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3 Ways To Keep God In The Center Of Your Financial Chaos

With the beginning of a new year, the internet is a-buzz with resolutions about saving money and getting out of debt. We have a few of our own goals, and since our savings challenge went well last year, we are doing it again this year with a few changes.

As Christians, we share a lot on this site about finance from a Biblical perspective. We believe the Bible has answers for many of the financial situations people find themselves in, and that God’s desire is for us to have a healthy relationship with money as a resource, while not allowing the love of it to take root in our hearts (1 Timothy 6:10).

When we are weighed down by financial stress, or are singular-minded in our desire to overcome debt’s hold, it can become easy to focus on our own abilities or helplessness and forget that we have a heavenly Father who sees our situation, is in control of it, and actively involved in working it out for His glory!

I have to be reminded that my finances are not separate from anything else in my life, and certainly not separate from my spiritual life. The same Biblical truths that govern everything else, should apply to how I view my financial situation.

1. Remember That God Cares About Your Situation

Whether I’ve made made poor financial mistakes and gotten myself into a mess, or am doing well and trying to decide what to do with the surplus funds I am taking in – God cares! In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds the people that our Heavenly Father knows what we need and that he will take care of us (Matthew 6:28-33). While we should (prayerfully) plan and be diligent, those things should not lead to unhealthy anxiety and worry. Whatever is out of our control can never be out of His!

We are not alone in our sea of financial concerns just as we are not alone in our relationships, in our problems, in our struggles with sin. As you consider your next step on your financial journey, remember Who is walking with you, and already has the future all mapped out.

2. Remember That God Has Given You the Ability to Be Content in Any Situation

Many Christians struggle with contentment: the inward state of satisfaction (regardless of the outer circumstances), yet that is what God wants from His children. Contentment does not equate to complacency or surrender, nor does it mean that you have to put on a pretense of joy in times of hardship.

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul says, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

In many places, including the passage above, the Bible exhorts us to look to Christ as the source of our strength and our joy. Your happiness shouldn’t be determined by whether you can afford a certain luxury, or pay off your student loan. Those things are nice, but the contentment in your heart should not be affected by them, not if the true source of your happiness is the Lord.

3. Remember That God Will Use Your Life For His Glory

One of my favorite passages, and one I’ve heard many times in my life is Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It used to make me feel great because it meant that eventually things were going to be okay.

But there is more than just the first half of the sentence, the last part is equally important “called according to His purpose”. Being a Christian means that my life is not my own, I follow and serve Christ. There are other passages that talk about the need for our focus to be on God and glorifying Him, like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, or the end of the passage from the sermon on the Mount that I mentioned earlier – Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you“.

Even though things may not happen in the time frame you’d like, or the way that you’d like them to turn out, remember that God’s plan for you is bigger than what you have for yourself. The things that we go through serve reasons that go beyond our temporal success or satisfaction. While we are alive, we are also being made holy, and sometimes that happens through trials (James 1:2-3). That is only one of many possible reasons, we may never know the answer to until we meet the Lord.

As you go through your financial journey this year, whether with hope, gusto, or trepidation, please remember that God is your source. He is your strength, and your great reward.

Every Sunday I am blessed to look at this scripture on a banner in front of me during our service, and it is one I think of daily. I pray it will bless you also as you focus on God:

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight”.

The One-Page Financial Plan Book Review

By // by Sherrian Crumbley

I enjoy learning and discussing personal finance. The day-to-day things like budgeting, credit decisions, debt repayment. Where I start to get a bit intimidated is matters of investing. So, I admit, when I learned that The One-Page Financial Plan was written by financial planner, Carl Richards, I was a bit apprehensive about reading it.

Once people start talking stocks, bonds, derivatives (blah blah blah), I totally shut down, and I had no clue how to avoid the ‘shut down’ when I have to review the book!

I think I spent a few days just poking it with a stick. Once I finally got over my fear of touching it, upon a quick glance, the first thing that stood out to me was that One-Page Financial Plan was around 200 pages long. That alone made me feel a little less intimidated.

Also, as I flipped through the pages, I noticed there were a lot of very simple sketches and some on napkins (Yes – even less reading) and I felt even a little more comfortable taking it on.

What was really helpful was actually reading the books tagline: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money. As I read through the pages, the one thing I felt very confident about, is that the author delivered on the tagline.

The author says:

My goal in writing this book is to pull the curtain back a bit: to show you how real financial planning works, to give you an experience of what it’s like to work with a real financial advisor. Whether you’re working with an advisor or on your own, this book will help you understand the basic steps for creating a personalized plan that takes into your account your unique values and goals.

One-Page Financial Plan Review

Boy was I pleasantly surprised and never more happy to be wrong! It is evident from my fear that I had no idea how real financial planning works … I mean, they don’t just start talking about stock options? Firstly, I really like the author’s writing style. It is very simple, making the subject matter approachable.

Secondly, he does a great job of walking the reader through the steps of making an individualized financial plan without making it seem like a rudimentary to-do list. Each step is wrapped in relevant stories and makes sure to delve into the reasoning behind making choices.

In One-Page Financial Plan, the author talks about his own financial missteps, and I really appreciated the humility and openness. And I have to tell you, he does eventually get to the bad ‘i’ word – investments, and it wasn’t painful! I didn’t scratch my eyes out and I didn’t just close the book and figure I’d ignore writing about it in this review.

Just like the rest of the book, what he does share is done in such a way that anyone can understand. It wasn’t bogged down with jargon and really helped me to feel more confident with investments going forward. Also, he doesn’t tell you what to do, but he does give the reader really good guidelines to do what’s best for their unique situation.

One-Page Financial Plan – Takeaways

A couple of things I learned:

1. It is important to know why money is important to me. (And not in a generic way, but to really get to the root of it)

2. I want to make sure my values and my goals align. It’s clear to me know how those bump up against each other in my life.

3. As with everything else … as we’ve always known … discipline is key.

If You Need Some Guidance

A lot of times, in areas like finances, the problem is that we know we need to get to point B but we just need some guidance to get there. For anyone, in any financial state, One-Page Financial Plan will help you to do that. After reading it, I felt like some of the jumbles in my mind got sorted out. I guess that’s what a financial advisor is supposed to be able to do for a client. Mission accomplished.

Carl Richards is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and the director of investor education for the BAM ALLIANCE, a community of over 130 independent wealth management firms throughout the United States. He is the creator of the weekly Sketch Guy column in the The NY Times, and a columnist for Morningstar Advisor. Carl has also been featured on Marketplace Money, The Leonard Lopate Show, Oprah.com and Forbes.com.

Have You Committed Financial Infidelity?

By // by Sherrian Crumbley

By now, we have all heard that financial issues are the most common reason for divorce, many times with underlying financial infidelity as a cause. With a society that is built on credit and sustaining debt, it isn’t surprising that the stress of this “normalcy” would affect our relationships.

I was reading a newsletter the other day and found interesting survey results by Nefe.org:

Financial infidelity can be just as significant among couples as emotional/sexual infidelity. This survey finds that one in three people who combine finances with their partner admit to committing a financial deception. The study also finds that 76 percent of these secretive behaviors are having an effect on the relationship.

I have often thought about this issue in my own life, not realizing this is a serious issue in the life of many people! So much so that Wikipedia even has a definition for financial infidelity:

Financial infidelity is the secretive act of spending money, possessing credit and credit cards, holding secret accounts or stashes of money, borrowing money, or otherwise incurring debt unknown to one’s spouse, partner, or significant other. Adding to the monetary strain commonly associated with financial infidelity in a relationship is a subsequent loss of intimacy and trust in the relationship. Financial infidelity appears to be on the rise, with a 2005 study showing that 30% of respondents had lied about financial information and 25% had withheld information,whereas a 2008 study showed that half the respondents had committed some form of financial infidelity.

Financial Infidelity – My Story

I wish I could say I haven’t been guilty of this, but I have been. There are a couple issues I’ve had to face in figuring out how to work with my husband and our finances. One got sorted out before we got married. The other came in time, quite a bit of time 😳 .

Financial independence has been something my mother instilled in me since a young child. She would always quote my grandmother (Imagine an older Jamaican woman of Indian descent) saying something like, “Whenever you go out with a guy, make sure you have enough money to take a taxi home.” For my mom, and later myself, the lesson was to never allow yourself to be totally dependent on anyone for anything – EVER.

I grew up being used to my mom having stashes of money kept away for emergencies. When I became an adult, she and I even opened up a savings account for her to stock pile emergency funds. My father always knew she always had some money ferreted away, but I honestly don’t know how he felt about it. I thought it was smart because she would never drown, or cause her family to drown, if she didn’t agree with some of my dad’s financial decisions.

While Khaleef and I were dating and he came to know more about my family, he let me know that ferreting away wasn’t acceptable. I remember feeling defiant, still deciding that I will always protect myself regardless of what he thought. After a lot of discussion, consideration, and prayer, I knew that behavior was dishonest and would diminish the trusting relationship we were trying to build.

The second behavior I had to curb was my “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” attitude. Anyone who knows Khaleef knows he is a very laid back guy (that is, unless he is watching a sport event or competing in one). Instead of discussing certain purchases with him and contemplating if we could afford it, I opted to buy things and just inform him afterward. There have been countless times when I have taken him for granted by purchasing items I’ve wanted, because he would never get angry with me.

I often justified my behavior by insisting it was not a big deal because I am not a big spender. I would spend a few dollars here or there, not considering how those little purchases were setting us back from our goal of getting out of debt. This only changed in my life because I came to realize how manipulative and selfish I was being, and through a lot of prayer and spiritual growth was it able to be overcome.

Although we did not deal with this together, a huge part of the change in my heart was confessing to him and asking for his forgiveness.

Steps to Recovering from Financial Infidelity

As you can see from my story and the definition, there are different ways of committing financial infidelity. As you traverse this landscape of getting your finances together, here are 3 things you should do to start mending your relationship if you have been financially unfaithful.

1. Confess – As I stated in my story, the beginning of my behavioral change was confessing and asking for forgiveness. This may be hard for many of us because our minds are great at justifying the behavior. Ask yourself, how important is your relationship? How important is your pride?

Some people keep things from their significant other, having convinced themselves that they are protecting the other person and can handle things alone. This attitude, for instance, does not build trust but tears it down. It diminishes the other person’s role and robs them of the chance of growing as a person, and as a couple, through the difficulties.

Even though it may not be easy, convenient, or comfortable – by confessing, you are able to clear the air and make decisions based on truth, not deception.

2. Commit – After confessing, all is not well because you got it off your chest. The next step is committing to your partner to strive toward a new direction. My pastor always says “it’s not the perfection of your life, it’s the direction of your life” and I think it’s very poignant in this scenario.

You are not promising to be perfect, because we do make mistakes. What you are doing, is guaranteeing that your mind and convictions have changed about your behavior. You will no longer just settled for the way things were before.

3. Cooperate – Many times, financial infidelity occurs because someone is leaving another person out of some financial details, or neither person knows how to have a discourse about the issues. Even though this may also be difficult, it is important that both parties be involved in what’s happening in your financial life. Even if one person handles the finances, it would be a worthy goal to ensure the other person is involved and equally able to identify and articulate the nuances of your finances.

As in other areas of relationships, there is always hope. Trust can be rebuilt, and in time (sometimes A LOT of time) broken situations can be healed. Identifying financial infidelity doesn’t have to be the end, it can be the building of a stronger relationship than ever before!

Have you committed financial infidelity? Are you the recipient of someone else’s financial dishonesty? How have you overcome these behaviors?

Photo by FreeDigitalPhotos.net

3 Easy Ways To Cash In Your Coins

By // by Sherrian Crumbley

An unexpected emergency came up recently and we had to break into a piggy bank (by piggy bank, I mean a plastic cereal container that was overflowing with lots of pennies). The coins were something that were out of sight and out of mind, but thankfully this situation brought them back to my memory.

3 Easy Ways To Cash In Your Coins

When it comes to turning coins to cash, there are a number of options out there that quickly came to mind. I just needed to decide what the best option was for our situation.

Option #1: Using Coinstar To Cash In Your Coins

I was looking at the Coinstar machine the other day while waiting in the returns line of our local Walmart. The first thing I noticed was that there was a fee of over 9% to get cash back for your coins! The price seemed a bit hefty to me, but who puts a price on convenience these days?

There is no fee, though, if I was to apply the sum to a Walmart Gift Card. Since I needed the cash, I decided against this option.

Option #2: Penny Arcade

I had an account at TD Bank (back when it was Commerce) and I remembered the Penny Arcade was free for non-customers. It would count your coins and you could take the receipt to a teller for cash.

I called the closest branch to ask if they had a Penny Arcade and the representative informed me that the policy changed for non-customers in 2011 and there is now a 6% fee to use the machine. This was definitely a better option than Coinstar, but I wondered if I could do better.

Option #3: Local Bank

I called one of the banks we use and they accept coins that are already rolled with no fee for current customers. Since I was low on wrappers, my husband was able to swing by and get an envelope full for each denomination for free.

Even though wrapping the coins was a bit tedious, it wasn’t horrid since I did it while catching up on House Hunters ;-). I was able to get the cash I need with no problems.

Bank policies vary, another bank I called said they no longer accepted coins. Other banks accept coins in a canvas bag (unwrapped), and some charge their customers a fee for counting the coins.

If you have coins you’d like to donate to charity, Coinstar and Penny Arcade machines offer that as an option.

How To Stop Infrequent Payments From Destroying Your Budget

By // by Khaleef Crumbley

The topic of infrequent payments has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks now. My wife and I had a couple of infrequent payments, within our finances over the last month, and I even saw a video today from someone who’s debt snowball plan was sidetracked because of a couple of infrequent payments which she failed to account for in doing her budgeting.

Infrequent payments, as the name implies, are any payments which are not due biweekly or monthly and so we tend to forget about them. These can be insurance premiums that are annual or semiannual, this can be quarterly tax payments, subscriptions to roadside assistance or magazines or other services, or even software license renewals.

So here are a few ways that I found works best for me to remember these infrequent payments, depending on what system I am using for my finances.

Set Up The Payment In Your Electronic Checkbook Register

I use Quicken Home & Business in order to manage our finances and in the software, I am able to go out into the future and set up a payment in the checkbook register. It is not as hard as it sounds – all you do is go to the first available space and type in the date, even if it’s a year in the future.

So what this does is every time you look at your finances, you are able to see this payment at the bottom of the current transactions, and you are even given what the available balance would be if that payment was to come out without any other transactions happening.

This is extremely helpful as you get closer to the payment date.

For a while I was actually using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that I set up to look like a checkbook. It will be no different in this case except you would have to cut and paste the transaction each time you wanted to insert more recent transactions. But the basic idea stays the same; you always have that transaction in your records so that as the date approaches, it becomes more relevant and it’s staring you in the face so you won’t forget.

Set Up A Recurring Expense In Your Software

Again, if you’re using financial software, you can set this up as a recurring payment the same thing should happen as in the case above when you manually enter it each time, except that you only have to enter it once.

It should still show up as you get closer to the date of that transaction and you should be able to modify your budget based on the reminder that set up the software. The great thing about setting it up this way is that if there are any changes to this payment (such as your auto insurance premiums increasing, decreasing) you can make the change one time and it will affect all future payments.

Set Up A Recurring Appointment In Your Calendar

When I noticed that my wife and I were forgetting that we had a payment due every May for our auto club expenses, I decided to set up a recurring appointment on our calendar.

So this way every time we look at our calendar – when we look at May 23rd, for example – it always shows up that there is a payment due to the company that provides our roadside assistance.

With so many people using smart phones and also having Microsoft Outlook and other e-mail, scheduling, and calendar programs available to them, this can be done in a matter of seconds and you can have multiple people alerted to each payment due.

It was great the other day when my wife sent a message to me to say don’t forget that this payment has to be made as I was getting the same reminder on my phone and computer. So this way whether one of us switches phones, change email accounts or something happens to one of our computers, we still have the reminder in multiple places.

It will show up on both of my computers, my phone, my wife’s phone, and it will show up on her computer as well. There is a very, very small chance of all of those things failing at one time.

Set Up The Reminder Manually

If you don’t like any of these methods, you can always leave yourself a note. If you have a date book then you can go to the month before the infrequent payment is due and write a reminder for yourself telling you that the next month will include one of these expenses that seem to throw off most monthly budgets.

That way, not only are you reminded the day that the payment is actually due when you finally turn to that date in your calendar, but you’re also reminded in advance so that you have time to adjust your budget for the next month.

No matter which way you choose to manage your finances, make sure that you have reminders letting you know that the annual payment for your credit card, you quarterly insurance premiums, your gym membership, (this is actually an expense that should be put on the credit card because it makes it easier to cancel), or any other infrequent charge is due so that it does not throw off your budget.

photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

Reader Questions

What methods do you use to manage your finances?
How do you keep track of these infrequent payments?
Was there ever a time where you forgot to account for them and had to adjust your budget on the fly?