Margin – Part 1
Welcome to the latest series of JosephSangl.com – “Margin”. This is a series where we will focus on the real and emotional effects of living life WITH and WITHOUT financial margin. As part of this crusade to help people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their money, I see so many people living life on the edge with no financial margin. Lack of financial margin leads to lots of issues. Through this series, we will be discussing the benefits of establishing and keeping financial margin.
Part 1 – Less Stress
I remember the day that my family first established financial margin. It was in February 2003 when we received our tax refund. Instead of applying this money toward the tax refund, we put it into our savings account. This meant that we were not able to attack debt with this money, but our eyes had been opened to the absolute need to establish financial margin. Depositing the check into our savings account was incredible, but it was the emotional feeling that surprised me! We were able to breathe in a way we had never breathed before. I’m talking about literally being able to breathe differently. With that one key decision, we eliminated a load of stress that we did not even realize was there.
Gone were the days of fearing the question, “What will happen next?” Over were the days of stating, “How in the world will we pay for THAT? Instead of dreading the clunking sound coming out of the dryer, we could simply say, “Appliances break. Let’s purchase a new one – with our financial margin money.”
As part of this crusade, we are privileged and honored to help people 1-on-1 in developing their financial plan. STRESS is the #1 reason most people say that they wanted to meet with a financial coach. The stress of living with no financial margin can lead to a lot of effects:
- Fear
- Depression
- Feelings of dread
- Marital discord (or even divorce)
- Anger
- Combativeness
- Snappy responses
- Impatience
- Frustration
- Feelings of scarcity/lack
- Craving
- Unfulfilled
Having money is certainly not the answer to all of life’s issues, but the establishment of some financial margin certainly goes a long way toward easing many of the struggles of daily life! I definitely know that is true in my own life.
With all of the negative consequences related to living life this way, is it not worth the effort it will take to establish some financial margin? We recommend $2,500 as the first financial margin goal with the ultimate goal of having saved a year’s worth of expenses. It won’t happen overnight, but it can happen faster than you ever thought!
Hey! You’re Robbing My Inheritance!
I meet people all of the time who “have this brother” or “have this sister” who is a complete and utter financial failure – and their parents continually bail them out. I’m grateful that this has not been a problem in my family, but it is amazing how many families HAVE experienced this situation!
Here are some statements I have heard:
- My sister has run up her credit cards at least three times, but my parents keep bailing her out. It is so frustrating!
- My brother refuses to get a job and constantly hits up our parents for money. It is annoying!
- My brother never buys clothing for his kids because he knows that our parents will take care of it. Unbelievable!
While it is indeed annoying and frustrating, it could also be called something else – THEFT.
Let’s think about this in a step-by-step logical order.
- Parents usually leave all or most of their assets as an inheritance for their children (Prov 13:22)
- If a sibling has been continually tapping mom and dad for money, there is less inheritance to distribute
- Parents usually divide the assets equally among each of their children
- This means that the financially-misbehaving sibling receives the same amount of inheritance as the siblings who did not continually tap mom and dad for money
NET EFFECT: The children who behaved well financially are robbed of some of their inheritance by their financially-misbehaving sibling.
Have you ever looked at it this way? Have you experienced this in your own family?
5 Ways Joe Sangl Has FAILED With Money – Failed To Seek God’s Will
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
5 Ways Joe Sangl Has FAILED With Money – Living With No Margin
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
5 Ways Joe Sangl Has FAILED With Money – Spent Future Earnings
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?