MoneyWalk 179 Contentment & Self-Control
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
The bible teaches us to tithe and live debt-free. These practices bring discipline to our lives by crucifying fleshly desires, and require us to trust God for provision to help us grow and be all He wants us to be. In order to faithfully use these financial principles, we must exercise contentment and self-control by seeking to live off less than 70% of our net income (considering tithes, offerings, savings, investments, and income taxes that must come out of gross income). To help meet this goal, it’s better to engage an organized process to eliminate credit card debt, car notes, furniture accounts, and other higher interest debts.
Unless there is no other way out of financial bondage, don’t use money in tax-deferred and tax-exempt plans to pay off debts because removing money from these plans will significantly increase your income tax burden, and you will have to pay a 10% penalty for withdrawing the money, and will significantly reduce potential investment return over the long run. You might have to pay the IRS, state, and local governments nearly 50% of the amount withdrawn, which most often makes such withdrawals a very bad decision.
It may be feasible to stop your current contributions to these plans and use this money to pay your debts down to reach the land of debt freedom. Revolving charge cards and non-mortgage loans usually have much higher interest rates (10% to 30%) that impede your ability to get ahead financially. Continuing to obtain these types of loans and making minimum payments on them will keep you in bondage for many years into the future. Also, you will likely get greater returns on this money when paying off high-interest loans than growth / return you would get on average via plan investments.
Once you’ve established a first-tier emergency fund of $1,000, move to pay off all non-mortgage debt within the next couple of years. Then, re-direct all excess cash flow to build your emergency fund to at least $10,000 and higher if this amount would not equate to three to six months of your expenses. Afterward, redirect your excess cash flow to invest at least 10% of monthly income into retirement and investment accounts, which may include putting into a Roth IRA any money beyond the employer’s matching contribution in its retirement plan. Remaining cash flow should be redirected to paying off your mortgage within the next five to seven years.?
Once it’s eliminated, commit to staying debt-free because debt-freedom is the high position the Lord wants for you. Aim your huge cash flow at greater generosity to spread the gospel, equity investments, and cash-based spending on things you desire. Don’t speculate on investments that require you to borrow money to try to leveraging growth. Too many horror stories of foreclosures, repossessions, and bankruptcy due to unpaid loans show this is not the tool to use to try and build wealth. Very few people make it out of the bondage such loans bring on them. Save your excess cash flow until you have enough money to make a cash purchase of properties you’d like to acquire. Expert counsel from other people that have prospered using God’s financial plan will help you become educated and choose investments that provide great future growth.
Following this pathway, you will find over the next 10 to 20 years that the combination of living by a budget, emergency fund savings, debt freedom, and diversified equity investments will catapult you into The Wealthy Place God prepared for you, whereas the debt-ridden position will keep you in financial bondage and its resulting negative consequences (no cash flow, broke, busted, and disgusted all your days).???
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Deuteronomy 28:12, Proverbs 3:9-10, Luke 14:28-30, Romans 13:8
Please pray for this ministry and email questions to [email protected] and share the links below with others who need guidance. May the LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!
Share https://kminfo.org/ministries/financial-freedom weekly with family and friends so these bondage-breaking articles and other financial information can help them gain helpful insight!
The book at the link below provides principles and practical steps that help you use the Power To Get Wealth. By 1992, we had $135,000 of debt and a negative $35,000 net worth. Financial bondage and turmoil led me to seek principles and a process for employing good stewardship. As a result, we became constructively debt-free in 1998, mortgage free January 2004, millionaires in 2012, multi-millionaires shortly thereafter, and retired in 2018 in my mid-fifties from public servant jobs while giving abundantly to fund the gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ. The same power is available to you!
You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com .
You can also connect with Randy Parlor on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Google Blogger, WordPress, Jesus Social Network, Social Cross, Pinterest, Tumbler, and You Tube.