Managing Money God’s Way

Today I will be closing out my series on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps with a look at giving to others.  In my opinion giving to others, though I have not always been the best at it, is one of the best reasons to build your wealth.

Here are the Steps we have covered to date:

• Step 1:  Emergency Fund – When It Rains It Pours
• Step 2:  Pay Off All Debt Using The Debt Snowball Method
• Step 3:  3-6 Months Of Expenses In Savings
• Step 4:  Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
• Step 5:  College funding for your children
• Step 6:  Pay off the home early

Baby Step 7:  Build Wealth and Give

Baby steps 1-6 are all about getting your financial house in order, paying off debt, saving for the future and funding college for your children.  Step 7 looks at what Dave calls the “Great Misunderstanding”.  The misunderstanding in his eyes, is the mistaken belief that many people think that the way to have more, is to hold on tightly to what they have.

He uses an example of taking a wad of money and closing your fist around it.  You now have that money and it is not going to get away from you, but on the other hand, you can’t receive more money in your hand either, because it is closed up tight.  When you freely give with an open hand, your hand is already open and is ready to receive blessings as well as to give.

So once you reach the point where you have all your debts paid, and your blessed enough to be building surplus wealth, you should give it to others.  I am not advocating wating until ALL your debt is paid off to give.  I personally am still paying off debt, but I still tithe.

Reasons Why We Should Give

• First and formost, as a Christian I believe that everything is God’s, and we are only stewards of everything we have.  Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof”.  We need to be good stewards of what has been given to us, using it for the good of others.
• Giving makes us less selfish people.  Giving helps us to become more Christ-like.
• Giving is a form of worship in which we show or gratitude to God for everything he has given us.

Get Creative About Giving

Here are some ways you may think about giving, both with money and without!

• Volunteer time at your church serving others.
• Serve meals at a local homeless shelter.
• Give to a local charity.
• Help a single mom by buying some groceries or paying a couple of bills.
• Spend time with people at a nursing or retirement home.
• You might consider investing some of your money into MicroPlace.

Your giving is only limited by your creativity.  So what are you waiting for?  Get started!

MicroPlace - A place to give back

I was in the process of doing some daily reading when I came across a great review of the MicroPlace social business site by Jonathan over at My Money Blog that I wanted to share some of my thoughts and a brief review with you.

What is MicroPlace?

It is a site owned by eBay who’s mission is to alleviate global poverty by offering investments that enable loans to hardworking poor people.

How Does MicroPlace Work?

According to the MicroPlace website:  “A loan of $20 can allow a poor woman to start a business and work her way out of poverty.”  You start out by opening an investment account (just like at Schwab or another online broker).  You can fund your account with either PayPal or your bank account.  You then use the search tools on their site to find an investment(s).

Is Your Money at Risk?

According to the statistics at their website, historically 97% of poor people have actually paid back their loans.  So there is some risk to your principal investment.  MicroPlace does perform due diligence on the institutions that actually make the micro loans to make sure they meet certain business and regulatory requirements.  They state that to date “none of our institutions have ever defaulted on their payments to investors.”

What Impact can You Have?

Well, I think that is the easy part.  You can help a poor person start a business and work her way out of poverty.  You are also participating in a solution that can help alleviate global poverty by helping people help themselves.

The Bonus

Do we really need one?  I feel just being able to potentially make a difference in someone’s life is enough for me, but they are offering a free solar powered flashlight for investing as little as $20.

Conclusion

I personally have not invested any money yet.  I plan on sitting down with my wife and determining the amount we will initially fund our account with.  I will follow up with another posting to let you know what we do with our investment.

But as Christians, should we always expect a monetary return on our investment?  Maybe, just maybe the return we should look for sometimes is not necessarily monetary in nature.  As those that have much, maybe knowing we helped someone escape poverty is return enough?

For as our Lord said “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.  Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).