RSS Feeds
Equipping people worldwide to learn, apply, and teach God's financial principles so they may know Christ more intimately, be free to serve Him, and help fund the Great Commission.
Today on MoneyLife with Chuck Bentley
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Chuck’s Mailbox
Our second son, Todd, just graduated from UGA and has enlisted in the U.S. Army. He will leave for basic training soon. I hope you will pray for him and the family through this transition. I'm going to answer as many of your email questions as I can today. Question: My husband is not a strong Christian, and I know it's best to submit to his counsel even when I don't agree with it. But we have to keep our money separate because he does not want to be accountable for how he spends money. In your opinion, is it ever OK for a wife to say "I'm sorry you don't agree with me, but this is something I need to do?” Chuck: No, this is not okay. Your highest priority is unity with your spouse. A clear sign of the Lord’s favor on a decision is when both spouses agree and are at peace with it. It's wise to seek the counsel of your spouse in money decisions.
Even if you don’t agree with it, you’ll be more blessed if you submit to it than going off on your own. There are consequences for Question: My husband insists that all monthly expenses should be split and paid. I make less than him. He secures car payments before the mortgage. I've fallen behind one month. My next paycheck could cover the other half but I firmly believe in tithing and offering. I’ve been married for 15 years, and I don't know what to do. Chuck: The car and the house payment really aren’t the issue.
Your marriage is the issue. You need a common philosophy about money. It can be easy to overlook while dating, but attitudes about money are huge after marrying. I recommend you go out to dinner with your husband and have a money date.
Sincerely tell your husband how much you love and respect him.
Express your desire to have a common view with him about money.
Ask him his philosophy.
Suggest finding out what God’s philosophy is.
Ask if you can pray together, ask God to bring you into unity.
Most important issue is saving your marriage.
When you can come together under the Lord, God will do remarkable things in all the areas of conflict you have. Question: My husband is 59 & I am 51, we have two daughters. My goal for 2009 is to get on a budget & pay off the house. With that in mind, how much cash is a fair amount to keep at home (in a safe place)? We have life insurance thru work. Should we purchase additional life insurance? What recommendations do you have for investment advice? Chuck: If you’ll follow the Crown Money Map, you need to have 3-6 month’s of living expenses in an emergency fund. Keep it liquid in a bank money market account. Consider having one month’s living expenses in cash at home that you can access if the bank were to fail. When you have set money aside like this, it creates financial margin and takes the pressure off. Term life insurance is a good idea. When you’ve gotten that and paid off your consumer debt, you’d be in a position to become an investor. Get wise counsel from investing experts with kingdom goals in mind, such as our friends at Stewardship Partners, Kingdom Advisors and Sound Mind Investing. There are also a lot of helpful tools on our Web site that are free. It's a single place you can go to get your financial house in order with tools to apply God’s Word and be successful. Question: I've heard you mention the importance of having margin in your budget. What would you consider to be a good margin range for a single person with a net spendable income of about $35,500? Does the margin include savings or is it the amount after savings and all other expenses? Chuck: That's a very good question. I recommend you build a budget on your net spendable income, which is the money left after paying your tithe and taxes. At least 5% of net spendable income should be set aside for savings; 5% should be for investing. It's even better if you can increase both to 10%. I know it will take sacrifice for most people, but if your goal is to be financially free, it will help you get there. Question #5 - I am a married woman, 42 years old, and I have three daughters. When I was a young child my parents were able to create an offshore trust fund for me. Since last December I have lost 1 million dollars in value. I am a stay at home mom and I home school my daughters. My husband is earning around $56,000 plus benefits, including very good health insurance coverage. However, if I lose the money in the trust we cannot afford to pay our mortgage. My husband and I would like to cash out of the market and cut our losses. We would like to pay off our mortgage , reduce our monthly expenses, ladder the money in Treasury bills, and sit tight through this storm. The broker and my accountant are advising me to stay in the market at 60% in stocks. When told him I wanted some cash reserve he suggested we sell the bonds to put $75,000.00 aside. I could not sleep last night. This morning in my bible I read: "A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it." Proverbs 22:3 and "Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise." Proverbs 19:20. I see danger and I want to take refuge. Chuck: You have gone beyond the basics of budgeting, and getting out of debt. You wants to wisely manage your surplus. Contact your broker and find out specifically how your trust fund is invested. Take that information to someone you trust and find out if you’re properly diversified and balanced in your portfolio. Make whatever adjustments are needed. Leave some of the money in the market and work on improving your financial position. If you took half out and paid off your mortgage, you’d still have $75,000 in cash and could leave it invested, so you can accomplish your goals and have money invested. It's important to bring your husband into this decision. Don’t take any action until you’re in total agreement. Accept the consequences of whatever you decide to do. No one can predict the future. Keep walking in unity with your husband, don’t look back and regret. Question: I would be interested in tutoring on an elementary grade level, privately from our home or a public location. I also would be interested in teaching at local businesses as a benefit to their employees, teaching ESL, personal financial principles or other areas that they might be interested in. Chuck: You have very marketable skills. Do a Google search for tutoring franchises. You may want to buy into an existing franchise, or if you find one in your area that you’d be comfortable working with, you may want to work for it as a private contractor. If you it alone, post information in your community about what you do, and what you charge. There's demand for what you’re doing and it's a great part-time business. Question: What kind of businesses can I have from home? Chuck: Here's a list of companies that can use workers who are at home:
There are lots of opportunities to work from home; most of the jobs are doing things online or via the phone. My son John just joined us in the studio. John is 11 and he has three brothers. His oldest brother has a son, so John is an uncle. John’s little brother is Luke, who is 8. John says his dad works for Crown but he doesn’t know what He does. When pressed, he says Chuck likes to teach people how to use money wisely. John says his dad gets his information from the Bible and says the Bible has wisdom about handling money. He learned from his dad to save money, give some to the church, and spend the rest. That's good advice for everyone. |
|||
Steps to Making a BudgetIn making a budget, there are several steps, each requiring individual effort. |
Job LossDealing with lay off is not pleasant, but look at the lay off as an opportunity that can be conquered. |
||
Such a Time as ThisGod has called each of us to a purpose greater than ourselves. Know that it will require death before life can be given to this purpose. |
Every Spending Decision is an Investing DecisionAt its most basic, investing is making management decisions to give up the use of something now in order to have more of something later. |
||
Other Resources: |
|||
I spent Memorial Day remembering those who had given their lives in service to America, relaxing with my family, and working in our garden.
