Hope for your financial life and beyond

Why I’m Thankful for First and Second Chances

We’ve all had moments in life when we were granted first and second chances even though we probably didn’t deserve it. Remember that first big break? Can you relive the feeling? You were emotionally on cloud nine after being given your first chance to show the world what you were made of.

More than likely, it took a long time and a lot of effort for you to break through and secure your first opportunity. But still, that first chance to prove yourself happened fairly early in life, sometime in your 20s.

second chancesThere is no logical reason why anyone would give a person in their 20s a chance. Generally speaking, 20-somethings have no money, no experience, and no patience. They are idealistic to a fault, thinking they alone hold the key to changing the world. They disdain older generation, thinking they are pessimistic, set in their ways and out of touch with contemporary culture.

Of course I’m exaggerating with this characterization. Many 20-somethings are not like this. I was though, even though it may not have appeared so to those around me.

Yet someone still gave me a first chance.

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How to Determine If People Really Want Help With Money

I have been interested in personal finance for quite some time now and love to help with money. I could teach the subject and dish out solid advice for hours. In fact, that’s what I do at my full-time job as high school economics and personal finance teacher. Teaching my students satisfies my appetite on the topic of money.

help with moneyThe funny thing though is, in everyday life, I rarely get into conversations about money.

Why?

Because people rarely ask. Every once in a while someone will approach the subject because they know my interest in it. But not often.

And even more rare are those times when I bring up the subject to someone else. I even resist when I see them making a poor personal finance decision. I’ve learned that when I initiate conversations about money it doesn’t go well.

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The Best Definition of Teamwork You’ll Ever Read

Like all other sports enthusiasts, I am starved for athletic competition right now. In recent months, the spread of COVID-19 has disrupted sports around the world. I’ve always enjoyed playing and watching sports, mostly because it consistently reminds me of what it means to work as a team. That reminder points me back to perhaps the best definition of teamwork I’ve ever heard.

definition of teamworkIronically, the quote is not from someone related to sports. Rather he was a successful businessman turned philanthropist after he generated an incredible fortune in the steel industry. He believed that great wealth was a sacred trust and that the possessor of such wealth was bound to use it for the good of the community.

If you’ve guessed Andrew Carnegie, you’d be correct.

Being a successful businessman, Carnegie must have known something about leading teams. So it’s no surprise he came up with this definition of teamwork:

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A Soldier’s Pledge – on Freedom, Courage and Sacrifice

“America is depressing…mixed up…adrift…an afterthought.” Have you sensed these messages creeping into American culture and thought in the past few years? Our soldier’s pledge to keep our nation great remains strong, but a lack of pride in who we are among the general public seems to have blossomed. There exists less and less passion for greatness. And few believe America’s best days lie ahead.

a soldiers pledgeEveryday the news points out our flaws. Our economy isn’t right. We can’t resolve our racial issues. Our foreign relationships often teeter on shaky ground. American individual liberties are under assault.

Everything rises and falls with leadership – including a nation as big and powerful as America. So perhaps our attitudes can be contributed to the uninspiring and ineffectual leadership we see in our government, in our communities, in our churches and even in our homes.

For many it’s a bleak picture that seems to be spiraling out of control. But we don’t have to settle for this course. We can choose a different path. Nothing predetermines that we must feel indifferent or uninspired about America.

How do I know this?

Because of freedom. Freedom is the one constant that can again ignite our passion and love for this country.

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The Passenger Effect: Their Valuable Role in a Car and on a Team

For the longest time I was nothing more than a passenger. For the first 16 years of my life I sat dutifully in the front or back passenger’s seat of my parent’s car, being toted around to church, to practices, to public auctions and to well, everything. No one would have given me the clearance to drive at age 8, 10 or 12. I wasn’t ready.

Then in a span of a year everything changed. Permit…driver’s ed class…written test…road test…license. Boom! All of a sudden I could drive. And not even with an adult in the car. I could drive all by myself!

passengerMy role in the vehicle certainly changed at that point. No longer was I a mindless robot staring out the window at the endless farms that dotted the landscape where I grew up. Instead I was an active participant in moving a multi-thousand pound vehicle from point A to point B, with the hope of not incurring or inflicting any damage along the way.

What I soon realized when I first became a driver is how valuable passengers are. It didn’t seem like I had been doing anything important all those years I served as a passenger, sitting in the back seat of my parent’s car. I mostly felt like an innocent tag-along who didn’t impact the process of driving. But passengers can impact the driver in many ways, both for good and for harm.

The Passenger Effect

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Is a Liberal or Conservative President Better for Your Money?

It’s President’s Day, 2016 and it’s also an election year. America will again be choosing a liberal or conservative candidate to be the next President. We won’t know our choices until the primaries are finished but it will once again be a knock-down, drag-out fight all the way to the November elections. And well it should be – a lot is at stake.

liberal or conservativeThere are many issues on either side of the political spectrum that attract people to the liberal or conservative cause. I’m sure you have a worldview or pet issue that draws you in one direction or the other. Our differences are both a strength and a weakness, propelling us forward at times and hindering us at others.

One area though where the American electorate can find common ground is this: we need money to manage our lives. I don’t see how you can argue with that statement given the nature of our society. Money functions as a tool for living. The more of it we have, the better off we are when it comes to running our day to day lives.

So during an election year is a good time to ask, “Which philosophical viewpoint – liberal or conservative – gives me the best chance to succeed with money?” Whoever becomes the next President will surely promote his or her agenda to the American people. Their views about money, economics, businesses, taxes and foreign affairs will have a dramatic impact on our pocketbooks. Not that you should only vote based on your wallet but it is a major factor to consider.

To answer the question, I’ll start the only place I know – with the actual viewpoints.

Liberal or Conservative Worldview on Money?

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A Time For Choosing Freedom

Eerily, this man’s words, penned in 1964, are coming true on many levels:

American flag“Every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement…[and] policies of accommodation…”

“If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand, the ultimatum…and what then?”

“…And someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally and economically…”

 But there is hope found through courage and sacrifice:

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How to Make a Good Decision Every Time

Hidden Nuggets Series #79 – “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.” – Ephesians 5:15

(This bonus Hidden Nuggets article is dedicated to my kids. May you always make good decisions.)

how to make a good decisionHave you ever been in a difficult situation and wondered how to make a good decision? Silly question I know. Who hasn’t been in a tough spot like that?

We face decisions every day – small and large. Some are routine and have little to no impact on our lives. Others weigh heavy on our minds, causing us to lose sleep at night. Decisions can chart the course of our present and define our path for the next 10 years.

Whether they are in the moment decisions or ones that take time to think through, it is difficult to know how to make a good decision. How do you enter the decision making process – blindly or with your eyes wide open? What do you draw on to help you make a good decision, one that will be profitable for your future?

I’ve often thought my decisions were pretty good, even though there have been some I regret. My big issue is getting to the best decision quickly enough. I usually take a long time to come to a conclusion on weighty matters. Sometimes that frustrates me. At times I’ve missed the opportunity entirely because of my procrastination.

What if there was template that could teach you how to make a good decision? What if you could get instant clarity in some cases on whether to move in a direction? Would that be worth it?

I’ve found such a template [that I can’t take credit for] and it all rests in one broad question and three deeper questions you have to ask.

Our Problem in Making Good Decisions

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The Government Won’t Solve Your Money Problems

In case you didn’t know, tomorrow is a mid-term election day in the U.S. If you live here I really don’t understand how you could not know it’s a voting day given the emphasis placed on it by the news media and advertising groups for months now. It should be interesting given the frustration many people in both parties are having with functioning of the current government.

Capitol Hill Everyone has their reasoning for why they chose to vote or choose not to vote. That reasoning can easily turn elections to one side or the other. In the past presidential election, we now know that 4 million conservatives stayed home, choosing not to vote. That groundswell of opposition and apathy towards their candidate followed by their subsequent inaction when it came to voting turned the election for the incumbent.

Whatever your political persuasion, I hope your beliefs are deep enough that money isn’t the only consideration when it comes to choosing an elected official. Too often voters only vote with their wallet, casting a ballot for the candidate they think will improve the economy, thus making their financial life better off than it currently is. I’m not saying the issue of improving the economy should be ignored. We just can’t base our entire decision on that one factor.

Money isn’t everything.

The Government and Your Money Problems

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Give Up to Go Up: Spending Money For Personal Growth

Hidden Nuggets Series #56 – “…Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…” (Hebrews 11:24-25)

give up to go upToday and tomorrow I’ll be immersed in all things personal finance as I’m attending a conference in New Orleans known as FinCon. Finance professionals, bloggers and financial news media from around the country will be engaging one another on the current trends in the industry. I probably won’t see the craziness that might happen at an event like Comic Con or Dragon Con but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.

I’ve read over the past few weeks that some of my colleagues were able to afford the conference trip through travel rewards received from their credit card. I think that’s awesome for them, as they will be getting a nearly free stay in The Big Easy. I’m completely off credit cards though so that option is not available to me.

Once I factor in all the expenses – conference fees for my wife and I, our hotel stay, food and travel expenses from Atlanta – we will spend over $1,000 for this trip. That seems like a lot of money and maybe it actually is for a three-day conference for two.

The more difficult part is that I’ll be missing one of my daughter’s volleyball games and two of my youngest son’s T-ball games. It’s his first season playing so I’m really looking forward to being there for him. Yes, there will be other games but I’m sad at having to miss two of them.

In the end though, shelling out the money and missing family time are all sacrifices I’m willing to make for the trip because this one thing I know…

You have to give up to go up.

Give Up to Go Up

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The Most Basic Thing I Never Understood About Leadership

leadership

Leadership can be learned.

Winston Churchill. Ghandi. John Wooden. Mother Teresa. Martin Luther King Jr. Julius Caesar. Moses. These are just of few of ancient and current history’s greatest leaders in their respective discipline. We would all be better people having studied their leadership qualities.

When we dissect the lives of people such as these, we probably grant them more credit than is due for their innate abilities. The statement “He’s a naturally born leader” comes from our mouth as the gospel truth and does them a disservice, as though their leadership capacity and thus future destiny was handed to them on a silver platter. They did not rise to their elite level of standing merely because of something that was gifted to them at birth. While perhaps gifted in some way, each had to learn to lead.

Leadership Can Be Learned

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