Marla and I lived pretty conservatively and on one income as a choice through the years we home-educated our three girls. We made that choice and would not choose differently if we were back in those early days again. Someone told me once that every choice you make eliminates other choices. Choosing to live on one income eliminated the choice to build a big retirement account. However, I was only in my mid 40's when our youngest started going to a public school and Marla started working outside of the home again.
The truth is that the decisions we made about our girls' education and our livelihood in those early years were big decisions. We never made them quickly or without praying about them. We never made them until we were in unity about a decision. It was always my position that once you make a decision in that manner you can't complain (much) about the results or consequences of the decision. An example: If you make a decision to live in Vancouver, Washington because you believe it's where God wants you then what are you doing complaining (much) about the rain...?
What happened when Marla re-entered the workforce was predictable if we had given it much thought but we really hadn't. We suddenly had close to an entire income that we did not have budgeted. We were in exactly the opposite position many families are in if they have relied on two incomes and then are forced to reduce to a single income. If you can possibly find a way to cut expenses so that you are living on one income for the years you have young children you might find yourself in the same situation. Suddenly our income took a quantum leap and we were able to shove large amounts into retirement. We had heard that getting the first $10,000 into retirement was the hardest. It was.
The funny thing is this concept called leverage - the ability to borrow money. Borrowing money is not the same as having money of your own so you have to exercise great care in what you borrow for and at what rate of interest. Credit Cards, for instance are a form of borrowing. In those days we received at least 3 offers for a Credit Card every week - sometimes that many in a single day. Everyone wanted to loan us money.
The motivating factor in deciding to build our present home was our Pastor on two counts.
- He had made a decision which allowed his aging mom to live with him. We wanted to do the same and did not have space to do it where we were.
- One normal office day when we had run all of the numbers and I was still feeling pretty cautious about taking on so much debt, he simply exhorted me to build it. It might sound crazy but that word produced the faith to move forward. I never looked back.
After collecting bids from 3-4 Contractors we decided to work with Brett Asplund (5 Star Construction). He gave us a fair price, had excellent references from others he had built for, had good experience building what we wanted, and agreed to let us do some of the work (sweat equity) to bring the price down. If you ever build a house, make the decision about the General Contractor carefully. We took on the biggest loan of our life but even with home values dropping, our equity and credit score has held strong.
With one exception our financial picture has been the steady application of the things I've talked about in this series. The one exception is charitable giving. It does not make sense that giving money away would correlate with financial increase but in our case and dozens of others we have talked to, that is the record. Our Pastor often says, "We shovel it (money) out and God shovel it in but God has a bigger shovel." It doesn't make sense mathematically no matter how you say it but I can tell you along with accountants and bookkeepers I have talked to, it's true.
It has been 5 years since the house was built. We've enjoyed it and been able to have a lot of people over for gatherings. It's just a house - one of the things God provides for the blessing of people. It's people that God cares about. The other stuff, someone has said, is just stuff.
In the Bible, John prays a prayer for those who would receive it that they would prosper and be healthy to the same degree that their soul is healthy. Since we're only journeying through life on the way to a much greater destination, that's the prayer Marla and I would also pray for you and those you love.
