Friday, December 28, 2007

Three "Simple" New Years Financial Resolutions

2008 is almost here. Most people will make at least on New Years Resolution and like most people the resolution will not be kept very long. I want to suggest a few Financial Resolutions that will be easy to keep and will bring you closer to Financial Freedom by this time next year.

  1. Save something each paycheck. You have to make savings a priority and do it consistently. The hardest thing about saving money is getting into the habit. This year, try saving just $10 or $20 from each paycheck in a high yield savings account. I use Amtrust Direct. It's currently paying 5.11% To make this easier, have the money automatically deducted from your paycheck so you never see it. Most people can easily come up with a small amount to save each pay period just by sacrificing one lunch or dinner out.

  2. Learn something about finance. It doesn’t matter what you choose to learn, but take the time to learn one new thing about personal finance. One of the best ways to learn is to take Financial Peace University. (This Sunday is the last day to sign up for Jan 15th class at NewPointe.) If you can't take the FPU class right now, you can get books from the library, read personal finance or business magazines and newspapers, or read finance articles on the web. (Yahoo finance)

  3. Attack one debt. Just one. Whether it’s a student loan, a credit card, or a car loan, vow to pay off just one debt this year (and then don’t replace it with another debt). The satisfaction you’ll get from paying off that one thing will probably push you to pay off more. But even if it doesn’t, you’ve still kept your resolution because you paid off one debt. That’s one more debt you won’t be carrying next year.
All three of these Resolutions are easy to do and I hope you will do them all. Happy New Year and heres to your Financial Freedom!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Get Ready for Next Christmas

Merry Christmas to you. I hope your's was memorable and you spent a little bit of time reflecting on God's goodness.

As i sit here typing the day after Christmas with the rest of my family still sleeping, my thoughts turn to the new year that's just around the corner and Christmas 2008. I must admit, this Christmas was pretty stress free and I want next Christmas to be the same.

One of the best ways to make Christmas stress free is to have cash set back to pay for all those gifts you are going to buy. One of the biggest stress causers at Christmas time is anticipating January's credit card bill. (You know what I'm talking about.)

Here's a great plan for next Christmas.
  1. Sit down and figure out how much you spent on this Christmas. Let's say it was $800
  2. Add 15% to this number. $120 ($800+$120 = $920)
  3. Take this number and divide it by the number of paychecks you get in 2008 less 2. I get paid every other week (26) less (2) is 24. $920/24 = $38.34 per pay.
  4. Open up a separate savings account an put this amount in it every pay. At the end of November, you'll have the $920 to do you Christmas shopping.
One other great plan is do steps 1 & 2. Then take this amount from your tax refund and put it in savings. Not only will you have the $920 right away, you'll be receiving interest on it all year long.

Merry Chrismas

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Credit Card compaines were sued and lost? $$ for you.

If you did any foreign traveling between 1996 and 2006 and used a credit card while on that trip, you have some money coming from your credit card company.

The U.S. District Court reached a $336 million dollar settlement with Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club for foreign based transaction fees charged to credit card users.

You have three refund options and the majority of those claiming a refund will select option #1 which is worth $25. The simplest way to claim the refund is to go to www.ccfsettlement.com or dial 1-800-945-9890.

Be watching your mailbox for a letter from the U.S. District Court. It's worth at least $25 to you.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

There here.

Yesterday, UPS brought me my first Christmas present. Well it wasn't really a Christmas present but I was as excited as a 8 year old kid at Christmas.

The new Financial Peace University Kits arrived.


In looking through the information, FPU has changed some things up a little bit and I'm excited about it.

Why do I get so "jacked" about FPU? Because I believe until your finances are in order and your are doing finances God's way, you will never reach your full God given potential. (No ifs, ands, or buts)


I can't wait to get started with this round of classes. We kick off January 15th. You still have time to sign-up. Leave me a comment if you are ready to get on the road to financial freedom

Saturday, December 15, 2007

One Pig. . . .

Christmas time is in the air at our house. We have had a fire burning all day long and Cindy is busy baking Christmas cookies. We have the Musacchia (my mom's side of the family) family Christmas party tomorrow in my home town. I've played Burl Ives's "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" CD three times today.

With the snow and now rain falling outside, I took the opportunity for some good old "Griswald" (Christmas Vacation) family fun. My family sat down in the kitchen for a few games of UNO (One) and Pig (a dice like game where you role two pigs to score points) "Get the post title now? "One Pig"? I thought it was funny.

It was great just sitting around with the entire family spending some on TV time together. We laughed, poked fun of each other and smiled a lot. Most of all we enjoyed each other. Sure sounds like the Christmas spirit to me.

Merry Christmas.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Office Christmas gift or not?

Well do you or don't you? Why does the topic of office Christmas gifts cause stress? We all want to show appreciation for those we work with as we spend more time with our co-workers then some family members. But who do you buy for and where do you cut it off?

A general rule of thumb is you don't need to buy for your boss. If you feel compelled to do so, make it a small gift from the entire department or staff. That usually works best.

It's ok to purchase a gift for your assistant or someone who reports to you. But be careful, you don't want to give anything that's too personal. Anything that touches the person's skin is a "no no". (Lotions, jewelry, etc)

If you are going to purchase a gift for a co-worker, do it when no one else is around. This will prevent hurt feelings for those who you didn't get a gift.


Finally, just in case you are wondering, no need to get me anything.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Are you ready?

Yesterday was the first day to sign up for our next round of Financial Peace University (FPU) classes here at NewPointe. I'm very excited to get started as Dave Ramsey has redone / updated the FPU kits.

If you are thinking about taking FPU, don't wait to sign up. You have two more weekends to do so. Class begins Jan15th @ 7 pm and runs for 13 weeks.

I get so pumped being part of life change. Obtaining financial freedom opens the door to fulling following Christ. FPU gives your the tools and skills to become financially free. So, are you ready? I know I am.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Credit Card Interest . . . . Well Duh

As I was getting ready to leave the house today for work, I caught out of the corner of my eye some lady on the news testifying about her interest rate on her credit card. I didn't pay much attention to it and went out into the snow.

I looked at the business section of our local paper online and the lead story's title is Card rate changes catch many unaware. The story goes on to tell how this same lady from the news thinks it's unfair that her credit card company raised her rate from 18% to 24.4%.

I'm not going to get into is this fair or why she has a balance on her credit card. My thoughts in all of this is as Dave Ramsey says, Credit Cards Reek. You will never experience financial freedom using credit cards as your emergency fund. 18% or 24.4% it doesn't matter. You have to come up with a financial game plan that excludes the use of credit cards.

By the way, here at NewPointe, we start sign-ups this weekend for Financial Peace University. The next round of classes start Jan. 15th. This class is life changing. I can't wait to get started.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Is it just me or is food costing more?

Over the last month or two, I've noticed in doing our cash flow plan that the amount of money Cindy and I allocate for groceries isn't going as far as it once did. I had heard that food prices were rising and the story I read in Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine confirmed it.

  1. Food and beverage prices are rising at a 4.4% annual rate
  2. Dairy prices are up 13% overall and up 26% for a gallon of milk. (That really hurts as my family goes through 3 gallons a week.)
  3. Meat prices are up 6%
  4. Bakery products are up 4.6%
Other than confirming the reason our food budget isn't affording us what it use to I'm sharing this to point out how important it is to have financial margin in your life. I know there's great financial pressure on people today and when costs rise on necessities it either cuts into your margin or it stress you out.

For me, having no debt except for my mortgage means rising food costs reduces my margin a little bit. The key is to eliminate your consumer debt ASAP!


,

Monday, December 03, 2007

Outstanding

Yesterdays service was outstanding. The Christmas spirit was flowing here at NewPointe. In addition to the dozen first time families that were here this weekend, NewPointers adopted 50+ in need families to support this Christmas. Way cool! (Outstanding.)

In my last post, I gave you a preview of the stage. Thanks to Paul Rothel, our wonderful volunteer photographer, I can share this picture taken yesterday. Paul does great work and consistently captures feeling with his pictures.


Two cool facts about the stage. The tallest tree is 20ft high. the two stockings are 9ft tall.