FINANCE AND HEALTH

When thinking about making money, most people do not consciously consider their health to be a part of a sound financial plan. If you lack the capacity to be productive, then your financial well being will suffer accordingly. Most people do not practice preventative maintenance. They do nothing for their health and when their bodies finally give out, then they make a decision to do something about their health. When it gets to this point, it may be too late.

The principle of frugality teaches a person to use foresight. Foresight is thinking ahead of the future consequences of actions taken today. Most people think that having health insurance will keep them healthy. Health insurance should be renamed to what it is doctor and hospital insurance. People who are sick go to the doctor and hospitals, not the healthy. This is the same thing the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 9:12, "But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

It is wise to have an exercise program and to maintain a healthy weight. The way that our weight works is based upon calories. If you consume more calories than you expend or use, then those excess calories remain in the body and will add to your weight. There are so many different diets that emphasize such things as low fat, low carbohydrate, the milk diet, the grapefruit diet etc. All these diets end up in failure because just eating one food gets monotonous.
God put into food what your body requires protein, carbohydrates, and fat. The key is not to over consume. Once again, it gets back to temperance or self control. In general, we should only consume enough food to keep our body running optimally. This does not mean that we cannot enjoy a treat or snack. Eating food should be an enjoyable event. Watching your calories requires preplanning. It is being aware of how many calories you are consuming on a daily basis. If you want to lose weight, you will have to run a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is where you use more calories than you take in. Once you get to your desired weight, then you simply run calorie equilibrium.

"CDC: Tennessee ranks third among obese states" was a recent Associated Press Article. This article had the following quote, "In today’s America, poor people tend to be obese: The cheapest foods tend to be calorie-heavy, and stores offering healthier, and more expensive food choices are not often found in poor neighborhoods, she said." In this quote, we seek linked together obesity and poverty. This is because of the eating of calorie-heavy foods. These people must be unaware of the detrimental health consequences of eating excess calories.

Being obese has a physical drain on one’s drive. It makes one lethargic and unproductive. The obese are not known for their physical prowess. They are trapped by the law of cause and effect. Their obesity causes a lack of health which translates to a lack of productivity which translates to a lack of finances which leads to poor nutritional choices. They are lethargic because when you consume too many calories, it has the same effect on the body as being drunk. Consuming too many calories is food drunkenness.

This newspaper article confirms what the Bible has said about continuous excess calorie consumption in Proverbs 23:21, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." Excessive calorie intake is gluttonous. The result is lethargy which will result in a man being in financial ruin. There is no way around the law of cause and effect.

The lesson to be learned here, is that if you want to be wealthy, you will have to watch your calorie intake. Health and wealth are closely related. It is hard to separate the two from each other. As with all facets of life, the successful have this one main characteristic of self control. They have mastered themselves and will allow nothing to master them. This requires what the obese lack, self discipline or self government.

FINANCIAL FAILURE

There are many ways to learn a lesson but for some reason man learns best utilizing the method known as trial and error. No matter how much wisdom is imparted to an individual, he feels the need to test things out for himself. This means that mistakes will be made and there is the real possibility of financial failure along the way. Financial failure can sometimes be our best friend rather than an enemy.

We are living in a day and age when failure is not allowed. If there is some kind of competition, there are no winners. Everyone gets a medal for participating. What this does at a psychological level is to teach that there is no difference between excellence and mediocrity. Everyone a winner and no one a loser. The important thing is not to reward excellence and ability but to penalize those who do well for doing well.

The world of reality separates the competent from the incompetent. This is a good thing because someone that is not qualified to a job can move to another for which he will be more qualified. If he is allowed to demonstrate his incompetence, he is forced to either upgrade his skills to become competent or find another line of work. In other words, he is allowed to fail that he might learn to succeed.

By failing, he will learn what went wrong originally and then he can make the necessary adjustments that will ensure future success but he must be allowed to fail. Some think that failure is a bad thing. It is if you do not try to succeed but you will fail all the way to success, if you do not give up. However, our government system will not allow anyone to fail financially. They bail out the incompetent who have failed in business thus ensuring that the financially incompetent will continue to squander scarce resources. These businesses are not allowed to fail and thus they will not be forced to make the necessary adjustments that will result in financial success.

When you know that there are no repercussions for failing financially, you will not take the necessary precautions. When you know that the government i.e. taxpayers will bail you out no matter what you do, you will spend money as if there is no end in sight. You will throw caution to the wind. When your money is on the line and you know that no one is going to bail you out should you fail, you will be cautious in your spending and business practices.

Many big corporations know that the government will bail them out should they go bankrupt. This sends the wrong message to businesses. They will not alter their behavior unless they know that the market will bring financial sanctions against them for their reckless business practices. The government is not alone to blame in these bail out schemes. Businesses needs to get their financial houses in order. They must be allowed to fail no matter how big they are and how painful it is. Failure is the key to success.

SPENDING MONEY EVERYWHERE

Spending money for most people is an emotional experience. I was reading a book about financial management and the author said that spending money was emotional. When I realized this, I made a determination to view money logically rather than emotionally. This meant that I could get serious about paying off my debts. It was not to much longer after this realization that my debts were paid in full and I was debt free!

This is the key to money management, taking the emotion out of it. This is also a form of self discipline. Being self disciplined requires doing the right thing, not the emotional one. This is where most people get into financial trouble is that they use money as an emotional release. Spending money makes them feel better about themselves. They have not learned yet that self esteem comes from within, not from without.

The opposite of being frugal is being a spendthrift. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines spendthrift as, "One who spends money profusely or improvidently; a prodigal..." To spend money improvidently shows a lack of foresight which means not having a plan. Spendthrifts do not have budgets. As soon as they get any money, it burns a hole in their pocket and they have to spend it immediately. A spendthrift is a person who is spiritually out of balance.

The prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32 is an example of the results of a spendthrift. Luke 15:13-14 reads, "And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want." The prodigal son had no concern for the future. His motto was eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow, we die. He never thought about that tomorrow he may still be alive and then what was he going to do? As with all spendthrifts, he was in want or poverty.

Probably one of the worst things a spendthrift can do is to go outside his home. Wherever he goes, he feels as though he has to spend money whether he needs anything or not. Since, he has no budget, he will not know where his money is going. He probably will spend money that he has not earned yet and then he will complain that he does not know why he is having financial troubles. A spendthrift needs to spend more time at home. This will prevent him from spending money needlessly.

The frugal are financially self disciplined. They have a budget and a financial plan. They can go into a store and look and not buy anything. The frugal will many times shop ahead. In other words, they will go to a store to gather information about future purchases. I did this recently by going to a sporting good’s store and looking at some running clothes. I made a mental note of the prices and left the store without buying anything. I was not under any compulsion to buy anything just because I was in a store. Unfortunately for the spendthrift, he lacks the self discipline to do likewise.

KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS

Accurate information is a valuable commodity. Without it we are going to make many unnecessary mistakes. The key to mistakes is not that you are not going to make any, it is what you do about your mistakes. Do you learn from them or do you continuously make them over and over again? Mistakes are made because we lack omniscience. Realizing this, we should seek out sources of accurate information.

It is truly amazing to go into a store or a coffee shop and witness a customer has making a purchase and the cashier will ask the customer if he wants his receipt, (shouldn’t the cashier automatically give the customer the receipt and allow the customer to make the decision whether to keep it or not?), and horrors of horrors, the customer says no. This probably means that the customer does not keep track of his purchases and ultimately, what he spends his money on.

What is a receipt? A receipt is an accurate record of purchases made at a particular establishment. The receipt is designed to give the customer the information needed to accurately record his purchases in categories on his income statement. An income statement is a statement that shows income and expenditures. The difference between income and expenditures results in either net income or net loss.

The question becomes how can someone know whether they have net income or net loss if they do not record their purchases from their receipts? The receipt is important because by recording it you can see where you spend your money. You can make adjustments in your spending habits that will help you keep your budget. Recording transactions is essential to financial well being. Without this necessary information, you will potentially overspend.

Accounting information is accurate information. It allows you to know what your financial situation is at any given point in time. A receipt is accounting information and therefore accurate. Your bank and credit card companies are keeping track and making the necessary adjustments to your account whether you do or not. Errors can be made by banks and credit card companies. Without your receipt, you cannot prove anything that might be in your favor and you are stuck with the error.

A receipt also demonstrates ownership. It is a transfer of goods from a business to an individual. It therefore establishes property rights. When I purchase something at a business, it is mine. Without a receipt, you cannot prove that you own the property. If you try and return it to a store without a receipt, they may think that you stole it and are trying to get something for nothing. It makes the process easier when returning merchandise. If you have accurate information, then the store can act appropriately.

The next time the cashier asks you if you want your receipt, emphatically say; yes, I am a frugal accountant and frugal accountants keep their receipts because they like accurate information and establishing property rights.