Take it to the Bank

Salary

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cordell Thomas

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Series Code: TITTB

Program Code: TITTB000036


00:01 On Take It to the Bank,
00:02 you'll find ways to get out of debt...
00:09 solve your credit card problems.
00:14 How to make and stick with the budget?
00:19 Simple ways to save...
00:24 buying or selling a home,
00:26 and many more financial matters on Take It to the Bank.
00:31 Hi, my name is Cordell Thomas,
00:32 and I welcome you to Take It to the Bank.
00:35 I'm interested in this specific topic
00:38 that we'll be talking about,
00:40 because many people wonder
00:42 whether or not it's how much money you make
00:43 that creates wealth.
00:45 And it's interesting,
00:46 I was just having a conversation about it,
00:47 if you look at an individual whose budgets are in order,
00:52 whose system is in order,
00:54 whose finances are in order,
00:56 you can see a sense of peace on their face.
00:58 You can sense that they are okay,
01:00 because things are in good order.
01:03 For example, if you make $10,000 a year,
01:06 if you make $50,000 a year,
01:08 and you save a good portion of that,
01:10 and all of your bills are paid and,
01:12 and you don't have any debt, you're in a lot better setting
01:15 than if you make $1,000,000 a year,
01:17 and you're spending that $1,000,000 a year.
01:19 So it's all about how much you make.
01:21 But, you know, before we start the program,
01:23 what I would like to do is get a context
01:24 of what some of our young people are thinking
01:27 about this thing called money.
01:29 So we ask them the question about,
01:32 "What type of salary would make you happy?"
01:36 And here is what they said.
01:39 An annual salary that will make me happy,
01:42 I would say maybe 45 to 50 enough to,
01:49 I'm single,
01:50 so that would probably be enough
01:52 to cover my personal expenses of rent,
01:56 things that carry me along
01:57 and then just allow me to pay here and there.
02:00 Again, I'm a little off on estimation,
02:02 so I'm thinking that should be okay.
02:07 I don't really ask for more,
02:08 but I do like to live a comfortable life
02:10 where I don't have to like,
02:11 that stress of money is not like over me, the whole time.
02:15 So I wanna say like at least, $80,000 will be fine,
02:20 because then I can afford a little car,
02:22 I can rent a small apartment, maybe buy a small home,
02:25 and it will give me enough money
02:28 for me to pay off my debt, and save money for,
02:31 to have a family in the future.
02:34 An annual salary that would probably make me happy
02:37 would be between, you know, 40,000 to 50,000 a year.
02:43 I think with my short experience,
02:46 I believe that would be a, you know,
02:48 a perfect salary so that I can live comfortably.
02:51 You know, have my car, perhaps be making payments on,
02:55 you know, a small house or, you know, giving my tithes,
03:00 you know, anything, I think 50, 40 to 50 grand would be great.
03:07 I don't know, I guess,
03:11 I don't have certain numbers in mind,
03:12 just something that gets me,
03:14 something that will have me keep going
03:16 and I'll be satisfied.
03:18 Just...
03:19 Numbers don't really count
03:21 as long as I have food on my table,
03:22 I have my bills paid, and I have a job,
03:23 a good paying job, then I'm fine.
03:25 The numbers don't really matter to me.
03:29 To me, it doesn't really matter as long as I get my bills paid.
03:34 Like...
03:37 Get to pay everything and then, you know, get,
03:39 everybody's happy, like enough food,
03:41 enough everything.
03:42 I'm good.
03:45 Five hundred grand would be good, would be nice.
03:48 Yeah.
03:50 Yeah, would be really happy.
03:55 I'd say, just go back to Afghanistan,
03:58 but this time, be a contractor, make about $120,000 a year,
04:04 and I'll be fine with that.
04:07 One million dollars.
04:09 One million dollars.
04:15 I had a ball watching those responses,
04:18 anywhere from $40,000 a year, all the way up to $1,000,000,
04:22 "That would make me happy."
04:23 Would that make you happy?
04:25 And what would be the figure that would make you happy?
04:27 And did you know there are statistics out there
04:30 that show that there are lot of unhappy millionaires
04:33 that make a $1,000,000 and spend a $1,000,000.
04:36 There are lot of millionaires
04:37 that are going through foreclosure crisis
04:38 in specific markets around the country.
04:40 There are lot of individuals
04:42 who are making $40,000 to $50,000 a year,
04:45 who are very happy individuals
04:47 because the happiness that they have
04:48 comes from their giving,
04:50 their tithing, their being.
04:52 They're supporting specific things
04:54 or agencies or organizations
04:56 that are about helping other people.
04:59 And I think that's the context
05:01 of what we'd like to start with here.
05:02 Because the responses of those young people
05:05 are quite interesting.
05:07 The young lady that said,
05:08 "$40,000 to $50,000 a year would make me very happy."
05:12 A roof over my head, food on the table, you know,
05:16 everything is in line, where my budget is in order,
05:19 I have no expenses that are outside
05:21 of the typical things that I would have.
05:24 I don't have any credit card debt,
05:26 life is good.
05:28 And that's one of the simple ways
05:30 of looking at happiness.
05:32 Because, remember, happiness is not about
05:35 how much you make,
05:37 it is about how you utilize the funds
05:39 that you are given the responsibility of managing.
05:43 We talk about happiness around the globe.
05:46 And do you know
05:47 what the happiest country in the world is?
05:49 It just took over number one
05:50 and it's not one of the wealthiest countries
05:52 in the world,
05:53 but when you talk to the people there,
05:55 you can see the sense of happiness on their face,
05:57 how they glow, how they welcome their visitors
05:59 who come in as tourists.
06:01 And as they live in groups,
06:04 and live with family members in their countries,
06:06 that number one country is Costa Rica,
06:09 took over that number one position
06:11 from Denmark.
06:12 The top six of the top ten countries
06:16 are from Latin America.
06:18 Jamaica is number six on the list.
06:20 Guatemala is number nine on the list.
06:22 You begin to see that,
06:24 it's not about the wealth of the country
06:25 that makes them happy people,
06:26 it's about how they live their lives,
06:28 and what they do,
06:30 and how they handle the experiences that they have.
06:32 Did you know also
06:34 that wealth is not about an happiness in life,
06:36 not about the wealth but it's about
06:38 how you spend your time?
06:41 Many people think that,
06:42 "I'm happy if I make enough to buy that big car
06:47 or if I have enough to buy that big home."
06:50 And it's not really about the luxury items
06:53 that you purchase,
06:54 it's about the quality of time you spend with family,
06:57 the quality of time you spend with friends, going on a trip,
07:00 going on a walk, and giving.
07:03 They find that the personal happiness
07:04 each one of us have,
07:06 is about spending money on other people
07:09 and not spending money on ourselves.
07:12 It's interesting as we did a lecture back in Riverside,
07:15 we talked to a bunch of kids and some of the questions
07:17 that we asked them about,
07:19 "What would you do if you made a $1,000,000?
07:22 What would you do if you made a $100,000?"
07:25 And it's quite interesting, their responses.
07:27 And there are some steps we take kids through
07:30 when we randomly label them a specific type of occupation,
07:34 and then we say, based on that occupation,
07:36 the average salary is this amount of money.
07:39 How will you navigate the experiences in your life
07:44 when it has to do with money?
07:47 For as little as $80,000 or $90,000 a year,
07:51 these numbers seem big to young people
07:53 and they would comeback with interesting responses.
07:57 For example, this young man labeled a very expensive car,
08:01 that if he researched how much it costs,
08:03 that it was approximately $270,000 to $300,000,
08:07 just to purchase the vehicle.
08:09 And then, of course,
08:10 the young person wasn't even thinking
08:12 about the insurance necessary and other type of things.
08:15 Do you know what cap of gas mileage
08:17 a car like that gets?
08:18 And many of us don't think about that from the standpoint
08:20 of how we research the acquisition
08:22 of different products and to their services
08:24 that we are...
08:27 Deem necessary in getting involved with.
08:29 The same kind of topics that are brought up
08:32 in these kind of conversations are those
08:34 that these young people have enlightened us about
08:36 how they make decisions.
08:38 Did you know that your young person
08:41 is watching everything that you do?
08:43 And then he goes back to many of the studies
08:45 that we hear about,
08:46 that this thing called poverty is generational,
08:49 there is a cycle called poverty
08:52 because the kids are going to do what the parents do,
08:55 they watch, they emulate those experiences.
08:58 And one of the things we're trying to do
09:00 with our contracts out in California
09:02 is to talk to the young people with the parents in the room.
09:07 The parents have to stay silent to a certain extent
09:09 because we want to really engage with this conversation
09:13 and motivate young people to become these people
09:17 that you would consider producers.
09:19 What's a producer?
09:20 It's an individual that has a certain income
09:23 and spends less than he makes, it's an individual
09:26 that takes the savings that he has and invests it
09:29 into buying things that he can retail
09:33 or become a business owner.
09:35 Now, do you have to have a business?
09:37 Or can you just manage the assets
09:40 that you have or the income
09:43 that you have coming into your personal household?
09:47 It doesn't matter.
09:48 All that matters is you've begun the process
09:51 of setting your goals of paying off your debt.
09:53 Number two, it matters that you have set up a budget
09:57 and that budget you follow religiously.
10:00 Number three, it matters that you have a savings account
10:03 and that savings you put towards retirement,
10:07 towards investments,
10:08 towards a personal emergency savings account.
10:10 And then, of course, to this extent
10:13 that you would like to do so,
10:14 you invest and you use the money
10:16 to bring in more money.
10:18 And additionally, most happy people in the world
10:22 are those that have no unnecessary expenses
10:25 so that they can give, they can give.
10:29 They are those individuals
10:30 that don't live grandiose lifestyles,
10:34 that live simply, live in their home,
10:36 and stay in the same type of home
10:38 that they grew up in.
10:39 They don't have to every time they get a promotion at work,
10:41 buy a new house, buy a larger car,
10:45 or those type of things.
10:47 Some of our wealthiest Americans
10:48 are less likely to buy a new car right off the lot.
10:52 They will buy a two year new car.
10:54 These are type of things that you think about
10:57 but never really consider when looking at new car
11:01 or new product sales.
11:03 Now why am I mentioning all of this?
11:05 Because we heard young people are telling us,
11:08 "Look, I'm comfortable making a certain amount of money."
11:11 We hear from the media, we see in the media,
11:13 we see all of these influential individuals
11:17 who are dictating what our kids should become.
11:21 And our kids are beginning to emulate
11:22 what they see in society.
11:24 So it's all about the car, all about the clothes,
11:27 all about the bling that people seem to get caught up in
11:33 and don't realize it's not necessary.
11:36 Did you realize another tip from the wealthy?
11:39 Most of them, you would never know are wealthy.
11:42 The people walking beside you,
11:43 the people that do certain things alongside you,
11:47 are probably business owners or individuals
11:49 that have money invested.
11:52 One of the things that we do in our lectures here, is this.
11:54 We have several different documents
11:56 and there's one of a young person
11:58 that is between 28 and 32 years of age
12:02 and she has her information,
12:04 she's provided her information for the public.
12:07 So what we have is, we take out the names,
12:08 we take out where they work,
12:10 they take out a lot of information
12:11 but put up specific type of information.
12:14 This person, as we are, lure the kids
12:17 into this conversation is, we say, how much you...
12:20 What type of car do you think this person drives?
12:23 Well, obviously,
12:24 the first question you would ask is,
12:25 "Well, then, how much money does she make?"
12:27 I threw up the slide and the slide said,
12:30 she made $95,000.
12:32 Well, $95,000 a year, a month, every six months,
12:37 whatever the case is, $95,000 will put her
12:39 on the higher end of middle class,
12:42 if that was a yearly figure.
12:44 But, no, when they found out, later on in the presentation,
12:47 that this person actually made $95,000 a month,
12:51 it shocked them, number one.
12:52 And, number two, they came out with things like,
12:55 she's got to drive a luxury vehicle,
12:58 she's got to drive this type of car,
13:00 she's got to do these type of things.
13:02 And then at the end, when I shared
13:04 what type of car she actually drives,
13:06 which she actually doesn't drive a car.
13:08 In her budget, she has no funds going out for a car payment.
13:13 She has funds going out to pay for bus passes and taxies.
13:16 She doesn't own a car, but she lives in an area
13:19 that has a wonderful bus system and she utilizes that system.
13:23 But yet, you would walk beside this individual
13:25 and you wouldn't know
13:27 that he or she has 1.6 million dollars
13:30 in accessible funds in her cash checking or CDs
13:34 that she can get access
13:35 to in a relatively short period of time.
13:37 We don't know that she also has probably
13:39 the equivalent amount of money
13:41 put away in long-term investments,
13:43 that she's already a millionaire with.
13:46 And then we don't know that she also owns a home
13:49 in a certain affluent community in the area that she lives.
13:53 And then you take a step back and realize
13:55 that the wealthy are beginning to learn
13:57 that it's not important about letting everybody
13:59 know about your wealth.
14:01 And there are several reasons why that matters.
14:04 So when we consider this issue on salary,
14:07 and how much you make,
14:08 that really isn't the big issue.
14:11 What is relevant is how you manage the funds
14:15 that you have.
14:16 And it was quite interesting
14:17 to see the look on the kids' faces
14:19 if they ask, "Well, what does she do?
14:21 Who is she?
14:22 Where is she from?"
14:24 I don't think I can give that information
14:25 but you get a context of what this thing
14:27 called Money Management is all about.
14:32 Here is the key.
14:34 What we're looking at, in all of this,
14:37 is teaching a simple thought process.
14:42 If you are going to live a comfortable life,
14:48 I don't care how much you make, the simple answer is,
14:54 spend less than you make.
14:58 If you do that, you're in a way better setting
15:01 than the majority,
15:03 the vast majority of middleclass Americans.
15:05 Because they are living paycheck-to-paycheck
15:07 and as you live paycheck-to-paycheck,
15:09 you begin the process of understanding the stress
15:12 that can happen in a person's life,
15:14 even though they're making $80,000 or $90,000 a year,
15:19 and therein is the key.
15:21 So the question came up about,
15:23 what type of job did this person have?
15:26 Who did she work for?
15:27 How is she making all of that money?
15:29 The fact of the matter is, she doesn't work for anyone,
15:32 she works for herself.
15:33 She has her own business.
15:35 She is into music licensing and all of these other things
15:39 and she knows how the system works.
15:42 So she has learned dramatically from her parents
15:46 and emulates what they do.
15:50 The other thing that is very interesting
15:52 about how the affluent live is the fact
15:55 that they've prepared
15:56 for those experiences in our life
15:59 that we're not expecting, such as,
16:01 they're not expecting passing of a father and or mother,
16:04 they are also utilizing
16:06 some of that funds that they have,
16:09 that could go into savings, as investing in insurance.
16:12 And many of us don't think about insurance
16:15 as an important part of our lives
16:17 because how many times do you see families
16:20 who are dealing with these difficult situations
16:23 and they don't have the funds to actually take care
16:26 of those loved ones that they used to have.
16:29 There are many issues that are out there as we talk,
16:32 about the simplicity of understanding
16:35 that how much money that you make is not the issue,
16:39 it's how you take care of the funds.
16:42 So, as we talk about this,
16:44 let's talk about how happy you will feel
16:47 when you've taken care of those first few steps.
16:51 The first steps are setting goals,
16:53 paying off debt.
16:54 Two is, setting up that budget.
16:56 Go online, download the spreadsheet,
17:00 and then fill it in, take a look at that.
17:02 How much money do I have coming in?
17:04 And what do I have going out?
17:06 And see how you can cut back on certain things
17:10 that might save you money.
17:13 One of the biggest items in our everyday lives today
17:18 that is impacting our budgets, on a dramatic basis,
17:22 is technology called the smartphone.
17:24 Oh, think about it,
17:26 a family that has two smartphones,
17:28 that pay one bill to a company,
17:29 they're paying probably between $100 to $150 a month.
17:33 You have kids in there, you have these shared plans,
17:35 it can get well over $180 to $200 a month.
17:38 So on a yearly basis, you consider,
17:40 that's approximately between $2,000 and $3,000
17:44 of money going out from a budget.
17:47 And then we begin the process of considering the fact that
17:50 this is an item that I can't do without.
17:53 Can you do without it?
17:55 There are many times that I now take a moment,
17:58 and try to live without any technology,
18:01 go a couple of days without technology,
18:03 go without getting on the internet.
18:05 And my wife just loves that kind of thing
18:06 because she thinks I'm too engaged in it
18:08 because I'm trying to search out
18:10 new stories and new things
18:12 that can be relevant in our conversations.
18:14 But it teaches you
18:16 that you don't have to be reliant
18:18 on all of those type of things
18:19 and you can actually cut back the usage
18:22 that you have on your minutes shared in the plan
18:26 and cut back on how much you actually spend on a monthly
18:30 and or yearly basis.
18:31 One of the biggest impacts to people's budgets
18:34 is that smartphone.
18:36 So watch that very carefully.
18:42 Now as we talk about wealth, we talk about happiness.
18:46 What salary would make you happy?
18:48 It doesn't matter. That's my answer.
18:50 It doesn't matter.
18:51 It matters how you manage the money.
18:54 But then, again, we find out
18:56 that happiness is ingrained in people who give,
19:01 so there is a kind of legacy effect on people
19:05 who feel it more appropriate to give and to do,
19:09 so that other nonprofits can do very well.
19:13 And so now, I had an opportunity
19:15 to talk to a brother of mine, a friend of mine,
19:17 who is an Adventist and does some work in the ministry,
19:24 his organization called Little Light Ministries
19:27 is one that I'd like to focus on now,
19:29 because we talked about certain things
19:32 and we talked about
19:34 what it is about the legacy of giving.
19:37 So I would love it
19:38 if we could bring on the segment
19:42 that I had with Scott Mayer,
19:46 and he will begin by answering a question
19:48 that I asked, "Why is it so important in these last days
19:53 that we give, and the importance of ministry?
19:56 And here is what Scott said.
19:59 Advertising is a very effective way to make people aware
20:03 of different ministries or different pieces of content
20:07 that you're producing.
20:09 So I think it's very important
20:12 that we make these different ministries
20:15 that are out there, available to the public
20:20 and, you know, more specifically,
20:23 what kind of projects each one is producing.
20:29 And then as we talked
20:31 and we're engaged in this conversation,
20:32 I asked a second question what was,
20:35 "What are the results of our engaging
20:37 with organizations like yours,
20:39 supporting organizations like yours?"
20:41 And here is his comment from that standpoint.
20:45 A lot of the support that our ministry has received
20:48 has allowed us to hire more help,
20:52 and really allowed us to spread our message a lot faster
20:56 than if we obviously didn't have those resources
21:00 or help.
21:02 It's very important.
21:04 The world takes money
21:06 and that's just what it takes to do a lot of this work.
21:11 I think, yeah, there's a big misnomer
21:12 that video work
21:14 doesn't really cost a lot of money,
21:15 but the video equipment is very expensive,
21:17 people's time is very expensive.
21:19 And you can actually share a DVD
21:22 around the world a lot faster than somebody could go around
21:25 and speak in the entire world.
21:27 So there's a big need for media and even though it's expensive,
21:32 you actually have much more of a reach with it.
21:36 It's quite interesting what he said.
21:37 He is using technology. Does that...
21:40 What comes to mind,
21:42 when you think about the use of technology?
21:43 Think about what 3ABN is doing with the satellite ministries,
21:46 reaching different countries, different people,
21:49 and connecting with them about the gospel,
21:52 and that's what he is doing.
21:53 He is using the same technology,
21:55 so he can reach more people a lot quicker by supporting,
22:00 and engaging, and in giving, that's what legacy is about,
22:04 that's what happiness is about.
22:06 When you know you have changed a life for the better.
22:09 And so I followed up the conversation
22:11 with another question.
22:12 "What were the one or two top results from his ministry
22:17 in reference to what they do and what they share?"
22:20 And here is his response.
22:24 I would say one of the most impactful ways
22:26 our ministry has influenced people with our material
22:31 is probably in making people aware of some of the dangers
22:38 of the entertainment industry,
22:41 how to put good things into their minds,
22:43 and, you know, if you really want to
22:46 focus on your relationship with Christ,
22:49 then, you know, focusing your life,
22:52 and building your character with positive things
22:57 rather than soaking in
23:00 worldly things or negative things,
23:02 has made a big impact upon people's spiritual lives.
23:05 So that's one of the ways
23:08 that our ministry has influenced others.
23:14 Interesting.
23:16 I love what he does.
23:17 I've watched a lot of his work,
23:20 and it's been very impressionistic on me,
23:22 as well as other people that I have talked to.
23:26 What I followed up was with one last question,
23:29 "How can we best be of support?
23:31 How can we help?"
23:33 And this can apply to not only his organization
23:36 but to many other Adventist organizations
23:39 on a global basis,
23:40 of how we can help them spread the gospel.
23:43 Here is what he said.
23:46 Obviously, resources is probably one of the best ways
23:51 to support a ministry such as ours.
23:53 We have a Roku channel which costs us $1,000 a month
23:57 and we try to put our material on there,
23:59 so that people can enjoy it for free but that costs money.
24:03 So if we could get supporters
24:06 that would help support this work to continue forward,
24:11 then we can obviously spread the message
24:13 that much more effectively and that much quicker.
24:20 There is something dramatic and amazing
24:22 that happens in our lives when you become a part
24:25 of something bigger than yourself.
24:28 When you begin to understand that it's about others,
24:30 it's about something bigger than who we are
24:33 because it's all about God,
24:35 and He wants to give us an opportunity
24:38 to be a part of this grandiose process
24:41 of bringing people to know Him in a better way,
24:44 and about giving of ourselves.
24:46 And then we begin to minimize all of these things
24:50 that we get involved
24:52 and the new acquisitions that we have,
24:54 the ideas of going and sitting in line for a long time
24:59 to buy all of these sales items for ourselves.
25:03 It becomes a bigger and better thing
25:07 when we can give to others.
25:10 And you find that's the case from happy people
25:14 because they know, that, "I don't need more things,
25:19 all I need to do is manage what God has given me,
25:23 is manage those assets that I do have,
25:26 is manage the income that comes into me on a monthly basis,
25:30 and budget, budget in a detailed way
25:32 so I know that I can have an account, a savings account,
25:36 that can be used for other things."
25:39 It can be used for investments, can be used for savings,
25:43 can be used for emergencies,
25:45 can be used for long-term planning,
25:47 and it can be used to give away,
25:49 to give to others,
25:50 so that others have access to resources
25:53 that they would have never had
25:55 unless you would have done something.
25:57 And that now begins the process of us understanding better
26:04 that the salary that makes us happy
26:06 is not necessarily a number.
26:09 What makes you happy
26:10 or should make you happy is two things.
26:14 One is, managing the wealth that God has given you,
26:20 spending less than you bring in,
26:23 and utilizing the money for specific things
26:26 that are beyond us, giving to other people,
26:30 that creates happiness.
26:32 And number two is, planning, engaging with your family,
26:37 yourself and your spouse,
26:39 sitting down and working on a budget,
26:42 working on the details of where you would like to be,
26:45 and how quickly you would like to get to those goals
26:48 and objectives.
26:49 Because if you sit back and look at your life,
26:51 and you look at what Psalms 90:12 says,
26:55 it says, "Teach us, Lord, to number our days,
26:58 so that we can gain access to some of the wisdom
27:01 that You can provide us."
27:03 Teach us to number our days.
27:04 We realistically are not here very long,
27:08 70 or 80 years if given that opportunity
27:11 and it is what we do in the years we are given
27:15 that acts as a blessing and creates a happiness
27:18 and a sense of satisfaction that we've done everything
27:21 that we possibly can, for Christ.
27:24 So asking the same question, let me ask you,
27:28 "What salary would make you happy?
27:32 What number comes to mind
27:34 that would create a sense of happiness?"
27:36 And if you think about a large number
27:39 and you forget what really matters,
27:41 then you, no matter how much you make,
27:45 will never be wealthy and will never be happy.
27:48 Remember, it's about how you use the money,
27:51 not how much money you have.
27:53 And with that, please Take It to the Bank,
27:56 and save.
27:58 God bless.


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Revised 2017-04-13