3 Tips for Tackling the Tough Topic of Money

If talking about money is a fight waiting to happen for some couples, we can?t imagine how tough it might be to broach that same subject with your congregation. That?s because you?re not dealing with one individual?you?re facing tons of unique personalities and backgrounds. Talking about money is bound to excite all kinds of emotions.

It?s no wonder many pastors shy away from it altogether?an unfortunate conclusion.

You see, money has the potential to be our greatest blessing or our greatest curse. The church is looking to you for guidance. Just like talking to teens about sex or a loved one about a dangerous habit, your willingness to tackle the topic of money ultimately results in huge benefits for your congregation.

Of course, that doesn?t make it any easier. We?ve provided a few tips below to help you get started.

Acknowledge discomfort right away.

Have you ever sat through a meeting or family dinner where tensions are high but everyone acts like everything?s normal? Those are some uncomfortable moments! Often times, simply stating the obvious puts others at ease. The next time you?re bringing a message on money?whether it is through a sermon or during the offering?go ahead and say what?s on your congregation?s mind.

This might sound something like, ?Guys, I know money is a touchy subject. We all come at it from different backgrounds and viewpoints. The great thing is God has a lot to say about how we handle money. If we focus on what He says?instead of what our world thinks?we might be able to learn something new and grow in the process.?

Talk about yourself.

One of the reasons people hate hearing about money is because it?s so personal. As a pastor, your vulnerability in other areas of life no doubt encourages your church to open up their minds and hearts to what you teach. Money is no different.

So be brave. It might feel awkward at first, but push yourself to share your own story when it comes to money. Don?t worry, we?re not talking specifics. There?s no need for anyone to know how much your car cost or what you put in the offering plate last week. But you can be honest about your own struggles or successes with tithing and giving. Talk about the fact that your money is really God?s to begin with?that He owns it all. It?s this perspective from you that will help your church depersonalize the subject of money

Remember that money is only one part of a generous lifestyle.

Matthew 25:35?36 says, ?For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.?

When Jesus talks about what we can do for the least among us, He doesn?t just mention money. Isn?t that awesome? We are able to make a difference with what we have?time, treasure and talents. Encourage your congregation to pay their tithes, yes, and to give above the tithe once they are out of debt. But also remind them that generous giving doesn?t start and end with money. We give out of what we have.

As Dave teaches in Financial Peace University (FPU), it doesn?t matter if we sit in a corner office or clean a corner office?we?re called to manage our resources for God?s glory. Take a bold step today toward making the topic of money a welcome point of discussion in your church.

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Source: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/3-tips-for-tackling-the-tough-topic-of-money/lifeandmoney_church

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Yet Another Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded Off The Coast Of Mexico

We can’t help but feel the pull of deja vu ? yet another Carnival cruise ship has been set adrift after a fire in the engine room, a scant  year or so after a similar incident. The Carnival Triumph is currently floating off the coast of Mexico as it waits for a tug boat to arrive and pull it … [More]

Source: http://consumerist.com/2013/02/11/yet-another-carnival-cruise-ship-stranded-off-the-coast-of-mexico/

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'Sneaker Tax' Eyed as Answer to an Illinois Nonprofit's Problems

--> Sneaker TaxAn Illinois state representative has proposed levying a special tax on all sales of athletic shoes in the state, with revenue from the tax going to fund youth programs.

House Bill 978, the Athletic Shoe Retailer Tax Act, was introduced on Jan. 28 by Rep. William Davis and would impose a 25-cent tax on every pair of sneakers sold in the state after July 1. All proceeds would go to Illinois YouthBuild, a nonprofit that provides job training for disadvantaged youth. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that budget constraints have led the state to cease funding the nonprofit for the last three years. Davis says the sneaker tax would bring in $3 million a year for the organization.

The full text of the bill affirms that the sneaker tax is limited to athletic shoes only, which it defines as "a shoe designed primarily for sports or other forms of physical activity, and includes, without limitation, shoes designed for running, walking, basketball, baseball, football, tennis, or soccer."

While new taxes always raise some hackles, there hasn't been much backlash against the proposal thus far. Product-specific taxes often take the form of "sin taxes," targeting vices like smoking and alcohol-use in an attempt to both raise revenue and reduce those behaviors, but the sneaker tax certainly isn't aimed at reducing sales or stopping kids from playing sports. And at just 25 cents a pair, the tax is unlikely to be a real burden to Illinois consumers. Even if retailers pass along the entire cost of the sneaker tax to their customers, it's hard to imagine anyone spending $160 on a pair of Nike Air Jordans sweating an extra 25 cents on the receipt.

And while the Illinois Retail Merchants Association expressed opposition to the bill when contacted by the Sun-Times, thew fact that it steers revenue to youth programs means that it has some built-in support from parents who might otherwise balk at being taxed on their kids' soccer cleats. Local news site DNAinfo Chicago talked to several parents shopping at a Nike Outlet who said they were fine paying an extra quarter for shoes to assist disadvantaged young people.

"What's an extra 25 cents?" said one parent quoted by the site. "Paying more to buy gym shoes is not a problem for me, especially if the extra money would be used to finance youth programs."

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

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Source: http://dailyfinance.com/2013/02/11/sneaker-tax-illinois-nonprofit-at-risk-youth/

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ELON MUSK: 'I Guess We Were Pretty Dumb To Agree To An Article By This Guy' (TSLA)

elon muskTesla CEO Elon Musk is feuding with The New York Times.

The publication ran a review of the company's Model S sedan that claimed the car's battery life didn't last the length of his trip from Washington D.C. to New York, even though he did everything that Tesla advised to do.

Musk hit back, calling Times reporter John Broder's claims "fake." 

One of Musk's followers referred him to one of Broder's stories from March 2012 in which he downplayed the future of the electric car.

That riled Musk up even more.

Broder's article thrashed electric cars pretty badly.

"...the state of the electric car is dismal, the victim of hyped expectations, technological flops, high costs and a hostile political climate," wrote Broder.

SEE ALSO: How The Most Ambitious Auto Venture In A Century Nearly Collapsed And Then Came Back From The Dead >

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/wgTk32z1gTg/elon-musk-new-york-times-tesla-model-s-slams-broder-2013-2

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Watching Porn On A Smartphone Can Triple Your Chances Of Downloading Malware

Despite the ease of being entertained anywhere that comes with owning a smartphone, only about 1% of all mobile traffic is pornography ? after all, maybe you don’t want that grandmother next to you on the bus to see you watching. But a new study says that for those people who do indulge on their devices, they’re putting their phones … [More]

Source: http://consumerist.com/2013/02/11/watching-porn-on-a-smartphone-can-triple-your-chances-of-downloading-malware/

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Vladimir Putin Is Trying to Buy Up the World's Gold

Russia goldAccording to a new report from Bloomberg, Russia has become the world's biggest buyer of gold under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.

Over the last decade -- during which Putin was perennially in a position of power, serving as both president and prime minister -- Russia's Central Bank added 570 metric tons of gold, or about 1.25 million pounds. According to Bloomberg, that's about 25 percent more than China has added over the same time period. The report adds that the gold bullion acquired by the Central Bank weighs as much as three Statues of Liberty.

So what motivated the Russian president to become the real-life version of Bond villain Auric Goldfinger?

While the fictional criminal genius had a devious plot to enrich the value of his gold stockpile by irradiating the gold in Fort Knox, Russia needed no such villainy to make its gold more valuable: Over the past decade, economic forces have conspired to cause gold prices (GC) to increase by around 400%. Quantitative easing and economic uncertainty in the wake of the global downturn have fueled a gold rush by skittish investors, sending the price sky-high. And that's made Putin look like a genius for beginning the gold-buying policy in 2005.

One Russian lawmaker, Evgeny Fedorov, laid out the strategy in simple terms.

"The more gold a country has, the more sovereignty it will have if there's a cataclysm with the dollar, the euro, the pound or any other reserve currency," he said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

Despite Russia's gold binge, it's still far from the biggest owner of gold. The country's current stockpile of 958 tons is good for only eighth in the world; the U.S. ranks first with 8,134 tons of gold, more than twice as much as runner-up France.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.




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Source: http://dailyfinance.com/2013/02/11/russia-gold-buying-spree-vladimir-putin/

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Ben Bernanke Finally Hires an Asset Bubble Buster: Jeremy Stein

Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein (Getty Images)"What factors lead to overheating episodes in credit markets?"

This was one of the opening lines of a speech given Thursday at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis by Jeremy Stein, a Federal Reserve Governor brought on board just last year. And his talk may mark a sea change in how the Federal Reserve thinks about, approaches, and responds to asset bubbles.

Live and Let Pop

Not long ago, the Federal Reserve didn't feel it had any business trying to deflate asset bubbles -- those weapons of mass financial destruction that can wipe an economy out almost overnight, like America's real-estate bubble did in 2008. And this was the policy from America's central bank, one of the country's primary financial overseers.

In 2010, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke himself told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: "Monetary policy is a blunt tool. Raising the general level of interest rates to manage a single asset price would undoubtedly have had large side effects on other assets and sectors of the economy."

What that means in English is, even if the Fed spots, say, a housing bubble, it fears raising interest rates broadly (the only way to do it) because while raising interest rates would almost certainly deflate said bubble, it could also cool down other sectors of the economy that are humming along quite nicely in a safe, non-bubbly manner.

You Have to Start Somewhere

In his speech, Stein gave three factors he feels contribute to the overheating of credit markets, where asset booms are typically born:

1. Financial innovation, like the boom in complex investments such as derivatives and collateralized debt obligations that proved to be such ruinous contributors to the 2008 crash.

2. Changes in regulation, like we also saw in the lead-up to the crash, dating back decades, that allowed banks to take more and more risks until they were leveraged within inches of their financial lives.

3. Changes that alter "the risk-taking incentives of agents making credit decisions." Again, in English, this means if you pay, say, mortgage brokers to write subprime loans, they will do so without any regard for the eventual mayhem that might follow. Again, see the roaring 2000s.

All this still doesn't mean the Fed can or will step in to deflate or gently burst the next asset bubble (and there will be asset bubbles as long as there's capitalism). But you can tell that Stein gets it here. And for this potentially new direction in the Federal Reserve's thinking we can all be grateful. If nothing else, it's an encouraging start to a potentially less bubble-fraught future.


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Source: http://dailyfinance.com/2013/02/08/ben-bernanke-finally-hires-an-asset-bubble-buster-jeremy-stein/

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February Recall Roundup: The Heated Parka?s Revenge

In this month’s Recall Roundup, pots and pans collapse on themselves, kids need to keep away from some vitamins, and battery-operated electric parkas turn on their owners and give them too much of a good thing.

KITCHEN AND APPLIANCES
BlueStar Wall Ovens – fire hazard
Progressive International Canning Jar Lifters – laceration hazard
Hy Cite Enterprises Royal Prestige Thermal Wall [More]

Source: http://consumerist.com/2013/02/08/february-recall-roundup-the-heated-parkas-revenge/

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Enormous Tornado Barrels Through Hattiesburg, Mississippi [VIDEO]

There are various reports of damage in Mississippi tonight, due to a tornado.

On-the-ground pictures of damage remain scarce, but this video really drives home the size of the thing.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/z40N18nHS5A/hattiesburg-tornado-2013-2

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