How do I unlock my potential in life?

Life is an adventure, not a snooze-fest.  It's a series of events, decisions, actions, RE-actions, and quiet ponderings of the soul.  Of course, that's not ALL life is, but sometimes we feel like "well...this is it."  Or more often, we don't even realize that we have reduced ourselves to routine robots just going through the motions.  Sure, exciting things happen in our life every few years, but other than that, we're just waiting for time to pass.  If we aren't careful, we'll wake up and a half of a century has passed, and we still don't feel like we're reaching our full potential.  We just turn out to be mediocre people...average.

In some ways, "average" isn't so bad since it means that you're ahead of half the others! But this is the lie our modern society expects us to believe by awarding a trophy to every winner AND loser, a prize for every performance level, a "cost of living salary adjustment" for every employee regardless of their performance (or no raise for anyone because things were "tight" this year) - all contributing to the celebration of mediocrity.  The thought of rewarding great performance and shunning laziness and ineffective work isn't very Politically Correct because it might hurt "Little Jimmy's" feelings.  Many believe that a good way to make themselves a better person is to focus on their weaknesses and strengthen them,  By doing so, people won't be able to observe as many flaws to criticize and we can become a jack-of-all-trades...while effectively being a master of NONE.

Let's shift the paradigm and take on a positive mental attitude of our life in the perspective of abundance, not scarcity.  What if we identified our STRENGTHS, and only focused on developing those areas?  Could it be that our weaknesses would fall into the shadows because our strengths were shining so brightly?

There is a plethora of different "personality profiles" and assessment tools available that attempt to help you understand yourself more clearly.  Unfortunately, the words and concepts used to describe our character in these evaluations are too abstract, and we get lost in the translation from semantics to real-world application. I always found this to be the case...UNTIL...I took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment. The premise revolves around 34 strengths that EVERYONE possesses at varying degrees.  By identifying each of our TOP 5 strengths and reading through a summary, a bulleted list of action items, and quotes from others with the same traits for each of these TOP 5 strengths, individuals are able to clearly see how they were hard-wired to live life.

I believe that through identifying our character, we find our passions.  Once we identify our passions, we can explore vocations.  And when the two ideally intersect, we have found our calling in life, thus achieving our unique purpose here on Earth.

You owe this to yourself: go to the StrengthsFinder website, spend the money you had in mind to use for lunch tomorrow ($10 bucks), spend 45 minutes playing a question game of "Would You Rather...," and commit to breaking out of your monotonous cycle of being average.  This is your chance to feel fulfilled in your life's work.  If you realize and own the fact that you're not currently working in a field related to your strengths, then PLEASE pray for the courage to make a change, or send me an email and let me find ways to encourage you!  We only have one life to live.  And tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so what are you waiting for??!!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:13

Where to Begin with Investing?

     I learned about investing when I was in college for my finance degree – but it felt like the more I learned, the more complicated it got.  When I began earning an income once I finished college and got married, I learned it wasn’t really as complicated as it seemed.  I wanted to figure out how I could take advantage of starting to invest at a young age – so I read some books, talked with wise people, and found out about the simple idea of“systematic” investing (also called "dollar cost averaging" from Benjamin Graham's book "The Intelligent Investor")

     Basically – having the discipline to set aside money each time you get a paycheck to be put into an investment account (some call it “paying yourself first”).  Discipline was the hard part – for the first time in my life, I was making my own money and paying my own bills, insurance, gas, repairs, taxes, etc. but living totally free of anyone else’s rules. All the "new money" made it really easy to go to any concert, vacation, excursion, friend’s wedding, or adventure we wanted to!  We wanted to be investing about 20% of my salary, but we had no idea how we would get there.

But discipline gave me a few ways to keep it all in check…this is how Amy and I decided to use our money to invest based on our learning:

1. 401(k) at work – Ask about a “company match.” <--(free money!) 

This is usually a potential of up to about 3% of your salary to begin your retirement savings.  

Example:

Salary: $40,000

401(k) contribution (taken out of your paycheck before taxes): $2,400 (or 6%)

Employer match: $1,200 (half of the amount you put in up to 6%)

(after maxing out the 401(k), we still have 14% to go!)

    2. IRA – Individual Retirement Arrangement (Traditional or Roth): Almost any mutual fund, stock, bond, or other investment can be put into this arrangement, depending on where you set it up.

a.       Money saved for retirement or other BIG purchases (like a house).

b.      Either before-tax (Traditional) or after-tax (Roth) – choosing one depends on what you think your tax % will be when you retire:

                                                               i.      Higher % at retirement than right now: use Roth IRA

                                                             ii.      Lower % at retirement than right now: use Traditional IRA

c.       Limited amounts allowed to be put in each year based on your income level

                                                               i.      Roth: up to $5,000 (basically)

                                                             ii.      Traditional: up to about $18,000

(This may get you up to your 20%, so you wouldn’t need to try to invest any more unless you happened upon some extra money you weren’t expecting!)

    3. If there’s still more left after those two are maxed out each year, I would look at finding a financial advisor to talk with you about your “portfolio.”  When things get past this step, they can get complicated and time-consuming.  Paying someone who knows what they’re doing is a great way to not have to spend tons of time on something you’re not an expert at.  It may cost in the beginning, but the value of their expertise and selection of investments pay off.  If you try it, but don’t like it – shop around and find another!

Does anyone else have other simple ways to invest?  Leave a comment and let us know about it!

"A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous." -Proverbs 13:22

Saving Money 101 - just start!

Welcome to our blog's financial section. I would like to make my first post be about saving money!  Money is one of those things that seems to always run out.  One way to combat against that would be to SAVE money.  I know it seems simple, but it can be really difficult to put it into practice.  Here's a great way to begin:

Step 1: DECIDE that you are going to SAVE.  You have to make the conscious choice that you will START saving.

Step 2: PICK AN AMOUNT.  Think about a certain percentage (%) or dollar ($) amount that you will start with - then stick to it. Amy and I choose a to set aside at least 20% of our income for savings/investing - you can choose more or less depending on how much it costs for the basics and what type of future expenses you may have.

Step 3: As soon as you get paid ANY money (salary, income, gifts, birthday cards, tax refund, inheritance, etc.), take out your set amount (% or $ amount) and put it somewhere like a savings account or under your mattress (more on this later).  This is where those developing discipline skills come in handy.

Step 4: Pick someone who you trust.  Share with them how much you are setting aside each time you receive money (this could be your spouse, a parent, a close friend, or that random pen pal from Argentina).  This is so you can share your JOYs and CHALLENGEs with them about your experience with saving.

My future posts will include some ideas for places to put your SAVED money - but for now, do yourself a favor - JUST START!

Here's a great video from our friends at SNL to help you get started: "Where do you get this...SAVED MONEY???"