Christian Finance Blog
Spiritually Prosperous, Financially Rich!

17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT)

From the Life Application Bible:

Ephesus was a wealthy city, and the Ephesian church probably had many wealthy members. Paul advised Timothy to deal with any potential problems by teaching that having riches carries great responsibility. Those who have money must be generous, but they must not be arrogant just because they have a lot to give. They must be careful not to put their hope in money instead of in the living God for their security. Even if we don’t have material wealth, we can be rich in good deeds. No matter how poor we are, we have something to share with someone.

Do you know what freedom feels like? It’s an amazing feeling! There’s nothing holding you back. Nothing following behind you. Complete freedom. Liberty. Independence. Dependence on God alone and not on credit cards, auto loans or payday loans.

I just sent my final two credit card payments today and I am now completely debt free! There are no words to describe this feeling. Now my income can go to investing, saving, and giving without just funneling it to the banks. Be debt free! Live debt free! There’s nothing like it.

“If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.”

Sir Francis Bacon

This is so true and the Bible talks about it, too! Don’t let money have you. You must be the master of your money; not a servant to it. That only happens when you become a giver. Giving with no strings attached frees you up and allows you to be self-less and not selfish.

The Cash for Clunkers program is now dead. There is no more money left for the program. Dealers will have until tonight to file any claims for deals made and many dealers have already stopped doing Clunker deals since last Thursday and Friday.

The controversial program offered rebates of up to $4,500 to those people who were trading in cars that had 18 MPG or less to purchase brand new cars. The original money for the program ran out quickly and additional funds were approved by Congress to extend the program.

4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.

Psalm 37:4-5 (NLT)

From the Life Application Bible:

David calls us to delight in the Lord and to commit everything we have and do to him. But how do we do this? To delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in his or her presence. This happens only when we know that person well. Thus, to delight in the Lord, we must know him better. Knowledge of God’s great love for us will indeed give us delight.

To commit ourselves to the Lord means entrusting everything – our lives, families, jobs, possessions – to his control and guidance. To commit ourselves to the Lord means to trust in him (37:5), believing that he can care for us better than we can ourselves. We should be willing to wait patiently (37:7) for him to work out what is best for us.

9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

We can make all the plans we want to, but God is the one who gives us step-by-step directions. Follow God’s plan. Don’t take things into your own hands. That’s when things begin to go wrong. God knows best. God knows the end from the beginning. If you’re completely lost, just ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, to guide you, and teach you in the things of God. God always answers prayer and he’s always speaking. But are we listening? Get the play-by-play from God today.

You’ve heard of the “Cash for Clunkers” government program that recently ran out of the original $1 billion. The Senate just approved an additional $2 billion for the program last night to extend the popular program and President Obama is expected to sign it into law as early as today. But just because it’s popular doesn’t mean you should take advantage of it.

Here are the details of the program. You can trade-in a gas-guzzling “clunker” that is less than 25 years old and gets 18 MPG (miles per gallon) or less. Check fueleconomy.gov for official MPG numbers. You must buy a new car in conjunction with the trade-in. The car must have be registered and insured for a full year before the trade-in. The program runs through November 1, 2009 or until these additional funds run out. Check out the cars.gov for full details.

If you were looking to buy a new car already (before you even knew about the $4,500 rebate), you can get a pretty good deal for a trade-in if your car qualifies. I would check out Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds to figure out a rough private party value for your car. If it’s worth way less than the $4,500 rebate and you have the money to pay for another car, I would take advantage of it. If you don’t have the money or have to take out a loan, why get into debt, especially if your clunker works just fine? It just seems like a waste to me, especially when the working clunkers have to be scrapped.

Another piece of legislation that you might not have heard about is the extension of the $250,000 FDIC insurance through 2013 that was passed back in May. The limits are expected to go back to the original $100,000 per depositor on January 1, 2014. In the meantime, you’re protected up to $250,000 on bank accounts, CDs, IRAs, and other accounts. You don’t have to worry about losing your money if a bank fails.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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So I saw an unrecognized number ringing on my cell phone. Normally, I don’t answer unknown numbers, but I didn’t have anything to do at the moment so I answered it. Well, what do you know? It was my credit card company calling to do a customer satisfaction survey. It was about the phone call I made a couple weeks ago when they decided to mess me up.

I wanted to have some fun with it so I said, “sure.” The nice lady on the phone started with, “on a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the outcome of your previous call?” I thought for a second. Well, they did reverse all the finance charges and the late charge. But then again, they really should have never been that crazy to begin with. I was only a couple days late and I had never been late before in my life.

“Eight,” I replied. She asked a couple more similar questions. “Eight…seven…nine…” I felt that I was treated all right given the circumstances. The next question started the fun. “On the same scale, how likely is it that you would recommend this credit card to family or friends?” I said, “zero,” without hesitation. The CSR sounded flustered. I couldn’t help but smile. That definitely wasn’t the answer she was expecting.

Nervously, she asked, “could I ask what the reason is for your previous answer?” Again, without hesitation, I said, “Dave Ramsey.” She said, “excuse me?” Again I said, “Dave Ramsey.” Short, sweet, and to the point. Silence. I decided to help her out. “He’s an author.” She said, “oh.” I told her, “I’m getting out of debt. In fact the payment is already on the way to pay off this card.” She quickly ended it, “well, thank you for your time and good bye.”

Good bye is right! Good bye to credit card debt! Later this month I’ll be free!

“After you marry, every asset either of you acquires is jointly held. That’s why you both need to be in sync on your long-term financial goals, from paying off the mortgage to putting away for retirement. Ideally, you should talk about all this before you wed. If you don’t, you can end up deeply frustrated and financially spent.”

Suze Orman

Ms. Orman knows a thing or two about marriage and finances. She’s been advising people about money for a long time. She knows that money and relationships go together.

You could say that marriage is the number one cause of divorce. But in all seriousness, money and money problems are the number one reason for divorce in the U.S. Open communication and shared goals about money is a key to a strong marriage. Don’t lose your marriage! Get on the same page financially, relationally, spiritually, ideally before marriage. But it’s not too late. God can restore anything!

6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

John 21:6 (NLT)

We serve a faithful God! We serve a God who cares about the little things. He cares about the details of our lives. And He cares enough to take care of us. He wants to bless us. He wants to see us in the overflow. So just cast out your net! He’ll fill the net. He’ll do the work. All you have to do is obey. And the fish will be there. Your needs will be met. Trust in Him. He’ll never let you down.

6 The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you.

Deuteronomy 15:6 (NLT)

God says that He wants to bless you! He wants to bless you so much that you’ll be able to lend money but never need to borrow. Now that takes a whole lot of blessing!

I know what you’re thinking. What are snakes doing on a Christian Finance blog? Well, there’s a saying that says that if you play with snakes, you’ll get bit. Dave Ramsey even uses it to describe credit cards.

Well, I’ve got a great “bit by snakes” story for you. As many of you know, I’m on schedule to be completely debt free by next month. I’m still on schedule, but I hit a setback a couple days ago.

As many of you also know, I’ve been doing “credit card arbitrage” where I use 0% balance transfers and earn interest on the cash while using the cash to make payments. I don’t do this anymore, but I used a 0% balance transfer to pay off a student loan about a year ago and I made payments to a savings account to have the amount in a year so by the time the 0% was due, I would have the cash to pay it off.

Before last week, I never had a late payment in my life. But I played with snakes and got bit! When I set my online bill payment for the credit card, I looked at the next statement date instead of the payment due date and so the payment was late. When I realized what I’d done, it was too late.

I checked my credit card account online today and almost passed out! My account “went into default” with one late payment and my interest rate shot up to 25.99% even though it was still under the one year 0% special. They also charged me a $39.00 late fee and a finance charge of $89.25!

This really wasn’t a surprise to me since credit card companies can do practically anything they want because their agreements (that you signed when you got the credit card) allow them to. So I decided to give them a call. Sometimes you can get a lot accomplished with one phone call.

To make a long story short, I got the CSR (customer service rep) to waive the finance charges and late fee and also reduce the interest rate from 25.99%! I actually was amazed at how easy it was. All I had to do was ask a few questions about the charges and then simply ask if they could be waived. It took maybe five minutes!

I’m glad I got those fees waived, but I’m still going to pay off the credit card tomorrow. This was too close for comfort and I don’t feel comfortable carrying a balance when I have the cash to pay it off. I will never use credit cards again. Lesson learned. I hope you will learn from my experience. God bless!

Just opened an Advantage Savings account at Bank of Internet today that’s currently paying an astounding 2.50% (yes, it may not sound high, but it’s one of the highest rates I’ve seen lately). I’ll have a proper review sooner rather than later.

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

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz

Sometimes we forget that time is money and that we shouldn’t use up all of our time trying to make money. There are more important things in life than just making money. What good is money if you don’t have the time to use it?