How To Be Comfortably Wealthy

Proverbs 23:4-5 NIV

"Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.  Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

I have been posting a lot from my phone.  I am pleased with how well I can copy and paste, edit, add pictures,  and maneuver through the menus.  This does not take a lot of cleverness.  I know because yesterday I watched a YouTube video posted by a kid in order to learn how to rip a CD in MP3 format so I could add it to my wife's phone.

A lot of people work themselves to death in order to get rich.  They acquire tens of thousands in debt and fake their way to mental fortunes only to find themselves slaves to the lenders from whom they procured their loans.  Credit cards are silent thieves that rob security from people for them to feel a brief moment of pleasure.  

I have been teaching Financial Peace University for 5 years and am never amazed by the amount of consumer debt people accumulate and how excited they are to find a way out.  If more people would get this attitude, then we could get out of debt as a nation.  So how do you do it?

Look at the verse again.  Do not wear yourself out.  Do not continue using credit cards.  Do not go buy the newest and brightest.   Do not do anything of that magnitude until you have the cash to pay for it.  Cash?  Nobody uses cash anymore.   I do.  People who live in debt wear themselves out trying to pay off the interest on their credit card and financed purchases.

"Same as cash" is the biggest lie in the sales industry. When I pay cash I do not have to kill myself to pay off something in 90 days before the 200% interest kicks in and I spend the next five years paying off the purchase at 20+% more than the original cost.  A set of $80 tv trays works just fine until you have the cash to buy a new dining table...

I am flabbergasted when I see people buying a candy bar and a soda at 11 to 18% interest with a credit card when cash would have put that interest back into their pockets.  People with credit cards pay an average of $150 to $300 a MONTH in credit card interest.   That is $1800 to $3600 a year!  What could you do with that money?  Go on vacation?   Invest in a Roth IRA? Stop wearing yourself out!

Are you tired of looking at all those things you have bought to make yourself feel wealthy only to see your fortune sprouting wings and flying away with interest payments?   Start the baby step system today:

• Save $1000 emergency fund
• Start your debt snowball
• Save 3 to 6 months for a rainy day fund
• Put 15% in retirement
• Create a college fund
• Pay off home early
• Build wealth and give

Find out more here: Baby Steps to Real Wealth