If you intend to build a tower, shouldn't you first sit down and count the cost to determine whether you have sufficient funds to finish it? ~ Luke 14:28

If a man knows how to handle money, he can pretty much handle almost everything else in life. One does not need to be a millionaire or even make a six-figure salary in order to be content and wealthy. If someone cannot handle small responsibilities, then he will not be able to handle big ones. If a young man doesn't learn how to subsist with little money, don't expect him to know how to live with a lot of money either. If he splurges the little money that he has, then he will splurge large amounts of money too. If he doesn't see the value in stretching a dollar, then he won't see the need in stretching millions. Throughout my young life I've seen a number of prodigal practices that cause unnecessary financial obstacles and most, if not all, of them are avoidable. There are three main practices that I encourage all young men to subscribe to in order to gain financial security for the rest of their life. 1.) Hard work 2.) Frugal living 3.) Liberal giving.

HARD WORK

Serve your employer as if you're serving God. Are you to worship your bosses? No. Are your bosses infallible? No. Are you supposed to follow an order when it's immoral or unethical? No. But there is a certain level of honor and respect you must have for those who gave you the privilege to work within their organization. There ought to be an underlying principle that you should do everything you can to make your boss and your company look good. Colossians 3:22 declares, "Servants (workers) ought to obey their masters (employers) in all things...in singleness of heart, fearing God." Internally and externally, your job as an employee is to fulfill the mission of the company that hired you and you should not only meet but exceed what is expected of you. You should treat your job as if God Himself placed you there to fulfill a good purpose.

Matthew 5:41 says, "Whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him twain." Do not become a worker who does the bare minimum to avoid getting fired. Become the worker who does more than what is required. If you are interning at a company and you are told that you should do a spreadsheet's worth of data entry by 5PM, you should work towards getting two spreadsheets done. If you are supposed to install 5 window frames for the week, aim to install 10. Do not rush your work and reduce its quality but aim to do more than what is expected of you.

No work is beneath you. I've come across many people who have refused opportunities because they deemed the job to be beneath them. Luke 16:10 says, "He that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." If you do well at the small things on a job site, you will eventually gain trust to handle the big things. If you work at a fast food restaurant and your job is to flip burgers, you flip those burgers so well that your burgers are the best fried and the best tasting of any other burger served in the restaurant. When customers come in to order their food, they should want to eat the burgers that you specifically flipped. If you are assigned to staple documents together, staple those papers quickly and neatly and let the staples have a consistent pattern. Let your copies look the neatest of all copies within the entire office. If you are cleaning toilets, clean the toilets so well that your boss will believe the company bought and installed new ones. When you are detail-oriented and meticulous in the small tasks, then you will carry over those principles in the bigger tasks.

Don't be concerned over other people's trajectories. Avoid comparing yourself with other people. Avoid trying to figure out why someone else has something you think you deserve. As humans, we tend to believe "other people" have access to some sort of fortune or luck or resources that we can never ever seem to get ourselves. If we continue to compare our shortcomings to others, then we will never ever be satisfied with anything. People who have fast cars will want faster cars. People who have lots of money will want more money. People who have a big house will want a bigger house. No matter what you have or don't have, you will always be in a slum when you are trying to measure up your worth against someone else. It is no wonder why the 10th commandment is "Thou shalt not covet." Covetousness is a harmful trait and no matter what one accomplishes in life, he will never ever feel satisfied and it is a miserable way to live.

You will have classmates who have better internships than you do. You will have classmates who don't study as much as you do or work as hard as you do but their grades may be higher. You will have coworkers who are not as dedicated to their jobs as you are and they will get promoted before you do. You will have qualifications that exceed others but they will get paid more than you for doing the same job. All these factors are normal in life and there is nowhere on earth where things will go according to our own predilection.

Consider the parable in Matthew 20 where the employer goes out in the morning to hire laborers in his vineyard. He agrees to pay them a penny for the day. The employer continues to hire others throughout the day: at the second hour, the third hour, and so forth even up until the 11th hour. When it was time to compensate his workers at the 12th hour, he gave the 11th hour laborers a penny for one hour's worth of work. Those who had been working longer in the day were paid afterward and they also each received a penny. The laborers who worked longer complained that they should have received more money because they did more work. However, the employer reminded the workers who were hired in the first hour of the day that they agreed to work for one penny. Is the employer fair? Yes.

It is difficult for us to see that the employer did no wrong but when you agree to a job for a certain price, you cannot be upset if you find out someone else is making the same (or more) than you are for the same work. Regardless of which position you are in, whether you are entry level, mid-level, or senior executive, there will always be others who you feel should not be paid more than you are. This is a reality in life you will face regardless of who your boss is and regardless of the company for which you are employed. When you are hired to do a job for a certain price, if you think the wage is fair, you must not focus on what some other person is being compensated.

In John 21, Peter was very curious as to what would happen to his fellow disciple, John. He asks Jesus. "What's going to happen to John?" Jesus replied in a dismissive manner, "What is that to you? Just make sure you follow me." Our focus should not be on other people's affairs. Lots of things in life are beyond our control. We cannot control who gets paid more, who gets a higher promotion, and other such things but we can control making ourselves a better person today than we were yesterday. If other people are demonstrating positive skills, then be sure to emulate them. But beyond that, it is of no use to be overly concerned or upset concerning the affairs of others. Focus on your own career path and your own advancement.

There's no such thing as "that's not my job." Four of the most poisonous words that can ever be uttered on the job site is: "that's not my job." If something is not your job, and you have the ability to do it, you should ensure that it gets done. If someone is supposed to do the job, do not let the task fall by the wayside. Do your part to either inform the relevant party of something that needs to be done or elevate the issue to your superior; but there should be no reason to ever simply dismiss a task solely because it's someone else's responsibility. I've come across many people who have neglected simple professional courtesies of assisting, reminding, or communicating with a coworker a task that needs to be addressed, and it resulted in avoidable inefficiency.

In cases where no one else is formally assigned to do a task and your coworker or superior has asked that you do something, do not ever state that this objective is "outside" of your job description. Nothing is ever truly outside your job description. Your job is to do everything within your power so that your company becomes a well-run machine and maintain its status as such. Leaders embrace more responsibility instead of shunning them. You cannot expect to grow in knowledge and skill sets if you restrict yourself to a limited number of tasks that was written on your original job application. If you are adamant in rejecting extra responsibilities, then expect years of stagnancy in your career.

Hard work always results in career advancement. We live in an age where a lot of people constantly criticize the "system" and it is quite popular to be in this crowd, but the Bible could not be any more clear: if you work hard, you will succeed. Period. Proverbs 22:29 declares, "Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." Young men need to be "diligent" in their business; they need to be quick, ready, and skillful in all that they do. An employer should never have a reason to criticize your work ethic. Neither should he have any reason to have to remind you of something he requested of you. It is your duty to continually prove your employer wrong whenever he is in doubt of your talents and commitment to service.

Obstacles in life will never permanently keep a hardworking man down from rising to a position of prominence. Consider the story of Joseph in Genesis who was falsely accused of committing a crime and wrongfully placed in prison. He didn't despair or become lazy; he did not whine or bemoan other opportunities that were denied him. Instead we read in Genesis 39:21-23 that he quickly became a supervisor within the prison. In fact, he became so trustworthy that the manager of the prison did not have to second-guess anything that involved Joseph. He gained a position of authority even when he was in the midst of unfortunate circumstances.

As the story progresses, Joseph continued to experience setbacks and he had to exhibit considerable patience as he remained in prison. But his time finally came where he was not only released from prison, but he gained favor with Pharaoh, and he advanced to become second in charge of the entire Egyptian nation. Such stories ought to be an encouragement to anyone who feels as if they have been dealt a bad deck of cards. You do the best with the hand that was dealt to you and you will overcome.

As you demonstrate a good work ethic and as you gain more trust and responsibilities, you will eventually get paid more. You may start off with minimum wage but you will not remain there forever--though it may oftentimes seem that way. With more education, more qualifications, and more experience, your salary will increase. Your salary may not go as high as you want and it may not increase as rapidly as you desire, but it will gradually grow as you grow professionally as well. Nonetheless, gaining money is only part of the battle. Next we will see what you can do to preserve it.

FRUGAL LIVING

Live like a pauper. This is indeed an arduous concept for people to follow. Other than my dad, I cannot think of many people within my circle who truly follow this rule. If you want to see the money you've worked for, you need to live like you are much poorer than you actually are. Never ever spend $1 on anything unless you absolutely need to. What exactly is a "need"? If you can live without it, you do not need it. If you can postpone buying it until you have more money, you do not need it. Try to categorize things in life that are a necessity versus things that should just go on your wish list. I contend that the vast majority of so-called "needs" that most people have are in fact wants.

Trick yourself into thinking you make less money than you do. If you make $1,000 per week, pretend you only make $975. Once you are able to do that, pretend as if you only made $950. Once you do that, pretend you only make $900. Keep repeating this cycle until you cannot possibly go any lower. The money you spend, especially if you have a low income, should only go to bills that you must pay for the month. This means no luxuries, no entertainment, and no buying things to make you feel better about yourself.

Track down every single item you spend money on daily. Only you can determine where your money goes. Just about everyone I know is completely shocked at the amount of money they waste monthly after I've told them to simply track their spending habits for 30 days. Most people casually and easily spend more than $50,000/year--not including rent and utilities. If your spending habits are tantamount to your income (or worse, more than your income), there is obviously a huge problem here. Get into the habit of recording your expenses and keeping a spreadsheet to add up the totals. When the month is over, highlight some items you bought that you could have done without or spent less on. Repeat the process for the second month and this time try to spend lower than you did before. Do this month after month. It may seem tedious but if you make this a part of your daily or weekly routine, it will not be as burdensome as you think.

Live at home and delay moving out as much as you can. I lived at home throughout my young adulthood. I had a decent paying job by the time I graduated college but I felt it necessary to build up my savings before making the decision to be on my own. Even though a lot of young people may yearn to be on their own, I learned how to carve out my own freedom and independence under the roof of my parents as I stashed my money away. There is nowhere anywhere wherein rent is cheaper than living at home. If you dislike living with your parents or family, find things to do outside the home and limit your time indoors. While every man ought to have his own place, this is a decision that should not be entered into impetuously.

In my opinion, a young man ought to move out of home when these four bare minimum factors are satisfied: 1) you have held a job for at least 1 year, 2) the income from that job is sufficient for you to pay your necessary monthly bills, 3) you have at least $100 left over after paying your monthly bills, 4) you have saved at least 6 months worth of rent, utilities, and grocery money.

Do not attend any college that is not fully covered by your financial aid package. This is where I receive the most contention but no one has yet to prove me wrong. The name on your college degree means absolutely nothing in 99.9% of cases. The idea that an employer is concerned about where you went to school is a myth and all it does is inflate the pockets of those who run these overrated institutions. I worked for an organization that recruited for hundreds of businesses throughout NYC and not one time ever has any employer indicated that they preferred a graduate of a certain college. I have also worked side by side making similar money--and in some cases more money than those who attended much more prestigious colleges than I did.

The idea that anyone wants to be 30, 40, 50 or even older, and paying off college tuition fees from a lifetime ago is absolutely preposterous. No college anywhere is worth that. In any college, you have engaging professors and you have boring professors. There is no correlation between the price of a college and the "quality" (whatever that means) of your education. If there is anything you need to pay attention to, it's the type of college major you are pursuing rather than the name of the college that is offering it.

Your financial aid package must cover the tuition in full and should have enough left over to pay for bills separate from tuition, such as books, fees, etc. Loans should not be calculated in your financial aid package. Do not ever for one second believe the money you receive from a loan is actually yours. It is not. What if all your friends are going to a more expensive college? What if you're the only one left behind? So be it. You may have to go to a community college on your own if that is the cheapest option and there is no shame in this. Compare your financial situation 10 years from now and you will see who made the better decision.

What if you're not eligible for financial aid? Then I suggest you take classes part-time and pay for tuition out of pocket. It will take longer and you may feel upset seeing your friends graduate long before you, but in the long run, this will not bother you. Even if it means you have to do just one or two classes a semester, do as many or as little classes as you can afford. Both my mother and stepfather paid for their undergraduate and graduate classes out of pocket. They have never had the burden of having to pay back any college loans. It takes a lot of effort and sacrifice but it is achievable. Even if it means you can't finish your 2-year degree until you're 35 when your friends already finished college a decade earlier, you make sure you finish your 2-year degree and finish it debt-free.

Get rid of unnecessary luxuries that come with a monthly bill. People spend money on cable, extra features on their phone, music, and other such unnecessary things when there are cheaper, if not altogether, free alternatives. There is no need for a home phone when you have a cell phone. There is no need to pay more than $100/month for a phone when you can have service for half the price. If you want to watch TV, there are tons of free streaming services where you can watch almost any show or movie online. There are free ways to download or stream music as well. In this age where you can use Google to find just about anything, there is no need to spend money where there are free resources available.

Stop eating out. Eating out is so common that there are actual apartments with no kitchen. I once complained to a real estate broker that I need a kitchen in my apartment and he thought it was weird that a young man wants to cook his own meals. It may cost $10 for one meal, or if you have an appetite like I do, twice as much as that. With that same $10-20, you could have bought several pounds of meat to cook that can last you for the week. Shopping for grocery beats eating at restaurants every single time. You will be amazed at the money you save by cooking your own food (preferably from scratch) and packing your own meals as opposed to eating out. Not only are you saving your wallet but you will be much healthier as well.

Compare prices. Do you need to pay $100-200/month for health insurance when there are plans that are $0/month? Do you need to have life insurance when you don't have any kids? Do you need to buy a famous name brand item when there is a cheaper brand on sale? Do you need a $1,000 phone when a $250 phone has the same features and functions? Do you need comprehensive insurance on your 15-year old car instead of settling for liability coverage? Do you need to spend $100 on a new textbook when you can buy a used one for $50? Avoid buying things that are not absolutely necessary and spend as little money as you can for things that you think you do need to get. And remember, just because an item's price has been slashed does not mean you are saving anything--you are still spending money if you buy it. If a technological gadget costs $100 and it's on sale for $75, you did not "save" $25--you still lost $75 by choosing to buy it.

Stop buying clothes. Clothes last a long time, especially jeans. I have outfits to this day I used to wear back in high school. As adults, the idea of keeping up with the latest fashion trends is quite silly. Wear flip flops and t-shirt if you have to. Only misguided teenagers pay attention to expensive clothing and the latest fads. They are unnecessary. You only need a few items for a formal setting and a few for casual setting. Wear them over and over until you can't wear them anymore. Do not buy clothes just for the sake of buying. My dad has acid-washed jeans form the 1980s that he wears to this day. If I were alive in the 70s and had a good pair of bell bottoms, I would still be wearing them today. Actually, I wouldn't, but the point is, clothes are not that important that you need to keep buying them often. Try to go a year (or longer) without having to buy any new clothes. It still befuddles me to see young men spend well over $100 on sneakers and more disconcerting to see young men build up a collection of these when they don't even have a suit to wear at a job interview.

Avoid spending much time with those who don't appreciate the value of money. Most people don't encourage you to preserve your money. How easily have you blown $100+ going out with friends and family for entertainment? Find things to do that cost no money. There are lots of beaches, parks, and other activities that you can find to take part in that come with little or no monetary cost. I am not saying you should never do anything fun or leisurely, but consider the money you are spending monthly and yearly on entertainment. There should be a limited amount of time when you are spending big money and there ought to be many consecutive months where little to no money is spent at all on these things.

Only use your credit card as a substitute for cash and pay the entire monthly bill. If you are going to use credit cards, pay them off immediately. Treat them as a substitute for money that you already have. If you only have $50 and you are using your card, avoid buying something more than $50. Do not treat your credit card as free money or as a loan. If you do not currently have the money, do not use the card at all. Furthermore, it is a myth that you can only build credit by allowing some interest to accumulate. My credit score was already 700+ after paying my credit card bills in full back in my late teens.

Don't have kids until you're financially stable. You would think this is a no-brainer but tons of people have kids when they can't even afford to pay their own bills. If you cannot pay your own bills, how can you possibly provide for a family? Tons of young people have found themselves in undue financial hardships because of the decisions that their parents made. You can stop that cycle by not following the trend of having children of your own out of wedlock and not having children when you and your spouse are not financially stable. According to some reports, it costs about $250,000 for a middle class home to raise one child until they are 18 years old--and we are not even considering the expenses that come afterward. Proverbs 24:27 says, "Prepare thy work without, make it fit for thyself within the field, and afterwards build thine house." In other words, as a young man, you need to focus on preparing for your career, work on excelling within your career, and once that is done, then you may focus on building your household. Building a family should be the last thing on your to-do list.

Use public transportation until you can afford a vehicle. Using public transportation or riding a bicycle beats buying and maintaining a vehicle every time. I did not get my first car as soon as I wanted. In fact, I used to envy other young people my age who already had their own car and I always wondered when I would have my own. But waiting until I could afford my own car was a great decision. And cars, especially used cars, come with a lot of hidden costs. Until you have enough money to buy a car (with cash), pay for monthly gas, and pay for repairs, stick to public transportation, riding a bicycle, walking and other cheaper options. Be patient and follow all the advice I've been giving you and you will someday be able to afford a new car with your own money.

Pick an industry/career path to work in and stick to it. Ever notice how those higher paying jobs require multiple years of experience? Those jobs are for people who have remained in a particular industry or field for an extensive time. If you are bouncing around college majors and aimlessly job-hopping, you are going to end up making tons of lateral moves. Most people I know have been moving sideways throughout their entire careers rather than upward. Whatever your industry is, even if you don't have your dream job, stick to it, and try to grow in it. Do not keep starting over because of boredom or dissatisfaction with particular coworker or boss or workplace. You will come across this no matter what your college major or career is. I cannot emphasize enough that slow and steady always wins the race. No matter what your job is, if you strive to do it better year after year, you will make more money in the long run than someone who haphazardly makes radical shifts in the type of job they are doing.

Don't let your living standards rise with your income. How can a lottery winner end up broke? How can someone like Mike Tyson, who once had a $300 million fortune, squander it all? How are so many once affluent athletes and celebrities in the poor house? All of them made the same error: they allowed their living standards to rise too much. In life, you will have seasons of plenty and seasons of famine. Never ever assume that if you are making a lot of money now that you will always be making money. You may get fired or laid off. You may get a pay cut. You may end up getting another job that pays you less. You may end up the victim of some tragic incident that costs you a lot of money. But all of these problems can be curtailed to a great extent if you keep your living standards low.

You cannot allow your living standards to rise too much. Imagine you are currently living in a studio apartment which costs $1,250/month and you currently make $40,000/year. Let's say you get a pay raise and you now make $50,000/year. With the extra $10,000/year, should you try to get a nicer $2,000/month apartment? No. Keep the studio as long as you can. When your living standards rise too fast, you will not see the extra money you are making or saving. A lot of your pay increase is going to taxes anyway. Your living standards should be kept the same or it should rise an inconsequential amount, but avoid the temptation of quickly getting bigger, nicer things because you are fortunate to get a pay raise.

Diversify your accounts. Ecclesiastes 11:2 implores us to "give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth." Start out with one account. Keep it above the required minimum balance. If you have a checking account where the minimum balance is $1,500, keep at least $2,000 in it all times. Afterward, open another account. Slowly and gradually try to put money in it as you earn more. Let's say you have a goal to save $5,000, or $2,500, or even less--open a new account whenever you have reached your benchmark. You should aim to have several savings accounts and CDs (certificates of deposits) as you earn more money. However, you should only withdraw from your original checking account. Don't pay attention to other accounts other than simply adding money to them. As far as you are concerned, you are only withdrawing money from your original $2,000 account. Your goal is to never go below that number at any given time.

There are various options such as IRAs, tax-deferred annuities, etc. where you can have money deducted from your account before taxes are taken out. The younger you are, the more of this money should be deducted. You should try to max out the amount of money you can contribute to these plans. As you get older and have more responsibilities, then you can lower your contribution rates. When I was 21 years old and still living at home, I obtained a job which offered a plan which allowed me to contribute up to $16,500/year with 8.25% fixed interest. My paychecks were substantially smaller but it forced me to save. Within my first year of teaching, I put away nearly $18,000 and this is not counting the remainder of my paycheck that I saved. Of course many employers do not offer such plans, but the point is: get into the habit of storing away money for later instead of spending it today. Your teenage years through your late-20s ought to be a time of tremendous savings and growth. In a separate article, I will get into the specifics of the stock market and similar mechanisms to intended to potentially increase your wealth.

Limit your big expenses. If this is a year you plan to take an international trip to an exotic place, let that be your only big expense for the entire year. For the other eleven months of the year, you make sure you are not spending anything outside your regular budget. You should not be making substantial purchases one after the other within the same year. You have to make a decision on what it is you are going to be spending your hard-earned money on. Do you want your own place? Do you want a car? Do you want to travel? Whatever it is you want to splurge on, do not do all these things within the same calendar year. It is difficult to save money and extremely easy to see it disappear. Proverbs 23:5 soberly reminds us that our riches can fly away at any time like an eagle flies toward heaven. If you can only save $100/month, then that means if you spend $1,200 on something, your entire year of savings has gone down the drain in just one purchase. Limit the big expenses as much as possible. In fact, I would urge you to go years not making any big purchases at all.

Your girlfriend/wife must share your financial values. Do not join yourself with anyone who is attracted to you because of your money or possessions. Any relationship based on materialism is superficial at best and it is doomed to fail. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to build wealth but it takes nothing to lose it all in an instant. Being in a relationship where you constantly have to spend money is equivalent to trying to fill up a bottle with lot of holes already poked inside. It is good to give gifts to show love and appreciation but material things, especially expensive things, ought not to be the bond that holds two people together.

Money itself is not the root of all evil but the love of money is (I Timothy 6:10). Every young man ought to overcome materialism and he needs someone who can support him in this journey. If you value hard work, then your significant other must be of the same mindset. We read in Proverbs 31 that the price of a virtuous woman is far above rubies. She is someone who is diligent and gives to the poor. She spends her time being productive. She is someone who has a good reputation. This the type of woman you should be with so that you both can strengthen each other.

Focus on your net profits, not your revenue. A lot of people are misled by big numbers. A man who makes $500,000/year but has a debt of $1 million is not more financially secure than a debt-free man who makes $50,000/year. If you think it only takes 2 years to pay off a $1 million dollar debt, then you too have become a victim of being misled by big numbers. If you have a $50k college loan, will you pay it off in one year if you have a $50k salary? Don't be deceived. Lots of high players have high debt.

There have been blockbuster multi-million dollar deals, mergers, and class action suits but how much money did each individual involved get? It's not the size of the overall pie, it's the size of your piece. Lot of companies "make" a lot of money but their margins are razor thin. It's the net profit margin that matters. Horizon Lines, which has now become delisted from the stock market, had a market cap of $105 million and offered a 5.5% dividend yield. But it had $516 million debt. Often times we focus on the top line instead of the bottom line. Imagine a small company of 50 people who spent a total of $100,000 dollars to make a movie and it grossed $500,000 worldwide. Now imagine a company of 10,000 people who received numerous awards for producing a movie which grossed $10 million worldwide, but they spent only $1 million to make the movie. Which of the two companies do you think is more successful? Who received a bigger return on their investment? Don't be mesmerized by big top line numbers, focus on the bottom ones. Should you have your own company, treat your business with the same principles as you do with your personal finances.

Avoid showboating. It is natural for men to have egos and our egos become more so inflated with an increase in wealth. Which young man doesn't want to prove to the world how he overcame poverty and is now successful? Which young man doesn't want to impress his friends, women, and even his enemies, how much possessions he has been able to attain? Which young man doesn't consider himself a "self-made man" who overcame all the obstacles that life has thrown his way? Men who make it into the realm of professional sports, especially those from an impoverished upbringing, often resort to spending inordinate loads of cash as a proclamation that they are are now in the big leagues. With an increase in riches comes an increase in narcissism. This is a self-destructive behavior that needs to be thwarted as soon as possible.

No matter what you have, someone will have something better. No matter how much money you make, someone else will make more. No matter how high your status, someone else will have a higher status. A constant drive to overtly display your material wealth will rapidly eliminate the money that you have worked so tirelessly to attain. Live within your means and dispel yourself of the notion that others needs to see how much money you have.

There is no justification to be ostentatious even if you are doing something good. Remember the principle found in Matthew 6:3 that you should not let your left hand know what your right is doing. Even if you are doing a good deed that you think deserves attention, avoid the temptation to announce to the world the praises you have for yourself. Uplift others instead of uplifting yourself. Do your good deeds in secret. Let your financial status be your own business.

Don't count your chickens until the eggs are hatched. If you are unemployed and you have an interview for a job that will pay $500/week, don't start making purchases with money you don't even have yet. People do this all the time. They haven't yet received the job offer, they haven't yet received their pay increase, they haven't yet received that bonus they were expecting--yet they throw caution to the wind and pretend as if they already have that money. With the exception of very dire circumstances--such as trying to put a deposit on an apartment or else you'll be homeless--there is absolutely no need to make purchases before you physically have the money to pay for it. You may not get the bonus you anticipated. Your pay raise may be rescinded. You may not receive the job offer. Money that is due to us often gets delayed and sometimes it never makes its way to us at all. The habit of spending money in anticipation of earning more is a disastrous trait.

Expect a lot of resistance from others. Your biggest challenges to saving and increasing your wealth may come from those who are closest to you. And 9 out of 10 times, people who do not support your goal will be people who have less money than you do. People who do not work hard rarely appreciate the value of money. People who were born into riches rarely appreciate the diligence that earning money requires. People who cannot separate their flippant short-term desires from sensible long-term goals rarely can empathize with your desire to build your wealth. Everyone wants to make more money and everyone wants to have more commas in their bank account. But there are very few people who are actually consistently dedicated to making this wish a reality. Expect to be called cheap, expect to get into arguments, expect to be called boring, and expect to receive all sorts of undue criticism for trying to live a frugal life. I guarantee you that just about everyone who tries to inhibit your progress in living a thrifty life are those who badly mismanage their own funds. Do not sink to their level. Raise them up to yours.

GIVE LIBERALLY

Tithe your income. I just spent an entire article explaining how to hold on to every single penny you have and now I'm telling you to give it away? Yes. The first recorded instance of tithing--that is, giving 1/10th of your income, is found in Genesis 28:22 where Jacob promised to give back a tenth of all that he had to God. You will find that 90% of your income which is blessed by God will go further than 100% of it which is not blessed. Treat your tithe as a mandatory expense that is taken out your paycheck just as taxes are. There is only one time in the Bible where God commands us to "prove Him" and it is in Malachi 3:10 where He commands us to return our tithe to him. If you faithfully tithe, your financial situation will work out in such a way that your bills will still be covered even after you have put away at least 10%. It may seem painful as first but once you make it a habit, you will never think twice about having to deduct your tithing expense.

Give away your money. And do it often. Microscopic cells only multiply when they divide themselves first. The Dead Sea is so called because it supports no life. Interestingly, the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea and nothing flows out of it. Anyone who hordes their money and refuses to give to others will inevitably find themselves in financial ruin.

Proverbs 11:25 tells us that the liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be also watered himself. I cannot quite explain it but God has designed this world in such a way that, the more you give is the more that is given to you. When Jesus had to feed more than 5,000 people, a little boy offered up his 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The boy gave over his meal to Jesus, who then blessed it, and everyone in the crowd got fed--including the little boy himself. Somehow, some way, it is not possible to go broke by being charitable to others.

Did you also know it is possible to give God a "loan"? Wait a second. If we believe in God, we believe He is creator and owner of everything, so how can we possibly "give" to Him? In Proverbs 19:17, we read, "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." Whenever we do something for the poor and needy, we are essentially doing a service to God Himself. And if we believe God is true to His Word, wouldn't you like to be a position to be repaid by Him? God has a way of multiplying blessings that He has in store for us.

Give your money to meaningful causes. Proverbs 22:16 warns us that if you give your money to people who already have money, you yourself will end up broke. While the Bible encourages us to give, you still have to be logical and systematic to that which you're devoting your money. Your friends who are always coming up with some hair-brained scheme to become rich overnight, or your friends who desire money from you but refuse to pursue job opportunities--these are but a few examples in which there is no blessing in you giving your money away. Should you choose to lend or give your money to someone else, ensure that that there is a noble purpose involved.

CONCLUSION

Follow these steps as much as you can and I guarantee you will never have any serious long-term financial worries. It takes a lot of practice but once you reformulate your views on personal spending, you will be content with things you have, you will be able to put your money to good use, and you will avert the financial woes in which so many others find themselves.