Is the resolution working? Then try this

Is the resolution working? Then try this.

  They say the percentage of people who achieve their resolutions are about 8%.  You may be thinking this is going to be one of those blogs that will fire me up to work harder to achieve my resolutions or one that reminds me that I have failed once again. I can throw out statistics that say if you do A+B=C every time (yeah sure it does, NOT)   you will do better.  We have been smothered with work harder, do more, do it better, that when we fail we say, well I guess I am just can’t change.  Well we do know if we quit we do not have to measure up to everyone else that seems to be succeeding.  One reason I love the gospel is that I was not good enough, and Jesus fixed that problem for me! No more having to do better, I get to do better!  You don’t have to do better at whatever your resolution is, but you get to do better if you want.  Don’t compare your problem, your progress or your success to someone else.  We all move at different speeds and handle things differently.  If you have ever taken a DISC profile you know that we have different personalities, and react differently in life situations. One of the animals they use to describe different personality types is a lion for the strong type A personalities.  For the more stable and lower keyed faithful types they use a golden retriever.  We all know that a lion and a retriever will react differently and handle things differently.  Neither personality type is wrong, they are just different. We need all the different types in our lives! 

So what should you try?  Whatever your resolution is write it down and create steps, baby steps, to achieve it.  Don’t make it to large, such as I am going to get my finances straight. That is very broad because you are dealing with, saving, spending, getting out of debt, paying off the mortgage, retirement, college etc.  That can overwhelm you when the Christmas bill comes in and it will make you want to quit on your resolution.   Start in one area, if all of the areas overwhelm you. Start with just a budget. Write down everything you will spend and try to trim those numbers. The big thing is to try and stick to the number you determine to spend and track it. A budget takes about 3 months to begin to work right, so stick to it. Make sure you spend what you save wisely, savings or applying it to debt.   Sit down at least once a week and see how much you have actually spent vs. what you have written down.  Depending on your personality, you can either live on the bare necessities or trim things slowly but surely.  The more you sacrifice the faster you reach your goal. But if you don’t like the idea of going too fast you may sabotage yourself and quit before it works.  Go at a speed you can handle.  You did not get into the financial shape you are in overnight and you will not get out overnight.  Be patient and take one step at a time.  Let me know if you want my help.

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 1-11-14

Beware of your habits

Beware of your Habits If you live in the C.S.R.A, and watch the news, you may have heard that Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's will be opening stores up in Augusta, GA.  Now I enjoy the outdoors some and learned a lot about how to spend more than I made at theses places with their catalogs in the past! When I heard the news about the physical locations coming to Augusta, I thought wow that will be better if I ever need to buy anything from them I can just go by and pick it up.  It made me ask the question do I spend more when I buy online or when I am at a store.  Also, do I spend more when I use a debit card or cash?  How about you, which one of these situations cause you to spend more?  I tend to spend more when I shop online and use a debit card.  Think about it, there is no feeling of "loss of money" when you use a debit card, or a credit card if you use one,  and buy online.  The merchandise comes days later when you shop online and no cash is missing from you instantly.  Oh and I remember the thrill I would get when there was a package at the front door when I got home from work!! We can also get addicted to that feeling and this will cause us to spend more too. When we spend cash they say your brain registers it as pain when we hand our cash over.  I believe this is true because it hurts when you break a 100 dollar bill!  Also, statistics show that we spend 18% more when we use a debit card or credit card.  I have told this lie to myself before, I will pay off the credit card when the bill comes in.  Most people never pay them off when the bill comes in, and credit card companies knows this.   Marketers and creditors are sharp!  Retail stores make it as easy as possible for us to pay them.  In some places all you have to do is wave your card  or your cell phone to pay.  These things make us think we dont spend as much as when using a card.     If I go to a store with a certain amount to spend I will look and shop till I get my price, then I spend that amount, and I am done.  If I am shopping online I tell myself, I cannot just order one thing and pay all that shipping for one item, why not buy this other thing to make it worth the time.  We need to ask ourselves these questions; what causes me to spend more?  What do I need to do to stick to my budgeted amounts? If people can make monthly payments they can make payments to their savings accounts and pay cash for things.  Remember children do what feels good and adults devise a plan(budget) and follow it.   Another thing that will help you is to not use a credit card and use a debit card instead.  You are forced to keep up with your balance verses a credit card.  So get your plan ready for back to school shopping and the other things for the last half of the year. Remember to check your habits.  Quotes for thought: Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge. David Brainerd America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money." Alexis de Tocqueville, (1805-1859) There is not a lot you can do about the national economy but there's a lot you can do about your personal economy. - Zig Ziglar

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Why and What

What and why

     In dealing with people and their finances I not only teach them what to do with their money, but we have to understand why they got to this place financially. Everyone usually starts out thinking that they are broke because they don’t make enough or that one certain circumstance caused them to get behind and stay there.  Some times this is true, but not always.  If a person can add and subtract they have the head knowledge to know when to stop spending.  If financial problems were just a math issue we would never spend more than we have.  Personal finance is more behavior than head knowledge.  There is usually a behavioral reason as to why we spend more than we make other than just not paying attention or bad luck. Although paying attention is part of it, we also may be trying to cover up an inward problem or a possible addiction.  We try to treat the problem with spending money to make us feel good.   Financial problems show up, a lot of the times, just a symptom of the real problem. Our financial problems can point to the real issue when we unpack everything.  Bankruptcy attorneys tell us that filing bankruptcy will solve our problems.  Bankruptcy just treats the symptoms and never changes the spending habits we have developed that cause the problems.     Once you determine why you are having financial problems, and why you want to get out, you can determine what to do to fix the problem.  Money, or the lack of it, can get your emotions in high gear.  We are created to use our mind as well as our emotions to get our finances under control.  It takes head knowledge and emotional passion to change your life to go in the direction you want it to go.  Can you imagine your life being debt free and having 3-6 months of living expenses in an emergency savings account?  If this sounds good to you, start to change your life by finding out- why you are where you are at financially,- and why you need to change.  These answers will tell you what you need to do. Let me know if I can help you with your plan! 

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 6-30-13

Tithing, offering and giving part 2-what is the right amount?

Tithing, offering and giving part 2

Last week we learned the difference between tithing, offering and giving.  Tithing is the giving of 10% of your income to your local church that you are a member of.  Offering was that which is presented in divine service; an animal or a portion of bread or corn, or of gold and silver, or other valuable articles, presented to God as an atonement for sin, or as a return of thanks for his favors, or for other religious purpose; a sacrifice.  Giving is the bestowing of money, time or something of value to you to someone else in need.  I will try to answer, in this blog, how much we should give to God.  As Christians we want to be obedient to God and honor Him.  We humans love to have rules, because we feel like we are doing what is good and acceptable to God when we follow them. We also set up an unwritten rule that God likes you more when you follow all of the rules.  This is our default mode, to follow the rules better than others and make God smile at me more than you.  There is probably not an area in our lives that we do not do this, but I will talk about the money part.  First the idea that we give God money is insane. It’s His money, which he gave us the intelligence, ability and resources to acquire and manage it for Him.  God needs nothing, He is self-sustaining. God needs nothing from us, but He lets us give, because He is a giver and made us in His image. When we are giving it gives us a break from thinking about ourselves.    Also as far as the rules are concerned Jesus fixed that issue for us, He followed all of them, perfectly, and we got the credit as if we done it ourselves and He got the punishment that we should have.

 When it comes to managing Gods money for Him, it starts with the tithe.  Our tithe should be giving 10% of our income to our local church where you are a member.  Yes I heard the next question, on the gross or on the net.  I would ask you the question, what’s in your heart to give? Tim Keller states in his book Counterfeit Gods- ‘I’ll tell you why you don’t see the tithing requirement laid out clearly in the New Testament. Think. Have we received more of God’s revelation, truth, and grace than the Old Testament believers, or less?’ Usually there is uncomfortable silence. ‘Are we more ‘debtors to grace’ than they were, or less? Did Jesus ‘tithe’ his life and blood to save us or did he give it all?’ Tithing is a minimum standard for Christian believers. We certainly wouldn’t want to be in a position of giving away less of our income than those who had so much less of an understanding of what God did to save them.

  So where do we go from there?  The tithe should be a starting point or the minimum standard as Tim Keller states. He gave it to you to manage and gives you a clue of what to do with the first 10 percent.  If a Christian is sold out for the purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they will give up every endeavor and pour all of their effort into it, worshiping Him. They would also manage their resources that He gives us to manage into where He directs us.  Don’t get to upset none of us starts totally sold out for Jesus.    Heck Peter, the rock which the church was built upon denied Him three times.   When we are afraid of giving because we might need the money, we obey what our bank account says. When we make money an idol we make it an ultimate thing. When we put money in this position it becomes everything to us such as security, joy, peace and comfort.  We can fear because we base our security on what we see in our bank account (idol.)  As Dudley Hall stated, the best way to fight poverty is with generosity.  Once you give a lot and see your security, well-being, joy peace and comfort is not in your money you can give and not worry.  If you have a clinched fist with your money, none can get out, but none can get in either.  Remember, if you have not met the mark in your giving, Jesus met it and you get the credit for it.  This doesn’t mean that we do what we want with His money and resources. If God has done a work of grace in your life and your relationship is growing with Him you will want to give not because you have to because you get to give.   We get to give something acceptable to God because Christ death burial and resurrection made it acceptable to the Father. So never let your lack of giving make you think God is not going to bless you because you are not following the rules.  I don’t care how much money you get none of us will ever receive anything close to what Jesus gave us. With that said I think God has fulfilled Malachi 3:10. As far as the most famous question in tithing, do you give off of the gross or the net, the answer is give it all for the gospel! Although this takes time for us to let loose and live our lives this way, we are always a work in progress.  The deeper our relationship with Christ the more he opens our eyes to see more of what He has for us.  My eyes need opening more, and He loves us too much to let us stay the same.    So start where you are, give and enjoy your life because all of your debt to God is paid in full.  He saved us from Him to Him.  We can now live without fear and enjoy participating in subduing the earth.  Let’s give all we can and keep seeking Him and learn to enjoy what He has done, and what He is going to do.

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching

Tithing, offering, and giving

Tithing, offering and giving

  This is a topic that brings a lot of confusion discussion and argument amongst Christians.  There is lot of unnecessary guilt that can be associated with tithing, offering and giving.  First let’s distinguish between them, tithing and offering and giving.  Tithing is a giving of the first fruits of your income. (First fruit- the first fruits of the crop: - first fruit (-ripe [figuratively), hasty fruit.)

The word tithe literally means a tenth “You shall surely tithe all of the produce from what you sow, which come out of the field every year.” Deuteronomy 14:22; Bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.” Nehemiah 10:38.  To summarize it give a tenth of what you have earned and to bring it to the store house. 

Since it was agrarian society, they were farmers and their tithe would be food of some sort they have grown or raised, or it could have been sheep they raised etc.  Fast forward to now our tithing would be money, because that is the fruit our work generates for us and we use money to get other things we need.  To sum tithing up you give a tenth of your earnings or what your work produces to the store house or in modern times the church you are a member of. 

Offering - an offering, according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, Offering, n. That which is presented in divine service; an animal or a portion of bread or corn, or of gold and silver, or other valuable articles, presented to God as an atonement for sin, or as a return of thanks for his favors, or for other religious purpose; a sacrifice ( Sacrifice To offer to God in homage or worship, by killing and consuming, as victims on an altar; to immolate, either as an atonement for sin, or to procure favor, or to express thankfulness;); an oblation. In the Mosaic economy, there were burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, peace-offerings, trespass-offerings, thank-offerings, wave-offerings, and wood-offerings. Pagan nations also present offerings to their deities. Christ by the offering of Himself has superseded the use of all other offerings, having made atonement for all men. (Remember the last sentence from this definition; it plays a big part later on.)  Our offering nowadays is usually anything we give above our tithe.  It can also be a giving of time and talent. But we can offer nothing greater than Christ offered.  God was completely satisfied with Christ’s offering and we can never give anything to compare so ours could be called giving. Offering in the Old Testament was to please God. 

Giving- this should be the easy one- Bestowing; conferring; imparting; granting; delivering. Or you could say that giving is the passing on something you have possession of to someone you desire to.   Next week will discuss how these things are applied now days and how we should handle our possessions in relation to tithing offering and giving. 
 

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West 4-28-13

Go West Coaching