The church will soon meet Jesus in the air. No one knows exactly when He will return, yet we know He'll judge our salvation based on our choosing to acknowledge Him as Savior before men. He’ll determine our worthiness for various heavenly rewards based on our stewardship of the earthly possessions He divided to us.

Millions of unsaved people in your community and throughout the world need to be saved so they won't be judged to eternal hell fire. This should cause godly stewardship to arise from your relationship with Christ to produce abundant giving today to meet ministry needs, a lifestyle that lives off less than is received in income, and consistent saving to take care of your future responsibilities and emergency needs in case Jesus tarries awhile.

You need stock, bond, and guaranteed investments like money market accounts, certificates of deposits, and treasury bills, bonds, and notes in your portfolio to cover short and long-term needs. The stock market has earned more than government and corporate bonds in the vast majority of twenty year periods that have been measured, however stocks are more risky than bonds over shorter periods of time because they usually fluctuate between highs and lows much more. Bonds can fluctuate in price as well, even government bonds, when you try to sell them to someone else prior to their reaching maturity. However, they don’t usually fluctuate as much because they are normally based on a guaranteed yield at maturity that is much lower than the average annual growth that stocks normally produce. The guarantee is made either by the corporation or the government, whichever party is selling the bond.

Money in money market accounts and certificates of deposit normally have lower annual returns that are normally similar or below corporate bond returns. At government insured banks, these instruments are guaranteed by the federal government up to certain limits such as $100,000 per bank holding company. Higher guarantees can be had on these instruments in some instances such as joint and retirement accounts. It is important to peruse the FDIC.gov website so you’ll know what the guarantees are so that you can place money in these accounts in as many bank holding companies as necessary to protect your principle because the portion of your portfolio placed in these savings should be your six month emergency fund and any moneys that you may need to withdraw within five years due to anticipated living expenses, home purchase, replacement car purchase, etc.

Generally speaking, your portfolio should contain more than 50% in diversified stock mutual funds when you’re younger than 50 and contain less than 50% in diversified corporate and/or government guaranteed saving instruments. When you reach 50 years of age you should take an assessment of your risk tolerance and adjust your portfolio weightings so that bonds and government guaranteed savings are used to a greater degree when you find that you will need the money within five years or you simply don’t have many years to recover from a serious cyclical stock market downturn or you just don’t have the stomach to take inevitable stock market downturns in your retirement years.

Through it all, craft your investment plan to invest in seven or eight different vehicles and re-evaluate it annually and don't worry about day-to-day stock market swings and economic cycles since you're generally invested for the long haul based on biblical financial principles. This roadmap will help you be a good steward who prospers immensely.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 11:14, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Luke 19:13, Acts 6:2-3

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Here are a few points you should consider when choosing investments and diversifying. Don't invest money with any financial counselor, brokerage firm, fund company, or bank until you've researched them and competitors and the investment vehicles they offer. You can quickly check on the individuals and firms by calling the federal and state banking & securities divisions to ensure that they are properly licensed and to make sure they do not have an unreasonable amount of complaints filed against them.

Next, ask for and inspect the investment prospectuses for each investment vehicle to see what their one-year, five-year, and ten-year investment returns and expense ratios have been. This will generally denote that you should be investing in mutual funds until you are very knowledgeable about other types of investments (individual stocks, futures, oil & gas leases, etc.) and have set aside a small portion of money you’re willing to risk to determine if you have the skill to make money in those investments.

Many of the mutual funds you choose to purchase will have an electronic funds transfer provision that will allow you to immediately start investing in them by giving the brokerage house authorization to electronically transfer as little as $50 per month out of your savings or checking account that it will use to purchase shares of the mutual fund you choose to purchase. The electronic funds transfer option allows you to avoid the minimum start-up investment (normally $1,000 or more) that many funds require for people who send checks to the investment firm. If you can't or don't wish to use an electronic funds transfer option, then it's worth your while to save the amount of money needed to meet the required minimum investment for the investment vehicle you want to invest in.

Don’t let market conditions fool you. It is always a good time to invest in mutual funds if you have taken care of the basic elements of your financial plan like adhering to a spending plan that keeps your monthly expenses below 70% of your take home pay, faithfully tithing and offering to you local church, saving six months of your take home pay in a money market account, eliminating all your debts (except your mortgage), being committed to never co-signing for anyone else’s loans/debts, saving for the short-term (a period less than five years until you need the money) and investing for the long-term horizon (five years or more until you will draw from the money but can afford to lose principles and is willing to take the risk).

Market downturns are perfect for doing what you really need to do to make money investing: buy when share prices are low and later sell when share prices are much higher. Yet, when investing for the long-term it is simply good to consistently invest month after month, which is called dollar cost averaging, because market history over the past decade has shown that very few 5 and 10 year periods have experienced share prices being less at the beginning of the period than they were at the end of the period.

Of course, past results are no guarantee of future returns. However, you can be very comfortable that being invested after your financial ducks are in a row will put you in a much better position and cause you to greatly exceed the inflationary factors in our economy that would otherwise diminish your assets over each 5 and 10 year period of time. So, by all means start investing or start working to create the situation in which you can use this great income producing and wealth building tool (investing) to enhance your life and ministry and thus enhance the lives of many others.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 6:6-11, Proverbs 30:25, Luke 19:8-10, 1Timothy 6:17-19

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Business Bookkeeping

Proper bookkeeping is essential for every business. Even if you have an accountant to take care of this part of your business, you should always keep an eye on your credits and debits. Even the best accountant can make mistakes.

Business Utilities

Making sure that you pay all of your utility bills on time is just as essential as the bookkeeping. Keeping your utility bills, such as electric, gas, phone, internet service, water, and trash, up to date with any changes in names of your business, personal names, and addresses will help in ensuring payments are made on time. Also, track usage on all of your utilities. Excessive usage can waste more money for your business than most other over spending for your business.

Business Vehicle Usage

Keeping your vehicles well maintained can save you and your business money over the life of the vehicles. Keep track of gas consumption, oil usage, tire pressure, belts, and hoses, will help extend the life of your car, engine, and tires.

Business Advertising

Advertising your business is the most important aspect of your business. Without advertising on your part, no one will know how and where to find your business. Not advertising your business equals any sales or income for your business.

Business Equipment

Keeping your equipment up-to-date and in working order will keep your business running smoothly. Any downtime with any equipment for your business can cause a loss of production and sales for your business. Keeping your equipment running smoothly will also help with the life expectancy.

These are just a few of the aspects of any business. However, it is your responsibility to over see all aspects of your business. Without knowing the ins and outs of your business, you could be headed down the road of failure.

It is not your employee's responsibility to ensure that they manage every aspect of your business for you. Your employees have their own daily, weekly, and monthly responsibilities to ensure the job we hire them for are done properly.