Conquering Our Finances Part II
Sunday, 10 February 2019 18:37 | 
Written by Lillian Chebosi | 
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Volume 09, Issue 06: Conquering Our Finances Part II
In continuation to part I of this series, we are at the stage of laying out how to program our net earnings, after taking out our tithe and taxes. We broke down savings and spending into two broad categories for each, that is savings for investments and savings for emergencies, and immediate spending and future spending. It is better to manage these four categories in separate folders. That may mean four bank accounts, or four drawers, or four purses or four envelopes for you.
Before setting up our folders, we first determine how much we want to save and how much we want to spend from the 9,000 units we had available to program in part I last week. Assuming that at the goal setting stage, we determined to save 33% and spend 67% of our earnings, we will save 3,000 units and spend 6,000 units from this current receipt. Let's also assume that out of our savings total, we want to program 40% for emergencies and 60% for investments.
In our spending categories, we have bills and expenses that we finance within the month of receiving our earnings, and others that we pay for at a later time such as quarterly, semi-annually or annually. For instance, we pay for our housing, utilities, groceries, domestic support, fuel/bus fare, entertainment, grooming and other irregular incidentals monthly, whereas school fees for our children or ourselves, maintenance and insurance for our vehicles and houses, clothes and shoes, vacations, school uniforms and accessories and membership fees for most of us are due quarterly or semi-annually or annually.
Think of bank accounts as folders. At work, we store and maintain different documents in different folders to effectively distinguish separate records for better management of each. Mingling our savings with our spending money in the same pool makes it difficult to efficiently manage and stay on top of each category. If you are a holder of one bank account, you must admit it's difficult to tell things apart and stay true to your budget consistently.
Imagine a cutlery drawer in your kitchen that doesn't have an organizer, such that your many teaspoons, knives, folks, and table spoons are thrown in randomly. Better still, imagine a hospital where patients' records are not filed in separate folders, that rather, the loose sheets of paper for different patients are all put together in drawers or cabinets. That's how managing your money in one bank account can be like. My recommendation is to maintain about four money management systems. If some of your transactions are in cash form, have four bank accounts and one cash account system. We will elaborate this further in part III of the series.
The first two accounts would be savings accounts, one for our investments or future use, and the second one for emergency savings. Going by our assumptions above, we would put 1,200 units into our emergency savings account and 1,800 units into our investments savings account. We would repeat this with every earnings we receive, applying the same percentages to the varying units we receive. As the units in these accounts pile up over time, we would look for viable investment opportunities to invest the units in our investments savings account to make our money grow and earn us passive income in future.
Next week we will begin with how to efficiently manage our 6,000 units that we have programmed for immediate and future spending. We will also consider what levels of emergency savings to aim for.
For His Glory,
Lillian Chebosi
Conquering Our Finances Part I
Saturday, 02 February 2019 17:48 | Written by Lillian Chebosi | | |
Volume 09, Issue 05: Conquering Our Finances Part I
Being a detail oriented person has me plan and manage everything in exact details, including finances. I have maintained some kind of a budget all my adult life. The beauty with committing to being a lifelong student is that we are always learning new things, and in turn improving the way we do things. In most cases, the principle of the subject matter remains the same, what evolves are the execution strategies. One of the areas this speaks for is how we manage personal finances.
This week I wanted to write about how we can and should be on top of our finances irrespective of our levels of income. It's interesting how some people think they don't earn enough to save or give. There's is no truth in that, it's in fact a bondage that can get one into a defeating cycle where they would never begin to save or tithe even when their earnings increase significantly.
Not to digress further as this article is not necessarily about saving and tithing, let me start by admitting that up until the paragraph above this, I thought I was going to write one article on personal finances. I have just realized that would be a very long article. So I am going to split this content into two or three parts. Let's start with the framework in this first step of conquering our finances.
I think most people have a good handle on their finances but there's always something we can learn to improve how we are handling money. Even as advanced as I would say I am in my prowess in managing personal finances, I still study on the subject and get excited by the insights I come across. This is to say that we all need this, so stay the course.
To start us off, we know that from our gross earnings, there are two portions of it that don't belong to us. These are tithe and taxes. Taxes are cut off our gross earnings before it gets to us, or we are responsible to pay it to the tax authorities ourselves. Tithe is ten percent of our gross earnings which belongs to God, and which we are responsible to take to our designated places of worship.
Although we know this, some of us live as if what comes to our pockets is the stipulated gross earnings. Those who do this peg their lifestyles on the gross figure they negotiated and received on their contracts, which quickly spirals them out of balance. Ever wondered why even people who earn large amounts of income struggle with debt or live from paycheck to paycheck?
The first step in conquering our finances is knowing how much we actually have at our disposal. It's easier when your earnings come to you with a pay slip, because all you need to net off to know how much you have to program is tithe, which is 10% of your gross earnings, not 10% of what hits your account or wallet. In the absence of a pay slip, determine how much of your gross earnings goes to taxes, pension and tithe. What is left after that is what you have available to program.
Now that we know the amount we have at our disposal, that even though I receive ten thousand units today, I actually don't have ten thousand units to program. If my pension contribution and taxes have already been deducted before the 10,000 units were given to me, I have 9,000 units to program. So, I shouldn't live as if I have 10,000 units that I can see in my wallet, because in essence, I have only 9,000 units since 1,000 units is my tithe, which doesn't belong to me.
Now we can program the 9,000 units that belongs to us. We should in fact have a plan of how we would program the 9,000 units before we receive it. I usually figure this out at the annual goal setting stage. Doing this gives us the opportunity to set out our intentions of how we will program earnings that come to us. That is expected regular earnings, one off bonuses, interests and dividends, and other unanticipated inflows.
Let's consider some of the items we should want to have covered by our 9,000 units. That list would be different for each of us because we are at different stages in life. The main items I consider are savings, immediate spending and future spending. I recommend breaking down the savings into two categories; savings for investments and savings for emergency reserve. Additionally, it is better to manage these four broad categories in separate folders, that is, separate bank accounts or the equivalent of bank accounts. We will start with why its useful to have multiple bank accounts, as well as break down what constitutes immediate spending and future spending in part two.
For His Glory,
Lillian Chebosi
Make God Your Goal
Tuesday, 22 January 2019 13:06 | Written by Lillian Chebosi | | |
Volume 09, Issue 04: Make God Your Goal
As we always do, we have focused these first moments of the new year on our aspirations and intentions. We have focused on the goals we want to go after in the new year, dreams we want to pursue, themes we want to live our days around. But the reality is, not every beginning of a new year is promising for all us. Sometimes some of us begin a new year desperate for a miracle, or on the verge of giving up.
I listened to something astounding several days ago and set a reminder for myself to go back to listen to it keenly at a later point. The reminder kept popping up on my screen but I didn't get to it until today.
It's about a principle found at the end of the sixth chapter of the book of Matthew. With a bit of my own emphasis here and there, I am going to relay the message the way the speaker said it, as I couldn't possibly put it across any better. I couldn't get the name of the speaker but I credit this article to him.
Many of us allow our problems to make us desperate and we manipulate God's presence. We use God as a means to get a miracle instead of using a miracle as a means to get to know God. When we do this, we are like the children of Israel who cried out to God to get them out of Egypt. In reality, they didn't really want God, they just wanted freedom. And God was a means to get that freedom.
But Moses used the exodus from Egypt as a means to know God. Because when God took too long on the mountain, the children of Israel worshiped a cow. But when God took too long on the mountain, Moses waited on God. Because to Moses, God was not a means to a goal, God was the goal.
Something happens when you make intimacy with God your number one goal. It numbs your desperation. It doesn't remove the problem, it just makes your problem not the most important thing in your life.
You may still be struggling with your finances or with pain in your body, or with stagnation, or with a form of barrenness or lack, a wilderness situation of sorts. But you understand that God is bigger than your problem. You reckon that God's presence is more important than your issue. And what God wants you to do is more important than your struggle. And when you get busy pursuing God, He begins to ask you, "What do you want?" Because intimacy with God kills your desperation.
Desperation is dangerous. Because when you are desperate for your miracle, you become impatient, and when you become impatient, you always produce Ishmael. When you are desperate for your miracle you cannot differentiate between God's supply and Satan's bait.
When you are desperate for your miracle, God is always a means to a goal. And when you get the goal, God gets left behind.
But when you are satisfied in God, in spite of your problem, God now takes interest in your problem. God takes interest in your dream. God takes interest in your desires. God begins to say to you, "Let's make your dreams come to pass." He takes interest in them because your dreams are now not coming out of a place of desperation, they are coming out of your satisfaction in the presence of God.
As we begin the new year, let's not use God as a means to get a miracle, rather pursue Him, and use our miracles as a means to know God. Let's make God our goal, because when we seek first the Kingdom of God rather than what we want, He begins to ask us what we want.
If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen - don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes (Matthew 6:30-34, MSG translation).
For His Glory,
Lillian Chebosi
One Word Theme
Sunday, 20 January 2019 17:46 | Written by Lillian Chebosi | | |
Volume 09, Issue 03 One Word Theme
I learnt about one word theme from a YouVersion Bible plan provided by the authors of "One Word" book, Jon Gordon, Dan Britton and Jimmy Page. I went on to download and read the one word action plan and a free chapter of the book from their web page that drove the point home. The concept is about using a word as a focus for the year rather than a long list of resolutions.
According to the authors, the one word is meant to replace resolutions and goals altogether but for me at this point, I found it useful as a tool to focus my goals. I decided on my one word theme and went on to use that as the stand point for each of my goals.
Your one word could be growth, respect, peace, purpose, passion, drive, focus, balance, life, courage, generous, go, thankful, intentional, love, discipline, intimacy, confidence, inspire, sparkle, joy, motivate, believe, commitment, explore, trust, shine, awesome, solid, etc. It may stem from what you struggled with in the previous year and want to get right this year. It may be what you want to attract in your life or how you want to show up in life this year. Whatever it is, when you decide on your one word for the year, it gives you more clarity, passion and focus for your life.
When I was doing this prayerfully, my mind wrestled with two words, growth and intentional. Although I was certain I wanted to grow in all my goal categories, I understood that the key component for me to grow is intention. I understood that what I lacked in previous years is a strong sense of intentionality to give me an 'omf' to go after the life that I want. I realized that I tend to step back into comfort and safety than move forward into growth. I went on to list the things I want to be intentional about and mirrored that into my goals.
From the study and living my one word theme so far, I concur with the authors that it brings simplicity and focus. It cuts through the distractions and keeps us focused on what really matters. For instance, if your one word is love, that is what would inform the goal categories you select, and thereafter steer you to pursue things that communicate love to you and others. You would identify the actions that you would take and the activities that you would engage in as well as the interactions you would avoid to make you feel loved or to express love to yourself and others.
The authors of this concept said that the one word theme stretches us in all areas of life. And if you have God help you identify your word, He would use your one word as a light and mirror - illuminating your path and revealing things that need to change. It facilitates a great journey of highs and lows, all designed to make you into the person you were created to be.
To me, one word theme is about simplifying life. I remember relating so well with a paragraph from the authors. This is what they said, "It's hard to simplify life. Narrowing the focus seems impossible. Over this past year you may have been asked several times, "How is it going?" Your response was probably something like, "I have been SO busy!" You never hear anyone say, "I have had so much time in my hands and I'm looking for something new to do". That person doesn't exist".
They went on to say, "You have tons of responsibilities and your schedule is crazy. You feel like you're sprinting in life. That's why we need to be intentional about clarifying and simplifying life. Embrace the simple discipline of developing just one word as a theme for the upcoming year". This is when I knew for sure that I needed this.
The point is to boil down your list of resolutions to one word, making it basic and simple. Your one word will have impact in all the six dimensions of your life: mental, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual and financial. Living out your word will keep you focused and prevent you from being distracted.
For optimal realization, the authors advised to keep your word front and center throughout the year. Tell your accountability partners and your family your word for the year. Write it in your journal. Post it in prominent places so you see it on a regular basis. Talk about it with your family at the dinner table. Create reminders for yourself. Do whatever it takes to keep it in focus and keep it fresh. What gets your attention gets your focus. What gets your focus gets done.
My addition is that you have your one word be one that whenever you see it or think about it, it illuminates your goals, such that you don't have goals that fall outside your one word theme. It should be a word that you can fit all your goals into. Let it feel like if someone were to use a magnifying glass to read your one word, they would see all your goals at a glance. As we live out our one word, let God use the simplicity of our one word themes to revolutionize our everyday lives.
For His Glory,
Lillian Chebosi
Routines, Means to an End
Saturday, 12 January 2019 11:21 | Written by Lillian Chebosi | | |
Volume 09, Issue 02: Routines, Means to an End
Spontaneous people don't like routines. They are fun and do things on the go and on a whim. They also tend to attend to a mundane task like changing a bulb not necessarily when people want it done but when they get to it, which makes them difficult to be relied upon to get things done. Years ago I felt ashamed to admit that I am a highly routine oriented person. I thought it made me a rather boring person for people to want to be around because what I did, I did everyday. I wanted to be spontaneous.
It's unfortunate that some us who are routine oriented like myself can be boring and rigid. We tend to want to stick to our plans and find it difficult to change gears along the way. This makes us unaccomodating. While trying to be a little bit flexible, I have come to appreciate that even spontaneous people need a bit of routine to show up better.
We are a product of what we do over and over again. Some of us may not admit it, but we all have things that we do routinely. Those are our rituals. Some of us establish routines consciously to reinforce order in our lives. Others of us do some things routinely because we found ourselves doing them.
Having a busy family life and a heavy duty job, my routines are what keep me sane. I stick to my routines day in day out; quiet time, walk, gym, work, home, sleep and repeat.
My morning routines are the power practices I choose to engage in at the start of my day in order to begin my day in a way that brings me the most joy and fulfillment. It's a time that consists of practices that energize and inspire me. I have created a routine that makes sure my mornings are peaceful, nourishing and productive.
The bulk of the day rolls out with routines of its own where I try my best to stay productive. The evening sets in with its set of winding down routines, followed by a bed time that I strictly adhere to except for a few times when I allow other people's evening lives to infiltrate mine.
My first routine is waking up at the same time every morning, irrespective of whether it's a weekend or a public holiday or we are away on vacation. I start with my "Time with Him" activities. I then go for a declaration walk at 6 am for 1 hour, then to the gym for about 45 minutes before proceeding to work or back home if I am on leave. I do this only on weekdays.
My Saturday morning routine after quiet time is one of my favorite times in the week. I get to continue reading, do some writing and reflecting until about 8 am. My Sunday morning routine after quiet time involves some work in the kitchen before proceeding to Church at 8 am.
Early in my marriage I made breakfast for my husband and I every morning. It was the same thing for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and a different same thing for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. At first my husband humored me and ate it but eventually he couldn't bear it. It was too monotonous for him. Now everyone in my household fixes their own breakfast, awesome freedom for me, I must add.
I honestly have no problem eating the same breakfast every day. In fact, what I eat, when and the order in which I eat it is part of my routine, which changes every now and then when I discover new things. My current breakfast routine is a vegetable smoothie at 9 am, followed by either a nutty cereal, or a Spanish omelette, or peanut sauce with baked sweet potatoes. Later in the day I take a plate of stir fried mixed vegetables, one of my delicacies.
My next routine after morning work is spending lunch hour reading while having lunch, before continuing with work until 5 pm when I leave to go pick up my children from school.
My 5-6 pm weekdays schedule is listening to podcasts while I drive to school and packed at school, and running through a brief set of declarations as I wait for the children to be ready to go home. 6-7 pm from Monday to Thursday has me doing prepping my next day's smoothie, packing my food bag and gym bag for the next day and taking a shower before cooking dinner and handling laundry on alternate days. 6-7 pm on Fridays is time for a coffee date with my husband, before we pick the next week's milk and bread on the way back home.
My 7-8 pm routine is the same for weekdays and weekends. This is the time I have set aside to relax with family (at this time we are not looking at screens) including family devotion before retiring to my room and calling it a day by 8 pm.
My Saturday morning routine after 8 am is to watch a movie or two, or my favorite house hunting/renovation shows where I enjoy looking at beautiful houses and spectacular house renovations.
I have a date with each of my kids on alternate Saturdays between noon and 2 pm. Today for instance is my day out with my daughter and next Saturday my son and I are going out to a car bazaar to look at cars and grab a snack while at it. He enjoys looking at the latest cars driven by his favorite basket ball and football stars. We won't see any of his favorite cars like a Lamborghini but I bet it will still be fun.
2-5 pm on Saturdays is when we are available to hang out with extended family or friends. We could be going for a function like a birthday party or a wedding, but it's mostly lunch at my sister's place nearby if I am not visiting with a relative or friend somewhere else. If we have nowhere to go, we just lazy around the house doing nothing in particular.
I insist on being home by 6 pm every day. On weekends I run through a brief set of declarations before enjoying the nice evening breeze on my estate's driveway that has lots of overlapping trees on both sides of the road where I stroll back and forth in the cool of the evening. It's so easy to be too busy to enjoy our surroundings, but once you notice the refreshing beauty of nature, you can't stay away. This is one of my treasured privileges.
I am fortunate to work half day on Fridays. I use 1-5 pm to prep meals for the next week, including breakfast items and baking. This is what makes cooking and preparing extras like smoothies during the week easy and quick.
Come Sunday it's my turn with the remote at 11 am when we get back home from Church. I watch my kind of movie, then take a nap before reading a book. 3.30-5.30 pm is family time. This is when we do something together, could be watch TV, play board games or just be in the same space with each of us doing a different thing.
These are my routines, my techniques for managing life in a fast-paced world. I keep a digital calendar that stores all these, and other things I want to be sure to do in a day, week, month and year. I am no longer ashamed to be routine oriented. It's not only how I am wired but also what helps me show up better, do the things I need to do.
Although I know the value of routines, I don't impose my nature on others because we are all wired differently, and as such, we have different techniques for managing our lives. Keep in tune with your techniques and show up better in life this year.
For His Glory,
Lillian Chebosi