Finance

I am passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.

I’ve committed my life to traveling and sharing this passion but I need your help to reach others with the simple message that:

• God owns it all
• We are managers
• INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

So with this series, I am going to challenge you to teach one person this simple message during the next month.

PART ONE  Who are you going to teach this to?

Take a few minutes to think about who are going to intentionally teach this information to. Who is it?

• Child
• Parent
• Friend
• Co-Worker
• Employee
• Employer
• Family Member

It would be INCREDIBLE if you would share who are you going to intentionally teach this to during this month!

I get the opportunity to travel and speak to different groups of people, in different phrases of life, with different financial struggles. However, they all of one thing in common: they all want to win with their money. The unfortunate reality is that there are a lot of people who aren’t winning with their finances. It can be frustrating and overwhelming. The GOOD NEWS is that you can win with your money. You can become debt free! You can start living your fully funded life.

Here is the list of the top reasons (in no particular order) I see that people aren’t winning with their money. If you currently aren’t winning with your money, read the list below to see if any of these apply to you.

1. Unwilling to admit there is a problem
2. Inability to say NO (to themselves, spouse, and/or children)
3. Shiny Stuff Syndrome
4. Lack of financial education
5. Spouses not working together
6. Lack of giving (rarely do I see selfish people truly win with their money)
7. No savings (it is impossible to win financially if you do not save)
8. Unwilling to take risk with any investments
9. Listening to the wrong (and broke) people
10. Impulsive spending decisions
11. Failure to carry health and disability insurance
12. Unwilling to work for it

Would you add any additional reasons to this list?

Well we’re getting ready to say goodbye to spring and hello to summertime! That means heat, no school, and lots of free time. In this tight economic time, a lot of people are getting very creative about how they spend their time and money. Let’s face it, we all want to have fun – even more so when the money is tight and times are stressful! Here are some ways that I have seen people having fun and it is costing them NOTHING (or next to it).

• Start a blog
• Listen to a podcast
• Play a board game, card game or any kind of game
• Check out the community calendar
• Library visits – just to peruse the books, magazines and check out free movies
• Bake a new dish using stuff that is already in the pantry and freezer
• Clean up the yard
• Learn a new skill (maybe how to change your car’s oil)
• Start a DIY project
• Start a new workout routine
• Attack one room in the house and reorganize it
• Volunteer at a local community center, food pantry, or animal shelter
• Take the train downtown to people watch – I LOVE doing this in Chicago!
• Catch up on some old shows with Hulu.com
• Take time to pet and play with the dog and cat
• Go on a hike or a walk
• Pick-up basketball games at the local park

These are a few ideas. What are your favorite things to do that cost little or no money?

Margin is an alternative way to communicate “space.” Remember when the English teacher ruined your life by announcing that you must hand write a two page composition? She would say, “Be sure to avoid writing in the “margins.” In other words, it was important to maintain appropriate spacing. The same is true for your finances. Financial margin creates space in your life. During this series, I’ll be focusing on the real and emotional effects of living WITH and WITHOUT financial margin. Ready?

PART ONE – LESS STRESS

PART TWO – FREEDOM

PART THREE – IMPROVED RELATIONSHIPS

PART FOUR – FILL UP THE TANK
There are so many benefits to having financial margin, but one of the greatest is the ability to just “fill up the tank.” Let me explain.

When there is no financial margin, it may not be possible to drive to the gas pump and fill up the gas tank. Lack of margin means that one has to put $16 in one time and $37 the next. Whatever money is available goes into the gas tank. This can be very costly – especially in time costs!

When you are not filling up the tank every time, you lose time because:

• You have to fill up more often
• You have to waste time figuring out how much can be spent this time

For many people, it also costs more money because more visits to the gas station equal more trips into the convenience store to buy super-overpriced soda and snacks!

When you have margin, you can just “fill up the tank.”

Here are other ways this applies to having financial margin:

• You can buy the proven name-brand appliance instead of the el-cheapo model
• You are in the position of power so you are not subject to obtaining financing and buying the junk they are trying to sell you
• Pawning, short-term financing, and other highly expensive ways to obtain money become completely unnecessary

To me, the sacrifices to obtain financial margin are worth it just to “fill up the tank” every time!

Looking for more information on creating financial margin? Check out this resource (HERE).

Margin is an alternative way to communicate “space.” Remember when the English teacher ruined your life by announcing that you must hand write a two page composition? She would say, “Be sure to avoid writing in the “margins.” In other words, it was important to maintain appropriate spacing. The same is true for your finances. Financial margin creates space in your life. During this series, I’ll be focusing on the real and emotional effects of living WITH and WITHOUT financial margin. Ready?

PART ONE – LESS STRESS

PART TWO – FREEDOM

PART THREE – IMPROVED RELATIONSHIPS
Individuals who are against the wall financially for extended periods of time can many times hurt people in ways that they never would do if they had financial margin. I’ve seen business owners (with no margin) who completely lose their minds on a customer who owed them $1,000 even though they are late on $10,000 of bills to their own suppliers. They are agitated, angry, and threatening. But a third party could easily say that the business owner is completely out of line. What is causing this issue? No financial margin!

I’ve seen countless relationships injured or destroyed because of no financial margin – families, friendships, business relationships, working relationships. My bet is that you’ve seen it too or maybe you’ve experienced it! It is incredibly hurtful and can cause enormous stress and heartache.

Here’s a question to ask yourself:

What would these situations look like if each person had financial margin?

Wouldn’t there be a lot less borrowing? Wouldn’t there be less heartache, pain, and agony?

Make the greatest investment into your peace and state of mind – establish financial margin!