Speaking from the Heart

I might possess a lot but according to God's word, I own nothing. God is the creator of the earth and he owns everything (Hag. 2:8, Ps 104:24, Job 28). This includes my home, car, clothes, computer, investments, family, and everything I can possibly think of, including myself.

"For I am are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for me to do." Ephesians 2:10

In lieu of Women's Bible Study, I will be spending ten weeks in learning how to become God's money manager. I will learn how to use His given resources for the accomplishment His goals.

For the introduction of the class. the teacher gave us 7 baby steps to become debt free.

1. Save $1000.00. Pay the minimum on everything until you have $1000.00 in savings. This is your first level of protection as you head into the future. The $1000.00 is your emergency fund, a little fund to protect your family when those little emergencies arise.
2. Pay off Debt. You should utilize the debt snowball method, and pay off all personal debt except your home. Let's say you have 3 monthly bills ($25.00 for cable; $200.00 for car payment; $300.00 for furniture). You decided to get rid of cable. Add that additional $25.00 to your car monthly payment. Once you pay off your car, add $225.00 to your monthly furniture payment.
3. Increase Emergency Fund. At this step, all of your debt should be paid except your home. So now it should be easy to save the rest of your emergency fund. The correct amount is three to six months of your living expenses. This money should be kept in a simple money market fund or savings account. This money is not for investing. It is only for protection.
4. Fund your retirement and review insurances. You need to begin fully fund all pretax retirement plans. In other word, you do not want to pay taxes on retirement dollars until you begin to use them. The goal is to invest long term with pretax dollars. The second part is to evaluate your various insurances.
5. Start a college fund. Now is the time to start the college fund. Don't start your college fund until all the first four baby steps have been completed.
6. Pay off your house.
7. Build wealth and give it away. With no payments and a great deal savings plan in place, there is nothing left to do but build wealth and give it away.