Financial Solution News

This is a reprint of an article I wrote for MinTheGap…
This world is backwards. Everyone loves to talk about using OPM (other people’s money) to purchase things or to gain wealth. I just don’t get it. Mathematically I understand the advantages of leveraging debt, but math cannot be used to understand every situation. As emotional creatures we were not designed to function as walking calculators making every decision based solely on the numbers.
While math plays a role in our financial lives, there are far more powerful truths, like discipline for example. The thing is that most of us know mathematically what we should do with our finances, yet because of a lack of discipline we don’t do it. So, what then needs fixing - the math or the discipline?
Another truth that really clarified to me why I needed to get out of debt is because the Bible says, “the borrower […]

Original post by bob

This is the graduation post of Motivation Monday as I believe I’ve found the ultimate motivation - passion.  As some of you know, I’m going to be blogging full time starting in November of this year.  Even though it is quite a few months away, I’m very excited at my new venture and cannot wait to get started.  Even though my boss asked me to stay at work until the end of October, I have so many ideas of what I want to do with my blogs already and will try to implement them even if I lose sleep doing so!
In previous posts, I’ve spoke about passion as it relates to motivation.  I told you that if you love what you do:

You won’t complain about the workload
You won’t feel Monday Blues
You won’t try to find excuses to slack off

Instead, you will:

Just do what it takes to accomplish the task
Think about […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Ok, if you have made it this far in the series, you are doing great. But this one is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we see how bad you want to be out of debt.
The sacrifice is only temporary!
The most important thing to remember as you are reading this is that it is ONLY TEMPORARY. By making a sacrifice you are not condemning yourself to that for the rest of your life. You just need to make up for all the overspending that has taken place in the past
If you have done some of the things mentioned in the last few articles, you are on a better financial footing than you were. But, if you expenses are still greater than your income, then we are going to have to take a few more steps.
Sacrifice your stuff and sell it!
Like we mentioned before, your balance sheet is […]

Original post by bob

Most people seem to go through the motions when they are at work.  They do what they are told to do, and they don’t do what they are told not to.  In this environment, one thing results: unmotivated people.
We were hired to think.  In fact, no matter how many times our supervisors disagree with us, it is our responsibility to think for the company.  There are lots of times when I disagree with my supervisors, and sometimes we even end up having heated arguments.  I still offer my suggestions whenever I don’t agree though, because my perspective is the very thing that my company value most.
If all you are doing is carrying out instructions, then it is very difficult to be motivated.  I remember there was a time when my co-worker was working on a project that he completely disagreed.  He didn’t agree with the plan, the results nor the […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Plug the holes

If you were in a boat in the middle of the ocean and you noticed that water was coming in through a hole, would you spend your time scooping the water out over the side of the boat, or would you plug the hole?
Getting out of debt works with the same principle. Our spending is like the water coming into the boat, and the way to fix it is to QUIT SPENDING!
Yes, it is obvious, but it needs to be repeated because for some reason our brains can realize that it is true, but not do anything about it. So our goal in this lesson is to plug the hole, stop the bleeding, whatever you want to call it: quit spending.
Spend less money than you make
Getting out of debt, creating wealth, living financially free, retiring with cash in hand can all be achieved by following one simple rule:
Spend […]

Original post by bob

Our greatest battles as Christians are in our minds.

I have noticed in my life that whenever I face a challenging situation (aka opportunity for growth) I almost always have to go through the same three steps…

I have to open my mind to a new way of thinking or doing something
I have to make a decision to do it
Then I can take action

I have found that when I am challenged by something, I either open my mind to the possibility of it or I don’t. If I do open my mind to it, then I have to count the cost to decide if I want to do it. If so, the last and often easiest step is to just do it.
For example: Before I started walking with God and even a couple years after, if I thought about sharing the Gospel with someone, I would not have opened my mind to […]

Original post by bob

Sometimes when someone gives you a piece of advice, it just resonates and almost creates an imprint in your mind. I know I have gotten some advice that even though I didn’t want to hear or believe, I just couldn’t shake it because deep down I knew it was true.
The recent issue of Money has a great article with over 30 well known people contributing their best pieces of advice they’ve received. I really agree with a whole bunch that were listed. And these are my favorites….
The best advice
1. Live within your means.
The simple basic rule of personal finance: spend less than you earn. As Dave Ramsey says, “it isn’t rocket science.” It is such a simple thing, but yet so few people successfully pull it off. If you have successfully done this, you know the freedom that it brings. If you haven’t you are probably aware (or you will […]

Original post by bob

Last week’s post on Motivation was an important one that it deserves a revisit.  Motivation is never a question when we have passion.  When we are doing something we love, we will do everything we can to make it right.  We don’t complain, we don’t find excuses and we don’t worry about the work we’ve put in it.
When we are passionate about it, motivation will come naturally!
Last week, I asked you to go find your passion.  Have you tried yet? Reader Chris Eaker definitely tried, but he asked an important question:

Do you have any insight about how to find your passion? My problem is that I haven’t had enough varied experiences in my life to know what I’m passionate about.

In response, Sam wrote:

In order to figure out what your passions are, take note of the times when you felt the happiest, on target, and most connected with others and […]

Original post by MoneyNing

Why get out of debt?
God didn’t create us so that we could seek our own satisfaction.
I believe that God put each person down here for a reason and that reason is to bless others. In doing so, we will be blessed.
I have found in my own life that my most joyful moments often revolved around me helping or doing something to benefit another person. This was the reason for starting Free Stuff Friday. Meanwhile, my most painful, sorrowful, and sad moments were taking place when I was thinking about myself. Often times one of the quickest remedies to a struggle that we are having is to get our minds off ourselves and go do something for someone else.
So what does this have to do with getting out of debt? A whole lot actually. Your motivation for wanting to get out of debt should go beyond yourself. Sure, it will be […]

Original post by bob

Often, we lack motivation and resort to looking for excuses why something is unnecessary, why the task should be done by someone else and why we can wait till tomorrow to do it.  In the meantime, we search for tips and tricks all over the place to help boost our motivation.  Most of the suggestions seem useless and even if one of them worked, it would be short lived.
If this is happening, you are lacking passion.  At work, we talked about this subject thoroughly.  My boss no doubt wanted us to have it for the business our company was in.  He told us
If you are passionate, then you wouldn’t think about the time you spend doing it. It wouldn’t matter if you were working on it in the day time, night time or even on the weekend. All you think about is how to accomplish the task and […]

Original post by MoneyNing