Life Can Be Simple.blog
DISCLAIMER - I am not a Financial Advisor and do not work for any Brokerage Firm. The opinions given are my own and are not to be used as professional advice. These are my findings and can hopefully help you make informed decisions on investing. Consult a Broker or Lawyer before making any investment. Teaching Your Children About Money One of the more important things parents should do is teach their children about money. It begins by teaching them to trust God and live according to God’s commandments. God has promised that a child brought up properly will not forget those teachings. I have read that by the time a child is 8 years old 80% of their moral backbone is established. Those early years are so important in training. So setting the right example and taking your children to church is the start. And when they learn to read the bible, they will learn a lot about money. Radio talk host Dave Ramsey has said many times that there are over 2,000 rules about handling money in the bible. If you have struggled with money today, I urge you to do what my wife and I did and follow his easy 7-step plan to take control of your money. Here is a link to the book review that has a link to the book. (It is also available for free at your local library.) Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey A simple thing to do with your children is to tie their allowance to doing their chores. This small thing teaches them to get money in life, work and effort is required. Then make them divide their money into savings, spending, and donations. Teaching them while they are young that 10% of all you make is God’s plan and this plan will reward them even in the next life if they know Christ as their Lord and Savior. Another good thing to teach is to delay gratification for greater things down the road. If they need some neat toy, have them set aside money weekly and make them wait to receive the item until they have enough money. That purchased item will mean so much more to them and they will take better care of it than those just given to them by their parents. I finished a great book by Michael Yardney named Rich Habits, Poor Habits. He teaches that in order to obtain success we need to have the right mindset. And he urges you to teach your children early to not have limiting beliefs. Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right either way.” So teaching your children that their life is limited by something that is not true limits them for their whole life. Probably you can remember some false teaching you inherited from a teacher or parent that limited you in some way in life. If you had great teachers and parents, they set the bar high and you accomplished a great deal because great things were expected. Michael Yardney included a list of things we need to teach our children. 12 Things to Teach Your Children
Train your children to have respect for God, people, and their finances. We can learn from everyone we meet if we will take the time. Check out this great link on Good and Bad Spending Habits at Pen Fed Credit Union. List of All Investment Articles List of All Minimalism Articles Internet Direct Laptops
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Lessons from a Box of Rocks It is crucial in life to work with a plan. Some folks think they can just start each day and things will just work out. Your day will come and go, but without a clear plan of action, you will not accomplish as much as you could with an organized plan. In college, I had a great professor who encouraged his students to think outside of the box. He constantly used unconventional methods to teach. One day he came to class with a few boxes of rocks. He said today we are going to use this large box and these rocks to teach some lessons. He poured the boxes of rocks out on his desk and set one large box on top of the desk. He asked us what we should put in the box first. The little rocks or the big ones? Several students said the small ones, but the majority said to go with the big rocks first. He put those in first and then proceeded to put in the next largest rocks. The box was almost full. He asked, “Is the box full yet?” Some agreed, and some disagreed. “What should go in next?” he asked. We had 2 more sizes of rocks, some gravel, and some dirt on the desk. Since the larger ones had been the right answer before, we went with the larger ones. He then filled in the smallest rocks and shook it. Is it full? We all agreed it was full now. He then proved us wrong by adding the gravel and shaking the box. Is it full yet? We said yes, it is full. He shook the box and then poured in the sand. All 5 boxes of rocks, gravel, and sand fit in that one big box. He then asked, “What did we learn from this?” One forward-thinking student volunteered “No matter how busy your schedule is, you can always squeeze in a few more things.” He said “No. That is not the lesson.” He asked the question again “What did we learn from this?” Many guesses were offered, but no one had the right answer. He said what this box of rocks teaches you is that you must put the largest things in life first. In life, the important large things have to take precedence over the smaller stuff, or you will not have the room and time to do all the things you want to accomplish. Think about that. If you put in the dirt first, then all the room around the rocks would not have been filled in, and most likely all of the rocks would not have fit. As you shake a box of rocks, the big ones come to the top and the little ones go to the bottom. Another lesson he pointed out is how no matter where you are in life, life is shaking and if you are a big ‘rock’ at the bottom, life will eventually force you to the top if you keep on and don’t quit trying. And if you are a little rock sitting on the top, the shaking will send you back to your correct position at the bottom. We need to grow and keep on keeping on to move to the top. Life has a way of moving us to our level. This validates the old Peter Principle about how we all fall back down to our level of incompetence. The Peter Principle is an observation that the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence. It is amazing how we can learn from something as simple as box of rocks. This past week, I read a book called Rich Habits, Poor Habits by Michael Yardney. In the book he told about a plan he picked up to deal with issues. I also read this same plan from a Marine Sergeant in regards to battlefield preparation. Both men said to prepare the right battle plan, you need to do 3 simple things.
It is crucial to take the time to think. We need to understand the situation whether dealing with a battle zone or some trial of life. By thinking we can now evaluate the situation and determine our best course of action. After giving yourself time to think and evaluate, you then respond with action. Reaction is not the same as responding and rarely the appropriate action. We need to not get in a hurry but think things out and take adequate time to evaluate. A response is good most of the time, but reactions can cause us more trouble than they correct. In life, to be effective, we have to be intentional with our actions. It is so easy to react to a situation without thinking and evaluating. Quick reactions are never good. Think things out and then RESPOND. I am sure you remember times when your mouth was engaged before getting the brain in gear. It is easier to take the quicker method of ready, fire, and then aim. This is never good and the results are mostly bad. Before considering opening fire (even about life’s situations), we need to always follow a logical plan of action. Get ready, aim, and then fire. To be successful, we need to control our tongues and words. So when you are faced with any situation, remember the 3 methods Michael Yardney uses:
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David ParhamChristian Minimalist and Investor. God guides and helps me everyday. Archives
May 2024
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