Godliness with Contentment

Earned Wage Access

Today we talk about Earned Wage Access.
So full disclosure, I just came across this topic this week. We currently don’t have this service in the Bahamas, but from what I see, it is becoming a hot topic in the United States.
So what is EWA? It is a financial service that allows workers to access their earned wages before their payday.
Initially, it sounded like payday lenders, but it isn't.
As with most everything, there are pros and cons. Please read up on it before agreeing to it.
But why is this even needed? I believe it is because the majority of us are living paycheck to paycheck. 
So how do we dig out of this hole?Normally 2 ways:-earn more (better job, additional job)-spend less 
And I will add - sleep less. The Bible says in Proverbs 20:13 that too much sleep leads to poverty.

Beware Lifestyle Creep

Episode #73. I guide you through the essential aspects of lifestyle creep, and how to avoid it. 
Key points:
-remind yourself often about your goals (spending without restraint won't get you there anytime soon)-make a budget and live by it (the budget will give you permission to spend the money in the way it was planned)-set up automatic savings methods. E.g. if you know you are getting a raise, increase your automatic savings deduction so that it goes straight to your savings vehicle and you never see it. I talk about this is episode 23 "The Savings Superpower Hack"
Stay content.
Connect with me: https://www.instagram.com/godlinesswcontentment/ 
 

Time vs Money

If you had the choice between 1 million hours and 1 million dollars which would you choose? I would choose $1,000,000 and in the episode I tell you why. But don't shoot me until you have listened. To make matters worse, I give three reasons why time is greater than money:
-We could have all the money in the world and yet when our time is up on this earth we have to go. No amount of money can change that. When God calls that is it.
-money cannot buy more time (when your time is up), but if we have more time we can get more money
-if you have lived as the Master requires, you can live for eternity with him where money is worthless, in fact we leave it all on earth when we go (cannot take it with us).
 

Too Smart For Your Own Good?

Sometimes, we can be too smart for our own good. We can over analyze things. We can be stuck in the Paralysis of analysis. We can be frozen by the Fear that keeps us from doing anything. Or even the Fear of change. Sometimes the mere weight of major decisions keep us from doing anything.
Then what? Stuck, cannot move…
Just start. Episode 2 of Godliness With Contentment was called 'Go small or go home'. I know that sounds strange. You have probably heard 'go big or go home'. But I believe that for some of us we need baby steps to get us moving then we can ramp up, whereas there are some of us who are bold and daring and willing to jump right away. But for those of you like me, we don’t want to jump in the boat, we can step from the dock into the boat.
There is another group of us that wants to go in the boat because the boat will take us places, but oh the dock is so secure. It does not move. Our feet are firm. I believe that a false sense of security keeps us there. When amazing adventure awaits on the boat. And we don’t need to jump, we can step. Both will get us into the boat then off we go.
Don’t lean on your own understanding, lean on God. Let Him make your paths straight as you trust in Him. Read Proverbs 3:5-7a for reference.

Don't be a slacker

Proverbs 26:13-16 "A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly."
Proverbs 26 speaks to the fool, the sluggard and the gossip. What a triple play!
But today we talk about the sluggard.
Solomon writes that the sluggard i.e. the lazy person or the slacker says that there is a lion in the streets. Why does the slacker say this? So that he has an excuse to not go out and do meaningful work. Instead, he rolls around in his bed going nowhere. The next thing seems to be an exaggeration or a large joke - there is one guy so lazy that he can't even bring his hand from the bowl into his mouth to feed himself! And then the icing on the cake - he sees himself wiser than seven wise men.
We see here a man stuck in laziness and finding creative ways to stay there.
Why are you not doing what you know you should be doing?  Why are you not saving up towards your emergency fund or retirement? Why are you not starting that business you keep talking about?
What are your excuses? There is a lion in the street?
Get out of bed, go outside, kill your food and drag it back home to feed your family. A bit dramatic, but hopefully you get the picture.

Eating Healthy Ain't Cheap

I went to the food store here on my island to buy some vegetables. I bought a cauliflower, two types of squash (butternut and spaghetti), a yam and some colorful bell peppers.
Don't scream but my total came to $32!
The big shock of all was that the head of cauliflower was around $14!
What I have done to deserve this?
So what should we do eat healthier or eat cheaper? New Year says eat healthier. My pocket says eat cheaper.
There is a balance to be found.
The Scripture of the day is found in Luke 12:42 'And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?'
We need to be faithful and wise. Not going crazy and blowing the budget but also getting the right food for us to eat healthier.
Eat healthy and easy on the wallet: It takes time. Sit down and come up with a plan.

Don't give up on your New Year's Resolution

How are your New Year's resolutions going so far?
In an article by Forbes Health, it stated that - If you find yourself in the camp of setting lofty goals for the new year only to find yourself falling off the wagon just months (or weeks) later, rest assured that you’re not alone. In fact, failing at New Year’s resolutions is so common that there’s even a slew of (unofficial) dates commemorating such failures—some sources cite “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day” as January 17 while others denote the second Friday in January as “Quitter’s Day.”
Personally I don’t do New Year's resolutions any more. I make decisions, and they have been the same for the last few years - read my Bible and pray every day. I know, not that exciting, but extremely important. Nevertheless, sometimes we get deceived with lack of progress. If we continue long enough we will see the progress. If we stop because it is taking too long to see appreciable progress, then we never get to our goals.
 
 

What about me?

Don't look around and say what about me. Focus on your blessings not on other people's blessings. It is easy to look around and find people who have more....or look like they have more. Stop wasting time and stressing yourself out!
You can get the desires of your heart if they are in line with God's desires for you. Say what? Yes, focus on what is most important. Go after what God would want you to have, put them before him in prayer and you will get them. I am straying here, but e.g. wisdom is better than money and the James tells us James 1:5 that "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
So there has always been a way to get our prayers answered. Ask God for the things in line with his desires for us... Wisdom is a great example.
I know you may want money, yet wisdom is better. When you get wisdom, then your perspective on money and on what you have vs what other people have will be a whole lot better.
I talk about how to win with money from the Bible's perspective. Get wisdom and you will win with money God's way to be sure!

We've been here before

Watch out for being the dreamer. You have come up with 100 business ideas but have never pull it off. Perhaps you say that you just didn't have the capital. But there are ways to start a business with little capital. For the 100 ideas, maybe there have been 1000 excuses why it did not work; why it won't work. Mere talk leads you to poverty. Don’t be a talker only, put in the work to make it happen.
When you scan through the pages of the Bible, you find Scriptures like Proverbs 14:23 that tells us that hard work brings a profit. Then there are others like Colossians 3:22-24 that talk about working as if you are working for God and not human masters. Paul speaks there to slaves and tells them to work hard whether the slave master is looking or not. Their true reward lies with God. So from the Bible's perspective, work is honorable. No issues there.
Companies are in business to make a profit and will make certain decisions towards that end. Sometimes when there is no profit, they cut and close and run.
What I came to, is the conclusion that we put ourselves in positions where we are at the mercy of an employer when we don’t have a backup plan or other sources of income.
There is the fact that some of us will work for an employer for the rest of our working life whilst others of us will be our own boss and start a business employing others.
The question I pose today is the same one I posed a year ago : which is riskier? Your 9-5 job working for the man or you being your own boss?
 

Playing with house money - nothing to lose

First off, this has nothing to do with gambling. This is coming from me - joyfully expressing how I feel after God's continuous blessings brought me to another birthday....a big one.
For those who don't know, my name is Keyno Hanna, and this is 'Godliness with Contentment'. Most times I talk about the Bible and money. Today there is no money, just Bible and God's grace.
Happy New Year!