Managing Money God’s Way

Welcome to the 25th edition of the Best of Money Carnival.

This is the first carnival I have hosted, and I can tell you it has been a great experience.

After reading all 41 submissions, here are my top 10 favorites.

1. Abysmal Survey Results: Americans Don’t Understand Basic Financial Concepts at Darwins Finance – This article really points out how little most Americans know about personal finance.  Anyone for changing what our schools teach?
2. Great Debates: ETFs vs. Index Funds at The Amateur Financier – A very good explanation of the pro’s and con’s of ETF’s and Indev Funds.
3. Savings & Rubber Band Balls at Budgets are Sexy – A good analogy on savings and what our true goal should be.
4. The Day I Killed My Credit Card at Enemy of Debt – I loved this post.  It was written as a story instead of your typical personal finance entry.
5. Learning How to be Content at Christian Personal Finance – Being a christian myself, I really took this article to heart.  Something I see a lot of my friends struggle with and that is always trying to keep up with everyone else.
6. Get Back To The Blocking And Tackling Basics of Personal Finance at Own The Dollar – If you like football, you will love this article.  Great at explaining the basic building blocks to personal finance.
7. Save Money on Health Care: A Quick Summary of Tax Advantaged Medical Savings Accounts at PT Money – Good explanation of the different options available to you during open enrollment period.
8. How to Make Money as a Soccer Referee at Free Money Finance – Being an avid soccer fan, coach and referee myself I enjoyed this article.  This could be a great way to earn a little side income.
9. Good to Know Rules and Limits for the Traditional IRA at Good Financial Cents – The Traditional IRA still has it’s place and this article gives you a good explanation of the rules.
10. How to Stop Money from Ruling Your Life at Debt Kid- Money should not rule or control you.  Money is a tool that should be used to achieve your goals.

Thanks to Free Money Finance for allowing me to host this carnival.  I look forward to hosting another!

I will always strive to be honest with those of you reading my blog posts.  So coming from someone who is still in debt, I can tell you that it really stinks to be in debt.  I would like to give you 10 reasons why being in debt stinks.

1. God, through his word tells us that being in debt stinks.  Proverbs 22:7 states: “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Being a Christian this one really hits home for me.  I have not been a good steward of what God has given me.  My wife and I are actively working on this one.
2. Debt limits your opportunities.  Maybe you would like to make a career change, go back to school, or maybe even move to another area.  Forget it.  You are in debt.
3. Debt affects your entire family.  Your kids may not fully understand the fact that mom and dad are in debt and maybe even struggling to pay their bills, but they sure understand when mom and dad are fighting about money.
4. Debt forces you to put up with a lot of crap.  Being in debt forces you to put up with a lousy job, broken down cars, and overall lower standard of living.
5. Debt plays by its own set of rules.  If you don’t believe me, try carrying a large balance on a credit card.  One month your statement shows an APR of say 7.99%, the next is is up to 23.99%.  What happened?  You just appeared to be a high risk.
6. Debt is something you think about all the time.  If you are anything like me, it is one of the first things you think about when you wake up in the morning and it is the last thing you think about when you go to sleep at night.  Don’t we all have better things to think about?  And realizing that it is not going away anytime soon, leaves you with a feeling of helplessness.
7. Debt eats away at future earnings.  Every dollar you pay in interest on debt is a dollar that could have been saved or spent on something else, and a dollar taken away from your earnings.
8. Debt is a lousy employer.  When you are in debt, and more and more of your income is going towards repaying that debt, you might as well as consider yourself the employee of your debt.  What a lousy employer!
9. Debt sours even the best events in life.  getting married, having a baby, buying a house, taking a well deserved vacation should be some of the highlights of your life.  But if you are deep in debt, these events only provide temporary relief.
10. Debt plain STINKS!

I hope and pray you are like me and working your way out of debt, because trust me it stinks!