2016 and a New Financial You
Posted January 7, 2016Matthew 3:8 (ESV) “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
As I think of the word repentance, terms that come to mind are “to see the error of my ways”, “to feel regret”, “to atone for”. This year if you really want to truly change for a “New Financial You” you don’t have a choice but to change the way you think, to change the way you feel, and most importantly change the things you do. Before I go on about change as it relates to financial resources, I want to let you know that I would rather you be spiritually rich and financially broke than vice versa but I also believe that God wants you to be a good steward of what He has given you no matter how much or maybe not so much it may be. My intentions are not to make you feel bad, imply that you are a wicked person or make you think that you are doing anything wrong. My intentions are to be brutally honest and my desire is to motivate change so you are able to look honestly at your financial situation and do things differently. I am not without sin therefore I am not casting stones because if you don’t know about my past, I want to share with you that I had over $32,000 of credit card debt. I am speaking from experience.
See the error of our ways
For any type of change in your life, you have to acknowledge you are making mistakes. If you are not following a spending plan, not saving for retirement, or as in my case racking up a tremendous amount of credit card debt, you have to acknowledge the error in your ways in order to start changing behavior. For me, I would always lie to myself and say my friends have credit card debt so it is ok that I have it. It wasn’t until I was honest with myself that credit card debt was harmful to my financial health before I took the first step towards getting out of debt. What are some of the errors with you own finances that you need to confess?
Feel regret
You have to feel bad for things to change. A great example for me is during the holidays I eat a lot more junk than I do the rest of the year. I feel bad and I always regret doing it, but afterwards that feeling of regret motivates me to get back on track. Financially for me I regretted getting into so much debt and I felt bad because I was paying interest to someone else instead of earning interest on my own money. Unless you feel bad or have regrets about something you are doing, you will not change the behavior. Do you feel bad about overspending for Christmas? Do you feel bad about having to use credit cards?
Atone
Once you admit to yourself that you have made mistakes and you feel bad about them, the most important step is to start doing things right. As in my situation when I was younger with all of that credit card debt, I had to start following a budget. I had to build my savings and at the same time follow a plan to pay it off. What will you do differently this year with your finances? Do you need to make a spending plan? Do you want to start saving for retirement or cutting back your spending so you can start saving more? Have you ordered your free credit report from www.freecreditreport.com? Have you reviewed all of your beneficiary designations for your retirement plans and insurance policies? Have you prepared your will or estate planning documents? If any of those example pertain to you, what are you going to do in the New Year to atone for the mistakes in the past?
We all fall short and cannot change what we did in the past but we do have the opportunity to make better decisions starting today!
posted by Steve Repak
on January, 07
Source: Good Reads