No Posts for a While

I'll be unable to post here for a while. Will update soon.

God bless,

Andy

Refinance?

Refinancing a house is a very popular way to "get out of debt". You still owe money on the house but you've paid off the credit cards.

We are considering such a deal. On the one hand it's not such a bad idea because we really got a lousy deal on our mortgage. We can pay off most of our adoption costs, lower our mortgage payment and everybody's happy right? Maybe not.

First of all, the mortgage company's going to make over 5 grand - yes $5,ooo - on the deal. Who pays for that? We do.

Then one broker was dissecting a deal from another broker and is pretty convinced they neglected to work our escrow payment into the low, low bottom line. Poof goes our lower payment.

While it may still be something to consider, I don't like working with people who...I'll just say it...lie. And there ARE folks out there that do just that. They count on the prospect, call them "client", or better yet...sucker, simply shaking there head and signing the papers as long as everyone's gone to so much "trouble".

Oops! Did I forget to add in that nasty old escrow? SHAME on me - here's a pen, what'reyawaiting for? No thanks. I'd walk out. Probably make a call to the proper agency too. Call me a spoilsport.

So here we are on the verge of the adoption. With everything else on our minds we've got brokers hot on our trail wanting to schedule appraisals RIGHT NOW. Don't get caught in that trap. They'll tell you rates are going up next week (So what's the stock market going to do? If I play my cards right I won't NEED a loan.) so you'd better get now while the gettings good. And so forth.

Don't buy it. Indeed the rates ARE going up...someday. And they'll come down again too. The fact is a quarter or half percentage point won't amount to a hill of beans in the long run. If you're finances are that close to the vest, you need to reasses the whole thing.

So what are we going to do? Sit on it for a while I think. We may lose a bit if the rates continue to rise, but I'm not going to rush to spend 5 grand. I could put that towards what we owe and be that much ahead.

Note: I may be out of touch for a while. Expect things to pick up towards the middle of June.

Debt Free Christian

While my wife and I have always been reasonably debt free, lately we've taken on quite a bit. It's bothering both of us.

We've never carried credit card debt, nor have we bought cars on payments. Currently we both drive 10+ year old cars with over 125,000 miles on them.

Except for our houses (we have one in another state we can't sell so we're renting it) we haven't had any debt. At least until we decided to adopt a child from Ukraine.

It's an expensive process. Plus we recently moved from another area, bought this house and I'm rebuilding my business (I work from home). It all adds up.

All this illustrates not every situation involving debt is ungodly or sinful. If God somehow provided for us so we did not incur debt and we missed it, I know He'll forgive us. Meanwhile we'll make a concerted effort to pay it all off. Here's the plan.

First I expect my business to start producing more income and it is. Right now I'm not accepting any projects with deadlines as we are waiting for a date to travel to Ukraine. We'll be there about three weeks and return with our daughter. Upon our return, I'll start marketing myself in earnest.

Until then I've picked up a "second job". Basically I'm putting up some websites to earn some extra cash. It's only trickling in right now but it will build. My expectation is it will become larger and steadier over time.

This blog is part of it. It' s linked to a "sister" website which has information I'm collecting about debt. My goal is to help others get out from under.

Proverbs 22:7 ¶The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

It's rather like bondage. Something God doesn't want us to suffer. As the blog progresses we'll explore scripture more to see what He has to say about debt, credit, money, riches, poverty and a whole lot more.

One of my personal "mentors" (I never met him but he was a great source of inspiration) was the late Larry Burkett. Early in his life he looked up every verse that had something to say about finances. It was a lifelong pursuit for him and I believe God truely called him to that ministry.

If ever one could judge a man by his works, I'd say Larry Burkett was one of the good guys. Was he perfect? I doubt it. Only one walked perfectly...Christ Jesus. And we crucified him.

I'll put a link to one of Larry's books "Business by the Book" to the right. Even if you don't own a business and never plan to, the principles laid out in this book are golden.

Enough for now.

May God bless and prosper you,

Andy