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SPOT ME A TWENTY, HARRIET

Some people love it.

Some people hate it.

I lean toward the love it side. I think putting Harriet Tubman on a piece of currency is a good idea. 21currency-web2-popupI do feel a little, though, that by putting a black woman the Treasury is crossing off two minority groups with one choice.  Martin Luther King, Jr. is relegated to the back of the $5 bill. Think about it–the back of the bill.  Somehow that is wrong. I don’t see any Asians, Native Americans, or Latinos on the currency. How cool would it be to put Quanah Parker on a $50?

I also don’t like replacing Jackson on the $20. The hero of New Orleans shouldn’t be eliminated that quickly. A better solution might be to add new bills. We need a $15 bill.  We need a $25 bill too. I also think we could use a $7 bill. I say leave the older notes alone and instead make new ones, then phase out coins. It is coins we really don’t need.

I don’t know why we can’t use multiple images for dollar amounts. For example, the $100 note could have some with Franklin, the traditional note, but then some printings that have Martin Luther King, Jr., then others with Quanah Parker.  Right? Why do we have to choose one, and only one?

I’ve made a list of people I’d like to see on money, in no particular order.

  1. Anne Hutchinson
  2. Humphrey Bogart
  3. Leonard Nimoy
  4. MLK (on front, alone)
  5. Ronald Reagan
  6. Jackie Robinson
  7. Isaac Asimov/Ray Bradbury
  8. Sacajawea
  9. Sam Houston/Davey Crockett
  10. Christa McAuliffe
  11. Luke Skywalker

And while I’m at it, stop messing around with the colors–and I mean stop adding more color and more flourish. The greenback is less and less green every day. U.S. currency is beginning to look like monopoly money. Let’s just hope it doesn’t share the same value as monopoly money.

I’m curious, who would you like to see on money?

 

 

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ADVICE ON MONEY

Money, it’s a gas–Pink Floyd

I ran way too long on the blogs regarding marriage advice and advice on raising children, so I’ll make that up by keeping this one pretty short and simple.  I only have six simple pieces of advice regarding money.  They are important, but simple.

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A Penny Saved is A Penny YOU GET TO KEEP!

1.  Eat at home.  Most people who are in financial trouble spend too much of their monthly income at fast food restaurants.  Learn to cook at home, from scratch, with better and cheaper ingredients.  It costs the average family of 4 about $25 or more to eat at a fast food restaurant.  For about $10 I can cook that family of 4 a delicious meal and have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.  Besides, homemade always tastes better anyway.

2.  Get this through your skull–the BANK is not your friend.  Your bank exists to make money off of people like you and it does so by exploiting your bad habits and your impatience.  Credit card commercials are funny.  The interest they charge and the pain they dole out is not funny.  Learn the difference.

3.  Give money away.  Until you show money who is the boss, it will demand to be the boss.  The only way to show money that you are the boss is prove you don’t need the money, so give it away.  I advocate for 10% tithe to a local church as as starter, but give away more than that.  If you don’t believe in tithing or have an aversion to church (we should talk maybe, if you do) then I suggest giving it way to someplace else like a veterans organization or the American Cancer Society or any charitable organization you agree with.  What you will find is that not only does it feel good, it gives you spiritual and emotional control of your money.

4.  Be thrifty.  Most of the things in life we need can be bought cheaper than new.  Cars, books, tools and clothes are the big ticket items, but there are more things like cookware or furniture.  I think God smiles upon the thrifty because it demonstrates responsibility and humility and he really digs both of those attributes.  Thrifty is not just shopping for a used car or buying books at the used book store, it is about eating leftovers for lunch, turning off lights, and not indulging in things you don’t really need.

5.  Don’t smoke cigarettes.  I know of some very wealthy people who smoke cigarettes, but almost every ‘poor’ person I know smokes.  Most smokers can’t afford it.  They can’t afford it because of their health but they can’t afford it because of the price of cigarettes.  Those things are very spendy and they literally go up in smoke and hold no value!  Check this chart out on the price of a pack of cigarettes per state.  In Texas, where I live, a 2 pack a day habit costs you $14.48 a day, or $434 a month.  Yet, even the poorest of poor find a way to get their cigarettes.  Life is about choices, and if you choose to smoke you are likely choosing to drain your life of wealth and financial security.

6.  Get married before you have children.  Child rearing is difficult, but it is also expensive.  Single parents can make it, but it is extremely hard and it will hit your pocketbook pretty hard.  God intended families to have a mommy and a daddy, and the financial obligations is one of the reasons why.

7.  BONUS ADVICE:  Read a book or two about finances.  I suggest anything by Dave Ramsey, but especially Total Money Makeover.  I made my oldest child listen to it on audio.  I think every high school and college student should.  Of course, I recommend buying it the thrift store or check it out at the library.

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TEACHING OUR CHILDREN THAT SOME RULES ARE DUMB

I’m not a very happy father right now.  When I got home from work today I learned that my daughter’s campaign for school treasurer hit a snag.  Here is the problem.

She is running for treasurer, so she and her mother thought that her campaign should do something comical with money.  So, they went down to the dollar store and bought bags of fake money.  51315dc4c1bf11e2a25d22000a9e5e2e_7Then, right over the middle of phoney money where the president’s picture would be they taped candy to it.  On the back of the phoney money they would hand write–“Vote for Phoebe for  Treasurer.”  Today and tomorrow she planned to hand them out to the students in the hallways and in class.1fe9d6ecc1bf11e2851d22000a1fb71f_7

She came home from school visibly upset because she was told that her campaign was inappropriate.  Wait for it, wait for it . . . you would think that they objected to the candy, right?  But no.  They arbitrarily decided that the phoney money might be construed by some as a bribe of some type.  Really?  Tonight she has to pull all the candy off and tomorrow she can hand out the candy but can’t give away the phoney money.

There is a serious lack of wisdom at Cedar Heights Junior High.

There is another problem with this ridiculous school.  My daughter loves to wear bandanas, pink, purple, orange, yellow–very girlie bandanas in her hair.  She has nice long hair that she works on and the bandanas are a part of her style.

Guess what?  Guess what?  She was told to stop wearing these bandanas because, and I quote, “Bandanas are gang signs.”  Maybe, I guess, but wouldn’t that just be part of your profile of a potential gang problem at the Junior High?  You would expect some other kind of behavior in addition to simply wearing a bandana.  Do they think that if there are no bandanas then people will stay way from gangs?  I mean, can you imagine a group of students after school mulling around the idea of forming a gang but then suddenly realizing, “Oh no, bandanas are not allowed at school!  I guess that means we can’t be in a gang.  Sorry boys.”  Its ridiculous.

Besides that, 667f217ec1c511e29b7022000a1fbd93_7I mean, a pink bandana, really?  An orange  bandana, and I might add, notice that these are slightly ‘country’ styled bandanas.  What kind of gang would have country styled pink bandanas.  The West Side Barbies?  The Up-Town Tinkerbells?  I mean, really?

No, what this is all about, and you and I know what it s all about.  It is a power trip.  A person has the power to be arbitrary, so he or she is arbitrary.  That is all it is.  In the process they teach our children that rules are stupid and capricious and foolish so respect for institutions is further eroded.

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MONEY QUOTES

Yesterday I finished a four-week sermon series on money and finances called BROKE.  This last sermon was a “Symposium” in which I put up on the screen quotations about money from various people and then interacted with the quotations.  I tried to keep it sprinkled fairly well with Scripture, although there was nothing about this particular sermon that could be rightly called ‘exposition,” so this could not be a regular diet, although we did unpack a Biblical worldview on some important aspects of finances.  It was a nice way, I think, to finish off what was a very difficult and fairly serious sermon series.  These are the quotes I used in the sermon, but I’ve not included any of my ‘commentary.’

Money.  It’s a gas.  Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash–Pink Floyd

The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives–King David

Q:  Why do you rob banks?
A:  Because that is where the money is–“Slick” Willie Sutton

Show me your checkbook and I will tell you what you believe about God–Cecil Sims

A fool and his money are soon parted–Thomas Tusser

Just write a hot check Mama–Jill Greening

The lack of money is the root of all evil–Mark Twain

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs–The Apostle Paul

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom–Martin Luther King, Jr.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked–Jesus, to the Church of Laodicea

What makes the most money for this business—dead rock stars–Courtney Love

Time is money–Ben Franklin

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes–James, the half-brother to Jesus

The God I believe in isn’t short of cash, mister–Bono

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.–The Lord, as quoted by Asaph

I find preaching on money is a very difficult thing to do, so I am glad this series is over.  But I must admit, I had fun preaching this one.