How To Deposit Checks Made Out to Children

October 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Recently my son Devin had a check made out to him (as a gift), and I couldn’t remember exactly what the proper way to deposit it is for a young child who doesn’t have a bank account.  So I looked up the following instructions that I thought might be useful to other parents:

  1. Print the words “For Deposit Only” on the top of the back of the check. This endorsement restricts the check to only being deposited, not cashed.
  2. Have your child print or sign their name on the check directly under the words “For Deposit Only”, but if your child is too young to sign their own name then write the word “By:” and sign your name with the word “Parent” right after.  
  3. If your child was able to sign their name then sign your name directly underneath your child’s printed or signed name. This will endorse the check over to you so that you can deposit it into your bank account.

Of course it’s always a good idea to check with your financial institution for specific guidelines.

Filed Under: Family, Money

Governomics Isn’t Working

October 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When I was broke I did the same thing the government is doing – kept adding to the debt and consolidating loans and eventually I was unable to borrow more, then unable to pay, then almost lost everything.  We had to change our lifestyle drastically for quite some time to correct the problem. If we had done it sooner it would have been a lot less painful.  But at least we didn’t wait any longer than we did – that would have been disastrous.

If we think our economy has been tough the last several years we need to imagine how bad it’s gonna be when other countries are no longer willing to lend to us.  Imagine how bad it’s gonna be when we can’t pay all the bills we owe to those countries.  Now imagine how much worse it’s gonna be the longer we wait to stop borrowing and cut spending.

How many national parks will have to be closed?  How many furloughs will have to be mandated?  What programs will they finally decide to cut or manage more diligently?  What entitlement programs will they finally decide to steward more wisely?  How many jobs will be lost in that process?  How much higher are taxes going to go in that process?

I’m no economic genius but I don’t think it takes one to see our governomics ain’t working.  Our governomics budget hasn’t REALLY been balanced in decades.  Robbing from funded programs to “balance” the budget doesn’t work without adequately cutting or killing the robbed programs.  When my family has to rob from our vacation fund (social security for example) to pay for an emergency (war on terrorism for example) then we have to either delay vacation long enough to replenish those funds or we have to cancel the vacation indefinitely.  What we don’t do is try to fund everything using debt we hope to repay.   Hope doesn’t pay bills.

Our governomics hasn’t addressed the poor spending behavior that has gotten us into this position.  When my family has to decide between eating out every night or getting to have a nice vacation we have to choose which one is more important.

Unfortunately the approach our government has been taking just continues to produce the same results – it’s the ole insanity thing – “continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results.”  The band aids aren’t working.  It’s time to rip (not slow peel) the band aid off and take drastic measures stop the bleeding so our economy can begin to heal.  Governomics doesn’t work for individuals and it won’t work for our country.  It’s time to go further than the “change” politicians promise.  It’s time to TRANSFORM our country by getting rid of governomics and start using the peoplenomics that apply in the real world the majority of us live in.

Filed Under: Misc, Money

Throwback Post – Financial Freedom

October 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

It’s interesting to look back on past blog posts because in many ways it’s almost like reading a journal.  Here’s one from way back when Shawna and I had just met our friends Joe & Jenn and we were just starting out on a new path in our financial journey. Ironically the title of that post is “Financial Freedom“, as though I was claiming it before it was reality.   I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re financially “free”, because now I don’t really agree with what that term suggests – no one can ever be free from finances.  But we can be free from financial bondage, so by that standard I have a lot to be thankful for.

 

Filed Under: Money, Throwback Posts

Terrible Yo Gabba Gabba Advice

October 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever seen Yo Gabba Gabba you’re probably familiar with how they try to convince kids to try stuff with their stupid songs that say “I tried it and I liked it”.  If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about click here.

I’ll never forget when Skyler was younger.  She had seen one of these dumb songs and thought about it.  She later told me, “I don’t like Yo Gabba Gabba because they say ‘try it and you’ll like it’, but that just isn’t true – sometimes you just really don’t like it.”  Kids are so insightful.

Teachers, pastors, info marketers, and anyone else trying to convince someone else to listen to what they have to say – all need to take note of that statement.  Trying something does not mean that it will be liked.  Budgeting, for example, totally sucks for most people.  We all know how it helps with managing finances, but the task actually sucks.  Having awkward conversations about marriage issues is not fun.  We all know how it helps with improving our marriage, but the actual tasks suck.  Doing strict exercise and diet sucks, but we know it makes us healthy.  I could go on and on.

Everyone would be better off if we’d just be real with each other and acknowledge that some things we need to be serious about just suck and trying alone isn’t going to change it.  What we need instead is accountability.  This could be someone who is better at what you’re struggling with and can encourage you, or it can be someone who is going through it too and can encourage you.  The key is both require the encouragement – not enablement.  We don’t need any help making excuses for our poor choices.  We need true accountability that challenges and encourages us to not give up when trying something isn’t enough to make us like it.

Filed Under: Money, Personal Growth

Keep It Real

October 2, 2013 by 1 Comment

Keep It Real

A couple of years ago I bought a t-shirt with the above print on it.  I think this shirt is hilarious with the ghost, magic wand, zombie, unicorn, space ship, imaginary friend, and dinosaur.  It’s hyperbole (I know a few big words too smart people).  The reason I love this shirt so much is because some of my biggest lessons in life could have been learned sooner if I had just lived by the motto – Keep It Real.

Now this is like one of my core values – Keep It Real.  I think one of the biggest failures among Christians as a whole is the unwillingness to keep it real.  We act like we’ve got it all together because if we don’t then we’re looked down on by those who are likely just better actors.  The problem is pride.  The Bible warns about it – pride comes before the fall.

Proverbs teaches us the importance of wisdom and that we should seek it no matter the cost.  To truly do that we have to swallow our pride, be willing to admit we don’t know everything and we don’t have it all together, and actually ask someone who might have the wisdom we need.  I’ve learned this the hard way in major areas of life, and I’ve observed that most other people are learning things the hard way too.

Years ago I was much more transparent on this blog but along the way I became more reserved for various reasons.  It’s about to get a lot more real on here again because I believe when we keep it real we keep pride down and relational value up.  Who’s with me?

Filed Under: Family, Money, Personal Growth, Relationships

Tipping Well At Restaurants

September 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Here are a few reasons I love tipping well at restaurants:

  • It blesses someone who works hard and might really need that unexpected extra.
  • It blesses me at least with joy and maybe even reward from God.
  • It honors God when I feel his prompting to do it.
  • All that could lead to God doing a work in the recipient, me, or anyone who hears about it.

That’s why I love this video.  When I say I love tipping well I mean I’ll tip 20-25% on a regular basis and might go as crazy as 100-200% on occasion.  But the guys in this video give me something to aspire to, and I love how they weren’t shy about capturing the moments and having a great time with it.

Filed Under: Misc, Money, Personal Growth Tagged With:

God Centered Finances – Ebook

September 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Since experiencing a rock bottom turn to Jesus moment financially, I have sought to better understand what the Bible teaches about money.  I learned the Bible doesn’t address just giving – it also teaches saving and spending wisely.  When I found my family struggling to strike a proper balance between giving, saving, and spending it became apparent to me that the only way to truly get it right is to keep God at the center of every financial decision.  That is the basis for my first ebook:

God Centered Finances: A Balanced Perspective for Biblical Giving, Saving, and Spending.

God Centered Finances

I hope you’ll download a copy, and I hope it encourages your heart and mind to living the blessed life God has for you.

By the way – the Amazon Kindle App is available on all devices and computers for downloading this book.

Filed Under: Faith, Family, Money, Personal Growth, Reading, Relationships

Friends Don’t Let Friends…

September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The creativity of marketing geniuses never ceases to amaze me.  I just heard a car dealership advertisement on the radio that said, “Friends don’t let friends drive junk.”  What a catchy spin-off of the drunk driving prevention campaign!

On the surface it is easy to see that isn’t subtle marketing at all.  They know it’s a bit of a cheesy statement and it isn’t going to directly influence anyone to immediately rush out to that particular dealership and buy a car simply because they heard that tag-line.  That’s not likely to happen, but we will remember that tag-line and the dealership who said it.

However, whether we like it or not, the message, “friends don’t let friends drive junk,” is subliminally programming us to care what others think about what we’re driving.  We can allow that subliminal message to take root in our mind and grow into thoughts of self-consciousness about our image.  Or we can run that message through a brain cell.

The last time I noticed anyone I consider a true friend could really care less what kind of vehicle I drive.  In fact, I’d say any “friend” who truly judges our “junk” purely on image value is probably not a true friend in the first place.  But maybe I’m taking this too far.
Anyway – I think if the “friends don’t let friends drive junk” tag line is supposed to parallel the implication of the original “friends don’t let friends drive drunk” tag line then said friends would take the keys from me and provide a better alternative for me.  If that’s the case I’m open to whatever better alternative for my junk that you guys come up with 🙂

 

 

 

Filed Under: Money

Comfort Zone

September 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When we first get fired up about doing well with our finances or our marriage or any other area of our life we are willing to do crazy stuff to make it happen.  We are willing to really stretch our comfort zone.  We will go to counseling, do crazy stuff to save or earn money, eat like a rabbit to lose weight and do crazy exercises to get fit.

The problem with comfort zones is they shrink back to the old ways if we don’t continue to set new goals and do the crazy stuff it takes to reach them.  Before we know it we’re eating our savings again, we’re not communicating well in our marriage, and we’re not making it to the gym nearly as often.  The habits have drifted back towards where we started.

Goals and accountability make the difference – written goals that are in front of us somewhere so we see them all the time, and someone to nudge us to say, “How are you doing reaching that goal?”.  Sometimes the accountability is a spouse but sometimes it’s better for there to be some outside accountability as well.

I’m planning to start being more transparent with my goals on this site.  I’ve seen how my friend Joe has done it with his house payoff goal, and how the guy at MyMoneyBlog has done it to build net worth.  There are some things that are not even financial that I have ways to track and measure that maybe I should be more transparent about and that stuff will start showing up on here.

What are some things you could start doing and tracking to get out of your comfort zone and work harder towards your goals?

Filed Under: Health, Money, Personal Growth, Relationships

Giving as a Sign of Living

September 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Giving can be one outward indicator of where our hearts are with the resources God has blessed us with.  If we’re not giving then we’re not really living out God’s calling for our life.  Signs of giving can be an indicator of how someone is living, but it is important to also have good character and motivation behind giving because outward giving could just as well be a sign of boastful living.

Matthew 6:1-4 says outward giving can be self-honoring, or hypocritical, and there is no reward for that in heaven.  This is something I have to keep in check as I use giving examples from my own life as teaching or encouragement to others for their life, but I never want to do that in a boastful way or with self-honor as the motivation.  Outward giving can truly be a form of pride and, unfortunately, it is for many people.

2 Corinthians 9:7 says giving should be from our heart and done cheerfully rather than reluctantly or from compulsion.  That word “compulsion” can take on many forms that include the outward, or prideful, motivations for giving.  Giving truly is a heart issue and I believe if our heart is right about it the outward signs might have more to do with attitude than dollar signs.

Here are some questions we can ask our self before giving that might help us reveal our motivation and keep our heart in check:

  • Am I giving to draw attention from man or to further God’s kingdom and strengthen my relationship with Him?
  • Am I comparing my giving to what others are giving or am I deciding in my heart what is right for me to give regardless of what others are doing?
  • Am I giving because I want to be noticed by or gain influence with the person or organization receiving the gift or because I believe in my heart that the person or organization is furthering God’s kingdom?
  • A good way to sum up all three questions might be:  If no one other than God knew how much I’m giving or where I’m giving it would I still do it?

I hope you’re being obedient and faithful in giving what God has put in your heart to give, and I trust your motivation for the outward signs is pure.

For more of my thoughts on the subject of giving, as well as saving and spending, check out this brand new ebook – God Centered Finances.  You’ll have to trust me that the proceeds are going to a worthy cause 🙂

Filed Under: Faith, Money
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