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The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now. Zig Ziglar
I couldn't say anything better than Zig Zigler said this. This is what I see people doing financially. I HAVE DONE THIS FINANCIALLY! I have made bad decisions because I made the trade! How does this quote work out in the financial world?
1. We trade our desire to live out our dreams for our desire to eat
Here is what that means. Most of us are eating our dreams. We go out to eat TOO MUCH! We spend 40 bucks here and 7 bucks their. Overtime we eat our dreams. We want to eat out now and we don't think about our future hopes and dreams that we need to save for! Am I against eating out? NO! However, you must PLAN how much you are going to eat out so you don't eat your fund!
2. We trade our retirement for a car payment
Most of us pay our retirement to cars. If we could just drive cheap paid for cars, we could save LITERALLY SAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! If we just put that extra 450 bucks a month (or whatever it is) into our retirement and not a car payment we would be millionaires! DON'T DRIVE YOUR RETIREMENT!!!
3. We trade our happiness for our pleasure
Here is what I mean by this. True happiness is found through financial peace. It is found in knowing that you are living wisely with money. It means your relationships are healthy. Most of us trade that stuff for buying stuff that makes us feel better. We buy those decorations or iphone or those new clothes or that new (whatever makes you feel better)!!!
IT IS NOT BAD buying stuff, but sometimes we trade our happiness of having financial peace for our desire to want something and want it now.
Lets think about the big picture and long term!
Any thoughts on this?
Okay, I had a BLAST at Piedmont Church in Macon, GA. Jerry Dingmoreis a GREAT leader and pastor. They are 8 months old averaging 350 in attendance. Today was the last week of their Big and Rich series. He had me down to do an on stage interview. I can't believe how well received it was. It doesn't matter if I am in Cumming, Ga or Macon, Ga or anywhere else --- EVERYONE DEALS WITH FINANCES! FYI if you are church planter or leader, YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT THIS CHURCH. They had some of the BEST volunteers I have ever been around in my life. They really did have it together.
As Kacie and I drove home tonight I told her that I think the ReThink Money needs a bigger vision. I am seeing the need of a hurting population. I am seeing the need for people to be giving a simple plan that works. I am seeing the need for marriages to be restored. I am seeing the need for people to have HOPE! I am SO SICK of seeing people with no hope when it comes to their money. After today, I am just more fired up about seeing lives changed one dollar at a time.
We told a ton of resources today and I hope all you guys in Macon can start the journey of finding financial freedom! I will see you guys this fall! I can't wait to be back.
UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE!!!!!
ReThink Money was in Cumming, GA this week teaching ReThink Money LIVE! That was awesome!
ReThink Money was in Macon, GA. We did the Sunday morning service!
THIS WEEK: ReThink Money will be in Montgomery, AL at Journey Church. I am really stoked about this week. I will be leading their ministry team through ReThink Money LIVE! Then I will meet with each team member and help them work through their spending plan and financial questions!
WANT RETHINK MONEY TO COME TO YOUR CHURCH OR BUSINESS:
EMAIL: cgraham@rethinkmoney.org
The fall is booking out...
I hardly ever blog at night. I am blogging tonight because I HAVE TO! The ReThink Money I just taught was OFF THE CHAIN! For you old folks that means it was *80's word* "RAD"!
I saw these people get FIRED UP about being out of debt. I saw hope back in people's lives. I did see people having to make TOUGH decisions about what they are going to do with their money. I saw people get serious about winning with money. I am sick as a dog and I LOVED TEACHING THIS CLASS. My blood is pumping. When I get down and start thinking that starting my organization is hard and I don't know if I can make it, I AM JUST GOING TO TEACH THE CLASS TO MYSELF! Teaching the class energizes me.
I am in the process of defining core values for ReThink Money. I believe a core value needs to be PASSION! If you are going to work in this organization, you better be passionate or you can go to some lame job. We are going to be passionate about everything we do. We make win big or lose big but we will be passionate about it the whole way up or down.
Please do me a favor. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What are my strengths?
2. What are my weaknesses?
3. If I could do anything in the world, what would I do and why?
4. If I could spend my life investing my time into something, what would it be?
5. Am I passionate about my job? If not, why not?
In answering these questions you can start to discern if you are working out of passion or not. I would love for every person to be passionate about what they do!!!!
DO I LOVE EVERY ASPECT OF MY JOB? NO, most of the time it is small task that I could take or leave. HOWEVER, I will do the small tasks all day long as long as I get to keep helping people change their lives one dollar at a time. This passion statement doesn't just hang on the wall, it is going to happen down the halls in this organization!!!
WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!
I love the name of that company.
Just an update on a company I did a ReThink Money LIVE event with!
100% of the people we surveyed stated YES to the following question:
Do you believe that having your personal finances in order will make you a more productive worker?
100%
Businesses... HELP YOU STINKING PEOPLE WITH LIFE, NOT JUST WORK! Email me and let me help. If you work for someone, give them this link and let them see what is happening at other places. Email me at cgraham@rethinkmoney.org
I have been sick this entire week. I hate being sick. It has been a year since I have had any sinus stuff going on. I was bragging about that last week and now I am sick!!! STUPID ME. Let me tell you something that Kacie (my wife) and I budget for each month.
DOCTOR VISITS!
This year has been the year for Doctor visits! Having a kid has BLOWN THE BUDGET when it comes to the amount of co-pays we have paid. So learn a lesson from me and budget more than you think you need for doctors. It gets expensive quick.
UPDATE:
Here is what I have lined up.
This September I will be at Riverchase United Methodist Church in Birmingham, AL. I will be doing their Sunday services and a ReThink Money LIVE event.
TONIGHT I am doing a ReThink Money LIVE event here in Cumming! Thanks to Steve Head for hosting the event!
This Sunday I will be in Macon, GA at Piedmont Church doing their Sunday morning service. I will be back to their place in the fall for a ReThink Money LIVE event.
Kacie and I are going on a date Friday night and taking the calendar and making sure I don't OVERBOOK!!! I am so thankful that God has blessed us with these opportunities. You never know what true faith looks like until you are really uncomfortable.
This is a weird post for me. Today has been very strange. I went to bed last night with a 100.5 temp. That was no fun. So I woke up this morning and felt like crap. I couldn't even go to church all day because I was just under the weather. I did what you do when you are sick, watch TV! I watched about a 2 hour special on the troops that invaded Iraq. It was amazing to see what these 18 year old men and women were doing. Here is where it gets strange... As I watched, I cried like a baby off and on for 2 hours. I don't know what has been going on in my heart but it is unique when it comes to the military. I have so much HONOR for them. I just want to thank them so much. I used to say that but not mean it, now I say it and I mean it with my whole heart.
I have a good friend named Dave Putman who serves in the Army. I hung out with him and his buddies recently (Trevor & Mikey). They are who I want to be when I grow up. They are so full of courage. They look after each other. They serve because they want to. They enlisted, nobody made them do it! I just wish I could do something to express my gratitude. That is why I had to write. I just had to. Guys, thanks for everything. Thanks for being on the front lines. Thanks for serving my family over seas. Thanks for providing a safe country for my daughter to grow up. You are HONORED by me and my family. We love you deeply and will help you any way you need it.
Over the past year, something has been pulling at my heart as it relates to our troops. I believe this generation is going to be a great generation of brave men and women who served and served well. To all the troops that have lost your lives... God be with you and peace to your families.
Periodic Expenses are what KILL spending plan. What is a periodic expense? It is money that should be saved monthly but isn't spent monthly. It is basically short term savings. Most people forget about things like:
Vacation
Dr. Visits
RX Copays
School Supplies
Property Taxes
Insurance Premiums
Kids Recreation
Christmas
Etc....
Here is what you need to do. Estimate how much you are expecting to spend. Lets say we are going to spend 1200 on vacation. Lets say our vacation is 12 months away. We would divide 1200 by 12 and get $100 bucks a month to be saving.
1200/12 = 100
If we don't start saving up for these expenses we will spend everything else and end up putting the periodic stuff on a credit card or home equity line of credit.
START TODAY: by taking an envelope and putting money into those envelopes for each upcoming expense! We know they are coming, we just have to save for them!!!
Correction: Well, after looking into the details, I was not cheated with my tax rebate. The government was right!!!
Topic: Investments
I was thinking this morning about how to invest. There really is a simple strategy I use.
1. Go with the company match first.
If you have a 401k or 403b and the company matches, put your investments there first because it is free money being given to you.
2. Utilize Roth IRA's
This investment tool can help you grow your money tax free for years upon years. This is a great next thing to do after taking advantage of the company match.
3. Mutual Funds
Mutual funds are great because there is not as much risk as buying a single stock. The basic principle of a mutual fund is that it diversifies your money into multiple different stocks. I would use an investment adviser that you trust for purchasing mutual funds unless you want to take the time and energy to learn how to do it yourself. I don't enjoy doing that so I use an investment adviser. If you need his information let me know and I can hook you up with him! He is a GREAT guy!
UPDATE:
ReThink Money picked up another church to serve this fall.
We will serve them for a year! I will release their information soon! Thanks for being apart of the team!
POSITION AVAILABLE: I have an administrative position available. I NEED SOMEONE SUPER ORGANIZED. I mean I need someone that loves to make sense out of a mess. I need someone who loves to keep people on task! I need someone who has great people skills and is energized by working with others. I need someone to can administrate the MESS out of something. Forward this to anyone if you know of anyone that would be awesome.
Email me your resume at: cgraham@rethinkmoney.org
My tax rebate came last week. I GOT CHEATED!!! I have to call the IRS today and get them to send me the right amount! I bet it is going to be a lot of red tape working to get my right amount.
Monday Morning Money Tip:
Cut unnecessary magazine subscriptions.
I see so many people that have TONS of magazine subscriptions but they don't read them all. If you want to save money, that is a great place to save.
Let me update you on ReThink Money:
This Thursday night we have 4 spots open at a ReThink Money Live Event here in Forsyth County, GA. Please email me at cgraham@rethinkmoney.org if you want to go to a FREE ReThink Money Event.
I was at Mingledorff's last week on Friday. We had an awesome time together and I hope I can go back! Thanks Mike Nelson.
I just signed a year contract with the great company of Automation Direct. I am looking forward to spending the year developing relationships inside their organization. I can't wait to see this company changed one dollar at a time.
Do you want ReThink Money at your organization or church? Email cgraham@rethinkmoney.org
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