Major Mistakes We Make With Our Money - Part 3 Series

Major Mistakes We Make With Our MONEY

As I was studying at my desk, I looked out my window and I saw bodies flying everywhere. My son Jonathan and his friends had a bunch of toys laying on the trampoline and when they started bouncing they flew everywhere. Our financial life sometimes seems that way doesn’t it? We have done all we know to do, work hard, pay our bills, save, give, etc and all of a sudden things are flying out of control. Unexpected emergency, kids need braces, car breaks down, and we are like those toys on a fast track to a crash.

We can’t eliminate this from happening but there are things we can do to lessen the frequency and to reduce the damage. Three weeks ago we started a series on Major Mistakes we make with our Money and by highlighting these 12 mistakes hopefully we can take some of the bounce and crash out of our financial lives. Let me quickly review

REVIEW (quickly)

1. Too Much Debt

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

b. 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.

2. Get Rich Quick

a. 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… (CEV)

3. Don’t Save

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

4. Being Lazy

a. 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."

5. Co-sign a Loan

a. Proverbs 17:18 It is poor judgment to countersign another’s note, to become responsible for his debts. TLB

6. Being Stingy

a. This one really amazes me. The Bible says, “There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is (right) appropriate, but gains poverty.” (Prov 11:24)

7. Bankruptcy

a. Luke 12:33 (MsgB) "Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on.

8. NO Budget

a. 1 Ted 20:20 Where there is no budget, the people perish: TDM

(New)

9. Choosing The Wrong Career

a. There are worse things than a fat paycheck. Your options depend largely on your gifting, education, and skills, but some fields will always pay better than others. Getting the training needed for a better job could be the best investment you make. Ask yourself what the long-term salary expectations are for your career field and consider how you could make yourself more valuable.

i. You may choose a career for the paycheck, but you have no passion for it. You have to wake up every morning and go to work, you might as well find something you like. I believe if you like what you do, you will ultimate do better financially at it. You like learning about your trade, you continue to read and better yourself in it. You have passion for it. (Sam Fahl ?)

b. Does your pay depend on distortions in the market? A lot of semi-skilled but highly paid union workers now know the sting of competition here and overseas. Blue-collar incomes have stagnated over the past 20 years as manufacturers found cheaper workers abroad. Consider other ways your skills can be utilized. My brother worked for a factory on the line, but was always good with mechanical stuff. When he saw and ad in the company paper for an apprenticeship for small engine repair – he took it. Same company, but now he has a skill that can take him in to different fields of employment.

c. Will your skills retain their value in the next century? Increasing your knowledge is the key to survival in the years ahead, whether you’re a carpenter or a computer programmer. The pace of innovation is staggering, and those who fail to keep up will find their personal stock in a nose dive. Nothing has a more disastrous impact on financial security than a lengthy period of unemployment. It is a lot easier chopping down a tree with a sharp axe. It is a lot easier staying on course financially if you stay sharp in your field. They say that current knowledge will be obsolete in 5 years. If you buy a computer today – in 3 years the only value it will have is as a boat anchor.