by Derek Clark on July 25, 2010
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young- let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance- for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. Proverbs 1:1-6
If you want to get a good start on understanding the principles of personal finance, sit down and read Proverbs. If you are looking for it, it is full of sound advice on money and life. Over the next few posts I’m going to share the main principles I’ve taken from it. There are many more, but these are the top principles I think you need to understand and follow.
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by Derek Clark on July 3, 2010
While tax season is thankfully far from the near future, it is still never too early to begin thinking about preparing your taxes for next year as this will allow you to take advantage of deductions that you may have missed otherwise. As you may be painfully aware of, each year tax deductions are subject to change and ones that you were normally able to claim may no longer be applicable. The year 2009 emerged as a clear example of just how drastically tax guidelines can change, as new credits were introduced in order to help taxpayers through the economic downturn. 2010 has already seen its fare share of alterations and if the HR 4213, American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, is passed these changes will only be the beginning.
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by Derek Clark on June 26, 2010
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 6:10.
People are. So the good people need to learn how to build wealth. I’m sick of people talking about “greedy rich people” or “evil CEO’s.” Having money doesn’t make you greedy or evil. Not having money doesn’t make you good either. Money or lack there of doesn’t have any bearing on what type of person you are.
Money is simply a means to trade goods and services. It makes transactions convenient. It is a little worthless piece of paper, or some bits in a computer somewhere. Having more of it just means you can do more things with it. You are the person that decides whether those are good things or not. Many people with great wealth use it to better the world. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are actively working to give away their fortunes. Buffett actually pledged 99% of his wealth to go to charity during his life or at his death. That is a huge sum of money.
Having money didn’t make either of those men greedy or evil. It simply benefited the rest of the world greatly. They actually have been secretly (until recently) trying to get the billionaires of the world to pledge at least half their wealth to charity before they die. This could result in over half a trillion in donations to charities around the world.
Now before everyone starts to give me examples of evil rich people, I know they exist as well. First, the point is it isn’t the money that makes them evil, it just magnifies it and lets everyone else see it. I know plenty of poor jerks as well, they just aren’t famous. Second, the thing to realize here is that the money can just as easily magnify good as it can evil. That is why I started this website. Christian Common Cents is about teaching the good people how to get out of debt and create wealth.
If we can get more of the good people to stop making stupid financial mistakes, we can make this world a better place.
by Derek Clark on June 24, 2010
This is a guest post by Tom Cleveland. He is a market analyst for forex traders, an online resource for currency exchanging and forex market.
The ongoing recession has put a tight squeeze on family budgets for the past two years. With priorities changing every month based on inconsistent cash flow, how can anyone put away anything for retirement? It is easy to get distracted in these troubled times, but there is no time like the present to do a little financial planning and realize that savings, put away on a regular basis for the long-term, are the only way to provide for dignity and pleasure during our second adulthoods.
Retirement planning, to be effective, needs to start in the present tense. You must accept that earning potential declines on a steep curve as you put on the years. Our young-minded society has yet to accept that we may be useful when we advance in age. However, average lifetimes are also increasing. The cost of living for a nice affordable lifestyle has risen with inflation.
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by Derek Clark on June 17, 2010
by Derek Clark on June 10, 2010
A few weeks ago a my wife and I paid off our last non-mortgage debt. Baby step 2 is finished! We paid off $28,000 in 10 months. We worked hard and we sacrificed, but it was so worth it. We didn’t only eat beans and rice, (I don’t really like beans so it was just rice 
. Kidding aside, we still had a life. We just found ways to have fun without spending lots of money. Board games with friends is a lot of fun. It is also much cheaper than going out to dinner and a movie.
Next up on the list is baby step 3, a bigger emergency fund. We have been sending so much money to Sallie Mae, it is going to be really great to get to pay ourselves for a change. For those that have made it to this step, this is a pretty awesome feeling. I’m glad to join you. For those that are still on the way, keep working. It’s worth it.
Did He Say Giveaway?
Yep. Just a book, but it’s a pretty good one. Enjoy Your Money!: How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It
. <--Amazon Link, I gotta work on that emergency fund.
All you have to do to enter is subscribe. If you subscribe by rss feed, leave a comment below and let me know. If you use the email, no need for a comment, but feel free to leave one anyways. The contest will run until next Friday the 18th. I'll randomly draw the winner and contact them by email. Good Luck.
by Derek Clark on May 27, 2010
This is a guest post by Mariusz Skonieczny. He is the founder and president of Classic Value Investors, LLC, an investment management company. He is also the author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market.
If you are a beginning investor, it can be very confusing to listen to others who give you advice on how to invest your hard-earned money. The best thing that you can do is ignore most of the advice and educate yourself following the strategies of investors who successfully built wealth over long periods of time, not just over the last few days, months, or quarters. I would suggest reading lots of books on the subject of value investing.
The major theme that you will get from reading these books is that in order to be a successful investor, you must think that when you buy stocks, you are investing in businesses because this is exactly what stocks represent. When companies are started, they usually are funded with some type of private or venture capital money. When a company becomes big enough, its management might turn to the public markets to raise money to pay off the original financial backers and to grow the business going forward. When that happens, the company issues shares to the public through a process called the Initial Public Offering, and these shares are assigned ticker symbols such as DVR or MORN.
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by Derek Clark on May 15, 2010
This guest post is by Sharon Smith. She is a financial writer associated with the Oak View Law Group. She offers advice on various debt management plans.
Getting into debt is much easier than coming out of it. The debt is considered to be a labyrinth where it would be difficult to trace the exit passage. This article gives you some real helpful tips by which you can save money as well as enjoy a debt free life.
1. Do not incur new debts: Things you should avoid so that you don’t incur more debts are-
a. Stop using your credit card
b. Do not fall in to the trap of signing up for new credit cards
c. Do not go for payday loans
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by Derek Clark on May 5, 2010
One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25
Over the weekend middle Tennessee was hit with a huge storm and massive flooding resulted. We got around 13 inches of rain, the previous record was around 6. This caused flooding everywhere, including downtown. The flood stage for the Cumberland River is at 40 feet. It crested almost 12 feet higher at 51′9”.
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by Derek Clark on April 21, 2010
Mvelopes, NeoBudget, and Inzolo are all types of software for maintaining an envelope system online. If you haven’t heard of the envelope system, the basic idea is that you put cash in different envelopes for different items in your budget. For example, you put $100 dollars in your grocery envelope, and then you only spend that money on groceries and no more until it is time to fill it again. The idea has been around forever, but Dave Ramsey has made it popular recently.
Today I read a great review from ChristianPF on Mvelopes, and Bob mentioned NeoBudget as an alternative. I decided to check it, and was also introduced to Inzolo. The main idea behind each of the systems is to create a virtual envelope system that can be controlled online. Many people, myself included, don’t really like to carry around cash and prefer using a debit card. It is more convenient in many instances.
The systems allow you to create separate “envelopes” for different parts of your budget. You can then import your transactions online from your checking account, and classify them as to which envelope they should come from. With this you can easily keep track of how much you are spending in each section, and hold yourself to the budget you set.
I had been wanting to try Mvelopes for awhile, but the pricetag had kept me from doing it. It’s not a ton at $12 a month, but it was more than I wanted to spend. NeoBudget and Inzolo are cheaper alternatives, so I am going to give them a shot. Mvelopes does have a free trial which I may try at some point just to do a review, but it was more than I wanted to spend. If want to give it a shot you can sign up for a free trial of Mvelopes Personal
here. If you do, let me know what you think of it.
I’ve also considered using Mint as a budget planner. It has very similar functionality, it just isn’t labeled as an “envelope system” so I hadn’t thought of it before. The best part about Mint is it is free. If you don’t like it you aren’t out anything.
I just thought I’d share these alternatives to let anybody who has been considering trying an online envelope system know that they exist. I plan on trying them for a month or two and then I will do reviews for each of them.
If anybody has any experience with any of these systems I’d love for you to share your experience in the comments below. Tell the pros and cons and let us know if you would recommend it.
by Greg McFarlane and Betty Kincaid was an interesting read. (That’s an Amazon link by the way). Basically it is a personal finance book that covers all of the basic topics: cars, credit cards, houses, investing, budgeting, taxes, etc.
