Gain All You Can, Save All You Can, Give All You Can

A Quote

“First, gain all you can, and, Secondly, save all you can, Then, give all you can.” ~ John Wesley

Picture credit: Wikipedia

This is a quote from John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement, not referred to as the United Methodist Church. It is from his Sermon 50. Easy enough to find on Google.

Gain All You Can

And I am not referring to weight – although I am working on that issue.

It is the simple idea that we should begin early and do as much as we can with our lives. Since the focus of this blog is financial, then it only goes to say that we should make as much money as we can as soon as we can. This is a great idea if you want to NOT worry about retirement when you are older.

If I had only listened to my parents who encouraged me to save a little from each check as soon as I started working. If you think about the money that has gone through your hands over your lifetime, it is daunting.

Some people work tons of hours and save as much as they can. Others start businesses. Still others, let go of instant gratification and invest as much as they can stand.

Save All You Can

Not to worry. We can start a savings plan right now if we have never done so. Check out my posts:

• Can You Spare Some Change?
• Emergency! What Do I Do Now?
• Needs And Wants
• Retirement Is A Financial State
• Save Money, Quit Smoking
• Challenge Yourself
• The 10-10-80 Method
• Another Savings Idea

Another Savings Idea To Build Savings Quickly

Here is something my wife and I have started doing. To make it clear, it does not work every month and at times we backslide but it is a goal of ours. We are saving about 2/3 of my check every month. We are living for the most part on my wife’s check at this time.

We did not get in this position easily. It required getting out of debt – completely. No credit card debt, no car payments, no mortgage, no debts to anyone. You can read in several of the blog posts here about getting yourself there.

In the spirit of John Wesley, we are gaining all we can so we can save all we can so that we can give all we can.

Maybe it means getting a second job to do it. The key is to eliminate the debts you have so that you can put that money aside from your second job. The savings will grow rapidly.

Savings Challenge Update

Another week, another payment towards our vacation/house fund which will be available in January 2015. This is where we are with our Savings Challenge. Our balance right now is $520.66. Not too bad for two months and one week of savings.