Stewardship for the Long Haul

“Imagine that you had to drive from New York City to Los Angeles. You’re in downtown Manhattan hopelessly stuck in traffic. Bicycle messengers are whizzing past. You jump out of your car, sell your car on the spot (at a ridiculously low price), buy a bicycle, and continue your trip to the West Coast. As [...]

Credit Unions – My New Best Friend

I’ll (Charles) admit that while I’m a financial planner full-time, I’m not always the most sophisticated, saavy individual when it comes to finances.  I’m more of a meat and potatoes guy, who believes in the basic principles of spend less than you earn, give generously, and avoid debt.  Stewardship doesn’t have to be complicated if [...]

The Death of Equities

This was the Business Week headline on August 13, 1979. Almost 30 years ago we were asking similar questions as we are today. I agree that the events that got us to the situation we are in today are different in some ways than past events. However at the same time as we look back [...]

Two questions from Recession Road

I had the opportunity last weekend to speak to a group of 50 or so people at a local Church. The topic of discussion was “Biblical Financical Wisdom during Economic Uncertainty”. At the end of the talk there was time for Q & A and there were two questions that I thought were worth posting [...]

SJ Weekly Devotional – Enduring through the Recession

Enduring through Hope               In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats [...]

Making Your Extra Paycheck Cash Pay

Obama’s new “Making Work Pay” plan has been officially enacted, and you should have noticed a nice little bump in your takehome pay over the last several paychecks (assuming you’re not making a boatload of money already; it gets phased out).  The tax credit is essentially a $800 tax break for married couples ($400 for [...]

Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford

A comical skit (can’t say that SNL is chock full of them lately) that offers a sobering commentary on how we got ourselves in this mess.  Why is this simple truth so hard to grasp for so many?  I think the word that the Bible uses over and over to sum up what should be [...]

SJ Weekly Devotion – Tiny Camels

Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus [...]

Debt Reduction vs. Saving??

We’re often asked if it makes more sense to save cash for an emergency fund or to pay down consumer debts like credit cards or car loans. The theory goes that if you don’t save up any reserves, then paying down the debt might not do that much good if you have an unexpected expense [...]

Faithful in Very Little Things

Sometimes conviction can be a pretty annoying thing.  Yesterday I was reading an ebook that I had downloaded for free online (is there anything better than free stuff!?), when someone brought to my attention that the book I was reading was copyrighted.  I thought “Why would a free book be copyrighted?  Who cares about the [...]