If you had a million dollars. . .

I’d be very interested in hearing what everyone would do if they received a million dollars.  Basically because I just took a quiz on facebook and it generates ten answers for you that you’re supposed to rate in the order you would spend your money, and I didn’t really like the answers they gave.  So, how would you spend$1,000,000.00?  And of course after taxes were taken out you’d really only have $650,000.00 but lets just pretend you got the entire million.  Its more fun that way! =) Here’s my breakdown (of course, this is spur of the moment without Josh’s input. . . he might have to post his own breakdown!).

* 10% to tithe/charity

* pay off car loans (yeah, we’d be debt free!)

*set aside the money needed for Josh to finish school

*buy a nice town home (in Fairfax county $500,000.00 will only get you a townhome, single family properties start at $650,000.00!!!)

*purchase furniture for house and a nursery

*adopt a child

*save/invest remaining money

Once we had brought home our adopted child, I would stop working and be a fulltime mom.  That would be exciting!  I think its interesting how I always thought that 1 million dollars was this HUGE sum of money and how you could buy lots of houses and cars and boats and go on exotic vacations.  And I suppose if we still lived in Northern Maine I could purchase a few houses, a boat, and new cars.  But I don’t really want a boat, or a different car or more then one house.  I don’t want to throw extravagent parties or purchase a new wardrobe.  Although I might splurge on one shopping spree, and I think Josh might trade the neon in for a wrangler, but I’ll leave that up to him.  But here’s a few verses that Joshua and I have looked over as we seek to always honor God with our lives and resources.  We must always recognize that everything we have is truly from Him.

Proverbs 11:28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is to be chosen rather then great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.

Have a fantastic day!

$$$ Not a waste of time!!! $$$

Really, this is not a waste of time.  I realize my recent post of random useless facts wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  But the following really should be, so I thought I’d pass it along.  My parent’s recently sent Joshua and I a cd series called the Financial Peace University.  This came along with workbooks and additional reading by author, speaker, and radio host Dave Ramsey ( www.daveramsey.com ).  This is a 13-week curriculum from a Christian perspective on wisdom for taking control of your finances. 

In part I’m writing this post in hopes that doing so will provide a measure of accountability for completing the course.  But also to pass along what I’m learning and hopefully ingrain as much of it into my brain as possible. 

Its not always easy to talk about money and how we manage it (or don’t manage it).  But as Dave points out here in the USA the personal savings rate equals -2.2%.  Compare that to Japan. . . the individual saves about 27% a year.  Another interesting fact: USA Today notes that the average car payment is $464 over sixty-four months.  And most people will carry a car payment their entire life.  Did you know that if you invested $464/month from age 25-65 in a mutual fund at 12% you’d have $5,458,854 at age 65?  Hope you really liked that car!

The College and Career Ministry (Crossroads) that Joshua and I serve in at church recently began a study on the book of James.  The first message focused on being Wholly Devoted to Christ.  Centered on James 4:1-10 we were warned against worldliness and given 10 ways outlined in vs 7-10 to receive God’s grace.  You can listen to the message for free by going to http://blogs.sovgracefairfax.org/crossroads/ and clicking on the link to the right for messages.  As we consider how to glorify God in the area of our finances I am encouraged (and hope you will be as well) that James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  I know we have made many mistakes along the way but we are hopeful as we humble and submit ourselves to the Lord in the area of finances that He will be greatly glorified in this. 

And for your enjoyment. . . Belle thought she’d read up on Financial Peace too!