20 Timeless Money Rules

Once in a very rare while, a financial journalist nails a story, capturing all the essential elements of a successful personal finance gameplan.
It’s not glamorous, it probably doesn’t sell as many magazines as “Ten Funds You Must Buy Now” articles (rightly dubbed financial pornography by Jane Bryant-Quinn), but this type of reporting does a tremendous [...]

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Correlation: Are You Really Diversified?

cor·re·la·tion n.1. A causal, complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relationship, especially a structural, functional, or qualitative correspondence between two comparable entities.In the world of investments, correlation refers to the degree and the direction in which two investments move in relation to one another.Conceptually, two investments that behave identically to each other in every conceivable economic [...]

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Forever Stamps… It’s About Time

Okay, I admit I’m living under a rock. But some of you may be, too, so a fairly recent and quiet move by the Post Office is worth mentioning.
At the same time several months ago that the post office raised the cost to mail a first class letter (to 41 cents), they also announced new [...]

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Ron and Judy Blue on Focus on the Family

Ron and Judy Blue are the featured guests on the Focus on the Family broadcast with Dr. James Dobson today and tomorrow (August 20th and August 21st) in a two part series on Raising Financially-Savvy Kids.
 
Ron and Judy offer practical advice from their book Your Kids Can Master Their Money: Fun Ways to Help Them [...]

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Asking For Too Little (Terry Austin)

by Terry Austin
In Acts 3 (see verses 1-10), we meet one of the many nameless people in the New Testament whose life was radically changed by the power of God. It is amazing that so much can be said about a person in just a few short sentences. We know that he had [...]

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How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

There is a very dangerous rule of thumb in the insurance business that has been circulating probably as long as insurance has been around.
It says that you should have 7 to 10 times your gross annual income in life insurance (death benefit).
As I write this, I’m trying to think of a worse rule of thumb [...]

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Crown Small Groups Forming Soon

Crown Financial Ministries, the largest Christian financial ministry in the world, is set to again offer their ten week small group study via churches throughout the country (and the world).
The Crown small group study covers scriptural principles of personal finance in the following areas:

God’s Part/Our Part
Debt
Counsel
Honesty
Giving
Work
Investing
Perspective
Eternity

Each session typically meets at one of the member’s homes [...]

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What is a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)?

A donor advised fund (DAF) is a very useful charitable giving tool that offers many advantages over traditional methods of giving. Donor-advised funds are also a cost-effective alternative to private foundations in many cases.
The fund itself is actually a public charity that makes grants to other charities based on your recommendations.
This unique structure allows [...]

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What’s in an Average?

In the financial world, everybody loves to talk about averages. Many online retirement calculators ask you to input averages such as investment return and inflation before they crank out their (often erroneous) calculations. Individual investors also love to talk about how their investments have averaged a certain percentage over time.Averages, however, can [...]

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