Tipping Jesus
Apr 15, 2008 Uncategorized
Wow. I’ve had tons of amazing feedback from the series on finances we just wrapped up.
This past weekend, I talked with two couples that have been following the “snowball” debt elimination plan I shared during my message. In less than a year and a half, one of them has eliminated $25,000 in debt and the other has eliminated $60,000! Amazing. It was so cool to hear their stories on how they are dreaming of leveraging all that Jesus has entrusted them with.
For those of you who missed the message, here is the plan for getting out of debt we talked about. Remember, this is just one plan (out of many out there) and that I am not a financial planner. To get specific advice on your situation, you may want to connect with Certified Financial Planner.
OK, here is the plan I suggested:
1. Spend less than you earn
2. Know what you are spending your money on
3. Develop a budget (you can download a sample budget here)
4. Stick with your budget (even if you need to put cash in labeled envelopes)
5. Snowball your debt (if you don’t remember how to do that, fast forward to ~25:00 of the teaching)
6. Set up an emergency savings account with a minimum of $1000 and try to get it up to 3 months of your living expenses
7. If you need help, get it (you can download information on Riverview’s Budget Coaching here)
Here’s a link to a great retirement calculator.
I’m super stoked about what God has done during this series and what he will continue to do as we journey from being Tippers to being Givers.
Don’t forget,
“Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses, the Joneses can’t do math.” (Dave Ramsey)
April 15th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Do you have a link to that video you showed about the couple that helped a family pay of their debt so they could adopt? I was trying to tell my friend about it, but I would love if I could show them it.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I love that Dave Ramsey quote. I think Larry Burkett said something like this: we are trying to achieve in our 30’s the standard of living that our parents took 30 years to achieve.
I want to know more about this budget coaching at your church… I would love to start a ministry like that at my church! We are already doing Financial Peace University but it would be great to be able to offer more to those who need one on one help.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Mindy-
Download the form I linked to and email Ron, who oversees the ministry. He developed the coaching, based on tons of experience with this. I’m sure he’d be happy to give you whatever he has.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Another great Larry Burkett quote:
“I believe that we are the Corinthians of the 21st Century. We have been created by God, this nation has been created by God, to fund the Great Commission.
We now have the technology to do it,the question is: do we have the heart to do it?”
April 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Thanks for this thought. I often get caught up in what I want/need that I don’t often plan far enough ahead. Often the excuse is ministry related, but bad money management is still bad stewardship. The sooner I can get my debt under control, the more effective my ministry can be.
On a very consumerist note… Is that a Contigo Extreme Mug you are holding in the video? Video was grainy and I couldn’t quite tell.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Great service last one was (4/12), I like finances. Although…
When you were talking about snowballing one’s debt, and that they should choose the one that can be paid off quickest, I was intrigued. I have read up on finances and watched MSNBC’s money shows and everything I have read or seen says that this (your snowballing debt) is what people this, but that in reality it is wrong.
Really someone in debt should look at the interest rate on the debt and pay the one with the highest rate off first and that is where they should throw extra cash.
You didn’t say anything about interest rates.
In the end though, I liked it and think that it is a great idea to talk about finances and debt and tie it back to the Big Guy, especially in today’s economy.
… by the way I’m 18.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Eric H:
The reasoning behind paying off the smallest debt first is this: a quick victory can keep you motivated to keep working at paying off the debt. That way it is easier to see the progress you are making and you are less likely to burn out and give up.
Personal finance is more about behavior than math. If we all made our financial decisions based on math we wouldn’t have debt in the first place, and we would have started saving for retirement at your age!
April 18th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I mentioned that there are many great ways of getting out of debt and I was pitching my favorite.
Mindy expressed the precise reason this method is my favorite.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Have been excited about this for a long time-have met our financial goal and would like to talk with you about a ministry that we’d like to start that was inspired by this series. Do you have 10-15minuntes sometime?? Just before a Sat service would be fine if it works for you.