Browsing My money
Budgeting for Irregular Expenses
Budgeting for life’s irregular expenses is a real discipline and part of good personal financial stewardship. Click here for some timely tips from Joan Otto at Man Vs Debt. (Photo: taxcredits.net)
Slay the Debt Dragon
Is debt dragging your household down? That’s where Cherie Lowe was not long ago, but she and her family got serious and paid off $127,000 of debt in just four years. A blogger (http://www.queenoffree.net/), Cherie offers tips for how you can “Slay the Debt Dragon” in your life. (Photo by Unorthodoxy, used by Creative Commons […]
Spend Less, Give More
Like many Americans, you may be bruised by the nation’s economic problems and less inclined to stick with a giving plan. It can be tough to give when you’re struggling to pay monthly bills. But regardless of your situation, here are some tips that can help jump-start your giving plan, says a writer for Lifeway.com. […]
Getting Out of Student Debt and on the Road
“I thought of student debt like I thought of death: I didn’t think of it all,” recalls a humanities major who graduated from college with $32,000 in debt and no way to pay it. But instead of getting depressed, he got busy — and creative, paying off the debts in just a few years. In […]
The Measure of Our Wealth
Every month I receive statements detailing to the penny the balances in my checking, savings and retirement accounts. Also without fail I receive statements detailing to the penny my liabilities in credit cards and other debt. Then I use a household accounting software program to put all this information together. The result? I know exactly how much money I have month by month. We do a good job of tracking how rich we are in worldly wealth. But we are not so good when it comes to knowing how rich we are in God. (Photo © Borys Shevchuk – Fotolia)
“Created to Give, Tempted to Keep”
Adam Hamilton, pastor and author, reflects on how we are hardwired by God to be generous but fall prey to the voices of fear and self-gratification. Click here for more. Click here to learn about Hamilton’s book Enough. (Photo: Liz West, Creative Commons)
The Stubborn 2% Giving Rate
Is American giving on cruise control? While overall giving has mushroomed since the 1970s, it has been driven primarily by growing incomes, not by donors deciding to give a larger share of income. As a share of GDP, charitable giving has rarely strayed far from 2 percent over the past four decades—despite the huge growth in the number of charities and fundraisers and periodic crusades to encourage greater giving. (Photo by margonaut, used by Creative Commons license)
The Cost of Being a Christian
Christians love to blame social justice issues on large corporations, rich banks, corrupt governments, and our culture’s greedy obsession with money. But Westernized Christianity has quietly created an aristocratic population of its own, a “gated community†that only the most privileged and wealthy can afford to experience. (Photo (c) Dion Hinchcliffe, used by Creative Commons […]
Second-hand Wise
Click here to read Leah Wise’s reflection on how shopping in thrift stores–made popular by Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis–can actually be a way to practice better stewardship and do justice. While you’re there, take a look at the other articles on the RELEVANT website. (Photo: adiything, Creative Commons license. Thanks!)
Developing a Planned Giving Program
Click here to explore “Elements of a Successful Planned Giving Program” on the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations website. This guide covers the basics and provides solid resources to begin a conversation in your context about gift planning. (Photo: David Morris, Creative Commons License. Thanks!)
