Financial Education!

Here's a financial lesson for the day.  I am giving it to anyone who can understand the concept that money is an idea not a coin or bill.

These steps will help you succeed while starting with almost nothing.   Take three ziploc bags any size.  Lable and lay them out in this order.

Tithe - invest - savings 

Put an amount any amount into the tithe bag.  Put the same into the invest bag.

Only place an amount into the savings if you have leftover and if you will not deplete cash in hand.

Truthes to follow.  

It's not what you save that is important its what you keep.

Because money is an idea you can proceed with the knowledge that the difference between an $80,000 dollar investment and an $800,000 is a 0 not $720,000.  That is a freeing revelation. 

Never say I can't afford this. Instead say - How can I afford this?  This will let you see the possibilities where as the very word can't will stop the thought process in its tracks.

The key to financial success is explained so simply and accurately by Robert Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad Poor Dad and Cashflow Quadrant (get the books and read them). He explains the process that can be found in a simple game of Monopoly like this.

1 Green House

2 Green House

3 Green House

4 Green House

1 Big Red Hotel

Start small and trade up to bigger things.

And finally be the Bank not the Banker.  No bank wants your savings.  They don't make any real money on your savings.  They actually mark you savings as a liability on thier financial report.  They want you to borrow money.  When you borrow for a house or a car they explain that it is an asset because you get tax credits.  This is true but it is thier asset not yours.  How often does your tax credit offset your interest?  Never.  It is a liability as long as it does not make you income.  This is why I say be the Bank not the banker along with Robert Kiyosaki.  The banker is just like you.  He is doing his job oblivious to the fact that the asset due to tax credit is a lie.  He more than likely believes its true.   The bank takes risk (moderated risk) and gets paid to do it.  You too should do this but that is another blog.

The ziploc system explanation. 

Tithe ziploc - We must give.  We can always make.  Giving is always most important and it is my experience that it always returns 3 or more fold.  Give!

Invest ziploc - This follows the rule that it isn't what you save its what you keep.  If you have investments you have income.   That is the reality.  Most of the time your investment is making you money but even if not you can sell.  Invest!

Savings - Saving money is a move to diversify.  We often hear this term in the stock market to say that we have stock in multiple genre of stocks.  I say that diversification should be across investment type rather that genre.  Have some savings, real estate and stocks for example.   This way if one fails you are ok.  In the 30's the entire stock market crashed.  Investment is more important than saving as you need your money working for you.

I hope this helps.  We are in the greatest country in the world.   There is no call for us not to be wealthy.  

Wealthy people play the game to win and recognize that losing is part of winning.  Non-Wealthy people play the game not to lose assuming that they can't win if they do.

Definitions

The amazing power of words... The astounding control we give them over our lives.

We need to define seven terms before moving further in our journey. 

1.  Richness - Having everything you need. Accepting and realizing that it is all you need.

2.  Wealth - The acquisition of assets.

3. Asset - That which provides you income.

4.  Liability - That which takes money from you.

5. Earned Income - Income derived from a job or service provided. 

6.  Portfolio Income - Income derived from the Stock Market. 

7. Passive Income - Income derived from residual sources. 

My Story. (Kind of Long. Sorry.)

So what in the world am I talking about?   
What is all this about?  
Why a new blog? 

As many of my followers know. I have been without work for some time now.  Most of you also know I am a Christian.  So here's the story of how I got here.

Over 20 years ago now my first wife died.  She had been very sick for some time.  I was in the military when she became ill and while the military paid her medical expenses they did not cover home aid when I was away.  This put a strain on us financially.   There was not a month that we didn't struggle.   I met another soldier with similar problems and I asked him how he was able to make ends meet.  He explained to me that he was into RE (real estate) on the side.  He told me that he had surpassed everything that the military was paying him monthly by a great deal simply by working RE on the weekends.  At first I thoght it was a lie.  I told myself that he was selling drugs or something.  Then he invited me to come with him one weekend.  I was hooked.  He purchased a property over the next 2 weeks, made $4k and never spent a dime of his own money in the process.   He did it by contracts and assignments.   Over the next 2 months he showed me the basics and a month later I made my first deal.  It flopped.  But he came in and pointed out my mistake and I learned every year after that too do it better.  We were making it, the bills were no problem and our savings was nice.  The only problem was my wife was still sick.  Out of the military and only gone now and again for RE  deals I was home more and needed less in home care.  My wife wanted to go back home to Indiana.  We then moved back.  We lived on our savings for awhile and then before I got back to doing RE she got much worse.  I was struggling with the burdon and did not feel I could leave her to work on building a new RE business.   I was beginning to stress like before and took to drinking.   When she was asleep I was in the bottle.  Then she died.  For a very long time I never came out of the bottle.   A few years had passed and I had met my next wife although I didn't know it at the time.   I was still in the bottle a lot.  She wanted to go to church.  I did not believe at first but eventually Jesus came into my life.  I quit drinking and started studying the Bible.  The church we attended really without saying it, led me to the conclusion that the accumulation of wealth was not desirable.   That coupled with various verses then taken out of context by me and those that were teaching me at the time kept me away from RE.  I had taken a job and decided that RE would not be the course of action for me.  I saw what wealth had done to some of the people in our church and wanted no part of becoming like that.  I told myself you dont want to go back to that.  I said without basis (just on the words and teaching of others) that excessive income was bad and would corrupt me.  I have always enjoyed somewhat of a pioneer's life so I have been ok with life like that.  Now I have been married for many years to my second wife and studied much in the Bible but I had never went and studied what it really said about wealth.  In my mind I was hearing ITS CONDEMNED.   Having been without work for awhile, my second wife is sick as well now and all former savings have long since been depleted.   I started asking God to show me how I can get the bills paid and work the jobs that are being offered to me.  He said you can't.   I asked then what am I to do.  

(Note that God has been faithfully taking care of the bills but I want to supply for my wife as her husband). 

God said you need to look at what I say about riches and wealth.  Maybe this is something that everybody else knows and I didn't but the Bible is clear that riches and wealth are not the same.  I had always assumed that they were.  After studying what God says in the Bible about riches and wealth I realize I was wrong.  The Bible does not condemn wealth or riches it asks us to redefine them Biblically in both accumulation and use.  I will soon be blogging those scriptures on my other blog rbhb.blogspot.com.  That will go into detail about my new belief on the subject of wealth and riches. 

That's how I got here and I will be taking actionable steps to aquire more wealth so that we will be able to give more abundantly thus storing up riches in heaven.  As strange as this sounds I feel I must do this to serve better because God gave me the knowledge to do it.  I will be working a normal job until this builds enough passive income to pay bills and give as much as possible.  This is not about being first in this world, ironically its about being last.  This will be the journal of the journey.  We're in for a long ride.  Indiana law is weird and doesn't make this easy.  However it is doable. 

To all those who have not received where they may have had I not been wrong, I beg forgiveness.

I hope this rambling made since. 

To God be the glory.