In many polls, most show that nearly 90% believe in the existence of God in one form or another. It is a subject that can spark tremendous debate and also cause others to scornfully reject those that speak openly about it. Those that regularly read my articles will note that I have faith in God. But I keep the writings secular in nature, although the real meaning of secular was distorted to mean "distance from, or lack of, religion". But the word serves its purpose and I'll use it here.
The fact remains that I am driven or influenced by my choices in life, one of which is religion. Most everyone that is reading this has some form of religious background or experience. There is also in most everyone's life the idea of being spiritual. The term spiritual is a synonym of religious so on one hand you may say they are the same. Yet others deem the two very distinct and different.
So I don't wish to debate the two here but to say that being spiritual is very important in keeping your life well balanced. Being spiritual and moral is one of the six spokes of your life. Now don't shy away, I'm not going to start preaching religion. There are others better suited to do that. My aim is more simple, to let you know that part of your life requires a set of personal values.
Have you thought about what it is you believe in or don't believe in? This encompasses not just religion but things relating to money, job, sex and politics are all items to consider. If you don't know where you stand, how will you know how to conduct yourself. If you are spiritual in nature, then you likely believe in the idea that some higher form or power exists. And if that higher power exists for you, then you most likely have some level of values to live by.
Can you be both religious and spiritual at the same time? My belief is yes, because one does not have to believe in a narrow doctrine of one religion or another, but in the idea of larger possibilities within the context of my religious faith. It provides a grounding for me, gives me values to live by and to treat others. It is in establishing a spiritual belief under which your values can be drawn and acted upon.
Patricia Megregian is quoted as saying, "Spirituality is where people find meaning in their life. It's something higher than themselves, though not necessarily attached to religion." Keeping this part of your life well tended will improve your life. Tend to it as often as you can to keep your life in balance.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Adjust Spending - Adjust Your Life
When it comes to your financial 'spoke of life', there are many things one can do to improve their situation. TOne place to start is working on the debt you have accumulated. In a USA Today article (September 5, 2006), an example is given for one particular family. Advice is then given on how to control their debt.
Coming up with ways to control and then eliminate your debt isn't as simple as earning more money. The basic issue is that people will typically spend to their level of income. If someone has an income of $20,000 or $200,000, their spending habits will reflect that same. All of us have this tendency as our society has done an excellent job on the marketing side.
The commercial comes on and the spokesman sells you on the idea of a new car, more fuel efficient with the latest 'needful'
gadget. All of us will fall for things that are truly 'wants' and not really 'needs'. If you don't have the latest this or that, then you are not person aspiring for the greatest things in life.
The key is to not spend all that we have. One way to accomplish this is to sit down with a pen and paper. Write down what your average 'take home' pay is for the month in one column. Then write down in a second column what each of your bills are on a monthly basis. Subtract column two from column one - simple but very eye opening when you do this.
To get to a firmer financial position, goal yourself to the 10/10/80 rule. Give 10% to charity, save (long term savings) for yourself and only spend 80%. The hard part is to get the monthly spending under control. More on that in a minute, the charity amount is historical in nature and many will disagree with me. But giving to others will ultimately benefit you, even at its most base level benefit - tax deductions.
Saving for yourself is very important. It helps protect against future expenses that you may normally use that credit card for or keep you from having to take out a loan. Remember, credit cards and loans can be good. But never believe that companies that extend credit are in the business to help you or give you a great deal. Plain and simple, they are in the business to make money. The more you borrow from them, the more money they make. It is in their best interest to keep you in debt.
One suggestion about saving is if your company provides automatic payroll deposit, see if the deposits can go to different accounts. Then set up a 10% automatic deposit to a savings account and the remainder to your checking account. If possible, keep the two accounts seperate so that you are not tempted to continually pull money from savings into checking.
Now the hard part as I said previously. All of those monthly items in column two have to be examined. One another sheet of paper, create two columns and label them NEEDS and WANTS. Like I said, here comes the hard part. In the column labeled NEEDS, place the necessities in life such as your rent or mortgage, the utilities and a car loan to get you back and forth to work.
The column called WANTS is where you place the TV cable bill, the gym membership and other similar items. You have to be honest with yourself about what a WANT is versus a NEED. You can lie to yourself but it only hurts yourself...so again, be honest about this.
Now that you have a list of WANTS, eliminate those bills from your life. Learn to live without them for now. The savings should go to paying off short term debt. Some financial experts say to pay off the high interest debt first. My belief is to pay off the one with the smallest amount first. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and then you can start taking that money combined with the WANTS savings - apply both to the next debt.
But let us think about what happens if we can not make the income exceed the expenses. You have eliminated the wants but a deeper look at the needs is required. You have that nearly new car that is costing you $350 - $450 per month. Sell this one and get a more used car for only $5000 and maybe a payment of $200 per month. It could also be that the big house with the yearly association fee is too much of a mortgage.
Those are tough choices to make but ones you should consider before you become forced into a decision. Being able to have a choice in the matter will save you money as opposed to being required. In being required, it usually means foreclosure or repossession - not the choice you want in your life.
Some of the simple things are keeping lights turned off, maybe not using the air conditioning as much. Saving on water, generic brand food and less of the 'designer' brand clothes are other ways that you can make a change.
The key here is to lower your expenses to 80% of your income. Once you have done this, work to eliminate debt, work to a point of being able to pay in cash as opposed to credit card. Your stress will go down, you will be able to enjoy more things since your savings will grow. Life will be better all around. I am confident that each of you can do this.
David Bach is quoted as saying, “Before you can really start setting financial goals, you need to determine where you stand financially.” He has several books out but one that caught my attention was Start Late, Finish Rich. It helps to take away any doubts that you are too old to help your situation.
His book is good but know that there are several out there. Go to your local library or look online, maybe go sit in your local bookstore. The key is to find something that you are comfortable with, find easy to understand and will get you on a path to improving the financial spoke of your life. Just do it tonight, don't think about it, just get started...you've been putting it off too long.
Coming up with ways to control and then eliminate your debt isn't as simple as earning more money. The basic issue is that people will typically spend to their level of income. If someone has an income of $20,000 or $200,000, their spending habits will reflect that same. All of us have this tendency as our society has done an excellent job on the marketing side.
The commercial comes on and the spokesman sells you on the idea of a new car, more fuel efficient with the latest 'needful'
gadget. All of us will fall for things that are truly 'wants' and not really 'needs'. If you don't have the latest this or that, then you are not person aspiring for the greatest things in life.The key is to not spend all that we have. One way to accomplish this is to sit down with a pen and paper. Write down what your average 'take home' pay is for the month in one column. Then write down in a second column what each of your bills are on a monthly basis. Subtract column two from column one - simple but very eye opening when you do this.
To get to a firmer financial position, goal yourself to the 10/10/80 rule. Give 10% to charity, save (long term savings) for yourself and only spend 80%. The hard part is to get the monthly spending under control. More on that in a minute, the charity amount is historical in nature and many will disagree with me. But giving to others will ultimately benefit you, even at its most base level benefit - tax deductions.
Saving for yourself is very important. It helps protect against future expenses that you may normally use that credit card for or keep you from having to take out a loan. Remember, credit cards and loans can be good. But never believe that companies that extend credit are in the business to help you or give you a great deal. Plain and simple, they are in the business to make money. The more you borrow from them, the more money they make. It is in their best interest to keep you in debt.
One suggestion about saving is if your company provides automatic payroll deposit, see if the deposits can go to different accounts. Then set up a 10% automatic deposit to a savings account and the remainder to your checking account. If possible, keep the two accounts seperate so that you are not tempted to continually pull money from savings into checking.
Now the hard part as I said previously. All of those monthly items in column two have to be examined. One another sheet of paper, create two columns and label them NEEDS and WANTS. Like I said, here comes the hard part. In the column labeled NEEDS, place the necessities in life such as your rent or mortgage, the utilities and a car loan to get you back and forth to work.
The column called WANTS is where you place the TV cable bill, the gym membership and other similar items. You have to be honest with yourself about what a WANT is versus a NEED. You can lie to yourself but it only hurts yourself...so again, be honest about this.
Now that you have a list of WANTS, eliminate those bills from your life. Learn to live without them for now. The savings should go to paying off short term debt. Some financial experts say to pay off the high interest debt first. My belief is to pay off the one with the smallest amount first. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and then you can start taking that money combined with the WANTS savings - apply both to the next debt.
But let us think about what happens if we can not make the income exceed the expenses. You have eliminated the wants but a deeper look at the needs is required. You have that nearly new car that is costing you $350 - $450 per month. Sell this one and get a more used car for only $5000 and maybe a payment of $200 per month. It could also be that the big house with the yearly association fee is too much of a mortgage.
Those are tough choices to make but ones you should consider before you become forced into a decision. Being able to have a choice in the matter will save you money as opposed to being required. In being required, it usually means foreclosure or repossession - not the choice you want in your life.
Some of the simple things are keeping lights turned off, maybe not using the air conditioning as much. Saving on water, generic brand food and less of the 'designer' brand clothes are other ways that you can make a change.
The key here is to lower your expenses to 80% of your income. Once you have done this, work to eliminate debt, work to a point of being able to pay in cash as opposed to credit card. Your stress will go down, you will be able to enjoy more things since your savings will grow. Life will be better all around. I am confident that each of you can do this.
David Bach is quoted as saying, “Before you can really start setting financial goals, you need to determine where you stand financially.” He has several books out but one that caught my attention was Start Late, Finish Rich
. It helps to take away any doubts that you are too old to help your situation.His book is good but know that there are several out there. Go to your local library or look online, maybe go sit in your local bookstore. The key is to find something that you are comfortable with, find easy to understand and will get you on a path to improving the financial spoke of your life. Just do it tonight, don't think about it, just get started...you've been putting it off too long.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Balancing Your Life
Back in July I wrote about thinking of your life as divided into six spokes on a wheel. In Chart Your Life, there must be balance among these areas of your life. In doing so, a 'well-rounded' wheel or 'life' rolls much easier, gains momentum and is efficient. Your life benefits from having all six areas in tune. But it takes work to achieve this balance.
Those six areas of life are;
Those six areas of life are;
- Physical and Health
- Mental and Emotional
- Spiritual and Moral
- Family and Home
- Social and Cultural
- Financial and Career
Recently I wrote about the area of your physical well-being and health. In coming articles I will write about each of the spokes. Giving you my take on them and giving you the opportunity to make a decision for your life.
“If we put the emphasis upon the right things, if we live the life that is worth while and then fail, we will survive all disasters, we will out-live all misfortune. We should be so well balanced and symmetrical, that nothing which could ever happen could throw us off our center, so that no matter what misfortune should overtake us, there would still be a whole magnificent man or woman left after being stripped of everything else.” - Orison Swett Marden
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Healthy Attitude
Today I decided to work on one of the spokes of my life regarding health. My health centers on high blood pressure and high cholesterol. A visit to my doctor for a check up is one step in trying to stay on top of both issues. In previous articles, the spoke of health is necessary to maintain a balanced life. All of us had, have or will have health issues to deal with. It comes down to you and when you make the decision to address them.
Like many other folks, I have a hectic work life, busy family and just 'stuff' going on all the time. It can be very easy to neglect one's health when feeling good. In fact, I can be very reactive to my health as opposed to proactive. I'm not sure where that comes from knowing that in my line of work, being proactive is the best thing you can do.
Yet I live in a reactive world, I work in a reactive job, while struggling to set goals and visions. To be certain, it is one's health that will tend to get the short end of our reactive lives. Credit does go to those that can maintain a healthy life. But for many of us that struggle to work out this area of our life is difficult. The thing health professionals will tell you is to simply realize that good health is important.
Many may sarcastically think, "wow, that is an earth-shaking statement!" But many of us tend to forget how important good health actually is. When feeling good, what need is there for concern. The same goes for your mind, soul, spirit, job, family, attitude or any of the other facets of life. Each must be nurtured to keep it in good shape and to keep the wheel of your life in balance.
Good health is important to that balance, so keep it important in your life. As Thomas Fuller wrote, “health is not valued till sickness comes.” Work to maintain the spoke of good health, it will help you in the other areas of your life. A healthy body and a healthy mind for a healthy attitude.
Like many other folks, I have a hectic work life, busy family and just 'stuff' going on all the time. It can be very easy to neglect one's health when feeling good. In fact, I can be very reactive to my health as opposed to proactive. I'm not sure where that comes from knowing that in my line of work, being proactive is the best thing you can do.
Yet I live in a reactive world, I work in a reactive job, while struggling to set goals and visions. To be certain, it is one's health that will tend to get the short end of our reactive lives. Credit does go to those that can maintain a healthy life. But for many of us that struggle to work out this area of our life is difficult. The thing health professionals will tell you is to simply realize that good health is important.
Many may sarcastically think, "wow, that is an earth-shaking statement!" But many of us tend to forget how important good health actually is. When feeling good, what need is there for concern. The same goes for your mind, soul, spirit, job, family, attitude or any of the other facets of life. Each must be nurtured to keep it in good shape and to keep the wheel of your life in balance.
Good health is important to that balance, so keep it important in your life. As Thomas Fuller wrote, “health is not valued till sickness comes.” Work to maintain the spoke of good health, it will help you in the other areas of your life. A healthy body and a healthy mind for a healthy attitude.
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