FEAST TALK SERIES: HAPPY, HEALTHY and HOLY Money

The Feast Talk Series last Month was entitled: HAPPY, HEALTHY and HOLY Money. It is a timely talk because we're still at the first quarter of the year. It can help us get a direction on how we want our finances to be at the end of the year.

We've been a feast attendee since February 2010 and we noticed that we have almost the same theme every February which is about handling our finances well. Below are the talk series for the last few years:

2010 - Prosper
2011- Peso-nality
2012 - Overflow
2013 - Happy Healthy Holy Money


You can view some of my blog posts on the OVERFLOW SERIES on the links below:
a. Talk# 1: Salary vs. Profit
b. Talk# 2: Income vs. Wealth
c. Talk# 3: Tips vs. Tithes
d. Bonus Talk on Entreprenuership
e. Break Feast Sharing by Edward Lee


Let me just share to you some of the things I learned from the recent Talk Series.

Talk# 1: Happy Money


"Every good and perfect gift is from God. It comes down from the Father." ~James 1:17

Our money is a gift from God. If this is a gift from God, then it can be a good thing. Money is not evil but it is the LOVE of MONEY that is evil.

"Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." ~ Psalms 35:27

God doesn't mind us becoming rich. Actually, he wants us to be rich in a condition that we are are already RICH in the INSIDE before we become RICH in the OUTSIDE. This is because money can MAGNIFY who we are in the INSIDE.

Bro. Bo also mentioned the Three (3) Types of Rich People.

1. Filthy Rich
 - This is the greedy, selfish, corrupt person.
 - They are the miserable people.
 - They are the reason why others say that "Money can't buy you happiness.

2. Guilty Rich
 - This is a person who had a toxic relationship with money.
 - They are the people who feel guilty of earning a lot. They are more comfortable with poverty than prosperity.
 - These are the people guilty of being rich because of their past experiences or family influence.
 - They were taught that talking and thinking about money is bad. And all rich people are bad.

3. Truly Rich
 - These are the people who believe that "God never designed money to buy happiness.  God designed money to increase HELPFULNESS."
 - Truly Rich People Help Their Family
 - Truly Rich People Help Their Bigger Family
 - Belief of the Truly Rich People:  "It’s not about the money.  It’s not about the wealth.  It’s not even about us!  It’s about God.  It’s about love.  It’s about service.  It’s about dying to ourselves so that others may live!"

Let us all be TRULY RICH.:)


Talk#2: Healthy Money

"Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do." ~ Deuteronomy 29:9

True prosperity is living a life of profound LOVE for every human being.   

Physical Health is similar to Financial Health in terms of the cause of its weakening which are:

   1. Toxins

   2. Malnutrition

   3. Imbalance

Financial Toxins

- Financial Toxic Overload / Toxic Debt

  * Uncontrolled Debt can kill us.

  * If there are Filthy Rich, there are also Filthy Poor who are destroyed by the money they don't possess. Because of their overwhelming desire for material things, they borrow, borrow, and borrow.

  * The key is PATIENCE.  Don’t be in a hurry to live a lifestyle that you can’t afford.

  * THE problem isn't materialism. THE problem is an extreme lack of self-worth.

  * Follow the 1st Rule of the Rich - "What You Spend Should Be Less Then What You Earn.”
   

Malnutrition

- People who look rich because they have money in the bank but are dying because their money are shrinking. 

* Follow the 2nd Rule of the Rich - “What You Save Should Grow More Than What You Lose.”

- Our Money loses value in the bank because of Inflation. Therefore, we should invest our money in any of these Investment Vehicles: (1) Paper Assets, (2) Businesses and (3) Real Estate.
- An example of Paper Asset is the Stock Market. If you want to learn more about investing in the Stock Market, try reading the books of Bro. Bo Sanchez (My Maid Invest in the Stock Market and The Turtle always Win) or Join the Truly Rich Club.

Imbalance
* Follow the 3rd Rule of the Rich - "“What You Earn Should Be Equal To What You Know.”
- Do NOT try to earn more than what you know! Confidence is a terrific thing.  Overconfidence is a terrible thing.
- Lower our risk by increasing our learning or increasing our wisdom.
- We need to invest in our Financial Education. (If we think Financial Education is expensive, try IGNORANCE).

Talk# 3: Holy Money

Can Money be Sacred? What does Holy means? Many thought that Holy = Religious. But Bro. Bo said that the Greek word for Holy is Hagios which literally means "set apart for God". We already know that God is Love. Therefore, to set apart for God also means to set apart for LOVE.

If we want to know if our money is holy , we need to recognize the two important signs of HOLY MONEY.

Sign#1 : If the Purpose of Money is LOVE.
- If we give, it should be out of love. If we tithe, it should be out of love.
- We all have moral duty to give. We all have moral duty to be Truly Rich.


Sign#2 : If the Process of Money is LOVE.

- How did we earn our money? 

- According to Bro. Bo, we need to always ask ourselves, "In the process of making money, did I become more loving? patient? sacrificial? selfless? 

If all our answers are "YES", then our money is HOLY, as well as our job, business and investments.

Bro. Bo ended the talk saying that Wealth's mission is to love others and it wants to find its way into the hands of loving people who will earn and use it for LOVE. He encourages us to be THAT PERSON of GREAT LOVE.

Talk# 4: Bonus Talk

According to Bro. Bo, if we want to change our Financial Life, we need to change our underlying Financial Behavior and Financial System.

Our Financial System is consists of our thoughts, behavior and verbal pattern which normally is influenced by our family. Our Financial system can either break or make us. He said, that there are only 2 financial system in this world namely the Hunter and Rancher System.

The Hunter System/Cycle
1. A hunter goes out of his cave when he's hungry to find food to eat.
2. Party with family and friends when he finds a catch.
3. When the meat is gone and he's hungry again, he goes out to hunt for another animal.

    Hunters can be employees or entrepreneurs. No matter how big their incomes are, they would be times that it will be gone. And they would be forced to go out and hunt  again.

The Rancher System
1. Rancher don't eat everything they capture.
2. They keep some to breed other animals.
3. Ranchers will always have food to eat because they grow their own food.

Their difference????
If a hunter takes a vacation and stop working, he stops eating;
If a rancher takes a vacation and stop working, he'll continue to eat because his animals continues to multiply on their own.

Bro. Bo suggested a system to acquire the Rancher system called the " Seven Jar Strategy". Every time we receive our salary/commission/profit, divide our money into these 7 jars.

The Seven (7) Jar Strategy

Jar 7: Emancipation Fund (20% or More)
- For Retirement.
- Others call it Freedom Fund.
- You can invest it in Paper Assets like Stocks, or Real Estate or in a Business.
- This will make us a rancher.

Jar 6: Emergency Fund
- For Emergencies like leaking roof, car repairs, sickness, etc.
- Should be equal to 3 to 6 months of your salary
- Keep in a bank for easy access/liquidity.
- The older you get, the bigger it should be.

Jar 5: Everyday Fund (70% or Less)
- For regular monthly expense
- Live simply to live within this range.
- If your income increases, your everyday fund should decrease.

Jar 4: Empower Fund (5% to 10%)
- For short term savings like saving for a house downpayment, a car, a new laptop, a new gadget, a trip, etc

Jar 3: Enjoyment Fund (5%)
- For our enjoyment because God wants us to enjoy life.
*** 1 Timothy 6:17 " ... put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
- The enjoyment fund is for our wants. This fund is needed to avoid being an impulsive buyer or a miser/penny pincher.

Jar 2: Education Fund (5%)
- Invest in ourselves. If we grow ourselves, we grow our wealth.
- We need to be teachable. We need to be a student and be teachable. Humility is the key.

Jar# 1 Eternity Fund (10% or more)
- For our Tithe - our ultimate investment with the greatest return.
- This is our long-term investment. God will always remember whatever we give to Him and will reward us accordingly for all eternity.
- It is the safest investment because because it is like shipping our investment in heaven..
- Every time you receive your salary, set aside your tithe and see how God will supply your every need.
- When we tithe, we acknowledge that everything we own really belongs to God.

He emphasize that we should be a Rancher , not a Hunter. Before he ends his talk, he repeated the story of the Rich Man and the Beggar which he told last year. The full version of the story here.


Hope I was able to share the inspiring words from Bro. Bo. Let's work together towards our financial freedom.

May All our Dreams Come true! :)