"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" - Matthew 6:27

Last December, as each week brought news of yet another publisher who had decided to take a pass on a book I had poured a year of my life and left a well-paying corporate job to write, I found myself deeply discouraged and increasingly worried. Was it a colossal mistake to leave my corporate job? Was it really God's call on my life that I sensed moving me to write and teach about biblical money management full time, or was it simply something I wanted to do? And, if the book doesn't get published, will I be able to provide for my wife and two young sons? Read more...

News You Can Use

Teens Expect to Strike it Rich
Today's teens expect to make big bucks when they get older. According to a survey conducted by Charles Schwab and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, teenagers expect to earn an average salary of $145,000. Boys expect to earn $173,000; girls expect to earn $114,000. Along with those high expectations, the survey also found teens to be fairly low in money management knowledge. Just 41 percent said they know how to budget their money, 34 percent know how to balance a checkbook, and 26 percent know how credit card interest works. One other finding of note: Just 30 percent of teens say their parents or guardians are concerned with making sure they are learning the basics of smart money management. Read more...

Putting Our Money Where Our Values Are
How much do you know about the organizations you support? Chances are you know a lot more about the charities you contribute to than the organizations that you invest in. A recent article in Christianity Today cited the example of an investor who discovered that a mutual fund she invested in holds shares of General Motors, "which sells more hard-core sex videos (through its Hughes Electronics subsidiary, which owns DIRECTV) than Hustler Magazine Inc. each year." The article went on to suggest that if individual Christians and Christian organizations restricted their investments to companies that supported their values it would "do more to arrest moral decay than any amount of political involvement." Read more...

New Law Prompts Big Drop in Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies in the U.S. hit a nearly 20-year low last year. A 70 percent decline in total filings versus 2005 followed implementation of a new law making it more difficult to file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which enables filers to walk away from much of their debt. As reported by MSNBC, a spokesperson for the American Bankruptcy Institute said that with household debt levels still high, filings are expected to "bounce back" by the end of this year. Read more...

Living on $46K
The median household income in the U.S. is $46,000 and CNNMoney.com recently looked at five such households from different parts of the country to see how they manage. The two households feeling the least stress are those who have kept housing and transportation costs the lowest. One devotes 26 percent of monthly gross income to housing and 6 percent to transportation; the other devotes 28 percent and 4 percent respectively. Two of the other three households have kept housing expenses down to 25 percent of monthly gross income, but transportation expenses eat up 18 and a whopping 25 percent (two of three cars are paid off, but with two teen drivers in the household insurance costs are sky high). The fifth household was doing well until opting for a home equity loan that drove housing costs to 41 percent of monthly gross income. Read more...

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