Government Bailouts and Personal Finances

I think most of us would agree that the United States has the highest standard of living in the world. We certainly do not have a problem with our level of income being sufficient to provide for our needs. We live well here and there is nothing wrong with that.

We live well but are we doing well? Government bailouts and takeovers of major businesses indicate that our finances are suspect. Foreclosures and repossessions on the individual level reflect that it is not just the corporations that have taken unwise ricks. But there are no bailouts for individuals -- no one to purchase their bad debt.

So the individual American is left to fend for himself. Is it not time for hard working Americans to stand up for themselves and stop expecting some kind of bailout from our friends in the government? We need to take our personal finances more seriously in light of recent developments.

The best defense against recession, job loss, and/or economic uncertainty is to be debt free. Sure this sounds different from what we have heard. Many financial experts told us to use other people's money to finance our way to wealth. But the days of living by that kind of advice have to come to an end.

Average Americans need to do two things: get control of our finances and create margin in our budgets. For most, once we have gotten a clear picture of where we are financially, it will be obvious that in order to correct the situation we will need to interject more money into our budgets. This cash infusion may come from increasing our income or from decreasing our expenses. One thing for sure, it will not be easy because both will call for discipline and sacrifice.

Our heritage is one of discipline and sacrifice so though the road ahead might be rough, I am confident that the American spirit will prevail. We will individually and cooperately take the steps necessary to free ourselves from the tyranny of debt so that once again we will be a shining example to the world of freedom and properity.

The Great Escape

One of the biggest problems in Christianity today is the indebtedness of individual Christians. This indebtedness is causing tremendous problems for the Church as money issues continue to be one of the major factors contributing to marriage disharmony and even divorce.

This blog is dedicated to finding solutions that can be presented to the Christian community to help Christians acknowledge the problem, begin to reduce their debt, and move toward becoming totally debt free.

There are several issues that must be addressed individually in order to begin to remedy the problem on a personal level. The first is budgeting. As I talk to Christians about their finances I am surprised to find that many do not have a written budget. The amazing thing about this is that some of them serve as elders, deacons, and trustees who would never think of running their church without a budget. Yet in their personal finances they have not given much thought to a written budget.

A second issue is balancing checking accounts. Since the advent of online banking, the use of check registers as the primary way of keeping up with the checking account has nearly become obsolete. This would not be a problem if account holders were using one of the many computer check register programs available on the market. But such is not the case. Many are instead trying to do their balancing using the running balance displayed on their online statements. This is causing record numbers of NSF (insufficient funds) fees for the banking institutions and enormous problems for those using this method. Usually when one check bounces it causes a chain reaction.

A third issue is living beyond our means. We have all heard that most Americans are one check away from financial ruin. The savings rate in our country is dismal in comparison to the average income. I do not need to give you reems of statistics. Look in your own savings account and see for yourself. Do you have 6 months worth of savings to carry you through a rainy day? If not, then you are a statistic.

I could summarize these three issues in two words: NO PLAN! A plan consists of goals, accountability, and discipline. Most of us lack these and that is why we are in such a critical financial state.

But there is an answer to this delimma. We, as Christians, need to get back to following biblical principles. The bible has much to say on the issue of finances. If we are not getting the whole story from the pulpit and/or in church school, then we need to look to other resources. There are plenty of resources available that deal with the issue of money from a Christian perspective. We will review many of them on this site.