[skalenfehl]

I'm not going to pretend to be an authority on the subject but I have been through a school of hard knocks and I have come to realize some important lessons. Maybe others can benefit from my experience put it in a nutshell because I still read about some folks who still can't figure out why they aren't getting by. We're making the same mistakes over and over again.

I won't be saying anything new. There are books out and I've already shared about one very good book. The church has a website on provident living. Who has really read and listened to all of it? Anyway, here are some things to consider:

Is anyone who is reading this a believer is slavery? Is there anything good about being a slave? Are you a slave? Yes or no. Really? Go through all your bills and debts and calculate how much you're paying every month in interest alone. Tens? Not too bad. Hundreds? Thousands? Sounds like slavery to me. Debt, as President Hinckley has said in the past, is bondage. Interest never sleeps. Now consider all that interest that you're paying for things you didn't really need or could have bought with cash if you had just saved up. What percentage of your income is going solely to pay interest to someone else?

We are a self indulgent people who want things now at the expense of the future. If we are earning $10/hour we tend to live on $10/hour. If we are earning $25/hour we somehow end up living on $25/hour. In other words, we continually find ways to use up the money we earn.

When I started out 17 years ago I had a beater of a car and lived in a slum apartment. I was only making $5.50/$6 per hour but I was getting by. My wife was waitressing and we were paying the bills. We didn't really have much left over for saving or investing. Nowadays, I'm self employed, own a house, a nice shiny expensive truck and toys. Why? Because I decided to continue living on everything I earned. Could I have lived on less?

Nope. I had to have a nice big house, which by the way is too big for me now. My boys are full grown and I live in a 5 bedroom home with three family rooms, three bathrooms and more room for additions. I own a nice big 4 door turbo diesel Powerstroke 1 ton truck that eats way too much fuel. I have toys that I thought I just couldn't live without over the years. Now please don't think I'm bragging. I've worked hard for the things I have. I built my house with my own two hands.

Our eyes shimmer with all the cool things that we can use up all our income buying. Mine did. But what if I had built a smaller home and kept my third truck (I've continually upgraded trucks in the last 15 years from a crappy old International to an old Ford to a nicer little S-10 to a nice GMC extended cab to my super cool Ford today). I'd have a much smaller mortgage payment, my S-10 would have long since been paid for and I wouldn't be paying nearly as much on fuel to take care of all my company business, etc, etc.

If I could have disciplined myself to do some of these things, I could easily be living on about 70% of my current income. That would have left me with a whopping 30% to play with. After tithing I'd still have 20% to use for saving, investing, etc. Furthermore, I'd really only have one small mortgage payment and utility bills, which would have freed up even more money (no car payments, credit card loans, etc) As the richest man in Babylon did, I could have saved up at least 10% of each paycheck (in other words paid myself first...after tithing) and put it away to amass real earning power so that my money could actually begin to work for me. You will be surprised how saving even all your pennies and nickels can add up over ten years and to put them in along with your hard earned Benjamins would only add to the earning power of interest working for you. Your money would then become your slave to work for you while you continued working in life and earning more money and saving and spending wisely.

I could have had a full basement full of food storage by now. I'd need a clean-up on aisle 6 and spend the rest of the day fishing leisurely. Economic depression? Not me. I'm catching fish to eat tonight!

It can be tough living within our means especially when life gets in the way. I've had more than my share of struggles and dire financial straits and still do, but they were self created. Instead of building wealth for 15 years I've built debt. My only saving grace is the fact that I have a lot of assets to show for it. But we all start out the same way. But while the getting was good, I did manage to build up a small investment account that has been working for me for about five years now. I haven't had extra money to add to it because I'm a slave to all the interest payments on the things that I thought I really needed. It cuts me to the center to admit that I have a debt on my home equity that is an interest only loan. It is evil. I hate it. I am a slave to it and will be for some years, but in this particular case I had to survive. So now I'm paying the price. Do I believe in slavery? My actions speak louder than words, don't they?

So get out your budgets, figure out how you can live on less and do it. And I will plug in that book. It's called the Richest Man in Babylon and it costs $7. Buy it. Read it. Understand it. The same for the LDS Provident Living website. Read through it and listen to all the audios. Start your financial strategies now. It's in the disciplining of yourself now that will pay off in huge dividends tomorrow, next year and even ten years from now. Yes you will likely be around in ten years, but you could be infinitely more well off then instead of in the same rut you're in now because you won't be living on everything you earn. You will not be a slave. Or will you?