Measure your money: Be a good steward

This post is really simple – yet likely the hardest for everyone.  I’m horrible at staying on a budget and measuring my money…but I keep at it.  Being a good steward of what you have is KEY to seizing financial opportunity over the next several months.  There are three areas I highly recommend thinking through.

The first is simply cash flow.  To invest, you have to be cutting out expenditures somewhere.  Track your money.  Learn to say no.  Have a monthly or weekly goal of “investment” money you refrain from spending.  Remember, every dollar invested now will more than double.  The easiest way to do this is getting yourself on a family budget.
It amazes me how many coupons people clip, how much fuss people make over a 3 cent difference in gas stations…but in the end…how little people know about their finances.  A little quote has challenged me immensely.  “What you focus on, grows.”  Do you want your money to grow?  Focus on tracking it and being a wise steward!  I know its hard.  I’m not a detailed guy at all, so its especially hard for me.  But that’s what separates us from others.  We are willing to face the hardship and keep trying until we succeed.

Second: Generosity.  Don’t ask me to fully explain why, how or why…but generosity is God’s way of opening up blessing for you.  To be a good steward, you have to be generous.  A blessing is commanded when you give to the widow and the orphan.  Being generous continually demonstrates to yourself and others that you truly control wealth…wealth doesn’t control you.  This is important.  Money grows deep if you don’t develop the habits small.  Giving 10 dollars out of a 100 is much easier than 10,000 out of 100,000.  If you can’t give when you have little, you certainly won’t give when you have much.  One of the best pictures I’ve seen for generosity is:  Imagine yourself as a simple tube section.  If money is constantly flowing into you…and none of it ever pours out – your capacity will quickly be reached.  The pressure within will eventually push back against the inflow, stopping your potential.  But if wealth flows into you, and is able to continue to flow through and then out…the inflow will never be fought. Think of yourself as a vessel of wealth – and prosperity is a by product of your generosity. You aren’t worthy of wealth until you show you are master over it by wisely giving.

Always measure return!  Even when you are being generous, realize that your money is working for you.  Is the return worth it?  Ask this about purchases (is a hamburger right now a worthy return?), about generosity (is this person going to use my gift for food or whiskey?), and investments (it only costs what?!).  You are an investor.  Start thinking like one!  In the book Snowball (about Warren Buffet) I remember Warren saying when he was younger than ten he realized that the dollar he was holding in his hands was the same as holding 3 dollars in a couple years…if he could get the dollar he was holding to work for him.  We have some amazing opportunities where the dollar will easily work for us.  Continually measure your return and make sure your money is ALWAYS working for you.

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