Here comes the Fun!

Buck is back and our subject today is one of my favorite. Fun account.

The first thing about this account is that you must have your Main account and Tithing account established and working right before the Fun account can be created.

This is the account designed specifically for our immediate wants. Decide how much each paycheck you can put aside for fun. Try to put at least something (even if it is only a dollar) in the account. We split our fun account between Susan and me and the kids. We use the kids funds to buy their birthday and Christmas presents. As they get older, we will use it to give them their allowances.

The amount that Susan and I get, we can spend on whatever we want. The other person is not allowed to question or get angry with what we buy with our Fun account. I usually like to spend my Fun cash as soon as payday comes. Susan will save hers to make big purchases for herself. We, also, found this allows us to actually buy gifts for each other. Before we started this account, all gifts, dinner, and things like this came from our joint account. We would have to know what the other spent so we wouldn't go over. Now we have our own money to spend on each other or treat each other. It makes it more personal that way.

We found it best to split our play account so that we each get the same amount no matter who makes the money. Decide what you think is the best method to split up the Fun account for your marriage/partnership. Don't forget to give some to the children if you have any.

This principle is talked about in both "Richest Man in Babylon" and "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind."

One last thing, I want you to know. When you are ready to set up this account, have FUN!

 - Buck

Tithing and Charitable Donations

How many times have you said, "I would donate to that, if I had the money?" the tithing account allows you to have the money for donations. It is not an optional account. If we wait until we have "extra money" to donate it never happens. We have found (as many others have) that when we give at least 10% of your income as a donation to your church, community, or organization, God or the universe, whatever your belief system, will provide what you need. Don't think you can afford 10%. In reality you can't afford not to.

Tithing should come out of your account first. If we don't take it out right away, we can forget it, or think we need it in other areas. Then it is spent before we can give a little of our increase back. If we look at many of the wealthy people and businesses, they all give a portion to charity. One person, most of us have heard of, Bill Gates established a charitable foundation to help give back. Another person that I, personally, would like to emulate at some point is Dave Anderson (founder of Famous Dave's). He has chosen to keep 10% and give 90%. He does this because he has seen the blessings received.

- Person experience - Even during a job loss, we continued to pay tithing. It was difficult because we weren't sure we could pay for all the other things we needed. Some how we managed to cover all our bills. Eventually we found a job to help us not only take care of our needs, but wants as well. We know this is because we paid tithing and the universe/God (whatever your belief system) helped us.

 - Susan and Buck

First Things First

Hey all,

Susan and old Buck here, what are some ways to handle your money? In a previous post, Buck mentioned a couple of books to pick up and read. If you haven't done this yet, we would encourage you to at least check them out from your nearest library.

One of the first lessons that we are taught from "The Richest Man in Babylon," is no matter how little you think you earn always give the first 10% (tithing) as a donation. Then the rest is for purchasing your necessities. We will talk more about tithing in our next post.

The necessity or main account handles the majority of all your expenses. You will pay for food, utilities, rent, fuel, car payment, what ever expenses that you have will come out of this account.

We first need to learn how to handle our basic finances before we can expand what we do with them. What we have done is make a list of our basic expenses and try to average the costs for those ideas over a month time frame. This has helped us create a budget. We know. For most people that is like a four letter word. But if you are in financial trouble, you need to first learn where it is the money is going before you can redirect it to where it should be going. A budget will help you in doing this, it doesn't have to become the only way to handle your money but mostly to help you know what you are doing with it.

Once you have created a budget, you can then look at the different items that you purchase on a frequent basis. The author David Bach in his book, "The Automatic Millionaire," talks about, "The Latte Factor." If you have a latte each morning at your local coffee shop, they cost about $3-$5 depending on the brand. That adds up to about $15-$25 over a 5 day work week or $60-$100 a month just for one latte each morning on the way to work. If you were able to cut out that latte, see how much money you could save each month. What could you do with that savings? This is just an idea that he gives to help you get your mind working on different ways that you can cut costs in your everyday life. What different ways can you find to save money? We would love to hear about them and with permission share these ideas.

This is the first step to get your finances in order. We hope that these little ideas can help you find the money you need with the income that you currently have. Good night!

- Susan and Buck