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