Goal accomplished!

I'm posting this to encourage and to let others know it can be done. In no way am I sharing this to boast or brag.

My wife and I are the proud owners of a 2004 Honda Odyssey. Here's the best part, we paid cash for it. That's the accomplished goal. When we started our savings plan years ago, I really didn't think paying cash for a vehicle was possible. I'm happy to say it is possible with steady plodding.

So what's the alternative to paying cash? Debt. According to the latest figures I could find on the internet, the average car payment is $378 per month over 63 months. (Just over 5 years) Car dealers are now offering loans over 72 months (6 years).

If you do borrow for you next vehicle, and I'm living proof that it's possible to pay cash for it, remember to take all the costs of ownership into account and your car debt & insurance shouldn't be more than 12% - 15% of your monthly take home pay.

PS - The car we sold as part of this cash transaction was a 1998 Honda Accord. In 7 years of ownership of this car, we put 112,000 mile on it.

What is your TV costing you?

It seems I'm constantly on one of my kids, I won't tell you which one, to turn off the TV and get outside. That conversation usually gets me thinking about how much time I spend in front of the TV. It's not a lot but probably more than I realize.

Consider this,the average adult watches 31.5 hours of TV each week. Let's put a value of minimum wage of $5.85 an hour to this. That equates to nearly $800 a month ($9,600 a year) to watch TV. If you value your time more than minimum wage, then this figure goes way up.

I'm not suggesting everyone give up all their TV time. What I would suggest is you consider reducing the time spent watching TV and do something you believe is more valuable with your time, like blogging. . .

How many steps does it take to . . .

This past Sunday, we kicked off our staff wellness program here at NewPointe. Over the next 11 weeks, 78 days, our staff is keeping track with pedometers of how many steps they take each day. I mentioned this in a prior post.

We are posting daily steps taken in our staff break room. I'm very proud to say that I walked the most steps on the first day of the competition.

36,269 steps taken by me Sunday.

I checked out some web sites on walking and it's around 2,000 steps equal one mile. So I walked an equivalent of 18 miles Sunday. Way cool.

Just so you know this is not a fluke, yesterday I walked over 22,000 steps. My wife says I never stop moving until I lay down in bed for the night. I think she's right.

It's official . . . I'm addicted & rated "G"

I was over at John's blog reading up on his great post. Recently he's had a lot of quizzes on his blog posts. I came across one I couldn't resist.

Are you addicted to coffee? Take the test yourself. I'm very please with my high score.

I am 92% Addicted to Coffee

Also thanks to John, I found out my blog was rated G. So everyone is welcome. . . read on.

The Power of Cash continues to work. . . .

Opening my email this a.m., there was one from my buddy Tom Toyer. Tom attends NewPointe and has recently joined the blogging world.

He shared with me his furniture purchase from last night and how he used cash to get a good deal (Stewardship). I've copied his blog post here. It's worth the read....

This evening we made a purchase ... with cash and got a good deal. We have been shopping for living room furniture for the house we are buying. We have two chairs so we decided that would buy a sofa or a sectional. Last week we found a sectional at one of the furniture stores in New Philadelphia, it had a small hole in the back and was marked down considerably. We liked it and had decided that we would get cash and go down again this week and offer them less and use the cash as a bargaining chip. Well, tonight we went with our cash & our game plan to get the sectional, they were closed. Ugh now what, Elsie says: "do you want to stop at this other place just up the road". "Sure" I said: "why not". So we stopped and guess what, God literally closed & locked a door and opened another. Make a long story short ... we ended up buying a couch - no damage, more features & much nicer.

Here is the deal: $999 regular price, on sale for $759, we got it for $700 cash delivered & tax included. We paid about 63% of the original price or saved $131 off the sale price. I'm pumped. Todd it works. The guy jumped all over that offer I think he may have come down even more.

Check that thing out, isn't it sweet!

Stewardship is personal responsibility for taking care of another person's property or financial affairs.

- In our case this money is God's and we are trying to be good stewards of it

Wellness at work

Today we kick-off a wellness program for the staff here at NewPointe. I'm excited for the events of the day and what this "should" mean for each staff member as the program gets going.

A month ago, our staff participated in a health screening held here a the church. We each gave blood, had our blood pressure checked, was weighted, ( I'm weighted in at 177) and filled out a questionnaire. (There was no filling of cups. Think on this for a minute, it will come to you.)

As part of the program today, we'll each get our screening results back from Dr. Browning. In addition to that, we'll be divided into three teams and the competitions will begin. The team names are:

1. Fatty Acids
2. Protein Shakers
3. Triple Bypasses

Our first completion is 10,000 steps a day for the next 12 weeks. We have pedometers for each team member and we'll be putting up a chart in the break room to track progress.

Wish us good will and root on the Fatty Acids as I'm the team captain.

Personal Check ordering tips

These day's I don't write many checks any more. It's usually cash, debit card, or online bill payment. Today however, I did put the last set of 50 checks into our checkbook. ( I'm hoping they will last 6 months or more.)

My next task was onto the net to find the best price on checks. I ended up ordering 3 boxes of 200 checks in each box from Super Value Checks The total with shipping was $20.70. ($0.0345 per check)

Here are a two things I did to help guard my identity on the checks.

1. I didn't put my wife's or my first name on the check. I used our initials from our fist name. T or C Colucy. This way no one other than us and the bank know how we sign our checks. This will be a big plus if your checks are stolen and you try and prove to the electronics store that you didn't write a check for that big screen TV.
   
   
2. I put my work phone number on the checks not my home number. If someone tries to use your personal information from your check to open up a bogus account somewhere in your name, they will not have your home phone number. When they use your work number as your home number, this should send up a red flag where the account is being opened.
   

Next time you order checks, let me know if you find a better deal and if you used your initials and work phone number.

4th of July and my personal best

The 4th has been great for me so far today. I enjoyed reading the newspaper on my back porch as the sun was coming up. With my newspaper I had two cups of my fresh home roasted coffee made in my press pot. (Coffee doesn't get any better that that.)

At 9 a.m. it was off to the meeting point for our annual 4th of July bike ride. We had 10 riders today. I knew I was in trouble as I looked over the field of rides. All speed guys and a tandem . When it was all said and done today, I'm was jacked.

Ride distance: 50 miles on the nose

Average speed for the entire 50 miles. . . . 19.5 mph. (My new personal best)
We had miles of speeds around 25 mph. That allowed us to average 19.5.

Now I'm tired and my legs ache. It's time for some vitamin "I" (ibuprofren) and a nap.

Happy 4th to you.

5.36%

In my continuous pursuit of high savings rates, I came across AmTrust Direct. This is a bank located right here in Ohio. Cleveland to be exact.

I applied for my account with AmTrust on line over the weekend. The application process took less than 10 minutes. I'll be moving some of my savings from Emigrant Direct (Paying 5.05%) to AmTrust (Paying 5.36%)

I'm looking forward to comparing the two web sites head-to-head and to see how long it takes to transfer funds in and out of these accounts.

I've been asked many times, "Is it worth switching savings accounts from my local bank because of higher interest rates on the web?" My answer. . . You bet. With the internet, it's easy and fast to open a new savings account and in this case, and extra .31% in interest for the 10 minutes it took to set up the account will be time well spent and money well earned.

Is it proper to get a great deal?

My last post resulted in 8 comments as of Friday night. I'd venture to say I evoked some emotion. That led me to this post.

Is it proper to get a great deal by negotiating?

My answer is yes. . . . If you follow these five basic rules/techniques in negotiations.

1. Always tell the absolute truth
2. Use the power of cash (see my last post) Cash is:
a) Emotional b) Visual c) has Immediacy
3. Understand and use "Walkaway Power" (It's ok to leave and not buy it.)
4. Make the offer then "Shut up". Wait for them to respond to your offer.
5. You can say to them, "That's not good enough".

Remember, as long as you always tell the truth, everyone wins.

Deals on Wheels

It's way past time for new tires on my wife's Honda. The thing is we'll soon be trading it in or selling it to one of two friends. Regardless, new tires are needed now.

I did all the usual checking in the Sunday paper and I wasn't real excited to lay down $280 - $350 for tires. So today, I let my fingers do the walking and call the local salvage yards.

On my 3rd call, BINGO. 4 used tires the same size that I currently have on the Honda. The tires have 90% life left. Jeff, the guy at the salvage yard told me $30 each for a total of $120.

A quick stop at home to pick up some cash and off to the salvage yard. When I met Jeff, I told him I was here for the tires and then I pulled out 5 $20's and counted them out in front of him. I said $100 cash was all I could do and then I held out the $20's and shut-up.

Jeff looked at me, then the $20's and after a few seconds of silence said ok.

Let's add up the savings. I'll split the $350 - $280 price. $315 possible vrs $100 actual paid = $215 savings. Wow. Way cool. I love the power of cash and a bargain.

It's time for you to opt out

I get to spend/invest lots of time meeting with people one-on-one to talk about their personal financial issues. It's a true blessing. (Thanks God!). When those I meet with have financial trouble, one of the major culprit is credit card debt.

The time has come for everyone to opt out of credit card offers forever. How can you do this? It's very easy.

This website www.optoutprescreen.com lets you opt-out for either five years or forever from annoying credit card solicitations by adding your name to the do-not-call/mail lists at the three major Credit Bureaus. This will reduce your junk mail and keep your credit report and social security number from the companies you don’t want to have it.

As an added benefit, this removes trash from the waste stream — people literally throw away tons of mail from credit-card companies every day. This doesn’t just save paper; it also cuts down on the weight of the mail carried each day, helping the postal service burn less gas while reducing green-house gasses and other harmful tailpipe emissions.

So go for it. Opt out now!

$300 in my pocket today

With one phone call today, I put $300 back into our family finances. With our do we / don't we purchase a new to us car, I also took a look at our car insurance. (By the way, we are going to wait another year before the car purchase.)

Since both our cars are 1998's, don't laugh, they have both been paid for for years now. I called and asked our insurance agent what would happen to our premium if we went with liability coverage only. End result, $150 per car savings. I pulled the trigger right there. Why did I do this and carry the extra risk?

First, we have to be involved in an accident that is our fault. This has not happened in over 6 years. Second, the book value on our cars is less than what it would take to repair the car in most cases. If the book value is $3,000 and the cost to repair is $5,000, the insurance company declares the car totaled and pay you the $3,000. After my $1,000 deductible, that's only $2,000 in my pocket and increased insurance premiums to go with it.

So, I'm going to take that $300 savings and put it in our new car fund. The goal this time next year is we'll own 1 1998 vehicle and 1 2004 or '05 or '06 vehicle. Whatever we can get for the cash we have saved.

Happy B-Day to me

Today June 18th is my birthday. The question that always follows that is how old are you? 41.

Some other birthday fact.

1. I'm not into presents. (Just let me go for a bike ride) I did ride 65 miles this weekend.
2. If you must get me something, make it bike or coffee related.
3. I don't like cake. I get a fruit pie every year. This year it was peach. (It's all gone already)
4. I don't mind getting older and I wouldn't go back if I could. However, I would like to spend a weekend or two back in college.

Anyway, Happy birthday to me. . .

Bike Helmet saves my buddy's life

Last night I got a phone call from my good friend Bill. He told me our biking buddy Steve was the victim of a car being larger than his bicycle. The details of the accident are not real clear at this point.

What is clear is during Steve's commute home from work on his bike, a car caused him to crash. Steve when over his handle bars. His bike helmet was broken in three places. Just like his leg. His leg will heal and there is no dough that the helmet saved his life.

Steve is recovering in the hospital and is awaiting surgery. Please say a prayer for him and his family today.

Thanks

Decision time?

My wife and I have the opportunity to purchase a 2005 Honda Accord EX for trade-in value. A co-worker is purchasing a new car and will sell me his Honda for what the dealer will give as a trade-in.

Our "family" car is a 1998 Honda Accord with 140,000 miles on it. We have a 14 year old son who will be driving in 2 years. Our original game plan was to keep our current Honda as the family car until our son was driving. Then we would give that car to him and then purchase a good "used" car with CASH.

If I pull the trigger on the 2005 Accord and am able to sell our 1998 in the next few months, I'll have a loan around $3,000. I hate borrowing money it makes me crazy.

Decision time. . . What would you do?

I Love a bargin!

Like all of us, I work hard for the money. When it comes time to send it, I want the most for the dollar.

We have been doing some remodeling around the house. One of the updates was a stamped concrete walkway and patio. It looks like flagstone and it's truly wonderful. With the new patio come the need for outdoor furniture so we can enjoy the new patio.

Off to Lowes we went. My wife and I looked at all the outdoor furniture, sat in all the furniture and by the Grace of God agreed on the same furniture. (Thank you Jesus.)

Now it was my turn to take over the shopping experience. I found the set of furniture we wanted in an open box. I'm assuming it was returned and one of the cushions had a dirt spot the size of a quarter on it. I asked to talk with the manager to make a deal.

The original price of the 4 chairs was $239. Lowes had a sale and marked it down to $191. I showed the manager my cash, told him I was going to pay cash and wanted a discount because of the open box and the dirt spot. He asked me what I had in mind and I said, "I'm not sure but the $191 wasn't good enough (This is a classic Dave Ramsey line.) He said I'll give it to you for $150. I said Sold!

That was a $89 / 37% discount off the original price and a 21% discount of the sale price. That made sitting in the furniture tonight ever so sweet. The power of cash and the ask is always worth the effort.

Next time your in the market for a big ticket item, take cash and try negotiating a better price. But remember, you have to be willing to walk away.

Online Giving

We have successfully rolled out another component of Fellowship One here at NewPointe. We have added online giving to our web site. We have put together a great Frequently Asked Questions pdf file related to our online giving program. You can check it out by clicking here.

The main question seems to be, Why should I give online? It is a personal preference, but here are a few of the benefits:

1. It's a step of faith . . . deciding in advance to give faithfully.
2. It helps simplify life.
3. It allows you to give consistently . . . even when you're not at church.
4. It allows you to focus on the service when you're at church.

I'd like you're thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment or email me.

99 words for every morning

Our family and Terry & Sondra's family, a couple in our small group are coming together this weekend for a garage sale to be held at our house. For our family, the process thus far has been fun. We are going around the house putting stickers and our initials on lots of "stuff" to sell in our garage sale. I'm even selling my crossbow and tree stand.

In looking though my collection of books, (I love books, even the word "book" sounds good to me when I say it.) I came across a leather bound copy of "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. (Not for sale) When I picked up the book, an email that I printed out from 2003 out fell out of the book. It was a saying/devotion, I'm not really sure what you would call it but it's worth sharing and I'm glad I came across it again.

99 Words for Every Morning

I live today with gratitude, humility, and patience, accountable for:

Serving Others;

Building, never destroying;

Sharing my gifts freely and abundantly, needing neither notice nor credit;

Treating everyone with compassion, candor and fairness;

Encouraging others generously;

Honoring others' feelings;

Regarding everyone as peer and teacher;

Appreciating differences while withholding judgments;

Trusting others, assuming only good intentions;

Forgiving quickly when I feel wronged;

Holding my tongue when I want to criticize or condemn;

Confronting only with love;

Being a source of comfort, inspiration, and joy for all I am privileged to meet;

Living as I want the world to be.

I'll be reading this and "His Utmost for His Highest" daily.

Weekend round-up

I wanted to list out my weekend activities on this post. I must admit, this post is more for personal documentation than anything. However, Maybe you'll see something interesting or fun that you may want to do/try.

1. Took my wife and daughter to the library. I love the library for many reasons but that's another post someday. I did check out 3 books. Read two of them already. (Our iceberg is melting & Be the elephant.)

2. Took the family to see our fist ever arena football game. It was a blast. (Thanks Mike)

3. Roasted some coffee. There is nothing in the world like fresh roasted coffee.

4. Cindy and I tackled tiling the kitchen back splash. 100+ tile & 15 hours over two days, it looks "phenomenal". God was with us because we enjoyed the process and time together doing this project. No arguments or fights. There is ongoing conversation about the caulk.

5. Worshiping God @ NewPointe Sunday was special for me. For only the second time since we have been in the building (7 months now) Cindy & I were able to sit together in a service. Great Message as always Dwight!

6. Hanging out at the cafe @ NewPointe. I meet new people almost every week and touch base with friends. I get into some great conversations and sometimes I'm able to bring encouragement.

7. My only disappointment this weekend. . . . . I didn't get on my bicycle.

Thanks for sticking around and reading over my weekend. Have a great week and stay encouraged!

Who's keeping you accountable?

I've been meeting with guy for some time now. Our relationship and our conversations have grown and we are getting to know and trust each other more and more. As such, I felt lead to take our relationship (touchy word for a guy) to the next level. Why? Because I need it and I miss having a trusted friend hold me accountable to the things I should be doing on my own. (Scott any chance you'd like to move back to Ohio?)

Over the years I've been in a couple of different accountability groups. What is that? It where the same group of guys got together every week and we asked each other a series of tough questions. I've made a few changes to the list of questions I'd like to use this go around.

Here's my list. What do you think of it? What would you add or take off the list?

1. How have you spent time with God this week?

2. How did you honor your wife this week?

3. Did you make your kid(s) a priority this week? How?

4. What was your area of greatest victory/accomplishment this week?

5. What was you area of greatest struggle this week and what’s your plan?

6. Did you look for and take advantage of opportunities to serve others?

7. What did you read this week and what did you learn from it?

8. How are you honoring God with the financial resources you are stewarding for him?

9. Who or what are you praying for?

10. How can I pray for you this week?

61 Miles and Thanking God

I hope you have a good holiday weekend. Mine was eventful. I always look forward to Memorial Day as we plan a long bike ride. This year we decided to ride out and around Clendening Lake in Harrison County. (ride distance 60 miles)

As the ride started and the bikers gathered, I was thanking and praising God for such a beautiful day. I couldn't wait to get riding. I'll fast forward this story to mile 40. . . .

We just began a decent after a long and hard clime. I was moving at 30+ mph on this down hill when a small dog started chasing after me. Because of my speed, the dog couldn't catch up to me. Andy on the other hand wasn't so lucky. . . .

Andy and the dog got real close and personal. Out of my rear view bike mirror, I saw Andy go air born off his bike. It was one of those time when it felt like things were moving in slow motion.

Here's were the thanking God part comes in. Andy landed in a grassy field and for the most part was fine. No blood no broken bones. Walking the crash site was chilling. Andy just missed a deep ditch and a culvert. Landing in the grass saved a trip to the hospital. I was praising God for the second time on this ride. We were able to fix his bike and Andy finished the ride.

As we rode the rest of the way home, I kept thinking how God is concerned with the everyday things of our lives. I sure an glad he's there and that he give me opportunities to see and thank him daily.

Perspective

Just before my trip to the Dynamic Church Conference, I was handed a box of newly designed "business" cards. I think they look great and not just because my wife Cindy designed them.

Shortly after I got done admiring the new cards, I headed down the office hallway. I noticed in our our Executive Directors office, Mike Conn had his card enlarged and in a picture fame. Upon further inspection of the "enlarged card" I noticed the following alterations and phrase at the bottom of the card.

Mike's title was crossed out and it was replaced with the phase, "Child of Mine". The phase below the business card read, "God is more interested in who I am than what I do. Way cool.

I couldn't get this out of my head and the next day, I asked Cindy to make one for me. It's framed and sits on my desk.

6% on your savings

I'm a big fan of online banking. There are so many +'s. Here's another reason to be banking on line. I just came across FNBO Direct. It's the online arm of First National Bank of Omaha.

Though September of 2007, they are paying 6% interest. Wow, that's worth switching to from whatever/where ever you currently have your emergency fund.

I'm always looking for ways to make my money (God's money) work harder for me. This is an easy way to do that.

It would be cool to track how fast, how much and from where new accounts are opened with FNBO for this 6% rate. There will be at least one from Ohio.

Dynamic Church 07 Day 2

Day two of Dynamic Church 07 is over. It was a great day.

I have a few divine appointments today. I spent some time getting to know and talking with Jeff Hook the CEO of Fellowship Technologies. Among other things, I came to find out Jeff is a bicyclist. He rides a Banchi. Way cool.

At lunch, I found myself in line with Tony Morgan. We started talking and then enjoyed lunch together (that hour was the highlight of my day.) Tony grew up in Ohio and that gave us common ground for some good conversation. We talked church stuff, life stuff and coffee roasting. (Ok, I brought up the coffee roasting.)

Dinner tonight was with the GCC gang. We when to Sonny Bryans Barbecue and I enjoyed some great Texas BBQ ribs. I’ve also tagged around with the GCC gang a lot over the last day and ½ there a fun bunch. Thanks Dave!

Oh ya, the F1 stuff. Today for me was full of great and practical information. I wont bore you with the details. Here are the sessions I participated in today.

1. Effectively managing Your Volunteer Pipeline

2. Why Your Ministry Can’t Afford Not to Track Volunteers

3. Advanced Query Builder

4. Fellowship One for Outreach Fund Raising

5. Customizing Contributions Statements with XSLT

6. RUG’s (Regional Users Group initial meeting)

I’m looking forward to the sessions tomorrow and for a safe trip home.

Day 1 of the Dynamic Church 07 Conference in the books

It's 10 p.m. Texas time and I'm just getting settled back in my hotel room. Day one of the Dynamic Church conference in the books. It was a great day on a number of levels.

1. I met and spent time with lots of new people.

Joe from Anchorage Alaska - Database manager
Dave Moore - my counter part at Granger Community Church
Susan Griffiths - Senior Manager of Operations Mariners Church Irvine Ca
Karen & Cory Estanbrok - Grace Brethren Church Columbus Ohio

2. I was filmed during one of the breaks and found myself in a video that opened for Fellowship Tech's CEO Jeff Hook. That was cool.

3. Hands on training for the Volunteer Pipeline.

4. 2 Breakout sessions.
Best practices for contributions processing (Look out Anita I'm bringing back some ideas)
Best giving reports.

5. A few key points from Jeff Hook's keynote talk.
a) You cannot improve what's not measured.
b) When someone hits your website do you consider them a 1st time visitor?
c) You have to measure what you value.
d) Maximize the Change in peoples lives.

I look forward to tomorrow toward more learning and connecting to more people.

Road Trip Day 1

My day started very early. Up at 4:30 a.m. to take my son Chaz to school. Why so early? He and 165 of this closest classmates were off to Washington D.C. for his 8th grade trip. I hope they have a great time.

I went back home, caught and hour of sleep then headed for the airport. My first flight was delayed an hour (Akron to Atlanta) which meant I missed my connecting flight and had to reschedule. (Atlanta to Dallas) The rescheduled flight put me on the ground and in my rental car right in the middle of rush hour. To add to my adventure their was much construction on Texas 121 N and the road I needed to turn left on wasn't accessible. (I took me over an hour to travel some 18 miles.

Anyway. I'm in my hotel room after a wonderful dinner with Mark Lindsley and his wife. Not only did they treat me to some great Texas barbecue they also drove me around and showed me the sights. Thanks guys.

Oh ya, I almost forgot to tell you why I'm in Texas. I'm here for the first every Fellowship One End Users Conference. My hope is to learn and connect. I'll keep you posted.

41 cent tipping point?

With the USPS increasing a first class stamp cost to 41 cents, is it time for you start paying your bills on line? I've been using free online bill payment through my bank for year. Each time the postage rate goes up, I feel even better about banking online. (Yes, it's safe and I'd venture to say much safer than writing a paper check.)

According to the 2007 Consumer Bill Payment Survey just released by Harris Interactive and The Marketing Workshop, for the first time bill payments made online exceed paper check bill payments among online households. Some 74% of households pay at least one bill on line.

Online payments are good for your bank also. According to an IBM study, it costs banks some 9 cents to 15 cents to process a paper check and about 1 cent to process an electronic transaction.

Here are three great reasons why you should be using this free service.

• Complete control. With online banking you can time your payments and get real-time alerts. The savings comes from avoiding late fees and spending less time resolving problems.
  
• Better security. Here's another tipping point. The funds are transfered out of your account into the bank's account and then the online check is written from the bank's account. So your personal information stays secure. (ie. your home address and phone number do not appear on the check.)
  
• Better organization. Less paper means less clutter. You can also do online research for years of payments to anyone you have paid through online bill pay.
  

So what are you waiting for? Find a bank, online or local that offers free online bill payment. It's fun, fast and reliable.

Way more fun than should be allowed at church

Kids love NewPointe and that gets me pumped. I know whey I was a kid going to church was not much fun nor was it something I wanted to go to. So what makes NewPointe different for kids? Great question.

One of many reasons is KidStuf. We like to say "KidStuf is where kids take their parents to church." KidStuf rocks! It’s fun, high energy and it teaches Biblical truths in a way that kids can relate.

Check out link below and you see what I’m talking about. You've got to watch the video on the link. Then come check out KidStuf live. You’ve got to act fast because KidStuf breaks for the summer. May 20th will be your last chance until fall.

Click here to watch. Enjoy!

Graduation

Last night was our final Financial Peace University class for this go around. I'm always grateful and humbled by taking part in FPU.

Here are four cool stats from this class.

1. 45 Graduates of the class (This was our largest class thus far.)
   
2. $5,400,000 in credit card debt offered to the class
3. 50 credit cards cut up in class. (Wow!)
   
4. Story after Story after Story of life change.

Here's a story that was shared with me last night.

A lady in our class was at a local retailer when she went to pay for her item, she reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. FPU shows you how to use the envelope system to pay cash for certain items. The woman working the register as "what's with the envelope?" Our class attendee said, "Oh, I'm taking this financial class at my church. I'm trying to get out of credit card debt and the envelope system is something I'm implementing to help me do that."

The lady working the register almost started crying. She confided in our class attendee that this was her second job and she needed financial help."

I'm so proud of our class attendee. At this point she began sharing what FPU had done for her and recommended NewPointe in the fall as that's our next round of classes. Way cool!

How about you? Are you ready to "Change your family tree?" (Financially speaking?) FPU will change your life.

DVR

I'm not much on TV. I'd rather be doing something, anything other than sitting down in front of the TV searching for something interesting to watch. That is until yesterday. I'm always on the lookout for a "BBD" Bigger Better Deal. I found on from our cable company.

I switched from Dish Network and Verizon to Time Warner Cable. I now have my TV, Internet, and Phone service all through my cable at lower $$.

With my new cable service came a DVR. This is an amazing piece of technology.

With the DVR I'm able to:

1. Pause live TV.
2. Find a show I like and record the entire series.
3. Recored multiple shows at one time.
4. Store up to 46 hours of shows.
5. Fast forward through commercials in about 3 seconds.
   

So now when I sit down for 30 to 60 minutes in front of the tv, I'll be able to watch something I'm interested in vrs searching for something to watch. (Last night I set the DVR to record Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) and King of Queens the entire series.)

I'm really looking forward to recording anything and everything bicycle racing.

60 + 11

I hope everyone had a good weekend and got outside Sunday and enjoyed the sunshine.

I wanted to post a quick bog today and share two number with you. ( I like numbers)

60 - Is the miles I rode my bicycle Sunday. Left from NewPointe after second service. Rode with Kevin, Bill, Steve and Bud.

11 - Credit Cards cut up in my office today. Man I love being part of helping people get out of debt.

So, my week is off to a great start.
* Got to connect with people Sunday at church
* Got to ride lots of miles on my Bike
* Got to be part of life change

Grass is on it's way

Today is one of those days that makes living in Ohio great. Temp in the upper 60's nice breeze and sunny. If we're lucky, we'll get at least 5 more days like this before the bugs and humidity show up.

Anyway, this weather has brought with it the last big peace of our construction process. Planting of the grass.

Here's a picture outside of my office window.



Thanks Bruce and your employees @ Vandall landscapes. You guys work really hard and take pride in your work.

I hope to post a picture of the same view in a few weeks showing nice green grass.

Get out and enjoy the day!

Collection Practices at FPU Thursday night

This Thursday is week 12 of 13 for this round of FPU classes. (I can't believe we are almost done.) In this class, we will be talking about Collection Practices and Credit Bureaus. This is a very important lesson as debt is killing marriages.

I came across this video on YouTube. It's a tidbit on the upcoming movie Maxed Out.

Take the time to watch this video.

Paint Balling. . . . Ouch

Yesterday after 2nd service here at NewPointe, I when paint balling with my son, his small group, and three other junior high small groups.

My son is really into paint ball. He has claimed all of my hunting cloths and was dressed in full camo for the event. Myself on the other hand, this was my first experience paint balling and I wore a long sleeve T-shirt. (Not my best idea. . .)

How did it go? I have no less than 5 quarter size red welts on my body. The "prize" welt is just below my jaw line on the left side of my face. I was the "cool" dad because this welt also made me bleed. I enjoyed myself and the time my son and I spent together running around the woods trying to "paint" each other.

On a deeper level, it was great seeing the small group leaders taking time with 20+ JH boys doing something the boys love to do. Having another adult Christian male in my son's life is priceless. Thanks Marc for being that person!

For Sale

To make a long story short, NewPointe owns two houses. (They sit next to our former building. At one time there were plans on expanding the church in that direction.)

We put the house on Dover Rd. up for sale on April 20th. I just received a phone call from one of our Trustee's and he said there are five offers on the house. Wow.

I'll be brining our Exec. Director up to speed and by the end of the day I hope to have a SOLD sign in the front yard. (Being in the landlord business wasn't the most enjoyable thing for me.)

A big thanks to Jeff and Jeremy at Pissocra Mathias Realty. Thanks guys for the great job!

Jott It? . . . . I love it

My good buddy and co-staffer @ NewPointe Kevin West turned me on to Jott a few days ago. I'm addicted to it.

Jott is a free internet service that lets you use your cell phone to send people, including yourself, an email. It even lets you create groups so you can leave one cell to email message for the entire group.

Using Jott is so simple, all you do is call their toll free number from your cell phone and a voice comes on and ask, "Who do you want to Jott?" I said me, left a short message and as soon as I hung up my cell phone, an email from Jott was in my inbox waiting for me. I was able to read the email and click on a link that then played the audio.

This is way cool and you have to check it out. Have fun with it and pass it along.

Thanks Kevin!

Odds and Ends from my weekend

It was a beautiful weather weekend here in Ohio. Sunny and in the 70's. Thanks God.

This morning, I wanted to just jot down some of the things I did this weekend.

1. 84 miles ridden on by bicycle.
2. Two birthday parties for my son Chaz. He's 14
3. Pulled 1,000 plastic forks out of our front yard. (Birthday prank from Chaz's church friends)
4. Walked the dogs a lot
5. Jumped on the tramp with my daughter
6. Great small group time
7. Handed out pledge drive completion gifts as a thank you to those who have completed their three year building pledge.
8. Took a nap
9. Read a book
10. Enjoyed listening to the birds and smelling fresh cut grass.

Blogs vrs Podcasts

I enjoy writing and reading blogs. I use Google's reader to keep up with a dozen or so blogs. Two or three times a week I'll open up my Google reader and plow through 50 - 100 blog posts. I follow most of the NewPointe bloggers, all of the Fellowship One blogs at 3cords.org and of course multiple financial blogs. My blog reading keeps me in the loop and I pick up some great tips now and then.

I love listening to podcasts. I'm addicted. So much so that my car radio is never on unless my kids are in the car with me. Other than that, I'm using my fm tuner and my mp3 player to play my favorite podcasts. Yes, the podcasts I listen to the most are financial in nature.

The one podcast I can't wait to listen to . . . . .

American Public Media (APM) A Prairie Home Companion's News from Lake Wobegon with Garrison Keilor. You've got to know him to love him.

Here's a list of my top 5 financial podcasts.

1. APM - Marketplace (Daily; on business and economics)
2. APM - Marketplace Money (Weekly; on things that effect your wallet.)
3. Dave Ramsey Show (Daily; Personal finance call in show and home of FPU)
4. Kiplinger's Personal Finance (Biweekly; Just like their magazine)
5. NPR: The Color of Money (Weekly; on personal finance)

Check out my top 5 financial podcasts. I really enjoy them and their free.

Exciting and Scary at the same time. . .

When I was bike riding down in N.C. with Kevin and Rod at Scott's house, I was doing some snooping through Scott's books. I was looking for a particular book that Scott had been talking to me about and agreed to let me borrow. I just finished it tonight. (Thanks Scott. I'll return it to you this weekend when your home.)

The book . . Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg. It was exciting and scary at the same time.

I can't begin do the book justice by trying to summarize it here as I like to keep my blogs short and to the point. What I can say if you have ever sensed in your being that we are living in the end times, read this book. Joel disects Ezekile chapters 37 - 38 and he believes Ezekile prophecy is being fulfilled now.

The book is a great read and after you read it, you'll have to make up you own mind or not. Either way, I know I've got eternal life in Heaven waiting for me.

Saff meeting Hot Seat

Here at NewPointe we start each week off with an all staff meeting. It's a time where we as a staff pray for each other, share stories of life change from the weened and occasionally, put a ministry and or staff person in the "Hot Seat".

Today was my turn, or the financial/administrative side of the church's turn in the hot seat. I was ready. We are making changes, like all of our ministries, since moving into this building. It's hard to believe we have been here for 4 months already.

Being in the "Hot Seat" gave me the opportunity to share with our staff, all 31 of us some hot topics as of late. Here's what I shared.

1. For Profit companies cannot conduct for profit activities on our campus. This question has come up twice in the past 30 days.
2. Our year to date giving and attendance vrs. budget. (Behind in giving up in attendance)
   
3. Check/Payment processing cutoff dates have been established for our once per week check run. We process somewhere between 30 - 50 checks per week.
4. Do NOT prop exterior doors open.
   
5. Fob's (keys) availability.
   
6. Doors will open 1/2 hour before a scheduled event unless instructed differently.
7. We have new written spending procedures in place.

To steal a line from Dave Ramsey, "This stuff is as much fun as a barrel full of fish hooks." It is however very important and a needed part of ministry of our church and I'm thankful to be leading in in this area.

Joy & Hope + 10 more Credit Cards

Just got home from another great Financial Peace University class and as usual I'm to pumped to go to get ready for bed. (Hey I get up at 5:15 a.m.)

I knew class was going to be great. Before we started the DVD, I gave the call to cut up your credit card! Guess what, we had another 3 people come up and we destroyed 10 more credit cards. That's close to 50 credit cards gone never to be used again out of this class.

Buyer Beware was tonight's topic and it's a great one. You'll have to take the class to find out for yourself. When the DVD was over, it was time for small group. This is were I believe life change really happens. Here was the quote of the night from one of the couples in one of the small groups, "Financial Peace has brought Joy and Hope back into our marriage."

I love being part of this life changing class. Quotes like this are priceless and will stay with me forever.

I want to publicly than the other leaders here for bringing about life change. A big thanks and eternal rewards to:

• K
• Larry
• Mike
• Ron
  

Can you guess what this picture is?

My right hand accounting person Anita works very hard and I'm a much better staff member because of her. I'm glad and grateful to be serving with her here at NewPointe.

One of Anita's greatest assets is her uncanny ability to find better deal on stuff we are going to purchase and by doing so saves the church lots of money. It's a true gift.

Well this time, I think she has taken things a little to far.

Can you guess what this is?



This is her cubical door. . . . (Stop laughing.) See it's we are still working on month end and this is her lame attempt at asking people to, well, stay out.

I was laughing so hard, on the inside, I told her to go ahead and get a door for her cube if there is such a thing. Within three minutes she found one on line for less than $40. I said go for it.

Thanks Anita for all your hard work and this blog material.

Background Checks!

Here at NewPointe, We take the safety of your children very seriously. We have a team of security volunteers who's role is the safety of your children during your time with us at weekend service. This group does a great job and I'm very thankful for them. (Keep up the great work guys!)

There's a lot of "stuff" that goes on behind the scenes as it relates to the security and safety of your children and it all starts with background checks for our children and youth volunteers.

Yesterday, we changed background screening providers to SecureSearch and we processed our fist screening through them. I was very impressed with the whole process.

Here are the benefits of using SecureSearch.

1. Fellowship One integration. (This is a big deal.)
2. Multi State Criminal check
3. National Sex Offenders check
4. Social Security Number trace
5. Address verification
   
6. It's all done on line.
7. We are reminded annually to rescreen volunteers.
   
8. Soon, volunteers can input their information online for screening.
9. The results of the screening are attached to the individuals record as a pdf file.
10. Peace of mind.
    

This is part of our comprehensive process in providing a safe environment for you and your family.

New High

I hope you were able to attend one of the two Easter services we had here at NewPointe. It was a great day. Make sure you check out Danny's blog to get a recap.

If you weren't able to attend, you can download or listen on line to Dwight's message by going to NewPointe's web site.

Since I'm the numbers guy here at the church, I wanted to share Easter's attendance number with you as that's a question we get a lot, "What was the attendance Sunday?". Well, no need to wait until next week for the attendance in the worship guide.

Easter attendance. . . . . 2,790

Beyond the new high, there was story after story shared at our all staff meeting today about people coming to NewPointe for the first time.

I can't wait for next week as we continue our series on forgiveness. It's called no strings attached. You can check out a quick summary here. Hope you can join us next week.

Two if by Sea

Just a little bit ago, I was checking out Google Analytics on my blog. As you might imagine, I find numbers and statistic fascinating and Google Analytics provides all that and graphs as well. As I was checking out the different stats, I noticed two recent visitors were from England. (Brighton and Droylsden to be exact.) (Get it, Two if by Sea? This is my sense of humor)

This makes me wonder how someone from so far away ends up on my blog? Then I got to thinking how cool it would be to have a conversation with them to find out the how and why behind stopping at my blog.

When I started blogging I really had no expectation or predictions of readership. As it continues to grow I'm feeling a sense of responsibility of weekly posts and relevant topics. I hope I'm doing both.

Online tickets & payment come to NewPointe

One of the new ministries we are launching at NewPointe in 2007 is something called Married Life Live. My buddy John Bunn does a great job describing Married Life Live over at his blog Thinking outside the Bunn. Please click on this MLL link for details. My wife and I are really looking forward to taking part of that Saturday night in April.

MLL is where online tickets and payment comes into play. K Greenwalt and I are implementing the weblink module in Fellowship One. Fellowship One is our church management software system. It and the people who work there are at the top of their game. Most recently, Maggie at F1 played a big roll in our online purchasing process. Thanks Maggie!

Starting today, for the first time, you can register and purchase your tickets via our church web site. Here's the link. So if you haven't read John's blog yet on MLL here's a brief summary and I hope you decide to come. Cindy & I are planning on being there.

MLL is date night--NewPointe style. At MLL you'll experience incredible music, creative programming, and a message that's very relevant to your marriage. It's all specially designed to encourage and empower you as a couple.

Purchase your tickets on line. (Way cool)

Whats in a Password?

Passwords. It seems like these days we need one for everything. I get asked this question a lot. "What's a good password"?

Your password should be easy for you to remember but difficult for unauthorized parties to guess. here are a few suggestions.

1. Create acronyms from the words to your favorite song. For example, Mary Had A Little Lamb becomes mhall. Even consider adding numbers characters to it. For example, 8mhall4 where 84 was the year I graduated from High School. (whoops did I just give away my age?)
   
   
2. Deliberately misspell a word. (I do that when I'm not even trying.) Example, locomotive could be lokuhmotiv. ( Ok, that one is hard.)
   
   
3. Consider combining a number of facts, such as dates and events such as 12Christmas25day.
   
   
4. Mix cApiTaL letters into your password.
   
   
5. Use punctuation characters and/or numbers.
   
   

Anyway, theres are some of my thoughts. I know there are lots more you could chose from. Have fun with it and please change your password to something different than "password".

Insurance

Last night was another great Financial Peace University class here at NewPointe. We totally took apart insurance. Dave Ramsey does an outstanding job walking you through all the different insurances that are out there. In a nutshell, everyone should have the following coverage.

Remember, the idea of insurance is to transfer risk from you to the insurance company.

1. Life Insurance @ 8 - 10 times your annual income (Term ONLY! never cash value life insurance its a big rip off.)
   
   
2. Health Insurance. The best way is to get it through your employer if you can. If not, consider a individual Health Saving Account with a high deductible. There are some great tax saving advantages to a Health Saving s Account.
   
   
3. Long Term Disability Insurance. If its available to you through work, get it! It's very cheap this way. I've gone out an purchased it myself years ago.
   
   
4. Homeowners. You need 100% replacement cost coverage. This is getting harder and harder to find. Most major insurance companies only want to insure your home at it's current value when you first purchase the insurance +a 25% adder. Watch out for this.
   
   
5. Auto Insurance. If you have a fully funded emergency fund (3 to 6 months) then raise your deductible to $1,000.
   
   
6. Long-term Care Insurance. As you or a family member reach age 60, purchase a long-term care insurance policy. It will cover in home nursing care or a nursing home.
   
   
7. Identity Theft Insurance. This is becoming more popular. (I don't have it yet but am considering it.)
   

Stay away for the gimic insurances. cancer insurance: accidental death (your not double dead if you die in an accident), mortgage death insurance. You are much better off using these premium dollars to fully fund an emergency fund and then invest.

If your interest in shopping some of these insurances Dave Ramsey recommends Zander Insurance

Coming Soon

Here at NewPointe we are always looking for ways to be culturally relevant and the use technology plays a big role in relevancy. Soon, we will be rolling out gift/prepaid cards. Here's what they will look like.


The initial plan is for these gift / prepaid card are for use in the cafe and bookstore. They will make great gifts as well as provide a nice way for parents to manage their children's purchases at the cafe. My personal plan is to purchase a gift card for both of my kids and put $5 on each card. Then it will be up to them to manage how they redeem it at the cafe.

These cards can be used over and over again with dollars added to them at anytime. We are also planning on offering 3% added back to the card each time you use it.

One final thought. I think it's going to be real cool to carry this NewPointe card in my wallet. I'm hoping it will be a good conversation starter as I plan on showing it off.

7,000; 90+; 50+; 1,100 (What's with the numbers?)

Did the title peak your interest? It's no surprise that I like number. So, on my bike adventure to Holly Springs N.C. (Real close to Raleigh) I wanted to keep an eye on the number.

Kevin B, Rod S, and myself took a road trip this weekend to visit my buddy Scott M. We brought the bikes and road Saturday & Sunday in beautiful 83 degree sunny N.C. (Thanks for the great weather Scott)

Here are the number.

• Calories burned by me during the rides - 7,000
• Miles peddled on my bike - 90+
• Number of riders for Sunday's ride - 50+
• Miles driven there & back - 1,100 (all worth it)

Scott, thanks for a great time and letting us stay at your house. This will be an annual event.

Count Team - Thank You

I'm blogging today and thanking the count team here at NPCC. We have a group of dedicated and very trustworthy ladies that come in each week and process the offering. Lot's of envelopes, checks and some cash with the occasional paper cut and computer problem. (We're working real hard to solve the computer problems.)

These ladies are part of our behind the scenes volunteers. They play a crucial role in the life of NPCC and I want to thank them publicly.

So ladies, THANK YOU for your time, dedication and service to NewPointe each and every week. I pray you are blesses as much as you are a blessing to me and the church.

How rich are you?

I know, we'd all like to be making more money. I'd like to suggest that most of the time, more money isn't the answer to our financial worries. (This is a discussion for another time.)

Anyway just how wealthy are you? If we're going to ask and answer that question, we need to look at it from a global / world perspective. I've come across a web site that shows you just how "rich" you are in comparison to the rest of the world. It's quite eye opening.

Here's the link to the web site. globalrichlist.com. Check it out. It sure made me think.

toddcolucy.com

Today I registered toddcolucy.com at Go Daddy. It was painless and the cost was very reasonable. Less than $10.00 per year.

Have you considered registering your name as a .com? You can visit various web sites including Go Daddy.com and search for free to see if your name or some variation of your name is available. It's a lot of fun to see what comes back when you search for yourname.com. I was very happy that toddcolucy.com was available and I purchased it right on the spot.

As for now, toddcolucy.com is pointing to my blog and in time I'll have a web site to go with it. I'm excited to see how having my own .com will play out in the future. I think I call my parents and try and explain this to them.

Thanks for stopping by today. Stay encouraged!

33 Credit Cards . . . . . (No More!)

Last night at Financial Peace Class we covered the lesson on dumping debt. In my opinion, it is one of the most powerful and life changing lessons of the entire class. My belief in this was strengthened last night as we had over 10 families destroy, cut up, and mutilate 33 credit cards.

Here's a picture of the 33 credit cards we cut up right there in class in front of all 80+ people. It was dare I say a religious experience.

I'm so very excited for the families that will be forever free from the bondage of credit card interest by saying no more to credit cards and credit card dept.

It's a honor to be part of life change. I'm so grateful I get to be part of the financial ministry here at NewPointe. We are making a difference in peoples lives and hopefully change family trees.

My best Email time saver

Like the rest of the computer world, e-mail is a way of life for me. I enjoy communicating and staying in touch this way but if you're not careful, e-mail can burn thought a lot of your time.

I've come up with a neat trick that saves me a lot of time and in some cases hassle in responding to e-mail by creating multiple signatures. I name each of these "standard" signatures so that I know which one to included in a particular email. Here's and one that I use and have titled "Thanks but no thanks".

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail me. At this time, we are not in the position to move forward on your request. I'll keep your email on file for three months and if the opportunity arises I'll contact you.

Sincerely,

Todd Colucy
Director of Business Operations


E-mail signatures do not have to appear at the bottom of your email. You can drag or cut and past them to any spot in your message that you want. This saves a lot of time.

Give it a try and create a few signatures. Have fun with it.

Just got a 21% return on. . . . .

Did the title get your attention? I guess it did as your reading this. Well, I did get a 21% return on my latest investment. Here's what I invested in, are you ready? Braces for my 13 year old son. Stay with me and I'll explain.

Based on my adjusted gross income, my federal tax bracket is 15% and my stage is 5%. I'm participating in our church's flexible spending account program (FSA). An FSA allows you to set aside dollars on a pre-tax basis (Federal & State) for qualified medical, dental, and vision costs. Braces are qualified dental cost. When I pay the dentist, I'm using my debit card and that give me 1% back on purchase.

Cost of braces $4,100 (OUCH!)

Flex Spending & Debit card % of 21% = $861 still in my pocket.

Hey, if you have to pay for stuff like this, it's called life, take advantage of the opportunities available to you. Looking at saving $861 putt's me in a better frame of mind then looking at paying $4,100.

Deal or No Deal?

Last night at our First Wednesday service, we did a spoof on the game show Deal or No Deal. The powers that be suggested I play the role of "the banker" for the game show. I agreed.

I spent all of 10 minutes sitting in a chair talking on my cell phone and twirling a pencil (pencil twirling is one of my many talents.) while our video guru, Dave Mast, rolled the camera. Dave is extraordinarily gifted in so many areas. I'm glad he's on our team. He make my on screen antics look great. Thanks Dave.

I must admit I kind of enjoyed some time out front in the service. . . . . but that small roll was enough. I'm very happy to go back to the things I do best and being on stage/on screen is not one of them.

DST & my 101's post

I've received two phone calls and an email from Fellowship One warning me about Daylight Saving Time coming three weeks early this year. (This Saturday) By the way, it's "Daylight Saving Time" not Savings time.

I didn't realize that moving DST would have an effect on all this stuff. Fellowship One has everything handled as it relates to check-in and contributions. I had to do nothing. Yet another big + for using F1.

I was required to schedule a billable service call for our door system. I've got to pay a service tech to come in and install a patch on their software. When I asked why we had to pay for the patch, I was told the government changed DST not the software company. We've got no choice here. I'll have to pay for this.

Microsoft even has something to say about DST. Here's the link. click here.

What do I like most about DST? More time after work to ride my bike! (Like my new picture of me and my bike?)

You might think I'm crazy

I took my camera with me on our bike ride last weekend. I wanted to share a few pictures of our adventure with you. I hope you enjoy them.

Getting ready for the ride. There were 4 of us. (Bill, Kevin, Rick and me)

Bill's on his mountain bike. (Snow, what snow)

We're off.

Speed! 25.7 mph on this down hill. It's hard going this fast with only one hand on the bars and one taking the picture. (Let's not tell my wife about this shot.) I maxed out at 32 mph on this down hill.

Total ride mileage 26.2. Temp. 37. Can't wait for spring!

Fresh Brew

I love coffee. . . . You don't understand, I'm passionate about the stuff. So much so, I started roasting my own beans about two months ago. You have never experienced coffee until you've tasted fresh roasted coffee brewed in a press pot.

The picture to the right is one of the batches I roasted less than 30 minutes ago. Tommorrow, it will be in my burr grinder as soon as I get up in the morning. I'll enjoy a few cups (at least 3) with the Saturday newspaper.

I was very surprised how simple and fun it is to roast green coffee beans. I stumbled on to a web site that explains how to do it. sweetmarias.com A few hours on this site, one $19 eBay purchase later and I was roasting coffee in my kitchen. (I use a hot are popcorn popper. No kidding.)

One of the side benefits of roasting coffee beans in the house is the wonderful coffee smell for days. But be warned, roasting coffee beans causes smoke. I set both smoke detectors off almost every time I roast. A very small price to pay and besides I know our detectors are working properly.

Coffee is best within a few days of roasting up to about 10 days. It's only good for a few hours after grinding. This is why I don't purchase roasted coffee anymore. Is there really that big of a difference? You bet. Everyone I've given some of my home roast to has said it's the best coffee they have ever had and I agree. Give it a try.

I'm the first blogger. . .

My title is no lie. I am the first person on NewPointe's staff to blog. We currently have 7 staffers blogging. A few of them are linked here on my blog. I've need to update to include the rest.

I don't really remember why I started blogging but I'm sure glad I am. It's a way I keep myself accountable. I've been told by those how read my blog it's a way for them to keep up with what's going on in my life. I think that cool.

So, here's a quick run down of what's been going on.

• Road 26 miles Saturday. Yes there was snow on the ground.
• Door Access control training.
• Considered purchasing a new / used car. (Not going to at this time.)
• Some one-on-one financial counciling
  
• 5 individual tax returns. (5 more to go)
  
• FPU tonight - relating with money
• Walking our dogs every chance I get
  

Cash Flow Planning - FPU #2

Last night was another successful Financial Peace Class. The topic was Cash Flow Planning. OK Budgeting. Wait. . . Don't go, this budget really works. My wife and I have been using it for more than 4 year know.

In a nut shell, You write down your take home pay and assign every dollar a home. At the bottom of the budget it must equal zero.

We have a "blow" category in our budget. This is for things that we forget or in most cases for when the kids come home from school and say "I need $XX for school tomorrow." Without a blow category in our budget, the budget would never work.

If you'd like more information on the zero based budget, click here.

Remember all a budget is, is you telling your money where to go. Try it! It works

I would walk 500 mile and I would walk 500 more. .

At lunch time today in the staff break room was full of staff members. As is often the case, there was leftover food and our staff hates to see food go to waste. I addition to this, a local baker brought in sweets for the staff to sample.

As we were all munching away, the conversation turned to why we couldn't loose weight and what the exercise of choice was for each staff member. There was the typical answers. (YMCA, Basketball, Treadmill in the basement)

The coolest comment came from one of our facilities team members. He is averaging over 20 miles walked each week. Just from doing his job. He wares a pedometer at work to track his steps. Taking into account two weeks vacation, He'll walk 1,000 miles in 12 months. Now that's exercise.

The new $1 coins are here.

The new $1 coins are here. They are being issued in the order that the presidents served our country. Quick? Who are the fist 4 presidents of the US?

1George Washington 1789-1797
2 John Adams 1797-1801
3 Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
4 James Madison 1809-1817

These 4 are going to be issued in 2007.

These coins are going for more than face value on ebay right now.

They do have a cool look to them but are they practical? I hate carrying change in my pockets and I don't like carrying cash for that matter.

I'm wondering if our coke machines in the church will know what to do with these $1 coins when they show up? The machine will have to wait until 2010 for $1 Abe Lincoln and 2015 for Jon F Kennedy.

Let me know the fist time one of these coins show up in your pocket.

Name this Blog

I've been told by numbers of people that I need a better name for my blog. Just a few minutes ago around the staff lunch room table was the most recent request to put a name to my blog. They told me "Tcolucy" is boring and dry.

So, what do you think would be a good name for my blog? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks

FPU class #1

Last night was our fist FPU class here in the new building. I was pumped with the way things went. We had some no shows and some walk ins. (It all works out) I do have a few kits remaining waiting for next falls class.

In all, we have 5 facilitators. (K, Larry, Ron, Mike, and me) Everyone did a great job last night! Thanks guys. We are all in for a life changing adventure.

My group is a nice mix of life stages. The youngest is just two years married, a couple in there 30's a few of us in our 40's and a few just short of retirement. We all have a story to tell and we all have different reasons for taking this class.

If appropriate, I'll share some life change stories from our class here over the next 13 weeks. For now, I'm off to check out the new section of FPU's web page for class participants.

Another reason to love Direct Deposit

As I type this, I'm sitting at my home computer instead of being at work because I'm iced and snowed in from this winter storm. The ice on top of the snow has has allowed our smaller dog to to walk on top of the snow. He's not quite sure about that.

This weather got me thinking about how great it is to have our staff using direct deposit for our paychecks. At midnight tonight, payroll will magically hit 30 employees bank account. (We still have 1 direct deposit hold out.) The winter storm has allowed me the time to schedule all of my bill payments (free from my bank) to be sent out on Friday. No stamps no hassle.

Jason asked me in through a previous comment if Direct Deposit was cost effective for the church. Jason, I've got to admit, I've never looked at it from a cost standpoint. In our case, we use Quickbooks and they charge the church for direct deposit. It's free to our employees. You can check with your church's bank as most banks now offer this service for free.

I look at the cost of direct deposit as an employee cost. Its now expected by employees more than being seen as a benefit. I love it and consider it a condition of employment myself. With the combination of direct deposit and online bill payment, I haven't set foot in my bank in years.

So, the snow and ice can keep coming. My check is in the bank. We'll as of midnight. . .

85 People signed up for FPU

85 People have committed to taking Financial Peace University at NewPointe. There are no words to describe what I'm feeling.

If you've read my blog before I'm sure you've seen some FPU references and posts before. According to Dave Ramsey and his team, the average person or couple pays off $5,300 in debt and puts $1,200 in savings during the 13 weeks of this class. That's one very large return on a $99 investment.

The 85 people taking the class make up 50 families. 50 x $6,500 in debt reduction and savings is $$325,000. Talk about life change. . . I can't wait. I know from prior FPU graduates, the class not only changes their lives but graduates help their family and friends make changes.

Say a prayer for our five table leaders. This is by far the largest group we've taken through at one time.

$15 Free to you from PayPal

If you use PayPal for any of your shopping including eBay, then this post is for you! Keep reading.

PayPal is offering a $15 rebate on a single purchase of $30 or more made after February 8, 2007 and before March 31, 2007 at any qualifying retailer that accepts PayPal including eBay. All you have to do to get the rebate is:

Register your email here
Make a single purchase of $30 or more
Make it at an eligible website
That’s it. Once finished, the $15.00 rebate will be deposited into your PayPal account by May 28, 2007.

I've signed up. How about you?

Invest your tax refund in your IRA the easy way

This year, in an effort to encourage you to save, the IRS is allowing taxpayers to have their refunds deposited in up to three accounts including IRAs. If this sounds appealing, you'll want to pay close attention to the rules that apply. As Forbes reports, while the government’s intent is good, there are a few kinks that could cause you some headaches:

• "The IRS must deposit your refund into your IRA by April 17, 2007--the tax-filing deadline this year--for it to count as a 2006 contribution. If the money doesn't get into the account by April 17 it will become a 2007 contribution instead...and you’ll miss out on the 2006 break"
  
  
• "Some people are eligible to deduct their IRA contributions for 2006 even though you make your IRA deposit in 2007. If you're one of them and the money gets into the account late, than you'll have to go back and amend your 2006 return.
  
  
• "You have to make sure you get the routing and account numbers correct. And you have to check off the appropriate box on the IRS form indicating whether the money is going into a checking or savings account. So which is an IRA? That depends. IRA accounts held at Fidelity are checking accounts, but other custodians consider their IRAs to be savings accounts. So you must call your bank, mutual fund, brokerage house or credit union and ask."
  
  
• "You as the taxpayer must tell the custodian by April 17 that you want that money counted as a 2006 contribution. Otherwise, the custodian will assume direct deposit is for the current (2007) tax year.
  
  
• "If your refund is changed because you made a math error or the government grabbed part of it (say to pay child support) that could change the amount going into your IRA."

It's Review Time

I know its the beginning of February and I should be looking ahead to spring. We'll not quite yet. I'm firmly focused on 2006. The year that just ended.

Tomorrow, our outside accounting firm will be in to conduct a review of our 2006 financial records. I very much look forward to this time for a few reasons

1. I'm sick. I just like this kid of stuff
2. I use to live / work in that world and it reminds me of how glad I am not to be doing that stuff for a live any more. My apologies to all those CPA's in public accounting
3. The most important, it puts a ribbon and bow on the year that just ended and brings credibility to our finances.

So, I'll be sending the next few days pulling together documentation to support or financial statements and answering lots of questions. I can't wait.

Commission vrs Allowance

This post is in response to a comment left here yesterday. Thanks for your question.

In years past, prior to me leading Financial Peace, my wife and I would pay our two kids a weekly allowance so our kids would have some of their own spending money. When kids are young the typical allowance is usually $1 for each year old your child is.

As our two kids started getting a little older, I began disliking the feeling I had each time I handed them their allowance money. I sensed an entitlement attitude coming from them and I wanted to teach them that money doesn't grow on trees. (Well technically the paper money is printed on comes from trees)

Fast forward to Financial Peace. In on of the classes, Dave Ramsey spends some time talking about parents teaching children how to handle money. During that time, the light bulb went on for me. Dave says that each member of the family must contribute to the household and that children should have some assigned work to do. Dave then paid his kids a "commission" for work done. No work, no money. (Just like in the real world.)

My wife and I adopted this method at our house and it has worked out wonderfully. Although my 13 year old doesn't like the name Dave Ramsey. There's no more asking for money from our kids when we are at a store. No on the rare occasion when our kids ask for money from Mon and Dad, we'd respond, how much commission do you have left? The kids usually respond "none". Then we say sorry, you'll have to save some next time. The typical question these days from our kids is,"What can I do around the house to earn $XX".

Here's how our commission process works. I post a chore list on our refrigerator each week. Our kids have 7 days to complete the items on the list. at 9 pm on the 7th day, I pay them the commission base on what has been completed and take away $2 for every item that hasn't been completed. And if there are three things on the list not completed, they are grounded for the weekend. Our kids can also earn bonus bucks for bringing home graded papers from school with A's on them. (Limit of 3 A's per week for bonus bucks. The A's week really adding up.)

If our kids complete all their chores, there weekly commission is $12. Then $1 for church, $1 into savings and they get to spend $10. They also get one additional dollar for each A that week up to 3 A's. (My 13 year old son is pushing for a larger commission. I'll need to revisit that soon.)

Anyway sorry for the long post but it was worth reading. If you go to commission route, please let me know how it goes. It's been a great learning process for our kids and has taken away the guild of Mom and me. No more asking for money from our kids and us telling them no.

My wife has drunk the Kool-Aid

It's no secrete in my family or anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Financial Peace & Dave Ramsey fan. My wife is much less enthusiastic about Dave but understands and agrees with our financial game plan. Our kids earn their commission but really dislike the name Dave Ramsey. That's another story for another time.

So what does this have to do with drinking Kool-Aid? Great Question. My wife drove into Dover for lunch today. (We each have our own bi-weekly commission) She went to the Wendy's drive-thru and ordered a plain chicken sandwich. When she got up to the window to pay, They told her it would be $3.39 for a plain chicken sandwich. My wife hesitated and then asked if she could cancel the order. The drive thru attendant said no one had ever cancelled an order at the payment window and then reluctantly agreed. My wife said thanks and then drove over to the golden arches and ordered a chicken sandwich off the value menu $0.99. Way to go baby!

She told me this story as soon as she returned to work. She said she could see me saying, "You paid how much for a plain chicken sandwich?"