this restaurant still exist?). Little did I know that this was to be a lunch that would change my life forever.
During our lunchtime conversation, he asked me a question I had heard many times before. “Joe”, he said, “If you had a million dollars, what would you do?” Now, I had heard that question asked many times before, but this time I truly thought about it. I had no answer.
It irked me that I could not answer this question. I was very frustrated about it. I was frustrated enough that during that same evening, I shared the question with my wife, Jenn. I told her that I could not answer the question and that I did not know what I would do.
She was surprised and said that I could have at least thought of some vacations we could take. The issue for me was that I truly understood the point of the question. The true point of the question was, “What have I been put on this earth to do?”
I wandered around for the next three years, just wondering. During these three years, I applied myself 100% to the task at hand, but I put myself on alert so I could discover just what I was put on this earth to do.
When I moved back to Indiana in 2002, I finally found it. It was to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible. Specifically in the area of their finances. It burns through me to the very core of my soul.
Now, I have been described as slightly energetic in my normal line of work, but I become a passionate, freaked-out, crazed lunatic when it comes to helping others gain control of their finances. This topic brings out an emotion in me that has been otherwise untapped. It is exactly what I have been put on this earth to do.
Now, I have the opportunity to go pursue this calling full-time at New Spring Church. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!
Since I had to wrestle with the question for 4 years before getting to an answer, I am going to ask you:
“If you had a million dollars, what would you do?”
Term Life Insurance
Term Life Insurance is a great deal!
30 year-old male – preferred rate – 20 year level term insurance – $500,000 coverage
$255/year
30 year-old female – preferred rate – 20 year level term insurance – $500,000 coverage
$235/year
Want to know what the current rates are for your age? Go to here to obtain an instant quote WITHOUT HAVING TO ENTER YOUR NAME OR INFORMATION!!! There is a spot for you name and phone number, but you do not have to enter it!
Why is term life insurance a great deal?
- It transfers risk from you to the insurance company
- It is cheap! Very cheap relative to cash value, universal, or whole life insurance
- The premium stays the same for the entire term of the insurance.
You need to have 8X – 10X your annual income in term life insurance. Even if your spouse does not work, you should also have term life insurance on them. Imagine how much it would cost to replace the work they currently do while maintaining your household.
Insurance agents will push you to get whole life, cash value, or universal life insurance. They sell them with the savings component built within it. It is not that they are horribly terrible products (OK, maybe they are HORRIBLE), it is the fact that they are VERY EXPENSIVE when compared to the cost of term life insurance.
GO GET TERM LIFE INSURANCE!!!
Money saving ideas
Pay bills annually.
- Life Insurance
- Auto Insurance
- Gym Membership
- Internet
- Subscriptions
Negotiate any large purchase
- Automobiles
- Boats
- House
- Surgery
- Video camera
- Computer
- TV
- Furniture
- Jewelry
- Vacation Trip
Sleep at least one night before making a large purchase.
Consult with your spouse before making a large purchase.
Drive your car for at least 250,000 miles and 10 years.
Take your lunch to work.
Let your employer pay for your college degree.
Don’t smoke.
Exercise.
Avoid stuff-itis. Ask yourself the question, “Why am I buying this?”
Rummage Sales
We are in the middle of the first day of a three day garage sale. WOW! I did not know how much work it was to prepare for one of these things.
I have eagerly told people to “have a rummage sale” in order to free up some quick cash and pay off some smaller bills. This will many times help people gain the traction they need to get to a balanced budget.
I will still tell people eagerly to sell stuff and have a rummage sale, but I will do it with a more deeper understanding of what that truly means. It takes effort.
That’s OK. It takes effort to get out of debt!
Updates on the garage sale will appear over the next few days.
Any tips for making a garage sale more of a success?