Finance
SERIES: 5 Questions To Ask Before Spending Money
Welcome to the latest series on the wildly popular JosephSangl.com – 5 Questions To Ask Before Spending Money
It is my hope that this series will help provide you with practical questions to ask when preparing to spend a substantial amount of money. Practical questions that will help you truly understand the enormity of the decision and help you make the decision that is best for you and your family.
Question 1: “Do I need this?”
This can seem very basic, but as a “spender” I can get caught up in the “I WANT THIS!” moment and never stop to ask, “Do I need this?”
My garage is full of “I WANT THIS!” items that we never use. EVER! This includes a RC Airplane (it’s cool – but I don’t use it), bike (never ride it), tennis rackets (once every three years – not a priority), and many other items.
Pausing to ask, “Do I need this?”, can prevent a lot of poor spending decisions. I’m not saying that I never purchase things that are pure “wants” – I am saying that when I ask the key question, I make much smarter overall decisions.
BONUS: Wait overnight before answering the question! It is amazing the clarity that a good night of sleep will bring to a spending decision!
Financial Truths
Here are some basic financial truths:
- Income – Outgo = Exactly Zero
- Consumer Debt is NEVER helpful long-term
- Saving a little every month trumps trying to save a lot once in awhile
- Automatic savings is far more consistent than relying on oneself to write a check every month
- A spending plan prepared BEFORE the month begins allows one to accomplish far more than one without a plan
- No one has ever cried that they had saved too much money, but many have cried over saving too little
- Retiring entirely dependent upon Social Security is far worse than retiring independent of Social Security
- Working together with your spouse on money will improve your marriage
- Prayer really works!
- Seeking wise counsel from those who have “been there – done that” always trumps “going it alone”
- Mutual funds are not the only way to build financial wealth
- Everyone CAN be debt-free – it is a choice
What are some other financial truths you would share?
How To Ruin Your Life Financially – Don’t Carry Health Insurance
I recently wrote about 17 ways to ruin your life financially. Many of you shared some additional ways too – and they were great!
It is important that we circle back on a few of these because I am passionate about a few of these. One of them is health insurance.
According to The American Journal of Medicine – more than 50% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. In their report HERE, most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners.
Seriously, with a 100% mortality rate, the chances are pretty high that someone in your family will get ill. If you do not have health insurance, you are positioning yourself to fail financially instead positioning yourself to prosper!
If you don’t have insurance, GET A QUOTE, find out the cost, and at least get major medical coverage!
Do you have any horror stories of not having health insurance?
How To Ruin Your Life – Financially
I had the honor and privilege of speaking at Revolution Church in Canton, GA again this weekend. Amazing things are happening there!!! They were in the middle of a teaching series called “How To Ruin Your Life”. My message was focused on “How To Ruin Your Life FINANCIALLY”.
You can watch my message HERE in the next day or so, but I wanted to share my list of top ways you can RUIN your life financially. Just in case it is your goal to ruin yourself financially (if you do, that’s weird and you should get that checked out!)
How To RUIN YOUR LIFE FINANCIALLY:
- Spend more than you make.
- Buy stuff you cannot afford.
- Ignore God – don’t ever return the tithe and don’t ever ask Him what He wants you to do with the rest
- Refuse to learn how to become a better money manager.
- Spend every dime you make – never save any money.
- Believe the lie that more money will solve your problems.
- Go to college for seven years to get a four year degree – even worse, don’t get the degree.
- Never plan your spending.
- Always say, Yes, to your children and spouse.
- Fail to work together with your spouse. Even more, get a divorce.
- Have a bunch of children out of wedlock and owe child support to three baby mamas.
- Have all of your investments in one basket.
- Don’t have health insurance.
- Don’t pay your taxes.
- Start a business without any money and no plan.
- Co-sign a loan for a broke friend or family member.
- Marry someone who is irresponsible, has horrible credit, and piles of debt.
What would you add?
How To Crush Your Finances: Divorce
Divorce is one of the top reasons that people struggle financially. The old adage is true:
Marriage is grand. Divorce is one hundred grand.
Divorce crushes finances because:
- HOPE is lost
- Maintaining 2 households instead of 1
- Child support is very costly
- Alimony is very costly
- Attorneys take a huge chunk of cash
Have you been divorced or are you a child of divorce? Would you be willing to share with us your experiences of how divorce has impacted you financially?