Jul
24

Eyes On London

admin on July 24th, 2012

There’s an upside and a downside to having the Olympics come to your city. Londoners are experiencing first-hand what it means to their personal lives, their environment, and their freedom. In this powerful 35-minute documentary, Matthew Homer of the London Olympic Radio Project explores both the positive and negative impacts of the 2012 London Olympics upon the residents of East London, where the Olympics are being held.

In particular, the documentary addresses the impact of the Olympics on the local environment, the local sports clubs, and the local people, many of whom have been forced to make significant sacrifices including being removed from their homes for the sake of the promised “Olympic Legacy” that the Olympics will bring to London. You’ll find out firsthand what some Londoners think about the Olympics coming to their city.

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Jul
2

Financial Freedom Means Living Within Our Means

admin on July 2nd, 2012

You’ll find lots of great advice online for achieving financial freedom but the one piece of advice I find conspicuously absent is any mention of the basic difference between financial freedom and financial slavery, which is: the ability to live within our means.

We are financially free when we are comfortably able to live within our means no matter how humble or luxurious our circumstances.

We become financial slaves when we live beyond our means and thus put ourselves into financial bondage to a creditor or creditors.

So what exactly is “our means?” It is what we have readily available to cover fixed expenses after we:

  • Give 10% of our regular income back to our church or to charity to help those less fortunate, and…
  • Put 40% of our regular income into short and long-term savings for retirement and for irregular expenses such as vacations, repairs, appliances, entertainment, gifts, etc..

The remaining 50% of our regular income (our “means”) is what we budget for fixed expenses such as food, clothing, essential household expenses (including mortgage and car payments if applicable), insurance, utility bills, and taxes.

So where does conventional consumer debt, revolving credit, or the use of credit cards to buy “things” fit into this picture?

It DOESN’T–unless the payments can be made from money already saved or can be made from the 50% of regular income we budget for fixed expenses.

How does it feel to be financially free? Being a former financial slave myself, I can tell you. It feels GREAT!!!!!!!

Sending you LOVE from the Lighthouse!
Sharon :)
  
  

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