Not "Show YOU the money"; "Show ME the money!"

What would you think of a family with following financial situation?

• Annual Income: $24,500
• Annual Spending: $35,370
• NEW Credit Card Debt: $10,870
• Existing Credit Card Balance: $167,600

You might think such people fiscally foolish at best.  And you'd be right.  Sadly, some in America are just like that when it comes to money.

What's worse? They are fiscally foolish with YOUR money.

Just add eight (8) zeros and you'll see.

US GOVERNMENT BUDGET

• Revenue: $2,450,000,000,000
• Spending: $3,537,000,000,000
• Deficit: $1,087,000,000,000
• Debt: $16,760,000,000,000

"But make no mistake: As people my age retire and demand Medicare, America will eventually go broke."
~John Stossel

Source: "The Austerity Myth"

God is not on our side because he hates idiots also.

How can I be out of money if I still have checks left?!

Don't worry about the US credit rating. Alan Greenspan thinks we will never have any debt or default problem, because we can always print more money.

(On Meet the Press Sunday, August 7th)

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

I can longer put any fiscal confidence in the government.

"If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand." ~Dave Ramsey

Your mom goes to college.

Folks in America often think of education as the panacea to cure all that ails a society. But is it? Or could it be used to the detriment of a society?

I heartily recommend the following lengthy video which questions the legitimacy of some assumptions in our society with regard to a college education. It also exposes the problem of indebtedness being necessary to getting an education, due to absurd costs.

Check out "The College Conspiracy."

• In related news, check out a SWAT team invasion being used by the Department of Education to collect on defaulted student loans. It's another incident raising concerns about the overuse of police force upon the American people and confirmation for me that the federal government should have NOTHING to do with education.

Really, check this stuff out, folks.

And we'll weep for him, in the press, set up a scholarship in his name. Eventually, and I'm talkin' way, way down the road, we file an insurance claim

Dave Ramsey addresses term life insurance versus "whole life" (or "cash value") insurance. (HT Oilcan)

Why Does Dave Like Term Insurance?

Dave has a reason for recommending term life insurance, and he details it here.

QUESTION: Breck on Twitter wants Dave to explain how term life insurance works at the 15-year and 20-year level, and why Dave likes it so much.

ANSWER: There are a couple of parts to that discussion. Term life insurance versus a cash value policy is no comparison. Term life has no savings plan built into it and the others do, but the others are more expensive.

If you take a 30-year old who buys $125,000 in cash value life insurance, he’ll pay $145 a month for it. Built into that is a savings program called cash value that builds up over the years. By the time he’s 50, he’d have $27,000 of cash value built up in there. If instead he bought a $400,000 term life insurance for $10 and invest that difference of $135, he’d have $133,000 in a good growth-stock mutual fund.

That’s not even the big problem. The big problem is that, when you die with the savings insurance, they keep your money. They will give your beneficiary the check for the face value and keep the savings for themselves. Cash value is the biggest middle-class ripoff with the exception of maybe the car lease and the credit card. You could put your money in a fruit jar and it would do better than this insurance!

You buy the term life insurance based on how long you need it. In 15 or 20 years you will have a paid-for house, kids that are not living at home anymore and lots of money built up in your 401k. Buy inexpensive term life insurance and invest elsewhere. [Emphasis Gunny's]

A vacation from my problems ... you bet I will.

Dave Ramsey addresses short-term missions trips while still in debt. Of great value is the distinction he makes between two kinds of mission trips. (HT Oilcan)

No "Christian Vacations" While You Get Out Of Debt

Billy asks if you can still go on mission trips while you’re on Baby Step 2. Dave says there are two types of mission trips: Christian vacations and true mission trips.

QUESTION: Billy asks if you can still go on mission trips while you’re on Baby Step 2. Dave says there are two types of mission trips: Christian vacations and true mission trips.

ANSWER: Well, Billy, there are two kinds of missions trips. There are missions trips that are Christian vacations. And everybody wants to go on a mission trip, and it’s a little Christian vacation, and we feel like we did something good, so we don’t feel too guilty for going on vacation. But it’s vacation. And it’s vacation with a Bible. I know that because I’ve watched my brothers and sisters in Christ do that for years. And no, you’re not going on that kind of a mission trip when you’re in debt. Get yourself straightened up, kiddo.

The second kind of mission trip is you have a strong enough walk with God that you are 1000% sure He’s telling you that this is something you’re supposed to do. Dude, I’m not getting in the way of that. Go do it. But this doesn’t need to be some little cute thing on the beaches, and we’re going to go down and minister to the crabs. No. Sorry.

I don't care about losing all the money. It's losing all the stuff.

Yesterday at Providence Church we completed a Sunday school series on The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn. (buy it from Amazon.com)

Let me just say, I HIGHLY recommend the book. It does an outstanding job of stacking the biblical teachings regarding money, generosity, sacrificial giving, and living for eternity in such a way that you're overwhelmed by the stark reality of it all.

In other words, I found myself ingesting truths of which I was generally aware, but in such a way that they collectively challenged my thinking & practice where God's money is concerned.

To whet your appetite to buy, read, and apply the book ...

• The Treasure Principle: You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.
• Key 1: God owns everything. I’m His money manager.
• Key 2: My heart always goes where I put God’s money.
• Key 3: Heaven, not earth, is my home.
• Key 4: I should live not for the dot but for the line.
• Key 5: Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
• Key 6: God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

See also 43 Quotes from The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving or buy it from Amazon.com. Or if you'd like, you're welcome to borrow my copy.

It's not tipping I believe in; it's overtipping.

I need an expert opinion, so I submit this to the blogosphere.

So, I'm sitting at Sonic recently about to handle up on a big order of ice cream related items to take home to the family for a nice summer treat. I've placed my order and pull out my wallet to assess the situation.

Two one-dollar bills and, of course, plastic. So, I use my credit card to pay for the slooge, but realize there's no way to put a tip on the card. But, I do have my two one-dollar bills.

Do I give both, just one? The bill was about twelve bones, if that helps.

I decide, okay, I'll give the girl both. But, then I see there's a guy working as well. I think to myself, well, if it's the guy, he only gets one.

Why is that? Why would I want to give the guy $1 and the girl $2? I start asking myself, "Self, are you being sexist?" I got no response. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

Well, as God's providence would have it, neither that girl nor that guy brought my order out, but a different girl I had not seen. I gave her the two bones and she seemed appreciative.

I didn't really have a reason why I would give different amounts. I'm not aware of any sexist tendencies, but then again, I'm not aware of too many things. I know what I know, if you know what I mean. I know I was going to treat the two differently.

Is it because I think men are the inferior sex, for I do. If it wasn't for women, men would never bathe or wear clean clothes or eat with cutlery, not necessarily because women wipe our noses by cleaning up after us, but because we do those things to impress women.

A misogynist is one who hates women, but is there a term for one who "hates" men? There is, apparently, misandrist (Note: Gunny's Word of the Day). Is that it; do I "hate" men? Not necessarily, a particular man, but men in general. As was sung in Mary Poppins: "Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid."

The whole thing just struck me as odd. Odd is not novel for me, but I wonder if there's any insight out there to be sent my way. Why don't you lay down that insight right now, with us, together?

What would you do? Would you tip the same? Why or why not? Do you have a rationale for how you roll?

I try to be a good tipper, never below 15% unless there's some reason that the server was just really heinous. I believe Christians have experienced God's generosity and should be generous with others. I also staunchly believe that one should not take it out on the wait staff when there's a waffle with the order (although if it's not written down, I'm thinking there's some culpability potentiality) or the food is just not good or I have to wait to be seated or the restrooms look like a roadside men's room at a gas station in Oklahoma.

I used to find it odd to tip at Sonic, since they just bring out the food, but I've come around. I still wonder how much to tip at the barber shop, but typically a buck ... two if I am really stoked. As I understand it, you don't tip FBI men, but some folks tip everybody.

Any tipping insights you'd care to share?