Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), G. Edward Reid
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000246
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00:29 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:31 Welcome again to Issues and Answers. 00:33 Hey, today is a program you're not going to want to miss, 00:36 especially if you find yourself in debt, because we're going 00:39 to be talking about how to get out of debt for good. 00:43 Let me share a scripture with you. 00:44 It comes from Romans 13 and it's verse 8. 00:48 This is Paul's advice. 00:50 He says, Keep out of debt and owe no man anything 00:55 except to love one another. 00:57 And here with us today, returning again, 01:00 is a very special guest, G. Edward Reid. 01:02 He is the Stewardship Director for the North American Division 01:06 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:08 Ed is a man who, well, not only is he an attorney and financial 01:12 planner, but he is a man who by practical experience has lived 01:17 through this, learned how to put Bible principles into practice 01:23 for money management and how to get out of debt. 01:25 He's written a wonderful book called It's Your Money Isn't It? 01:29 Ed thank you so much for coming back again. 01:32 Well thank you for having me. 01:33 It's a pleasure to be here. 01:34 The topic today is going to be a real interesting one and I know 01:37 will help lots of people. 01:39 You know, when we were out at So cal I was one of the 01:42 speakers and you were doing a breakout session. 01:44 All of your sessions had a lot of people in attendance because 01:49 people need to know what to do with money. 01:51 That's true. 01:52 The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. 01:57 It isn't money that's the root of all evil unless you're 02:00 in debt, is it? 02:01 That's true. 02:02 What is your definition of debt? 02:03 Well, debt is kind of interesting. 02:05 People ask me, well, you know, because I have to pay my phone 02:08 bill each month, is that a debt? 02:09 Actually, what I say of debt is that it's living today on money 02:14 that you expect to earn in the future. 02:16 Frequently people are involved in living their life way beyond 02:21 where they have the money. 02:23 Something real, real interesting happens. 02:25 That is that we are encouraged to get into debt 02:28 by the government. 02:29 I'll just tell you that how last year more than seven billion 02:35 offers came through the mail in American from credit card 02:39 companies encouraging people to get new credit cards and so on. 02:43 This is really, really incredible. 02:45 It's so easy to get into debt, but what they don't tell you 02:48 is if you're late on one payment, or you can't make a 02:50 payment, they're really going to put you through the cleaners. 02:53 They're going to turn you in. 02:54 You know, all kinds of things like that. 02:55 Hard things happen to people. 02:56 But it is highly advertised. 02:59 It's probably the most highly advertised commodity in America. 03:02 That is debt. 03:03 Amen. 03:04 You know, I was thinking when you said encouraged to get into 03:06 debt, even student loans, which we may have time to touch on, 03:09 or credit cards, especially for the younger people who don't 03:14 have a clue about how to manage their money. 03:17 Do you think the reason why so many people are in debt today is 03:21 because we have become a society that wants 03:24 immediate gratification? 03:25 Apparently so because years ago we'd talk to people who said, 03:31 Well, you know, my husband, or my wife, when we got married 03:34 we decided we weren't going to do anything unless we had the 03:35 money to do it. 03:36 The amazing thing is very few people are like that anymore. 03:41 For example, I don't know what the percentage is, but a very 03:43 high percentage of people finance their automobiles, 03:46 or they lease a car, so they have monthly payments on this 03:49 all the time. 03:50 Those are the kind of things that we need to be really 03:52 be concerned about. 03:53 Ed you and I both are living testimonies that it is possible 03:58 to get out of debt. 03:59 I believe people believe that, but is it possible to stay 04:04 out of debt in today's society? 04:06 Well, the interesting thing is that we're always encouraged 04:09 to get into debt, but I think the answer to that is yes. 04:12 It just basically is like our Christian commitment. 04:15 We have to make a decision that we want to live debt free. 04:17 There are many things in life based on decision. 04:21 For example, I decided that I wanted to live healthfully. 04:25 Now I could gorge on food and balloon way up, and so on, 04:29 but you just have to decide that when you have enough 04:31 you stop eating, etc. 04:33 Other people have different problems, but I'm just going to 04:35 use that as an illustration. 04:36 Well, the same thing is, I'd like to have more things than 04:39 I have, but if I did I'd have to get them on credit because 04:43 they're not in my budget. 04:44 Do you see the point? 04:46 Lots of people spend beyond their means, so the real thing 04:50 is will you be willing to live within your means? 04:52 Whatever your income is that's what you spend. 04:55 If you make that decision, obviously, then you have to 04:58 gradually move toward it. 05:00 Spending money you don't have can be a lifestyle. 05:05 I hate to mention it but, it's almost addictive. 05:08 You know. 05:09 Do you see what I'm saying? 05:10 Absolutely. 05:11 Especially with credit cards. 05:12 Yeah. 05:13 Because people forget. 05:15 They go out and they see something that they want. 05:16 They've got this line of credit on their credit card. 05:18 They want it. 05:19 They want it now. 05:20 They get it. 05:21 And they forget about how they have to pay that off. 05:22 We see this all the time at the end of the Christmas season 05:26 where people go out and they get into this generous giving mood, 05:29 and they'll charge it up on their credit cards. 05:31 Then, sometimes, it takes them until the next Christmas 05:34 to get that paid off with that interest. 05:36 Now you teach a three step simple process for getting 05:41 out of debt. 05:42 Would you share that with us? 05:43 Yes, and do you know the amazing thing is, when I go and do 05:45 seminars, a lot of times people will come to me who have 05:48 been before. 05:50 I did one in Hagerstown, Maryland and a man up in 05:52 Pennsylvania drove down the first night and said, I don't 05:55 need to be here because you gave this at our camp meeting last, 05:57 well, two years ago, he said. 05:59 He said my wife and I decided we were going to try to put this 06:02 into practice and see if we could do it. 06:03 But, he said, just a month ago we made the last payment 06:05 on our house. 06:06 We're debt free. 06:07 We don't owe anybody anything. 06:08 I've just come tonight to say thank you. 06:10 Lots of people have told me similar stories. 06:12 So it is possible. 06:13 I know from my own testimony, your testimony, many people, 06:16 that making the decision and finding a plan. 06:19 So here's the three step plan. 06:21 It's real simple. 06:22 It's almost a four step plan because there's a basic premise. 06:26 Okay. 06:27 The basic premise is that you're going to be faithful with your 06:30 tithe, or be on Biblical principles. 06:32 Do you see what I'm saying? 06:33 And, of course, that would include tithing. 06:34 This is a good question because you don't tithe to get 06:40 blessings, you tithe the blessings you already have. 06:42 So you're going to say, I'm going to start with what you're 06:44 giving me, and I'm going to faithful. 06:45 But God has promised that He will rebuke the devourer for our 06:48 sake and open the windows of heaven, and you know, all of 06:50 these things. 06:51 Put Me first and I'll bless all the work of your hands, 06:53 and so on. 06:54 There's many, many promises in the Bible. 06:56 So I would just say establish that principle. 06:58 And someone comes to me and says, Well, I can barely make my 07:01 house payment. 07:02 How could I start tithing? 07:03 I say, well, you know, you're the kind of person that needs 07:05 God's help more than most anybody. 07:07 Amen. 07:08 So put God first and then He'll bless you. 07:10 There's many, many testimonies that that is true. 07:13 I mean this is antidotal, as we say. 07:14 There are many stories that would confirm that that's 07:16 the case. 07:17 It wouldn't make sense to a CPA, by the way, unless he was 07:20 a Christian. 07:22 Do you understand? 07:23 But you start there. 07:24 That's the foundation. 07:25 Then there are basically three principles that I'll share 07:27 with you. 07:28 The first one is declare a moratorium on debt. 07:31 You're just going to say, I'm not going to buy anything more 07:33 on credit. 07:34 That starts there because even if you started paying off 07:38 the other ones, if you kept going in debt you never would 07:40 catch up. 07:41 Exactly. 07:42 So you just say, I'm not going to buy anything on credit. 07:43 That's the first one. 07:44 I say a moratorium on debt. 07:45 The second one is very interesting. 07:48 That is to make a covenant with God that from this point on 07:53 any unexpected blessings that you get you will know 07:57 what it's for. 07:58 It will be to put on your debts. 07:59 Now this is real interesting because most of us know 08:02 pretty much, in fact, we have our check direct deposited, 08:06 but it's the same every month. 08:07 So even before we get the stub Kathy can put in the checkbook 08:11 how much it is. 08:12 So if we got money we weren't expecting, that would be what 08:14 most of us call a windfall. 08:16 You know, some money you weren't expecting. 08:18 That happens to people occasionally. 08:20 Even like your income tax, or whatever. 08:22 You're expecting that, but it's beyond your normal budget. 08:24 I would just tell people make a covenant with God. 08:29 Sometimes people actually write it out, or they make a prayer. 08:32 Kathy and I did this. 08:34 We knelt down beside our bed. 08:35 It was in April of 1987. 08:38 We were living in Georgia, and the dogwoods were blooming 08:40 around our yard. 08:41 I can remember the very day. 08:42 We knelt down and we said to God, We don't think it's 08:44 honoring You for us to be paying all this interest. 08:47 So what we're going to do is we're going to make a covenant 08:49 with You. 08:50 We're going to promise You that any extra money we get from any 08:52 source, we're going to put it on our debts until we're debt free. 08:55 Now I believe that's very, very important for this reason. 08:58 This is the first principle. 09:00 No more credit spending. 09:01 The second one, make a covenant or promise with God. 09:04 This is amazing now, what I'm going to ask you. 09:06 Do you think God wants your family in debt? 09:08 Absolutely not. 09:10 No! 09:11 So once you make the covenant, would it be logical for Him 09:14 to want to bless you because He knows what your plan will be 09:17 with the extra funds? 09:19 Lots of people have said, You know, when we made the promise 09:22 we were getting blessings. 09:23 Here's the problem though, see, if you don't make the promise. 09:26 A man told me one time, We got $2500 we weren't expecting 09:29 and I said to my wife, How did God know we needed a new 09:33 riding lawn mower? 09:34 So he just went out and bought himself something else. 09:35 Do you see what I'm saying? 09:36 Yes. 09:37 But if you'd made the covenant, and you got $2500, you'd pay 09:40 one of your credit cards off. 09:41 Do you see what I'm saying? 09:42 That's the way it is. 09:43 So you tell God any extra money from any source beyond what 09:47 I normally spend for my living expenses, I'm going to put it on 09:49 debt till we're debt free. 09:50 That's the second one. 09:51 That's the covenant. 09:53 The most interesting thing is there's just so many stories. 09:58 I could tell you stories that when I do it brings tears 10:00 eyes, what God did for our family. 10:02 A year and a half after we made the promise we were debt free 10:04 except for our home mortgage. 10:05 All of our consumer debt was completely paid off. 10:07 Before long we even paid our house off. 10:11 Now this is amazing because when we moved to 10:13 Washington, D. C., it's so much more expensive there, 10:15 we had to get a second mortgage. 10:16 I mean a mortgage again. 10:18 The first mortgage up there. 10:19 But we've since paid that one off because we know how 10:22 to do it now. 10:23 Do you see what I'm saying? 10:24 Now that's the incredible. 10:25 So the first one: moratorium; no more credit spending. 10:27 The second one the covenant with God. 10:28 The third one is very interesting, and that is list 10:32 all of your debts. 10:33 I encourage people to make an inverted triangle, you know, 10:37 with the point at the bottom. 10:38 Put the largest debt at the top. 10:40 For most people that would be their home mortgage. 10:42 But the amazing thing about this is, this is really incredible 10:45 to me, I've counseled many couples when one of them was the 10:51 manager. 10:52 Let's just say the wife was the manager, as Kathy is 10:54 in our case. 10:55 Or the husband's the manager. 10:56 I find frequently the other spouse doesn't even know what 10:59 the money situation is. 11:00 They don't even talk about it. 11:02 Isn't that incredible? 11:03 It's, it's, I'm shaking my head that it's incredible, but in our 11:07 family I'm the money manager. 11:08 Especially when we first married we had a huge business debt 11:13 that we brought in. 11:14 J. D., it was just... 11:15 I was trying to figure out how to overcome this debt. 11:19 He wasn't really that interested. 11:21 So it's really very common. 11:22 It's very important though that people put things together. 11:25 I tell people that want to talk with me, if you're married, 11:29 I expect your spouse to be there. 11:30 Well, she doesn't know anything about money. 11:32 I say, but listen, whoever you're married to, God gave you 11:35 that person to keep you from doing stupid things, 11:38 so you should counsel with them regularly. 11:40 It's just really amazing how, you know, check and balance 11:43 a couple can be when they're working together. 11:45 Now obviously one of them is the one that manages the checkbook, 11:48 writes the checks, and all of that. 11:49 But if they talk about it, at least monthly, 11:51 you know, what our situation is, and what we should do here, 11:53 what should we do there, it really, really helped. 11:56 So the third one is list all of your debts from the largest 11:58 to the smallest. 11:59 So the largest one up here would be like your home mortgage, 12:01 or your student loans, or your car loans, or whatever. 12:03 The ones at the bottom would probably be the credit card 12:06 debts, because frequently people are maybe a month or two behind 12:09 or whatever, but they could pay them off if they had a plan. 12:12 So I tell people this is just what we call the snowball 12:15 effect, the ticket off, or whatever. 12:17 But you have to make the minimum payment on every one 12:21 every month. 12:22 This is important to know. 12:23 I've talked to people, ah well, this month I can't make my 12:26 Sears payment, or whatever, you see, and they'll skip 12:29 something. 12:30 You can't do that. 12:31 You're ruining your credit. 12:32 Exactly right. 12:33 So I tell people, make the minimum payment on every debt 12:35 every month. 12:36 But the one at the bottom, any extra money that you get 12:39 from any source, maybe extra working, selling off some unused 12:42 items... 12:43 We had a yard sale. 12:44 The only one we've ever had in our lives. 12:46 It brought in enough money to make a whole bunch of payments 12:49 on our house, because those were principal payments, 12:51 you know. 12:52 It's incredible what happens. 12:53 But at any rate, sell off stuff you don't need. 12:56 And I ask people, How many of you think you have stuff in your 12:58 possession you'll never use again? 13:00 Well, most everybody will raise their hand because they do. 13:02 We save stuff. 13:03 Get rid of stuff you don't need. 13:05 Put the money on your debts. 13:06 That's things that you can do as well. 13:08 But I'm just going to share with you those principles. 13:11 Once a single debt is paid off then what you used to pay on 13:16 that one you can pay on the next one along with this 13:19 minimum payment. 13:20 Pretty soon you can sing the victory song several times. 13:23 Now there's several reasons why I say start with the small ones. 13:26 One is so you're not discouraged. 13:29 You can say, well, man we got that one paid off. 13:30 We can do this one. 13:31 You see the idea. 13:32 Because if you started on your home for example, it might take 13:35 you several years to do that, and you couldn't sing 13:37 the victory song. 13:38 Plus the home mortgage is tax deductible, or the interest is 13:42 deductible; the interest is tax deductible. 13:45 Where the interest we pay on our credit cards isn't 13:47 tax deductible. 13:48 So you'd want to pay those kind off first. 13:51 It's very good to pay one off and then another. 13:54 and another, and another. 13:55 Another interesting thing is credit cards are typically 13:59 the main reason people get into debt. 14:00 But I've counseled with people who had more than thirty 14:04 credit cards. 14:05 I mean they have like Master Card and Visa, but then they 14:07 has gas cards, and store cards and all these kind of things. 14:10 My counsel as a financial counselor is not to have 14:12 more than two cards. 14:13 You know, a personal one, and a business one, 14:15 or something like that. 14:16 That's what they tell you when you want to get your credit 14:19 in good shape too. 14:20 The more credit cards you have the worse your credit score 14:22 is going to be typically. 14:23 Even if you pay them off every month. 14:25 And even if you, you know I learned that even if you have 14:29 those credit cards, and you're not using them, if you're not 14:31 carrying a good balance on them, high balance, it actually lowers 14:36 your credit score. 14:37 Another thing is the more credit cards you have, even paid off 14:40 credit cards, the more difficult it is to get a loan because the 14:42 lender can look at your credit history. 14:45 If you have all these cards you could easily bankrupt yourself 14:49 and they wouldn't want you to do that when they're giving 14:50 you a loan. 14:52 So that's kind of an interesting thing also. 14:53 Well, you know, this is, what you're saying is exactly, 14:56 without being trained, but how the Lord led us. 14:59 When we married, as I said, at first J. D. really wasn't 15:03 interested, well, it's not so much that he wasn't interested 15:06 as he did not have that propensity for money management. 15:11 He was a true entrepreneur. 15:13 He was very busy. 15:14 He was happy for you to take care of it. 15:15 He was happy for me to take care of it. 15:16 But I would show him at the end of each month what our debt was, 15:21 and what payments I was making, so that he would stay apprised 15:24 of the situation. 15:25 I began because I had a certain amount of money that I would 15:30 budget for paying on credit card debts and others. 15:34 And say, I forget what it was now, but it was something like 15:37 $3000 a month. 15:38 So I started paying off the smallest one, and I would 15:42 take that money and add it to the next one, just ticking 15:45 those things off. 15:46 And it was amazing how rapidly things started coming into... 15:49 Now this is incredible what I'm going to tell you next. 15:52 Systematic approach to paying off debt, just like for savings, 15:56 is incredible what it will do because you know the investment 16:00 put in your debt is going to be 100% successful because you're 16:03 paying off the debt and saving the interest, you see. 16:05 That's incredible. 16:07 But what we're talking about now adds one other element, 16:10 and that's when you have the Christian experience, 16:12 the Christian principles. 16:13 I'm not sure about your past history, whether or not you 16:15 were involved in it with the Lord at that time or not, 16:17 but the fact is it worked because you were systematic. 16:19 But if you're systematic and committed to a principle that 16:23 you've told the Lord, I'm going to put You first, then you have 16:26 even blessings added to that. 16:28 Do you see what I'm saying? 16:29 It's almost a multiplication table. 16:31 Well, since ours was business debt, and we were each month 16:36 so far beyond what we thought we could, I mean there was no 16:39 increase because of the business debt. 16:41 We were saying we can't tithe because there's no increase. 16:44 Basically after living for about a year like that realized 16:49 this isn't working. 16:50 So we decided to just sit down, and even though there was no 16:53 increase we said, okay, we are going to give to the Lord 16:57 a certain amount of money each month, to return this money. 17:00 And He did amazing things. 17:03 We'll talk about that during another program. 17:04 So basically we're looking at... 17:07 Let's go over those three principles one more time. 17:10 First is no more credit spending. 17:12 No more credit spending. 17:13 Yeah. 17:14 Say there's a moratorium on debt. 17:15 That's right. 17:17 I don't care if I need a new washing machine. 17:18 I'm going to save the money until I have the money to buy 17:21 that washing machine. 17:22 Yep. 17:23 Okay. 17:24 The second thing... 17:25 By the way, that's not easy to do. 17:26 No. 17:27 You understand what I'm talking about. 17:28 Credit is almost like an addiction because whenever you 17:30 need something you just use your credit card and get it. 17:32 But studies have shown that sometimes people who don't 17:35 pay their credit card off every month end up paying almost twice 17:39 what they paid for the thing when they add all the interest 17:41 that's added each time. 17:42 Do you see what I'm saying? 17:44 Especially if you're paying just minimum payments. 17:45 Uh huh. 17:46 It's pitiful. 17:47 But now the second thing was to make an inverted... 17:50 No, no, that's the third one. 17:51 Oh, excuse me. 17:52 The covenant, remember? 17:53 The covenant. 17:54 Yeah, that's important. 17:55 Make this promise with God. 17:56 As you bless me any extra income that I get from any source 17:59 will go on those debts. 18:01 That's good. 18:02 So somebody gives you a gift, or you sell something, 18:05 and get a little more than you were expecting for it, 18:07 that goes toward your debt. 18:08 Oh, yes. 18:09 And then the third one is the inverted pyramid. 18:11 That's it, listing all the debts. 18:13 The largest ones at the top, listing all the debts, 18:15 bringing it down to the smallest, and then... 18:18 Starting at the bottom and working up to it, yeah. 18:20 That's wonderful. 18:21 Now once someone gets out of debt, I guess the way to stay 18:27 out of debt is to keep following those first two principles. 18:31 I'm not going to borrow money. 18:34 I'm not going to buy something unless I have the cash to pay 18:37 for it. 18:38 I think that's true. 18:39 Living within your means. 18:41 Then also, as Christians, we have another unusual thing, 18:44 and then we can ask God to providence to help provide 18:47 something within our budget that would meet our needs. 18:49 See, isn't that awesome? 18:51 I mean when you think about it? 18:52 I've listed a bunch of points also that I've used before. 18:56 Six things that people could do once they've established 19:00 the three principles. 19:01 I'll share those with you. 19:03 I think it's valuable to know. 19:04 One of them is establish a budget. 19:06 This is kind of funny. 19:07 People say, Well, duh, aren't you on a budget? 19:09 Do you know that many people just live from month to month 19:11 and pay whatever debt squeaks the loudest? 19:13 They don't really have a budget or a plan. 19:15 What worked for you and what worked for me was because 19:17 we had a plan. 19:18 We had a budget. 19:19 Well, here's what our income is, and here's what our 19:21 expenses are. 19:22 That's important. 19:23 Another one, I would say, is set goals for your family. 19:26 A goal, for example, would be we may use our credit card for 19:29 convenience when we go on vacation next year, 19:31 but we're going to have the money saved to pay it 19:33 when we get back. 19:34 Do you see what I'm saying? 19:35 Yes, exactly. 19:36 Instead of paying for it all year long, or you could say, 19:38 you know, by this time next year we're going to have 19:40 the car paid off. 19:41 Because most people just pay the payment one right after another, 19:44 instead of just calling the bank and saying, You know what, 19:45 if I paid it off next month I'd save some money, wouldn't I? 19:48 How much would the pay off be? 19:49 You know, make a plan. 19:51 Double up payments on things. 19:52 You know, if you can, to be debt free. 19:54 Those are important. 19:55 And then another one is destroy credit cards. 19:58 And then I have a little if in my presentations, generally. 20:01 I say if you find you're not paying it off every month, 20:05 or if you're spending on stuff you wouldn't normally buy, 20:07 except that it's available on credit, and I would say also 20:10 to use credit cards... 20:12 I mean I have to use a credit card in traveling, renting cars, 20:15 and various things like that, but you want to pay it off 20:17 every month. 20:18 You know something interesting? 20:19 Studies show that even among people who pay their credit card 20:24 off every month, they spend more with the credit card 20:27 than if they didn't have credit. 20:28 Isn't that incredible? 20:30 So I would say destroy credit cards if you have a problem 20:33 with it like that, or get down to two. 20:36 The real important thing is I would use the credit card 20:40 for my advantage, not the credit card company's advantage. 20:44 Someone asked me this several years ago, What interest rate 20:46 are you paying on your credit card? 20:47 Because you know they advertise these low introductory rates, 20:50 and so on. 20:51 And I, because Kathy was managing, I said I really 20:53 don't know. 20:54 It doesn't matter to me because I'm not making any interest 20:56 payment. 20:57 What matters to me is what benefits I can get, like I'm 21:00 saving up miles so that Kathy can travel with me when we, 21:03 you know, go on trips and so on. 21:05 So use it for your benefit not for their benefit. 21:07 And that's the real benefit I think of the credit card 21:10 situation. 21:11 Another one is to purchase depreciating items with cash. 21:16 That means things that lose their value quickly. 21:18 The very best thing you can do would be to pay cash for it. 21:21 Most people, because of the housing market could not pay 21:26 cash for a house. 21:27 They say, for example, that 21/2 to 3 times your annual 21:33 income should be the total that you have for investing 21:37 in a house, for example. 21:39 But in the D. C. area where I live, and working for the church 21:42 at a fixed salary, you know, this is three times more than 21:45 that figure. 21:46 So you have to really, really be careful when you make 21:49 a purchase. 21:50 You know, ask God's providential leading for the purchase, 21:52 and that kind of thing. 21:53 But for a house, most people could not pay cash for it. 21:58 By the way, I ask people, Do you know why houses 22:01 cost so much? 22:02 The answer is really simple. 22:04 Because credit is available. 22:05 If credit was not available, no one could sell a 22:09 $700,000 house. 22:10 Do you get the point? 22:11 Because if we had to come up with cash, houses would be 22:15 down like they were years ago, under $100,000, or whatever, 22:18 because some would have to save up for it. 22:19 But because credit is available they can charge these big high 22:22 prices for things. 22:23 And the amazing thing is we're so used to paying on credit for 22:26 everything that we do that. 22:27 I mean, think of how much cars are. 22:29 I mean the average car is $20,000 or more. 22:31 This is amazing, you know, when you think about it. 22:34 And, of course, people are making more money now as well, 22:37 but a lot of people are priced out of the market who are on the 22:41 lower income levels of our society, which is really 22:43 something serious. 22:44 And then I thought about beginning economy measures. 22:48 In other words, there's many things that you can do: 22:51 energy savings, gas savings, go on shorter trips, or a lot of 22:57 different things. 22:58 If I had my book, I list a whole bunch of things, but people 23:00 know what those are. 23:01 But just plan on it. 23:02 Then the sixth one that I have is a follow up to the three 23:06 points, is to have a sale and sell off stuff you don't need. 23:09 Because lots of people have lots of things they don't need, 23:12 and it could be valuable. 23:13 You know, somebody's trash is someone else's treasure. 23:15 That's why they have yard sales. 23:17 We used our trash to make a significant amount of money 23:21 to go on our debts. 23:23 Kathy says it's time to do another one just to 23:25 get rid of junk. 23:26 So it's important that you think about it, and that is 23:30 to pare down. 23:31 Now I want to tell you something from a Christian perspective 23:33 which is very interesting to me. 23:35 We actually have counsel that as we near the close of time 23:41 we should be cutting our possessions smaller and smaller, 23:43 so not much of our stuff gets burned up at the end. 23:47 Isn't that incredible? 23:48 So you could sell off stuff. 23:49 Put it into advance the cause of God, or help a young person 23:52 through school, help in a mission project, or pay for 23:55 an orphans education. 23:56 You know, there's a lot of different things people can do. 23:57 But then that's satisfactory. 24:00 When you stop and think back on your life, you know, 24:02 what did I accomplish? 24:03 It wasn't just the things I've done, it's people I've helped, 24:06 and things that I've done to make a difference 24:08 in God's cause. 24:09 Isn't that true? 24:10 Yes, absolutely. 24:11 And you know, I was thinking also one of the things that we 24:13 used, and I know you teach. 24:14 I've heard you teach this before is that when we, for example, 24:20 with our car, each month, because I'd got the credit card 24:23 payments, all of our credit card debt was gone, so each 24:27 month what I would do is make an extra principal payment 24:30 on the car and made sure that I could do that in our contract. 24:32 Yes. 24:33 We paid our car off nearly two years in advance 24:36 by doing that, and the same applies to the mortgage. 24:39 Oh yes, yes. 24:40 You can really cut that back. 24:41 Really, especially in the early years. 24:43 In fact almost 20 years in a 30 year mortgage. 24:46 It's very easy to make a second payment and save lots, and lots 24:49 of interest. 24:50 That's quite an incredible thing. 24:52 One other thing I wanted to tell you about, and this is just us 24:55 from a Christian perspective, is sometimes people will come 24:59 to you or me and want you to co-sign for them. 25:02 The Bible says you should never do that, Proverbs 6:1-5. 25:06 It says four times in the book of Proverbs, which is from the 25:09 wisdom of the wise man, who was also inspired by God. 25:12 Never co-sign for someone. 25:14 Now I have to always say this. 25:16 It's important as a Christian that we're willing to help 25:19 people in need, but we should not become responsible 25:22 for their debts. 25:23 Do you see what I'm saying there? 25:24 Exactly! 25:25 Sometimes people will come to you and say, Well, you say 25:27 you're a Christian and I need help. 25:29 The bank has the money but they won't let me get the money 25:32 unless you sign for me. 25:33 You might be willing to help them, but do not become 25:36 responsible for their debts. 25:37 You would not believe the stories that people have told 25:40 me about co-signing for their kids to go into business, 25:42 or to buy a car for someone, or whatever. 25:45 Let me encourage you, be generous, and be willing to help 25:48 people, but do not co-sign for someone when the Bible says 25:51 do not do that. 25:52 Excellent counsel. 25:54 Very briefly, we just have a moment left, but what about 25:57 filing of bankruptcy? 25:59 Well, bankruptcy is available for unusual circumstances. 26:03 Bankruptcy is not in the Bible. 26:05 Sometimes people take Deuteronomy 15:1 and say, 26:08 you know, at the end of every seven years you should forgive 26:09 the debt. 26:10 But real simple, the next verse in verse 2 says that God is 26:13 talking to the creditors, the lenders, you know, because you 26:16 should not charge interest for longer than seven years. 26:19 That's very interesting. 26:20 But from the person who borrows the money, we should do our best 26:24 to pay it back. 26:25 I tell people, don't file for bankruptcy because it's going 26:28 to ruin your credit. 26:29 It's going to be on your credit record for ten years. 26:30 Even some things, like you could read a business application, 26:35 have you ever filed for bankruptcy protection? 26:37 So that should be a last resort. 26:38 In my counseling, in 15 or 20 years of counseling, 26:41 I've only counseled two people to file for bankruptcy. 26:43 Both have been single women who've been left in the lurch 26:46 by a spendthrift husband who took off to Alaska, or whatever. 26:48 There was no way they could have paid off the bills that they did 26:51 not personally incur. 26:52 Do you see what I'm saying? 26:53 But just to do it because your credit cards are high or you've, 26:56 you know, those kinds of things. 26:58 I don't think it would be appropriate from a Christian 27:00 perspective, or from a moral perspective, for your fellow men 27:03 who have trusted you. 27:04 Now remember, it's available. 27:05 In certain circumstances I would recommend it. 27:08 Ed we're already out of time. 27:10 This program just flew by. 27:11 Ed thank you so much for coming to share what you have learned 27:15 from the Bible, and how you put it into practice. 27:18 It's been a pleasure to be here and I hope that the viewers have 27:20 gained some tips that would be helpful to them. 27:22 I know they have and I want to invite you back. 27:25 I know you're going to come back and do a couple more 27:27 programs with us. 27:28 So we encourage you to watch for some additional programs 27:32 with G. Edward Reid, author of It's Your Money Isn't It? 27:36 If you'd like to contact him you can go to our 3ABN website 27:40 and we actually have a link to his website that you can get on 27:44 to get these money principles. 27:46 Thank you so much for joining us. 27:48 And now may God's grace be with you through out the rest 27:51 of the day. |
Revised 2014-12-17