A contrast in perspectives happened this week that got my creative juices flowing. One dwelling in our neck of the woods was asking $2800/mo for a 2 bedroom home for family of 4 in today’s COVID markets, 230% increase in rental costs compared to 3 years ago! A second paid-for dwelling was $500/month property tax for 9 – 12 people, depending on the month, an equivalent rental savings of $9500/month. We currently have a culture that is focused on comfort, privacy, pleasure, personal space, status, etc. but at what cost? Financial destitution is looming on the horizon for many who haven’t already drowned in the first 3 years of this decade of fire with another 7 years of dearth coming down the pipes for the wicked.
We have an older generation that is more concerned about shoring up their retirement savings in a volatile stock market and for some a secondary cottage out at the lake while their children or grandchildren are struggling just to put food on the table. For others, the older generation is abandoned into LTC homes as the inheritance is gobbled up to provide substandard care. The working generation is working 2 jobs just to keep a roof over their head, therefore required to put their children into daycare just to keep said jobs that pay for the 2 leased vehicles required to get to separate workplaces. The younger generation for the most part are clueless about wise financial stewardship because it wasn’t modeled to them and certainly isn’t part of the intentional indoctrination of public schooled children. Most are ignorant of the high price of debt slavery not only to themselves but their descendants also. While society promotes credit cards in high schools and universities, the Bible declares that those who have debt and cannot lend are cursed.
So how do we flip the narrative?
We are in an increasing challenging financial time world-wide and yet at the same time, one of immense opportunity to thrive if they are willing to shift perspective and lay down their lives for their families. It must have been almost 2 years ago now that I warned a family to get their mortgage paid off before we entered the Shemitah year because interest rates would be heading back towards the 1970’s level. I had no clue what that meant at the time, beyond to pay off their mortgage NOW, even if it meant using stock investments to do so. The news is catching up to the prophetic word as interest rates climb at an accelerated rate while stocks crash. We learned that interest rates rose 1450pt or 14.50% from starting baseline or 17-25% mortgage rates in the 1970’s! People who got into the housing market at 2% rates are already losing their homes at 5% interest rates. We need godly solutions to be ready to present to the world to let our light SHINE and glorify the Heavenly Father by demonstrating our love by keeping His commandments.
When we started down our own path to obey God’s instructions to “Get out of debt! Don’t delay!” at the age of 26 to becoming mortgage & debt free by age 31, we didn’t know a single other family who had done what we had done. Everyone who got to hear our story thought we were nuts, with much encouragement to get back into another mortgage in the name of building equity growth. The thought of giving up a leadership nursing career, at the time bringing in $54/hr, to be a stay-at-home “barefoot & pregnant” homeschooling mom had family, employers, and strangers alike warning us of our stupidity and that we would regret our decision. We were pitied for becoming a single-income family that did stay-cations instead of taking annual $5000 cruises for the parents or $20,000 family trips to Disney World funded by credit cards.
But WAS it stupidity? No need for a second vehicle, second annual licensing costs, uniforms, daycare, private Christian schooling of 5 children, LTC care for 2 inlaws with dementia, the rent & food costs saved for all the families that came through our home by living with us for free when they were hitting rock bottom, flexibility to go on work trips with Daddy that turned into vacations. Because I was now a dependent, we were pleasantly surprised to discover I brought home more in child benefits with 4 children than I had while working part-time and giving the government and unions back 52% of my income then pouring that remaining 48% into vehicle and work expenses. We certainly did not regret our decision that taught us the value of our TIME and spiritual relationship with the Heavenly Father as a resource to be invested into others. When we were part of the church system, my children would regularly correct the Sunday School teachers for their errors in Biblical knowledge. Abraham did NOT have only one child nor one wife! David didn’t either! Noah wasn’t in the ark for only 40 days, that’s just how long it rained. But unless you take the time to chew through the Word of God with your children yourself, they won’t know what they don’t know and will pass on their ignorance to the next generation just like those Sunday School teachers did.
What if the Body of Christ started showcasing a new model of living that elevated people over the love of money, wisdom over pleasure, stewardship over immediate gratification to keep up with the Jones? What if they demonstrated the benefits of living with the holy Fear of the LORD in word, deed, and attitude within a community? To put it bluntly, how many grown up children refuse to provide care for complaining, bitter, controlling, and/or violent old hags? Having worked in Long Term Care for almost half of my nursing career, the parents’ rotten characters were the #1 reason why children were dumping them off and walking away. Only a very few were because of medical needs outpaced their ability to provide safe care in the home settings, especially with grants to help install chair lifts and equipment rentals like mechanical lifts and LIHN PSW homecare aides. Imagine a multi-generational family environment where deliverance of the generational demons of unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, rage, etc. are cast out, heart wounds are promptly dealt with, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is nurtured right from toddlerhood! Creating that kind of environment takes time but we need financial solutions NOW.
What if…?
- Two older couples downsized their mortgaged dwellings and moved into a paid duplex, saving themselves their monthly mortgage expenses and they flipped the remainder into the purchase of a paid for fixer upper for their children. Savings = no rent or mortgage payments x 3 – 5 families, depending on the layouts of the properties. As the properties are renovated, they can be sold to gain equity growth to help the next child and so forth, with everyone having the mindset to keep investing into each other until all children are home owners. As those seniors get older, the proximity of stay-at-home moms who didn’t need to work to maintain the rat race of financial survival, and their children they chose to have because they realized they COULD afford to have kids, will be able to provide in-home support to the seniors while providing them more community interaction that values their wisdom being poured into the younger generation than a seniors home would allow.
- A widow or older married couple willing to forgo the “empty nesting syndrome” and share their home with single moms and their children rent free in order to help them dig out of debt then pile up savings to purchase their own homes so they can in turn provide housing for future hurting families. The extra in-home support will enable the elders to remain living at home longer. The youngers can help with vacuuming, cooking, driving, landscaping, house repairs, etc while the widow helps with homeschooling/babysitting / healthy stable nurturing of the younger generation that a single mom living on her own would not be able to provide to her child(ren). As a reality check for a price point, after school care of an 8 yr old is currently $800/month for a single mom to work a 9-5 job, and $1200 for a 5 and 7 yr old pre-/post-school for another where the parents only see their children awake for 2 hrs per day while the school system raises them. Current $15/hr minimum wage = $2400/mo minus tithes of 10% & taxes of 25% = ~$1500/mo for a minimum wage family to survive on. Looking forward to a retirement of golf and cruises is a really sad retirement when it could be better spent investing into the next generations that can carry on their legacy and memory and multi-generational vision.
- Instead of a childless senior giving their inheritance to a corporation or the non-profit church system upon death, find a young family that fears the LORD, starting out with nothing and help them get set up to be mortgage free, enabling them to have financial stability, which will also help guard their marriage from the #1 cause of divorce. Investing in PEOPLE that will have a lasting generational legacy instead of businesses unhinged from people. Doing so BEFORE the senior dies will save the government taking their 40 – 50% in the death tax. Brings a whole new concept to a “reverse mortgage”! Instead of the bank getting rich off interest payments, have the children help the parents in the equivalent of rental costs without it being “rent”, therefore reducing the claimable income that impacts CPP & OAS & RRSP’s. (i.e. paying cash for their vehicle, utility bills, groceries, clothing, etc)
- Instead of someone who needs assisted living support paying a PSW $50/hr in a employer/employee relationship, of which the PSW MIGHT see $15/hr of that in their pocket by the time everyone takes their cut, have someone competent to provide the support from a posture of loving family relationship while providing the younger caregiver with free lodging. Consider sharing the paid-for vehicle the older person who rarely drives now with the younger person insured as a second driver, thereby reducing expenses even further while getting assistance with driving. For someone who needs more intensive supervision, have 2 families sharing the responsibilities. The senior saves on the outbound cost of private care as well as not needing to claim any inbound rental income on their taxes, potentially reducing the loss of benefits from the jump in income bracket. The younger person remains eligible for income credits like GST/HST and child benefits here in Ontario that are geared to Mammon’s income. Although PSW hiring agencies will terrorize you with the fact that this is a foolhardy concept, not EVERY single person out there is a greedy, lawsuit-happy grinch. This is where Holy Spirit led discernment and Fear of the LORD are a must.
- Instead of the older generation having a second cottage that is used maybe weeks or months of the year, sell it to provide a paid for every-day home for the younger generation NOW. The savings in rent or mortgage costs plus the lack of necessary maintenance costs would more than finance a rental for the short time of vacation. Plus the increase on that investment is guaranteed compared to a stock market that may or may not grow. Say you pay $400,000 to purchase a home and then deed it to the grown up child instead of into the stock market. Stock market of $400,000 @ 8% growth = $32,000/yr that the government will charge you income tax on when you withdraw it, plus the death tax if anything is left when you die. If you move into a nursing home, all your savings and assets are seized by the government in order to guarantee payment for your care at an average of $4000/month/person. However, flip that $400,000 into a paid for home NOW and that child saves $2800*/month or more (*for a 2 bedroom house in today’s rental market) enabling them to raise their own children without so much financial stress, plus if outfitted with a granny flat or the shed transformed into a “tiny home” they can provide assisted living accommodations in the latter days of a senior’s life. If you raised your children with godly character and you yourself have a godly attitude, living together will be a joy instead of bitter torture.
- Two younger families with mortgages selling their two homes and pooling their equity to purchase one paid-for home to live together during the 7 years of dearth and carpooling paid-for vehicles to reduce overall maintenance, licensing, and insurance costs. They both save on their monthly mortgage costs, enabling them to stockpile what they would have paid in monthly mortgage into savings to build up an inheritance for their own children, setting them up for freedom and success instead of yet another generation of slavery.
- Have 3 single moms live together in a rental, pooling their time resources to eliminate the cost of daycare. As they save up a down payment, switch from a rental into a mortgage to gain equity growth while lowering monthly expenses. The Bible says not to co-sign so I’m a bit foggy on how to work the logistics there to have equal responsibility instead of one taking the fall for someone who is irresponsible to pay up but there must be solutions to be found.
- A renovator’s family needs a place to live while another family needs to repair a fixer-upper. Have both live creatively in the mess of construction, doing things a little slower in order to pool resources. The renovator would normally have to pay rent or mortgage (let’s use the 2 bedroom example of $2800 above), utilities (water – $150, Electricity – $150), phone/cable ($50), internet ($80), & renter’s insurance ($50). Most of those bills are already paid for by the homeowner and don’t need to be doubled-up other than a business cellphone. $3280 of cost savings, that would have require $5,500 pre-tax income at 40% tax bracket. At $40/hr labour costs, that breaks down to 137.5 hrs/month or 34 hrs/wk (or 3 days x 12 hr days) of sweat equity labour while living with the home-owner and having a blast working together as families learning new skills. The other 3 work days can be utilized at a paying job to bring in income for vehicle maintenance & other expenses. In the long-run, the renovator has an overall lower taxable income keeping them in a lower tax bracket at the end of the year, maximizing child & other benefits.
- A salaried pastor aka priest for hire is cursed as per Micah 3:11. However, flip that out of the “income” category that requires tax to be paid and into the freely give, freely receive. Have a widow or empty nester couple provide a pastor and his family lodging, which takes care of $5500/month or $66,000/yr (using the above example’s figures) worth of expenses. Tithe brought into the storehouse is now able to freely meet the expenses of the pastor and their group as needed to eliminate their own debts. Food, clothing, or other resources comes through the Priests’ Storehouse to be freely shared. No need to pay mortgage, insurance, utilities, & maintenance on a huge church building, which could eliminate a $400,000 church budget. Rather, meet in homes that are already paying those things in groups of 15 – 40 at a time who are able to develop authentic iron sharpening iron relationships. Once a month or quarter, meet in a park or acreage’s back yard with porta-potties to promote cross-pollination networking of groups. Internet teaching maximizes time resources to teach the corporate content once to as many as watch it.
There are probably many, many other creative ways of multiplying the impact of our finances in today’s COVID climate. I hope this brainstorming helped to get you thinking outside the box and coming up with your own Holy Spirit-led ideas. The prophecies from multiple prophets is that this is a time for the righteous to THRIVE, in spite of the 7 years of dearth upon the wicked. It simply means sidestepping the world’s system that will be falling down around their ears and putting what God values as your own values.
All this talk of finances would not be complete without a reminder that no matter how “financially smart” you are, if you disobey God’s commandments you will eventually end up on the screwed side. If God says owe man nothing but love, it would be wise to recognize credit cards and mortgages are NOT your friend. If you DO hear and obey, God will give you the ability to create REAL wealth, not the kind that you leverage the credit or stock market, but wealth you can actually touch. When you fear the LORD in humility as evidenced by hearing AND obeying His voice, God PROMISES in Deuteronomy 28 that your finances, employment, homes, children, health will be blessed. Where your heart is, there also is your treasure so let the Fear of the LORD be your treasure!
It is easy to throw money in an offering plate to let someone else figure out what to do with it, deceiving yourselves into thinking you’ve done your religious duty to give your tithes. But that’s not love. Truly loving your neighbour as yourself requires you to give yourself as a LIVING sacrifice, holy and acceptable, as your act of WORSHIP to the LORD. Not martyrdom, not “Look at me! I’m so pious!”, but pure unadulterated worship as you value what He values – souls that He fearfully and wonderfully made, lovingly knit together by His hands in the secret place of your mother’s womb. Your Heavenly Father can make money appear in a fish’s mouth, and honey pour from rocks and quail blow in to feed millions. But the one thing He CANNOT do is force you to joyfully worship Him from your heart. He gave you free will to run into His arms or reject Him. Your voluntary worship is the most special gift you can give back to Him.
For more video teachings on a variety of issues that bring financial curses and how to break them off, you can browse my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzsBMCQEn2PrXB4VAc5swZQ
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