Christian Finance Blog

“I’m so poor I can’t pay attention.”

Ron Kittle

Poor and broke are two very different things. Poor is a mentality and broke is just a temporary situation that you know will get better in the future. All I know is that I don’t want to be poor or broke! Maybe just poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT)

From the Life Application Bible:

Jesus looked at the crowds following him and referred to them as a field ripe for harvest. Many people are ready to give their lives to Christ if someone would show them how. Jesus commands us to pray that people will respond to this need for workers. Often, when we pray for something, God answers our prayers by using us. Be prepared for God to use you to show another person the way to him.

I wrote about the purchase and acquisition of ShareBuilder by ING Direct last year in December. I wondered back then how they would integrate together. Well, ING finally took a step in the right direction.

You can now access your ShareBuilder account from your ING account. All you have to do is login your ING Direct account and click on “Access your ShareBuilder account(s)”. Then you will login with your ShareBuilder account and you can now see your account value in your ING Direct account.

And on a side note, yes it does say “Kill Student Loan” on there as a nickname for one of my savings accounts. I know it sounds a little violent but it’s only because I’m passionate, intense, and vehement about getting out of debt! The only debt I have left is credit card debt (all at 0%) and my student loans at 6.8%. A month ago I transferred a large portion of my student loan debt to a 0% balance transfer on a credit card.

So what I’m doing is paying the minimum on the 0% credit card and then transferring every month the amount it would take to pay off the card in 12 months into ING Direct to maximize the interest I can get. I’m also making extra payments to my student loan every month. I plan on being completely debt free by September 2009! I can’t wait!

If you’re interested in getting $25 for opening an ING Direct savings account or Electric Orange checking account, shoot me an email and I’ll send you a referral. Help a brother out!

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As many of you know, I bank at Washington Mutual (WaMu). As many of you also know, WaMu actually failed and the government sold it to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion on Friday. This was the largest bank failure ever in the United States. So what caused the downfall of the nation’s largest bank?

The major reason is the huge amount of subprime (bad) mortgages that WaMu made over a period of time. Subprime mortgages are mortgages made to people with less than stellar credit. These people are most likely not able to afford the mortgages that they were put into. However, the bank could charge a higher interest rate and make more money on them. The problem started when house prices took a dive nationwide. The same people were now underwater with their homes and many walked away because they couldn’t make the payments.

But the bigger problem and the catalyst that caused the failure was the many people who took out all of their money based on fear and false rumors. In the ten day period following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, WaMu customers took out $16.7 billion in deposits. This caused WaMu to not be able to conduct day to day business because of the lack of cash.

I keep repeating this over and over. It is not a time to panic. Fear and worry doesn’t solve any problems. Only action solves problems. No one lost any money when WaMu went down. No one, including everyone with more than $100,000 at the bank, did not lose any money at all. Let me say that again; nobody lost any money, period.

So what does this mean to you?

If you bank at WaMu, you now bank at JPMorgan Chase (technically). In the short term, this means business as usual. You continue to use the same account numbers, branches, checks, debit cards, online banking, ATMs, etc. All JPMorgan Chase ATMs are now available to you fee free. JPMorgan has a nice page explaining everything about your banking after the buyout.

The merger is going to take some time. I would say that within the next 6-9 months, JPMorgan will begin to consolidate and get rid of the Washington Mutual name. I’m going to continue to bank there. I’m not taking out my money. I’ll continue to use the online bill pay and have my paycheck direct deposited there as I always have.

If you don’t bank at WaMu, it just means one less bank to choose from. It means less competition. It probably means higher prices. Higher interest rates on loans and less attractive rates on savings devices. Less competition is never good. But the lesson here is, don’t panic. Your money is safe and sound. Just remember to keep less than $100,000 in any account at any one bank. Unfortunately, I do not have that particular “problem”. God bless!

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“I cannot afford to waste my time making money.”

Louis Agassiz

People say that time is money. Sure it takes time to make money. But I would say that time is more valuable than money. And you know why? Because you can always earn some extra money, but you can never earn extra time. Once time has passed, it is gone forever. That’s why managing your time is so important. Don’t waste another minute. Use your time effectively.

14 Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards.

Proverbs 12:14 (NLT)

Our words are very powerful. If we are careful with our words and speak wise words, they can bring us benefits. Hard work generally leads to rewards. And it is definitely better than lazy work or no work at all. You can’t expect to succeed without hard work. Behind every successful person is a whole bunch of pain, struggle, and hard work that you might not have seen.

There’s a story about an artist who was sitting on the beach painting a beautiful painting of the ocean. A bystander was watching from start to finish. It took the talented artist maybe twenty minutes to finish the beautiful masterpiece of the ocean. The bystander asked if he could purchase the painting. The artist said, “It’s for sale for $1000.” The bystander balked and said, “but it only took you twenty minutes!” The artist replied, “yes, but it took an entire lifetime to get good enough to finish in twenty minutes.”

Hard work pays off.

Failing banks, government bailouts, corporate bankruptcies, huge buyouts. It must be the end of the world! Jesus is coming soon! We should all take our money and stuff it in our mattresses.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I was being a little bit sarcastic. People everywhere seem to be panicking and thinking the end of the world is near. It is not the end of the world. Let me say that again. It is not the end of the world! Everything’s going to be just fine. Your money is safe.

You don’t need to pull any money out of any bank. The FDIC insurance (or the NCUA) will cover your deposits up to $100,000 or $200,000 for joint accounts. The FDIC covers savings and checking deposits as well as certificates of deposit. They also cover cashier’s checks, interest checks, and more. Check the FDIC website for more information.

Although the FDIC doesn’t cover money market accounts through brokerages, the US Treasury Department earlier this week established a temporary guaranty program for them. Lasting one year, the government will cover any principal in a money market account. You won’t be insured for any interest but you’re guaranteed not to lose any of your money that you put in.

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

Ayn Rand

Much like a hammer can be used to build or to tear down, money is a tool that can help someone in need, or be hoarded all in the name of greed. Money in of itself is not bad or evil. Money is amoral which means that it is without morals. What someone chooses to do with money is what makes it right or wrong. Money is not bad; just the love of money. Use money as a tool to build and not tear down.

“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.”

Benjamin Franklin

There seems to be a recurring theme in the Did They Say That section. Money does not produce happiness. And prosperity is much more than mere money. Benjamin Franklin knew that money by itself cannot produce happiness. That’s why there are so many rich people who are not happy, but are actually miserable.

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Ephesians 6:5-9 (NLT)

Although the 13th Amendment ended slavery throughout the United States in 1865 (although slavery still exists in the world and even in the U.S. in the form of sexual slavery and other forms) this passage of Scripture still has relevance today in the workplace. We need to respect our bosses and supervisors by working with enthusiasm even when they are not there.

Bosses also need to treat employees with respect and dignity. We ultimately have the same judge and that is God.

From the Life Application Bible:

Paul’s instructions encourage responsibility and integrity on the job. Christian employees should do their jobs as if Jesus Christ were their supervisor. And Christian employers should treat their employees fairly and with respect. Can you be trusted to do your best, even when your boss is not around? Do you work hard and with enthusiasm? Do you treat your employees as people, not machines? Remember that no matter whom you work for, and no matter who works for you, the one you ultimately should want to please is your Father in heaven.

Looks like WaMu has extended their online 5.00% CD for both 12 and 13 month terms. They had briefly lowered rates to 4.50% but now they are back up to 5.00%. This is a great rate and the highest I know of for any FDIC insured CD.

You can only open it online with a minimum of $1,000. Make sure to have less than the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get your free credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) once every year (12 months).

It’s important to check your credit report to make sure there are no mistakes, errors or signs of identity theft. According to Consumer Reports, consumers find 13 million errors on their credit reports every year. And CNN Money says that 1 in 4 credit reports have errors serious enough to affect your FICO score drastically. This can affect the interest rate on loans and even your job prospects. Remember that your FICO scores (you have three of them; one from each credit bureau) is based on your credit reports.

Not only that, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country with over 9 million victims a year (Better Business Bureau). It’s so important to check your credit reports! And because they’re free, you have no reason not to. I stagger the three reports every four months. So I pull one in January, April, and September each and every year.

So here’s the quick step-by-step instructions:

1. Go to annualcreditreport.com. It’s the only place to get free credit reports from all three credit bureaus. Freecreditreport.com is not government-sanctioned or free and you’ll be signing up for a recurring bill if you try them so avoid them like the plague! Select your state and click “Request Report”.

2. Enter your personal information including name, date of birth, SS#, address.

3. Select the credit bureau reports that you want. Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Click Next.

4. Click Next again. You will be taken to the credit bureau’s website. View your free credit report. Do not pay for anything. The credit report itself is free. Anything else is an added service and not needed. Don’t pay for any “credit scores” as these are not actual FICO scores that the majority of banks use. You can only get true FICO scores at myFICO.com and these are not free. I would either print it out or save as a PDF file for your records.

And that’s it! Four easy steps! Now you don’t have an excuse not to pull your credit report 3 times a year. And all for free!

“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.”

Thomas Wolfe

What are your motives in life? Money, success, celebrity? As Christians, we have a higher calling, a higher purpose, a greater motive in life! We need to have an eternal perspective and not a “life-on-earth” perspective which is short-sighted. We know that our home is in heaven. We can be truly successful when we have an eternal perspective on life.