Sunday, December 28, 2014

Mastering Your Money - Laying the Foundation

Laying the Foundation              


 Matthew 7:24-27

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

I.                  VARIOUS WAYS PEOPLE LOOK TO GET RICH

1.    By winning it.

The number-one way average, hardworking people try to get rich in America? They play the lottery. Since 1964…Americans have plunked down more than $500 billion on lottery tickets.

 

2.    By marrying into wealth.

A very small percentage of people marry into money and most of them end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.

 

3.    By inheriting it.

There is a temptation to wish they leave early….. :-)

 

4.    Sue for it.

 

 

II.               STEPS TO BUILDING WEALTH.

Regardless of the size of your paycheck, you probably already make enough money to become rich.

1.    Develop a small emergency savings.

 

2.    Retire Debt.

·       Borrow money to make money not to loose it.

 

·       If you pay just the minimum due each month on an $8,400 credit balance, you will wind up having to make 365 monthly payments before it goes to zero. That’s thirty years and five months’ worth of payments.

 

i.                   Stop digging the hole.

ii.                 Find out how much interest you are paying.

iii.              Ask for a lower rate.

iv.               Consolidate your debt.

 

v.                 Rank your cards.

·         Make a list of the current outstanding balances on each of your credit card accounts.

·         Divide each balance by the minimum payment that particular card to get a payment ranking number.

·         For example, a card with a $500 balance and a minimum payment due of $50 will have a rank # of 10.

·         Start paying card with lowest Rank Number first.

 

3.    Buy a Home.

Benefits of Home Ownership

i.                   Forced Savings.

ii.                 OPM.

iii.              Tax Breaks.

iv.               Pride of Ownership.

v.                 It’s a Great Investment.

TIPS

·         Go to www.eloan.com and calculate how much you can afford to spend on a home

According to the FHA, a good rule of thumb is that most people can afford to spend 29 percent of their gross income on housing expenses—as much as 41 percent if they have no debt

·         Decide to pay off early by making extra payment a year or increase your mortgage by 10% each month,

·         Go to www.bankrate.com and use its calculator to see how much you can save by making your mortgage payments biweekly

 

4.    Determine your Debt/Savings/Investment Plan

Questions:

i.                   Do I put all my available cash on Debt Retirement and start saving when all my debts are paid off?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

ii.                 Do I save all that I need and then begin paying my debts off?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

iii.              Do I save while paying of debts?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

5.    Save a Minimum of 3 to 6 Months Income.

 

i.                   You should at least work one hour a day for yourself

 

 

If you are going to put in roughly 90,000 hours at work over the course of your lifetime (which is what the average person does), shouldn’t you work one hour a day for yourself?

 

Let’s ask how much it will cost you if you don’t Pay Yourself First. If you invested just $200 every two weeks for 35 years in a retirement account that earned an annual return of 10 percent, what would you have? The answer is that you would have more than 1 million dollars. Actually, a lot more. The exact figure is ________________

 

ii.                 If you want to be:

·         Dead Broke: Don’t Pay Yourself First. Spend more than you make. Borrow money on credit cards and carry debt you can’t pay off.

·         Poor: Think about Paying Yourself First, but don’t actually do it. Spend everything you make each month and save nothing. Keep telling yourself, “Someday . . .”

·         Middle Class: Pay Yourself First 5 to 10 percent of your gross income.

·         Upper Middle Class: Pay Yourself First 10 to 15 percent of your gross income.

·         Rich: Pay Yourself First 15 to 20 percent of your gross income.

·         Rich Enough to Retire Early: Pay Yourself First at least 20 percent of your gross income.

 

 

6.    Build for the Future.

 

7.    Automate Your Wealth

i.                   Be as smart as the Government

The government is pretty smart. It figured out years ago that people couldn’t budget, so it set up a system to make sure it got “paid first.” Not only did the government arrange to get paid first, it automated the process so there wouldn’t be any slip-ups

ii.                 Don’t focus on Budgeting alone.

 

There’s a very simple reason why budgets don’t work in the real world. They aren’t fun.

 

Any system that is designed to control your normal human impulses is ultimately bound to fail.

No comments:

Post a Comment