Where your next dollar goes. In order.
Most men don't have a money problem. They have an order problem. They have dollars and no map, so the dollars leak. This is the map: eight moves, in order, for a Canadian Christian household.
One page. Free. Know your next move by the time you finish reading.
You're in. The Map and the worksheet are on the way.
Check your inbox for The Steward's Map. Here is the worksheet now: print it, fill in what you know tonight, and come back to it in a month.
Download the worksheet (PDF)Know a man who's stuck on money? Send him the map.
The Steward's Map
Eight moves, in order. Start at the top. Do the next one. Don't skip ahead. You don't have to do all eight this month. You have to do the next one.
Why: Set your giving at the top of the paycheque, while the bills wait their turn. Firstfruits is the line that says money is not your god. Start where you can, even one or two percent, and build.
Proverbs 3:9-10
Why: One job: keep the next small crisis off your credit card. The car repair, the dental bill, the furnace in January. Put it in a separate account and leave it until life happens.
Proverbs 6:6-8, the ant
Why: Credit cards and anything above roughly ten percent. This is the fire in the house. Pick smallest balance or highest rate, then throw everything at it until it's gone. If your employer matches, collect the full match while you fight the fire.
Proverbs 22:7
Why: If your employer matches RRSP contributions, put in enough to get the full match. It is the best return you will ever get on a contribution. Leaving it is leaving wages on the table.
Why: Three months of essential expenses, six if your income is variable, in a TFSA at a separate bank. This is the one that lets you sleep, weather a layoff, and leave a bad job without panic.
Why: TFSA first for most men. It grows tax-free and comes out tax-free. RRSP when your income is higher. Boring, automatic, monthly.
Matthew 25, the talents
Why: Buying a first home? The FHSA is the most powerful account in Canada right now. Kids? An RESP catches the government's twenty percent grant. Name the goal, pick the account, automate it.
Why: Once the base is solid, generosity stops being a line item and becomes the point. This is where money turns into something that outlives you.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Find where you are on the map. Take one step.
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Leave your email and I'll send the map with its fill-in worksheet, then The Steward's Weekly every Thursday morning.
You're in. The Map and the worksheet are on the way.
Check your inbox for The Steward's Map. Download the worksheet now if you want to start tonight.