This page is intended to summarize the perspective I take on finance throughout this site. My views could likely change as I am learning still, so feel free to learn along and chime in, but as of now these are my financial beliefs.
Spend Less Than You Earn
I believe you should save. To elaborate, I think debts (most debts) are not a good thing. Breaking even is okay up to a certain age and for some individuals. This is how I lived throughout college and missionary life. However, I believe it is a Good to spend less than you earn.
Be Intentional
I believe in intentionality as a whole, but when I first decided to evaluate how I use money, I was shocked that I was spending money on things that were pointless, unused, or just were not important to me at all. One way to spend less than you earn is to look at where your money actually goes. Track it for a few months and see. Then be sure you know what you are paying for and evaluate if it is what you actually want or what is important to you.
I do not believe spending a lot of money is bad at all, as long as it is intentionally chosen with a purpose.
Spending extra on a nice evening out, good. Spending $40 on a subscription month after month that you have used once in the last year may not align with what and who you want to be.
Trying Not to Waste
Someday I will do more research on this, but currently it is a feeling in my gut that it is not right to buy something new if the thing I have works just fine. Especially in the United States, the amount of crap we produce and throw away is horrifying. Paired with intentionality, I think it is wrong to turn a blind eye to this, not to mention the ramifications it has on how we live our lives (i.e. the throwaway culture, doing things because it is quicker, not valuing the individuals around us).
I don’t believe everyone needs to be perfect and not use any plastic, but if we all did the stupid-easy things, it couldn’t hurt anyone. Might help the world, if not, might at least build some character. Since becoming more aware of the waste I produce, I have grown to really appreciate how long things can last, especially quality things. It is impressive and beautiful to me when an object gets its full intended use.
Give to God and Others
I believe that our faith should every aspect of our life. It makes sense that something eternal is more important than the temporal. You show what is important to you by how you use your time, talents, and treasures.
Nothing is strictly your own. Your time has been given to you. If you use it well and earn an income, that income is because you were given time and talent. Thus, your treasures (your paycheck) is a gift as well. When given a gift, the least we can do is try to find ways to share from that gift.
It is much more joyful to share what we have than to sit over in a corner with all of our candy and eat it all alone.
I am interested in diving deeper into what tithing means deep down, but not so much with the intention of asking “How much do I need to give?”. That is probably the wrong disposition to have.
Invest the Difference
For 24 years I had my “life savings” in an account that had 0.02% interest… I didn’t know what that meant, but when I learned how even a 1% interest rate would have changed things, I was pretty shocked. I don’t think it is good to let money sit untouched forever. That is not its purpose or what it was created for. It has so much potential to do good, or to allow someone else to come up with great ideas. While I am not using my dollars, I like to know that someone else is, and it is nice when you can be invested in something that provides you payment as well, and COMPOUNDING INTEREST IS SO POWERFUL.
JLCollins and many others have put it well, spend less than you earn then invest the difference. The investing aspect I am still learning though I currently invest through low cost index funds (Vangaurd and Fidelity for my work accounts).
I am super interested in moral investing which seems to be a popular topic now, so when I get a chance to do the research, I will surely be writing about it! I know some good companies do some not as good of things, so I love the idea of providing my capital to companies I really stand behind.
Financial Freedom
Time and money have an interesting relationship. You can purchase food, clothing, and shelter for a few weeks worth of work, but what if you save up money? If you had the equivalent of a few weeks worth of work, you could trade the money for the weeks and still get your food, shelter, clothing and so on.
Financial Independence doesn’t have to mean having enough to last you the rest of your life. Having even a day’s expenses in your bank account offers you a choice of buying stuff, or taking a day off. As long as you are not in debt, this freedom builds offering you the choice to pursue whatever you feel called to.
My Expertise (or Lack of)
I am not a professional in the finance world. That is one of the beautiful things about “personal finance” is the personal aspect. My discussion, thoughts, and opinions in this area are not supposed to be advice that anyone should take without doing their own research or seeking actual financial advice. With that, my ideas are open to being debated and discussed.
Now the Long Winded Version
So Why Talk About It?
My entire life, money has been an almost unmentioned topic. I got a job when I was 15 and worked throughout college. I was always told to save money from birthdays and holidays, but there was not much discussion beyond that. However, I never liked spending very much. I noticed that the things would go away and the money wouldn’t come back.
Out of college, lucky to have no debt (combination of in-state college, academic scholarships, local scholarships, and some help from the parents to cover what they could), I became a missionary and fundraised my salary for two years.
I didn’t make money, but I didn’t lose money. God provided just enough to get me through my mission work without me having to think or worry about my bank account at all.
After missionary life, I went on to work as an engineer and was making a paycheck. For the first time I had a significant surplus that I didn’t know what to do with. So I googled what to do with the extra.
I came across the FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) movement which I first heard about from a college roommate, but I didn’t even have a credit card then, and it all didn’t make sense to me. However, in Fall of 2018, newly married and knowing that we would want a family soon, this whole concept made much more sense to me.
I felt that there was no voice of how anyone’s faith speaks into all of this. I wanted to expand on what I was learning from FIRE bloggers, to put a lens of faith on it all.