Raising them right!

Like all parents, I want my kids to be responsible, respectful and full of love for people. With two teenagers, it's hard to get a read on how they are doing in life. Our kids are trying to find who they are and want to be independent of Cindy and I. I'm ok with that as it's the way life works.

Every once in a while, God gives me some insight into how my kids are doing. I had one of those moments this week. While at work, I received a phone call from Chaz. He started off the conversation with, "Dad, your mountain bike is ok and so am I." (I've got a pretty nice mountain bike but that's another story.)

Chaz said he and some buddies were ridding bikes and horsing around. Chaz ended up riding into the back of a parked van. He cracked the tail light of the van. At this point it would have been very easy for him and his buddies to ride off but Chaz didn't do that. He told his buddies to stop. Then he when up to the house, rang the door bell and told the owner of the van what had happened.

Chaz told the owner he would pay to replace the tail light cover and gave the owner our contact information. I was so proud of the way Chaz handled the situation and as a reward to him, I said I would pay to replace the cover for doing the right thing.

For days now, I have been thanking and praising God for how Chaz handdled this situation. I'm very proud of him. This event has drawn me closer to God and I'm thankful for that. Through this situation, God gave me a glips into Chaz's character.

How much oil is in a barrel?

Well, did you ever wonder how much oil is in a barrel? You know the news is tell us daily how much a barrel of oil costs. As I type this, oil is down $2.54 a barrel to $122.19. (This did wonders for the stock market today it's up 264 points. But that's another story.)

I grew up in the coal business and we always had 55 gallon drums of oil around. So, I assumed a barrel of oil was 55 gallons. NOT. I came to find out that a barrel of is 42 gallons.

We'll the question that follows that is how many gallons of gasoline come from one barrel of oil? The answer is roughly 20 gallons.

So, now you know and you can impress your friends with this new found information.

Is your Mutual Fund on the Lemon List?

How often do you look at the mutual funds you own? Don't forget the mutual funds that are in your companies retirement plan.

I came across a cool tool called the Mutual Fund Lemon List. Here's what this web site has to say about itself. This list has been around for 10 years now. Who knew?

The new "Mutual Fund Lemon List" shows you which mutual funds are costing investors money, plain and simple. Included are those funds that have underperformed their one-, three-, and five-year benchmarks.

How many funds are we talking about here? The total number of funds that made the Lemon List last quarter: 2,000+! The total assets in these funds: $1,000,000,000!

That's not a misprint. $1 trillion is currently languishing in these underperforming mutual funds. And I'd be willing to bet that you have at least some assets committed to these funds.

If you have a fund on this list. It's time to dump the fund.

The Debt Trap

Cruising the net this weekend, I came across a great money series in the New York Times called "The Debt Trap." It's a series on consumer debt and the lenders that make this possible.

There are videos, tools and calculators that show you where your debt stacks up to the rest of America. The series starts off with a video of how Diane McLeod accumulated $280,000 in debt. I found it heartbreaking that people end up here.

You've got to get educated on how to handle your finances. Stop and ask yourself, who and where did you learn about money? . . . . . Times up. If you are like most people, you can't really point to a time and place in your life where educated about finances.

Here's a fantastic resources for you. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. If you don't want to purchase it, then go to your local library. No matter where you are in your financial life, this book has something for you.

Roll it over

One of our new hires here at NewPointe asked me a great question today. " What do I do with the money I have in my old employers 401K plan?"

I love this question. This is an opportunity for freedom / great choice. Let me state the best action to take is to roll your money out of your old employers plan. Never take the money out.

Roll your old 401K into a self directed IRA not your new employers plan. The biggest reason for this is freedom in choosing your investment funds. Your not limited to the choices in your new employers plan. Notice I said "funds" not individual stocks. We are talking your retirement nest egg here and individual stocks carry way, way to much risk.

When people come to me for investment advise, I recommend two funds for them to research. I like Vanguards life cycle funds and I love the Sound Mind Investing Fund. (Do your own research before purchasing any investment.)

The way to get started with rolling your old 401K money over is to first open a new "IRA Rollover" account with an broker (I prefer online brokers), or the mutual fund company directly.

Was it time?

The short answer is no. And now the rest of the story. . .

Cindy and I arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened. We had to stand outside in the 90 degree heat with a couple of hundred other bargain hunters waiting and hoping for a good deal. The doors opened promptly at noon and the race was on.

At first it felt like cows moving into a barn to be milked then once everyone was in the warehouse, it felt like chickens running around. What can I say about the animal metaphors, we were in Amish Country.

Anyway, Cindy did spot one couch she liked. Unfortunately by the time we weaved our way though the people and ran over 2 older folks, someone beat us to the couch. The lady was sitting on the couch shooing would be purchasers away and waiving for a sales person to come take her money. I thought to myself, oh well it wasn't the couch for us.

Until the "right" couch comes along, I'll keep saving. Little did I know how much a couch could cost.

Is it time?

There's lots of unwritten rules in a marriage. One of those rules in our house seems to be that the inside of the house stuff my wife takes the lead on and the outside of the house stuff I take the lead on. As such, some months back my wife said we need to start saving to replace our living room furniture. Cindy pointed out our couch is older than our 12yr old daughter and my son using it as a bed hasn't helped. My first though was so? (I didn't say it out loud but I was thinking it.) Being a good husband I said Ok.

Fast forward to today. We've got $1,100 now in our furniture fund and my wife reminded me Andreas Furniture is having their annual warehouse sale. So at 11:30 today I'll be standing in line in the 90 degree heat waiting for the doors to open at noon. I'm always on the lookout for a good deal and their warehouse sale is a good deal.

Here are some important facts/things about this process.

1. We agreed on the major purchase (In our house a major purchase is anything over $100)
2. We saved up and are going to pay CASH.
3. Our furniture fund is not part of our emergency fund.
4. We are going together to make the major purchase. This will keep us balanced. We won't spend more than we should.
5. This process strengthens our marriage.
   

Life change continues. . . .

Three cheers for our current Financial Peace University Class. In this weeks lesson, we covered dumping debt. This is one of my favorite lessons. Dave Ramsey spells out 15 debt myths.

Here are my top three myths from this lesson:

1. You'll always have a car payment. I'm living proof that you can save up and pay cash for a car. It really is doable.
2. If I loan money to a friend or relative, I'll be helping them out. (No way) If you do this, you just changed your relationship to master / servant.
3. I can get a good deal on that zero percent interest new car loan. Fact is, that new car goes down 70% in value in the first 4 year and that so called zero percent interest rate is built into the price of the car.

Well, these three debt myths along with the other 12, lead to the destruction of 7 credit cards from this FPU class. These cards are not part of my 200+ destroyed credit cards sitting in my office.

To quote Dave Ramsey, "Debt is Dumb".

In the lead. . . .

As some of you know, I'm riding my bicycle 300+ miles over 4 days in August in the PAN Ohio Hope Ride. This ride is to raise funds to the two Hope lodges in Ohio. (Cleveland & Cincinnati) These facilities provide free, supportive lodging to of cancer patients and caregivers who have to travel for treatment. They have helped more than 15,000 cancer patients and caregivers avoid millions in hotel bills and travel expenses.

I've very proud to announce that my team "Heals on Wheels" is in the lead as far as dollars raised thus far. To date, our team has raised $4,700 of which I have personally raised $625 as of this post. Anita B was my last donor. Thanks Anita!

My personal goal is $1,000. I'd greatly appreciate your help in reaching my goal for a great cause. If you can help, click here.

Coupons.com

Looking to save some money at the grocery? I always am. Here's a web site that I like a lot.

Coupons.com is basically like going through one of those Sunday newspaper flyers online, except you just mark the ones you want and at the end you click on a “print” button and the ones you selected pop right out of your printer. Very cool.

I'd suggest making out your grocery list before visiting the web site. That way you don't buy things you were not planning on purchasing in the first place.

Stay Encouraged - Investment are on sale

Well, the first 6 months of 2008 are in the books. Usually, the end of a quarter is an exciting time for me. I like to reallocate my investment choices inside my retirement plans. (What, you don't do this? You should, at a minimum of once a year.)

At first, I wasn't very excited at this quarter end. Most of my retirement account balances are less than what they were at 12/31/2007 and that's even after I've put money into my retirement accounts over the last 6 months.

While walking my dogs tonight, that's my thinking time, I remembered that since the value of my mutual funds is currently lower than it was 6 months ago, every time in put money into these funds, I get more shares for the same dollars invested. That's a good thing.

Here's an example. Let's say I have $200 a month coming out of my paycheck for my retirement plan.

5/1/08 per share value of my mutual fund: $10 @ $200 invested is 20 shares purchased.

6/1/08 per share value of my mutual fund: $7.50 @ @200 invested is 26.67 shares.

So, I got 6.67 more shares than I did a month ago with the same $200 invested. Cool.

Here's were perspective comes in. If I'm concentrating on the month-to-month value (from $10 a share down to $7.50) I'll get worried as the value of my investment when down. My focus is way to short. I need to be looking long term. 5, 10, 20 years from now. Long term, being able to purchase more shares now will have a greater payoff.

So, stay encouraged, keep investing. Steady plodding wins the race.

Great Rates for your savings dollars. 3.75% and up

I'm a big fan on online savings accounts. The interest rates far exceed what most local banks offer. Of late, even my two online banks rates are very low. Amtrustdirect is currently paying 2.5% and Emigrantdirect is paying 2.75%.

I'm pleased to let you know that the Free Methodist Foundation is paying 3.75% on their Flexible Certificate. Basically a flexible certificate is a savings account. You can get you money back in your hands within hours if you need it back that quick. The Foundations 1 year certificate is paying 4.25%. These are great rates in today environment.

One of the questions I get asked when I give the foundation props for their interest rate is, "Is it safe?". Yes. The foundation has been doing this for over 50 years and they have never defaulted on investment dollars.

So, put your money to work with the best interest rate available. Here's the foundations phone number if you've got questions for them. 800.325.8975

New browser for me. . . .

On our home PC we have been having trouble with our Firefox version 2.x browser. My family wanted me to go back to Internet explorer. I won't move back to IE for a number of reasons. Security and pop-ups being the biggest reasons.

I could upgrade to Firefox version 3 or search for an alternative. And search I did. I came across a great and cool browser called Flock. Flock titles itself as "the browser for people who like to be connected". I don't know about that but I do know it's fast. I downloaded the beta. version 2. It runs on Firefox 3. I figured I get the best of both browsers. From my point of view, I did.

My family seems to be pleased with Flock as well. Faster page loads, a cool clean look and easy navigation. Give Flock a look it may become your new browser.

TransUnion settlement makes your Credit Score Free to you

TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting agencies recently settled the class-action lawsuit that accused the company of improperly selling consumer information to marking companies.

How does that impact you?

You can now get free credit monitoring services and your credit score from TransUnion as part of the $75 million dollar settlement.

Click here for a summary of the settlement.

To receive benefits from this settlement, you must register by September 24, 2008. You may register for the following benefit options:

1. Sign up for six months of credit monitoring services. If you select this option, you can also register to possibly receive cash benefits in the event of a cash distribution or file an individual lawsuit against the Defendants.
2. Sign up for nine months of enhanced credit monitoring services. If you select this option, you will not receive any further benefits, including a cash payment, and you will not be able to file an individual lawsuit against the Defendants.
3. Register to possibly receive a cash payment. If you select this option, you can also sign up for six months of credit monitoring; however if you receive a cash payment, you cannot file an individual lawsuit against the Defendants.

You may only register once. Individuals with multiple submissions will only be eligible for the benefit chosen in the first registration.

Click here to sign up. (I'm choosing #1)

In need of a Financial Pick-Me-UP?

From time to time, I need a good Financial Pick-Me-UP. I just have those moments, days, weeks, where it feels like I'm going backwards in with my financial game plan and goals. (Hey, that's life and I know God is in control.) It's all his anyway.

One of the ways I get out of this financial funk is to tune into the Dave Ramsey Radio Show. My favorite way to listen is via Dave's web site and his archived shows. This way, I can listen via my computer or download a show or two onto my mp3 player. I especially like listening to Friday's show as callers get to yell, I'm DEBT FREE. This gets me "juiced".

So, take a listen. You'll be financially "richer" for the time you listened. Maybe it will even keep you from paying what Dave referrers to as "Stupid Tax".

What's your Walk Score?

In my never ending quest to save a buck or two, I'm considering walking to the library today. (I've got a book waiting for pick-up and I want to read the current bicycling magazine.) In searching the internet to find the distance between my house and our library, I came across a cool web site called Walk Score.

What is Walk Score? You put in your home address, then Walk Score lists the services near your house in a bunch of different categories (movie theaters, schools, parks, libraries, grocery stores, restaurants and on and on). It also assigns a "score" which provides a numerical estimate of how good your location is in terns of resources available within reasonable walking distance.

My address didn't score so well. I got a 17 out of 100. Yea but I can jump on my bicycle and ride a 25 mile loop and only pass a dozen cars. (That's how many I counted on my ride today.)

Anyway, the library is 1.28 miles from my house. I'm up for the walk but I don't think my kids will be for it.

Thanks or Thanks for Nothing

The other day while I was reading through a financial magazine, I came across an advertisement from a mutual fund company that showed to "yellow sticky notes" The first note said "Thanks" and the second note said "Thanks for Nothing".

What will your financial future say to you if it could talk with you today? Will your future be thanking you or cursing you?

Want to be thanked? You can do so by saving for retirement. In my opinion, the best places to save for retirement are here and in this order.

1. Your employers retirement plan up to the employer match. The employer match is FREE money. You'll never get a better return than that.
2. A Roth IRA. Earnings are tax FREE.
   

At the 1/2 way point

Goals are very important. I believe we should all have some.

I've got goals in the following areas of my life

1. spiritual
   
2. family
3. financial
4. personal
   
5. work

Today I hit the half way mark on one of my personal goals. I set a bicycle mileage goal of 2,000+ miles a year. This weekend I went over the 1,000 mile mark. take a look at the last number 1009.8.

Do you remember your fist time?

You used your debit card that is.

The learning experience, with me as the teacher and my 15 year old son as the student completed another chapter today. After much grass mowing and a few deposits into his Chase checking account, Chaz road his bike through the ATM lane and made his first cash withdrawal.

Before he left the house, I walked him through what to expect and how the process would work. He said while at the ATM, everything worked just as I had explained to him with one exception.

He said a voice came from the speaker that said, "young man, what are you doing? come over here so I can talk to you." Chaz looked up and the teller working the drive through was motioning to him to come over to the window. I asked Chaz what did you do? He said, "I waived at her, finished my transaction, took the cash from the machine and road off."

I know Chaz was pleased with his first Debit Card transaction. I happy he's learning how to work for his money, that he's only got a finite amount to spend, and the banking system takes a little bit of time before a check turns into available cash.

I wonder what story the teller is taking about to the other bank employees?

A great story on Debt to good not to share

The Wall Street Journal recently did a story on Debt. Titled "Hi, My Name is Fred, and I'm Addicted to Debt.

The article mentions two of my favorite things. Financial Peace University and Granger Community Church.

If you have a few minutes check out the Wall Street Journal article by clicking here.

Help me reach my goal. . .

August 7th thru 10th, I'll be riding my bicycle from Cleveland Ohio to Cincinnati Ohio to raise money for the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. (300+ miles)

• Day 1 Cleveland to Wooster (75 miles)
• Day 2 Wooster to Columbus (90 miles)
• Day 3 Columbus to Dayton (70 miles)
• Day 4 Dayton to Cincinnati (75 miles)

The Hope Lodges are beautiful facilities provide free, supportive lodging to of cancer patients and caregivers who have to travel for treatment. They have helped more than 15,000 cancer patients and caregivers avoid millions in hotel bills and travel expenses.

On this post, I'm asking you to consider helping me reach my goal of $1,000. If you can help, please click on this link. Todd's Hope Lodge page.

Thanks so much.

Todd

Summertime savings. . .

Today the temperature is forcasted to reach 94 degrees. Ouch. So I'd say summertime is officially here even though the calendar doesn't say so yet.

One of the things I love most about this time of the year is all the fresh fruits and vegetables that are all over the place from roadside stands to the local grocery.

Did you know that depending on what month of the year it is, fruits and vegetables are cheaper in some months verses others? Hey, I'm always on the lookout to save money.

About.com has a great post by month on the best month to buy fruits and veggies. I've copied May's and June's list here and if you want to see every month here is a link to the post. (Click here.)

May

cherries, pineapples, apricots, okra, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce

June

watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, corn, lettuce

Enjoy Summer. I know I will.

Saved some $$ and am healthier for it

I've always wanted to try riding my bike to work. (I know I can do the distance as it's only 10.5 miles) The issue for me was putting all my work cloths in a backpack before I got on my bike.

Well today, I did it. I peddled my bike into work today. It was great. Even navigating two "big" hills it only took me 40 minutes. I showered and am ready to go.

Exercise in the a.m. really sets the tone for me. I forgot how great and energizing it is.

One other benefit of peddling to work. It's a creative way to save a few dollars by leaving my car in the garage and I'm healthier for it.

Start your day off right

How I start my day set's the tone for my entire day. I did a lot of reflecting this weekend and I realized the way I start my day is the most important thing I do all day.

So here's my list of morning rituals.

1. Tell God good morning and thank him for waking me up.
2. Take the dogs out (Ok, this one doesn't motivate me but it must be done.)
3. Say out lout 10 things I'm thankful for. (It's hard to start off on the wrong foot when your thankful first thing in the morning.
4. Touch my two kids while they are still sleeping.
5. Say this daily prayer before I leave the house.

Father God, It is a privilege to be your child. It's a gift of grace I don't fully comprehend. I thank you for your wondrous love for me, and I ask that you would help me lead a life that honors you. He me live according to the truth that my identity is based on who I am IN Christ. May I seee myself and others through your eyes. May I understand more clearly how much you love me & let that love empower & guide me. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ through whom you graciously demonstrated your amazin love for me.

How do you start your day?

Identity Safety / Fraud

How much do you think about your Identity theft? I've thought about it enough to purchase Identity theft insurance. It's cheap and easily added to your home owners insurance.

I came across a cool little online test that looks at your ID safety. This test got me thinking. Here are my results. Take the test and let me know what your score was. (I scored in the top 3rd) Click here for the test.

Your Score is 26.

Please note that a perfect score is 0 and the worst possible score is 100; a typical score is 38.

Congratulations! Your scored among the top third of those taking the Javelin identity safety quiz.

Here's what you need to do to improve your identity safety:

• Eliminating paper statements eliminates the threat posed by unsecured mailboxes and minimizes the need to shred sensitive documents. Many companies allow you to turn off mail delivery of paper bills and statements. Whenever possible, cancel mail delivery of your paper bills and statements, and review statements and pay bills online.
• If you have paper records, shred every document before placing it in the trash.
• Regularly use and update anti-virus/anti-spyware software to protect your electronic transactions from potential online threats. Keep your home and office PC operating system and browser up to date.
• Credit reports and credit monitoring services are very successful in detecting fraud cases and usually report the lowest consumer costs of resolving the fraud compared to all other detection methods. Review your credit report monthly or more because acts of fraud are generally harder to detect in new accounts than in existing accounts.
• Almost half of fraud discovery continues to be done by the consumer. Self-detection also averages a quicker time of discovery, lower fraud amounts, and lower consumer costs than notification by businesses or institutions. Review bank and credit card statements regularly. You can monitor account activity on a timelier basis, 24x7, by having bills, statements, and checks securely sent online.
• Refrain from leaving unnecessary sensitive information where others could potentially access it.

Javelin Strategy & Research is proud to present www.IDsafety.net and the ID Safety Quiz to help increase consumer and business awareness concerning identity theft and fraud. Hopefully this quiz has given you some useful tools and tips to better protect your identity in the future. For more information concerning this crime as well as additional tips on how to combat it, please download the "2008 Identity Fraud Survey Report" by selecting the "2008 ID Fraud Report" tab at the top of the page.

Go Tribe

I promise once the holiday weekend is officially over, I'll get back to my financial posts.

My family and I have had a great holiday weekend thus far. Spending lots of time together. We started it off with a Cleveland Indians game. Thanks for the tickets Larry. They were awesome. 2nd row on the third base side.

Here are some cool pictures from the game. Enjoy.

Grady Sizemore (It was Grady bobble head night)


Katie & Chaz before the game from our seats.


Cleveland has a great scoreboard.

Me time this weekend. . . . I road just under 100 miles on my bicycle. (Yes!)

Biggest & Best for last!

Spring is almost in the books and Summer is just around the corner. But wait, Thanks to Jim Troyer, a super volunteer here at NewPointe, I get one last great taste of Spring.

I know you cant see the ruler very well in the picture but these babies are 5 inches long. Ted, if you can get to my house by 5 pm, I'll put one on your plate.

Learning about money. . . .

Want a great and easy way to learn more about money and finance? I hope so. I'm always on the lookout for good information on the topics of money and finance.

It's well worth your time to explore bankrate.com.

Their personal finance tab is an outstanding place to start.

They have a 12 part series on personal finance that is outstanding. So, take some time this week and explore this site. You'll be better and hopefully richer for it.

Jing it

As I've noted in the past, I'm always on the lookout for great new, and my favorite "Free" tools. This weekend at the Dynamic Church Conference, my buddy Dave Moore told me about Jing.

So, what is Jing? Here's how Tony Dunckel, the Jing Product (err, Project) Manager describers it:

“Think of Jing as a supplement to all your chat discussions, email threads, forum posts and blog entries. It sits nicely on your desktop, ready to capture and share your stuff at a moment’s notice. Simply select an area of your screen, capture it as an image or record it as a video, and then click Share.

Here's my first Jing. I did it to show our staff how to get to the training videos for our church management software. I'll be creating lots more Jings soon.

Day one in Texas over

I wanted to blog last night but was too tired after leaving my house at 4:30 am and not getting to my hotel room until 9 pm. So, I'm blogging before I hit the Dynamic Church Conference for day 2.

A quick rap up of day one. (Great Day) - Sessions I attended

1. Key Note from Jeff Hook CEO of Fellowship Tech
2. F1 and multi-site campuses
3. Granger Community Church's F1 super team
4. Best practices for reconciling online payments
5. Dinner on F1, great conversation and ideas.

Have met some really great new people, touched based with friends made last year, scorring brownie points with F1 staffes with the giveaways I brought for them. I really appreciate all they do for me.

2 for 2

I'm getting ready for my 2 trip to the 2nd annual Dynamic Church Conference. (2 for 2). I'm very much looking forward to connecting with Dave Moore, finance director at granger community church and Mark Lindsley, F1 Guru. I also hope to make a few new contacts.

Last years conference taught me a great deal on how other churches from around the country are using Fellowship One, our church management software, in creative ways. I'm hoping for some of that same type of insight this year.

I'm most looking forward to Granger's presentation as to how their F1 team works. (No pressure Dave.)

I've decided to leave my laptop sitting here on my desk as the conference pretty much runs late into the evening. On Friday night, I'll enjoy an up-close concert by Lincoln Brewster.

The only downside of this trip. . . . no bike riding for me on Saturday.

NewPointe's 50lb challenge results. (Wow)

90 days ago, the staff at new point formed 6 team for our third and final "health and wellness" program, year #1.

Each 4 person team had to loose 50lbs total in 90 days to reach the goal. I'm very pleased to say that all 6 team exceeded the 50lbs. With Team #4 "The BJ's" (Bill, John, Jon, Jane) loosing the most weight at a whopping 104.2 lbs.

Here are some other cool facts from the last 90 days.

1. Total weight lost 449lbs
2. Most weight lost by one person 32.6lbs
3. Most percentage weight lost by one person 16%
4. Total inches lost over 500
5. A much healthier and happier staff.

As a side note, I dropped 10lbs. That weight loss has helped me peddle up the hills faster on my bike. I'm liking that.

Where's my stimulus check?

Have you received your IRS stimulus check yet? If not, don't worry. Here's the schedule from the IRS web site. (www.irs.gov)

Remember to pay yourself first and consider giving some of it away before you spend the rest.

People who use direct deposit also will be among the first to receive the payments starting April 28. Direct deposits will be made daily and completed by the date listed below:

DIRECT DEPOSIT

Last two SSN digits:	Payments will be transmitted no later than:
00 through 20	May 2
21 through 75	May 9
76 through 99	May 16

Paper checks will also go out based on Social Security number. For Social Security numbers ending in 00 through 09, the paper checks will be mailed starting May 9 and will continue through May 16. A similar process will be repeated in the following weeks.

PAPER CHECK

Last two SSN digits:	Payments will be mailed no later than:
00 through 09	May 16
10 through 18	May 23
19 through 25	May 30
26 through 38	June 6
39 through 51	June 13
52 through 63	June 20
64 through 75	June 27
76 through 87	July 4
88 through 99	July 11

People who file a return after April 15 will receive their economic stimulus payment, but probably later than the schedule shows. A return must be filed by October 15 in order to receive a stimulus payment this year.

If you still have questions after reading this schedule, you can call 1-800-829-1040.

Amazing Spring Time Treat

Last night at small group, my buddy Todd (Not me, the other Todd in our group) handed me a bag of just picked morel mushrooms. Now I'm not a guy who gives or likes getting hugged, but I gave Todd a great big hug for these.

If you never had morel mushrooms, you don't know what you are missing. I'd rather have these than lobster or shrimp.

The morel's on this plate are gone already. I had them for supper. They were unbelievable. I did save a few to cook up tomorrow morning for breakfast. Can't wait for that.

500 miles rain and all

Do we? Don't we? We did. . . .

We decided to head out for a bike (bicycle) ride this afternoon. Ended up riding 15 miles in a downpour. But hey, I had to get home. (We were really hoping to have a 2 - 3 hour window with no rain. We were wrong.)

The good news is today's ride 33 miles pushed me over the 500 mile mark for 2008. 1,000 miles here I come.

Car replacement fund back at $0 (That's Life)

I finally got my 1998 VW Beetle TDI running great again. Thank you so much Beechy's. You guy do wonderful work. The problem was I had a tremendous amount of carbon buildup in the air recirculation system. Basically, my car was chocking for lack of air.

With my car in my garage, and repair bills topping $1,500, the thought did cross my mind is it time to replace my car? The short answer is NO. See, I had roughly $1,000 in my car replacement fund. The other $500 for the repair work came out of our emergency fund. Now for the longer version of the story.

While my car was in the shop and I was begging for rides to and from work, I started thinking what a hassle this is. I should be looking for a replacement car and say goodbye to the bug. After all my parents and mother-in-law were telling me it was time for a new car. Then I woke up.

See, here's what really matters.

1. The average car payment is now $350 over 60 months. In one year that's $4,200. Much more than the $1,500 I spent in repairs.
2. I'm never, ever going to be a slave again to a car payment. It's just not worth it.
3. My son will be behind the wheal in 6 short months. I don't want him to think a car payment is the way "dad buys cars".
4. I believe God will reward me for staying out of debt.

So, starting this next pay, I'll be building back up my emergency fund to replace the $500. Once that's done, it will be time to start saving in the car fund. Someday, I will have to say goodbye to the Beetle and when that day comes, I'll be paying cash.

$15 for your will. Now what's your excuse?

I recently met with a great young married couple who are well on their way to getting out of debt and financial peace. It's great to see spouses on the same financial page and attacking debt together.

One of the many things we discussed was there need for a will. Well, Dave Ramsey to the rescue again. Linking to US Legal Forms from Dave's web site allows you to get a will for only $15. If you don't have a will get one. With only costing $15 there is absolutely no reason not to have this vital legal document in place.

If you don't want to do it yourself, they do it for you for only $49.

Click here and you'll be taken to US Legal Forms and have your will in no time.

Big Day . . . .

Friday was a big day for me and my just turned 15 year old son Chaz.

I picked Chaz up after school and we headed over to JP Morgan Chase bank. For his 15th birthday, I helped Chaz open up a checking account complete with a debit card. He's more excited about the money his mom and I deposited into the account for his birthday than the checking account but I'm more excited about the money lessons he's already learning. Here's some of the money / life lessons he's learning already.

1. How to fill out a deposit slip and record this in his checkbook.
2. The first check he wrote was his tithe check.
3. How to record his tithe check in his checkbook.
4. How cool it is to see his balance increase with depositing his other birthday money and this weeks mowing money. (He's mowing 4 yards this year.)
   
5. Trying to decide whether an Xbox is really worth taking his new checkbook balance down to zero. (No final decision yet.)
   
   

Best lessons here for me.

1. Knowing and trusting my son enough at 15 year young to manage his own money and put a checkbook and debit card in his hand.
   
2. Seeing his mental wheels turn with all the "firsts" in using his checkbook.
3. Watching him go back and forth in trying to decided "do I or don't I" buy an Xbox or save the funds towards' his first car. (There's another great blog post here.)
4. Knowing that I showing and teaching him good money habits that's he'll be using long after he's moved out of our house. (Sooner than I think his mom or me will be ready for.)

This is one of these life moments for me where I think to myself "Life is good." Thanks God!

Roth IRA Basics

I've talked about Roth IRA's in lots of posts. In doing so, I've made some assumptions that everyone knows what a Roth IRA is. We'll, we all know what happens when we assume.

So, here's the 411 on a Roth.

1. Where did the name "ROTH" come from? The Roth IRA was born on January 1, 1998 as a result of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. It's named after the late Senator William V. Roth, Jr.
   
   
2. What's the big deal with a "ROTH" vrs a regular IRA? The chief advantage of the Roth IRA is the ability to have investment earnings completely escape taxation. This is a really big deal.
   
   
3. When can I contribute to my Roth? Annual IRA contributions can be made between January 1 of that year and April 15 of the following year. Because of the extra three and a half months, if you send in a contribution to your IRA custodian between January and April, be sure to indicate the year of the contribution so the appropriate information gets sent to the IRS. Remember, contributions to a Roth IRA are never deductible from a taxpayer's income (unlike a traditional IRA).
   
   
4. How much can I contribute in 2008? $5,000 if under age 50. $6,000 if 50 and older.
   
   
5. Can I take money out of my Roth without penalty? *Contributions can be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free at any time. *There is 5-year clock 'A'. Clock 'A' starts on the first day of the first tax year in which any Roth IRA is opened and funded. *Earnings can be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free after Clock 'A' hits 5 years and a qualifying event (such as turning 59.5, disability, etc.) occurs.
   
   
6. Are there income limits for eligibility? (Can I make too much money to contribute?) Yes. You need to look at your Modified Adjusted Gross Income. This is the last amount on the first page of your tax return. If this amount is greater than:
   
   *Single filers: Up to $101,000 (to qualify for a full contribution); $101,000-$116,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution)
   *Joint filers: Up to $159,000 (to qualify for a full contribution); $159,000-$169,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution)

I'm a firm believer that no matter what type of retirement plan your employer offers, you will greatly benefit from having a ROTH IRA.

What type of retirement plan is right for me?

This post is in response to a recent comment I received form relientk008.

The question posed to me was, "as a teacher, should I consider other forms of retirement savings in addition to State Teachers Retirement?" Now if your not a teacher this post is still for you because everyone should save for retirement both through their employer and on their own using a Roth IRA.

Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before you start thinking about saving for retirement, You must establish an Emergency Fund. Start with $1,000 in savings. Next, you need to pay off all you consumer debt. Attack it! Kill it. When it's zero, now it's time to start saving for retirement.

Here's what I do.

1. I contribute 3% into NewPointe's retirement plan. Why 3%? Because the church matchs 100% up to that amount. I've just made a 100% return on my investment. That's way cool.
2. Next, I fund my Roth IRA as much as possible. The limit for 2008 is $5,000 / $6,000 if you are 50 or older. If your married, then double these amounts. (Hands down, the outside of company matching funds, the Roth IRA is the greatest retirement vehicle ever.) Why? Because 100% of the growth, and that's where the wealth comes from is TAX FREE when you take it out at retirement age.

Where do I have my Roth? Sound Mind Investing Fund.

relientk008, I hope you and everyone found this post helpful.

Fantastic Results - Lives changed!

Last night we finished this round of Financial Peace University classes here at NewPointe. The results were fantastic. Take a look.

1. # of graduates 29
2. # of Credit Cards cut up / destroyed in class 56
   
3. New Debt offered through credit cards $4,261,050
4. Total debt paid off during the class $57,110
5. Total amount put into savings $16,794
6. Most debt paid off by one couple $13,100
7. Most amount put into savings by one couple $5,000

I can't describe how great I feel in being part of this life change. It's truly a gift from God

5 best and different retirement calculators

I'm always on the lookout for great financial tools. Today I stumbled across CNN Money's web site that list the "Best online retirement calculators". You can visit the site by clicking here. These calculators address the following issues.

1. Am I on track to a secure retirement?
2. Am I investing properly?
3. Should I go for a Roth IRA?
4. How long will my money last?
5. How much income can I get?

Check it out when you have a minute

Eliminate Pre-approved Credit Card Offers from your mailbox

Those pre-approved credit card offers that arrive in your mailbox can be very tempting to identity thieves. Once they get their hands on that credit card offer, they can complete it and change the address in the process.

That's all it takes to open up a credit card account in your name. Unbelievable isn't it. Fortunately, there is a way for you to opt-out of these pre-approved credit card offers. Just visit the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website at www.optoutprescreen.com. The process takes less then 5 minutes. It's well worth your time and it's a great step toward financial peace.

Did you know?

I know I'm a financial nerd. So much so that I subscribe the the Social Security Administration's monthly digest bulletin. Sound exciting? Ok, maybe not but here's some news you may find interesting.

2017 is the year the projected point at which tax revenues will fall below program costs. Translation. Benefits being paid out exceed money coming in. Ouch. If this is only 9 years away, why isn't anyone talking about it?

I'm not a "sky is falling" person. I do think this topic should be on the forefront of what our elected officials should be talking about.

And if you were wondering, The projected point at which the Trust Funds will be exhausted comes in 2041.

Been contacted by the IRS yet?

Be on the lookout in your email inbox form anything that says its from the IRS. There are several email and even telephone scams using the IRS name as a lure.

The scam is to trick you int revealing personal and financial information such as:

1. Social Security Number
2. Bank Account Information
   
3. Credit Card Information

They will use this info to commit identity theft.

Here are a few of the most recent scams:

1. Email notifying you that your tax return has been selected for an audit. (The IRS does NOT contact taxpayers via email.)
   
2. Early filer rebate. You get a phone call from a so called IRS agent saying that because you filed your taxes early, you qualify for a special rebate.
   
3. Status of IRS check. Phone call or email from the "IRS" saying your rebate hasn't cleared the bank yet and they want to verify your banking information to follow-up on your refund check.
   

If you receive anything like this, the IRS is asking you to notify them via email at phishing@irs.gov. (Now I think it's kind of funny that the IRS is warning taxpayer about email scams and then the IRS is asking you to report it to them via email)

Cool Financial Site & I'm published there

I'm always on the lookout for tools, articles and tips that give me "financial nuggets". Recently, I was introduced to "Your Money Now" by Amanda Ransburg. She's the Deputy Director of Communition Technology for the Ohio Treasurer of State's office.

Your Money Now is a web site dedicated to helping you make heads and tails out of your finances. I'm very proud to say that an article I submitted to the is currently featured on the home page.

If you've ever wondered how to respond to a cashier when you have handed over your debit card as payment for a transaction and the cashier asks, "debit or credit" then you'll want to follow this link to read my advise.

Spring Cleaning to Debt Freedom!

Well I think I can say that Spring is finally arriving here in Ohio. Temps in the 50's and low 60's all this week. This weekend, while I was hosing and blowing out all the salt from my garage I noticed all the "Stuff" (thinks I don't use or want anymore) that just seems to accumulate over the winter.

Spring cleaning is a great time to identify the stuff you no longer use or could do without. Resolve to get that stuff out of your house via Ebay or an upcoming garage sale. You'd be surprised at how much other people are willing to pay for you so called junk.

Selling stuff you have around your house is one of the best ways to eliminate your consumer debt and begin to build wealth. Just this week, I had a conversation with my neighbor and he sold his "off-road" motorcycle that he hasn't ridden in two years. (Way to go Ben build some wealth.)

I'm guessing if you'd spend 10 minutes in your basement or garage, you could find 10 things worth selling. Give it a try. Let me know what you come up with.

Money Advise

Money. It's not a dirty word. Money by itself is not good or bad. It's what you do with what you have that makes the difference. Ah but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Have you given thought as to why you do what you do with money? Where or who has taught you how to handle it? We all know that you have to spend less than you make or you'll never get ahead. Yet we as American's have a negative savings rate.

Where's a good place to start to get your financial life going in the right direction? I'd like to suggest a book. Hey, books are low to no investment dollars and a great return on your time.

By far one of the best books you could ever read is Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. If you're looking for a financial game plan, this book is for you. If your wondering, "am I doing this financial thing the best way I can, then read the book. Go get it at the library and read it for FREE.

If you're like most, handling money in your household has been hit and miss at best. You'll never get control of your finances this way. Make the decision today to win financially.

Did you see one yet?

In getting the cash register door ready for Aqua tonight. (Aqua is our Singles ministry every other Tuesday night.) For the first time I came across one of the new $5 bills.

My first reaction was, wow, this is pretty cool. My second reaction was this looks like monopoly money. Have you come across one of these new $5 bill yet? When you do, please post a comment on where you first saw it.

Things I did on a Snowy Spring Saturday

Well, this weather stinks. I woke up to snow flurries and it's been that way all day. I didn't let the weather get me down. My day has been very enjoyable so far. Here's some highlights.

1. Coffee and the local paper.
2. Walked the dogs. Twice so far today.
   
3. Catch up on the blogs I follow.
4. Read a few chapters of the book "Margin". Thanks Kevin.
5. Off to the library and read the following magazines: Bicycling (5 issues), Fortune, Forbes, Men's Health, Money, Real Simple & Smart Money. I love the library.
   
6. Check-out the following books: Lance Armstrong Performance Program; Becoming a Millionaire God's way,The Millionaire Maker, and Not-for-Profit Accounting.
7. Detailed my Felt Bicycle and put on two brand new tires. (Can't wait to put miles on them.)

The rest of my day? I'm trying to get the grease off my hands from detailing my bike. After that, I'm cook'en fish for supper then I'm diving into the books I checked out of the library today.

Have a great Easter Sunday.

Is the sky falling?

Even if you don't follow the stock market on a consistent basis, I'm sure you've heard all the gloom and doom about your investment or retirement dollars. We'll I'm one more voice that here to tell you, don't panic.

First of all, investing is considered to be savings for a period of greater than 5 years. I'm 41 years old so retirement for me is still 25 years away. So, that means I'm an investor when it comes to saving for retirement. At this stage of the game for me, I look at the down turns in the market as "everything" is on sale. So using the principal of dollar-cost-averaging, I'm getting more shares for my investment dollars right now.

Why and I calm when the market is down so much already this year? Great question. Take a look a the chart below. There are some major "bad news" events listed here. Look at where the market ended up 5 years after the "bad news". The worst return was over 8%. So take heart, keep funding your retirement plan and ignore all the "financial experts" on TV.

I love a bargin

I'm always on the look out for getting the most for my money. I get really excited when I get a great deal on something that I've been looking for.

Last fall, my sandles finally bit the dust. (pun intended). So I've been casually looking for a new pair ever since. I now own a new pair. Check this out.


Original price was $45.00. The price I paid was $9.97. That's a whopping 78% savings. I must admit, I'm more excited about getting a pair of $45 shoes for $9.97 than the actual shoes themselves. Although I must say I look very stylish in them.

Anyway, always be on the lookout for getting the most out of your hard earned dollars. Here's to your financial peace.

5 cool "Free" softwares

I'm always on the look out for useful and free software. Here's 5 that you should check out for your own use.

1. Abiword
www.abisource.com
Replaces Microsoft Word
Want a good word processor but find Microsoft Word too expensive? AbiWord is my favorite replacement for Word. It’s lightweight (meaning it runs quickly) and includes pretty much every feature that I use regularly in a word processor, plus it can save files in formats that you can exchange with Word and WordPerfect users, plus open any of their files, too.

2. OpenOffice
www.openoffice.org
Replaces Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint
If you want to replace the rest of the Office suite, your best bet is OpenOffice. It includes very nice replacements for Excel and PowerPoint (and workable replacements for Access and other Office elements).

3. KeePass
keepass.sourceforge.net
KeePass is a program that securely stores and manages the abundance of passwords we all use on a daily basis.

4. GnuCash
www.gnucash.org
Replaces Microsoft Money or Quicken
GnuCash is a slimmed-down version of the bloated Microsoft Money and Quicken packages, but it contains all of the features I want for managing my money. The interfaces are incredibly simple - it functions much like a checkbook ledger on your computer - but there’s a lot of meat hidden throughout the software.

5. Firefox
www.getfirefox.com
Replaces Internet Explorer
If you haven’t switched to Firefox for your web browsing needs, do it now. It stops annoying popups and it has lost of plugins that can make surfing the web even better.

Emergency Fund. . . . Thank you God

What's the first step in a sound financial plan? Answer: An emergency fund. I sure am glad my family has one. Unfortunately, today I got to use it.

I took my beloved 1998 VW turbo diesel Beetle into the shop today because it was sounding funny and not running the best. It has 101,000 miles on it. I dropped off the keys in the night drop, my wife picked me up and off to work we went. (We both work at NewPointe.)

The first call from the shop wasn't to bad. New glow plugs $275 parts and labor. I thought doable. About a 1/2 hour later, ten the other shoe dropped. The second call came, I need to replace the catalytic converter. Ouch! I'm looking at a total bill of $1,400. (Other than normal oil changes and the deer that hit me, this repair is all I've put into my car in more than 2 years.) Much cheaper than a car payment.

Anyway, I told the shop, no problems with the repair bill. Let's get my car running good. I thanked them for their work and asked them to give me a call when they are finished.

Do I like pulling $1,400 out of my families emergency fund? No way. But I'm very thankful that I have it to pull out. Because in the past, a car emergency also meant we had a financial emergency. Now I get to just fix the car then work on putting the dollars back into my emergency fund over time.

Take back your money for FREE

Ok, I'm assuming by now you have completed and filed your 2007 tax return or you are very close to doing so. I'm also assuming you received a refund. I'm sure you've heard that by getting a refund you are allowing Uncle Sam to use your money all year long without paying you any interest on your money. (This is true.)

With that being said, I know people are deathly afraid of owing money at tax time. So where's the balance? Hey, I even like getting a little refund. I found a tool that will help with this. Here's the link. It's Kiplinger's tax withholding calculator. You'll have to have your 2007 tax return in hand to use this tool.

When I ran the calculation for myself, it told me I should be claiming 2 extra withholdings. This would add another 87.50 per month to my take home pay. This sure will help when $4 a gallon gas comes this summer.

21 more. . .

Things keep getting better and better on Tuesday nights. Yep, Tuesday is Financial Peace University night at NewPointe and that pumps me up.

We began class again by cutting up more credit cards.

21 destroyed last night. That brings our class total to 54

I can't describe the feeling I have for days when people destroy their credit cards. Not because credit card by themselves are evil but because of the bondage people end up living in because of what they use them for.

Newsflash, credit cards are not an emergency fund and should never be used as such. A starter emergency fund is $1,000 in the bank. You need to get there ASAP.

Renewal & Reflections

Larry, a good friend of mine, and I meet on Wednesday morning for coffee and growth. Currently Larry and I are reading "The Life you've always wanted" by John Ortberg.

Chapter 5 deals with a hurried life. I suffer from that! I can't wait to get with Larry to talk about this chapter. Anyway, I'm trying to change in this area and will need help doing so. One thing I intentionally did today was to reflect on my day as it went on. Doing so brought about renewal and relaxations.

Here's a list of what caught my attention today:

1. The warmth of the sun coming through the drives side window.
2. The Robins in my front yard.
3. Chaz, my son trying for the first time to drive my 5 speed VW Beetle.
4. My 18 mile bike ride. Oh how it refreshed me today!
5. NPCC Check-in Team Members for jumping in today.
6. My small group. We are growing closer together.
7. The melting snow. I hope this is the last of it.
8. A fellow NewPointer asking me for some financial advice. Word to the wise, stay away from ALOC loans (Advanced Lines of Credit)
9. My Wife, she is great.
10. My dogs. (I'll aways have at least one.)
    

How are your taxes coming?

Well, have you filed your tax returns yet? I've efiled my federal return and have also received my refund. I direct deposited it into my checking account. I'm holding off filing my State and City returns as I owe. I'm earning interest in my savings account from my federal refund until April 15th. At that time, I'll pull the funds out to send in with my State and City return.

If you are not one of the do-it-yourself people when it comes to you taxes, that's ok. However, I did come across an interesting story on Yahoo Finance titled "10-Things your tax preparer wont tell you". Its an interesting read. Check it out.

Happy filing.

How much will my Rebate be?

President Bush receintly signed the economic stimulas package into law. This means that sometime this summer, you'll be getting a rebate check in the mail from the IRS. This is an advance on the reduced taxes for 2008.

According to the IRS, the vast majority of Americans who qualify for the payment will not have to do anything other than file their 2007 individual income tax return to receive their payment this year. The IRS will use information on the tax return to determine eligibility and calculate the amount of the stimulus payments.

Please be aware that there are identity theft scams involving the proposed advance payment checks.

So exactly how much will your rebate be? Flexo at Consumerism Commentary recently shared a handy little tax rebate calculator. Check it out.

Never give up.

Today at church I had the opportunity to talk with some people who recently graduated from one of NewPointe's Financial Peace University classes.

One lady is a widower and she shared with my how much FPU has helped her and made a positive difference in her life. She is passing along what she learned to her adult children.

A married couple, who moved away last year were back for a visit today. It was great to see them and catch up with them. They shared with me how the principals they learned in FPU are giving them as she said, "Peace".

My heart was leaping for joy as I got to listen to the positive life change taking place. Although both stories were different, they both said it's hard work but it's worth it. I've come to realize anything in life that's worth having takes hard work and discipline.

Getting to financial peace is so worth it. Don't let anything get in the way.

More free Money

As you know, I'm a big, big fan of online savings accounts. AmTrust Direct is my favorite. They are paying 4.10%. If that's not enough of an incentive for you, here's one more reason to consider saving at AmTrust. Free money.

I received and email from them letting me know all I have to do is set up an automatic transfer from my checking account to AmTrust with a minimum of $100 a month for 3 months and they will deposit $50 into my savings account.

So, that's $50 in interest on $300 in 3 months. That's a 16.67% return in just 3 months. Now that's a serious return. I'm off to set up the automatic savings transfer.

Financial Lesson Learned by my 12 year old

My two kids have had a family share cell phone plan for about 4 months now. I must admit I was a little apprehensive in saying yes to a 12 & 14 year old having cell phones. The deal was $10 per week out of their commission goes toward paying their monthly bill. The are also responsible for any "Texting" overage.

This past month, I noticed my daughter, the 12 year old was texting a lot. About every other day, I'd ask her if she was getting close to her 1,000 text messages. She kept telling me "no dad". It's ok. Long story short, she is about 1,000 texts over this month. Roughly $150 dollars over.

I stayed calm and cool, asked her to hand over her phone and that she was grounded from the phone until she repaid the overages. Based on her "spendable" weekly commission, it was going to take her about 7 weeks before she would have her phone back or any spendable money.

My daughter is very, very opportunistic. She rounded up her Nintendo DS and 8 games. She told me she doesn't play with it anymore and asked if I'd help her list it on Ebay. I said sure and it was truly a fun father, daughter and son, (he did most of the work) evening.

We put a "buy it now price" of $140 and in less than 5 minutes after it was listed, it was sold and she has her cell phone back.

Lesson Learned. . .

1. She said she won't go over he 1,000 texts anymore. No DS to sell next time.
   
2. She didn't like owing me money.
3. She was depressed she wasn't going to be able to go to the skating this Friday because she wouldn't have money to get in.
4. She sold something she didn't use anymore to get out of debt fast. (Great principle)
5. She's practicing Financial Peace! (Ya Baby!)

I'm off to pack and ship the DS to California.

Morning Coach. . . .

I'm always on the lookout for ways to continue to improve myself and to grow. I recently came across a website and podcast that is helping me do both.

MorningCoach.com is a 15 minute a day pick-me-up and it's the second best way to start my day. (The first is prayer) Morning Coach covers a variety of topics that range from motivation to health to tips and tricks to improve your day. I get my 15 minutes via their podcast. You can register on their web site for Free and be part of their daily conference call at 7:45 in the morning 365 days a year.

Morning Coach has a 4 1/2 star rating on Itunes and they are located under the self-help category. So check it out, learn and grow.

Life Change! (14 Credit Cards destroyed)

Tuesday night at our Financial Peace University class we had three couples say good-bye to a total of 14 credit cards. Four of them were cut up right there in class and 10 were cut up at home.

I get so excited when families say so long, no more to credit cards. Credit card debt is destroying lives. The number one way to start on the road to Financial Peace is to stop borrowing money.

I'm very humbled to be part of the life change that goes on here at NewPointe. Financial Peace University plays a big roll in that.

Opt Out - for (5 years)

Are you still getting unsolicited credit card offers in your mailbox? Do you ever wonder how and why you keep getting these?

Credit Card companies take a look at your credit report and based on what they see, decided to send you offers for their credit card. This blows my mind that any company can look at a credit report to determine if they want to market to you.

You can say good-bye to unsolicited credit card offers. All you have to do is go to OptOutPrescreen.com. If you complete the form online, you opt out for 5 years. Opt out via mail and you are out for life. Either way you need to Opt Out.

Money for Free?

What I'm referring to in my title is the soon to be passed tax rebate the government will be sending most of us to stimulate the economy. The typical family of 4 is looking at a $1,800 rebate. That's some serious cash.

If you are like most people, you are already dreaming of ways to spend the money. Here's what the readers of Kiplinger's web site are saying they would do with it.



I'm in the 19.5% number.

I want to strongly suggest to you that whatever you decide to do with the rebate, make the decision well before the check hit's your mailbox. If you are married, sit down with your spouse and put on paper where and what you are going to do with the money. This way when it arrives, you already have a plan and there is no $1,800 impulse purchase.

Cindy and I have already decided what we are going to do.

1. $200 giving to NewPointe
2. $300 invested in Chaz & Katie's Educational Savings Account
3. Balance into our emergency fund.

What's your plan?

10% on my Savings

Currently I have my checking account with JPMorgan Chase. Why? Because some time ago, they gave me $25 to open a checking account and with direct deposit, the checking account was free and so is their bill pay. I do like their bill pay. It works well.

I do not have my savings account with Chase. I have use two internet only banks for that. One is Emigrant Direct (They are paying 4.3%) and the other bank is Amtrust Direct (They are paying 5.11% on new accounts) These are both great rates.

I'm about to open a third savings account. This one at Chase. In todays mail, the sent me an offer. If I open up a saving account with $500, they will give me $25. The only catch is I have to leave $500 in the account for 6 months. Well, $25 on $500 is 5%. That is if I leave the money there for one year. Leaving in there for just 6 months turns that $25 into 10% return on my $500.

After the 6 months is up, I'll most likely roll the funds back to Emigrant or Amtrust. I love putting money to work.

Tax Refund Loans

Tax season is in full swing. I'm getting my usual phone calls asking if I'm ready to do a said relative or friends tax return. Believe it or not, I like doing a tax return or two.

Millions of people look froward to their tax refund and have spent that refund 20 times or more before they even get it. Well the marketers or "sharks" have in recent years come up with the brilliant idea of the "Refund anticipation loan". I say brilliant, because it is from the loaners stand point and very very stupid for those taking out the loan. Here's why.

The average effective interest rate on one of these loans is in the triple digits. That is simple outrageous. Here's the best idea related to your tax refund. Fill out a new W-4 at work so there is less taken out of your paycheck. This give you access to your refund every single paycheck. You don't have to wait to get it. Why continue to give the government use of your money for an entire year. Then have them return it to you once a year and they pay you zero percent interest.

Dollars for Body Fat

I hear lots of grumblings from business owners about the rising cost of health care insurance. This cost is always on my radar as the Director of Business Operations here at NewPointe. Coming up with creative ways to lower premiums is a priority for most every employer.

We have developed an employee wellness program that is working wonderfully in getting our staff to think and act healthier. According to an story I read in Work Force Management, The Wall Street Journal reported that an Indiana bank will give their employees up to a $500 bonus if certain health screenings show good numbers. One screening is for Body Fat percentage.

Is this going to far?

Money back Guarantee

NewPointe has put a challenge out to our church body. We want everyone to put fist things first. If you weren't with us last week, you missed a very challenging message from Dwight.

Dwight's challenge was for those not tithing to do so for Feb, March, and April and if this challenge is accepted and you do not see God moving in your life, then NewPointe will give you your money back that you tithed during the 90-day challenge.

Have you ever heard of a "money back guarantee" at church? Is this cool or what. I'm confident those who take the challenge will be amazed as to what God will do in their lives as they put first things first and honor God with their finances.

At NewPointe, we know God doesn't need your money. It's all God's anyway. Tithing is one very important indicator that God is first in your life.

By the way, we have had over 250 people sign up for the challenge already. Way cool!

Better than 411

I came across this cool tool some back in June at the Dynamic Church Conference. I was having lunch with Tony M when he pulled out his cell phone and dialed up Google 411.

Google 411 is a way cool tool and it's free unlike dialing 411 from your home phone. by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 to get a street address or phone number. If you haven’t tried it, here’s a YouTube clip (courtesy of Google) on how to give it a try.

And we are off

Last night was the fist night of 2008 Financial Peace University class at NewPointe. It was wonderful. We broke the seal of the newly produced Dave Ramsey DVD's for the class and I must say I'm very impressed by the improvements they have made.

The first class session was super savors. This class covers the need for an emergency fund.

1. $1,000 as a starter fund.
2. 3 to 6 months as a fully funded emergency fund.

An emergency fund is Murphy repellent.

The other major topic covered in super savers was the importance of actually saving money. The USA has a negative savings rate. We are spending more money than we make. Unbelievable. Don't be a negative saver. Come up with a plan.

I'll leave this post with a suggestion, set up and automatic savings withdraw from your checking account into a savings account. Make it automatic and make it happen every month. Your on your way to an emergency fund.

I'm still here

I usually try and post about every two to three days. As of late, I have been working feverishly on getting NewPointe's 2007 year closed. (We have an Accounting firm coming soon to review our books.)

In addition to that, I'm trying to get the month-by-month, expenses-by-expense, Ministry-by-Ministry budgets into QuickBooks.

These two things are keeping me very busy and I love it.

1/6/08 and 1,984 left to go. . . .

We'll it's only the 6th day of the new year and I got to put 16 miles on my bike today. I took advantage of the 52 degree weather after church and hopped on my road bike.

It's always bitter sweet for me when I reset my bike odometer. The bitter, theres' no more miles added to the total and I say good by to another year. This past year I road just over 2,200. The sweet, the odometer reads 0000 and its a fresh start.

The mileage goal for 2008 is 2,000. Will I reach it? I sure hope so but, the most important thing about goals is not really reaching them it's who you are becoming as a person as you reach for them.

W2's. . . . Done. . . . Income Taxes next

Do you have your W2 yet? We'll those who work at NewPointe have theirs waiting in the office mailbox. I invested this rainy Saturday morning in my office cranking out W2's for our staff. I love this time of year.

As you await your W2, how or what do you do to get organized to do your taxes. I label a folder "Taxes 2007" and as each tax form arrives in the mail, I put it in the folder with all the other forms.

Once they have all arrived, it's like a second Christmas for me as i fire up my copy of turbo tax and start inputting information. Come to think of it, I'm going to copy over my 2006 information to turbo tax right now.

Start 2008 off right

Happy New Year to you and welcome to my first post of 2008. You'll be glad you stopped by as I'm going to lead you to two days of FREE Financial Advice.

Kiplinger's has again partnered with NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisers) to bring you Kiplinger's Jump-Start your retirement plan days. On Tuesday Jan 15th & Friday Jan 25th, NAPFA members across the US will be standing by to answer your financial questions.

Normally, these fee-only planners charge clients between $100 to $250 an hour but on Jump-Start day you pay nothing. So if you have questions in any of the following areas, don't miss this FREE planning session.

1. Investments
2. Taxes
3. Insurance
4. Retirement
5. College funding
6. Estate Planning

Ok, here you go. Here's the phone number 888-919-2345.

Last year, over 12,000 people participated.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

,

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.