Money - 2/16 - Words of Williams

By Eric on February 17, 2013 3

Thinking About Refinancing?

Last week we refinanced our house for the second time since Rooney was born. The first time was when she was less than a week old. We had already set the date for closing and Rooney decided she wanted to see the world before her due date…kids! A friend recommended a small local bank (Luana Savings Bank) that allowed us to refinance both times with no out-of-pocket costs. I’m still trying to figure out why they do this and what their catch is…

Buying a house before we were ready is filed under stupid tax, so after weighing our options, refinancing was the best option for us at the time. Having recently filed our taxes, it was reassuring to see that in 2012 we paid $4,000 less in mortgage interest than we did in 2011. That is a lot of money! Here are a few charts that look at the three different scenarios that we have experienced with our mortgage. I think they paint a pretty picture of the amount of money we will save over the long haul.

In Money

By Eric on February 15, 2013 4

Financial Post Roundup

It never ceases to amaze me when I look back over the past two-plus years of blog posts and see the breadth of information and life lessons that get buried in the archives. I thought it would be nice to resurface some of our best financial posts into one place. After all, it is tax season and mid-February; what better time to take your financial temperature?

Getting Out of Debt

Dave Ramsey: An introduction to the man who changed our financial lives forever.
Financial Peace University: The course that taught us more about money in 13 weeks than we learned in our first 25 years of life.
Second Jobs: A necessary yet sucky sacrifice we had to make.
Mistakes: They happen. We just try to learn from them so they don’t happen twice.
Giving: The funnest part of having control of your money.

Our Financial Journey

In Money

By Eric on February 1, 2013 6

How We Use Mint.com

Mint.com is a free online tool to help you see where your money is going. We’ve been using it for a few years and get a ton of questions about it, so we figured it was time to share how we use it.

Note: Mint is not a budget, because it’s reactive to what you have already spent. A budget helps you know where your money will be spent, and you decide before the transaction happens.

If you are not familiar with Mint.com, let me introduce you to a great tool. It’s a website that pulls all your financial account information into one place. This assumes you have access to your accounts online. (Welcome to 2013; if you use financial services that have no online access to your information, Mint won’t be able to do it’s job.)

In Money

By Kelsey on January 30, 2013 22

Completing Baby Step #3: Six-Month Emergency Fund

If you’re not familiar with Dave Ramsey’s financial baby steps, here’s the rundown:

~~Put $1,000 in savings ($500 if you’re single).~~ (completed February 2009)
~~Pay off debt (not including your mortgage).~~ (completed Jan. 3, 2011)
~~Save 3-6 months of expenses.~~ (completed Jan. 17, 2013)
Invest 15% of income for retirement
Set up a college fund for children
Pay off home early
Build wealth and give

It’s a great way to see where you’re headed and focus on one financial goal at a time. We’ve really been blessed by it.

A couple weeks ago, we crossed baby step #3 off the list!

In Money

This is a tough question. I’m not a theologian or a biblical scholar, so I kind of feel under-qualified to answer this question. But I do have personal experiences with tithing, so I will discuss the topic from our point of view.

Tithing is the biblical principle that we should give 10% of our income back to the Lord. Back to the Lord, you ask? Yes, he is the one who has blessed us with income in the first place, so we should be giving back as an offering of thanks and to help build his kingdom. For me, tithing is more of a discipline than a requirement.

Do I believe and trust God enough to faithfully give 10% of my income no matter my circumstances?

This was the question that presented itself when we sat down to do our very first budget. We had been rather ho-hum about tithing. We’d tithe if we happened to be at church that weekend, but not if we were out of town. When we did, great! If we missed a few, no big deal. Needless to say, it was random.

But when we were diving into Financial Peace University and at a crossroads financially, we decided that if we were going to get serious about being intentional with our money, the first thing we needed to do was to be giving a tenth away.