Tag: spending plans
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Curb Spending in a Crisis
If your family lost all your income, how much money does your family need to pay all your bills? This is an important number. This is your “Survival Budget Number.” This can give you hope or a target to shoot for in a downturn. Let me illustrate, for a family of three that I have…
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How Much is Too Much House?
I wasn’t sure if he was going to have a nervous breakdown right there at my desk or not. He kept saying over and over, “But they said that I could afford it.” His wife looked at me with pleading eyes to comfort him as she went in the other room to tend to their…
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Do You Have a Wonderful-Life Financial Plan?
We all grow up dreaming of a Wonderful Life. Family and friends who love us. Good job. Nice house. Plenty of food. Enough money to take care of our needs and even some of our wants. When I got married one of my friends was asked to give us some marriage advice. His advice was…
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Signs of a Healthy Financial System: Generosity
Warren Buffett is known for his one-liners and one of his most memorable ones is about financial mismanagement. He says, “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out!” By that I think he means that if you are not managing your finances well, then when you encounter a tough time…
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Signs of a Healthy Financial System: Do You Have a Good Plan?
We all grow up dreaming of a Wonderful Life. Family and friends who love us. Good job. Nice house. Plenty of food. Enough money to take care of our needs and even some of our wants. When I got married one of my friends was asked to give us marriage advice. His advice was classic.…
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Rocking the Financial Roles
One of my favorite marriage books of all time is Robert Lewis’ Rocking the Roles. Coming from a divorced home where there was a definite disconnect from Biblical roles in marriage, I was hungry for someone to tell me what the blueprint was supposed to look like. Lewis does exactly that in that he describes…
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Are Students doing the Math on School Loans?
We see it every day. College graduates (some of them not so recent) saddled with the repayment of school loans that is quite frankly eating their lunch. It is becoming apparent to me that we are not doing a good enough job helping our students do the simple math of the loans. The simple math…
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Is it possible to be completely debt free?
Have you ever considered what it would feel like to be completely out of debt? No mortgage payments. No car payments. No school loan payments. No consumer loan payments. No medical debt payments, No personal loans. Nothing. Notta. Zilch. What does that feel like? Freedom? Liberation?
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Write a Story with Your Budget
I am a sucker for a good story. I love to watch all kinds of TV. In fact, I watch a little too much TV. I don’t mean to, it just happens. We sit down to dinner around the TV (I know I am a bad example of the Cleavers not being around the dinner…
