Inherently within most of us is a desire to “do-good”.

I’ve been very disturbed at the irresponsibility that has been advocated in this world today.  Bail-outs, workouts, spreading good fortune all seem to be very noble acts, and many justify such acts in times of perceived emergency as an act for the good of society as a whole.  Decisions are made quickly without much thought to the repercussions and the domino effect such events would create.

You see, I view all such “do-good” acts as nothing more then a band-aid.  The sad part is that such acts actually create more harm then good.

Do-gooding gone wrong…

I know of a person who had inherited a good deal of money when his parents passed away.  He’s done nothing good with the money, he’s become an alcoholic, borrowed against the assets and not made payments.  He can always be found in a bar, getting into fights and arrested for DUI’s on a regular basis. (more…)

I’m having difficulty expressing how I feel about the death of a Walmart worker during Black Friday shopping yesterday.

While it’s shocking that such a thing could happen, what disturbs me even more is the reaction of the people after the incident took place.

In a nutshell…

Nearly 2000 people were lined up at a Walmart in Valley Stream, NY to take advantage of the sales.

Some of these people were so wrapped up in the materialism of this world that they were in line at 10:00 the night before the store opened, waiting in the cold to make sure they got one of the coveted items that were being offered for sale.

Then at 5:00 am the following morning, when the doors were being opened, the crowd stampeded over the guard who was opening the door, and he was killed by the trampling of humans who so desperately wanted these material possessions.

A telling tragedy…

(more…)

I just wanted to let you all know that I’m back to posting on this blog.  Many things have happened over the last year which have pulled me away from here, however my main focus has been to take a break from the blog so that I could focus on writing my book.

I decided to take on a group of people earlier in the year that I would focus on teaching how to live like Lifeonaires.  It’s been an incredible ride.  I’ve watched them embrace the idea and turn their lives around.  Their growth has been so exciting to see.

Becoming a Lifeonaire is near complete and I’m talking with some publishers right now trying to determine if I want to sign with one, or if I’m going to self publish.  I have mixed emotions about which way to go and I’ll let you know as I progress.

Hope to see you around.

As much of a problem as debt is in our society, it is one of the symptoms of disobedience.  It is a curse that we receive for not being fully obedient to the ten commandments of God.  In the scheme of the “big picture” this curse is nothing compared to the state we are in.

If we have violated any of the ten commandments, out punishment is clear.  We are to be judged and we will go directly to hell.  Many feel that being a good person will buy them entry into heaven, however the Bible does not say that.  Many feel that we serve a good and loving God and that he would never send them to hell.  What most don’t understand is that because he is “good” he must carry out justice.  He would not be “good” if he allowed us to get away with our sins.  Heaven is perfect and there is no place in heaven for imperfection.  If we were to enter heaven in our current states, we would ruin everything perfect about it, and therefore we are not allowed there.

So if you have ever told a lie, you have violated one of the ten commandments and you deserve hell.  If you have ever stolen anything, you have violated one of the ten commandments and you deserve hell.  If you have ever looked at another person with lust, according to Jesus, you have committed adultery with them in your heart.  If you have ever hated someone, or been angry with someone for no reason, you have committed murder in your heart.  This is only 4 of the 10 Commandments and I would venture to guess that we are all guilty of all of them so far.  We don’t need to even go to the other 6 to further convict us.

Have you violated any of the commandments?  If so, would a judge be good if he let you off the hook?  Would a judge be good if he let a murderer or rapist off the hook because they are basically good?  Of course they wouldn’t.  A good judge carries out justice.

Thank God that he does love us all.  He loves us so much, that he personally came in the form of man to pay four our sins.  Jesus took the wrath of God upon himself and paid for ALL of our sins, and gave us a free pass to heaven, we simply need to accept it.  On the day of judgment, Jesus will step up for everyone who accepts his free gift and say “I’ve paid the price for them”.

Nothing is more important then being right with God.

Now that we have established this, what I want everyone to understand, particularly those who already know Jesus as their savior, is that Satan can make you useless for the kingdom by tying you up with debt.  You may know Jesus, but you can’t serve him if you are so busy serving the lender/world.  We are fallen creatures and each and every day, we need to come before the Lord and seek his help and his guidance because we can slip.  So debt isn’t something that keeps people out of heaven, but it does keep God’s people from leading more to heaven.

Net worth- The amount by which a company or individuals assets exceeds (could be less) their liabilities.

Two simple words with a boring meaning, but it has become a very recognized measuring stick for greatness.  At the end of the day does it really matter?  How about at the end of your life?  You could have the highest net worth in the world, on the day you die, does it really matter?

How does a lifeonaire measure net worth?

Personally, this is a very new concept for me and I’m considering calling it “life worth”.  We measure our finances in assets and liabilities.  One adds and one takes away.  For quite some time I’ve viewed my life as what gives me life/joy and what takes away or steals from my life/joy.

I evaluate all that is going on in my life and I thank God for all of the good things.  I write down all of the bad things, the things that create strife and steal joy, and I come up with plans to eliminate them.  In some cases they are bad habits that I just need to stop doing, in other cases it may be a business venture or people.  I’m not suggesting that we eliminate the people , but we do need to make a change.  We can’t change other people, but we can change ourselves.  We may have to change the way we react to a certain person, or we just have to distance ourselves from that person. 

If we are doing a job that we don’t like, we need to make a change.  If we have thorns in our side that have been there for years, we need to be proactive in getting rid of them.

I’m not convinced that assets bring joy into one’s life, but I am convinced that liabilities steal it.  So for me, one of the things I want to eliminate in my life are the liabilities.  Of course I have a list of bad habits, people who get under my skin, and a few extra pounds that I’d like to get rid of as well. 

My whole point is that I don’t use my net worth to measure where I am in life, instead I measure my “life worth” and I focus on eliminating joy stealers, and being thankful for the joy givers in my life.

I think one of the biggest problems that people have today is that we are inventing our own god.  One that will conform to a standard that we can attain.  We have created a god that pats us on the back for doing something better then someone else.  This can be seen often if you took the time to ask people if they think they are going to heaven.  Many will say “yeah, I think I’m going to heaven.  I’ve basically been a good person.  I’ve made mistakes, but it’s not like I have ever killed anyone”.   Someone who says this has created a God whose standards are one that they can attain.  The truth, as it is told to us in the Bible, is that none of us are good enough, and we will never be good enough to get into heaven which is perfect.  If we stepped foot in heaven, we would ruin all that is perfect about it.  Bottom line is that we are not allowed there. 

However, the God of the Bible did send his son, Jesus, who was perfect, to pay the price for us.  Jesus took upon himself all of the punishment and wrath that we deserved for not living perfect lives.  He has covered us, and for those who believe in him, he will be standing by their sides at the gates of heaven saying something like this ”I paid the price for this one, I’ve washed them white as snow with my blood, and they can enter.”

In our fallen state, even when we know the truth, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, we still measure ourselves up against others.  Along the lines of finances, most every person that I know gets their financial education from others (including myself), mostly books.  Few get their financial education from THE BOOK (the Bible for those of you who are wondering).  Because we go elsewhere for our financial educations, we use that as our barometer to tell us if we are doing good or bad with our finances.  Let me tell you that many authors, particularly Christian authors who write about money, wealth, debt and prosperity, have created a god, whose standards on finances they can attain.  Many, particularly those who write about “prosperity”, have created a god who wants them to have abundant material things.  Much of this is presented in such a way that sounds very spiritual and many of us buy into it hook line and sinker because it is what we want out of a god.  They’ve created something that is attainable (attractive) for us, so we measure ourselves based off of what an author says god is. 

I’ve spent the last few years diligently studying the Word of God in regards to the subject of money.  Many have been aware of this and have offered me books on the subject written by other authors.  In many cases I’ve declined to accept the books because I didn’t want man to distract me from what God really has to say about money, wealth, finances, debt, prosperity and material things.  I want God and His Word to be my measuring stick, I want Jesus to be my guide.  Let me just say this, when you use only The Bible as your financial guide, and it becomes your measuring stick, you will quickly see the fallacy in the writing of others.  I’m not suggesting that God wants us all to be poor, or that God wants us all to be rich, it’s really not important to Him, and it shouldn’t be to us.  What is important is that we have a relationship with Him.  He should be our greatest pursuit, not money, wealth, or prosperity. 

God should be our first love, we should always put him first.  We should measure ourselves against his holiness not against other persons or what financial authors have to say.  If we put God first, he will provide all of our needs and if we are trustworthy with what he has provided us with, he may just bless us with a whole lot more- but those blessings will be for blessing others.  This is a whole other topic, one I will discuss in the future and one that will become clear to you if you are using the Bible for your financial education.  If you want to know the truth, I encourage you all to dig deep into your Bibles for it.  Remember, just because someone calls themself a Christian (including myself) doesn’t mean that they have the answers, or are leading you down the right path.  Always check with the word of God before accepting something as the truth.  You’ll have a hard time justifying much of what you have already been taught if you use this practice regularly.

Last week, one evening my family and I decided to take the train down into Washington DC for dinner that night.  My father-in-law happened to be in town for his work so we met him, had dinner and came home.

The train station was packed with people, but it wasn’t until we got back to Baltimore that it hit me.  It was after 8:00 pm as we were getting off of the train.  A ton of people were shuffling through the doors to get to their cars.  Most people were emotionless, simply going through the motions.  If I were one of those people, my youngest child would already have been in bed by the time I was getting off of the train, and my daughter would have been in bed by the time I got home.  I really felt sorry for these people and I thought, why in the world would someone choose to live this way.

I mentioned something to my wife and she pointed out that most of those people probably started at 5:30 or 6:00 am.  My work hours are from 10:00-3:00 each day.  I won’t go out during rush hour, it’s a choice I made dome time ago.  Every once in a awhile, I find myself caught up in rush hour traffic and I thank God for giving me choices, while I feel sorry for all those who have to suffer through it every day.

Seeing the people on the train made me wonder- what would the response be if I were to go from person to person and simply ask them “if you were debt free, would you be on this train right now?”  I didn’t perform the exercise, so I don’t know what the results would have been.  Maybe some of you reading this are in a similar mode with your life. 

Would you be doing the things that you do every day if you were debt free?

If not, why are you doing the things that you do?

Is it safe to say that the lender (without actually saying it) is making you do it?

Just something for everyone to ponder.

By the way, I’ve been working on a couple of projects the last couple of weeks and my family has hosted a number of missionairies and family members which is part of the reason I haven’t been posting much. 

I’ve been holding off with making a new entry simply because I’ve had this block.  Recently I dealt with a situation in which someone sought my counsel in regards to their financial situation and their desire to give 90% of their income.  I hear this desire more and more often, and everytime I think about Lifeonaire, this is the only thing that comes to mind right now.

The idea of giving 90% has become a very worldly concept.  It’s one of those things that Christians take and add a spiritual twist to it.  I’m guilty of it myself.  I believe that you will find an entry much lower down the blog that I pulled from the Faith Corner on my website, www.flippinghomes.com, in which I stated that this was a desire and goal of mine.  So I’m not pointing fingers at others, but am looking hard at myself as I approach this.

The reality of the situation is that most of us who say this want to give from our wealth.  We want $1,000,000 or more a year so that after we give, we still live comfortably.  Basically we want a pat on the back and $100,000 per year.  Sure, there is some purity to our desire to give, I’m not suggesting that it is completely selfish.  Giving brings great joy to the giver, however, most of us are not willing to give 90% of what we have now.  We want wealth before we’re truly willing to give.

In Luke 21 verses 1-4 Jesus teaches of the widows offering:

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

The rich in the above example didn’t get praises from God.  Although their offering was more, it came from what they did not need.  They didn’t give sacrificially as the woman did. 

So the next time you think about giving more when you have more, think of the widow.  She loved the Lord and was giving all she had.  She was not waiting for some point in the future when she had more to give more.  The widow had the heart that we should all have when it comes to giving.

I’ve spent the last week at my home in the mountains of North Carolina, and I just love my time there simply because it gives me time away from my day-to-day to just be alone with God and to hear something new from him. 

During this trip I obviously have been thinking about this blog, and one thing that came to mind was “why”.  That is a question that I frequently ask myself when contemplating anything, and I felt it was important for me to take a step back and to talk about how all of this fits into living with Jesus.  Sometime back, the Lord put it on my heart that if I’m not doing something to bring glory to him, then it is probably something that I should not be doing.

There are some who will read this who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and all I can say is that I urge you to seek him out.  Get to know Jesus, the real Jesus, and you’ll know why billions of people have given their lives over to Him.  He, in the form of a perfect human being paid the price for all of our sins so that we could live for eternity in heaven with God.  Without Jesus’ sacrifice, we- alone, apart from Him, are not worthy of heaven and would be turned away.  Jesus shed his blood so we don’t have to in order for us to be clean and enter heaven.

For those of you who know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this blog is to help you live the life that Jesus paid for.  When Jesus rose from the dead and we asked him into our heart it was so that He could dwell in us and we could have life through him.  Jesus is to be our goal, to know Him and to be more like Him.

So now let me wrap all of this up and tie it into Lifeonaire.  We who have given our lives over to Jesus are supposed to bring the message of salvation to the ends of the earth.  Paul teaches that as long as he is alive in the body that things are good, because he can still be fruitful in advancing the gospel.  If we are not producing fruit here, while in the flesh, we may as well die and go home to be with Christ, which is by far the best thing we can have. 

I don’t think many of us would argue with the fact that in general, professing Christians do a very poor job of this.  Most of us are too blind to see that we have another master (the lender) which renders us ineffective for the kingdom.  My passion regarding debt is to enlighten Christians so that they can live the life that Christ has called us to (to know Him and to proclaim Him).  It is my hope that we will be freed from the grips of a worldly master who wants to keep Christians so tied up that they don’t have the time or the clear mind to share their faith with someone who doesn’t know the Lord. 

Our salvation can’t be taken away from us, satan can’t strip us of the gift that Jesus so generously gave to us.  But satan can render us useless.  However, satan can occupy our time, minds and hearts, stripping us of a relationship with Jesus and he has done a great job of it by saddling much of the church with debt. 

If you were to pay off all of your debt today, when you wake up in the morning, you will be free, you will feel like a new person.  No lender will be breathing down your back saying “you MUST get out of bed and go serve me”.  Instead you would be free to serve Jesus instead.  You may still have a job, but the reason you are going to work would be completely different.  You wouldn’t grudgingly be going to serve the lender.  Instead, you could go with joy in your heart, you could clearly be a light for Jesus.  Jesus could shine through you and it wouldn’t take any effort on your part (it’s not supposed to, He’ll do the work if you make yourself available). 

So my purpose behind this blog is hoping that Christians will come to the conclusion that they have had enough of the lender, that they will truly come to realize what it means to live for Christ and that they will dedicate their lives to living for Him.

Please refer your friends to this Blog.  It’s my heart to share with as many as possible.

As a teacher of real estate investing, and someone who professes my faith in Jesus Christ, I often receive inquiries from people who are also believers but NEED to make real estate investing work for them.  I may be considered an expert in the field of investing and I can teach all that I know to others.  Sometimes those I teach follow the steps and blossom and take off as an investor, and others can do the exact same things yet never see the same fruits.  This goes for any business.

Have you ever seen some people who work so hard and they just don’t seem to have the same results as someone else who it comes so effortlessly for?

Let me fill you in on something that I have observed. 

First, nothing is done without God.  No success is achieved without Him ordaining it.  Two people can do the exact same things and one has success and the other does not.  The only difference may be how God’s hand is moving in their business.  Often times the one that is not having success is desperate and when you see the whole picture, there financial lives are a mess.  These people are not good stewards, they don’t pay their bills on time, they withhold money that they owe from their creditors, they aren’t always up front about their business dealings and they feel that if they could just get one break that everything would be better.

I came to know Christ on January 25, 2000.  At the time I was already investing in real estate.  I was doing a ton of deals, however I was not achieving “success” by worldly standards.  With the volume of deals that I was doing most of you would have expected me to have made a gazillion dollars, but that was not the case.  I still had a ton of debt from my previous restaurant venture which went belly up.  I was paying it down, but I was paying $10 a month to one creditor, $25 a month to another $50 a month to one, and $100 per month to still another.  On occasion they would call me and I would tell them that this was all I could continue to do.  You see, I didn’t want to give them more.  I wanted to keep more of my money and I wanted to live my life and not have it hindered, not even for a moment, by having to give more to these ruthless creditors. 

In October of 2000 I felt very convicted about the way that I was handling money.  I didn’t have a savings account, I didn’t tithe (10% of my income to the church), and I played the acting broke game to my creditors.  At this time the Lord put it on my heart to pay my debts (it wasn’t my money anyway), to tithe (again, it wasn’t my money anyway), and to begin saving.  He let me know through his word that if I could not be trusted with the little that he was giving me, he was never going to trust me with more.  I was humbled and said to the Lord that I was sorry.  I immediately began tithing 10% on everything that I had made.  I contacted my creditors and negotiated more accelerated payoffs and I began a regular saving program (I had to put it on automatic draft because I wasn’t disciplined enough to do it on my own).  Most importantly, my heart changed.  I realized that the Lord was already giving me enough.  I didn’t need more, I wanted more.  My problem was that I was not using what he was giving to me the right way.

It took me a couple of months to get all of this set up, but in January of 2001 I made more that month then I made the previous year.  In February I made more then I did in January.  My average month in 2001 was more then I had ever made in a year prior to that.  I wasn’t doing anything different as far as my business was concerned.  Is this a magic formula?  I’m not suggesting that.  I don’t know who God wants to bless and why.  But I do know that God already gives us all enough.  Most of us can’t handle what we already have but want God to give us more.  He won’t give you more, he wont reward your efforts if you can not handle what you already have.

Many of us get into deals with others who are not good stewards, but we find something that they may have to contribute to the partnership.  For instance I have a friend who has been EXTREMELY successful financially as a real estate developer.  He was extremely charitable, paid his bills, and helped many people whenever he saw a need.  His help wasn’t a bag of groceries here and there, but often time it was free homes to live in.  He was very generous.  

About 2.5 years ago, my friend got involved with a person who he brought on as a partner for some of his deals.  He did so because the partner had contracts on a large parcel of land that they stood to make a great deal on.  As a result of this deal, the new partner who had some engineering skills whittled his way into 3 or 4 other deals.  The new partner couldn’t get a loan from Best Buy for a television let alone a mortgage to buy one of these parcels of land.  Often times when the new partner could not be found, you just had to drive to one of the local water holes to find him slurring his speech while sitting at the bar talking about how rich he was going to be. 

I know so much about this situation because I was investing in one of the deals myself.  I was approached and asked to put money up with the promise of a very large reward.  The deal made sense.  After I was in the deal for a couple of months, the new partner started questioning my participation in the deal and how much I was going to make for such a “small investment” (at the time I had $77,000 with the promise of increasing that to $250,000 when the time came, the partner had $0).  In any event, he was greedy and wanted me out of the deal and forced others to question why I should make a million + for only investing $250,000.  I decided to back out of the deal, knowing that I was probably going to get a contract on it within the next few days.  My friend gave me my $77,000 back and I was out of it.

Let me just say this.  In the last 2.5 years, my friend has not sold anything.  He has not made any money.  Every deal is falling apart.  Nothing is working out.  He, who was set for life, stands to lose everything.  Everything he touched before turned to gold, and since bringing on this new partner, he has had 0 success.  I don’t think that God is punishing my friend, I do however believe that God knows what millions of dollars in the hands of this new partner would do (nothing good).  I’m fortunate that I got out of the deal that I was a part of.  It began to unravel within weeks of my getting out.  Currently there is $1,000,000 on the table at risk in that deal, and for the most part, it is lost.  $250,000 of that could have been mine, but I decided that I didn’t want to be involved with this person and I’m glad that I followed where the spirit was leading me and not where my flesh wanted to go ($1,000,000+ payday).

Most of us know the right thing to do.  In fact, most of us have felt convicted to do the right thing (God is always speaking to us), however, most of us would rather take the easy road rather then the right road.  Until you are willing to take the steps and be obedient to what God has put on your heart, don’t expect him to bless you.  He’ll always provide your needs, he promised this, but anything above that, it’s up to you to prove yourself trustworthy and to use what he is already blessing you with appropriately.  You also need to keep a close eye on those you are working with and how trustworthy they are.  You may be a good steward, but couple with someone who is not may hinder how God allows things to flow to you.