Evolving Personal Finance » giving
I Learn Something New about Taxes Every Year
My dad loves to encourage me to “learn something new every day,” and that’s certainly a great way to grow. Kyle and I submitted our tax returns last Saturday, and I realized that we learned quite a bit about taxes this year for our personal return. (I additionally learned a lot about grad student taxes, but that was more academic for me.) This year was our most complicated tax return to prepare to date, and we did … Read entire article »
Filed under: debt, giving, investing, self-employment, taxes, transitions
Missionary Support Transitions
About a year and a half ago, Kyle and I decided to start supporting a missionary with an ongoing monthly contribution of $50. We were a bit nervous as we had never entered into this kind of relationship before; our only ongoing regular giving to that point had been to our church, and with an individual it felt a bit different. We were particularly thinking about how we might go about ending the gift if we … Read entire article »
Filed under: giving
“I’m Not Going to Rob You”
“Sir?” Kyle and I stepped out of a popular new burger joint on Friday evening after a nice date, checking to see if the rain had resumed while we ate. “Sir?” Realizing someone must be addressing Kyle on the otherwise deserted street, we turned around to see the speaker standing a few yards down the sidewalk from the entrance to the restaurant. He was a tall man in his 30s with both his hands stuffed in his sweatshirt. Speaking … Read entire article »
Filed under: giving
The Thinking Person’s Guide to Dave Ramsey: Reasonable Baby Step Modifications
As we discussed in the two prior posts in this series, Dave Ramsey’s (DR’s) program for getting out of debt and building wealth works very well for some people but may be inappropriate for those who don’t agree with all of the underlying principles. The next two posts are intended for people are curious about following the Baby Steps loosely but who want to know what some reasonable modifications may be. In this post, we … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, debt, emergency fund, giving, goals, psychology, savings
FPU: I Get to See What All the Fuss Is About!
Tomorrow I am starting a 9-week commitment to help my church administer Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class – having never gone through the course myself! My role is as a “table host” so I’m not actually the coordinator (thank goodness!) and as I’ve been a fan of DR’s for some time (as a radio personality, not so much as a financial advisor) and am very familiar with his philosophy so I think I’ll be … Read entire article »
Don’t Use Gifts to Avoid Joint Finances
I’m always surprised when married couples use gift-giving secrecy as a reason for having partially or completely separate finances. My opinion is that married couples should have joint finances (perhaps with “allowances”), although if a couple agrees to practice partial pooling or have separate finances I recognize it’s none of my business. I really think it’s silly when couples say that gifts are the reason that they don’t have completely joint finances. To be fair, I’ve … Read entire article »
Pledging to Financially Support an Individual
Last week Kyle and I were pitched by an acquaintance who is embarking on missions-related work. The request to meet with us came through an introduction by a friend who is a current supporter of this missionary. (I’m not quite sure missionary is the right word, but he’ll have an evangelistic ministry and he is seeking outside support, so I’ll use the term here.) He attended to our church campus so we have met from … Read entire article »
Filed under: giving
Zillions of Gifts, on a Budget
Kyle and I finished our Christmas shopping this past weekend! Well, we essentially started and finished it this weekend so it went pretty fast. Giving gifts to only long-distance recipients is a double-edged sword – we have to shop online and early so that there is time for shipping, which goes against our procrastinating nature, but that means the shopping is done well in advance of Christmas and that reduces the stress! (“Well in advance” … Read entire article »
All I Want for Christmas Is a Giving Revolution
I’m a Scrooge. Well, I’m not necessarily cheap (I prefer frugal), but gift-giving and gift-receiving totally stresses me out. The whole process used to be manageable when I was only responsible for giving to my immediate family members, but the list of gift recipients has completely blown up with my marriage to Kyle, as he has a wonderfully close (and large) extended family. Giving presents stresses me out because I’m kind of a perfectionist and I … Read entire article »
Don’t Give Here
Our church is currently going through a five-week series called All In, which is a financial pledge campaign with emphases in being “all in” with the mission of God financially as well as in all other areas of life. The previous campaign our church did started in 2009 and ended in 2012 and this current one will last two years. Giving to our church is something we love doing because we have bought in to the … Read entire article »
Filed under: giving
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