Two laptop computers containing 337,000 Nashville voters’ Social Security numbers were stolen as the building’s security guard listened to Christmas music, ordered food and visited the break room, failing to make his hourly rounds.

(from the Tennessean, 1.4.08) 

I’ve got some credit monitoring already setup, and it’ll alert me if there’s something awry in my credit report. But still, now that the Davidson County Election Commission has seen fit to leave my social security number on a laptop unencrypted… I might just have to get this some ID theft protection.

I write this letter not as an angry student of Belmont University, but as a member of a Tennessee Baptist Convention church. I was born and raised in the Southern Baptist Church, and many of my greatest childhood memories come from time spent with those I met and loved at my home church. I am so glad to see that the TBC represents a church that refuses to sit back and passively exist in our world today.

But I am concerned that perhaps we have lost our true focus in search of vindication of a contract with Belmont. My heart is grieved to hear that money given by those with a heart for missions has been redirected to finance a lawsuit against another body of believers. We know from mainstream media coverage that Americans are notorious for lumping together all Christians in their negative judgments, from swindling televangelists to Billy Graham–it’s all the same to them. When someone like Jerry Falwell makes a statement on national television, the nation assumes he speaks for all Christians. It is, therefore, so crucial we conduct ourselves in all matters in a manner pleasing to Christ, especially in dealing with conflicts within the church.

I have no doubt you’ve had committees scour over passages such as 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, but I personally have a difficult time reconciling the latest efforts by my state’s Baptist Convention with that scripture. Perhaps there is some chance I do not fully understand what Paul was saying here. But of all passages in the Bible, this one seems least likely to be cryptic. When Paul charges us to not sue our Christian brothers in a secular court in front of unbelievers, how have the members of the Tennessee Baptist Convention convinced themselves it is the right and just thing to do. My heart is saddened at this effort if only for the fact that reflects so poorly on the church and undermines the Great Commission.

In both love and sorrow,

Kevin

We should keep in mind that the purpose of this event is to show the Tennessee Baptist Convention just how disheartening this lawsuit really is, and exactly who it’s going to be affecting.

Anyone who’s talked to me for more than 3 minutes on financial issues knows I don’t like credit. And I’m certainly not fond of a culture that fosters a perception of dependance on the almighty credit score. I’ve got friends that have actually gotten credit cards against their desire because someone told them they’d never be able to buy a house without a credit score. Mindy Richmond has some great responses to the standard excuses for credit cards.

Better watch where you get your financial advice. I don’t take my diet and exercise advice from fat people. (“You know what you gotta do… you gotta chew sugarless.”) I don’t take my financial advice from broke people. You can get a house without a credit score. It’s called manual underwriting, and it’s how they used to do things before the credit score came along.

Manual underwriting is the process used by a lender to look beyond the FICO score to your unique financial situation.

More on the credit score and manual underwriting at Underclings.

Anyway, I really take to heart the verse in Proverbs that says the borrower is slave to the lender. Think about that practically for a minute. Why do you think it’s such a bad idea to lend money to a friend? Because suddenly, you’ve changed that relationship. You’ve put them in a position of indebtedness to you, and it will at least put a strain on the relationship. No, if you’re going to give money to a friend, then give it to them; don’t expect to get it back.

The borrower truly is slave to the lender. People go to great lengths to elude creditors. Our society has demonized creditors who are trying to get their money back. (Note: I am in no way defending the tactics used by collections agencies, just pointing out the attitude we take towards them.)

It is my belief that it is ethically and morally upright to pay for everything with money you actually possess, not money you expect to possess come payday. Do you think anyone set out with the goal, “I want to go deeply into debt!” No! If anything, they thought they could mathematically beat the system. It is precisely the moment you buy a new refrigerator from Home Depot on 12 Months/No Interest or a new sofa from Rooms to Go on 90 Days, Same as Cash that something horrible will happen (job loss, death of a loved one, etc.), and you won’t be able to make the payments because the income you *anticipated* to have was no longer there. So, since the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, I’d better put some safeguards into my financial plan.

1) Have a written budget, telling my money what to do every month. Mine happens to be a prioritized budget, since my income is less than predictable. It means I’ve got a list of things that need to get taken care of, and there’s no way I’ll ever make enough to complete the list. Most necessary things are first, least necessary are last.

2) Do three things with every dollar that comes in: give, save, and spend. I’m convinced that the reason Christians are told to give is because God wants to make us more like him, a giver, and not one that does so begrudgingly. Save, otherwise what will I do when an emergency comes along? Put it on the credit card? No thanks. And my favorite part… spend! Because I like toys, too.

3) Pay for everything in cash (even avoiding debit card as much as possible). Simply put, it hurts a whole lot more when I see those greenbacks leaving my wallet. I tend not to think about it when it’s just a swipe of the card with money coming out of my account (even so, it’s still far better than financing a Big Bacon Classic meal with MasterCard). McDonald’s knows this: the average transaction went from $4.50 up to $7.00 when customers swiped. Why do you think they all offer the convenience of credit card acceptance now? A Dunn & Bradstreet study confirms this. Beyond that, there’s a practical aspect to using my debit card as little as possible. When used for every little purchase, it becomes a monumental task to balance my checkbook. I only use it for large or online purchases.

4) Consistently contribute to my Roth IRA retirement mutual funds. I’ve got to get into a habit of consistently making Roth IRA contributions. I opened a retirement account after a summer term that included an accounting class in which my professor simply charted out the retirement possibilities for someone starting at age 20. Earning a meager 9% on a Roth IRA, a 20 year old could retire a millionaire at age 65 by putting as little as $1,745 in his retirement yearly. That’s pennies. Not even $146 per month. Plenty of my friends are able to find some way to pay Visa more than that every month. Here’s a brilliant Roth IRA calculator that can help you chart the same for yourself, something I highly recommend. (Here’s another example that mathematically lays out the pros of saving early on.) Once I realized the simplicity of retiring a millionaire if I started early, I knew I had to hop on it soon.

Let’s end this discussion with some wise words from Seinfeld:

George: Maybe I’ll go down to the track. Put it all on a horse…
Jerry: Why don’t you put it in the bank?
George: The bank? This is found money. I want to *parlay* it. I wanna make a big score!
Jerry: Oh, you mean you wanna *lose* it…

Let’s not be like George.