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Today I would like to talk about the familiar concept of, you know,
"saving for a rainy day." I hope to cover many different aspects of financial management over
the coming months and years that will truly make a difference in your life and that of your family.
Savings, I believe is the bedrock of any good financial planning. "Saving? What savings?" many
people would say. I can't afford to save anything. The truth is you can't afford not to. God
gives you power to work and to gain wealth through your labor and creative ideas. One of the most
important commodities that you have is your time. You literally will lay down thousands of hours
of your physical and mental ability to earn a living for yourself and your family. Uncle Sam takes
more than a fourth of all of your earnings right off of the top of your gross pay before you even
see it. I personally believe that we should give to God the tithe, which is 10% of our gross income
plus an offering. For the offering amount we must look to Holy Spirit to tell us what to give.
After that, we need to pay ourselves. Over a period of time, even people that do not earn significant
amounts of income can save substantial amounts of money. I have talked to a lot of people over the
years. Most, admittedly, were not attempting to save any money at this time. Generally, when I ask
why they were not saving anything at that time, the most common answer given was that they simply
had not done it .
Sometimes they would say that they were not able to for one reason or another.
I would always counter by asking this question: "If your employer told you that you would have to take
an immediate pay cut of $50 per month, what would you do?" The answer was always the same. The person
concluded that they would have to find a way to live on $50 less per month. Well, $50 dollars per month
for a year is $600. This becomes critical because you have to but to live a short time when matters that
require money will come screaming at you. Refrigerators go out, plumbers need to be called, cars need
maintenance, houses need a variety of repairs, etc.
My wife and I save at least 10% of income per pay period. This strategy has helped
us not to be in a panic when unexpected situations that require funds have come up. It would be good to set
up an interest bearing account or use the savings as an overdraft bounce protection on your checking account.
The intent is not to use this money for overdrafts intentionally, but the money would be there just in case
you do miscalculate while attempting to balance your check ledger. Meanwhile, your extra cash begins to grow
steadily and over time you will be surprised as to how substantial this money can become. You must understand
that it will take time and consistency to see that money grow to larger amounts. Another strategy is to collect
your loose change in a container over time. Count that money after you have reach a goal such as filling up the
container up and add it to your kitty of specific savings that you are setting aside monthly. In the next update,
we will cover setting up allowances between husbands and wives and discuss why we feel that it is imperative to
pay children an allowance in conjunction with their chores.
More to come!!!!!
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