No Mo Broke: Seven Keys to Financial Success from a Christian Perspective

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Using television and the Internet, CBN is proclaiming the Good News in countries and territories, with programs and content in 67 languages. If you have an immediate prayer need, please call our hour prayer line at The first key is assuming responsibility for your use of time. The Bible challenges us to redeem the time, which means to make the most of the time God has given us. If you don't manage your time, somebody else will. Recognize that God has ordained for you a series of good works to accomplish. We read in Ephesians 2: Ask the Lord each morning to help you identify the good works that He has planned for you on that particular day.

Ask the Lord to show you how and when and to whom you might minister by using the good gifts and talents that He has given you. Don't limit your petition for God's guidance to the time you spend at work or in ministry. Ask the Lord to help you manage your recreational time, your friendships with others, renew your creative energy, and give opportunities for Christian witness. Seek the Lord's guidance, too, for the time you spend with your spouse and family. Ask Him to help you manage your family time so that relationships are made strong and joyful.

Months can go by without your making any progress toward the fulfillment of your God-given goals if you don't plan your schedule and set your goals and dreams into the context of deadlines. Organize your time for maximum productivity and efficiency. If mornings are your most productive hours, set aside those times for work directly related to your goals. Put your greatest concentration and effort into those hours.

Most people I know find it easiest and most productive to spend time with the Lord first thing in the morning. Others find their best prayer and Bible-reading time is after all other family members have gone to bed. There is no set rule. Do what works for you! Ask the Lord to show you how to set your schedule in any given day, week, and year to allow for a good balance of work and rest, alone time and family time, input and output.

Continually searching for missing documents or items is a waste of time. Stay organized as you work. Throughout the Bible, we find numerous references about doing things and maintaining things in an orderly fashion. Recognize that your definition of being organized may be different from that of others. Ask the Lord to help you remove the clutter from your life - the things that detract and pull you away from your God-given purpose and goals.

Clutter includes time clutter - the things that clutter your schedule with unimportant activities and obligations. Rely on God's Wisdom. If you question the timing of anything in your life - when something should be done, how much time should be allotted to something, how often something should be done, the sequencing of a project - ask the Lord for His wisdom on the matter. As you plan projects or break down large goals into specific tasks, ask the Lord, "Am I sequencing activities, events, or tasks in the right order?

Am I allotting the appropriate amount of time for each facet of this project or task or event? Have I set the right deadlines? Charles Schwab, the president of Bethlehem Steel, hired a consultant and said to him. The man said, "All right.

As number one, put the most important thing you should do tomorrow. After saving a small emergency fund one of the very first things you'll be doing in the baby steps plan is working on paying off all of your debt. Basically you order your debts from smallest to largest, and pay them off in that order. By doing this you can optimize the effect of getting quick victories by paying off the smaller debts faster.

Some people would say that the Debt Snowball isn't mathematically the best way to pay off debt, that something like the Debt Avalanche highest interest first method would be better. Whatever you do to pay off your debt, it's important to make a plan of some sort, make a budget and stick to it. Baby steps happen can all be done at the same time. Baby step 3 looks at saving a month emergency fund — in other words saving up enough money to cover just about any emergency that could come up from a broken down car to a job loss.

I'm a big proponent of emergency funds , and as such I think this is a great idea. At our house, however, we decided to have an even larger emergency fund with months in savings.

In this economy we just felt better having more money than Ramsey states you should have. After you've set up a contingency plan for the present Ramsey suggests looking at the future. I think Ramsey's advice has been shown to be a bit suspect in this area — and should be taken with a grain of salt. Next Ramsey suggests saving up for your kid's education — only after saving for your own retirement.

When it comes to homes and real estate Dave Ramsey has some pretty strict rules about what kind of mortgages he thinks you should get, what percentage of your income you should spend on a home, and how you should work to pay it off. Ramsey suggests trying to pay off your mortgage early if at all possible after saving for retirement, your kids college and other necessary expenditures. I think having a paid off home is a great idea and it's a great hedge against uncertainty in today's environment.

Of course I'm not following it completely with our 30 year mortgage, but we are making extra payments in order to pay it off early. After doing all those other things — saving, investing, college funding, mortgages — Dave says you move on to the mythical 7th step where you just continue building wealth, and giving a large percentage of what is left over.

For me I think the giving portion should be stressed as it is such an important part of this. We're all happiest when we're giving to other people, and building wealth for wealth's sake is pretty pointless. I'm glad he points out that giving is so important, and I'm glad that he points out that money and wealth won't make you happy, but having a personal relationship with Christ — and giving as he did — will.

I believe the process it lays out is a sound one whereby you plan for the present through emergency funds, you pay off your debts incurred in the past, and then you set about planning for your own and your family's future. For a full look at Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps, head on over to his site: This is an article from Debt Kid. The recession has popularized his teachings about saving, eliminating debt,…. Here is an in depth look at Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps plan for getting out of debt, building wealth and giving.

The plan really is…. Peter Anderson is a Christian, husband to his beautiful wife Maria, and father to his 2 children. He loves reading and writing about personal finance, and also enjoys a good board game every now and again. You can find out more about him on the about page. If you have to cut her, try a community college for a couple of years.

You will save tens of thousands in cash or debt. Bill Muhlenfelds last blog post.. The College Credit Card Trap. What is more important retiring with dignity or sending your child to school? Were as not having enough resources to retire can actually kill you.

Better to raise a child with good character and a good education, the better to qualify for scholarships. And working to fund your own education builds character. It opens limited doors on its own. It DOES put you in a different hiring poo however; light years above high school grads. THAT degree will make much more use of itself. College for your children: But our son went to school based on his grades. He got full scholarships not sports and state grants and he is debt free right out of college!

He has a good job and can pay all his bills! My husband and I did pay for college for both of our children through the Florida Pre-paid College Plan.

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We locked in the rates, and our payments were extremely low. My son has a degree through Florida State. My daughter chose another route, took four years of pottery at the college level, never graduated, and is now a master potter. My husband started working for our local utility company in , and in two years will be able to retire at the age of He had no college education at all, only on the job training. Rowe says putting an emphasis on college education sends many graduates into the work force saddled with high debt—and without skills that could have been acquired more affordably at vocational schools.

College is not a necessity for success. Worst case scenario, your kid will have to do the same. Having college paid for is a luxury that your kid may not even deserve. I thank you for going over this subject. My fiance and I are starting out on this road before we get married. I think is the one of the best book and ideas I have read in a long time.

The best part is that we can start our life out debt free and start saving for a house within a year of being married. This book should be a must for everyone, all high school and college kids should be given this as a class. I really wish I knew these things then and I would be in such a better place now. What I love about Dave is that even before I read his book or knew who he was I shared a lot of his principles with my clients. It really changed our lives for the better. Since teaching the class myself this winter I know it can change others lives as well.

For us, Baby Step 0 came in as we started thinking about having children. By fall of we were blessed with a new baby boy, had graduated from Financial Peace University, started our emergency fund, eliminated 42K of our 50K debt snowball, and dropped down to a single-income family. I just found this site and I have to say that it rocks! I cannot wait to learn more and read the comments! It will not be achieved overnight but sticking towards the goals and trying to achieve will eventually be rewarding to the individual.

I think the best thing the Baby Steps and the Crown Money Map have done for people is to give them a guide and a set of priorities for financial goals.

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I know for my wife and I, our efforts were diluted for a long time becasue we were trying to pay off debt, save, invest, etc. Once we found these tools, we were able to have a focus. We could somewhat forget about everything else which can be overwhelming and focus on our immediate goal. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Good thing we did, lost my job this march…been diagnosed with MS. Wife has to support me now. House is all we owe for and in 5 years that will be done.

Thanks Dave for opening our eyes. Tithe is the first thing. Then hit the small stuff…7 baby steps.. My itty nitty bone to pick is his unwillingness to adjust to the current economic conditions. I understand the principle, but with layoffs and companies folding left and right, we decided to flip steps 2 and 3. I think you have to balance the need for security, and the need to get out of debt. If you were looking at a possible layoff I think I might be more inclined to see the need for saving up a bit more in the old emergency fund.

I personally like how Suze Orman had readily admitted that the economic times may call for different strategies, depending on your situation of course. But I am grateful to Dave, because he gave us the wake-up call to look at our money in the first place.

I certainly see your point. Also at that point the gazelle intensity concept starts to wane a bit as well.

But as you say, difficult times call for difficult measures. All happened in one week, we cant get past baby step one. Yeah, at times when it rains it pours. We have just had a huge medical bill show up this week for a trip to the ER and overnight hospital visit that we just had.

Sorry about the big bills! So many people cannot save a dime so these steps are for them. However, most people swimming in debt would have to be told absolutely not to a credit card, it most likely got them into their situation to begin with. Yes I adjusted the baby steps and kept more emergency cash and still had the car loan a bit longer. Still paid it off but wanted more cash reserves. It is personal preference as long as you keep your eye on the ball. We know how important it is to have something stash away since in we had both cars that needed major repairs, we had our first child, and my wife was out of work for about 4 months, along with other family issues which cleaned us out completely.

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Just stumbled on this blog site but it fits me to a tee! I lead FPU at our church each year and have personally met Dave last year in Chicago while attending a conference. He was super nice and talked to me a little bit; and signed my book of course. My wife and i have cut up all credit cards and pay cash for it all.

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Anyway, we are 22 months form being completely debt free but the home. I totally agree with getting a small emergency fund in place. There is absolutely always something that crops up that needs paying for — car insurance, broken lawnmower etc. My husband and I took the FPU class at our church last April, and it has helped so incredibly much to get our finances in order! We were happy to find this class at the beginning of our marriage to start it off right! It makes perfect sense. I think a lot of people will have a hard time controlling their spending enough to be able to follow through with the plan.

I know I do. To the people just starting. A few years ago I started on my financial plan. Well i ran into Dave Ramsey and a few others and refined my steps. By refining I became debt free at Only a small 4. Built up a 6 month fund and was on my way investing and starting to give some away. Blessed by the Lord greatly and then……………Wham. A major stroke with brain and heart complications. Their are a few good people giving good advice and Dave is one of them.

We are never taught to be debt free.

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