- Joined
- Dec 18, 2003
Hi Gezando and Doris....
Doris, you raise great points. It is difficult to "follow the money" and many people don't bother to keep track of things. I'm sorry that the changes over the last few years have worked out very negatively in your (and many people's) situation.
Yes Gezando, that tithing business is on "gross" according to every biblical scholar I've talked to. (believe me, I was sort of hoping for a different answer, so did talk to as many people as I could dig up LOL!). While I call myself spiritually confused, I am trying much harder these days to study and learn, etc. I have been richly blessed in MANY ways in my life, and so "giving back" has become a priority for me.
I still have a "corporate job." I've been in sales or sales management most of my post - college career, so that always comes with financial ups and downs. Up until a little over a year ago, my husband also had a corporate job that was mostly salary and paid well. Yes, we definitely considered ourselves blessed. BUT...we realized a few years ago that mathematically, the gross earnings of my husband equalled our Federal Income Tax bill. We got to keep whatever was left of my earnings after state taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc. went bye bye. That was the point where we it was time for hubby to start his own business.
There is an interesting book, one of the many we read on the path to our own business that I recommend. Rich Dad / Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. It is written so it's easy to understand, and it describes his journey starting as a young boy learning about money, how to make it, and how to keep it.
Both of us came from lower middle class families who urged us both to achieve the American Dream of ending up better off than they were. On one hand, it's so exciting to work hard and achieve a better income situation than your parents ever had. For us, that joy was diminished by understanding what the tax implications are. So I guess we're just trying to get smarter about "working the system" that we have been given to work with.
Gotta run and see if the Men's comp is underway!
DG
Doris, you raise great points. It is difficult to "follow the money" and many people don't bother to keep track of things. I'm sorry that the changes over the last few years have worked out very negatively in your (and many people's) situation.
Yes Gezando, that tithing business is on "gross" according to every biblical scholar I've talked to. (believe me, I was sort of hoping for a different answer, so did talk to as many people as I could dig up LOL!). While I call myself spiritually confused, I am trying much harder these days to study and learn, etc. I have been richly blessed in MANY ways in my life, and so "giving back" has become a priority for me.
I still have a "corporate job." I've been in sales or sales management most of my post - college career, so that always comes with financial ups and downs. Up until a little over a year ago, my husband also had a corporate job that was mostly salary and paid well. Yes, we definitely considered ourselves blessed. BUT...we realized a few years ago that mathematically, the gross earnings of my husband equalled our Federal Income Tax bill. We got to keep whatever was left of my earnings after state taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc. went bye bye. That was the point where we it was time for hubby to start his own business.
There is an interesting book, one of the many we read on the path to our own business that I recommend. Rich Dad / Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. It is written so it's easy to understand, and it describes his journey starting as a young boy learning about money, how to make it, and how to keep it.
Both of us came from lower middle class families who urged us both to achieve the American Dream of ending up better off than they were. On one hand, it's so exciting to work hard and achieve a better income situation than your parents ever had. For us, that joy was diminished by understanding what the tax implications are. So I guess we're just trying to get smarter about "working the system" that we have been given to work with.
Gotta run and see if the Men's comp is underway!
DG