Tithe and Be Blessed

“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”  Matthew 22:21

10 - 20 - 70. This is how I live my life. I tithe 10% of my income to the Lord, save 20% and live in 70%.

Tithing is giving back to God what belongs to God. If you come to think of it, everything belongs to God. All our successes, our breakthroughs, all of them comes from the Lord. It is really good of Him to just ask us of 10% for He knew we need the 80% in order to live a decent life. He didn't ask us to give 50% or 90% of our income to Him. He just asked us to give a very small percentage. But we are so selfish that even the 10% we cannot give to him.

Tithing is not for the Lord. Tithing is for us. When one tithes, he learns how to be generous in face of scarcity. And in being generous, one will learn to believe that more than losing, he gains something. One will also learn how to give without expecting anything in return. Giving in faith, as they say. 

I was able to pay all my debts and tithe at the same time. I was able to buy what I want and still tithe. I was broke financially and still tithe. I believe that there are no excuses for those who really want to do it. 

The day I started tithing, abundance flows into my life. The Lord is really true to His word. You give 10% of your income to the Lord and He will give 200% in return.

Brothers & Sisters, I encourage you to tithe. Faithfully give your tithe to God and witness the miracles of prosperity and abundance to flow into all areas of your life.

Here are simple tips in Tithing (Hope this helps :) ):

   

   1. Tithe 10 % of your income. But if your generous enough to give more, then give more. I dreamt that one day, I will be able to tithe, at least 50% of my income to God. :)

   2. Tithe continuously even in times of scarcity. When I started tithing, it is really difficult to give 10% especially that I am so broke. But I learned that it is during these ungodly times that we tithe more. When we times during this difficult times, it is as if, we are telling the Lord that He is our great provider and we trust in Him completely.

   3. Encourage others to tithe. Teach them how to tithe and tell them how tithing bless your life.

                                                                                    xoxo,

Joane Nicole

Tips On Paying Off Your Debts

Have you ever considered your credit card to be your best friend? Your confidant? Your security? And that you never left your house without her? Then all of the sudden, you woke up and realize that she deceives you? You woke up one day and you realize that what you considered best friend and a faithful servant become your worst enemy? That all these years, she's actually been training you to become her slave?

I decided to awaken the financial genius in me for the simple reason that I've become my credit card slave. 

So, for those people who have debts and don't know how to pay it, I hope and pray that my simple tips might help you pay off your debts :)

Tips in Paying Off Your Debts:

1. Acknowledge Your Debts.


    By simply acknowledging your debts, you take your first step towards financial freedom. Sadly, many people do not realize this. Acknowledging your debts means that you are making a decision to actively participate in the process of eliminating your debts entirely.


2. Monitor Your Cash Flow.
  
   Get a piece of paper and divide it into 3 columns. In the first column put the word "Source of Income", in the second column put the word "Assets" and in the third column put the word "Liabilities".

   In my previous blog, I have define the difference between an assets and a liability. Asset - is anything that puts money into your pocket; included in this lists are your investments (paper assests such as stocks, mutual funds etc, businesses). Anything that adds up into your income is included in the asset column. In the liability column, you put everything which takes money out of your pocket. Included here are your daily expenses, your loans, credit card debts, etc. 


   In doing this, you will be able to see how big are your "assets" or your "liabilities". For those who will do this for the first time, do not be shocked if you cannot put anything in the asset column. Believe me, when I did this, I have a very, very, very, long list of things in my liability column and have nothing inside my asset column. :)


3.  Track Your Expenses.


   Always bring with you a small notebook and put all your expenses there without fail. Do this in a month consistently and at the end of the month, categorize it e.g. food expenses, transportation expenses, utility expenses, kids expenses, recreation expenses and more.


4. Lists All Your Debts.

Name of Debts	Loan Amount	Monthly Payment	Interest Rate	Factoring Number
Car Loan	400,000.00	12,000.00	5%	33
BDO mastercard	16,000.00	1,000.00	3.5%	16
Metrobank Visa	20,000.00	2,000.00	2%	10

***How to get the FACTORING NUMBER? Take the loan amount, divide by the minimum monthly payment required. 


5. Create an "Advance Payment Order" List


   Arrange your debts from LOWEST to HIGHEST factoring number.

Order of Payments	Name Of Debts	Factoring Number	Monthly Payment
1	Metrobank Visa	10	2,000
2	BDO mastercard	16	1,000
3	Car Loan	33	12,000

Note, however, that this only applies for those debts with more or less same interest. Those with bigger interest rates such as loan sharks must of course, be on the top list.


6. Create a "Monthly Freedom Fund" and Give Advance Payment According To The Order Of This List.


   After receiving your income, set aside a specific amount in order to create a freedom fund. Save at least, 20% of your income for "investments" and invest "1/3" of this amount in your freedom fund.

   For example, if your freedom fund to the monthly payments is P3000, and the monthly payment of the first debt is P2000, pay P5000 each month in your Metrobank Visa instead of the usual P2000. Consistently do this, and you will be surprised how fast you can pay your first debt. Once completed, all you freedom fund will go to the second debt, and then to the third, and so on until you reach your freedom day.


   I almost forgot, before doing all this put in a piece of paper a declaration of your FREEDOM DAY. Back in June 2011, after realizing i'm buried in debts, I wrote (with skepticism of course) a declaration of my freedom day that I will be debt free on October 30, 2011. Although I wasn't able to met my goal by October, by December 2011, before the year ends, I become totally DEBT-FREE :). Yehey!


7. Negotiate for Lower Interest Rate.


   Go to your creditors and ask them (don't beg them, just ask them :) )if you can get a lower interest rate for your remaining debts and compromise. Make sure though, that when you compromise, its a win-win situation. If your creditors does not agree with your plan of action, look for a bank which offers a much lower interest and transfer it there. Many banks nowadays, allows transfer of balance in which you transfer your high interest rate debts into a lower interest rate where you pay a fixed amount every month for a period of time.


   NEVER hide from your creditors. Be honest. Face your problem squarely. Running away from problems never lessen the problem, it worsen it and that is a FACT.


8. Make a Decision NEVER TO BORROW AGAIN.


   Many people after being free from debts, borrow again. Many are tempted and many never learned their lessons and so they wake up one morning, only to realize that they are back in debts again. 


   After paying all your debts, make a FIRM decision never to borrow again. If you cannot afford it, don't buy it. Most of the time, you only WANTS it but you never really NEEDS it. Know how to differentiate a wants and a needs. 


9. Other tips:

• Never go on Sale. 
• Do not bring your credit card when going out.
• If you have 5 credit cards, pay your remaining debts and just maintain 2 credit cards (If you can have it one, much better) for emergency purposes.
• Put limit on your expenses and put boundary on your financial life. This is very important because unless you put a fence in your finances, you will always at all time, without doubt, be swift away by the influences of other people and they will steal your money and left you broke.
• Be practical. Be wise. Be Responsible in all your finances.

We are responsible with our OWN life including the area of our finances. We must be mindful of any thing that will steal, wrecked, ruin our desire to build a good financial foundation. Being poor and being rich is just a matter of decision, a matter of choice. You cannot travel on both roads because the road to poverty and the road to abundance travels in opposite direction. You only have one choice.

If you come to think of it, Bill Gates, Bo Sanchez, Ronald Trump, Kris Aquino, Robert Kiyosaki and YOU, have the same 24hours in a day. But why are they rich, and you're not? - Because you don't make good choices and they do. They know that bad debt can ruin their life forever. It's okay to borrow, because a good debt can add more money in your cash flow. You need to be careful in handling your finances because if your not, the world have all the means to steal your hard-earned money away from you.

Make a choice, be responsible and have a great life!

God Bless us all!

Xoxo,

Joane Nicole

I received this God whisper this morning and I can't help to be inspired by them. Can't help but post it :)

Dear JOANE,      You have the power to create gold.  But don’t be like King Midas who couldn’t turn off his powers to create gold.  He couldn’t eat because his food turned to gold.  He couldn’t enjoy his family because his daughter turned to a lifeless gold statue.  What a miserable life King Midas had. That’s what happens when money becomes your only preoccupation. JOANE, turn off your moneymaking powers many times during the day, especially when it comes to your relationships.  Life is not all about the money.  Life is all about love.                   Blessings, God PS. JOANE, don’t be greedy.  Whatever you need will come your way. Believe.

Poverty Mindset

What prevent you from getting rich?

Again, I will overly emphasized this phrase : YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE.

Being wealthy is a choice. Being healthy is a choice. Loving someone is a choice. Staying in a relationship is a choice. Having a good future is a choice.

So if we have a choice, how come people are still poor; why does people still in debts? Simple: You have a poverty mindset - which simply mean that you don't want to be rich. Consciously, you kept of thinking about being rich but subconsciously, you are afraid of getting rich. It means that you consciously want to be rich but you do not do it in action and in reality. Your psychological wallet is so small that even a coin won't fit in it. 

So how can avoid and change our poverty mindset?

The following are only tips I personally follow in order to shift my poverty-mindset into a wealthy and abundant mindset (It is up to you if you follow them or you find your own ways on how to do it).

1. Find the purpose why you want to be wealthy.

Mine is simple. 

1. To purchased a car (had a specific details on it: its color, brand, etc) so I can bring my brother (who has down syndrome with autism) in places where he can enjoy (like baguio, tagaytay, Rizal Park :) ).  

2. To retire at an early age so I can spend more time with the people I love and create memories with them;

3. To help more people especially the special children in special homes and the abandoned lolo and lola's in charity and nursing homes in the country. 

Finding your purpose is as easy as looking for what will make you REALLY HAPPY. For some people, they spend their entire lifetime contemplating on their purpose, looking for it, searching for it. I find it easy this way - I sit down, pray for clarity and ask my self : What is the only thing that would give me real happiness? The answer will then serve to be the purpose as to why I want to be wealthy.

     2. Increase your money comfort zone.

Do you imagine yourself to have 1 million? If you have 1 million, what will you do about it? 

Many people remain poor because they did not expand their psychological wallet. For example, an average, entry level nurse receives a salary of 12-14K a month and is comfortable with it. During holidays, we receive 13th month and other bonuses, so that 12-14K become 20-30 even 40K and it become floating money. Because people with the poverty mindset does have little psychological wallet, consciously they are happy with the extra 20K-plus but subconsciously, they are dreading. They are doomed. They are now panicking. So, instead of saving and investing it, they spend it. They spend until all the floating money was gone and there's no more money to save anymore. Since these people are comfortable with only 12-14K, they will do they very best to have that 40K down to 14K for them to be comfortable. 

Therefore, stretching your money comfort zone is important. You want to be wealthy then reset your beliefs. Tell yourself always (personally, I'm doing it) I will have my first 1 million today. It helps. :)

3.Change your view about money.

When I was young, adults always tell me that money is evil. Stay poor because the Lord delights in them. Being rich rob the soul of a person thus making him evil. So I grew up believing that it is evil. Until early this year that belief changed dramatically. If people come to me and tell me that money is evil, I backed up and tell them, how about this "The lack of money is the root of all evil", and they mumble "Oo nga no? ".

Personally, I believe that money is neutral. It can be good or bad depending on its purpose. Money can be evil is you use it to take advantage of other people but it can be a good thing if you use it to help many people. Like what Bo Sanchez always tell us, the true purpose of wealth is to love and to serve others. 

You choose. Choose to be wealthy and love and serve the world. Or choose to be rich to make the life of others miserable. 


Its up to you. Choose your options well.

4. Be Financially literate.

Invest in your most powerful asset - your mind. Attend seminars, read books, listen to audio and podcast. Indulge yourself in reading numbers and understanding them. 

I always believe that you become what you read and what you watch. You can spend your time watching MTV the whole day, go to the mall, bar hopping and other stuff and 5 to 10 years from now, you will realize you're broke. But I choose to invest in my greatest asset. When all my friends spend their hard earned money in bars and night out, I go to National Bookstore and Booksale to find a good book to read. When all my friends spend their day offs watching movies and partying, I'm at home researching on the latest trends in stocks and investment or attending seminars to improve my financial IQ and personality development. When all my friends buy starbucks coffee, I keep my money inside my pocket and instead buy kopiko (thank God, Im not a coffee lover :) ) so I can save and pay my debts and soon be debt-free.

Choose your media wisely. You become what you choose. 

5. Be Responsible.

A lot of people blame others for their poverty. They blame the government, their employers, their parents, their fate, God but never blame themselves. They believe that God holds the steering wheel of their life which I beg to disagree. I personally believe that God is in the back seat, telling us and directing our journey but He  never drives. He ask us to drive our own car thus we are responsible in our own life. He gives us direction, He serves to be a compass so we will not lose our way but He never drive, He give that responsibility to us. 

Kaya utang na loob, stop blaming others for your misfortunes and start being in control of your own life. He ask us to drive, so drive it well. Don't let anyone control you and don't let the world push you around. Buhay mo yan, in the end, you can't point your finger to anyone but yourself. You have options and you choose what kind of life you;ll lived, kaya be mature enough to take the blame and be responsible.

So, there's the list. I told you earlier, they are my personal lists. You can follow it or you can make your own. The important thing is, as you're reading this, you are choosing to live a life out of the RAT RACE. 

See you in the Financial free land, soon! :)

God bless our journey!

- Joane Nicole Hamili

Assets VS Liabilities and Cashflow Pattern

Basic knowledge in the difference of Assets VS Liabilities will lead you out the Rat Race.


Assets

• Dictionary: Any item of economic value owned by an individual or corporation, especially that which could be converted to cash. Examples are cash, securities, bonds, real estate, businesses.
• Robert Kiyosoki: Asset is anything that puts money in your pocket.
• Rich People: Investments like stocks, property estate, mutual funds, business.
• Poor People: Car, cellphone (iPhone, Blackberry), a house, a gadget (iPod, iPad, PSP).

Diagram 1:1 Graphically shows Asset's definition.

Liabilities:

• Dictionary:  An obligation of an entity arising from the past transactions or events, the settlement of which may result in the transfer or use of assets. 
• Robert Kiyosoki: Liability is anything that takes money out of your pocket.
• Rich People:  Car, cellphone (iPhone, Blackberry), a house, a gadget (iPod, iPad, PSP).
• Poor People: Investments like stocks, property estate, mutual funds, business.
• 
  

               Diagram 1:2 Graphically shows liability's definition.

Cash flow Pattern of the Rich, the Poor and the Middle Class ( Excerpt from Robert Kiyosoki's work)

Diagram 1: 3 Cashflow of Rich People

The cashflow pattern of the rich shows that their income is invested in an assets-producing income like stocks, bonds, business, real estate which in turn provide them with extra money going in their income column which is then again re-invested in the asset column. Notice that, the rich people doesn't use their earned income to spend on the liabilities which will served to be an expense taking away their money out of the system. They get the money, invest it then earned passive income and reinvest it again. The cycle continue and the rich people become richer and richer and richer again. A cycle never stops because they are financially literate.

Diagram 1:4 Cashflow of Poor People

The cashflow pattern of the poor shows that whenever they get their salary (from jobs), they use it immediately to pay off their expenses (debts, basic commodities like foods, bills etc). Notice that the poor doesn't give attention to their asset column thus no passive and extra money enter their income column. They work, receive their salary, pay their bills (expense) and work again. This is called The RAT RACE.

Diagram 1:5 Cashflow of the Middle Class

The cashflow pattern of the middle class (most of the pinoys can relate to this) shows that upon receiving their salary, they pay their expenses  (like bills, mortgage, debts) and the extra money will be invested it what they believe to be an asset (like cellphones, gadgets, cars, new house) turned out to be a liability later on, ending to be an expense, thus taking their money out in the system.   

Diagram 1:6 Cashflow of the Financially Free or Wealthy People

The cashflow pattern of the wealthy people or the financially independent, financially free individuals shows that their assets-producing income pays for their expense and their assets pays also for their liabilities. It means that their hard work in investing and re-investing in income-producing assets had mature enough that it can already pay for whatever liabilities they want (like travelling the world, buying their dream house, buying their porsche etc).

Like what I said in my earlier blog entitled "Be Financially Literate", we all have a choice. We can chose to remain poor and middle class and be in the rat race all our life leaving not legacy and riches but debts-to-pay in the generations to come, with regrets of not having able to lived our dream life; Or we can chose to be rich and wealthy, delaying instant gratifications in order to save and invests for our retirement and be able to live the life we want to lived. 

The choice is YOURS. 

Make your dreams and the dreams of others happen by choosing the right one.

God Bless us all! Good night :)

-Joane Nicole Hamili

             

Disturb Us Lord - A Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wilder seas

Where storms will show Your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push back the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,

Who is Jesus Christ.

Bless Mom and Dad

Today, one of my workmate mother died.

And then, it hits me like a rock.

I realized how lucky I am for my parents. For their presence in my life. My parents aren't perfect. Of course, they have their flaws and they made mistakes. At times, they hurt me with words unintentionally uttered, nevertheless, Im thankful because I still have them.

Lord,

Thank you for my parents. For mom and Dad who works long hours a day just to provide our needs. For being my best and worst critics. For being my best friend and my worst enemy at times. For taking care of me and still loving me at my most unlovable. For accepting me, for being patient with me, for understanding me and for unconditionally loving me.

I know Lord, that despite of them being not so expressive with their affection with me, I know that they loved me. I ask you Lord to bless my parents with good more years ahead of them wiith lots of love and friendship. Bless them with abundance in all the aspect of their life. Bless them Lord because they had been a good steward for being my mother and my father through all these years. 

I ask you Lord, to bless me with abundance too, so I can use the wealth to serve them more and to love them more. Bless me so that I may continue to be a good daughter to them. 

You have blessed me so much Lord. and I love my parents for all their sacrifices for me. Bless them Lord.

In Jesus name,

Amen