A message from Mike...
The nutshell version of our family's "money" story...
Thanks for checking out www.mikesmoneypage.com - a collection of the best personal finance web links to help
you make all you can, save all you can, then give all you can.
First a confession - I'm not a financial expert - in fact, I've done some pretty dumb things with money.....OK, I've
done some really dumb things with money!
Like when I was broke and financed a car I couldn't afford, and then went to a second bank to finance the down
payment. Or when I was drawing cash against my student loan account to pay the pizza delivery guy. Or when I
was using my credit card to buy groceries and making minimum payments to free up dollars for more important
"necessities" - like electronic gadgets and music equipment.
But looking back, by far the dumbest thing I did with money was using it like it was mine. I've since learned that
none of it is mine - it all belongs to God (1 Chronicles 29:11). He just lets me manage it for Him. And I can tell
you that this truth has completely changed my life and my family's life.
On December 10, 2001 the Lord allowed my wife Beckie and I to make the final payment on our home and
become 100% debt free (I was 31 and Beckie was 28). Not because we're so smart or have rich relatives or
high-paying jobs or just got "lucky" - but by the grace of God we're learning about a whole new way to
live.
And that whole new way of living can be summed up like this: live simply so that others can simply live.
Dave Ramsey is right - if you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else. That's true, and there's a
lot of peace and freedom when you don't have any payments - but it doesn't end there. God prospers us, as
Randy Alcorn points out, not to raise our standard of living - but to raise our standard of giving.
For our family, that has meant purposefully not buying things we can afford - or buying less expensive things - in
order to free up more of God's money for the things that are burning on His heart - like the 20,000 kids who die
everyday from hunger and preventable diseases. Or the 2,000 languages groups that still don't have a Bible.
The list of needs on God's radar screen here and around the world is endless. And I believe we need to be more
in tune with those needs and less in tune with what's on sale this week at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, etc.
One of my heroes is a preacher and publisher from the 1700's named John Wesley. His writings were very
popular and Wesley earned about $160,000 a year - but he lived on about $20,000 a year and died with almost
nothing. Why? Because he understood that it wasn't his money, and he chose to live simply so that others could
simply live.
You may have noticed I put a quote from Wesley right at the top of my home page. His philosophy captures the
heart of why I put this web site together - to inspire you to gain all you can, save all you can, so that you can give
all you can.
Hoping that this site blesses you and honors God,
The nutshell version of our family's "money" story...
Thanks for checking out www.mikesmoneypage.com - a collection of the best personal finance web links to help
you make all you can, save all you can, then give all you can.
First a confession - I'm not a financial expert - in fact, I've done some pretty dumb things with money.....OK, I've
done some really dumb things with money!
Like when I was broke and financed a car I couldn't afford, and then went to a second bank to finance the down
payment. Or when I was drawing cash against my student loan account to pay the pizza delivery guy. Or when I
was using my credit card to buy groceries and making minimum payments to free up dollars for more important
"necessities" - like electronic gadgets and music equipment.
But looking back, by far the dumbest thing I did with money was using it like it was mine. I've since learned that
none of it is mine - it all belongs to God (1 Chronicles 29:11). He just lets me manage it for Him. And I can tell
you that this truth has completely changed my life and my family's life.
On December 10, 2001 the Lord allowed my wife Beckie and I to make the final payment on our home and
become 100% debt free (I was 31 and Beckie was 28). Not because we're so smart or have rich relatives or
high-paying jobs or just got "lucky" - but by the grace of God we're learning about a whole new way to
live.
And that whole new way of living can be summed up like this: live simply so that others can simply live.
Dave Ramsey is right - if you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else. That's true, and there's a
lot of peace and freedom when you don't have any payments - but it doesn't end there. God prospers us, as
Randy Alcorn points out, not to raise our standard of living - but to raise our standard of giving.
For our family, that has meant purposefully not buying things we can afford - or buying less expensive things - in
order to free up more of God's money for the things that are burning on His heart - like the 20,000 kids who die
everyday from hunger and preventable diseases. Or the 2,000 languages groups that still don't have a Bible.
The list of needs on God's radar screen here and around the world is endless. And I believe we need to be more
in tune with those needs and less in tune with what's on sale this week at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, etc.
One of my heroes is a preacher and publisher from the 1700's named John Wesley. His writings were very
popular and Wesley earned about $160,000 a year - but he lived on about $20,000 a year and died with almost
nothing. Why? Because he understood that it wasn't his money, and he chose to live simply so that others could
simply live.
You may have noticed I put a quote from Wesley right at the top of my home page. His philosophy captures the
heart of why I put this web site together - to inspire you to gain all you can, save all you can, so that you can give
all you can.
Hoping that this site blesses you and honors God,
Our family with friends Manuel, Timothy, and Alex from Uganda and Kenya.