DON’T PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY

You must be 100 percent responsible in all money matters. If you owe someone, you have to pay it. If you write a check, it is the same as cash. How I do this?

INTRODUCTION

The financial system is designed to separate young people from their freedom as quickly as possible. This is achieved by putting them up to their necks in debt. People heavily in debt have a constant fear of losing their JOB. Debtors cannot see the big picture nor do they dare to be free thinkers. If they question the system or “rock the boat,” your work could be lost.

The world will always be a place of extremes (good or bad, that’s the way it is). There will always be those who feel they have a right to profit from the misery of others. Most may not recognize these trends as slavery, but the results are the same. The insane desire to have control and power over others has not changed since the beginning of time. The current method of enslavement and control is the economic system. It is no longer necessary to exert physical control. The ability to control emotions and mind with financial pressure is now real.

Buy now and pay later allows control of people. Why should you wait for something until you can afford it? The truth of the matter is that if you can’t pay cash, you can’t buy. My personal opinion is that the only thing you should be in debt for is a house. THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON states that you only rent your home until you have paid for it in full. This is true, however, by making the payments on a house, you will usually get something of value that will have value left over after it is paid off.

The debt system can be made to work in your favor with strong self-discipline and by paying cash. Many times when you pay cash for major purchases you can get a better price. Don’t be deceived by the argument that you can buy at a low interest rate and keep your cash. In the end you pay more. It is obvious that if you were to save the same amount each month that is used to make the monthly payment, you will be well ahead of the end of the payment period. Two things happen when you pay cash and put the payment amount into savings. You save the interest you would pay on the contract and earn interest on the savings. If the interest on the purchase is 6% (this may be the advertised rate) and your savings account pays you 5%, then you earn 11%. Even if you subtract the two, you’re still saving 1%. For example:

You buy a washing machine for $500 at 6% interest for three years. Your payments on the declining balance system are $15.21 per month. Its total cost is 547.59. However, if you pay cash and save $15.21 each month, in three years you will have $547.59 saved plus interest earned is $40.87. Your total savings at the end of the three years is 588.46 and you have the new washing machine. You have actually made about $50.00 for paying cash. You ask “What about inflation?” If the inflation rate is high, the interest you pay will not be 6 percent. The actual interest rate will be more than 20 percent, which is about what you pay if you buy with a credit card.

I can’t pay cash. I have no money. Maxine and I have been married for 25 years. We took out the first new washing machine a few years ago and paid cash. The others were all used (three I think). I think one of the used ones was better than the new one. We bought our first new dryer this year and I know the old one was better and used less electricity. My point is that with a little bit of shopping you can find good used items. Then put the money for the payments in a savings account.

An excellent example is the way a friend finances his cars. His father gave him a car in high school and asked his son to deposit the amount of the car payment in the bank each month. He has done it faithfully all his life. His wife drives a Jaguar Cabrolet and he drives a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. His car savings account is still healthy and good.

This beats the debt system and the system of economic slavery. You are in the driver’s seat, not the creditors of it.

Checking accounts are a trap for today’s low-income people. When you’re making enough money to get by, a small mistake in your checking account can cause bankruptcy. I know of a case where a 50 cent error on a checking account amounted to over $500.00 for a young person. He had overdraft protection tied to his savings account. The bank charged you $18.50 for each overdraft that came in as a result of the 50-cent error, and each returned check the bank returned cost you $25.00. The grand total of the charges was more than $500.00

UNIQUE MONEY MANAGEMENT

Can I avoid all this pain and discomfort? The answer is yes. The method to get cash is simple. There are four basic things you must do. (At this point, I will give you the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. PLEASE USE THE GROCERY STORE METHOD, IF YOU NEED IT TAKE IT HOME, IF YOU CAN’T USE IT LEAVE IT AT THE PAGE].

1. Pay your 10 percent thing.

2. Pay yourself 10 percent.

3. Track all your expenses and income.

4. Review your expenses and income monthly.

Information and knowledge of these four actions will allow you to devise a plan to get out of debt or say, get out of debt. Review your expenses to see what can be eliminated. Use this money to pay your bills. Take the bill with the lowest balance and pay the money you saved by tracking your spending as an additional payment. When you pay this bill, take that money plus what you’re saving by staying on top of your spending and pay the next smaller bill. Continue to do this until you are debt free. This sounds like a simple process and it is, but it’s not easy. This simple plan requires a large dose of self-discipline.

THE TITHE

Tithing is the way we pay for everything that is given to us. I personally know where to pay for mine. How you pay for it and who depends on you. It is a natural law that we must return ten percent of all our raises.

The first words out of his mouth were “I can’t pay ten percent tithing.” The second thought he had after reading those four stocks is, “If I could save money, I wouldn’t be in debt.”

THE VALUE OF TRACKING YOUR EXPENSES

You can follow this plan. He had a friend who earned a substantial income each year, almost $100,000 a year. He was broke and he is the perfect example that being broke is an action that is not related to the amount of money you earn. Tracking his spending showed that he was spending $83.00 per week on espresso coffee. My friend decided to switch to water. He saved $332.00 per month. This paid for a good chunk of this thing. So he decided to quit smoking as this was another $50.00 a week expense. He found another $200.00 per month from his cigarette bill. Drinking after work with the “boys” was costing him another $400.00 a month.

This man saved $932.00 every month just by cleaning up his life. Guess what else happened, he told his insurance agent what he was doing. His auto insurance dropped over $100 a month after establishing his new lifestyle. He decided to cheat a bit at this point. His take-home pay was only about 60,000 a year. He reasoned that he needed to save $6,000 per year. He had saved enough to pay 10 percent of the tithing and a part of this savings to clean up his lifestyle. As my friend reviewed his other family expenses, he and his wife found another $4000.00 per year that could be saved. They applied the plan and after four years they had money in a savings account and no credit card debt. (They didn’t buy new cars every year, either.)

Is this story a myth or a plot of a creative imagination. No, it is not, these types of experiences are in all of our lives. If you will apply the simple four-step plan, you will get out of debt. It is clear that each of us can become financially independent.

Tracking your income and expenses is something simple but difficult to achieve. My tracking method is to keep a small notebook in your pocket or bag. Wal-Mart has them for less than a dollar. Write down everything you spend down to the last penny. Include the date, what it was for, and the amount. List each penny you receive as income. Include the date, where it came from, and what you did with it. Did you put it in your bank account or in the dresser drawer?

REVIEW OF INCOME AND EXPENSES

After tracking all your income or expenses for about a month, review your expenses and see which ones are necessary and which are not. Decide what you are going to do to reduce those expenses. Develop a spending plan. You must first provide the basic necessities of life for your family, a place to live, food in the cupboard, and warmth in the winter with clothes to wear. Each family must determine their basic needs (children, this does not include a cell phone, a computer in each room and all fresh clothes). Your spending plan should be developed by the family. All members must be allowed entry. The head of the family must make the final decision.

As you progress through financial planning, the family net worth must be calculated. This is a simple process, just add up everything you own and subtract everything you owe. It’s not as simple as it sounds, but you get the idea. After you have calculated your net worth, you have a trackable figure. Each month the family’s net worth should be calculated and progress noted for the family.

SUMMARY

In short, managing your finances is simple but not necessarily easy. It takes discipline to keep track of your income and expenses and to stick to your spending plan. You can do it!! An excellent reference to this plan is THE FOUR LAWS OF DEBT-FREE PROSPERITY. (I bought my last copy on Amazon.com).

This seems like a really simple plan to get out of debt. It’s simple and the action to make it happen is yours. You must take action. As you complete these four actions, other things you can do to improve your financial situation will appear. Don’t ask too many questions: just do it.