Did They Say That? Root of All Money?

“So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?”

Ayn Rand

Remember that the love of money is the root of all evil, not money! But what is the root of all money, anyway?

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Courtesy of Engadget.

Verse of the Day: Do You Pretend to be Rich?

7 Some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor.

Proverbs 13:7 (NLT)

Isn’t this so true? There are many people in America today who drive nice cars, live in fancy neighborhoods, enroll their kids in private school, and have fancy jewelry or clothes. What you don’t see is the enormous amounts of debt that they used to finance their rich lifestyle. These people are not truly happy and are struggling to make ends meet. The lifestyle is killing them. Looks are not everything. Just because they’re driving a leased Jaguar doesn’t mean they’re doing great. So resist the urge to keep up with the Joneses.

On the flip side, there are many millionaires who are the “millionaire next door”. These are the people who appear to live middle-class lifestyles yet have millions of dollars in net worth. What is the difference between them and the ones who look like they’re rich? They don’t care about image. They don’t care about what other people (who really don’t matter anyway) think about them or their lifestyle. This is one of the keys to being rich. It’s not about what people think necessarily but what God thinks of you!

Lower Online Savings Rates Roundup

Just got an email from FNBO Direct saying that their rate for their online savings account went down to 3.25% from 3.50%. WaMu (JPMorgan Chase) also quietly lowered the online savings rate to 3.00% from 4.00%. ING Direct is at 2.75% (instant $25 bonus for new accounts with at least $250). HSBC Direct is currently at 3.00%.

Did They Say That? Don’t Make Money Your Goal

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”

Maya Angelou

What a great quote and some great advice. Money should never be your goal. Money is motivating but there is a higher purpose for our lives. I don’t think that it’s necessarily wrong to be motivated by money as long as the ultimate motivation is that you want to help someone with it. So the real motivation is to change lives through giving. Giving to God. Giving to the poor. Giving to the church. Giving to change generations. Giving to change your family tree.

Is money your motivation? Are you really doing what you love? Examine your ultimate goals in life.

Missed My Plane

Well…what do you know. I missed my flight for the second half of my business trip. I printed my boarding pass the night before like I always do and of course they changed the gate on me and I didn’t realize until it was too late. The flight actually left earlier than it was supposed to in the busiest airport in the country! So I have about five hours to spend in the airport. Fun! I can watch the Terminal or maybe I can write some articles for the blog while I’m waiting. After all, I had to pay $8 for wireless internet. It should really be free.

So here’s some free advice. Always double check your departure gates at the airport! I’m normally on top of things like that but I was too engrossed in my solitaire game on my iPod.

Sorry…

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I’ve been on a business trip and the Internet is not quite as easy to find as most places. I’ll try to do some updates next week when I have better Internet access. I’m on the business trip until the 31st of October.

What Does the Bailout Mean for Me?

By now, most of us have heard about the news of the $700 billion bailout signed into law by President Bush on October 3rd, 2008. The bill is designed to bailout the numerous banks throughout the country that were making bad mortgage loans. The government (read: we, the taxpayers) are now going to own $700 billion worth of homes and hopefully sell them later for a profit. How much later is in question.

Do I support the bailout? It doesn’t matter. It has already passed. What I can do is try to analyze the effects of the bailout to you and I. Joe Doughnut. The average American. I definitely don’t like the idea of using taxpayer money to bailout any huge corporation that made bad decisions. They should be allowed to fail. This is a free market capitalist country. I’m afraid America is moving more and more toward socialism and that’s scaring me. But enough of that.

The real question is why does it matter to me personally? After all, this is a personal finance blog. Along with the huge amount of “bad” in the bailout, there some “good” thrown in there as well. For example, the bill increases the FDIC insured limit from $100,000 to $250,000 deposits at all banks and credit unions (that are FDIC insured). That means more protection for you! Hopefully it will get you to save more and spend less, too! This expires December 31, 2009.

Also included in the bill is about the alternative minimum tax. It was expected to hit 20 million taxpayers with an unexpected tax increase this year but it was originally supposed to affect 155 high-income households who owed little or no taxes at the time when it was introduced.

So what does the bailout mean for me? What does it mean for you? It means that I’m doing everything I can to get out of debt and avoid my own “credit crisis”. If I don’t have any debt and a have whole bunch of cash, I won’t have a credit crisis! If I don’t need to borrow, I don’t need credit! What a concept!

Did They Say That? Who You Should Borrow Money From

“Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn’t expect to be paid back.”

Unknown source

I thought it was funny. I say don’t borrow at all!

Verse of the Day: Good Deeds Without Love is Worthless

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:3 (NLT)

Think about what the apostle Paul is saying in this verse. Even if he gave everything he had to the poor and gave his life as a sacrifice to God, it wouldn’t matter one bit if he didn’t have love. It’s one thing to “do“, but it’s another thing to “be“. Who you are has to match up with what you do. If what you do doesn’t line up with who you are, there is a problem there.

What are your motives? Why do you do the things you do? If we really answer these questions honestly, we can discover who we really are. Good deeds without love is worthless.