Major Mistakes We Make With Our Money - Part 2 Series

Major Mistakes We Make With Our MONEY

Malcom Forbes

Failure is success if we learn from it

The Bible says, “If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished.”

If you have blown it with your finances – we are not here to beat you up. NO! God forgives when asked – so do we.

Have you ever had or seen a child disobey and then get hurt? A parent says, “No more than one child on the trampoline at a time,” and they have three and end up getting hurt. Many times the parents will say, “You have been punished enough.” Sure, some financial mistakes punish us pretty bad.

Well, if you have made some of these mistakes you hopefully have learned from them. If you haven’t made them – my goal is to help you avoid making them.

My idea of a good education is learning from someone else’s mistakes!

I desire to see you walking in victory in every area of your life. There are so many who are really struggling and hurting because of money today – I want to throw a life preserver to those who are drowning.

REVIEW (quickly)

1. Instead of Russian Roulette you Play American Too Much Debt

(Illustrate with Chains & weights)

a. Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. NIV

b. Act like chain is a nice necklace and then put weights on it for things we want and buy on credit.

c. Dave Ramsey in an interview last month (4/03) with Failure Magazine said. “Seventy-five percent of the Forbes 400, when asked, ‘What’s the key to building wealth?’ said it’s getting out of debt and staying out of debt. Old, rich people tell you to get out of debt. Only young, broke finance professors tell you to use debt.”

2. Get Rich Quick

a. I was reading in a Christian magazine about this great investment. Their last 5 stock picks have all generated 50 to 330 % returns within just a few months. I read another advertisement in the same magazine about a business I could get involved with that one man in 7 months was making $20,000 a month

b. 1 Tim 6:9 People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. (CEV)

i. The itch to get rich is wrong, the Bible calls it sin

ii. Wealth that is made - is stored up over time.

Money that is lost – is usually lost quickly.

c. This comes out in many ways

i. Gambling – casinos, lottery,

ii. Day trading

iii. Investments

d. Eccl 11:6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. NIV

3. Don’t Save

a. The world can be divided into those who believe in saving for retirement and those who believe in the Retirement Fairy.

b. Prov 21:20 The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. TLB

c. Example: Dexter buys his new $20,000 car with 10% down and a 48-month loan, while Joe postpones the purchase, saving up the money and paying cash. Dexter’s monthly payment on the loan is $448, but Joe needs to set aside only $344 each month in a 5% taxable money-market account to pay cash for the car at the end of four years. Joe started buying all his cars this way at age 30 and put the $104 savings in an IRA earning 9%. By the time he retires at 65 he’ll have an extra $352,000

4. Being Lazy

a. Dave Ramsey has a poll on his website that says, “what is your excuse for not doing a budget?! Tied for number one with overwhelming is “I’m Lazy”

b. Proverbs 10:4 Lazy men are soon poor; hard workers get rich. TLB

c. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 (MsgB)

i. Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. [10] Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? "If you don’t work, you don’t eat."

d. People who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more that they do. Elbert Hubbard

(NEW MATERIAL)

5. Co-sign a Loan