Emily G. Stroud

True Wealth Comes from God

Secret #1 to Financial Freedom

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I don’t want you, my reader friend, to be living one flat tire, medical bill, or broken household appliance away from financial devastation. Trust me, it’s such a stressful way to live your life.

Now take a deep breath. I have good news for you. There is hope and there are ways to be proactive with your finances, rather than reactive. Proper financial planning is the key to avoiding many financial pitfalls. The most basic financial planning task, but the most critical for success, is a realistic monthly budget.

I want to encourage you to see creating a budget as a way to be responsible and respectful of the resources that God has entrusted you with. What you give attention to in your life is what you will gain affection for. What you have affection for changes your activities and attitude. If you truly love God and want to show affection for him, one of the ways to do that is to actively and responsibly manage your personal finances.

If you have a realistic monthly budget that you actually commit to follow, it will allow you to live a more fruitful and peaceful life from a financial standpoint. You will have a handle on how much income is coming in to your household and how much money is being spent each month. Also, careful budgeting ultimately allows you to give a portion of your income to kingdom causes, such as your local church or non-profit organizations, because you are not spending more money than you earn. There are missionaries, pastors, and non-profit organizations all over the world that are currently acting as the hands and feet of Christ by serving God’s people. They could truly benefit from your financial support so they can continue to do the kingdom work that God has called them to do. Stop and pray right now about whether or not your budget is being properly managed. Do you currently have a tithe or financial offering as part of your monthly budget? If not, consider starting with a small portion of your income each month and see if God blesses your finances.

The biggest objection I hear is that people do not know where to start when it comes to actually sitting down and creating a budget. As a result, I have done all of the hard work for you because I believe this is so important. Simply enter your name and email address below and I will then send you a complimentary budget worksheet.  All you have to do is fill in the blanks and then add and subtract.  That’s it.  So no more excuses!

Sign up for my budget planner here!




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FAQ: Paying Off Student Loans

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emily5_3

Student loans are often the only way a young adult can afford to obtain a college degree. I personally had student loans after attending graduate school to get my MBA. Yes, I was a little scared when I graduated about how I would be able to pay them off. I really did not like the idea of being in debt. Is it possible that you currently have student loans and feel the same way?

I was recently asked about my thoughts on this particular topic. Since many young adults will be graduating from college this month, let me answer a few of the most common questions I get based on what I have learned over the years.

What tips would you give a recent college graduate with student loans?

  • Please do not feel ashamed of having student loans! Having school debt is not a punishment and is not something to spend valuable time dwelling on or worrying about.
  • I personally can attest to you that an education was the best investment that I ever made in my career.
  • Did money fall out of the sky to pay off my loans? No. However, I embraced the fact that I was an adult and I took responsibility for paying back what I owed.

What strategies work in quickening the process of paying off student loans?

  • The best way to pay off student loans is systematically, every single month.
  • If you are disciplined and focused, little by little, you will pay off your loans and eventually be debt free. You will also have the gift of an education, which is an asset no one can ever take away from you.
  • I recommend paying as much as you can afford to pay, above and beyond the minimum required payment, every single month.
  • You will temporarily have to live well below your means, but the long-term benefit of being debt free is well worth the short-term sacrifice.

Here is a real life example:

If your monthly minimum required student loan payment is $300 per month, budget anywhere from $50 to $200 per month extra that can be allocated towards reducing your student loan debt. This strategy will allow you to pay down the principal of your student loan much faster. Having a proactive plan to pay off your debt will shave years off of the time you have to make monthly payments.

  • Automate your payment so it comes out of your checking account before the monthly payment is due. You never want to be late when making your student loan payments. This will strengthen your credit score, which is very important when starting out as a young adult. A high credit score will help you purchase a home when you reach the point in life where you are ready to put down some roots.
  • If you are not sure how much you can afford to allocate each month to reducing the monthly principal of your student loans, take some time to create a detailed monthly budget.
  • In order to eliminate any possible objections to this strategy, I have taken the hard part out of creating a budget. If you go to emilygstroud.com and enter your email address, I will be happy to send you an electronic version of a detailed monthly budget worksheet. All you have to do is fill in the blanks on the worksheet and add and subtract. There are no excuses now!
  • Once you have a realistic budget, decide how much extra income you can allocate toward paying down your overall student loan balance each month. Then put a plan in place.
  • Do not think of the extra income you are allocating to paying off your debt as negotiable or optional.
  • If you stick to your financial plan, you will be out of debt as quickly as possible!
  • Most importantly…to the class of 2016 at Texas A&M, Gig’Em Aggies!

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Romans 13:7 (NIV)

Cash is King (or Queen!)

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My father always told me, “Emily, everything in life is easier when you have a little cash on hand.” I have learned over the years that there is a lot of wisdom in that piece of advice. Cash really is King (Or Queen)!

The very first question I ask my prospects when we sit down for our initial conversation is, “How much cash do you have on hand?” It really does not matter if they want to talk about retirement planning or whether they have enough life insurance if they have no liquidity.

One of the greatest stressors in America regarding personal finances is being overextended. People who live paycheck to paycheck never quite get ahead because they do not have a cash reserve.

When the unexpected happens, such as a broken refrigerator, or a very large medical bill, people without any savings begin to panic. Their knee jerk reaction is to use credit cards to pay for these types of emergencies. However, this is a reactive approach to managing your household budget rather than a proactive approach.

I want to encourage you, my reader friend, to be proactive with your personal finances so you are prepared for any unexpected expenses. If there is one thing I can guarantee you, it is that Life Will Happen! If you have at least 3 months’ worth of living expenses in cash, then life is much less stressful. If you are self-employed, work on commission only, or have any uncertainty about your ongoing employment and income, then I recommend you keep at least six month’s worth of living expenses in a cash reserve account.

Friend, before you focus on any other savings goal, make sure you have a proper financial cushion. This is one of the fundamental ways to change your financial life from stress-filled to peace-filled!

If God Is In Control, Why Do I Need To Plan My Finances?

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Emily G. StroudI want to illustrate why I advocate personal financial planning when I know we cannot control every outcome. Even on our best day of planning for every detail that may or may not occur in our lives, we are still not in control. God is still on his throne and we are not.

Friend, even if we are not in control, we can still be organized and productive. By nature, we feel much more at peace when our lives are organized rather than cluttered. When I was in the midst of writing my book this past year, my office closet became a dumping ground for everything I needed to file, but did not have time to attend to at that exact moment. I was dealing with the “tyranny of the urgent” in order to meet hard and fast deadlines for my book, while also taking care of my family and managing my investment firm. That was my excuse. I kept thinking that I would just deal with the paper and the clutter later. I took the easy and long road of denial. I convinced myself that it would be easier to deal with all of the paper and clutter after my book was finished and released and tied up with a nice little bow.

However, the clutter in my office closet did not go away on its own. Shocking. It is now out of control and I do not even know where to start to get it back in order. It completely overwhelms me when I look at the mess. If I had just taken the time to file a few papers at a time, it would have been so much easier. However, I kept putting it off because I thought that I was too busy. I find that many clients and friends take this same attitude with their personal finances.

Please learn from my mistake. Do not put off today what needs to be done until tomorrow. I want you to take the time to get organized from a personal financial planning standpoint so you can live a more peaceful and fruitful life. I promise you will be so glad that you took the time to identify your personal financial goals and then develop a plan to achieve them. It is so much easier to reach a goal incrementally over time than it is when you are overwhelmed and what were once small problems are now huge challenges.

How do you feel when you look at the following picture of the clutter in my office closet? It personally makes me feel very uneasy and stressed out. I do not want you to feel this way in regards to your personal finances.Emily G. Stroud

On the flip side, I did take the time to organize my mudroom. However, I asked for help from a professional organizer. I knew I could not do it all by myself. I needed a plan and systems to help keep it organized for the long term. My family needed to be able to maintain the organizational plan for the mudroom long after the professional organizer left our home to move on to someone else’s clutter problem. This is what a Financial Advisor does for your personal finances.

The organized mudroom may sound irrelevant, but it has changed our lives. As a busy family with two working parents and two children in school and extra-curricular activities, being organized is a lifeline to harmony in our home. Every time my family members arrive home, all of our belongings have a place to go. It is now so easy to find coats, purses, backpacks, homework, any mail that needs to be addressed or delivered, packages and presents to wrap, etc. We can get out the door and leave our house in a peaceful and timely manner. I feel so good when I enter and leave my home via this mudroom. It eliminates so much stress and anxiety.Emily G. StroudEmily G. StroudI want you to feel at peace regarding your personal finances. Our days are numbered so let’s be as productive and organized as possible. Do not put it off any longer! If you need help and do not know where to start, ask for help from a Financial Advisor whom you know and trust. If you do not know an advisor personally, the best place to ask for a referral is from your inner circle. Talk to people whom you know about who they have worked with in the past and if the Advisor successfully helped organize their personal finances. If so, pick up the phone today and ask for a consultation. It may just change your life! Let’s all take the time now to be organized and free from clutter in both our personal and financial lives.

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