In just a few days the American government will require you to be thankful (at least they will give you one more reason to be thankful – a day off).

What Is Necessary To Be A Truly Thankful Person?

Thankful people focus on what they have, not what they do not have.

At times I reflect on the situation in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve had everything they needed except for access to one small tree.  It seems as though resisting that tree would be easy – there must have been thousands of other eligible trees.  But, Adam and Eve begin to think about The One Tree (with the help of that slick snake). In that moment, their focus turns from what they have to what they do not have. Ultimately, they think God is withholding something good from them.  They are not thankful for what they have.

Financially, many people have a lot.  But they don’t think about the many things they have.  They think about what other’s have.  They spend most of their lives discontent because they do not have as much as their neighbor.  What a miserable existence.

Thankful people admit they have more than they deserve.

I still don’t know why so many Dave Ramsey callers ask – how are you?  The answer is predictable – “better than I deserve”.  Part of what is appealing about Ramsey is that he is massively successful but does openly say that he does not deserve everything he has.

Some call it luck.  Others call it blessings.  The truth is we all have more than we deserve.

For Christians there is this realization that what we have is a gift of grace.  Everything is a graceful gift from God.  A thankful person allows for a close relationship between grace and economics.  As such, thankful people comfortably admit that God is the source of financial increase.

Thankful people know thankfulness is something we develop.

I have green eyes.  That is part of how I was made.

I learned to to type.  This skill is developed.

Unfortunately, many of us think that we are made thankful.  I disagree.  I believe that we learn to become thankful.  One must first learn to be thankful, and then regardless of what they have they can be thankful.

Therefore, thankfulness is much like the wealth building process.  You will not be rich when you have enough money, but you will be rich when you realize everything you already have.  If you decide to be thankful when you get “x” then probably once you get that item you actually will just want something more.

Thankful people gauge blessings by things other than money.

Money is one way we are blessed as individuals.

There are, however, many, many other ways we are blessed as individuals.

This Thanksgiving your table might have some of the world’s finest garnishments.  The table may be covered with the finest festive spread.  But, if that is the extent of your thankfulness you are missing out on the greatest blessings available.

Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred. (Proverbs 15:17 NIV)

If you are surrounded this Thanksgiving by friends and/or family, you are one of the most blessed people in the world.  If you know Jesus and have a relationship with him, joy overflows.  If you have children who honor and respect you – you have much for which to be thankful.

Go ahead.  I dare you.  Take this Thanksgiving to answer what really are the greatest blessings you enjoy? Do those things come from money?

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV)

For what things are you most thankful?

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


4 Ways To Develop A Thankful Heart Before Thanksgiving

The following article is a guest post by David of Your Finances 101. David is a new commenter here on Bible Money Matters and has just published his first book Don’t Be A Mule: A Common-sense Guide to Saving More, Spending Less, and Generating Extra Income in Your Everyday Life which is available at Amazon.

For those of us who have yet to at least adopt some measure of “frugal living” into our current lifestyle, I’d say it’s high time to get going. However, if you’re already at least doing something to improve your personal economy, hats off to you! No matter what steps you’re currently taking, you are at least on the right track.

But something that I have encountered a few times over the past several years has been “the screw up.” The financial “slip up”. It could be a lot of things. Say your son threw away one of your credit card statements, it simply slipped your mind and you forgot to pay it, costing you a good chunk of change in finance charges (true story). Or say you were trying to get too cute with moving your finances around, and didn’t leave enough in your checking account, resulting in $89 in overdraft fees (another true story).

These things do happen and happen to the best of us. The question is: What do We Do About it?

What To Do About Financial Slip-Ups

As a self-proclaimed expert in this area, I have come up with a list of do’s and don’ts for these situations that may keep you from going insane should you ever encounter one of these “mistakes”.

First, see if you can undo the mistake.

Believe it or not, sometimes you can weasel your way out of some of these mistakes. Regarding the overdraft fees I mentioned above, after I realized what happened, I went into my bank and spoke with the bank manger. I explained to him I had been a customer there for 7 years, never had an issue before, explained to him why it happened, etc. He refunded me 50% of the overdraft fees.

Second, do not, I repeat, do not beat yourself up.

After you get over the initial self-loathing, you just cannot continue to beat yourself up about it. What’s done is done and you can’t undo it. Putting yourself through this mental anguish is not productive at all. Give yourself a good scolding as a deterrent, but stay away from beating yourself up. It serves no purpose.

Third, identify why it happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Now this is something that sometimes can get lost. My son used to get into our “bills” drawer and one month he threw away the water bill. Well, I forgot to pay it, but with our water company, there are no late fees, so I just had to pay two months at once. However, I didn’t do anything to change the situation. It wasn’t until he threw away a credit card statement that I failed to pay which cost me close to $100 did I actually move the bills to a higher shelf in the house, and also implemented a checklist each month to make sure everything gets paid.

Fourth, forget about it.

If you do make mistake, you need to try to undo it if you can, you need to do something to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and once all is said and done, you have to forget about it. You have to let go. I guess this is similar to the beating up part, but also, you can’t dwell on it. Again, it does you no good. Just get back on track with all of the other good savings things going on in your life, and don’t let that mistake get you down.

Finally, move on.

Yes, in closing, you need to move on. If you’ve turned your financial life around anywhere near to the extent that I have, you have so many other celebrations to think about rather than some little mistake you made that cost you a certain sum of money. Rather, think about all your successes, get back to doing what you know best (saving and spending wisely) and soon, it will seem as though your little “fall from grace” never even happened.

Have you recently had a financial slip up?  How did you handle the situation, and are there things you could have done better? Tell us about it in the comments!

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


The Financial “Slip Up” And What To Do When It Happens

This post is about gaining perspective on money management and financial stewardship.  I enjoy finding new ways to gain a wise financial steward’s perspective on money.  I hope this particular one will encourage the new financial steward, perhaps be a wake up call for some and a reminder for the more seasoned stewards among us.

I’ve always been a believer it’s not how much money you make, but how you handle or manage the money that you make.  I think it’s easy to get caught up in the race of working more to earn more in order to have what many might think is a better way of life.  It’s just exhausting to think about for me because I know I could never work hard enough for what would never be enough.

A Million Dollars. Is It Attainable?

For example, a lot of people think about making a million dollars in their lifetime. To be a millionaire has always been the label that says “I’m financially free.”  Many in society view the millionaire as a person who can buy almost anything they want.  The thought is they drive fancy cars and live in the nicest houses.

The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas Stanley gave many people a different view of the millionaire for the first time.  All of the sudden a millionaire could be the person next to you driving the Ford F150 pick up and wearing average clothes.  We learned the millionaire next door was different than the one seen on TV and movies.  This millionaire manages money wisely versus the one fueled by materialistic desires and dreams.

I told myself some time ago to never depend on another pay raise.  Having that perspective, I’m only left with managing wisely what I’ve been blessed with today in order to meet our family’s financial objectives.  I realize even if I don’t have a million dollars, I can still be financially free and prosperous as long as I have a Biblical perspective on money management.

However, the truth is that most people will make a million dollars in their lifetime, even if they don’t increase their income by another dime!  How?  Well, let’s think about it for a moment.

If someone were making $20,000 per year at the age of 25, they will have grossed a million dollars by the time they are 75.  Many people make more than $20,000 dollars per year.  Let’s increase that to $50,000 which would then take someone 20 years to gross a million dollars.  A person who is 30 today and making $50,000 per year will have grossed a million dollars by the time they are 50!

According to Mary Hunt in her book, “How to Debt Proof Your Marriage”, we are all becoming millionaires!

The truth is that you are becoming millionaires right now.  You’re receiving your wealth in installments, a portion every payday.

I felt like I had just won the lottery and gained new perspective after reading that comment from her book.  Even if I don’t make another dime, I’ll probably gross a million dollars in this lifetime which is all paid to me in installments.

What Will You Do With Your Million Dollars?

So I ask the question; what will you do with your million dollars?  Think about if you were to give 10% of your gross income, save 10% of your gross income, and live on the remaining 80%.  You would be able to save $100,000 and give $100,000 in your lifetime!  I think for most it could be stretched even further, but you get the point.

Most people would never dream of being able to give or save these large amounts of money.  But if we look at our situation with new perspective, perhaps the million dollar installment perspective, we just might do it!

Imagine a world in which everyone would save or invest $100,000 in their lifetime?  The average net worth of our nation would increase and people would be able to invest more of their time as well as provide gifts to others.  Think about the impact to churches, ministries and non-profits; it is indescribable.

Many wonder why they should have a budget or a spending plan to guide them each month.  Fundamentally, it’s to help perform wise money management and to achieve financial goals.  But, largely, it’s so that meaningful decisions can be made regarding the use of the money which has been entrusted to our care which are our monthly installments.

So again, I think at the end of the day it’s not about making more money or dreaming of a future of more cash than we know what to do with; such as society’s view of the millionaire.  Rather, it’s how we plan to manage our monthly million dollar installments and keep them from dwindling away.

What do you think about the monthly million dollar installment perspective?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Suburban Dollar.

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


How Do You Plan To Manage Your Million Dollars?

The pursuit of wealth is one of the greatest illusions of our time.  We think we will be wealthy when we come to a place in our lives when we can do whatever we want with money.  One might imagine this to be the freedom illustrated by the phrase “financial peace”.  Wealth, however, will never be attained if it is defined as getting everything you want, because when you get what you want, you will just want more.  While money can fulfill needs (and thus provide fulfillment) money can never buy happiness.  I believe a person will only be able to consider themselves wealthy when they are satisfied with what they have today.

The apostle Paul writes:

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12 NIV)

Observations about contentment:

1. Contentment is learned and thus contentment is process.  Are you becoming content?
2. When you are content, when circumstances change you do not.
3. Both the well fed and hungry are susceptible to a lack of contentment.

Here are some stats from the book Your Money and Your Brain by Jason Zweig

A survey of 800 people with a net worth of at least $500,000 found that 19% of them agreed with the statement, “Having enough money is a constant worry in my life.”  But among those who are worth at least $10 million, 33% felt that way.

I love the following quote from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

Wealth is “like seawater: the more you drink, the thirstier you become.”

As a result of these and similar surveys and my own personal experience, here is what I believe wealth is:

Wealth is a decision fostered by an attitude of self-control.  Wealth is experienced when a person has the ability to be content with God’s blessings.

If you are looking for an external measurement for wealth it will never come.

Wealth requires looking beyond the bank account.

The wealth we experience on this earth is about so much more than money.  If you are just trying to build wealth like crazy, you will never get enough.  If you are defining wealth in terms of acquisition of currency, it will be so hard to ever feel satisfied.  Each day take time look around and see your loved ones so you can be reminded of how blessed you are.

Wealth is the ability to choose to focus your life on the truly important things. Someone might make a lot more money in their life time, but in return be burdened by meetings, appointments, and obligations – this is not wealth.  Wealth is the flexibility to be involved in the things that really matter in life.

Though I might not have as much as others in the bank, I feel like the richest man in the world because I am surrounded by a family that loves me, and I’m involved in a ministry that helps people.

Post written by Craig Ford.

How have you learned to be content?  How do you define wealth?  What are some of your greatest treasures?

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


Wealth And Contentment: Two Peas In A Pod

One of my all-time favorite movies is Wall Street.  It is directed by Oliver Stone and stars Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. If you’ve never seen the movie, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), has a short synopsis of the movie.

Bud Fox is a Wall Street stockbroker in early 1980’s New York with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm during the day, he spends his spare time working an on angle with to approach the high-powered, extremely successful (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko. Fox finally meets with Gekko, who takes the youth under his wing and explains his philosophy that “Greed is Good”.

I’ve seen the movie countless times. I enjoy the excellent acting, the scenery from New York City and all the interesting dialogue that takes place between the actors.

But I think what is most interesting about the movie is what we can learn about the pursuit of greed and money. The main characters, all with different motivations, look at money from unique perspectives. Bud wants more of it and believes it is the answer to his happiness. Gordon Gekko’s religion is money and the pursuit of more of it is his life purpose. Lou believes the pursuit of it will control your life and lead you down a road you don’t want to go. Carl doesn’t need it nor measure it.

Bud Fox (Young Stockbroker)

Bud is in a struggle to find himself. He believes the answer is to get to the top and become rich. However, he learns his desire takes him across legal and moral boundaries. We learn that as a young broker, he is already trying to live a life style that is above his means. He sees the lack of money as failure and defines success by the amount of money one is able to accumulate.

Memorable quotes from Bud:

I’m tapped out Marv. American Express’ got a hit man lookin’ for me.

There’s no nobility in poverty.

Who am I?

Gordon Gekko (High Powered Broker)

In Bud’s pursuit of excess, he desires to be like Gordon Gekko who he believes to hold the answer to success (money). Gekko cares about money and his competitive nature to win more of it leaves casualties in his path. Gekko is a believer of greed and conveys it as his answer to liberate stockholders from their overpaid and unwise  spending of corporate executive leadership.

Memorable quotes from Gekko

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.

What’s worth doing is worth doing for money.

I’m talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing.

Lou Mannheim (Head Of Bud’s Firm)

In Bud’s pursuit he pays little attention to the wise words of Lou who knows that money doesn’t define oneself and is an empty pursuit in the end. Bud is captured by Gekko and money and Lou wisely tries to help him see his emotional attachment and to look inside to find himself. There is no get rick quick method or short cuts in Lou’s mind.

Memorable quotes from Lou

Bud… Bud I like you. Just remember something. Man looks in the abyss, there’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.

The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.

Good things, sometimes, take time.

Carl Fox (Bud’s Father)

Bud’s father is the simple man who doesn’t value money or wealth. He is content and believes in working hard to earn a living. But Bud quickly finds he is at odds with this father. Carl tries to point out Bud’s naivety and that success can’t be measured by the amount of money in which one has.

Memorable quotes from Carl

Money’s only something you need in case you don’t die tomorrow…

What you see is a guy who never measured a man’s success by the size of his WALLET!

Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.

Final Thoughts

Bud, through all of his emotional connection with money finds himself in the end alone and empty in the abyss Lou hints of.  But not finding anyone there to help, Gekko or his riches, he finally realizes who he is and what he must do to regain his life.

As in Wall Street, but also in scripture, we know that greed, or the love of money, is not good which is contrary to what Gekko says.

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap an into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:9 (NIV)

Greed can tempt people to put money before all things, including God.  As Lou states, the main thing about money (I think he means the love of money) is that it makes us do things we don’t want to do.

Photo by IMDB.

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


What The Movie Wall Street Can Teach Us About Greed

For the past week or so my wife and I have been vacation.  We went on a road trip from beautiful Niagara Falls, across New England, ending up in Northern Maine.   The fall colors were in full bloom, and we had a wonderful time.  On the last day of our trip, however, we almost had something happen that would have put a serious damper on our trip.  We almost had to pay the price for not making sure that the great deal that we got on our rental car actually went through when we booked.

A Rude Surprise When Dropping Off Our Rental Car

After our last beautiful day seeing the sites around Portland, Maine, my wife and I headed to the airport to drop off our National Car Rental owned vehicle and check in for our flight.

After cleaning out our rental and packing up our bags, we grabbed the keys and noted that we had put almost 1200 miles on the car in our drive across the east coast.  We had done a lot of driving!

We walked up to the counter, gave the desk agent the keys, and after he asked – told him the mileage on the car.   He then proceeded to let us know that our credit card would be charged over $1000 for the 8 days we had been driving the car!

We were taken aback.  Why were we now being charged over $1000 for a car rental that was supposed to cost around $490?

The agent told us that since we had driven almost 1200 miles, and since we had no free mileage – we would be paying a pretty penny. We were being charged at the rate of about 40 cents a mile!

Right away I knew something wasn’t quite right. I explained the deal that we had gotten when we signed up, and how we had used a contract code that gave us unlimited mileage, an extra driver and free insurance coverage. The agent wasn’t sure what to say, and said that he wasn’t able to do anything about it. We would have to pay.

After going back and forth for what seemed like an eternity (10 minutes?), the desk agent’s supervisor came out. We explained our situation again, and how it would make no sense for us to rent a car for a long trip without having unlimited free mileage (like we signed up for). It must have been an issue with the rental agency’s computer system not noting our complete deal?

After talking with the supervisor for another 10 minutes, showing her the paperwork that we still had, and explaining what contract code we were using, she was able to confirm that the deal we had signed up for was legit. To her credit, and to National Car Rental’s credit, she apologized for the problem, and found a way to write up the transaction that allowed us to pay what we had signed up for from the start.

Check out this article for more tips on talking with customer service agents.

Make Sure To Double Check And Make Sure You Get What You Pay For

While dealing with all this was a pain, at least we found the problem, and to National’s credit they fixed the problem so we didn’t overpay.

It makes me wonder, though, how many people sign up for one deal, aren’t as careful about checking and don’t catch the discrepancy if it isn’t as pronounced as ours was?  Maybe they end up overpaying by $50 instead of $500?  Oftentimes $50 might be dismissed as airport taxes, fees for extras  or something else.

So when signing up for a deal on a rental car, airline tickets, or a deal on any other high ticket item, make sure to trust but verify.

• Verify that all coupon codes, discounts and corporate codes go through when you purchase.
• Verify that all of the terms on your deal are correct (on ours, the unlimited mileage provision didn’t come through as it should have).
• When you complete the deal, verify again.  If you find something wrong, bring it up right away to get it fixed.

Have you had a situation where you found you were charged more than you should have been for a product or service?  Did you bring it up, and if you did, was it fixed for you? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


When Getting Great Deals On The Things You Buy, Make Sure You’re Actually Getting The Deal

This is a guest post from Brad over at EnemyOfDebt.com. Read some more of his great posts at his site, or subscribe to his RSS feed.

It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.-Philippians 2:13

I once was an angry atheist—who surrounded myself with negative people that believed the same sort of things I did—pro-evolution, no god, no purpose, you just live and die, end of story. I would like to add that I wasn’t quite as angry towards Christians themselves, just what they believed. To be honest, I was lost and was missing something huge but I just didn’t know what that something was. Little did I know.

In 2002, I met my wife and we became really good friends. She was a Christian, and even though our views were so different, she saw something in me that I did not. I started working with her dad remodeling houses and it wasn’t long before we started talking about religion. I had accumulated a vast list of misconceptions about Christianity over the years that fed into my broken worldview. He probed as delicately and as patiently as he could until I finally started to open up, and we talked about them. His role was much more difficult than mine, as he had to set aside personal issues—after all I was by this time dating his daughter. One of my favorite parts to this story is that he accepted me anyway—a misconception that I had developed about Christians was immediately debunked at that moment, which left me confused.

So I was no longer antagonistic towards Christians, although I still didn’t buy into the whole Christian faith. Our conversations, while polite and positive in nature, led me to want to look into this a little closer. The only thing was that I decided to look into it with my sole purpose being to prove Christianity wrong. I started with the evolution and creation debate and I started to slowly realize I could be wrong. At the time that was a very life shattering realization, but it seemed as though it required more faith to believe in evolution and no god than it did to believe in Jesus Christ and Christianity. I pressed on.

I then became interested in philosophy to a point where I would read books by C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, The Seeing Eye) and Ravi Zacharias (Among Other Gods, Cries of the Heart). These two people turned my world upside down, at least enough to encourage me to want to learn more. It was then that I found a book by Lee Strobel called The Case For Christ, that hit me like a ton of bricks. First of all this guy seemed a lot like me. He didn’t believe, was convinced evolution was fact, and had the same negative reactions to Christianity that I did. He actually decided to use his background in journalism to disprove Christianity. I must mention that it was his wife becoming a Christian in secret that led him down this path to prove to her—she was following a fairy tale.

I started to read that book and I was pulled right in. I read the book faster than any other book ever in my life. That book led me to The Case For A Creator, and The Case For Faith, and it was then at that point that I realized—I believed in God. This was a very emotional experience unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was as if God reached down and touched my heart like no one else could. The change was instantaneous, but you could say that I had been a work in progress. It was at that powerful moment that I believed that Jesus Christ had died for my sins. I called my father-in-law immediately.

In 2004 I joined my church and finally considered myself to be a Christian. What a huge shift in beliefs I had experienced. WOW! I could have never predicted it in a million years but am glad to this day that I decided to look into it for myself. I was baptized on December 10th of 2006 with my son, which was an emotional day for me as well. Just like Lee Strobel, my desire to disprove God led me to Him. How ironic.

Today I am very blessed with a beautiful wife, 2 kids, with another on the way. I have recently become debt free, by paying off 26,076.75 in 20 months. God has changed my life and given me purpose, which is to help others also become debt free. After all a debt free kingdom is a more charitable and giving kingdom. I am so passionate about this, and the truth be told, this passion really came out of nowhere. It was non-existent, and then all of a sudden it was bigger than words. My desire to help others manage their finances led me to introducing and leading Financial Peace University at my church, as well as starting my blog, Enemy of Debt. I am currently working to become a certified financial counselor as my vocation. Before I believed in God, it seemed as though I was always more concerned with myself. Now my life’s purpose is to serve Him by serving others. I have recently become a part of a new website called The Self Reliance Exchange where I hope to expand upon my ability to help others live debt free by helping them take responsibility for their finances, as well as their lives.

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


How God Worked In The Life Of One Debt Free Blogger: A Testimonial

We’ve all got friends in our lives that always seem to be having financial troubles.  They have a hard time making ends meet, and they often end up having to ask family for a loan, get a cash advance from their credit card or signing up for a payday loan with horrible terms.  They are just perpetually broke.

Why do these people always seem to have so many problems?  A while back I talked about some of the traits of high net worth individuals.  Today I thought I would look at a few of the attributes that broke people have that contribute to them continually finding themselves short of cash.

10 Attributes Of The Perpetually Broke

People who are always broke often have one or several of the traits written about below:

• Like to blame their problems on outside forces:  People don’t like to see themselves as the source of their problems. While people certainly have problems that aren’t caused by something they’ve done, far too often they will also try to shift blame when they should be looking at themselves.  They blame their friends, family and the government.  They believe that “the little guy just can’t get ahead“.
• Don’t know where their money is going: Far too often people who are broke find themselves short because they’ve never tracked their monthly cash flow and their small expenses are adding up to consume everything they bring in.  They really need to track their expenses for a month or two so that they can set up a plan.
• They don’t plan ahead:  Money is short because they haven’t set up a family budget and a saving and spending plan.  If you set up a monthly cash flow forecast, and know exactly what you’re going to spend in what categories -they’ll do much better.  If you fail to plan you can plan to fail.
• Spend money on things they don’t need:  I’m sure we’ve all got one of those friends who just loves to spend money, and buy things just to say they have them.  The newest Iphone just came out? They buy it even though they already have an older version.   A new TV came out with a higher refresh rate than their current one? They buy one so they can say they have the newest and latest technology.
• Fall prey to lifestyle inflation and keeping up with the Joneses:  Often people with higher incomes have problems with staying ahead in their budget as well because they fall prey to lifestyle inflation.  Instead of banking and saving raises, they raise their standard of living – buying a bigger better house, a new car and a new wardrobe.  They feel like they have to keep up appearances with everyone in their neighborhood.
• Always pay more than they have to: Often people who are broke have gotten there because they don’t know how to shop for a deal, negotiate or ask for a discount.  You can get a discount on just about anything – from electronics to health care.  Never pay more than you have to!
• They use credit like it’s going out of style: Delayed gratification isn’t something that they’ve heard of,  and if they want something they just put in on credit.  After all – it’s at a 0% interest rate for the first 3 months!   One purchase leads to another, and before they know it they’ve got thousands in credit card debt!
• They rely on others to fix their problems:  We’ve probably all known someone who is always going to their parents, family or friends to bail them out.  They create a pile of debt, and then rely on the kindness of others to get them out of their bind.
• They forfeit future gains for fun today:  These people often have a hard time visualizing how saving and hard work will pay off down the road, and instead live for the fun and pleasures of today.  They don’t realize how saving for tomorrow can improve their quality of life today!
• They would rather have others think they are wealthy, than actually be wealthy: People who are always broke like to be seen as wealthy and successful, even if looking that way to others means that they’re actually forfeiting the possibility of being wealthy in reality.

These 10 attributes of the perpetually broke are only meant as a starting point to get you thinking about how you view money.  While you may not fall prey to most of these, I’m sure most of us have fallen prey to at least 1 or 2 of them at some point or another.  Realizing that you’re doing it is the first step to making changes, and improving your situation.  Once you’ve realized your problem, it’s time to set about doing a budget, and turning things around.

Can you think of more attributes that the perpetually broke often exhibit?  Do you have some of those traits yourself?  What can those people do to turn things around? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


10 Attributes Of The Perpetually Broke

For the longest time I vowed that I would never pay for cable or satellite TV.  For the first 33 years of my life, I didn’t, and I got along just fine.  My wife and I do enjoy movies and TV, but we had found ways to get our favorite shows without paying the high cost for TV service.

This past month my wife and I made a decision to get cable TV.  I didn’t really want to get cable, but my wife wanted to because she doesn’t enjoy the process of watching streaming video through our Xbox as much as I do.   She enjoys the ability to just turn on the TV, flip through the channels and just watch something without having to look up a certain show.  She also enjoys  the social aspect of watching TV by being able to talk with friends about certain shows the day after they air.   Me – not so much.  I understand her reasoning for wanting to get service, so I gave in.  However, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do my best to get a great deal.

Researching The Best Cable And Satellite TV Deals

Once we had decided that we were going to get cable TV, I moved into the next phase – research mode.  I started saving all of the cable and satellite TV flyers that we received in the newspaper and in the mail looking for the best possible deal on cable.   The deals I found were ok, but nothing to write home about.   I kept them all just in case I could hobble together a deal of my own.

Next I tried finding a good deal or promotion on TV service through an online reseller or physical store.  A lot of them will have rebate programs available that will give you big incentives if you sign up. One offered me a $100 Amazon gift card if I signed up.  The only problem with a lot of these sites or stores is that most of them are selling you cable service at a higher price than  you should be paying.  For example, for cable tv service with comcast (who we ended up going with), most of the resellers were charging $54.95 for the package we ended up getting for much less.  So you may be getting rebates and bonuses, but you’re paying for it through higher monthly subscription prices.

After checking all the reseller sites trying to find a deal I moved on to one of my favorite resources, the forums at http://www.fatwallet.com.  Through those forums I was able to do a search for all of the latest deals that people had been able to find through Comcast, Direct TV and Dish Network.  Many of those deals were much better than anything I had been able to find online or in the newspaper.

After some more research on FatWallet I found that most people weren’t able to get the great deals on their cable bill just by ordering service through the website, or by phone.  The trick was to go on the company’s online chat and to work with the sales agents on there.  From what I could gather, the agents when you call are actually Comcast employees, and they toe a hard line on giving discounts or special deals.   The chat agents are outsourced, and are more likely to give you a deal.  I found the chat agents much more helpful later on when I was ordering.

Ordering Cable TV Service

After doing our research we finally decided that we’d rather have cable TV service since we didn’t want to have a satellite dish mounted on our garage. The pricing seemed comparable – as did the channel lineup.  So we proceeded to try and find the best deal through the website,  over the phone and through the online chat.

Through the website:  Cable TV in our area comes mainly through Comcast, so we set about finding the best possible deal on digital cable through them.  After checking the website for special deals or discounts – the best deal that I could find on service was for 6 months of their digital starter package for $29.99 plus $15 rental every month for the HD DVR cable box.  $44.99 a month for the service we wanted.  After the first 6 months the pricing would revert back to $54.99 a month plus $15 rental.   $69.99 a month after the first 6 months!  No thank you.

Over the phone:  Next I called Comcast’s phone agents to see what type of a deal I could talk them into over the phone.  Over the phone they offered me a similar deal to the one I had seen on the website, except they offered to throw in the HD DVR box for 1/2 price.  So it would be $36.99 a month for 6 months for everything.  That’s a little better than on the website, but I wasn’t satisfied.  I hung up and called back to get another agent.  This agent wouldn’t go any further than the other one, they would give me 1/2 off on HD DVR service, but no free premium channels or further discounts.  Even after telling the agents that I knew other people had gotten a better deal, they wouldn’t budge.  Time to move on to the chat.

Through the online chat:  I clicked on the chat icon through Comcast’s support section, and was quickly transferred to the “sales chat”.  I told the agent that I was trying to get a deal that I knew several other people on the forums had gotten.   I wanted to get the digital starter package for $29.99 with 1/2 price HD DVR, for 1 year without price increase.   I didn’t want to worry about the price going up after only 6 months.  The chat agent quickly agreed to the deal, which made me realize that maybe I could get a little more out of him.  I told him I still wasn’t sure I wanted to move ahead with it.  He said that if I signed up now, he would also throw in HBO free for 1 year.  Normally HBO can cost up to $15/month.  With that I agreed to sign up.     So here’s what I got.

• 1 year Digital Starter Cable TV Package: Normally $54.99/month – we got it for $29.99/month. (we got an extra 6 months of this deal by chatting)
• HD DVR cable box: Normally $15/month – we got it for $7.00/month.
• Free HBO: Normally $15/month – we got it for free for 1 year.  We’ll cancel after that.
• Total: Normally our cable package would end up costing $84.99/month. We’re currently paying $36.99/month.

Things To Remember When Signing Up For Cable Or Satellite

When buying cable or satellite tv there are a few things you can do to ensure that you get the best possible deal.

• Research the best deals:  Save all the flyers and circulars you get, do internet searches for online resellers, and check deals forums to find what kind of deals other people are getting on service.   Once you know what deals others are getting, it’ll give you a better idea of what to shoot for.
• Figure out what kind of deal you want:  After finding out what deals are available, figure out what package you want, what price you’d like to pay, and what (if any) extras you want.   Since you’ve already done the research to find out what the best deals are that others are getting, you can now use those as a baseline for your own deal.
• Contact the company through phone, website, chat: Contact the cable or satellite TV company through different contact methods.  Sometimes  you’ll find that one method is more successful than others at getting you discounts, free premium channels and other bonuses.    For us the online chat at Comcast had the most friendly agents who were willing to give the best deal.  Make sure to get it in writing!
• When your promo period ends, re-negotiate your deal!: One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of people make is to not re-negotiate their cable deal with their 6 month or 1 year promo period ends.   That means their monthly bill jumps from $30-40 up to $70-100! Don’t make that same mistake.  Make sure that you re-negotiate your deal when it comes due, and make sure that you continue paying only as much as you need to.  If they don’t give  you the same or a better deal, cancel!

Do you have your own suggestions or tips for getting a good deal on cable TV?  Do you have ways that you save on your TV bill?  Have an experience signing up for service that you’d care to share?  Tell us about it in the comments!

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


How To Get The Best Deal When Signing Up For Cable Or Satellite TV

This post requires a delicate balancing act.  I am a missionary who works overseas and 100% of my salary comes from freewill offerings that people give to their local churches.  My family is supported completely by the generosity of others. I am grateful for each and every one of those gifts.  From May – August 2009 my family visited churches all across Canada and the United States.  Time and time again we were recipients of the generosity of others.  Without asking, people literally gave us hundreds of dollars.  For that I am appreciative and humble.

Nevertheless, the entire time a question kept surfacing in my mind – what is the difference between being wealthy and being generous? Schools that receive large gifts thank donors for their generous gifts.  Churches congratulate congregations for their generosity when they reach a goal on a special fund raising project.  Living amongst the world’s poor, I have seen a woman take a bowl of rice and give it to a neighbor.  And no one applauds that action.  The gift is not considered noteworthy because it is lacking a large number of zeros.  Often it is really only the rich who have the opportunity to be ‘generous’ in the eyes of many.  Unfortunately, I forget to recognize that the bowl of rice is an exceedingly more generous gift than a multitude of dollars.

We might say things like – Bill Gates is such a generous man because he has given however many billion dollars to charity.  Yet, rarely will we say that a poor person was so generous because she gave a coat to a friend. Generosity is not determined by a dollar amount. Instead generosity is determined by the level of sacrifice. I want to continue to receive gifts from wealthy people because I want to continue to eat .  On the other hand, I want to recognize the smaller financial gifts and regard them also as an equally generous act.

This begs the question: How do you know if someone is generous or just wealthy?

Fortunately, the Bible releases each of us from being the judge on the matter.  We are released from the responsibility of judging others, but instead the question is: am I generous or just wealthy?  This is the question God places on each of our consciences.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV)

Ultimately, there is no point in my asking if Bill Gates is really generous or just wealthy.  There is little functional value for me question if a person’s action was generous or just their wealthy overflow.  But, man, I will get a lot of useful insight if I ask myself am I generous or just wealthy?  I pray that God will help you to be both wealthy and generous.

What are some of the most generous things you have experienced?  How do you resolve the generous or just wealthy question?

Copyright © Bible Money Matters - please visit biblemoneymatters.com for more great content.


Are You Wealthy or Generous?