Gather Little by Little - Personal Finance with a Christian Perspective

Is debt reduction a greater priority than tithing? P. 2

Stew — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:09:05 +0000

In my previous article on this subject, we looked at several reasons why the believer should prioritize tithing before debt reduction. Note that I am not saying that we should neglect our debts – if we promise to repay something, we must repay it. Matthew 5:33 tells us that when we make a promise, that [...]

Is debt reduction a greater priority than tithing? P. 1

Stew — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:02:32 +0000

For our next two posts, I am going to explore the question: is debt reduction a greater financial priority than tithing? The intuitive answer from a “good money sense” point of view might be “yes”. After all, isn’t debt the worst possible financial ill on the planet? Shouldn’t we be employing every possible financial means [...]

Young People: 3 reasons to think about a Roth IRA

Stew — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:36:56 +0000

In recent years, I have begun to change great deal of my views on saving for retirement 401k’s, IRA’s and the like. The truth is that I am far less likely to spend a great deal of time and effort saving money for retirement than I used to be . . . but that is [...]

Frugal people need to be thankful for big spenders

Stew — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:27:14 +0000

Every family’s budget is a reflection of that family’s priorities, habits and tastes. Here at Gather Little by Little, we do not try to dictate exactly how persons budget should look. Mainly because that is a fool’s errand. But there are some basic principles which govern the advice that appears on this blog. One of [...]

4 reasons why a Christian cannot be a skinflint

Stew — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:42:06 +0000

Money blogs are usually a place for getting the most out of life for the least amount of money. They are place to seek ideas of how to gain financial security with the least amount of risk. But did you know that too much of this kind of thinking can be a bad thing? Did [...]

Is the Earned Income Credit good tax policy?

Stew — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:17:42 +0000

While filing my taxes a couple of weeks ago, I notices that the EIC or Earned Income Credit was a major factor in reducing the amount of tax that I owed and greatly increasing the amount of my refund. I have usually assumed that the EIC was simply a liberal-socialist attempt at wealth redistribution and [...]

3 notes about your IRS tax refund

Stew — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:19:10 +0000

Nearly 50 percent of US tax filers will be due a refund this tax season and that number continues to grow. It used to be that only a few low-income filers who did not claim enough on their W-4 forms during the year were issued refunds. These were people who had actually paid too much [...]

Tips for Excel spreadsheet budgets

Stew — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:00:23 +0000

The Microsoft Office suite of programs is nearly universal when it comes to personal computers. Nearly everyone has a working knowledge of Word and is familiar with PowerPoint. Outlook, Microsoft’s email software, also has wide use and acceptance. However, my favorite MS program is Excel. When I worked as a soccer coach, I used Excel [...]

4 Tidbits of Financial Wisdom Straight From the Bible

Guest Author — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:34:41 +0000

This is a guest post by Pastor Eric Johnston of the Christian Prayer Center, a site to post and receive prayer requests. At the Christian Prayer Center, we often get prayer requests asking for miracle financial blessings that include new homes, luxury automobiles, fancy motorcycles and the like. Instead of people praying for wisdom in [...]

Tax penalty scare

Stew — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:10:41 +0000

Our household taxes are always been fairly complicated. This is mostly due to the fact that Mrs. Stew and I have always had multiple streams of income. While God has blessed me with steady, full-time jobs over the course of our marriage, we have always had to supplement our income with part-time, self-employed and contract [...]